MGMT methylation alterations in brain cancer following organochlorine pesticides exposure

Background: Alterations in the methylation levels of tumor suppressor genes are considered as one of the essential aspects of malignancies. The present study explored the association of O6-methylguanine- DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) gene promoter methylation, as a tumor suppressor, with some organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in primary brain tumor (PBT) patients. Methods: The present study was conducted on a total of 73 PBT patients. The patients’ serum was analyzed using gas chromatography for seven OCP derivatives. The methylation-specific PCR (MSP) method was also used to determine the methylation status of the MGMT promoter. Results: The current findings demonstrated that the methylation of MGMT promoter occurred in 22 out of 34 glioma cases (64%), but in only one out of 35 meningioma cases. No MGMT promoter methylation was observed in other PBT, hemangioma, and anaplastic medulloblastoma stages. Besides, there were significant associations between MGMT methylation and γ-HCH (odds ratio [OR]: 1.50; 95% CI: 1.03- 2.40, P = 0.04), 4,4DDE (OR: 1.44; 95% CI: 1.01- 2.05, P = 0.02), 2,4 DDT (OR: 1.23; CI: 1.04- 1.45, P = 0.03), and 4,4DDT (OR: 1.46; CI: 1.23- 2.15, P = 0.02) in glioma patients. Conclusion: The results of the study suggested that the hypermethylation of the MGMT promoter in glioma patients is associated with increased OCPs in their serum, especially γ- HCH, 4,4DDE, 2,4DDT, and 4,4DDT. Moreover, it may lead to the hypermethylation of the MGMT promoter gene. Hence, it can be concluded that exposure to OCPs may potentially induce glioma. Keywords: Organochlorine, Pesticides, MGMT, DNA Methylation, Gliom

A Case Study of Water Quality Modeling of the Gargar River, Iran

Human activities in the recent years have considerably increased the rate of water pollution in many regions of the world. In this case study, the main sources of wastewater discharging into the Gargar River were identified. Using river and point source flow rates and water quality parameters measured along the river, the river water quality was simulated using a commonly used, one-dimensional water quality model, the QUAL2K model. Simulated values of DO, CBOD, NH4-N and NO3-N demonstrated the accuracy of the model and despite a significant data shortage in the study area, QUAL2K model was found to be an acceptable tool for the assessment of water quality. Still, for this case study, it was found that the model was most sensitive to river and point source flows and moderate to fast CBOD oxidation, and nitrification rates

Condensation Irrigation Field Test : Measurements of Soil Moisture

Due to the growing population and scarcity of fresh water it is increasingly important to produce potable water by desalination of saline water. However, desalination requires energy and in a sustainable world it has to be based on renewable energy. Condensation irrigation (CI) is a method that combines desalination and irrigation. In such systems solar energy could be used to provide needed energy. By letting air flow over the water surface in a solar still with saline or polluted water, the air is humidified. The vapor-saturated airflow is then lead into buried pipes, where the air gradually cools and the water precipitates along the pipe surface. In current field study perforated PVC pipes were used i.e. the condensed water left the pipe through its walls and irrigated the surrounding soil. In PVC pipes without perforations the produced water was collected at the pipe outlet. A fan was used to force the air through the 25 m pipes of the CI system. The resulting amount of produced water per 8 hours for drinking water and irrigation was 4.0 and 6.0 l, respectively.Upprättat; 2016; 20160401 (bon)</p

Investigation of Kinetics and Isotherms of Adsorption of Cd(II) Ions on Nanoclay from Aqueous Solution

In the present work, adsorptive removal of Cd)II( from aqueous solution was studied by using nanoclay (Cloisite Na+). This study was implemented under laboratory conditions in single batch system by adsorption under various environmental conditions such as pH, contact time, adsorbent dose and adsorbate concentration. The kinetics of Cadmium adsorption was determined based on Ho et al & Lagergern. Then Langmuir and Freundlich coefficient were determined based on optimum conditions. The Result of this study was showed with increasing of pH from 2 to 8; the adsorption efficiency will be increased. With increasing contact time adsorption efficiency increased. It was also fundwith increasing amount of nanoclay adsorbent, efficiency increased. The results revealed that the results of this research for nanoclay adsorbent is closed to fit Ho et al and Lagergren kinetic and Freundlich isotherm Based on data obtained in this study it can be concluded that adsorption by nanoclay  is an efficient and reliable method for cadmium removal from liquid solutions

Removal of Low Concentrations of Cadmium from Water Using Improved Rice Husk

This paper studies the effect of different molarities of sodium bicarbonate on enhanced absorption capacity of rice husk to remove cadmium in low concentrations. Maximum absorption efficiency was achieved at a pH of 6 and absorption equilibrium time was 1.5 hours. Results of chemical experiments and photography by electronic microscope from improved rice husk revealed a good relationship to exist between number and average diameter of absorber pores, on the one hand, and absorption efficiency, on the other. Meanwhile maximum absorption efficiency of rice husk in cadmium removal was 99.1 percent which shows improvement due to 0.3 molar sodium bicarbonate. In this study, kinetic absorption models were also studied. Both Lagergrn (1898) and Ho et al. (1996) models satisfactorily described data with a confidence level of 95 percent; however, the latter model was found superior in this respect. Comparison of the coefficients calculated here with those reported in other models showed a faster cadmium absorption rate by improved rice husk due to 0.3 molar sodium bicarbonate

Nitrate Removal from Contaminated Waters by Using Anion Exchanger Phragmites Australis Nanoparticles

The efficiency of modified Phragmites australis nanoparticles for nitrate removal from aqueous solution in batch and continuous conditions was studied. The effect of different operating conditions such as pH, the amount of adsorbent, and initial nitrate concentration were surveyed. Our results showed that, pH 6 could provide better condition for nitrate removal. The increase in the nitrate concentration from 5 to 120mg L-1 reduced the efficiency from 90% to 67%. Kinetics and isotherm data revealed that the nitrate adsorption successfully can be described by pseudo-second order kinetic model (R2 =1) and Longmuir isotherm (R2 =0.99), respectively. At the continuous-flow mode, column were operated at 0.98 L hr-1 and 2.27 L hr-1 with initial nitrate concentration of 15, 50 and 120 mg L-1. At the above mentioned conditions, the adsorption capacities were 13.4, 28.5 and 36.5 mg g -1 at 0.98 L hr-1 and 25.2, 60.9 and 74.3 mg g-1 at 2.27 L hr-1,  respectively

An investigation on the capability of magnetically separable Fe₃O₄/mordenite zeolite for refinery oily wastewater purification

Damage to the water resources and environment as a consequence of oil production and use of fossil fuels, has increased the need for applying various technologies and developing effective materials to remove contaminates from oily wastewaters resources. One of the challenges for an economic industrial wastewater treatment is separation and reusability of the developed purifying agents. Development of magnetic materials could potentially facilitate easier and more economic separation of purifying agents. Therefore, herein we have synthesised an efficient and easily recyclable Fe3O4/mordenite zeolite using a hydrothermal process to investigate its purification capability for wastewater from Kermanshah oil refinery. The synthesised Fe3O4/mordenite zeolite was characterised using XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDX, XRF and BET analysis. XRD result showed that the synthesised Fe3O4/mordenite zeolite comprised sodium aluminium silicate hydrate phase [01-072-7919, Na8(Al6Si30O72)(H2O)9.04] and cubic iron oxide phase [04-013-9808, Fe3O4]. Response Surface Method (RSM) combined with Central Composite Design (CCD) was used to identify the optimum operation parameters of the pollutant removal process. The effect of pH, contact time and Fe3O4/mordenite zeolite amount on the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU) were investigated. It was found that pH was the most significant factor influencing COD and BOD removal but the quantity of Fe3O4/mordenite zeolite was the most influential factor on the turbidity removal capacity. The optimum removal process conditions were identified to be pH of 7.81, contact time of 15.8 min and Fe3O4/mordenite zeolite amount of 0.52% w/w. The results show that the regenerated Fe3O4/mordenite zeolite can be reused for five consecutive cycles in purification of petroleum wastes