PREVALENCE OF TSST PRODUCING COAGULASE-NEGATIVE STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS IN WOUND SAMPLES AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MRSA AGAINST TEA EXTRACT

Objective: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a potential pathogen for hospital-acquired infections. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of MRSA using tea extract. Methods: All S. aureus isolates obtained from wound samples were studied for antibiotic resistance pattern using 23 different antibiotics. Based on coagulase negative, S. aureus isolates were identified for toxic shock syndrome toxin (TSST) gene and analyzed using PCR method. The antibacterial activities of tea extract were tested against MRSA using agar well-diffusion method. Results: A total of 100 wound samples were collected from hospital, where 75% of samples showed presence of S. aureus. About 100% resistance to cefoperazone, ampicillin, penicillin, rifampicin, novobiocin, and vancomycin antibiotics was observed. The isolates showed less resistance <50% toward chloramphenicol (30%), ciprofloxacin (25%), gentamycin (52%), amikacin (38%), and imipenem (33%). Twenty-five isolates were selected for MRSA characterization based on multiple drug resistance pattern. Coagulase-negative S. aureus isolates showed presence of TSST gene. Tea extract (2%) showed effective antibacterial activity against MRSA strains. Conclusion: The study showed the presence of MRSA at higher level and suggesting to out further epidemiological study on such infections. However, cost-effective and easily available tea extract was found to be the best antimicrobial agent for preventing such bacterial infection and to reduce the risk of emerging resistance

Reliable multiclass cancer classification of microarray gene expression profiles using an improved wavelet neural network

Properly designing a wavelet neural network (WNN) is crucial for achieving the optimal generalization performance. In this paper, two different approaches were proposed for improving the predictive capability of WNNs. First, the types of activation functions used in the hidden layer of the WNN were varied. Second, the proposed enhanced fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm—specifically, the modified point symmetry-based fuzzy c-means (MSFCM) algorithm—was employed in selecting the locations of the translation vectors of the WNN. The modified WNN was then applied to heterogeneous cancer classification using four different microarray benchmark datasets. The comparative experimental results showed that the proposed methodology achieved an almost 100% classification accuracy in multiclass cancer prediction, leading to superior performance with respect to other clustering algorithms. Subsequently, performance comparisons with other classifiers were made. An assessment analysis showed that this proposed approach outperformed most of the other classifiers

Overview of urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon towards human thermal comfort

Urban Heat Island (UHI) is expected to be a disastrous challenge to human in the following decade as a result of continuous urbanization without appropriate planning and design. The impacts of UHI are even getting worse due to large population density with improper building design especially in dense metropolitan cities. A lot of research has been carried out for UHI phenomenon both in tropical and seasonal climates. There are many factors contributing to the formation of UHI phenomenon that includes increasing rate of urbanization and population density, uncontrollable factors and controllable factors. In a fundamental study, a prolonged exposure to heat impact will significantly contribute to human discomfort and health problems resulting in heat-related illness. The cases of heat related deaths, such as heat strokes, are due to the result of climate changes and further the problem of heat waves will increase year by year. Since the consequences of UHI are considered to be more significant, the severity of the problem should be critically examined and carefully reported. Many research efforts have been implemented for making conceptual design and also a wide range of literature is available for continuing the mitigation strategies. Therefore, this study is emphasized on the critical investigation of the features, factors and impacts of UHI towards evaluating human safety and thermal comfort. Future research direction should also be encompassed on the design and planning parameters as well as assessment of climate change risks and vulnerability for reducing the effects of urban heat island onto human health and safety

Shear capacity evaluation of reinforced concrete beams: finite element simulation

The shear performance of reinforced concrete beams with rectangle cross-section and two different continuous rectangular spiral shear reinforcement under monotonous loading is numerically evaluated. Further, the behaviour of two continuous shear reinforcement systems named, “Single Square Spring Shear Resistance System” (SSSSRS) and “Double Square Spring Shear Resistance System” (DSSSRS) as transverse reinforcements are compared with conventional discontinuous system “Stirrups”. The finite element study includes three (3) beams. The results clearly show that the application of continuous shear reinforcement system delivered improved shear behaviour and enhanced bearing capacity in beams. Beams with Single Square Spring Shear Resistance System (SSSSRS) and Double Square Spring Shear Resistance System (DSSSRS) exhibited 14.4% and 19.8% increased shear performance in comparison with conventional control beam. It was concluded that under the same deflection higher forces was achieved for “Single Square Spring Shear Resistance System” (SSSSRS) and “Double Square Spring Shear Resistance System” (DSSSRS) compared to control specimens

Effect of Light/Dark cycle on Biomass and Lipid Productivity by <i>Chlorella pyrenoidosa </i>using Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME)

703-706Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is one of the waste water with highest organic content that could increase the formation of algal bloom. However, this can be taken to advantage in terms of extracting lipids from the microalgae which can be used as feedstock for biodiesel production. The light regimes submitted to the algal cultures are considered to be an important factor for determining the productivity and yield of photosynthetic reactions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of photo period on the biomass and lipid production by locally isolated microalgae, Chlorella pyrenoidosa in photo bioreactor (PBR) system. The cultures were grown at temperatures of 24 ºC - 26ºC and supplied with light density of 150 mol m-2s-1. The light cycles evaluated were 24:0, 16:8 and 8:16 (day: night), respectively. The highest amount of biomass 39.41 g/L. and 42 mg/L.d of lipid productivity were obtained under continuous illumination

Effect of light/dark cycle on biomass and lipid productivity by Chlorella pyrenoidosa using palm oil mill effluent (POME)

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is one of the waste water with highest organic content that could increase the formation of algal bloom. However, this can be taken to advantage in terms of extracting lipids from the microalgae which can be used as feedstock for biodiesel production. The light regimes submitted to the algal cultures are considered to be an important factor for determining the productivity and yield of photosynthetic reactions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of photo period on the biomass and lipid production by locally isolated microalgae, Chlorella pyrenoidosa in photo bioreactor (PBR) system. The cultures were grown at temperatures of 24 °C - 26°C and supplied with light density of 150 mol m-2s-1. The light cycles evaluated were 24:0, 16:8 and 8:16 (day: night), respectively. The highest amount of biomass 39.41 g/L. and 42 mg/L.d of lipid productivity were obtained under continuous illuminatio

Physiological aspects of the halophilic and halotolerant fungi, and their potential applications

Extremophiles are organisms that can thrive under extreme environmental conditions. There are many types of extremophiles, which require different growth conditions and habitats to grow; among them are the halophilic and the halotolerant microbes. These microbes are reported to grow in habitats of high salinity regions including the sea, sediments, lakes, mines, plant and the soil. They need high carbon source and salt concentration to achieve maximum tolerable condition for their survival. High salinity survival and tolerance of these microbes are mechanized due to their osmotic and ionic stress, which are regulated through their genetic expression of enzymes, proteins, cell wall compositions and transporters. Thus, due to their robustness; the halophiles and halotolerant fungi showed high potential in health care; antimicrobial and anticancer activity, nanoparticle synthesis, enzyme production, genetics, bioremediation and other aspects. The aim of the current study was to explore the halophilic and halotolerant fungi, which are least explored for their habitats, growth requirements, and mechanism for salt resistance and tolerance. This will be followed by their biotechnological applications focusing on the biomedical industry, due to the emergence of the new multi-drug resistant pathogenic microbes

Removal of formaldehyde from polluted air in a biotrickling filter reactor

Optimization of biotrickling filter reactor (BTFR) for the removal of formaldehyde contained in synthetic contaminated air was investigated. The importance of formaldehyde from contaminated air is necessary mainly because it is toxic, carcinogen, and mutagen for humans. Although several studies have been conducted on formaldehyde removal by using BTFR from contaminated air, but optimum conditions for formaldehyde removal is not being studied using a trustable method. The determination of optimum condition to remove formaldehyde was carried out with Taguchi experimental design method. The influence of different factors (pH, nitrogen, phosphorus, formaldehyde concentration) on formaldehyde removal efficiency in BTFR was determined, and the optimum condition for maximizing this response was obtained. The result shows that pH has a greater effect on BTFR efficiency for formaldehyde removal. By operating BTFR in optimum condition, the removal rate increased up to 98%. Thus, the operation of BTFR at optimum condition to remove formaldehyde is considered to be essential in minimizing the pollutants present in the atmosphere

Thermal performance of developed coating material as cool pavement material for tropical regions

The amount of solar energy emitted back from conventional asphalt pavement contributes to the phenomenon of urban heat island (UHI), and the current work was focused on studying the thermal behavior of asphalt pavement developed as a coating material from wasted tile. The surface temperature of asphalt surface with and without coating material for ambient temperature and underground soil temperature was studied. Results showed that the application of developed coating materials could reduce the surface temperature of asphalt pavement up to 4.4°C. Rainfall also played a significant role as a natural coolant during the experimental run by maintaining the surface temperature continuously for 2 days after the rainfall event, with an average surface temperature of 41.9°C. The underground soil temperature of the coated surface showed reduction in the range of 0.8-1.2°C throughout the day. The coating materials achieved their efficiency in reducing the emitted radiation only during noontime and the results show that the developed coating materials have true potential to serve as cool pavement to combat UHI effects

Investigation of heat impact behavior on exterior wall surface of building material at urban city area

This paper represents a comparative study aiming to investigate the heat impact on the vertical surfaces of buildings temperature based on their thermal behaviors. This study was carried out based on four building materials commonly used in Malaysia namely brick, concrete, granite and white concrete tiles. In order to investigate the thermal performance on the building materials, surface temperature sensors, data logging system as well as infrared thermography procedures were used, respectively. As the thermal impact to the materials was measured using infrared thermometric and thermographic, a field work of thermal value can be simply observed as a “seeing heat” effect. The results indicate that bricks had the capability to absorb and store heat greater than other materials during peak daytime event. The normalized (total heat/solar radiation) of brick materials was 0.093, which was the highest value compared to others. A brick material shows the highest impact of heat in 51% than white granite material and it releases a substantial amount of heat into the atmosphere through radiation and convection factors. The types of material used at exterior wall buildings have significant impact to the surrounding environment. The use of suitable materials contributes to the reduction of the air temperature due to heat transfer phenomena