Role of the Biofilms in Wastewater Treatment

Biological wastewater treatment systems play an important role in improving water quality and human health. This chapter thus briefly discusses different biological methods, specially biofilm technologies, the development of biofilms on different filter media, factors affecting their development as well as their structure and function. It also tackles various conventional and modern molecular techniques for detailed exploration of the composition, diversity and dynamics of biofilms. These data are crucial to improve the performance, robustness and stability of biofilm-based wastewater treatment technologies

Machine Learning Classification of Facial Affect Recognition Deficits after Traumatic Brain Injury for Informing Rehabilitation Needs and Progress

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)A common impairment after a traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a deficit in emotional recognition, such as inferences of others’ intentions. Some researchers have found these impairments in 39\% of the TBI population. Our research information needed to make inferences about emotions and mental states comes from visually presented, nonverbal cues (e.g., facial expressions or gestures). Theory of mind (ToM) deficits after TBI are partially explained by impaired visual attention and the processing of these important cues. This research found that patients with deficits in visual processing differ from healthy controls (HCs). Furthermore, we found visual processing problems can be determined by looking at the eye tracking data developed from industry standard eye tracking hardware and software. We predicted that the eye tracking data of the overall population is correlated to the TASIT test. The visual processing of impaired (who got at least one answer wrong from TASIT questions) and unimpaired (who got all answer correctly from TASIT questions) differs significantly. We have divided the eye-tracking data into 3 second time blocks of time series data to detect the most salient individual blocks to the TASIT score. Our preliminary results suggest that we can predict the whole population's impairment using eye-tracking data with an improved f1 score from 0.54 to 0.73. For this, we developed optimized support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF) classifier

REDUCED INSECTICIDE APPLICATIONS CAN ENHANCE NATURAL ENEMIES OF BEMISIA TABACI IN COTTON

Excessive amount of insecticides destroys natural enemies of cotton pests and consequently the population of whitefly flares up. The present research focused on the use of PB ropes to reduce application of insecticides and to investigate the ecological impact on Bemisia tabaci and beneficial fauna in cotton fields. Two cotton varieties (BS-15 and NIAB-878) were sown in research area of MNS University of Agriculture, Multan during 2018 on 30 acres. PB ropes dispensers (PB-ropes L®) were installed at 120/acre at pin head square stage of cotton. It was observed that application of PB ropes reduced need for insecticide applications, thus helped conservation of beneficial fauna in cotton fields throughout the season, which kept whitefly populations below EIL. Population of whitefly nymph was reduced after application (0.9/leaf-seasonal average) in PB ropes treated fields as compared to untreated check (8.1/leaf-seasonal average). Furthermore, higher population of green lacewing (4.00/plant) was observed in PB ropes treated field. It was concluded that populations of whiteflies were kept below EIL due to conservation of green lacewing. This positive effect of PB ropes is presumably due to increasing the number of cotton insect pest biological agents. This indirect effect of mating disruption (PB ropes) is of great value within the framework of IPM in cotton

Encapsulated green magnetic nanoparticles for the removal of toxic Pb2+ and Cd2+ from water: Development, characterization and application

Current research is based on an innovative approach of the fabrication of encapsulated sustainable, green, phytogenic magnetic nanoparticles (PMNPs), to inhibit the generation of secondary pollutants (Iron/Fe degrees) during water treatment applications. These novel bio-magnetic membrane capsules (BMMCs) were prepared using twostep titration gel crosslink method, with polyvinyl alcohol and sodium alginate matrix as the model encapsulating materials to eliminate potentially toxic metals (Pb2+ and Cd2+) from water. The development of BMMCs was characterized by FTIR, XRD, XPS, SEM, VSM, TGA and EDX techniques. The effects of various operating parameters, adsorbent dose, contact time, solution pH, temperature, initial concentration of metals cations and co-existing ions were studied. The hysteresis loops have illustrated an excellent super-paramagnetic nature, demonstrating the smooth encapsulation of PMNPs without losing their magnetic properties. The maximum monolayer adsorptive capacities estimated at pH 6.5 by the Langmuir isotherm model were 548 and 610.67 mg/g for Pb2+ and Cd2+, respectively. The novel BMMCs did not only control oxidation of PMNPs but also sustained the adsorptive removal over a wide range of pH (3-8), and the electrostatic interaction and ion-exchange were the core adsorption mechanisms. The BMMCs could easily be regenerated using 25% HNO3 as an eluent for successful usage in seven repeated cycles. Therefore, the BMMCs as a material can be used as an excellent sorbent or composite material to remove toxic metals Pb2+ and Cd2+, showing strong potential for improving water and wastewater treatment technologies

Musculoskeletal Manifestations of COVID-19:A Systematic Search and Review

Introduction: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) started its journey from Wuhan, China and gradually became a pandemic. COVID-19 often affects the respiratory system, but symptoms may include fatigue, myalgia, arthralgia, arthritis, spine-, and bone pain as presenting complaints. In the present systematic search and review, we aim to highlight the musculoskeletal manifestations during COVID-19.Methods: Using PubMed Central and Google Scholar search engines, we used as key words “muscle pain”, “joint pain”, “body ache”, “fatigue”, in Covid-19 patients. Results: After screening, a total of 76 articles were included following inclusion criteria dated between January 1 and July 1, 2020. All articles were published in English comprising 36558 COVID-19 cases. In cross sectional studies, fatigue was found in 55%, myalgia in 26%, and arthralgia in 20%, respectively. In cohort studies, fatigue was found in 35%, myalgia in 15%, and arthralgia in 5%, respectively. Sporadic case reports also mention back pain, bone pain, myositis and arthritis as presenting symptoms of COVID-19.Discussion: Fatigue was the most frequent musculoskeletal (MSK) manifestion of COVID-19 followed by myalgia and joint pain. The frequency of the different MSK manifestations in COVID-19 may vary widely among different geographic regions.Conclusions: MSK like fatigue, myalgia and arthralgia are frequent symptoms in COVID-19 patients and may vary in different countries

Assessment of Antimicrobial Activity of Cerumen (Earwax) and Antibiotics against Pathogenic Bacteria Isolated from Ear Pus Samples

The present study is focused on the assessment of the antimicrobial activity of cerumen and antibiotics against bacteria isolated from ear pus samples. Thus, a total of 50 ear pus samples were collected from infected patients using sterile swabs and were screened using pure culture techniques. Total of 04 different bacterial isolates were identified while, the prevalence data revealed that Pseudomonas spp., were dominant (58%, n = 29) among isolated bacteria followed by Staphylococcus spp., (22%, n = 11), Escherichia coli (14%, n = 7) and Proteus spp., (6%, n = 3). Further, bioassay revealed that Pseudomonas spp., and Staphylococcus spp., were most sensitive to Clindamycin (94.73%) while displayed resistant to Ciprofloxacin and Ampicillin. Similarly, E. coli and Proteus spp., were most sensitive to Ciprofloxacin (92.8–95.21%) as compared to the other antibiotics. Moreover, antibacterial activity of cerumen was also assessed against test organisms and its maximum activity was observed against Pseudomonas spp., (90% equivalent to Clindamycin potency) and Staphylococcus spp., (60% equivalent to Amoxicillin potency) while least effective against E. coli (36%) and Proteus spp., (22%). Thus, it was concluded that the antibacterial activity of cerumen might be due to the presence of potential chemicals i.e., flavonoids and terpenoids

Appraisal of suspended growth process for treatment of mixture of simulated petroleum, textile, domestic, agriculture and pharmaceutical wastewater

The unrestricted discharge of domestic and industrial wastewaters along with agricultural runoff water into the environment as mixed-wastewater pose serious threat to freshwater resources in many countries. Mixed-wastewater pollution is a common phenomenon in the developing countries as the technologies to treat the individual waste streams at source are lacking due to high operational and maintenance costs. Therefore, the need to explore the potential of the suspended growth process which is a well-established process technology for biological wastewater treatment is the focus of this paper. Different wastewater constituents: representing domestic, pharmaceutical, textile, petroleum, and agricultural runoff were synthesized as a representative of mixed-wastewater and treated in two semi-continuous bioreactors (R1 & R2) operated at constant operating conditions, namely MLSS (mg/L): 4640-R1, 4440-R2, SRT: 21-d, HRT: 48–72 h, and uncontrolled pH. The system attained stable condition in day 97, with average COD, BOD and TSS reduction as 84.5%, 86.2%, and 72.2% for R1; and 85.1%, 87.9%, and 75.1% for R2, respectively. Phosphate removal on average was by 74.3% in R1 and 76.6% in R2, while average nitrification achieved in systems 1 and 2 were 56.8% and 54.7%, respectively. The biological treatment system has shown potential for improving the quality of mixed-wastewater to the state where reuse may be considered and tertiary treatment can be employed to polish the effluent quality

Green synthesis of the innovative super paramagnetic nanoparticles from the leaves extract of Fraxinus chinensis Roxb and their application for the decolourisation of toxic dyes

The leaves extract of Fraxinus chinensis Roxb was used for the synthesis of the innovative phytogenic magnetic nanoparticles (PMNPs) without adding toxic surfactants. The formation, morphology, elemental composition, size, thermal stability, structure and magnetic properties of these PMNPs were examined by UV-visible spectrophotometry, FT-IR, XRD, SEM, EDX, TEM, VSM, XPS, BET and TGA. The reactivity of the obtained PMNPs against decolourising toxic dyes, namely, malachite green (MG), crystal violet (CV) and methylene blue (MB), were investigated by UV-vis spectrophotometry. Further, the factors affecting the removal of dyes, including solution pH, adsorbent dosages, initial concentration of dyes, reaction temperature and contact time, were also investigated. The results revealed the decolourisation of 99.12% of MG and 98.23% of CV within 60 min, and 97.52% of MB within 200 min by the PMNPs using dyes concentration of 25 mg/l at pH 6.5 and 298.15 K. The kinetics outcome indicated that the degradation of dyes matched well to the pseudo first-order reaction kinetics model. Furthermore, the probable degradation mechanism of dyes by the PMNPs, including the adsorption of cationic dye molecules onto the negatively charged surface of adsorbent and the oxidation of the Fe° in the solution, were discussed. Thus, the PMNPs can be produced by the bulk and have great potential to be employed for biomedical/environmental remediation

Prevalence and antifungal drug resistance of dermatophytes in the clinical samples from Pakistan

Dermatophytosis is a major health problem all over the world including Pakistan. This is the first report of detection of dermatophytes and their antifungal drug resistance in the Northern and Western parts of Pakistan. A total of 154 samples were collected from different hospitals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and out of them 136 samples were found positive. Tinea corporis (35%) was the most predominant type of infection followed by Tinea capitis (22%). The fungi identified in Tinea corporis infection types were identified as Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Epidermophyton floccosum. The fungi identified in Tinea capitis included Trichophyton violaceum, T. mentagrophytes, Microsporum ferrugi-neum. The gender wise distribution showed both males (52%) and females (48%) were infected with the fungi. More cases belonged to the rural parts of the country. Age wise distribution showed that the infection was more prevalent in the children and the prevalence decreased with the increase in age. The positive samples were checked against two antifungal agents: fluconazole and nystatin. Among 136 positive samples, none of the isolates showed resistance to nystatin while 7% of the samples showed resistance to fluconazole. The resistant isolates were then identified by amplifying the 18S rRNA gene, using universal primers (ITS1, ITS4). Among the 9 resistant isolates, 5 isolates were identified as Trichophyton spp., 3 as Microsporum spp. and 1 as Epidermophyton spp