Solid Waste Management Approaches in Trincomalee Urban Council Area

Solid Waste Management is one of the major challenges encountered by the urban areas of Sri Lanka. As a result of inappropriate disposal of solid waste in the open spaces; ecological, health, socio economic problems arise. No research has been undertaken regarding the solid waste management in Trincomalee Urban Council (UC) area of Sri Lanka. This research is carried out with the objectives of identifying the existing solid waste management system of Trincomalee UC area, assessing the problems and challenges in the solid waste management system and proposing recommendations to manage solid wastes properly. Primary data were collected through direct field observation, questionnaire survey with 200 respondents were selected based on purposive sampling, discussion and the secondary data were obtained from resource profiles, statistical handbooks, official websites and published journals. Data was collected from 02.09.2019 to 02.12.2019 and analysed through descriptive statistical method. “SPSS” software is used to analyse the questionnaires. Research revealed that the municipal solid waste generation in Trincomalee UC area has increased temporally due to population increase, expansion of commercial activities, growth of tourism and development activities. 73 tons of municipal solid waste has been generated daily, among them 54% produced from commercial centres and 38% from residential areas. 85% of the waste are degradable organic and 15% are inorganic. Unsorted solid wastes of Trincomalee UC area are disposed at Kanninya open space without any intermediate treatment activities. There is a shortage in appropriate technology, finance and cadres at Trincomalee UC to pursue the recycle activities and the participation of community is low. This situation is the root for the variety of ecological, health and socio-economic problems. Proposed recommendations were included in the conclusion. In this context, this study is the starting point for the policy makers and researchers of solid waste management.DOI: https://doi.org/10.31357/fhss/vjhss.v05i01.03

Antimicrobial susceptibility and virulence genes of clinical and environmental isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Background Pseudomonas aeruginosa is ubiquitous, has intrinsic antibiotic resistance mechanisms, and is associated with serious hospital-associated infections. It has evolved from being a burn wound infection into a major nosocomial threat. In this study, we compared and correlated the antimicrobial resistance, virulence traits and clonal relatedness between clinical and fresh water environmental isolates of P. aeruginosa. Methods 219 P. aeruginosa isolates were studied: (a) 105 clinical isolates from 1977 to 1985 (n = 52) and 2015 (n = 53), and (b) 114 environmental isolates from different fresh water sources. All isolates were subjected to ERIC-PCR typing, antimicrobial susceptibility testing and virulence factor genes screening. Results Clinical and environmental isolates of P. aeruginosa were genetically heterogenous, with only four clinical isolates showing 100% identical ERIC-PCR patterns to seven environmental isolates. Most of the clinical and environmental isolates were sensitive to almost all of the antipseudomonal drugs, except for ticarcillin/clavulanic acid. Increased resistant isolates was seen in 2015 compared to that of the archived isolates; four MDR strains were detected and all were retrieved in 2015. All clinical isolates retrieved from 1977 to 1985 were susceptible to ceftazidime and ciprofloxacin; but in comparison, the clinical isolates recovered in 2015 exhibited 9.4% resistance to ceftazidime and 5.7% to ciprofloxacin; a rise in resistance to imipenem (3.8% to 7.5%), piperacillin (9.6% to 11.3%) and amikacin (1.9% to 5.7%) and a slight drop in resistance rates to piperacillin/tazobactam (7.7% to 7.5%), ticarcillin/clavulanic acid (19.2% to 18.9%), meropenem (15.4% to 7.5%), doripenem (11.5% to 7.5%), gentamicin (7.7% to 7.5%) and netilmicin (7.7% to 7.5%). Environmental isolates were resistant to piperacillin/tazobactam (1.8%), ciprofloxacin (1.8%), piperacillin (4.4%) and carbapenems (doripenem 11.4%, meropenem 8.8% and imipenem 2.6%). Both clinical and environmental isolates showed high prevalence of virulence factor genes, but none were detected in 10 (9.5%) clinical and 18 (15.8%) environmental isolates. The exoT gene was not detected in any of the clinical isolates. Resistance to carbapenems (meropenem, doripenem and imipenem), β-lactamase inhibitors (ticarcillin/clavulanic acid and piperacillin/tazobactam), piperacillin, ceftazidime and ciprofloxacin was observed in some of the isolates without virulence factor genes. Five virulence-negative isolates were susceptible to all of the antimicrobials. Only one MDR strain harbored none of the virulence factor genes. Conclusion Over a period of 30 years, a rise in antipseudomonal drug resistance particularly to ceftazidime and ciprofloxacin was observed in two hospitals in Malaysia. The occurrence of resistant environmental isolates from densely populated areas is relevant and gives rise to collective anxiety to the community at large

RNomic identification and evaluation of npcTB_6715, a nonprotein- coding RNA gene as a potential biomarker for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Technological advances in RNA biology greatly improved transcriptome profiling during the last two decades. Besides the discovery of many small RNAs (sRNA) that are involved in the physiological and pathophysiological regulation of various cellular circuits, it becomes evident that the corresponding RNA genes might also serve as potential biomarkers to monitor the progression of disease and treatment. sRNA gene candidate npcTB_6715 was previously identified via experimental RNomic (unpublished data), and we report its application as potential biomarker for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) in patient samples. For proof of principle, we developed a multiplex PCR assay and report its validation with 500 clinical cultures, positive for Mycobacteria. The analysis revealed 98.9% sensitivity, 96.1% specificity, positive and negative predictive values of 98.6% and 96.8%, respectively. These results underscore the diagnostic value of the sRNA gene as diagnostic marker for the specific detection of MTB in clinical samples. Its successful application and the general ease of PCR-based detection compared to standard bacterial culture techniques might be the first step towards ‘point-of-care’ diagnostics of Mycobacteria. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time for the design of diagnostic applications based on sRNA genes, in Mycobacteria

Whole-genome sequences of two carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella quasipneumoniae strains isolated from a tertiary hospital in Johor, Malaysia

We report the whole-genome sequences of two carbapenem-resistant clinical isolates of Klebsiella quasipneumoniae subsp. similipneumoniae obtained from two different patients. Both strains contained three different extended-spectrum β-lactamase genes and showed strikingly high pairwise average nucleotide identity of 99.99% despite being isolated 3 years apart from the same hospital

Solar PV in multi-family houses with battery storage

This thesis investigates the economic viability of a grid connected PV system integrated with battery storage in a multifamily home in Sweden. In addition, a fleet of electric cars is added to the system and its economic feasibility is analyzed. The analysis is further classified based on the roof area available for PV installation, wherein system 1 considers nearly the entire roof area of 908 m2 and system 2 is assumed to have less than half the roof area of 360 m2 for PV installation. To help with the assessment, five scenarios are created; where scenario one represents a baseline Swedish cooperative without PV, scenario two includes a PV system; scenario three incorporates battery storage; four considers an electric vehicle fleet embedded into the system and scenario five has a fleet of gasoline cars. These scenarios are applied to the two systems and their results compared. To address the question of this thesis both scenarios 2 and 3 are simulated in System Advisor Model (SAM) and scenario 4 is modeled in Matlab. The outputs are exported to Excel in order to obtain the Net Present Value (NPV), which is the economic indicator for this assessment. In none of the tested scenarios the NPVs’ are positive and the best result is observed in a PV system installed with battery storage in a roof area of 360 m2, which has a NPV of -82,000 SEK. A sensitivity analysis is done to assess the changes in NPV by varying the input parameters. It is concluded that battery storage is not yet economically viable in a Swedish multifamily house

An overview of lymphatic filariasis lymphedema.

Filariasis is caused by thread-like nematode worms and is classified according to their presence in the vertebrate host. The lymphatic group includes Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi, and Brugia timori. Lymphatic filariasis, a mosquito-borne disease, has been one of the most prevalent diseases in tropical and subtropical countries and is accompanied by a number of pathological conditions. It is estimated that currently (after 13 years of the MDA programme) there are an estimated 67.88 million LF cases that include 36.45 million microfilaria carriers, 19.43 million hydrocele cases, and 16.68 million lymphedema cases. Adult filarial worms reside in the lymphatics and lymph nodes and induce changes that result in dilatation of lymphatics and thickening of the lymphatic vessel walls. Progressive lymphatic damage and pathology results from the summation of the effect of tissue alterations induced by both living and nonliving adult parasites. In recent years, there has been rapid progress in filariasis research, which has provided new insights into the pathogenesis of filarial disease, diagnosis, chemotherapy, the host-parasite relationship, and the genomics of the parasite. We examined the clinical manifestations of the disease, diagnosis, treatment, immune responses, and management including review of pharmaceutical agents against filariasis. Details on infection, safety profile, and status in clinical practices are also reported

Molecular characterization of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae from a Malaysian hospital

Multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae associated with nosocomial infections have caused serious problems in antibiotic management with limited therapeutic choices. This study aimed to determine the genotypic and phenotypic characteristics of K. pneumoniae strains isolated from a tertiary hospital in Malaysia. Ninety-seven clinical K. pneumoniae strains were analyzed for antimicrobial susceptibility, all of which were sensitive to amikacin and colistin (except one strain), while 31.9 % and 27.8 % were MDR and ESBL producers, respectively. PCR and DNA sequencing of the amplicons indicated that the majority of MDR strains (26/27) were positive for blaTEM, followed by blaSHV (24/27), blaCTX-M-1 group (23/27), blaCTX-M-9 group (2/27), and mcr-1 (1/27). Thirty-seven strains were hypervirulent and PCR detection of virulence genes showed 38.1 %, 22.7 %, and 16.5 % of the strains were positive for K1, wabG, and uge genes, respectively. Genotyping by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) showed that these strains were genetically diverse and heterogeneous. Sequence types, ST23, ST22, and ST412 were the predominant genotypes. This is the first report of colistin-resistant K. pneumoniae among clinical strains associated with mcr-1 plasmid in Malaysia. The findings in this study have contributed to the effort in combating the increase in antimicrobial resistance by providing better understanding of genotypic characteristics and resistance mechanisms of the organisms. © 2019, Sociedade Brasileira de Microbiologia

Detection of VIM-2-, IMP-1- and NDM-1-producing multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Malaysia

Objectives: The increasing incidence of carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa along with the discovery of novel metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) is of concern. In this study, the isolation of MBL-producing P. aeruginosa clinical strains in Malaysia was investigated. Methods: A total of 53 P. aeruginosa clinical strains were isolated from different patients in Sultanah Aminah Hospital (Johor Bahru, Malaysia) in 2015. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed, and minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of imipenem and meropenem were determined by Etest. Carbapenem-resistant strains were screened for MBL production by the imipenem–ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (IMP-EDTA) double-disk synergy test, MBL imipenem/imipenem-inhibitor (IP/IPI) Etest and PCR. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis was performed for genotyping of the isolates. Results: Among the 53 clinical strains, 3 (5.7%) were identified as MBL-producers. Multidrug resistance was observed in all three strains, and two were resistant to all of the antimicrobials tested. Sequencing analysis confirmed that the three strains harboured carbapenemase genes (blaIMP-1, blaVIM-2 and blaNDM-1 in one isolate each). These multidrug-resistant strains were identified as sequence type 235 (ST235) and ST308. Conclusions: The blaIMP-1 and blaNDM-1 genes have not previously been reported in Malaysian P. aeruginosa isolates. The emergence of imipenemase 1 (IMP-1)- and New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase 1 (NDM-1)-producing P. aeruginosa in Malaysia maybe travel-associated