Improvement of wastewater quality of Dhaleswari river, Bangladesh using submerged macrophyte Egeria densa

Clean water is one of the significant goals among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will be achieved by at least 2030. It includes six outcome-oriented targets- improve water quality, wastewater treatment, ensure freshwater supplies are three of them. In Bangladesh, Freshwater ecosystem is continuously degraded due to rapid industrialization, which occurred along the riverside areas. In this context, laboratory-based work has been conducted to analyze the water quality of Dhaleshwari River, Bangladesh, which has already been polluted by industrial waste. The collected water samples were treated by submerged macrophyte Egeria densa to observe the changing water quality parameters. The growth of plants and roots were assessed after 10 days of exposure to three categories of water treatment. Initial and final water quality parameters were observed by the analysis of pH, EC, TDS, TSS, Acidity, Alkalinity, Total Hardness, Ca Hardness, COD, Sulphate (SO42-), Phosphate (PO43) Total Chlorine (Cl-) and Copper (Cu2+). The result showed that almost all the toxic parameters of water were reduced significantly at the end of the experiment. The present study hypothesized that submerged macrophyte E. densa can be used as a potential tool to upgrade the water quality of polluted rivers.Keyword: Clean water, Submerged macrophyte, SDG 6, Dhaleswari River, Freshwater ecosyste

Study of Elemental Profile of Some Medicinal Plants of Bangladesh

Abstract Essential and trace elements in medicinal plants of saver near the Dhaka city in Bangladesh have been measured using particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) technique. The sample were dried, pressed to make pellet and then bombarded with accelerator proton at 3 MV Van de Graff Accelerator laboratory of Atomic Energy Centre, Dhaka, (AECD). The X-ray emitted in the irradiation were measured by Lithium Drifted Silicon Detector Si (Li). The scattering chamber with associated all other circuitry and software MAESTRO-32 has been used for data acquisition and the collected data has been analyzed using GUPIX software. A number of major and trace elements were found to be in varying concentrations in the investigated medicinal plants. The contents of K and Ca are being notably large in medicinal plants samples. No toxic elements were detected in the investigated samples

Salinity reduces site quality and mangrove forest functions. From monitoring to understanding

Mangroves continue to be threatened across their range by a mix of anthropogenic and climate change-related stress. Climate change-induced salinity is likely to alter the structure and functions of highly productive mangrove systems. However, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of how rising salinity affects forest structure and functions because of the limited availability of mangrove field data. Therefore, based on extensive spatiotemporal mangrove data covering a large-scale salinity gradient, collected from the world's largest single tract mangrove ecosystem – the Bangladesh Sundarbans, we, aimed to examine (QI) how rising salinity influences forest structure (e.g., stand density, diversity, leaf area index (LAI), etc.), functions (e.g., carbon stocks, forest growth), nutrients availability, and functional traits (e.g., specific leaf area, wood density). We also wanted to know (QII) how forest functions interact (direct vs. indirect) with biotic (i.e., stand structure, species richness, etc.) and abiotic factors (salinity, nutrients, light availability, etc.). We also asked (QIII) whether the functional variable decreases disproportionately with salinity and applied the power-law (i.e., Y = a Xᵇ) to the salinity and functional variable relationships. In this study, we found that rises in salinity significantly impede forest growth and produce less productive ecosystems dominated by dwarf species while reducing stand structural properties (i.e., tree height, basal area, dominant tree height, LAI), soil carbon (organic and root carbon), and macronutrient availability in the soil (e.g., NH4+, P, and K). Besides, species-specific leaf area (related to resource acquisition) also decreased with salinity, whereas wood density (related to resource conservation) increased. We observed a declining abundance of the salt-intolerant climax species (Heritiera fomes) and dominance of the salt-tolerant species (Excoecaria agallocha, Ceriops decandra) in the high saline areas. In the case of biotic and abiotic factors, salinity and salinity-driven gap fraction (high transmission of light) had a strong negative impact on functional variables, while nutrients and LAI had a positive impact. In addition, the power-law explained the consistent decline of functional variables with salinity. Our study disentangles the negative effects of salinity on site quality in the Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem, and we recognize that nutrient availability and LAI are likely to buffer the less salt-tolerant species to maintain the ability to sequester carbon with sea-level rise. These novel findings advance our understanding of how a single stressor—salinity—can shape mangrove structure, functions, and productivity and offer decision makers a much-needed scientific basis for developing pragmatic ecosystem management and conservation plans in highly stressed coastal ecosystems across the globe

Assessment of radioactive pollution around a fertilizer factory complex in the North-Eastern part of Bangladesh

The activity concentrations of soil, water and fertilizer samples were determined by using high-resolution gamma spectrometry (HPGe detector: 40% relative efficiency) with a PC-based MCA system. The samples were collected from the area of a urea fertilizer factory, lagoon and Shitalakhya river in Narsingdi, Bangladesh. The activity concentrations of 226Ra ranged from 3.16 ± 0.32 to 10.28 ± 0.55 Bq.kg-1, 1.22 ± 0.41 to 7.36 ± 0.42 Bq.L-1 and 3.55 ± 0.33 to 90.65 ± 3.17 Bq.kg-1 for soil, water and fertilizer samples, respectively. The 232Th activity concentrations ranged from 4.89 ± 0.45 to 15.82 ± 0.45 Bq.kg-1, 1.21 ± 0.06 to 8.59 ± 0.37 Bq. L-1 and 4.76 ± 0.25 to 26.38 ± 1.40 Bq.kg-1 for soil, water and fertilizer samples, respectively. The 40K activity concentrations ranged from 24.96 ± 0.23 to 60.49 ± 0.56 Bq.kg-1, 7.48 ± 0.53 to 35.48 ± 0.24 Bq.L-1 and 3.55 ± 0.05 to 3051.71 ± 19.53 Bq.kg-1 for these samples, respectively. The radium equivalent activity, the hazard indices, the gamma activity concentration index, the indoor absorbed dose rate and the corresponding annual effective dose were estimated for the potential radiological hazard of the collected samples. The calculated values of the representative level index values (Igr) for all samples of the study area are lower than unity except the MOP sample. The activity ratios were also measured. These values are compared with reported values for other countries of the world. The results of the comparison studies show that the radioactivity concentrations and other radioactive indices of the samples of the study area are below the internationally accepted maximum permissible values. Therefore, this region is safe from any radiation hazard and no significant radiological threat was observed to the population of the study area

Age specific fast breathing in under-five diarrheal children in an urban hospital: Acidosis or pneumonia?

Background Children with diarrhea often present with fast breathing due to metabolic acidosis from dehydration. On the other hand, age specific fast breathing is the cornerstone for the diagnosis of pneumonia following classification of pneumonia recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Correction of metabolic acidosis by rehydrating the diarrheal children requires time, which delays early initiation of appropriate antimicrobials for pneumonia and thereby increases the risk of deaths. We need to further investigate the simple clinical features other than fast breathing which might help us in earliest diagnosis of pneumonia in children with diarrhea Thus, the objective of our study was to identify other contributing clinical features that may independently help for early diagnosis of pneumonia in diarrheal children who present with age specific fast breathing. Methods This was an unmatched case-control study. Diarrheal children aged 0–59 months, admitted to Dhaka Hospital of the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) during January 2014 to December 2014 having age specific fast breathing (11–59 months ≥40 breaths/min) were studied. The study children with clinical and radiological pneumonia constituted the cases (n = 276) and those without pneumonia constituted the controls (n = 446). Comparison of clinical features and outcomes between the cases and the controls was made. Results The distribution of acidosis among the cases and the controls was comparable (35% vs. 41%, p = 0.12). The cases had proportionately higher deaths compared to the controls, however, the difference was not statistically significant (3% vs. 1%; p = 0.23). In logistic regression analysis after adjusting for potential confounders, the cases were independently associated with cough (OR = 62.19, 95% CI = 27.79–139.19;

Clinical characteristics of under-five diarrheal children with (cases) and without pneumonia (controls) on admission and their outcome.

<p>Clinical characteristics of under-five diarrheal children with (cases) and without pneumonia (controls) on admission and their outcome.</p

Sensitivity and specificity of the clinical predictors of pneumonia in diarrheal children having age specific fast breathing.

<p>Sensitivity and specificity of the clinical predictors of pneumonia in diarrheal children having age specific fast breathing.</p

Results of logistic regression analysis to explore the independent predicting factors of pneumonia in diarrheal children having age specific fast breathing.

<p>Results of logistic regression analysis to explore the independent predicting factors of pneumonia in diarrheal children having age specific fast breathing.</p