Hospital Wastewater Sludge: An Unaddressed Environmental Reservoir for Emerging and Rare Nosocomial Pathogens

Nosocomial infections cause significant mortality and financial losses each year. Most of these infections are caused by multidrug resistant (MDR) opportunistic pathogens and therefore are difficult to treat by standard therapies. Though hospitals are considered as ecological niches for nosocomial pathogens, environmental reservoirs for the same are still underexplored. The present study addressed this issue by systematically profiling the pathogenic diversity of hospital wastewater sludge hypothesized as an important reservoir for nosocomial pathogens within a hospital setting using Illumina Miseq Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) approach. The NGS data showed that i) nosocomial pathogens dominated the hospital sludge bacterial profile and majority of them fell in the category of either emerging or rare pathogens ii) Majority of the pathogens formed part of the low abundant microbiota represented by 3.56% of the reads iii) Nearly 14% of the reads were represented by the unculturable bacteria iv) Of the 580 species-level operational taxonomic units (OTUs) identified in this study, 166 matched with potential human pathogens v) Enterobacter cloacae (56.45%) was the most dominant species followed by  Pseudomonas putida (6.07%), Fusobacterium ulcerans (3.08%) Acidaminococcus fermentans (2.03%) respectively. Aeromonas hydrophila, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pantoea agglomerans formed the less dominant species. This study points towards the catastrophic effect on public health and environment that may result from the co-treatment of hospital wastewater with domestic wastewater in municipal wastewater treatment plants and the use of resultant sludge in agriculture which is a common method of sludge disposal practiced in developing countries. Keywords: Hospital sludge, Next Generation Sequencing, Nosocomial Pathogens, Emerging Pathogens, Rare Pathogens &nbsp

Viscous coefficients and thermal conductivity of a πKN\pi K N gas mixture in the medium

The temperature and density dependence of the relaxation times, thermal conductivity, shear viscosity and bulk viscosity for a hot and dense gas consisting of pions, kaons and nucleons have been evaluated in the kinetic theory approach. The in-medium cross-sections for $\pi\pi$, $\pi K$ and $\pi N$ scatterings were obtained by using complete propagators for the exchanged $\rho$, $\sigma$, $K^*$ and $\Delta$ excitations derived using thermal field theoretic techniques. Notable deviations can be observed in the temperature dependence of $\eta$, $\zeta$ and $\lambda$ when compared with corresponding calculations using vacuum cross-sections usually employed in the literature. The value of the specific shear viscosity $\eta/s$ is found to be in agreement with available estimates.Comment: Version published in European Physical Journal

Trisubstituted Geminal Diazaalkenes Derived Transient 1,2-Carbodications

Coulombic repulsion between two adjacent cation centres of 1,2-carbodications are known to decrease with π- and/or n-donor substituents by the positive charge delocalization. Here we report the delocalization of positive charge of transient 1,2-carbodications having one H-substituent by an intramolecular base-coordination. N-heterocyclic olefin (NHO) derived 2-pyrrolidinyl appended trisubstituted geminal diazaalkenes were employed for the generation of transient 1,2-carbodications through a 2-e chemical oxidation process. We have also studied the 1-e oxidation reaction of trisubstituted geminal diazaalkenes (electrochemically and chemically) and also studied them by in situ EPR spectroscopy.Fil: Mandal, Debdeep. Indian Institute of Technology; IndiaFil: Stein, Felix. Freie Universität Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Chandra, Shubhadeep. Universitat Stuttgart;Fil: Neuman, Nicolás Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química; ArgentinaFil: Sarkar, Pallavi. Indian Institute of Technology; IndiaFil: Das, Shubhajit. Indian Institute of Technology; IndiaFil: Kundu, Abhinanda. Indian Institute of Technology; IndiaFil: Sarkar, Arighna. Indian Institute of Technology; IndiaFil: Rawat, Hemant. Indian Institute of Technology; IndiaFil: Pati, Swapan. Indian Institute of Technology; IndiaFil: Chandrasekhar, Vadapalli. Indian Institute of Technology; IndiaFil: Sarkar, Biprajit. Universität Stuttgart;Fil: Jana, Anukul. Indian Institute of Technology; Indi

Systematizing the approach to air quality measurement and analysis in low and middle income countries

Peer reviewe

Coupled sea surface temperature-seawater delta O-18 reconstructions in the Arabian Sea at the millennial scale for the last 35 ka

Two sediment cores from the western (905; 10.46°9′N, 51.56°4′E, water depth 1586 m) and eastern (SK17; 15°15′N, 72°58′E, water depth 840 m) Arabian Sea were used to study past sea surface temperatures (SST) and seawater δ 18O (δ 18Ow) variations for the past 35 ka. We used coupled Mg/Ca-δ 18O calcite variability in two planktonic foraminiferal species: Globigerinoides ruber, which thrives throughout the year, and Globigerina bulloides, which occurs mainly when surface waters contain high nutrients during upwelling or convective mixing. SSTs in both areas based on Mg/Ca in G. ruber were ∼3 to 4°C lower during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ∼21 ka) than today and the Holocene period. The SST records based on G. bulloides also indicate general cooling, down to 18°C in both areas. SSTs in the western Arabian Sea based on G. bulloides were always lower than those based on G. ruber, indicating the presence of strong seasonal temperature contrast during the Holocene and LGM. We interpret the consistent presence of this seasonal temperature contrast to reflect a combination of seasonal summer upwelling (SW monsoon) and winter convective mixing (NE monsoon) in the western Arabian Sea. In the eastern Arabian Sea, G. bulloides-based SSTs were slightly lower (about 1°C) than G. ruber-based SSTs during the Holocene, indicating the almost absence of a seasonal temperature gradient, similar to today. However, a large seasonal temperature contrast occurred during the LGM which favors the assumption that strong NE monsoon winds forced winter upwelling or convective mixing offshore Goa. SST and δ 18Ow reconstructions reveal evidence of millennial-scale cycles, particularly in the eastern Arabian Sea. Here, the stadial periods (Northern Hemisphere cold periods such as Younger Dryas and Heinrich events) are marked by increasing SSTs and salty sea surface conditions relative to those during the interstadial periods. Indeed, the δ 18Ow record shows evidence of low-saline surface waters during interstadial periods, indicating increased freshwater runoff from the Western Ghats as a consequence of enhanced SW monsoon intensity

Evaluating the sustainability, scalability, and replicability of an STH transmission interruption intervention: The DeWorm3 implementation science protocol.

Hybrid trials that include both clinical and implementation science outcomes are increasingly relevant for public health researchers that aim to rapidly translate study findings into evidence-based practice. The DeWorm3 Project is a series of hybrid trials testing the feasibility of interrupting the transmission of soil transmitted helminths (STH), while conducting implementation science research that contextualizes clinical research findings and provides guidance on opportunities to optimize delivery of STH interventions. The purpose of DeWorm3 implementation science studies is to ensure rapid and efficient translation of evidence into practice. DeWorm3 will use stakeholder mapping to identify individuals who influence or are influenced by school-based or community-wide mass drug administration (MDA) for STH and to evaluate network dynamics that may affect study outcomes and future policy development. Individual interviews and focus groups will generate the qualitative data needed to identify factors that shape, contextualize, and explain DeWorm3 trial outputs and outcomes. Structural readiness surveys will be used to evaluate the factors that drive health system readiness to implement novel interventions, such as community-wide MDA for STH, in order to target change management activities and identify opportunities for sustaining or scaling the intervention. Process mapping will be used to understand what aspects of the intervention are adaptable across heterogeneous implementation settings and to identify contextually-relevant modifiable bottlenecks that may be addressed to improve the intervention delivery process and to achieve intervention outputs. Lastly, intervention costs and incremental cost-effectiveness will be evaluated to compare the efficiency of community-wide MDA to standard-of-care targeted MDA both over the duration of the trial and over a longer elimination time horizon