Wastewater treatment using integrated anaerobic baffled reactor and Bio-rack wetland planted with Phragmites sp. and Typha sp.

The purpose of this study is to examine the potential use of anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) followed by Bio-rack wetland planted with Phragmites sp. and Typha sp. for treating domestic wastewater generated by small communities (751 mg COD/L, 500 SCOD mg/L, 348 mg BOD(5)/L). Two parallel laboratory-scale models showed that the process planted with Phragmites sp. and Typha sp. are capable of removing COD by 87% & 86%, SCOD by 90% & 88%, BOD(5) by 93% & 92%, TSS by 88% & 86%, TN by 79% & 77%, PO(4)-P by 21% & 14% at an overall HRT of 21 (843 g COD/m(3)/day & 392 g BOD(5)/m(3)/day) and 27 (622 g COD/m(3)/day & 302 g BOD(5)/m(3)/day) hours, respectively. Microbial analysis indicated a high reduction in the MPN of total coliform and TVC as high as 99% at the outlet end of the processes. The vegetated system using Phragmites sp. showed significantly greater (p <0.05) pollutant removal efficiencies due to its extensive root and mass growth rate (p <0.05) of the plant compared to Typha sp. The Phragmites sp. indicated a higher relative growth rate (3.92%) than Typha sp. (0.90%). Microorganisms immobilized on the surface of the Bio-rack media (mean TVC: 2.33 × 10(7) cfu/cm(2)) were isolated, identified and observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). This study illustrated that the present integrated processes could be an ideal approach for promoting a sustainable decentralization, however, Phragmites sp. would be more efficient rather than Typha sp

Biallelic variants in OGDH encoding oxoglutarate dehydrogenase lead to a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by global developmental delay, movement disorder, and metabolic abnormalities

PURPOSE: This study aimed to establish the genetic cause of a novel autosomal recessive neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by global developmental delay, movement disorder, and metabolic abnormalities. METHODS: We performed a detailed clinical characterization of 4 unrelated individuals from consanguineous families with a neurodevelopmental disorder. We used exome sequencing or targeted-exome sequencing, cosegregation, in silico protein modeling, and functional analyses of variants in HEK293 cells and Drosophila melanogaster, as well as in proband-derived fibroblast cells. RESULTS: In the 4 individuals, we identified 3 novel homozygous variants in oxoglutarate dehydrogenase (OGDH) (NM_002541.3), which encodes a subunit of the tricarboxylic acid cycle enzyme α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase. In silico homology modeling predicts that c.566C>T:p.(Pro189Leu) and c.890C>A:p.(Ser297Tyr) variants interfere with the structure and function of OGDH. Fibroblasts from individual 1 showed that the p.(Ser297Tyr) variant led to a higher degradation rate of the OGDH protein. OGDH protein with p.(Pro189Leu) or p.(Ser297Tyr) variants in HEK293 cells showed significantly lower levels than the wild-type protein. Furthermore, we showed that expression of Drosophila Ogdh (dOgdh) carrying variants homologous to p.(Pro189Leu) or p.(Ser297Tyr), failed to rescue developmental lethality caused by loss of dOgdh. SpliceAI, a variant splice predictor, predicted that the c.935G>A:p.(Arg312Lys)/p.(Phe264_Arg312del) variant impacts splicing, which was confirmed through a mini-gene assay in HEK293 cells. CONCLUSION: We established that biallelic variants in OGDH cause a neurodevelopmental disorder with metabolic and movement abnormalities

Biallelic variants in OGDH encoding oxoglutarate dehydrogenase lead to a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by global developmental delay, movement disorder, and metabolic abnormalities

Purpose: This study aimed to establish the genetic cause of a novel autosomal recessive neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by global developmental delay, movement disorder, and metabolic abnormalities.Methods: We performed a detailed clinical characterization of 4 unrelated individuals from consanguineous families with a neurodevelopmental disorder. We used exome sequencing or targeted-exome sequencing, cosegregation, in silico protein modeling, and functional analyses of variants in HEK293 cells and Drosophila melanogaster, as well as in proband-derived fibroblast cells.Results: In the 4 individuals, we identified 3 novel homozygous variants in oxoglutarate dehydrogenase (OGDH) (NM_002541.3), which encodes a subunit of the tricarboxylic acid cycle enzyme alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase. In silico homology modeling predicts that c.566C > T:p.(Pro189Leu) and c.890C > A:p.(Ser297Tyr) variants interfere with the structure and function of OGDH. Fibroblasts from individual 1 showed that the p.(Ser297Tyr) variant led to a higher degradation rate of the OGDH protein. OGDH protein with p.(Pro189Leu) or p.(Ser297Tyr) variants in HEK293 cells showed significantly lower levels than the wild-type protein. Furthermore, we showed that expression of Drosophila Ogdh (dOgdh) carrying variants homologous to p.(Pro189Leu) or p.(Ser297Tyr), failed to rescue developmental lethality caused by loss of dOgdh. SpliceAI, a variant splice predictor, predicted that the c.935G > A:p.(Arg312Lys)/p.(Phe264_Arg312del) variant impacts splicing, which was confirmed through a mini-gene assay in HEK293 cells.Conclusion: We established that biallelic variants in OGDH cause a neurodevelopmental disorder with metabolic and movement abnormalities.(c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. This is an open access article under the CC BY licensePeer reviewe

A quantitative approach on environment-food nexus: integrated modeling and indices for cumulative impact assessment of farm management practices

Background Best management practices (BMPs) are promising solutions that can partially control pollution discharged from farmlands. These strategies, like fertilizer reduction and using filter strips, mainly control nutrient (N and P) pollution loads in basins. However, they have secondary impacts on nutrition production and ecosystem. This study develops a method to evaluate the cumulative environmental impacts of BMPs. It also introduces and calculates food’s environmental footprint (FEF) for accounting the total environmental damages per nutrition production. Methods This study combines the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) for basin simulation with the indices of ReCiPe, a life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) method. By these means, the effectiveness of BMPs on pollution loads, production yields, and water footprints (WFs) are evaluated and converted as equivalent environmental damages. This method was verified in Zrebar Lake, western Iran. Here, water consumption, as WFs, and eutrophication are the main indices that are converted into equivalent health and ecological impairments. Two methods, entropy and environmental performance index (EPI), are used for weighting normalized endpoints in last step. Results Results showed that using 25–50% less fertilizer and water for irrigation combined with vegetated filter strips reduce N and P pollution about 34–60% and 8–21%, respectively. These can decrease ecosystem damages by 5–9% and health risks by 7–14%. Here, freshwater eutrophication is a more critical damage in ecosystem. However, using less fertilizer adversely reduces total nutrition production by 1.7–3.7%. It means that BMPs can decline total ecological damages and health risks, which threatens nutrition production. FEF presents a tool to solve this dilemma about the sustainability of BMPs. In the study area, a 4–9% decrease in FEF means that BMPs are more environmental friendly than nutrition menacing. Finally, this study concludes that SWAT-ReCiPe with FEF provides a quantitative framework for environment-food nexus assessment. However, due to the uncertainties, this method is recommended as a tool for comparing management strategies instead of reporting certain values

Evaluation of the Performance of Vetiveria zizanioides in Removing Nutrients from Wastewater

The aim of this study was to evaluate the growth of Vetiveria zizanioides under hydroponic conditions and its efficiency in removing nitrogen and phosphorus compounds from wastewaters. For this purpose, a pilot plant was constructed with a net volume of 60 liters which was intermittently fed for three months with the effluent from a domestic wastewater treatment plant. It was found that Vetiver exhibited a significant capability for living in polluted waters under hydroponic condition as evidenced by the growth of its leaves to 130 cm. Moreover, the average values of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and biochemical oxidation demand (BOD) removal efficiencies over four days of retention time were 91%, 97%, and 75%, respectively. If used as a tertiary treatment unit, the plant needs a minimum retention time of two days to allow adequate time for the removal of such vital compounds as Ammonia and Phosphate by 95%, which is the typical standard limit for wastewater reuse or free discharge. Finally, it was observed that the total values of nitrogen and phosphorus absorbed in the leaves were 17 and 2.3 (mg/gr dry weight) while the same elements absorbed in the roots were measured as 13 and 1.8 (mg/gr dry weight), respectively

Evaluation of River Water Quality and Indices for Fish Farm Development (Case study: Kabkian River)

Background: Fish farming requires proper water quality to increase productivity and reduce health risk exposures while they are emission sources in rivers themselves. The purpose of this research is to evaluate river water quality regarding physicochemical parameters coupling with water quality index (WQI) to study the viability of fish farming expansion. Methods: This study is carried out both as field survey and laboratory analysis. Samples were taken bimonthly in 6 periods (2016-2017) from 21 stations from Kabkian River, Iran, including the water body and discharge points. Afterwards, results were statistically analyzed by T-Test regarding the spatial and temporal specifications with SPSS. Results: Experimental results show that dissolved oxygen is over 7 mg/L and WQI is 70 which is classified as good. However, temporal variations of BOD, COD and nitrite concentrations are significant and their average are rather high about 10, 16 and 0.14 mg/L, respectively. Since, BOD is the only parameter with significant spatial variations, it is introduced as the main parameter for river water quality monitoring. Conclusion: Overally, Kabkian water quality is suitable for fish farming. However, due to the possibility of presence of malachite green, it is highly recommended that strict monitoring should be implemented upstream to control fish farm discharges and reduce health risk exposures.&nbsp; &nbsp