Bioremediation: the eco-friendly solution to the hazardous problem of environmental pollution

Bioremediation is a technique to enhance natural biological processes to rectify polluted groundwater, soil, and even entire habitats. Bioremediation techniques use biological agents to act upon hazardous, toxic materials and subsequently convert them into less toxic substances.Microbes are organisms ubiquitously present in the biosphere. These microorganisms are the main agents that remediate toxic and polluted environmental conditions. Highly polluted areas can be rectified using proper bioremediation procedures and interventions. In this review we have studied the different bioremediation techniques which can be utilized to correct the harmful effects of environmental pollution. In this study we have also emphasized on the benefits of adopting bioremediation as an efficient alternative technique in comparison to the traditional physical and chemical methods to restore the healthy environmental conditions

SILYMARIN PROTECTS AGAINST COPPER-ASCORBATE INDUCED INJURY TO GOAT CARDIAC MITOCHONDRIA IN VITRO: INVOLVEMENT OF ANTIOXIDANT MECHANISM(S)

Silymarin, 'one of the component of the Milk thistle seeds Silybum marianum (L.) is used in traditional food and medicine in India. In the present study, we investigated the antioxidant activities of Silymarin against copper-ascorbate induced toxic injury to mitochondria obtained from goat heart, in vitro. Incubation of isolated cardiac mitochondria with copper-ascorbate resulted in elevated levels of lipid peroxidation and protein carbonylation of the mitochondrial membrane, a reduced level of mitochondrial GSH and altered status of antioxidant enzymes as well as decreased activities of pyruvate dehydrogenase and the Kreb's cycle enzymes, altered mitochondrial morphology, mitochondrial swelling and di-tyrosine level. All these changes were found to be ameliorated when the cardiac mitochondria were co-incubated with copper-ascorbate and Silymarin, in vitro. Silymarin, in our in vitro experiments, was found to scavenge hydrogen peroxide, superoxide anion free radicals, hydroxyl radicals and DPPH radical, in a chemically defined system, indicating that this compound may provide protection to cardiac mitochondria against copper-ascorbate induced toxic injury through its antioxidant activities. The results of this study suggest that Silymarin may be considered as a future therapeutic antioxidant and may be used singly or as a co-therapeutic in the treatment of diseases associated with mitochondrial oxidative stress

Burden of disease scenarios for 204 countries and territories, 2022–2050: a forecasting analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

Background: Future trends in disease burden and drivers of health are of great interest to policy makers and the public at large. This information can be used for policy and long-term health investment, planning, and prioritisation. We have expanded and improved upon previous forecasts produced as part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) and provide a reference forecast (the most likely future), and alternative scenarios assessing disease burden trajectories if selected sets of risk factors were eliminated from current levels by 2050. Methods: Using forecasts of major drivers of health such as the Socio-demographic Index (SDI; a composite measure of lag-distributed income per capita, mean years of education, and total fertility under 25 years of age) and the full set of risk factor exposures captured by GBD, we provide cause-specific forecasts of mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) by age and sex from 2022 to 2050 for 204 countries and territories, 21 GBD regions, seven super-regions, and the world. All analyses were done at the cause-specific level so that only risk factors deemed causal by the GBD comparative risk assessment influenced future trajectories of mortality for each disease. Cause-specific mortality was modelled using mixed-effects models with SDI and time as the main covariates, and the combined impact of causal risk factors as an offset in the model. At the all-cause mortality level, we captured unexplained variation by modelling residuals with an autoregressive integrated moving average model with drift attenuation. These all-cause forecasts constrained the cause-specific forecasts at successively deeper levels of the GBD cause hierarchy using cascading mortality models, thus ensuring a robust estimate of cause-specific mortality. For non-fatal measures (eg, low back pain), incidence and prevalence were forecasted from mixed-effects models with SDI as the main covariate, and YLDs were computed from the resulting prevalence forecasts and average disability weights from GBD. Alternative future scenarios were constructed by replacing appropriate reference trajectories for risk factors with hypothetical trajectories of gradual elimination of risk factor exposure from current levels to 2050. The scenarios were constructed from various sets of risk factors: environmental risks (Safer Environment scenario), risks associated with communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases (CMNNs; Improved Childhood Nutrition and Vaccination scenario), risks associated with major non-communicable diseases (NCDs; Improved Behavioural and Metabolic Risks scenario), and the combined effects of these three scenarios. Using the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways climate scenarios SSP2-4.5 as reference and SSP1-1.9 as an optimistic alternative in the Safer Environment scenario, we accounted for climate change impact on health by using the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change temperature forecasts and published trajectories of ambient air pollution for the same two scenarios. Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy were computed using standard methods. The forecasting framework includes computing the age-sex-specific future population for each location and separately for each scenario. 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) for each individual future estimate were derived from the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles of distributions generated from propagating 500 draws through the multistage computational pipeline. Findings: In the reference scenario forecast, global and super-regional life expectancy increased from 2022 to 2050, but improvement was at a slower pace than in the three decades preceding the COVID-19 pandemic (beginning in 2020). Gains in future life expectancy were forecasted to be greatest in super-regions with comparatively low life expectancies (such as sub-Saharan Africa) compared with super-regions with higher life expectancies (such as the high-income super-region), leading to a trend towards convergence in life expectancy across locations between now and 2050. At the super-region level, forecasted healthy life expectancy patterns were similar to those of life expectancies. Forecasts for the reference scenario found that health will improve in the coming decades, with all-cause age-standardised DALY rates decreasing in every GBD super-region. The total DALY burden measured in counts, however, will increase in every super-region, largely a function of population ageing and growth. We also forecasted that both DALY counts and age-standardised DALY rates will continue to shift from CMNNs to NCDs, with the most pronounced shifts occurring in sub-Saharan Africa (60·1% [95% UI 56·8–63·1] of DALYs were from CMNNs in 2022 compared with 35·8% [31·0–45·0] in 2050) and south Asia (31·7% [29·2–34·1] to 15·5% [13·7–17·5]). This shift is reflected in the leading global causes of DALYs, with the top four causes in 2050 being ischaemic heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, compared with 2022, with ischaemic heart disease, neonatal disorders, stroke, and lower respiratory infections at the top. The global proportion of DALYs due to YLDs likewise increased from 33·8% (27·4–40·3) to 41·1% (33·9–48·1) from 2022 to 2050, demonstrating an important shift in overall disease burden towards morbidity and away from premature death. The largest shift of this kind was forecasted for sub-Saharan Africa, from 20·1% (15·6–25·3) of DALYs due to YLDs in 2022 to 35·6% (26·5–43·0) in 2050. In the assessment of alternative future scenarios, the combined effects of the scenarios (Safer Environment, Improved Childhood Nutrition and Vaccination, and Improved Behavioural and Metabolic Risks scenarios) demonstrated an important decrease in the global burden of DALYs in 2050 of 15·4% (13·5–17·5) compared with the reference scenario, with decreases across super-regions ranging from 10·4% (9·7–11·3) in the high-income super-region to 23·9% (20·7–27·3) in north Africa and the Middle East. The Safer Environment scenario had its largest decrease in sub-Saharan Africa (5·2% [3·5–6·8]), the Improved Behavioural and Metabolic Risks scenario in north Africa and the Middle East (23·2% [20·2–26·5]), and the Improved Nutrition and Vaccination scenario in sub-Saharan Africa (2·0% [–0·6 to 3·6]). Interpretation: Globally, life expectancy and age-standardised disease burden were forecasted to improve between 2022 and 2050, with the majority of the burden continuing to shift from CMNNs to NCDs. That said, continued progress on reducing the CMNN disease burden will be dependent on maintaining investment in and policy emphasis on CMNN disease prevention and treatment. Mostly due to growth and ageing of populations, the number of deaths and DALYs due to all causes combined will generally increase. By constructing alternative future scenarios wherein certain risk exposures are eliminated by 2050, we have shown that opportunities exist to substantially improve health outcomes in the future through concerted efforts to prevent exposure to well established risk factors and to expand access to key health interventions

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundDisorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021.MethodsWe estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined.FindingsGlobally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer.InterpretationAs the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed

22. The effect of natural products on the growth of docetaxel-resistant triple-negative breast cancer cells.

TNBC is an aggressive form of breast cancer with no targeted treatment available. Chemotherapy drugs like docetaxel are prescribed for TNBC patients. Chemotherapy is cytotoxic and has various side effects as it cannot differentiate between normal cells and fast dividing cancer cells. Docetaxel kills most of the cancer cells, but some are resistant to docetaxel. These resistant cells survive and express cancer stem cell markers; in fact, they are responsible for the relapse of cancer. In this project, we are studying if the chemicals in natural products like ginger, turmeric, herb (ashwagandha), grapefruit, lemon peel, etc. can interact with the overexpressed proteins (responsible for their survival and growth) in these docetaxel resistant cells by making use of molecular docking, a bioinformatics modeling technique. We have found proteins (CD24, KIF11, and KIF14) that get overexpressed when TNBC cells become resistant to docetaxel by making use of Oncomine (research premium edition) and research papers. We are working with prominent chemicals in natural products and have preliminary data that make use of the online molecular docking tool Patch Dock and we are going to analyze the interactions using a molecular visualization system called Pymol. If we find possible interactions, it will be significant as this will indicate the potential of natural products to kill docetaxel-resistant TNBC stem cells. Natural products are well tolerated by the human body and they will be a great substitute for toxic chemotherapy drugs. Key Words: TNBC, CD24, KIF11, KIF14, Docetaxel, molecular docking, natural product

CHIMP: a Tool for Assertion-Based Dynamic Verification of SystemC Models

Abstract—CHIMP is a tool for assertion-based dynamic verification of SystemC models. The various features of CHIMP include automatic generation of monitors from temporal assertions, automatic instrumentation of the model-under-verification (MUV), and three-way communication among the MUV, the generated monitors, and the SystemC simulation kernel during the monitored execution of the instrumented MUV. Empirical results show that CHIMP puts minimal runtime overhead on the monitored execution of the MUV. A newly added path in CHIMP results in a significant (over 75%) reduction of average monitor generation and compilation time. The average size of the monitors is reduced by over 60%, without increasing runtime overhead. I

Alumina-carbon composite as an effective adsorbent for removal of Methylene Blue and Alizarin Red-s from aqueous solution

15-20An alumina-carbon composite has been prepared by in situ precipitation of aluminium hydroxide on the surface of commercial activated carbon followed by calcinations. The adsorption characteristics of the as-synthesized material are studied using Methylene Blue and Alizarin Red-s. The adsorption equilibrium for Methylene Blue and Alizarin Red-s are well represented by the Redlich-Peterson and Tempkin isotherms respectively. The maximum adsorption capacity for Methylene Blue is found to be 1152.30 mg/g at pH 8 and that for Alizarin Red-s is 522.81 mg/g at <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">pH 5. The adsorption kinetics for both the dyes has been explained by the pseudo-second-order model

A comparative analysis of treating urban wastewater using bioremediation method in Kolkata, India

status: publishe