Health risk assessment of heavy metals via dietary intake of vegetables grown in wastewater irrigated areas of Jagjeetpur, Haridwar India

The present study was conducted to appraise the human health risk due to dietary intake of heavy metals contaminated vegetables viz., cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata), cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) and spinach, (Spinacia oleracea) grown in the municipal wastewater irrigated soil in the proximity of sewage treatment plant (STP), Jagjeetpur, Haridwar. The results showed that Cd, Fe and Mn concentrations in B. oleracea var. capitata, B. oleracea var. botrytis and S. oleracea were found beyond the safe limit of the Indian and WHO/FAO standards for heavy metals in the vegetables. The contamination factor of these heavy metals in the soil was recorded in the order of Fe > Mn > Zn > Cu > Cr > Cd after irrigation of municipal wastewater. The higher values of metal pollution index in different vegetables as B. oleracea var. capitata (14.82; B. oleracea var. botrytis (10.48) and S. oleracea (12.59) showed more health risk index for Cd, Fe and Mn in these vegetables cultivated in the wastewater irrigated soil. Therefore, dietary intake of these heavy metals contaminated vegetables may pose a significant threat to the human health. However, cauliflower contained less heavy metal as compared to the cabbage and spinach, but health risk was more due to higher role in the diet. Even though there were low concentrations of heavy metals in the municipal wastewater used for the irrigation, but long term use of the municipal wastewater may cause gradual buildup of heavy metals in the vegetables grown in the municipal wastewater irrigated soil and leads to health risk of consumers due to intake of heavy metals contaminated vegetables

Bibliometric Analysis of Publications of University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS), Panjab University, Chandigarh

Panjab University in pharmacy discipline ranked 2nd in NIRF-2019 rankings. The University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS) of Panjab University Chandigarh is a premier institute of pharmaceutical education and research in India. The present study attempts to analyze research output and publication trends of authors of the UIPS during 2009-2018. The study is based on the data extracted from Scopus database and mainly examines the year-wise research output, major subject-wise contributions, national and international collaborations, most preferred journals, types of publications, authorship pattern, highly cited paper, most prolific authors, keywords and citations pattern of the UIPS during the period of ten years. The study revealed that total 978 research publications have been published by the authors of the UIPS which received 15318 citations during the above said period. The highest collaborative publications (5.32%) were published with United States of America. O.P. Katare is the most prolific author publishing 145 research publications having 2057 citations. Total 88.65% research papers of the institute have been cited by other authors and 14 papers received more than 100 citations

Deep Eutectic Solvents toward the Detection and Extraction of Neurotransmitters: An Emerging Paradigm for Biomedical Applications

Neurotransmitters (NTs), the chemical messengers crucial for the proper functioning of the human brain, have some specific concentration within the human physiological system. Any fluctuations in their concentration may cause several neuronal diseases and disorders. Therefore, the requirement for fast and effective diagnosis to regulate and manage human cerebral diseases or conditions is surging swiftly. NTs can be extracted from natural products. The researchers have developed new protocols to improve the sensors’ sensing ability and eco-friendly nature. Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have gained popularity as “green solvents” in sustainable chemistry. DESs provide a greater range of a potential window that helps in the enhanced electrocatalytic performance of the sensor and more inertness which helps in the corrosion protection of electrodes, ultimately giving better sensitivity and durability to the system. In addition, DESs provide facile electrodeposition of different materials on working electrodes, which is a prime prerequisite in electrocatalytic sensors. Here, in this review, the application of DESs as green solvents in detecting and extracting NTs is described in detail for the first time. We cover the available online articles up to December 2022 for the extraction and monitoring of NTs. Finally, we have concluded the topic with future prospects in this field

DEM simulation of effect of confining pressure on ballast behaviour

In this paper, an attempt has been made to investigate the influence of confining pressure on deformation and degradation behaviourof railway ballast using the Discrete Element Method (DEM). A novel approach has been employed to model the two dimensionalprojection of field size ballast particles as cluster of bonded particles. Bonded particles are held together by a bond, and debonding isconsidered as particle breakage. A series of cyclic loading simulations using DEM were carried out on an assembly of angular ballast particles at different confining pressures (10 kPa to 240 kPa). The results highlight that the development of axial strain during cyclicloading as a function of initial confining pressure and number of cycles. Very high axial strain and breakage of particles have been observed at low confining pressure (\u3c 30 kPa) owing to dilative volumetric strain behaviour. In terms of particle breakage, there existsan optimum range of confining pressures where breakage is minimal. In addition, the evolution of particle displacement vectors explains the breakage mechanism and associated deformations during cyclic loading

Progress in pectin based hydrogels for water purification: trends and challenges

Pectin is one of the finest natural polymer which has drawn great attention because of its applications in different fields. Due to the quintessential structure of pectin, it can be transformed into variety of useful products. It can be utilized as a blend in many polymers to make a mixture or a composite material. Owing to considerable collection in chemical conformation and cross-linking mechanism, different pectin based hydrogels have been prepared for different characteristics in pharmaceutical and bio-medical sites. Inventive properties of hydrogels like volubility, swellability, solvability and hydrophilicity make them better alternative for wastewater treatment. Recently, pectin based hydrogels have demonstrated excellent performance to eliminate various metal ions and dyes from the polluted water. The adsorption characteristics of pectin based hydrogels can be upgraded by using nanoparticles, which prompts to the development of hydrogel nano-composites. In this review article, we have summarized a comprehensive assessment in the direction of using pectin based hydrogels to remove toxic pollutants from aqueous solution. Sodium acrylate-co-N-isopropylacrylamide based pectin hydrogel has demonstrated the maximum adsorption capacities of 265.49, 137.43, 54.86, 53.86, 51.72 and 50.01 mg g−1 for the adsorption of methyl violet, methylene blue, Pb(II), Cu(II), Co(II) and Zn(II) respectively. We have also discussed the pectin structure, properties and applications in this article

Heavy metals and microbial contamination of certain leafy vegetables grown in abattoir effluent disposal province of Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh), India

The present investigation was carried out to study the heavy metals and microbial contamination of four selected leafy vegetables viz., cabbage, lettuce, coriander and spinach grown in abattoir effluent irrigated soil. The results revealed that the values of various parameters of abattoir effluent viz., TDS (2840 mg L-1), BOD (2480.50 mg L-1), COD (2890.00 mg L-1), total N (195.80 mg L-1), Fe (18.48 mg L-1), Mn (2.88 mg L-1), total bacteria (6.97×108 CFU ml -1), coliform bacteria (3.24×104 MPN 100 ml -1) and total fungi (7.78×105 CFU ml -1) were found beyond the prescribed limit of Indian irrigation standards. The abattoir effluent irrigation significantly (p<0.05/p<0.01) increased the EC, total N, available P, OC, Ca, Mg, K, Na, Fe, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Zn, total bacteria, coliform bacteria of the soil used for the cultivation of cabbage, lettuce, coriander and spinach in comparison to their respective controls. The most numbers of bacteria (8.67×108 CFU ml-1), coliform bacteria (7.80×105 MPN 100 ml-1) and total fungi (9.85×105 CFU ml-1) were noted in the lettuce after abattoir effluent irrigation. Therefore, the higher contents of heavy metals and microbial population in cabbage, lettuce, coriander and spinach might be related to their contents in the soils irrigated with abattoir effluent. Therefore, the agronomical practices with abattoir effluent should be regularly monitored to avert environmental problems and attendant health hazards

Phyto-adsorption treatment of paper mill effluent using leaf powder of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes [Mart.] Solms

In this present study, an experiment was performed to find the potential of leaf powder of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) in treating paper mill effluent. During the study the value of different parameters viz., pH (5.80±0.10), TDS (980.22±12.52 mgL-1), EC (6.52±0.11 dS m-1), BOD (86.42±4.61 mgL-1), COD (281.01±8.66 mgL-1), PO43- (71.46±6.00 mgL-1), TKN (84.99±3.92 mgL-1), Na (136.94±6.66 mgL-1), K (95.01±3.48 mgL-1) and total hardness (442.39±3.78 mgL-1) of paper mill effluent were recorded higher before bio-adsorption treatment using leaf powder of E. crassipes. The leaf powder of E. crassipes significantly (P<0.05/P<0.01) removed TDS, EC, BOD, COD, TKN, Na, K and total hardness of the paper mill effluent. The result of the present study on the  bio-adsorption treatment using leaf powder of E. crassipes of paper mill effluent showed maximum reduction in the effluent characteristics viz., pH (6.62±0.08), TDS (848.42±7.67 mgL-1), EC (4.08±0.17 dS m-1), BOD (62.56±3.39 mgL-1), COD (218.11±8.59 mgL-1), PO43- (50.13±4.33 mgL-1), TKN (63.04±6.47 mgL-1), Na (100.06±6.99 mgL-1), K (66.00±7.38 mgL-1) and total hardness (347±9.86 mgL-1) of paper mill effluent after bio-adsorption treatment using leaf powder of E. crassipes. The maximum removal of TDS (13.45%), EC (37.43%), BOD (25.89%), COD (22.38%), PO43- (29.85%), TKN (25.83%), Na (26.94%), K (30.54%) and Total hardness (21.56%) in the paper mill effluent were recovered after phyto-adsorption treatment using leaf powder of E. crassipes. The decrease of paper mill effluent parameter is likely due to that the leaf powder of water hyacinth absorbs the nutrient from the effluent. Therefore, the leaf powder of can be used as phyto-adsorbent for the removal of various pollution parameters

Appearance of hyaluronan binding protein 1 proprotein in pachytene spermatocytes and round spermatids correlates with spermatogenesis

The proprotein form of hyaluronan binding protein 1 (HABP1) has been reported to be present in the pachytene spermatocytes and the round spermatids of the adult testis. To explore the role of HABP1 proprotein in spermatogenesis, its expression in the testes of adult rats was compared with that in the testes of developing rats and that in the testes of adult rats that received estriadiol to halt spermatogenesis. Immunoblotting revealed that the mature form of HABP1 was consistently present in the testis, but its precursor form was not found in the testis of animals aged 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. However, immunohistochemical analysis revealed the presence of the proprotein form in the pachytene spermatocytes and the round spermatids of testes from rats aged 21 and the 28 days, the appearance of which correlated well with the appearance of these cells during spermatogenesis. Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction revealed transcriptional upregulation of HABP1 in the testes of adult rats, compared with the testes of developing rats. Finally, loss of HABP1 proprotein expression from the pachytene spermatocytes and round spermatids was observed in the testes from rats in which spermatogenesis was arrested. Collectively, these findings demonstrate the appearance of HABP1 proprotein in the pachytene spermatocytes and the round spermatids during the initial stages of postnatal testis development and suggest that this expression may be crucial for spermatogenesis