Forensic assessment on landfills leachate through electrical resistivity imaging at Simpang Renggam in Johor, Malaysia

From years to years, the usage of electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) method dominated by geophysicist has increased tremendously in geotechnical engineering application owing to the efficiency and effectiveness of the method in term of time, cost and also data coverage. The forensic assessment performed with respect to the particular reference to ERI in assessing the landfills leachate at Simpang Renggam, Malaysia. There were two lines of ERI performed at the study area by using ABEM Terrameter LS 2 set of equipment based on Schlumberger array. Furthermore, the analysis made based on the electrical resistivity anomaly managed to detect the presence of chemical contaminants in the soil with particular reference to the chemicals resistivity values which was associated to low resistivity anomaly. Besides, the heterogeneous of the subsurface material presented in the paper by using integrated ERI analysis enabled forensic assessment of the leachate. The leachate from the landfills was believed to occur owing to the failure of the systems in accommodating and treating the waste which became worst with the present of heavy rainfall. In retrospect, the ERI result was applicable to be adopted in detecting the leachate and thus can assist the authority in taking immediate measure to prevent the frequent water disruptions at the study area

Effect of optimum utilization of silica fume and lime on the stabilization of problematic soils

Chemically stabilized soil studies have revealed that the efficiency of stabilization is primarily depends on the natural environment of the soil. Because of its poor qualities, this sort of soil is classified as problematic. Expansive soils such as clay soil does not satisfy the standards for structural applications at this stage because its load applied from the building's apex will be transmitted to the soil layers. This study aims at the soft kaolin clay stabilization by utilizing 4% and 6% of silica fume and several percentage inclusion of lime. The lime percentages of 3%, 5%, 7%, and 9%, whereas the ratio of silica fume is set at 4% and 6%. The primary goal of this study is to increase the shear strength of soft kaolin clay soil blended with 4% and 6% of silica fume (SF) and varying amounts of lime (L). The soil parameters were evaluated for soft kaolin alone and for 4% and 6% of silica fume blended with varying percentages of lime. The findings disclose that the optimal percentages of silica fume and lime in terms of maximum shear strength at 176.91 kPa of improvement were 4% and 7% respectively due to the pozzolanic reaction between silica fume and lime was more successful with soil particles. The combination of silica fume and lime blended with the soft kaolin clay can highly enhanced the strength and the internal friction angle of the soil compared to the lime and silica fume mixed alone. The optimal proportion for increasing the undrained shear strength and friction angle was 4% of silica fume and 7% of Lime which can cut costs, reduce environmental disturbance, and act as an eco-friendly substance in soil stabilization

Expression of efflux pumps and fatty acid activator one genes in azole resistant Candida glabrata isolated from immunocompromised patients

Acquired azole resistance in opportunistic fungi causes severe clinical problems in immunosuppressed individuals. This study investigated the molecular mechanisms of azole resistance in clinical isolates of Candida glabrata. Six unmatched strains were obtained from an epidemiological survey of candidiasis in immunocompromised hosts that included azole and amphotericin B susceptible and azole resistant clinical isolates. Candida glabrata CBS 138 was used as reference strain. Antifungal susceptibility testing of clinical isolates was evaluated using Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) methods. Complementary DNA-Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (cDNA-AFLP) technology, semiquantitative RT-PCR, and sequencing were employed for identification of potential genes involved in azole resistance. Candida glabrata Candida drug resistance 1 (CgCDR1) and Candida glabrata Candida drug resistance 2 (CgCDR2) genes, which encode for multidrug transporters, were found to be upregulated in azole-resistant isolates (�2-fold). Fatty acid activator 1 (FAA1) gene, belonging to Acyl-CoA synthetases, showed expression in resistant isolates �2-fold that of the susceptible isolates and the reference strain. This study revealed overexpression of the CgCDR1, CgCDR2, and FAA1 genes affecting biological pathways, small hydrophobic compounds transport, and lipid metabolism in the resistant clinical C.glabrata isolates. © 2016 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Evaluation of mRNA expression levels of cyp51a and mdr1, candidate genes for voriconazole resistance in Aspergillus flavus

Background: Voriconazole Resistance (VRC-R) in Aspergillus flavus isolates impacts the management of aspergillosis, since azoles are the first choice for prophylaxis and therapy. However, to the best of our knowledge, the mechanisms underlying voriconazole resistance are poorly understood. Objectives: The present study was designed to evaluate mRNA expression levels of cyp51A and mdr1 genes in voriconazole resistant A. flavus by a Real-Time Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) technique. Materials and Methods: Five A. flavus isolates with resistance to VRC were examined by a RT-PCR approach. Results: Four out of five isolates revealed cyp51A and mdr1 mRNA overexpression. Interestingly, the isolate, which was negative for cyp51A and mdr1 mRNA expression showed a high voriconazole Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC). Furthermore, a computational-based analysis predicted that voriconazole resistance could be mediated through cooperation with a network protein interaction. Conclusions: Our experimental and in silico findings may provide new insight in the complex molecular pathways of drug resistance and also could assist design an efficient therapeutic strategy for aspergillosis treatment. © 2015 Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences

Development of hybrid coconut shell-peek adsorbent for methane adsorption: optimization using response surface methodology

Adsorbed natural gas (ANG) provides efficient and clean combustion, with minimal emissions compared to diesel and gasoline. This article was designed to develop techniques of ANG for transportation application by apply RSM and CCD to identify the optimum preparation conditions for preparation of stable adsorbent for methane adsorption. Coconut shell and poly ether ketone (PEEK) was selected for synthesis of activated carbon (AC). The effectiveness of the parameters was determined using response surface method (RSM) couple with central composite design (CCD). The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to identify the significant parameters. The quadratic model was adopted, as it has the highest F-value of 21.62 and P-value of less than 0.05, which relate the parameters and response. Microwave power has the highest F-value of 62.36. The maximum methane uptake of 5.12mmol g-1 was achieved. Overall, the hybrid coconut-PEEK adsorbent was found to be suitable for CH4 adsorption

Fate of Chemical Activators in the Aqueous Environment: What Should We Do About IT?

The commonly used activators in chemical activation of activated carbon are very toxic and poisonous to the aquatic environment. Finding trade-off solutions without compromising the quality of activated carbon and jeopardizing the environment have become the subject of considerable interest. This paper is aimed to shed some light on the inevitable release of chemical activators to the aqueous environment, and offers some possible solutions to overcome the emergence of secondary pollution

Chemical Constituents and Biological Activities of Strobilanthes crispus L.

Phytochemical investigation of Strobilanthes crispus has led to the isolation of 1-heptacosanol (1), tetracosanoic acid (2), stigmasterol (3) from the hexane extract, a mixture of four C20-C24 fatty acid esters of �- amyrin (4), taraxerol (5), taraxerone (6), a mixture of two C22 and C24 fatty acid esters of taraxerol (7) from the dichloromethane extract, 4-acetyl-2,7-dihydroxy-1,4,8-triphenyloctane-3,5-dione (8) and stigmasterol �-Dglucopyranoside (9) from the methanol extract. The dichloromethane and methanol crude extracts together with the isolated compounds (4-9) were tested for antibacterial activity using the determination of minimum inhibitory concentration assay and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity using the micro-plate assay. The majority of the samples tested indicated good activity against the Gram-positive bacteria (7.8�125.0 μg/mL), and moderate to weak activity against the Gram-negative bacteria (31.0�250.0 μg/mL) employed. Moderate to weak activity was observed against acetylcholinesterase. Compound (8) showed excellent antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus, with MIC values of 15.6 and 7.8 μg/mL, respectively, and significant activity against Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium, with MIC values of 62.5 and 31.0 μg/mL, respectively. Compound (8) also showed the highest acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity, with an IC50 value of 31.0 μg/mL. This is the first report describing the antibacterial and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activities of S. crispus on the basis of the isolated constituents. This research work has provided scientific proof of the traditional medicinal use of the leaves of S. crispus

Application of Mahalanobis-Taguchi system in descending case of methadone flexi dispensing (MFlex) program

Patient under methadone flexi dispensing (MFlex) program is subjected to do methadone dosage trends for descending case since no parameters were employed to identify the patient who has potential rate of recovery. Consequently, the existing system does not have a stable ecosystem towards classification and optimization due to inaccurate measurement methods and lack of justification of significant parameters which will influence the accuracy of diagnosis. The objective is to apply Mahalanobis-Taguchi system (MTS) in the MFlex program as it has never been done in the previous studies. The data is collected at Bandar Pekan clinic with 16 parameters. Two types of MTS methods are used like RT-Method and T-Method for classification and optimization respectively. In classification of descending case, the average Mahalanobis distance (MD) of healthy is 1.0000 and unhealthy is 11123.9730. In optimization of descending case, there are 9 parameters of positive degree of contribution. 6 unknown samples have been diagnosed using MTS with different number of positive and negative degree of contribution to achieve lower MD. Type 6 of 6 modifications has been selected as the best proposed solution. In conclusion, a pharmacist from Bandar Pekan clinic has confirmed that MTS is able to solve a problem in classification and optimization of MFlex program