A review on the role of emerging anthropogenic activities in environmental degradation and emphasis on their mitigation

Environmental degradation is the deterioration of natural resources such as air, water, soil, flora, fauna, and all other living and non-living component of the planet earth. There are two main reasons for environmental degradation i.e. anthropogenic causes like industrialization, overpopulation, deforestation, mining, etc. and natural causes like flood, landslide, desertification, temperatures, etc. Nowadays, the demand for natural resources is increase due to the exceeding population. To fulfill the demand of humans, over exploration of the natural resources in carrying out, due to this they are under pressure. The anthropogenic activities disturbed and degraded the environmental component such as the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere. All the environmental component is linked together if one is disturbed than its disturbed the other one also. However, in this paper, we discussed the anthropogenic activities that affect the environmental component directly or indirectly and we also suggested the recommendation and mitigation measures to sustain the environmental component developed by the agencies and policymaker

Design of photonics crystal fiber sensors for bio-medical applications

Photonic Crystal Fibers (PCFs) have special structures and offer a number of novel design options, such as very large or very small mode areas, high numerical aperture, guidance of light in air, and novel dispersion properties.PCFs have become an attractive field for the researchers and they are trying to work on these to get their properties applied in dispersion related applications, sensing applications and much more.PCFs sensors are widely used in bio-medical applications. The sensitivity and performance of sensors are enhanced due to novel applications of PCFs.This paper outlines a novel design for a generalized biomedical sensor by collaborating PCF and electro-optic effect of Lithium Niobate (LiNbO_3) based Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) structure

Hemovigilance Program-India

A centralized hemovigilance program to assure patient safety and to promote public health has been launched for the first time in India on Dec 10, 2012 in 60 medical colleges in the first phase along with a well-structured program for monitoring adverse reactions associated with blood transfusion and blood product administration. National Institute of Biologicals (NIB) will be the National Coordinating Centre for Hemovigilance. This program will be implemented under overall ambit of Pharmacovigilance Program of India (PvPI), which is being coordinated by Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC). All medical colleges of the country will be enrolled in this program by the year 2016 in order to have a National Centre of Excellence for Hemovigilance at NIB, which will act as a global knowledge platform

Evaluation of Mirasol pathogen reduction system by artificially contaminating platelet concentrates with Staphylococcus epidermidis: A pilot study from India

Background and Objectives: This study was conducted to assess the efficacy of Mirasol pathogen reduction system for platelets aimed at preventing bacterial regrowth by spiking buffy coat pooled platelets (BCPP) with clinically relevant load of Staphylococous epidermidis. Materials and Methods: BCPP units were prepared using Teruflex BP-kit with Imugard III-S-PL (Terumo BCT, Tokyo, Japan). Two BCPP units were pooled, of which 40 ml of negative control (NC) was removed. The remaining volume of the platelet unit was inoculated with clinically relevant load of bacteria (total of 30 CFU of S. epidermidis in 1 ml); following this the platelet unit was split into two parts. One part served as positive control (PC) and the other part was subjected to pathogen reduction technique (Mirasol PRT, CaridianBCT Biotechnologies, Lakewood, CO, USA). Bacterial detection was performed using BacT/ALERT system, controls after day 1 and day 7 following inoculation of bacteria and on day 7 for Mirasol-treated unit. Results: Of the 32 treatment cycles, 28 were valid and 4 were invalid. No regrowth was observed in 96.4% (27 of 28) after treatment with Mirasol pathogen reduction system. Of four invalid tests, on two instances the NC showed growth, whereas in other 2 no regrowth was detected in 7th day PC. Bacterial screening of PCs by BacT/ALERT after 24 h of incubation was 28.6%, whereas the effectiveness increased to 100% when incubated for 7 days. Conclusions: Mirasol system was effective in inactivating S.epidermidis when it was deliberately inoculated into BCPP at clinically relevant concentrations. Such systems may significantly improve blood safety by inactivating traditional and emerging transfusion-transmitted pathogens