Differential effects of low-molecular-weight organic acids on the mobilization of soil-borne arsenic and trace metals

A batch experiment was conducted to examine the effects of six low-molecular-weight organic acids on the mobilization of arsenic and trace metals from a range of contaminated soils. The results showed that the organic acids behaved differently when reacting with soil-borne As and trace metals. Oxalic acid and acetic acid had the strongest and weakest capacity to mobilize the investigated elements, respectively. The solubilisation of iron oxides by the organic acids appears to play a critical role in mobilizing other trace metals and As. Apart from acidification and complexation, reductive dissolution played a dominant role in the dissolution of iron oxides in the presence of oxalic acid, while acidification tended to be more important for dissolving iron oxides in the presence of other organic acids. The unique capacity of oxalic acid to solubilize iron oxides tended to affect the mobilization of other elements in different ways. For Cu, Mn, and Zn, acidification-driven mobilization was likely to be dominant while complexation might play a major role in Pb mobilization. The formation of soluble Fe and Pb oxalate complexes could effectively prevent arsenate or arsenite from combining with these metals to form solid phases of Fe or Pb arsenate or arsenite

Heavy metal distribution in Wrigley Head, Moston Brook, Greater Manchester,Northwest England : implications for risk assessment and remediation

Heavy metal contaminated sites pose potential environmental and health problems and represent a great barrier to the beneficial use of contaminated sites. Therefore, the study of heavy metal contamination is a vital knowledge gap which, when filled, will facilitate development of sound management strategies to minimise the adverse environmental impacts and ensure remediation of contaminated sites. Within the context of a study site in Greater Manchester, UK, desk and laboratory studies were conducted to: (a) evaluate the relationship between XRF and aqua regia/ICP-OES derived heavy metal data, (b) investigate the multiple sources of historical heavy metal contamination, (c) investigate small-scale spatial variation in heavy metal contamination across the study site, (d) assess heavy metal uptake by different herbaceous plant species, and (e) make recommendations to overcome the barrier of heavy metal contamination at the site. The results indicated that there was a strong relationship between the concentrations of heavy metals yielded by XRF and aqua regia/ICP-OES techniques across the study site and suggest that XRF is a rapid, cost effective and preferred technique for determination of targeted elements from the investigated soils compared to conventional aqua regia/ICP-OES technique. XRF technique demonstrated the capacity to measure the targeted elements from the investigated soils in relatively shorter times compared to conventional aqua regia/ICP-OES technique. The desk study revealed that the site suffers from multiple historical contamination and forms a legacy of potential source of unknown contaminants. This represents a big barrier to overcoming the challenges occasioned by historical contamination across the site. The site was heavily contaminated by multiple heavy metals at levels above UK and EU tolerable limits. There was a high spatial variation in heavy metal contamination across the site with Football Ground having relatively higher heavy metal contamination compared to the soils elsewhere around Wrigley Head. Based on the site conditions and levels of contamination at the site, revegetation of the site with plants and surface capping were suggested as feasible remediation options for the site. The study conducted to examine the uptake of heavy metals by herbaceous plants growing across the site suggests that metal uptake by the investigated plants was highly variable, leading to identification of some hyper-accumulating plants from the site. The findings obtained from this study have implications for environmental risk assessment and remediation of Wrigley Head, Moston Brook

Microbiological Examination and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Microorganisms Isolated From Salt Mining Site in Ebonyi State

The microbial examination and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of microorganism isolated from salt mining site in Ebonyi state was evaluated in the present study using standard microbiological technique. A total of 300 samples were randomly collected in three sample groups (A, B and C) of 100 each. Isolation, identification and characterization of organisms present on the soil samples were determined by culturing, Gram-staining and biochemical techniques. The result showed that the following organisms were isolated with their frequency as follow: Bacillus species (37.3%) and Staphylococcus species (23.5%) had the highest frequency in whole sample group A and B, while Klebsiella species (15.7%), Pseudomonas species (13.7%) and Erwinia species (9.8%), had the least. Rhizopus species (42.0%) and Aspergillus species (26.0%) where the highest fungi isolated, followed by Penicillum species (20.0%), while Mucor species (4.0%), and Fusarium species (8.0%) recorded the least. Sample group C showed high microbial population of all the microbial isolates when compared to sample group A and B. Disc diffusion method was used to determine the susceptibility of isolated bacteria to various antibiotics (ofloxacin, pefloxacin, ciprorex, augumentin, gentamycin, ciproflox, septrin, ampicillin), while agar well diffusion method was used to determine the susceptibility of isolated fungi to some antifungal drugs (metronidazole, ketoconazole, itraconazole, fluconazole). The antibacterial activity of the antibiotics used showed that ciproflox has the best inhibitory effect on all the bacteria isolates, followed by augmentin, while septrin and gentamycin showed no inhibitory effect on all the test bacteria. Ketoconazole showed the highest inhibitory effect on the fungal isolates, followed by itraconazole, while metronidazole and fluconazole showed the least inhibitory effect on the entire test fungal isolates. Hence multiple drug resistance of most isolates to appropriate drugs of choice are of great public health concern and calls for periodic monitoring of antibiograms to detect possible changing patterns. Microbes isolated in the salt mining site can also be used as a source of gene(s) that can increase salt tolerance in different crop species through genetic engineering. Keywords: Microorganisms, antibacterial, antifungal, resistance, salt mining site, Ebonyi State

Assessment of the efficiency of animal bones and neem leaves adsorbents in the removal of Cadmium ions from aqueous medium

The sorption efficiency of bones and neem leaves adsorbents for the removal of cadmium ions from wastewater was investigated in the study. The animal bones and neem leaves were carbonized and activated using phosphoric acid. The adsorbents were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffractometry and atomic absorption spectrometry. The equilibrium sorption properties were assessed to optimize the conditions for maximum sorption of the cadmium ions. As for the samples of neem leaves, it was observed that the activated carbon prepared from neem leaves had a high adsorption efficiency of 73.13% than that of raw neem leaves of 67.53% and activated leaves having the lowest efficiency of 25.49%. From the values obtained for animal bones, the carbonized sample had the highest efficiency of 75.22% and the raw sample had high efficiency of 74.23%

Antibacterial activities of household spices on the in vitro growth of pathogenic bacteria

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Exploring the roles of libraries in using digital platforms to achieve quality education for sustainable development in Nigeria

This paper explores the roles of Libraries in achieving Quality Education using digital platforms for Sustainable Development in Nigeria. It is of the view that Librarians have a strong commitment to make towards the realization of the global initiative of Sustainable Development Goals 2030 especially in this digital era. The context of SDGs, Quality Education, roles of libraries towards quality education, and various ways libraries in Nigeria can achieve quality education towards Sustainable Development using various digital platforms in the library were critically outlined. This paper agrees that information providers and managers, as part of their responsibility should ensure that Nigeria achieved the SDGs by 2030 through the provision of Qualitative Education using various digital platforms in the library. This study therefore recommends that libraries in Nigeria should be adequately supported by the parent institutions by providing and making accessible needed/relevant information resources in various formats for the users; encourage and promote information literacy programmes aimed at creating awareness of library and internet resources for the pupils/ student/ teachers/ librarians; and approve staff trainings towards improvement of skills of librarians and library staff locally, nationally and internationally.Keywords: Library, Librarians, Quality Education, Sustainable Development Goal

Evaluation of the in vitro effects of some medicinal plants on Escherichia coli

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Spectrum of pathogens from women with pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)in Abakalike Metropolis

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