Utilization of petroleum hydrocarbons by Pseudomonas sp. and transformed E. coli

Our previous studies showed that the biodegradation of petroleum oil by a i>pseudomonas isolated from a petroleum-contaminated soil was instable. In this work, t is shown that when the isolates are immobilized on Perlite, they are more stable for oil egradation. Although the isolate did not have any chemotaxis to octadecane, dodecane and ctane but utilize octadecane and dodecane better than octane and it did not utilized exane, benzene, kerosene, pentane, heptane or thiophenol. The generation time for degradation of petroleum oil, dodecane and octadecane was 20, 22, and 25 h respectively. This phenotype was not transformed to Pseudomonas by conjugation even with lysozyme treatment, however the petroleum oil and octadecane utilization were transformed to E. coli by lysozyme treatment. The transformed E. coli lost the ability to use octadecane after three subcultures on nutrient broth and 34 generations.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (2), pp. 172-176, 200

Fly fauna of livestock’ s of Marvdasht County of Fars Province in the South of Iran

Flies damage the livestock industry in many ways, including damages, physical disturbances, the transmissions of pathogens and the emergence of problems for livestock like Myiasis. In this research, the fauna of flies of Marvdasht County was investigating, which is one of the central counties of Fars province in southern Iran. In this study, a total of 20 species of flies from 6 families and 15 genera have been identified and reported. The species collected are as follows: Muscidae: Musca domestica Linnaeus, 1758, Musca autumnalis* De Geer, 1776, Stomoxys calci-trans** Linnaeus, 1758, Haematobia irritans** Linnaeus, 1758 Fanniidae: Fannia canicularis* Linnaeus, 1761 Calliphoridae: Calliphora vomitoria* Linnaeus, 1758, Chrysomya albiceps* Wiedemann, 1819, Lu-cilia caesar* Linnaeus, 1758, Lucilia sericata* Meigen, 1826, Lucilia cuprina* Wiedemann, 1830 Sarcophagidae: Sarcophaga africa* Wiedemann, 1824, Sarcophaga aegyptica* Salem, 1935, Wohl-fahrtia magnifica** Schiner, 1862 Syrphidae: Eristalis tenax* Linnaeus, 1758, Syritta pipiens* Linnaeus, 1758, Eupeodes nuba* Wiedemann, 1830, Syrphus vitripennis** Meigen, 1822, Scaeva albomaculata* Macquart, 1842 Species identified with * for the first time in the county and the species marked with ** are reported for the first time from the Fars province

Efficacy of the EC 1.28% formulation of Neem, Azadirachta indica, on two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae (Acari: Tetranychidae), in laboratory and field conditions

The acaricidal activity of new formulation of Neem EC 1.28% was compared with Neem Azal® (EC 1%) and spirodiclofen against the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch, under both laboratory and field conditions. The method of leaf dipping was used for bioassay experiments. The common bean leaves were dipped into different concentrations of treatments before exposing them to the adult mites from the same age. The mortality for mites was recorded after 24 hours. The experiment was conducted under 25 ± 2ºC, RH 60 ± 5 %, and 16: 8 (L: D) h photoperiod conditions. LC50 and related parameters were calculated, using POLO-PC software. The field studies were conducted in randomized complete block design with five treatments of 1 ml/l, 2 ml/l and 3 ml/l of EC 1.28% formulation, 0.5 ml/l spirodiclofen and 1 ml/l of Neem Azal®. Plain water was used for the control group. The LC50 values for Neem Azal®, spirodiclofen and Neem EC 1.28% formulation were 52.04 mg/l, 37.55 mg/l and 21.06 mg/l, respectively. The results showed that mites were more susceptible to the new EC 1.28% formulation. In the field, spirodiclofen was found to be the most effective compound after 3 and 7 days of treatment causing 89.3 ± 1.7% and 77.8 ± 2.3% mortality, while Neem Azal® was less effective with 64.40 ± 4.04% and 68.7 ± 2.9% mortality on mites. The new EC 1.28% formulation was used at the rate of 3 ml/l, which caused 82.8 ± 2.4% and 70.2 ± 3.9% mortality, without significant difference with spirodiclofen treatment

A new detector for the beam energy measurement in proton therapy: a feasibility study

Fast procedures for the beam quality assessment and for the monitoring of beam energy modulations during the irradiation are among the most urgent improvements in particle therapy. Indeed, the online measurement of the particle beam energy could allow assessing the range of penetration during treatments, encouraging the development of new dose delivery techniques for moving targets. Towards this end, the proof of concept of a new device, able to measure in a few seconds the energy of clinical proton beams (from 60 to 230 MeV) from the Time of Flight (ToF) of protons, is presented. The prototype consists of two Ultra Fast Silicon Detector (UFSD) pads, featuring an active thickness of 80 um and a sensitive area of 3 x 3 mm2, aligned along the beam direction in a telescope configuration, connected to a broadband amplifier and readout by a digitizer. Measurements were performed at the Centro Nazionale di Adroterapia Oncologica (CNAO, Pavia, Italy), at five different clinical beam energies and four distances between the sensors (from 7 to 97 cm) for each energy. In order to derive the beam energy from the measured average ToF, several systematic effects were considered, Monte Carlo simulations were developed to validate the method and a global fit approach was adopted to calibrate the system. The results were benchmarked against the energy values obtained from the water equivalent depths provided by CNAO. Deviations of few hundreds of keV have been achieved for all considered proton beam energies for both 67 and 97 cm distances between the sensors and few seconds of irradiation were necessary to collect the required statistics. These preliminary results indicate that a telescope of UFSDs could achieve in a few seconds the accuracy required for the clinical application and therefore encourage further investigations towards the improvement and the optimization of the present prototype

Thin low-gain avalanche detectors for particle therapy applications

none18The University of Torino (UniTO) and the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN-TO) are investigating the use of Ultra Fast Silicon Detectors (UFSD) for beam monitoring in radiobiological experiments with therapeutic proton beams. The single particle identification approach of solid state detectors aims at increasing the sensitivity and reducing the response time of the conventional monitoring devices, based on gas detectors. Two prototype systems are being developed to count the number of beam particles and to measure the beam energy with time-of-flight (ToF) techniques. The clinically driven precision (< 1%) in the number of particles delivered and the uncertainty < 1 mm in the depth of penetration (range) in radiobiological experiments (up to 108 protons/s fluxes) are the goals to be pursued. The future translation into clinics would allow the implementation of faster and more accurate treatment modalities, nowadays prevented by the limits of state-of-the-art beam monitors. The experimental results performed with clinical proton beams at CNAO (Centro Nazionale di Adroterapia Oncologica, Pavia) and CPT (Centro di Protonterapia, Trento) showed a counting inefficiency <2% up to 100 MHz/cm2, and a deviation of few hundreds of keV of measured beam energies with respect to nominal ones. The progresses of the project are reported.noneVignati, A.; Donetti, M.; Fausti, F.; Ferrero, M.; Giordanengo, S.; Hammad Ali, O.; Mart Villarreal, O.A.; Mas Milian, F.; Mazza, G.; Monaco, V.; Sacchi, R.; Shakarami, Z.; Sola, V.; Staiano, A.; Tommasino, F.; Verroi, E.; Wheadon, R.; Cirio, R.Vignati, A.; Donetti, M.; Fausti, F.; Ferrero, M.; Giordanengo, S.; Hammad Ali, O.; Mart Villarreal, O. A.; Mas Milian, F.; Mazza, G.; Monaco, V.; Sacchi, R.; Shakarami, Z.; Sola, V.; Staiano, A.; Tommasino, F.; Verroi, E.; Wheadon, R.; Cirio, R

Studyof Wastewater and Compost Effects on Some of Soil Physical and Chemical Characteristics

Introduction: Arid and semi-arid areas are confronting increasing water shortages. In these regions of the world, planners are being forced to consider other water sources that could be used economically and effectively to promote further development. Wastewater is the only potential water source, which will increase as the population grows and the demand on freshwater increases. Composting municipal solid wastes (MSW) and sewage sludge is a good way to reduce the amount of wastes generated in densely populated areas. Municipal solid waste production in Asia in 1998 was 0.76 million tons per day, with an annual growth rate of 2- 3% in developing countries and 3.2- 4.5% in developed countries. (MSW) compost is increasingly used in agriculture not only as a soil conditioner but also as a fertilizer. Despite the growing interest in wastewater and compost usage, excessive application of them may have some harmful effects such as human health problems, runoff and leaching of nutrients to surface and groundwater, undesirable chemical constituents, pathogens, accumulations of heavy metals in plants and soils, negative environmental and health impacts. So, using of wastewater and compost application should be under controlled conditions that minimize health risks of agricultural products. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in greenhouse of Bu-Ali Sina as a factorial completely randomized design to evaluate the effects of wastewater and compost on physical and chemical properties of soil. The factors included four types of watering: raw wastewater (W1), treated wastewater (W2) combined 50% of raw wastewater and fresh water (W3) and tap water (W4) and also four compost levels: 0 (C1), 40 (C2), 80 (C3) and 120 tha-1 (C4). Therefore, 16 treatments (W1C1 to W4C4) were considered for investigation. It is noted that Compost added and mixed just with top layer of the soil. 48 volumetric lysimeters were applied as Cultivation beds (26 × 30 × 30 cm). The soil had three layers: the upper layer (Clay texture), the middle layer (clay loam) and the bottom layer (sandy clay loam). After beds preparation, basil (Ocimum Basilicum) was planted in them. Due to the lack of an active wastewater treatment plant in the region, raw and treated wastewaters were transported from Kermanshah, the nearest city to Hamedan. Also, municipal compost was prepared from Kermanshah Compost Company.At the end of cultivation period, the soil samples (from 0-15 cm) were collected and the amount of physical (hydraulic conductivity, bulk and particle density and porosity)and chemical (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) properties were measured. Results and Discussion: The results showed that the water quality has a significant effect on all parameters and the amount of compost has significant effect on all parameters except bulk density. But, the amount of all parameters (except hydraulic conductivity) was not influenced by interaction between water quality and compost levels. In all treatments, the range of hydraulic conductivity, bulk density, particle density and total porosity were varied between 23.82 to 35.61 mmh-1, 1.41 to 1.43 grcm-3, 2.51 to 2.57 grcm-3 and 42.88 to 45.19 %, respectively. Also the range of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium were varied between 0.06 to0.08 %, 14.64 to232.28mgkg-1,and 393.22 to519.84mgkg-1,respectively.Overall, the results indicated that using compost and wastewater increased hydraulic conductivity, porosity, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium of the soil in comparison to the control. Whereasbulk and particle density of soil decresed by using compost and wastewater (as a mixed material). Conclusion: In this study, we investigated the effect of wastewater and compost on some of soil physical properties (hydraulic conductivity, bulk density, particle density and total porosity) and also some of chemical properties of soil nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium).The results showed that the use of wastewater and compost on soil physical condition has a positive effect.Wastewater and compost by improving the soil pore size distribution, decreased the bulk and particle density and increased porosity and hydraulic conductivity of the soil. The impact of wastewater and compost to improve the physical properties, commensurate with the level of wastewater treatment and composting rate in the soil. Also using the wastewater (raw wastewater, treated wastewater and combined 50% of raw wastewater and fresh water) and compost (40, 80 and 120 tha-1), compared to the control (fresh water and soil without compost), increased total of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium of soil. But, due to the risks of soil salinity and nitrogen leaching, it is suggested that longterm exposure to wastewater and compost needs a careful practical management