Search results for: toxic matter

Authors: Meltem Betül Sağlam, Halil İbrahim Güler, Aykut Sağlam

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In this work, phthalocyanine compounds containing α-naphtholbenzeinunits have been synthesized. Mutagenicity and DNA binding properties of the compounds were investigated by Salmonella/Microsome Assay and spectrophotometer. According to the results of the preliminary range finding tests, the compounds gave no toxic effect to all tester strain S. typhimurium TA98 and TA100 at doses of 500, 1100, 350, 500 and 750 µg/plate in the presence and absence of S9, respectively. This study showed that all compounds exhibited efficient DNA-binding activity. In conclusion, these non-toxic compounds may be used as effective DNA dyes for molecular biology studies.

Keywords: dye, mutagenicity, phthalocyanine, toxicity

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Authors: Ayman M. Arfaj, Jose Lauro M. Llamas, Saleh Y Qahtani

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Sulfur Loading Operation (SLO) is an operation that poses risk of exposure to toxic gases such as Hydrogen Sulfid and Sulfur Dioxide during molten sulfur loading operation. In this operation molten sulfur is loaded into a truck tanker in a liquid state and the temperature of the tanker must maintain liquid sulfur within a 43-degree range — between 266 degrees and 309 degrees Fahrenheit in order for safe loading and unloading to occur. Accordingly, in this study, the e potential risk of occupational exposure to the airborne toxic gases was assessed at three sulfur loading facilities. The concentrations of toxic airborne substances such as Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) and Sulfur Dioxide (SO2), were monitored during operations at the different locations within the sulfur loading operation facilities. In addition to extensive real-time monitoring, over one hundred and fifty samples were collected and analysed at internationally accredited laboratories. The concentrations of H2S, and SO2 were all found to be well below their respective occupational exposure limits. Very low levels of H2S account for the odours observed intermittingly during mixing and application operations but do not pose a considerable health risk and hence these levels are considered a nuisance. These results were comparable to those reported internationally. Aside from observing the usual general safe work practices such as wearing safety glasses, there are no specific occupational health related concerns at the examined sulfur loading facilities.

Keywords: exposure assessment, sulfur loading operation, health risk study, molten sulfur, toxic airborne substances, air contaminants monitoring

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Authors: Ali Murat Guler

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A variety of experiments have been developed over the past decades, aiming at the detection of Weakly Interactive Massive Particles (WIMPs) via their scattering in an instrumented medium. The sensitivity of these experiments has improved with a tremendous speed, thanks to a constant development of detectors and analysis methods. Detectors capable of reconstructing the direction of the nuclear recoil induced by the WIMP scattering are opening a new frontier to possibly extend Dark Matter searches beyond the neutrino background. Measurement of WIMP’s direction will allow us to detect the galactic origin of dark matter and, therefore to have a clear signal-background separation. The NEWSdm experiment, based on nuclear emulsions, is intended to measure the direction of WIMP-induced nuclear coils with a solid-state detector, thus with high sensitivity. We discuss the discovery potential of a directional experiment based on the use of a solid target made of newly developed nuclear emulsions and novel read-out systems achieving nanometric resolution. We also report results of a technical test conducted in Gran Sasso.

Keywords: dark matter, direct detection, nuclear emulsion, WIMPS

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Authors: Adam Bownik, Małgorzata Adamczuk, Barbara Pawlik-Skowrońska

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Certain strains of cyanobacteria, microorganisms forming water blooms, produce toxic secondary metabolites. Although various effects of cyanotoxins in aquatic animals are known, little data can be found on the influence of some cyanobacterial oligopeptides beyond microcystins. The aim of the present study was to determine the toxicity of novel pure cyanobacterial oligopeptides: microginin FR-1 (MGFR1) and anabaenopeptin-A (ANA-A) on a transparent model rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus with the use of fluorescent double staining with Hoechst 34580 and propidium iodide. The obtained results showed that both studied oligopeptides decreased the fluorescence intensity of animals stained with Hoechst 34580 in a concentration-dependent manner. On the other hand, a concentration-dependent increase of propidium iodide fluorescence was noted in the exposed rotifers. The results suggest that MGFR-1 and ANA-A should be considered as a potent toxic agent to freshwater rotifers, and fluorescent staining with Hoechst and propidium iodide may be a valuable tool for determination of toxicity of cyanobacterial oligopeptides in rotifers.

Keywords: cyanobacteria, brachionus, oligopeptides, fluorescent staining, hoechst, propidium iodide

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Authors: Mona Loraine M. Barabad, Duckshin Park, Michael E. Versoza

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This study gives a comparison of the commuters’ exposure to particulate matter while taking different transportation mode (jeepney, motorcycle and taxi) in Cebu City, Philippines. A personal aerosol monitor (Sidepak AM510) was used for data collection; in addition, both temperature and humidity were also documented. Analysis was done and showed that Jeepney, which is the most commonly used mode in the country, has the highest PM collected having an average of 358.0μg/m^3, followed by the motorcycle with an average of 244.6 μg/m^3. The taxi recorded to have an average of 50.0 μg/m^3 and the lowest between the microenvironments sampled. The outcome was greatly significant to the traffic volume together with several factors that could possibly affect the result. However, due to the lack of time and resources, the data collected was limited. Further and thorough investigation should be implemented to provide more essential information regarding the subject.

Keywords: air quality, particulate matter, Philippines, transportation

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Authors: Angelica Salmeron Alcocer, Deifilia Ahuatzi Chacon, Felipe Rodriguez Casasola

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Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are produced naturally (forest fires, volcanic eruptions) and human activity (burning fossil fuels). Concern for PAHs is due to their toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic effects and so pose a potential risk to human health and ecology. Therefore these are considered the most toxic components of oil, they are highly hydrophobic, making them easily depositable on the floor, air and water. One method of removing PAHs of contaminated soil used surfactants such as Tween 80, which it has been reported as less toxic and also increases the solubility of the PAH compared to other surfactants, fluoranthene is a PAH with molecular formula C16H10, its name derives from the fluorescence which presents to UV light. In this paper, a study of the fluoranthene removal solubilized with Tween 80 in synthetic wastewater using a microbial community (isolated from soil of coffee plantations in the state of Veracruz, Mexico) and Fenton oxidation method was performed. The microbial community was able to use both tween 80 and fluoranthene as carbon sources for growth, when the biological treatment in batch culture was applied, 100% of fluoranthene was mineralized, this only occurred at an initial concentration of 100 ppm, but by increasing the initial concentration of fluoranthene the removal efficiencies decay and degradation time increases due to the accumulation of byproducts more toxic or less biodegradable, however when the Fenton oxidation was previously applied to the biological treatment, it was observed that removal of fluoranthene improved because it is consumed approximately 2.4 times faster.

Keywords: fluoranthene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, biological treatment, fenton oxidation

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Authors: Hamed A. El-Serehy, Khaled A. Al-Rasheid, Fahad A Al-Misned

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The meiofaunal population fluctuation, microbial dynamic and the composition of the sedimentary organic matter were investigated seasonally in the Egyptian shores along the northern part of Red Sea. Total meiofaunal population densities were extremely low with an annual average of 109 ±26 ind./10 cm2 and largely dominated by nematodes (on annual average from 52% to 94% of total meiofaunal density). The benthic microbial population densities ranged from 0.26±0.02 x 108 to 102.67±18.62 x 108/g dry sediment. Total sedimentary organic matter concentrations varied between 5.8 and 11.6 mg/g and the organic carbon, which was measured as summation of the carbohydrates, proteins and lipids, accounted for only a small fraction of being 32 % of the total organic matter. Chlorophyll a attained very low values and fluctuated between 2 and 11 µg/g. The very low chlorophyll a concentration in the Egyptian coasts along the Red Sea can suggest that the sedimentary organic matter along the Egyptian coasts is dominated by organic detrital and heterotrophic bacteria on one hand, and do not promote carbon transfer towards the higher trophic level on the other hand. However, the present study indicates that the existing of well diversified meiofaunal group, with a total of ten meiofaunal taxa, can serve as food for higher trophic levels in the Red Sea marine ecosystem.

Keywords: bacteria, meiofauna, intertidal sediments, Red Sea

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Authors: Alejandra Betancur Sánchez, Carmen Elena Zapata Sánchez, Juan Bautista López Ortiz

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Adverse effects and increased air pollution has raised concerns about regulatory policies and has fostered the development of new air quality standards; this is due to the complexity of the composition and the poorly understood reactions in the atmospheric environment. Toxic compounds act as environmental agents having various effects, from irritation to death of cells and tissues. A toxic agent is defined an adverse response in a biological system. There is a particular class that produces some kind of alteration in the genetic material or associated components, so they are recognized as genotoxic agents. Within cells, they interact directly or indirectly with DNA, causing mutations or interfere with some enzymatic repair processes or in the genesis or polymerization of proteinaceous material involved in chromosome segregation. An air pollutant may cause or contribute to increased mortality or serious illness and even pose a potential danger to human health. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect on the viability and the genotoxic potential on the cell lines CHO-K1 and Jurkat and peripheral blood of particulate matter PM T lymphocytes 2.5 obtained from filters collected three monitoring stations network air quality Aburrá Valley. Tests, reduction of MTT, trypan blue, NRU, comet assay, sister chromatid exchange (SCE) and chromosomal aberrations allowed evidence reduction in cell viability in cell lines CHO-K1 and Jurkat and damage to the DNA from cell line CHOK1, however, no significant effects were observed in the number of SCEs and chromosomal aberrations. The results suggest that PM2.5 material has genotoxic potential and can induce cancer development, as has been suggested in other studies.

Keywords: PM2.5, cell line Jurkat, cell line CHO-K1, cytotoxicity, genotoxicity

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Authors: Geeta Gahlawat, Sanjeev Kumar Soni

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An imprudent use of environmentally hazardous petrochemical-based plastics and limited availability of fossil fuels have provoked research interests towards production of biodegradable plastics - polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHAs). However, the industrial application of PHAs based products is primarily restricted by their high cost of recovery and extraction protocols. Moreover, solvents used for the extraction and purification are toxic and volatile which causes adverse environmental hazards. Development of efficient downstream recovery strategies along with utilization of non-toxic solvents will accelerate their commercialization. In this study, various extraction strategies were designed for sustainable and cost-effective recovery of PHAs from Cupriavidus necator using non-toxic environment friendly solvents viz. 1,2-propylene carbonate, ethyl acetate, isoamyl alcohol, butyl acetate. The effect of incubation time i.e. 10, 30 and 50 min and temperature i.e. 60, 80, 100, 120°C was tested to identify the most suitable solvent. PHAs extraction using a recyclable solvent, 1,2 propylene carbonate, showed the highest recovery yield (90%) and purity (93%) at 120°C and 30 min incubation. Ethyl acetate showed the better capacity to recover PHAs from cells than butyl acetate. Extraction with ethyl acetate exhibited high recovery yield and purity of 96% and 92%, respectively at 100°C. Effect of non-toxic surfactant such as linear alkylbenzene sulfonic acid (LAS) was also studied at 40, 60 and 80°C, and detergent pH range of 3.0, 5.0, 7.0 and 9.0 for the extraction of PHAs from the cells. LAS gave highest yield of 86% and purity of 88% at temperature 80°C and 5.0 pH.

Keywords: polyhydroxyalkanoates, Cupriavidus necator, extraction, recovery yield

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Authors: Y. Alqaheem, A. Alomair, F. Altarkait, F. Alswaileh, Nusrat Tanoli

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Helium market is continuously growing due to its essential uses in the electronic and healthcare sectors. Currently, helium is produced by cryogenic distillation but the process is uneconomical especially for low production volumes. On the other hand, polymeric membranes can provide a cost-effective solution for helium purification due to their low operating energy. However, the preparation of membranes involves the use of very toxic solvents such as chloroform. In this work, polyetherimide membranes were prepared using a less toxic solvent, n-methylpyrrolidone with a polymer-to-solvent ratio of 27 wt%. The developed membrane showed a superior helium permeability of 15.9 Barrer that surpassed the permeability of membranes made by chloroform.

Keywords: helium separation, polyetherimide, dense membrane, gas permeability

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Authors: Norhanim Nordin, Rosnah Shamsudin, Azrina Azlan, Mohammad Effendy Ya’acob

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An environmental friendly approach for disposal of voluminous durian husk waste could be implemented by substituting them into various valuable commodities, such as healthcare and biofuel products. Thus, the study of composition value in each segment of durian husk was very crucial to determine the suitable proportions of nutrients that need to be added and mixed in the product. A total of 12 ‘Durian Kampung’ fruits from Sg Ruan, Pahang were selected and each fruit husk was divided into four segments and labelled as P-L (thin neck area of white inner husk), P-B (thick bottom area of white inner husk), H (green and thorny outer husk) and W (whole combination of P-B and H). Four experiments have been carried out to determine the dry matter, moisture, ash and crude fibre content. The results show that the H segment has the highest dry matter content (30.47%), while the P-B segment has the highest percentage in moisture (81.83%) and ash (6.95%) content. It was calculated that the ash content of the P-B segment has a higher rate of moisture level which causes the ash content to increase about 2.89% from the P-L segment. These data have proven that each segment of durian husk has a significant difference in terms of composition value, which might be useful information to fully utilize every part of the durian husk in the future.

Keywords: durian husk, crude fibre content, dry matter content, moisture content

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Authors: A. Szabó Nagy, J. Szabó, Zs. Csanádi, J. Erdős

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An assessment of the air quality of Győr (Hungary) was performed by determining the ambient concentrations of PM10-bound carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs) in different seasons. A high volume sampler was used for the collection of ambient aerosol particles, and the associated cPAH compounds (benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), benzo[a]anthracene, benzofluoranthene isomers, indeno[123-cd]pyrene and dibenzo[ah]anthracene) were analyzed by a gas chromatographic method. Higher mean concentrations of total cPAHs were detected in samples collected in winter (9.62 ng/m³) and autumn (2.69 ng/m³) compared to spring (1.05 ng/m³) and summer (0.21 ng/m³). The calculated BaP toxic equivalent concentrations have also reflected that the local population appears to be exposed to significantly higher cancer risk in the heating seasons. Moreover, the concentration levels of cPAHs determined in this study were compared to other Hungarian urban sites.

Keywords: air, carcinogenic, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), PM10

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Authors: Mahmoud Hassan Onsa, Saadelnour Abdueljabbar Adam

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Wastes from slaughterhouses in most towns in Sudan are often poorly managed and sometimes discharged into adjoining streams due to poor implementation of standards, thus causing environmental and public health hazards and also there is a large amount of manure from dairy farms. This paper presents solution of organic waste from cow dairy farms and slaughterhouse the anaerobic digestion and biogas production. The paper presents the findings of experimental investigation of biogas production with and without pasteurization using cow manure, blood and rumen content were mixed at two proportions, 72.3% manure, 21.7%, rumen content and 6% blood for bio digester1with 62% dry matter at the beginning and without pasteurization and 72.3% manure, 21.7%, rumen content and 6% blood for bio-digester2 with 10% dry matter and pasteurization. The paper analyses the quantitative and qualitative composition of biogas: gas content, the concentration of methane. The highest biogas output 2.9 mL/g dry matter/day (from bio-digester2) together with a high quality biogas of 87.4% methane content which is useful for combustion and energy production and healthy bio-fertilizer but biodigester1 gave 1.68 mL/g dry matter/day with methane content 85% which is useful for combustion, energy production and can be considered as new technology of dryer bio-digesters.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, bio-digester, blood, cow manure, rumen content

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Authors: Mohamed Elkashouty, Mohamed Yehia, Ahmed Tawfuk

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The study area is located in the southern part of Giza Governorate at both side of the Nile Valley. A combination of major and trace elements have been used to classify surface- and ground-waters in El Kurimat village, Egypt. The main purpose of the project is to investigate the surface-and ground-waters quality and hydrochemical evaluation. The situation is further complicated by contamination with lithogenic and anthropogenic (agricultural and sewage wastewaters) sources and low groundwater management strategies. The Quaternary aquifer consists of sands and gravels of Pleistocene age intercalated with clay lenses and overlain by silty clay aquitard (Holocene). The semi-pervious silty clay aquitard of the Holocene Nile sediments cover the Quaternary aquifer in most areas. The groundwater flows generally from southwest to northeast. To achieve this target, thirty five and seventy three samples were collected from surface– and ground-waters within summer and winter seasons 2009-2010). Total dissolved solids (TDS), cations, anions, NO2, NO3, PO4 , Al, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn, As, F, Sb, Se, Sn, Sr and V) were determined in water samples. Grain size analysis was achieved to eight soil samples and measured the organic matter percent in different fractions. The TDS concentration is high in Arab El Ein canal by lithogenic and anthropogenic sources. The average concentrations of TDS in the River Nile are 245 (summer) and 254 ppm (winter). NO3 content ranges from 1.7 to 12 mg/l (summer), while in winter it ranges from 0.4 to 2.4. Most of the toxic metal concentrations are below the drinking and irrigation guidelines except Mn, V, Cr, Al, and Fe, which are higher than the guidelines in some canals and drains. The TDS concentration in groundwater increases toward northeastern and northwestern part of the study area (i.e. toward limestone plateau). It is due to hydrogeological interconnection between Quaternary and Eocene aquifer (saline water), wastewater dump and recharge from wadi El Atfihi wastewater. There is a good match between the hydrogeology and the hydrogeochemistry. Total dissolved solid in groundwater increases toward southwestern part, may be due to hydrogeological interconnection between Quaternary and Eocene aquifer and leakage from agricultural waste water of El Mohut drain. Fe, Mn, Cr, Al, PO4 and NO3 concentrations are high due to anthropogenic sources, therefore they are unsuitable for drinking. The average concentration of Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn &Zn are higher in winter than those in summer due to winter drought. The organic matter content in soil are increases in the northeastern and southwestern part, with different fractions, sue to agricultural wastewaters. Reused of contaminated surface- and ground-waters samples by mixing with fresh water (By AquaChem) was estimated to increase the income per capita.

Keywords: surface water, groundwater, major ions, toxic metals

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Authors: Mardiati Zain, Yetti Marlida, Elihasridas Elihasridas, Erpomen Erpomen, Andri Andri

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Background: Livestock productivity is greatly influenced by the energy and protein balance in diet. This study aimed to determine the energy and protein balance of male Simenthal cattle diet with protein and energy levels. The experimental design used was a randomized block design (RBD) 2x3x3 factorial design. There are two factors namely A level of energy diet that is 65% and 70% TDN. Factor B is a protein level of diet used were 10, 12 and 14% and each treatment is repeated three times. The weight of Simenthal cattle used ranged between 240 - 300 kg. Diet consisted of ammoniated rice straw and concentrated with ratio 40:60. Concentrate consisted of palm kernel cake, rice brain, cassava, mineral, and urea. The variables measured were digestibility of dry matter, organic matter and fiber, dry matter intake, daily gain, feed efficiency and blood characteristic. Results: There was no interaction between protein and energy level of diet on the nutrients intake (DM intake, OM intake, CP intake), weight gain and efficiency (P < 0.01). There was an interaction between protein and energy level of diet on digestibility (DM, OM, CP and allantoin urine (P > 0.01) Nutrients intake decreases with increasing levels of energy and protein diet, while nutrient digestibility, Avarage daily gain and feed efficiency increases with increasing levels of energy and protein diet. Conclusions: The result can be concluded that the best treatment was A2B1 which is energy level 70% TDN and protein 10%, where are dry matter intake 7.66 kg/d, daily gain 1.25 kg/d, feed efficiency 16.12%, and dry matter and organic matter digestibility 64.08 and 69.42% respectively.

Keywords: energy and protein ratio, simenthal cattle, rice straw ammoniated, digestibility

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Authors: Ajay Pratap Singh Lodhi, Deepak Kumar

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Vegetable oil-based environmentally friendly metalworking fluids (MWFs) are formulated. The tribological performance, cytotoxicity, and corrosion resistance of the formulated fluids (FFs) are evaluated and benchmarked with commercial mineral oil-based MWFs (CF). Results show that FFs exhibited better machining characteristics (roughness, cutting forces, and surface morphology) during machining than CF. MTT assay and Live dead cell assay confirm the cytocompatibility nature of the FFs relative to the toxic CF. Electrochemical analysis shows that FFs and CF exhibited comparable corrosion current density.

Keywords: corrosion inhibitors, cytotoxicity, machining, MTT assay, Taguchi method, vegetable oil

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Authors: Mohammed A. Arishy, Sultan M. Alharbi, Mohammed A. Hakami, Farid M. Abualsail, Mohammad A. Attafi, Riyadh M. Tobaiqi, Hussain M. Alsalem, Ibraheem M. Attafi

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Lidocaine is the most common local anesthetics used for para cervical block to reduce pain associated with surgical abortion. A 25-year-old pregnant woman who. She died before reaching hospital, and she was undergoing criminal abortion during the first trimester. In post-mortem investigations and autopsy shows no clear finding; therefore, toxic substances must be suspected and searched for routinely toxicology analysis. In this case report, the postmortem concentration of lidocaine was detected blood, brain, liver, kidney, and stomach. For lidocaine identification and quantification, sample was extracted using solid phase extraction and analyzed by GC-MS (Shimadzu, Japan). Initial screening and confirmatory analysis results showed that only lidocaine was detected in all collected samples, and no other toxic substances or alcohol were detected. The concentrations of lidocaine in samples were 19, 17, 14, 7, and 3 ug/m in the brain, blood, kidney, liver, and stomach, respectively. Lidocaine blood concentration (17 ug/ml) was toxic level and may result in death. Among the tissues, brain showed the highest level of lidocaine, followed by the kidney, liver, and stomach.

Keywords: forensic toxicology, GC-MS, lidocaine, postmortem

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Authors: Belal Bakheet, John Beardall, Xiwang Zhang, David McCarthy

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The potential risks associated with toxic cyanobacteria have raised growing environmental and public health concerns leading to an increasing effort into researching ways to bring about their removal from water, together with destruction of their associated cyanotoxins. A variety of toxins are synthesized by cyanobacteria and include hepatotoxins, neurotoxins, and cytotoxins which can cause a range of symptoms in humans from skin irritation to serious liver and nerve damage. Therefore drinking water treatment processes should ensure the consumers’ safety by removing both cyanobacterial cells, and cyanotoxins from the water. Cyanobacterial cells and cyanotoxins presented challenges to the conventional water treatment systems; their accumulation within drinking water treatment plants has been reported leading to plants shut down. Thus, innovative and effective water purification systems to tackle cyanobacterial pollution are required. In recent years there has been increasing attention to the electrochemical oxidation process as a feasible alternative disinfection method which is able to generate in situ a variety of oxidants that would achieve synergistic effects in the water disinfection process and toxin degradation. By utilizing only electric current, the electrochemical process through electrolysis can produce reactive oxygen species such as hydroxyl radicals from the water, or other oxidants such as chlorine from chloride ions present in the water. From extensive physiological and morphological investigation of cyanobacterial cells during electrolysis, our results show that these oxidants have significant impact on cell inactivation, simultaneously with cyanotoxins removal without the need for chemicals addition. Our research aimed to optimize existing electrochemical oxidation systems and develop new systems to treat water containing toxic cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins. The research covers detailed mechanism study on oxidants production and cell inactivation in the treatment under environmental conditions. Overall, our study suggests that the electrochemical treatment process e is an effective method for removal of toxic cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins.

Keywords: toxic cyanobacteria, cyanotoxins, electrochemical process, oxidants

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Authors: Hamad M. Alnagran, Mohammed S. Imbabi

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Particulate matter (PM) in the air we breathe is detrimental to health. Overcoming this problem has attracted interest and prompted research on the use of PM filtration in commercial buildings and homes to be carried out. The consensus is that tangible health benefits can result from the use of PM filters in most urban environments, to clean up the building’s fresh air supply and thereby reduce exposure of residents to airborne PM. The authors have investigated and are developing a new large-scale Permeodynamic Filtration Technology (PFT) capable of permanently filtering and removing airborne PMs from outdoor spaces, thus also benefiting internal spaces such as the interiors of buildings. Theoretical models were developed, and laboratory trials carried out to determine, and validate through measurement permeodynamic filtration efficiency and pressure drop as functions of PM particle size distributions. The conclusion is that PFT offers a potentially viable, cost effective end of pipe solution to the problem of airborne PM.

Keywords: air filtration, particulate matter, particle size distribution, permeodynamic

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Authors: Ismail Becenen

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Air pollution, a consequence of urbanization brought about by modern life, is as global as it is local and regional. Because of the adverse effects of air pollution on human health, air quality is given importance all over the world. According to the decision of the World Health Organization, clean air is the basic necessity for human health and well-being. It poses a very high risk especially for heart diseases and stroke cases. In this study, the positive effects of natural gas usage on air pollution in cities are explained by using literature scans and air pollution measurement values. Natural gas is cleaner than other types of fuel. It contains less sulfur and organic sulfur compounds. When natural gas burns, it does not leave ashes, it does not cause problems in the rubbish mountains. It's a clean fuel, it easily burns and shines. It is a burning gas that is easy and efficient. In addition, there is not a toxic effect for people in case of inhalation. As a result, the use of natural gas needs to be widespread to reduce air pollution around the world in order to provide a healthier life for people and the environment.

Keywords: natural gas, air pollution, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, energy

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Authors: N. A. Ahmad Zubairi, H. Takaijudin, K. W. Yusof

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Pesticides have been used widely over the world in agriculture to protect from pests and reduce crop losses. However, it affects the environment with toxic chemicals. Exceed of toxic constituents in the ecosystem will result in bad side effects. The hydrological cycle is related to the existence of pesticides and heavy metal which it can penetrate through varieties of sources into the soil or water bodies, especially runoff. Therefore, proper mechanisms of pesticide and heavy metal removal should be studied to improve the quality of ecosystem free or reduce from unwanted substances. This paper reviews the use of treatment train and its mechanisms to minimize pesticides and heavy metal from agricultural runoff. Organochlorine (OCL) is a common pesticide that was found in the agricultural runoff. OCL is one of the toxic chemicals that can disturb the ecosystem such as inhibiting plants' growth and harm human health by having symptoms as asthma, active cancer cell, vomit, diarrhea, etc. Thus, this unwanted contaminant gives disadvantages to the environment and needs treatment system. Hence, treatment train by bioretention system is suitable because removal efficiency achieves until 90% of pesticide removal with selected vegetated plant and additive.

Keywords: pesticides, heavy metal, agricultural runoff, bioretention, mechanism removal, treatment train

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Authors: Nail Nazarov, Alexandra Vyshtakalyuk, Vyacheslav Semenov, Irina Galyametdinova, Vladimir Zobov, Vladimir Reznik

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Among hepatic pyrimidine used as a means of stimulating protein synthesis and recovery of liver cells in her damaged toxic and infectious etiology. When an experimental toxic hepatitis hepatoprotective activity detected some pyrimidine derivatives. There are literature data on oksimetiluratcila hepatoprotective effect. For analogs of pyrimidine nucleobases - drugs Methyluracilum pentoxy and hepatoprotective effect of weakly expressed. According to the American scientists broad spectrum of biological activity, including hepatoprotective properties, have a 2,4-dioxo-5-arilidenimino uracils. Influenced Xymedon medicinal preparation (1- (beta-hydroxyethyl) -4,6-dimethyl-1,2-dihydro-2-oksopirimidin) developed as a means of stimulating the regeneration of tissue revealed increased activity of microsomal oxidases human liver. In studies on the model of toxic liver damage in rats have shown hepatoprotective effect xymedon and stimulating its impact on the recovery of the liver tissue. Hepatoprotective properties of the new compound in the series of pyrimidine derivatives L-ascorbate 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-4,6-dimethyl-1,2-dihydropirimidine-2-one synthesized on the basis Xymedon preparation were firstly investigated on rats under the carbon tetrachloride action. It was shown the differences of biochemical parameters from the reference value and severity of structural-morphological liver violations decreased in comparison with control group under the influence of the compound injected before exposure carbon tetrachloride. Hepatoprotective properties of the investigated compound were more pronounced in comparison with Xymedon.

Keywords: hepatoprotectors, pyrimidine derivatives, toxic liver damage, xymedon

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Authors: Ryan Masoodi, Hossein Rostami

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Aluminum has been credited for the massive advancement of many industrial products, from aerospace and automotive to electronics and even household appliances. These developments have come with a cost, which is a toxic by-product. The rise of aluminum production has been accompanied by the rise of a waste material called Bauxite Residue or Red Mud. This toxic material has been proved to be harmful to the environment, yet, there is no proper way to dispose or recycle it. Herewith, a new experimental method to utilize this waste in the building material is proposed. A method to mix red mud, fly ash, and some other ingredients is explored to create a new construction material that can satisfy the minimum required strength for bricks. It concludes that it is possible to produce bricks with enough strength that is suitable for constriction in environments with low to moderate weather conditions.

Keywords: bauxite residue, brick, red mud, recycling

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Authors: Kalpana Rajouriya, Ajay Taneja

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Particulates are ubiquitous in the air environment and cause serious threats to human beings, such as lung cancer, COPD, and Asthma. Particulates mainly arise from industrial effluent, vehicular emission, and other anthropogenic activities. In the glass industrial city Firozabad, real-time monitoring of size segregated Particulate Matter (PM) and black carbon was done by Aerosol Black Carbon Detector (ABCD) and GRIMM portable aerosol Spectrometer at two different sites in which one site is urban and another is rural. The average mass concentration of size segregated PM during the study period (March & April 2022) was recorded as PM10 (223.73 g/m⁻³), PM5.0 (44.955 g/m⁻³), PM2.5 (59.275 g/m⁻³), PM1.0 (33.02 g/m⁻³), PM0.5 (2.05 g/m⁻³), and PM0.25 (2.99 g/m⁻³). The highest concentration of BC was found in Urban due to the emissions from diesel engines and wood burning, while NO2 was highest at the rural sites. The average concentrations of PM10 (6.08 and 2.73 times) PM2.5 exceeded the NAAQS and WHO guidelines. Particulate Matter deposition and health risk assessment was done by MPPD and USEPA model to know about the particulate matter toxicity in industrial residents. Health risk assessment results showed that Children are most likely to be affected by exposure of PM10 and PM2.5 and may have various non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic diseases. Deposition results inferred that the sensitive exposed population, especially 9 years old children, have high PM deposition as well as visualization and may be at risk of developing health-related problems from exposure to size-segregated PM. They will be discussed during presentation.

Keywords: particulate matter, black carbon, NO2, deposition of PM, health risk

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Authors: Anggi Ristiyana Puspita Sari, Suyanta

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To recognize the importance of the development of critical thinking and science process skills, the instrument should give attention to the characteristics of chemistry. Therefore, constructing an accurate instrument for measuring those skills is important. However, the integrated instrument assessment is limited in number. The purpose of this study is to validate an integrated assessment instrument for measuring students’ critical thinking and science process skills on acid base matter. The development model of the test instrument adapted McIntire model. The sample consisted of 392 second grade high school students in the academic year of 2015/2016 in Yogyakarta. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to explore construct validity, whereas content validity was substantiated by Aiken’s formula. The result shows that the KMO test is 0.714 which indicates sufficient items for each factor and the Bartlett test is significant (a significance value of less than 0.05). Furthermore, content validity coefficient which is based on 8 expert judgments is obtained at 0.85. The findings support the integrated assessment instrument to measure critical thinking and science process skills on acid base matter.

Keywords: acid base matter, critical thinking skills, integrated assessment instrument, science process skills, validity

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Authors: S. Buloyan, V. Mamikonyan, H. Hakobyan, H. Harutyunyan, H. Gasparyan

Abstract:

The liver is the strongest regenerating organ of the organism, and even with 2/3 surgically removed, it can regenerate completely. Hence, liver cirrhosis may only develop when the regenerating system is off. We present the results of a comparative study of structural and functional characteristics of rat liver tissue under the conditions of toxic liver cirrhosis development, induced by carbon tetrachloride, and its prevention/treatment by natural compounds with antioxidant and immune stimulating action. Studies were made on Wister rats, weighing 120~140 g. Grape seeds extracts, separately and in combination with well known anticirrhotic drug ursodeoxycholic acid (ursodiol) have demonstrated effectiveness in prevention of liver cirrhosis development and its treatment.

Keywords: carbon tetrachloride, GSE, liver cirrhosis, prevention, treatment

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Authors: Alireza Yavar, Sukiman Sarmani, Kok Siong Khoo

Abstract:

Trace element analysis of human hair has the potential to disclose retroactive information about an individual’s nutritional status and exposure. The residents of villages in Kandal province of Cambodia, due to dietary habits, lifestyle and ecological conditions, are unprotected from toxic elements particularly arsenic (As). The purpose of this research was to valuation levels of toxic and vital elements in scalp human hair. Scalp hair samples of 12-17 school children from three villages of Anglong Romiot (AR), Svay Romiot (SR) and Kampong Kong (KK) in the Kandal province of Cambodia were evaluated using k0- instrumental neutron activation method (k0-INAA). The samples were irradiated 6 hours in a Malaysian nuclear agency (MNA) research reactor and afterward, an HPGe detector was utilized to obtain gamma peaks of radionuclides in samples. We achieved profiles of 31 elements in human hair in our studied area, namely, As, Au, Br, Ca, Ce, Co, Dy, Eu152m, Hg197, Hg203, Ho, Ir, K, La, Lu, Mn, Na, Pa, Pt195m, Pt197, Sb, Sc46, Sc47, Sm, Sn117m, W181, W187, Yb169, Yb175, Zn and Zn69m. The precision of the method was assessed by evaluating ERM-DB001-human hair as certified reference materials (CRMs), and which experimental result of ERM-DB001 was consistent with certified values. Whereas Arsenic (As) pollution is major contamination in our studied area, correlation between the concentration of As and other elements were determined by Pearson’s correlation test that it may be useful as a database source for toxic and essential elements in the hair of teenage individuals in our studied area

Keywords: scalp human hair, toxic and essential elements, Kandal province of Cambodia, k₀- instrumental neutron activation method

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Authors: G. T. Ramos-Escobedo, E. T. Pecina-Treviño, L. F. Camacho-Ortegon, E. Orrantia-Borunda

Abstract:

The mineral bioflotation represents a viable alternative for the evaluation of new processes benefit alternative. The adsorption bacteria on minerals surfaces will depend mainly on the type of the microorganism as well as of the studied mineral surface. In the current study, adhesion of S. carnosus on coal was studied. Several methods were used as: DRX, Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) adhesion isotherms and kinetic. The main goal is the recovery of organic matter by the microflotation process on coal particles with biological reagent (S. carnosus). Adhesion tests revealed that adhesion took place after 8 h at pH 9. The results suggest that the adhesion of bacteria to solid substrates can be considered an abiotic physicochemical process that is consequently governed by bacterial surface properties such as their specific surface area, hydrophobicity and surface functionalities. The greatest coal fine flotability was 75%, after 5 min of flotation.

Keywords: fine coal, bacteria, adhesion, recovery organic matter

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Authors: Jahanshah Saleh, Hossein Ghasemi, Ali Shahriari, Faezeh Alizadeh, Yaaghoob Hosseini

Abstract:

Cadmium and chromium are toxic to most organisms and different mechanisms have been developed for overcoming with the toxic effects of these heavy metals. We studied the uptake and distribution of cadmium and chromium in different organs of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) plants in nine heavy metal polluted soils in western Hormozgan province, Iran. The accumulation of chromium was in increasing pattern of fruit peel

Keywords: cadmium, chromium, phytoextraction, phytostabilization, tomato

Procedia PDF Downloads 315

Authors: Charirat Kusonwiriyawong, Supha Photichan, Wannarut Chutibutr

Abstract:

Soil test kits for rapid analysis of the organic matter, available phosphorus and exchangeable potassium were developed to drive a low-cost field testing kit to farmers. The objective was to provide a decision tool for improving soil fertility. One aspect of soil test kit development was ease of use which is a time requirement for completing organic matter, available phosphorus and exchangeable potassium test in one soil sample. This testing kit required only two extractions and utilized no filtration consuming approximately 15 minutes per sample. Organic matter was principally created by oxidizing carbon KMnO₄ using the standard color chart. In addition, modified single extractant (Mehlich I) was applied to extract available phosphorus and exchangeable potassium. Molybdenum blue method and turbidimetric method using standard color chart were adapted to analyze available phosphorus and exchangeable potassium, respectively. Modified single extractant using in soil test kits were highly significant matching with analytical laboratory results (r=0.959** and 0.945** for available phosphorus and exchangeable potassium, respectively). Linear regressions were statistically calculated between modified single extractant and standard laboratory analysis (y=0.9581x-12.973 for available phosphorus and y=0.5372x+15.283 for exchangeable potassium, respectively). These equations were calibrated to formulate a fertilizer rate recommendation for specific corps. To validate quality, soil test kits were distributed to farmers and extension workers. We found that the accuracy of soil test kits were 71.0%, 63.9% and 65.5% for organic matter, available phosphorus, and exchangeable potassium, respectively. The quantitative survey was also conducted in order to assess their satisfaction with soil test kits. The survey showed that more than 85% of respondents said these testing kits were more convenient, economical and reliable than the other commercial soil test kits. Based upon the finding of this study, soil test kits can be another alternative for providing soil analysis and fertility recommendations when a soil testing laboratory is not available.

Keywords: available phosphorus, exchangeable potassium, modified single extractant, organic matter, soil test kits

Procedia PDF Downloads 112