Endophytic Fungal Communities associated with Degradation of Polyurethane in in-vitro

Vinay B. Raghavendra, Sunayana N. and Lokesh S.

Plastics have become an important part of modern life and are used in different sectors of applications like packaging, building materials, consumer products and much more. Many plastics are physically, chemically robust and cause waste management problems. Bioremediation is an important approach to waste reduction that relies on biological processes to break down a variety of pollutants. This is made possible by the vast metabolic diversity of the microbial world. To explore this diversity for the breakdown of plastics, in the present study several endophytic fungi were screened from a medicinally important tree Azadirachta indica for its ability to degrade the polyurethane under in-vitro. Several endophytes proved their ability to efficiently degrade polyurethanes in both solid and liquid suspensions. Vigorous activity was observed in the genus Fusarium sp., Alternaria alternata and Lasiodiplodia theobromae. These isolates were grown on Impranil DLN medium as the sole carbon source under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. It was found that Fusarium sp. was able to degrade the polymer more activity in the PUR-A solid medium and PUR-L liquid medium. The broad distribution of activity observed as anaerobic growth using Impranil DLN as the sole carbon source promised that endophytes are the potential source of biodiversity from A. indica to screen for their metabolic properties useful for bioremediation.

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Spatio-temporal variability of groundwater salinity in a coastal aquifer

Mini P. K., Singh D. K. and Sarangi A.

Many of the coastal aquifers along the east coast of India are facing seawater intrusion problem. Information on spatial variability of groundwater salinity helps in identifying the critical region for planning management strategies for controlling seawater intrusion. In this study, an attempt was made to estimate the spatial and temporal variability of salinity in a multilayer aquifer of Minjur in Tamil Nadu, India. Data on groundwater salinity were subjected to geostatistical analysis using the GS+ and Arc GIS 9.3 softwares. The variograms and spatial maps were generated for pre monsoon and post monsoon seasons of 1999 and 2008. The variogram analysis showed a nugget to sill ratio of <0.25 indicating that the groundwater salinity has very strong spatial dependence. Spatial variability maps of electrical conductivity showed that the area under EC>3.0 dS m-1 increased from 37.8% in 1999 to 56.7% in 2008 in unconfined aquifer. The semi confined aquifer also showed similar results but the increase was marginal from 1999 to 2008. Groundwater quality improved considerably due to recharge from rainfall.

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Determining residual anti-ulcer and anti-platelet pharmaceutical agents after wastewater treatment at the South tertiary municipal treatment plant in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Kazi Mohsin, Bousiakou Leda G., KlapaMaria ,Fatani Amal and Karikas George A.

The aim of this study is to investigate the presence of potential pharmaceutical traces at the South tetriary wastewater treatment plant in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia using a rapid, accurate and sensitive analytical method (UPLC-MS) for their simultaneous confirmation and quantification.The investigation focuses on common anti-ulcer and anti-platelet drugs. Analysis of real wastewater samples from the following (3) sampling points: influent, before chlorination and after chlorination was conducted and even though at the influent point, there was a relative high concentration (> 0.01µg/ml)of omeprazole, esomeprazole and clopidogrel, thisreduced significantly after the chlorination process. The significance of the above study is important not only concerning the efficiency of the processes involved within the south tertiary wastewater treatment plant in removing pharmaceutical traces but also with regards to wider implications involved in the use of the final effluent for agricultural purposes in the experimental farms ofDirab, Al-Dariyah as well as farms in Wadi-Hanifah.

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Study on Associative and Non-associative Behavior of Some 5-Membered Heterocycles with Two and One Hetero Atoms and their N-Methylated Derivatives from Surface Tension Data

Sanjeev R., Jagannadham V., Skelton Adam A. and Veda Vrath R.

Simple 5-membered heterocycles and two of their N-methylated derivatives with two hetero atoms viz. pyrazole, isoxazole isothiozole and 1-methylpyrazole and with one hetero atom viz. pyrrole, furan, thiophene and N-methylpyrrole have shown a discriminative behavior toward surface tension, EÖTVÖS constants (k), order of association (x). This was explained in terms of associative and non-associative behavior of these eight compounds. Trouton’s rule had negligible significance on the associative and non-associative behavior.

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Removal of Pb(II) from wastewater by Rice Husk

Upendra Kumar and Acharya Jyotikusum

The feasibility of using Rice Husk for removing lead ions from aqueous solutions has been investigated as a low cost and an eco-friendly adsorbent. Present study deals with the adsorption of Pb(II) from aqueous solution on sodium carbonate treated rice husk (SCRH). Batch studies were performed to evaluate the influences of various experimental parameters like pH, initial concentration and contact time. At equilibrium the percentage removal for DWRH and SCRH was observed as 80 % and 98.2 % respectively. Optimum conditions for Pb(II) removal were found to be pH 6, adsorbent dosage 10 g/l and equilibrium time 1 h at which the maximum removal was observed as 98.8 %. The experimental data were analyzed by the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm. Equilibrium data fitted well with the Freundlich and Langmuir model with maximum adsorption capacity of 24.39 mg/g. The rates of adsorption were found to confirm pseudo-second-order kinetics with good correlation. The mass transfer model based on external mass transfer, intraparticle diffusion and effective diffusion were applied to the experimental data to examine the mechanisms of the rate controlling step. Boyd plot confirmed that external mass transfer was the rate-limiting step in the adsorption process. Adsorption of Pb(II) on SCRH for an industrial effluent was observed as 96.7 %. The results indicate that the SCRH could be used to effectively adsorb Pb(II) from aqueous solutions and can be used as an alternative to commercially available activated carbon.

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Kinetics and Mechanism of Oxidation of o, m and p Methyl Substituted Phenoxy Acetic Acid Hydrazides to their Corresponding Aryloxy Acetic Acids by Vanadium (V)

Pore Sanjay Vishnu

The kinetics and mechanism of the effect of various positions of methyl substituent in aromatic ring were studied by oxidizing o,m and p methyl substituted phenoxy acetic acid hydrazides to their corresponding aryloxy acetic acids by vanadium (v) in sulphuric acid medium under pseudo first order condition. The formation of complex between the reactants decomposes in the subsequent step to give products. The reaction proceeds by one electron transfer with intervention of free radical. Increase in hydrazide concentration decreases the specific rate. Increase in acid concentration increases the reaction rate and decreases with decrease in dielectric constant. The effect of temperature was studied between 25 to 55 oC. The activation parameters were determined and the values support the proposed mechanism as evidenced by considerable decrease in entropy of activation (-ΔS # = 141.68, 135.78 and 134.86 J K-1 mol-1 respective for o-Me-PAAH, m-Me-PAAH and p-Me-PAAH respectively).

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Increasing productivity and breeding performances by using the therapy with PG600 in post-weaning sows

Ciornei Ş. G., Roşca P., Drugociu D. and Nechifor F.

Physiologically after weaning, the resumption of sexual cycles in sows occurs in a range between 3 and 10 days. In an industrial-scale pig farm, the farmer seeks to use the sows for breeding continuously without downtime that will generate economic losses. For profit, weaned sows must resume reproductive activity within a very short time after weaning. The therapy with PG600 is not new; this product is already used for inducing estrus in sows with prolonged anestrus. However, the novelty is represented by the use of this product in an optimal moment, so the sexual activity in sows will be resumed in a shorter time after weaning. The study was conducted on a number of 144 post-weaning sows divided in two groups (control group and experimental group). The sows that formed the experimental group (sows that did not show heat signs within 5 days after weaning) were treated with 5 ml PG 600 and the estrus was induced in 95.8% of sows. In control group, 87.5% of sows presented spontaneous estrus. A high increase of the percentage of sows can be observed that presented estrus in the group treated with PG 600 compared with control group (8.3% higher). Estrus grouping in sows was visible in the first 10 days in the control group and in the first five days in the experimental group. In the control group, 76.4% of sows showed spontaneous estrus after weaning while in the experimental group (sows with anestrus) heats were induced in 75%. The aim of this study was to reintegrate the sows with anestrus in the reproductive activity after weaning, using hormonal therapy with PG600. The therapy must be applied at an optimal time so that the onset of estrus will be grouped and will occur shortly and also the prolificacy will be higher or at least at the same level compared to average values.

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Assessment of Potential Toxicological Effects of Cinnamon Bark Aqueous Extract in Rats

Rabiatul Adawiyah Ahmad, Hamed Serati-Nouri, Fadzilah Adibah Abdul Majid, Mohamad Roji Sarmidi and Ramlan Abdul Aziz

Cinnamon stick is world widely used in cooking, traditional medicine, perfumery and aesthetic industries. Many studies have demonstrated the potential of cinnamon extracts in diabetes treatment. Although it has been reported as safe in general cooking recipe and categorized as GRAS by USDA, sub-acute toxicity procedure was conducted in this study to determine effect of cinnamon extract on histopathological changes as well as the haematological parameters of blood. Water extraction was done for dried cinnamon. Twenty-four female Sprague Dawley rats were used in this study. The oral route was selected because it is the most likely route of human exposure through the consumption of herbs. The concentrations studied were 0.1, 0.5 and 2.0g/kg cinnamon aqueous extract (CE). There were no statistically significant effects of all concentrations of CE on behaviour, mortality, water intake, food consumption, weight gain, internal organs weight (liver and kidney) and heamatological parameters during treatment and post-treatment periods except 1) the slight decrease in kidney and liver weight of rats treated with 0.5g/kg and 2) slight decrease in liver weight of rats treated with 2.0g/kg, during post-treatment period. Hence, these toxicity studies suggest that the CE is low to moderate in toxicity and CE below 0.5 g/kg dose level is safe to be used in the efficacy study especially for diabetes treatment.

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Aspergillus niger-a novel heavy metal bio-absorbent and pesticide tolerant fungus

Anwer Md. Arshad and Bushra Aishatul

Sixteen most efficient out of two hundred thirty six isolates of Aspergillus niger aggregates were collected from agricultural soil of forty districts in Uttar Pradesh, India and were subjected to heavy metals sorption, pesticides tolerance and ochratoxin A production to find the best isolate for commercial exploitation in biosorption of heavy metals processes utilization in the preparation of biopesticides formulations. Metal tolerance in term of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was 350-400 µg/ml for Ni+2 and Cr+6 and 150-175 µg ml-1 for Cd+2 against the tested isolates of A. niger. Biosorption of all metals was found higher at 4 mM initial metal concentration. In single-metal system A. niger isolates adsorbed Ni+2 6.3-6.7, 25.5-29.6 and 17.3-20.2 mg g-1 biomass; Cd+2 7.2-8.6, 19.4-21.4 and 16.8-18.1 mg g-1 biomass; and Cr+6 7.4-8.5, 18.2-19.5 and 16.0-16.6 mg g-1 biomass at 2, 4 and 6 mM metal concentration respectively. Highly significant (P≤ 0.0001) varying compatibility with the best performance of SkNAn5 of A. niger isolates for maximum inhibition in the growth of the fungus (ED90) and safe tolerance limits (ED50) was observed with pesticides such as carbendazim, captan, mancozeb, metalaxyl, thiram and carbofuran. Detection of mycotoxin production assay was done with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and none of the isolates was found having production of ochratoxin A (< 1ηg g-1) for health security.

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Ti-exchanged ZSM-5 as acetyl transfer catalyst

Bhuyan Balin Kumar and Phukan Prodeep

In past few decades ZSM-5 zeolites attracted much attention because of their interesting catalytic properties and great resistance to deactivation. The unique channel structure of ZSM-5 plays crucial roles in restraining side reactions and controlling the product distribution. Since the discovery of ZSM-5 by Argauer and Landolt, many researchers have evaluated a number of ZSM-5 catalysts modified with various transition metal ions. We are reporting herewith the catalytic activity of environmentally benign Ti-exchanged ZSM-5 catalyst for selective acetylation of alcohols using acetic anhydride.

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Coconut (Cocosnucifera) Shell Biomass as an Adsorbent for the Sorption of Pb2+ from Aqueous Solution

Wankasi Donbebe and Dikio Ezekiel Dixon

The sorption of Pb2+from solution by Coconut shell powder was investigated. The morphological features of the shell sample were studied using the energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Equilibrium, kinetic and thermodynamic batch adsorption experiments were carried out by the concentration, time and temperature effects respectively. The morphological image of the shell showed irregular small size particles which indicated a high surface area and porosity that facilitated sorption. The adsorption studies recorded relatively rapid uptake of Pb2+by the shell which was mainly diffusion controlled and followed a second order kinetic process. The thermodynamic studies suggested that relatively low temperature (low energy) favoured sorption which was exothermic with both physisorption and chemisorption mechanisms.

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Compositional Alterations in Tomato Products during Storage

Siddiqui Mohammed Wasim and Singh J. P.

Tomatoes and tomato products are very popular worldwide owing to their nutritional quality and cost effectiveness. Generally, tomatoes are processed into various products like puree, paste, juice, sauce, ketchup and so on during the peak season of availability. These products are rich in antioxidant molecules such as lycopene, β-carotene, ascorbic acid, flavonoids and phenols, which are thought to be primarily responsible for its beneficial health effects. Several alterations (positive/negative) in terms of compositional constituents have been reported in tomatoes during processing and storage of products. This review analyses/discusses the alterations in several technological (TSS, acidity, pH), nutritional (ascorbic acid, lycopene, β-carotene) as well as sensory attributes of tomato products during storage period. Factors affecting the composition of products are also discussed to some extent.

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