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The Applicability of Oxidative Stress Biomarkers in Assessing Chromium Induced Toxicity in the Fish Labeo rohita
Get PDFThe evaluation of metal’s toxicity in freshwater is one of the imperative areas of research and there is an emergent concern on the development of techniques for detecting toxic effects in aquatic animals. Oxidative stress biomarkers are very useful in assessing the health of aquatic life and more in depth studies are necessary to establish an exact cause effect relationship.Therefore, to study the effectiveness of this approach, a laboratory study was conducted in the fish Labeo rohita as a function of hexavalent chromium and the toxicity indices using a battery of oxidative stress biomarkers such as catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione reductase (GR) in the liver, muscle, gills, and brain have been studied along with biometric parameters, behavioral
changes, and Cr bioaccumulation. A significant increased HSI was observed in contrast to CF which reduced significantly. SOD,CAT, and GR activity increased significantly in all the tissues of treated fishes. The bioaccumulation of Cr was highest in liver followed by gills, muscle, and brain. This study highlights the significance of using a set of integrated biomarker and advocate to include these parameters in National Water Quality Monitoring Program in areas potentially polluted with metals to assess the health of the ecosystem
Studies on catalytic and structural properties of BaRuO3 type perovskite material for diesel soot oxidation
No full textBaRuO3 based perovskite type catalytic material was synthesized by co-precipitation method and its
catalytic activity has been tested for diesel soot oxidation. This material shows high catalytic activity for
carbon/soot oxidation reaction with lowering of carbon oxidation temperature by >190 8C. The catalytic
activity could be due to dissociative adsorption of oxygen on BaRuO3 surface. It is postulated by
structural investigations that 120 planes of BaRuO3 can have abundant Ru atoms which can facilitate the
oxygen dissociation. The additional advantage of using Ru in BaRuO3 is the thermal stability of Ru in
oxide matrix as well as basicity offered by Ba. These synergetic effects can also be responsible for the high
soot/carbon oxidation activity of this perovskite type material, which can be a potential candidate for
control of soot emissions from combustion processes and vehicle exhaust
Investigation of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in old consumer products in India
No full textPolybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) used extensively over the past 3 decades as flame retardants in most types of polymers, all over the world, have been identified as global pollutants. PBDEs pose various health problems such as thyroid hormone disruption, permanent learning and memory impairment, behavioral changes, hearing deficits, delayed puberty onset, fetal malformations, and possibly cancer. Many measurements of PBDEs in various matrices from Sweden, Holland, Japan, the USA, and elsewhere have been reported, but few measurements are available for India. In this study, a preliminary screening of different congeners of PBDEs has been performed in different old electronic and consumer products with an objective to build capacity in order to analyze PBDEs and BFRs. Six different samples, foam from upholstery, motherboard of a computer, children toy composite sample, old vanishing window blind sample, electrical wire sample, and PVC flooring sample, were collected and analyzed for the presence of the following PBDE congeners: BDE-28, BDE-47, BDE-99, BDE-100, BDE-153, BDE-154, BDE-183, and BDE-209. It was found that three out of six samples were positive for the presence of PBDEs. Three congeners were detected in the samples, i.e., BDE-47, BDE-153, and BDE-209, of which, highest concentration was of BDE-209. Among the samples, motherboard of computer showed the highest concentration of BDE-209 followed by window blind and foam from upholstery. The results of this preliminary investigation indicate that PBDEs are still present in the old consumer products which can be an important additional source of exposure to the population
Volatile Constituents of Acorus calamus L. from Western Himalaya
No full textAcorus calamus L. (Araceae), is a semi aquatic perennial herb extensively distributed in western Himalaya. To explore the variability in volatile constituents of rhizome essential oils of A. calamus growing wild in foot and mid hills of Uttarakhand, India; twenty one populations were collected during spring season from an altitude of 215 m to 1827 m. The essential oil yield was found to vary from 0.68 % to 5.80 % in the different populations of A. calamus. GC-FID and GC-MS analysis of oil samples resulted in identification of forty constituents comprising 94.0-99.9 % of oil compositions. Phenyl propanoids (81.9-96.9 %) represented by β-asarone (69.8-95.6 %), α-asarone (0.1-4.7 %), (Z)-methyl isoeugenol (<0.1-4.4 %), (E)-isoeugenol acetate (0.0-3.7 %), (E)-methyl isoeugenol (0.1-2.9 %) and γ-asarone (<0.1-1.6 %) constitute the major fraction of
essential oil composition. Other major constituents identified were α-selinene (0.1-7.2 %), humulene epoxide
II (<0.1-3.5 %), p-cymene (<0.1-1.9 %) and α-bisabolol (0.0-1.6 %). Comparative results and subsequent statistical analysis based on euclidean multidimensional distance scaling showed considerable variations in rhizome essential oils composition
Distribution of Ozone over Urban Kolkata: Observed vs. UAM-V Prediction
No full textVehicular pollution, emissions due to burning of fossil fuel
from industries and nonpoint sources in Kolkata are major
sources of air pollution characterized by oxides of Nitrogen
(NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These pollutants are also responsible for the secondary ozone formation based on their reactivities. In the present study ozone has been monitored hourly every month in residential, industrial,traffic intersections, and petrol pumps in the urban area of Kolkata along with eight hourly nonoxygenated VOCs,carbonyls and NOx. Urban Airshed Model (UAM-V) has been
used to simulate ozone on January 14, 2008 in Kolkata’s
urban Area. Results of predicted ground level ozone have been in agreement with observed ozone concentrations
Genome Sequence of Lactobacillus plantarum EGD-AQ4, Isolated from Fermented Product of Northeast India
Get PDFWe present a draft genome sequence of Lactobacillus plantarum strain EGD-AQ4, isolated from nonalcoholic fermented bamboo
shoot products of Northeast India. The size of the draft genome sequence is the largest among all the reported genome sequences
of Lactobacillus plantarum, thus enabling the exploration of new gene clusters involved in various functional and probiotic
attributes
Heavy metals contamination in road dust in Delhi city, India
No full textRoad dust samples were collected from four different areas having different landuse patterns: industrial, heavy traffic, residential and mixed use in Delhi city of India. The samples were analyzed for Ba, Co, Cr, Cu Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn by ICP-AES. Results indicate high levels of Co, Cr, Cu, Mn and Ni in samples collected from industrial area. Ba, Pb and Zn showed higher concentration levels in heavy traffic area while Fe did not show any discernible variation between the localities. The concentrations of Fe, Mn, Ba, Zn, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni and Co showed a decreasing trend. The content of heavy metals was comparable to those in other cities in the world. A multivariate statistical approach which includes Pearson’s Correlations and Principal Component Analysis was used to identify the possible sources of metals in the road dust. Enrichment factors were estimated for further confirming the sources of contamination. Significant positively correlations between road dust metals Cu-Mn-Co-Cr-Ni suggest that major common source of origin is industrial activities. A meaningful correlation between Ba and Zn, and a moderate positive correlation between Pb and Ba indicate the influence of traffic activities. Enrichment factors calculation indicated that Pb, Cu, Cr and Zn are moderately enriched whereas Co, Ni and Mn are less enriched while Ba exhibited very low enrichment in the dust samples. The results indicate that industrial and vehicular traffic are the two major sources. Traffic appears to be responsible for the high levels of Zn, Cu and Ba. High concentration of Co, Cr, Cu and Mn may be due to industrial sources
Nitric oxide absorption by hydrogen peroxide in airlift reactor: a study using response surface methodology
No full textAbsorption of nitric oxide from nitric oxide /air mixture in hydrogen peroxide solution has been studied on bench scale internal loop airlift reactor. The objective of this investigation was to study the performance of nitric oxide absorption in hydrogen peroxide solution in the airlift reactor and to explore/determine the optimum conditions using response surface methodology. A Box–Behnken model has been employed as an experimental design. The effect of three independent variables—namely nitric oxide gas velocity, 0.02–0.11 m/s; nitric oxide gas concentration, 300–3,000 ppm and hydrogen peroxide concentration, 0.25–2.5 %—has been studied on the absorption of nitric oxide in aqueous hydrogen peroxide in the semi-batch mode of experiments. The optimal conditions for parameters were found to be nitric oxide gas velocity, 0.02 m/s; nitric oxide gas concentration, 2,246 ppm and hydrogen peroxide concentration, 2.1 %. Under these conditions, the experimental nitric oxide absorption efficiency was observed to be *65 %. The proposed model equation using response surface methodology has shown good agreement with the experimental data, with a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.983. The results showed that optimised conditions could be used for the efficient absorption of nitric oxide in the flue gas emanating from industries
Occurrence and distribution of selected heavy metals and boron in groundwater of the Gulf of Khambhat region, Gujarat, India
No full textThe concentration of selected heavy metals, like
As, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn as well as B, was
measured by inductively coupled plasma–optical emission
spectrometry (ICP–OES) in groundwater samples from various
locations in the Gulf of Khambhat (GoK), an inlet of the
Arabian Sea in the state of Gujarat, India, during postmonsoon,
winter, and pre-monsoon seasons in a year. Most
heavy elements are characterized by low mobility under
slightly alkaline and reducing conditions; concentrations in
confined aquifers are smaller than the maximum permissible
values for drinking water. The temporal changes indicate that
a majority of metals is entering the aquifer during monsoon.
Principle component analysis of the heavy metal data suggests
that Co, Cu, Cd, and Zn are interrelated with each other and
derived significantly from anthropogenic route, while input of
Pb and Cr may be due to atmospheric deposition in the study
area. Both weathering of rocks and anthropogenic input were
found to be main sources of elements in the groundwater. The
heavy metal levels in groundwaters of the GoK region in
comparison with some of the European and Asian sites were
higher; however, these metal levels were found to be comparable
with few urban sites in the world
Identification of Inlet and Outlet Locations for Cool Seawater Discharges from an LNG Facility
Get PDFTwo-dimensional hydrodynamic and advection-dispersion simulations were carried out to identify the appropriate locations of inlet and outlet for cool seawater discharges from the proposed Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal using MIKE-21 suites of software. The model simulations were validated by comparing the observed and simulated hydrodynamics in terms of water depths, current speeds and directions. The model is satisfactorily correlated with coefficients 0.98, 0.86 and 0.91 for water depth, current speed and direction, respectively. The validated model was extended to predict the advection-dispersion phenomena for the two scenarios based on positions of inlet and outlet and their discharges. The predicted results of cool water discharges were compared to the existing Environmental Health and Safety, World Bank guidelines forLNG discharge facilities. It was observed that a trade-off is required before taking engineering decisions for selecting an environmentally acceptable and energy efficient option for such cool water discharges from an LNG facilit