Alteration of DNA,RNA and collagen synthesis in lung organ cultures exposed to mercury ions

We have examined the effect of Hg²⁺ ions on DNA, RNA and collagen synthesis in organ cultures of neo-natal rat lungs. These cultures exhibit many biochemical characteristics of lung in vivo and they continue to synthesize macromolecules at increasing rates up to 6 days. When these cultures were exposed to 1.0μM HgC1₂, the synthesis of DNA was stimulated nearly 3-fold after 72 hr of exposure followed by a decline at 120 hr reflecting cumulative cytotoxicity. Higher concentrations were inhibitory at all times. A nearly 3-fold increase in RNA synthesis occurred after 24 hr exposure to 1.0 μM HgC1₂ and at 72 hr the cultures continued to synthesize RNA at rates comparable to control. There was a decrease in RNA synthesis at 120 hr. Increased collagen synthesis was observed at concentrations up to 10 μM and at all times. The maximal increase, 2–3 fold, occurred at 120 hr in cultures exposed to 0.1 M. These studies suggest that Hg²⁺-induced cell injury in lung organ cultures elicits a reparative response characterized by increased collagen synthesis. This is similar to chemically induced tissue-injury in lungs in vivo. The relevance of these data to the mechanism of induced pulmonary fibrosis is discussed. These studies also point to the usefulness of organ cultures for studying pulmonary toxicity of environmental agents.     

Pretreatment of cyanided tailings by catalytic ozonation with Mn2+/O3

The increasing amount of cyanided tailings produced as a by-product has gained significant attention in recent years because of the rapid development of the gold industry and extensive exploitation of gold mineral resources. The effective use of these secondary resources is becoming an important and urgent problem for all environmental protection staff. Manganese-catalyzed ozonation for the pre-oxidation of cyanided tailings was studied and the effects of Mn²⁺ dosage, initial sulfuric acid concentration, ozone volume flow, temperature and agitation speed on pretreatment were examined. The optimum reaction conditions were observed to be: ore pulp density 2.5%, agitation speed 700 r/min, temperature 60 ℃, Mn²⁺ dosage 40 g/L, ozone volume flow 80 L/hr, initial sulfuric acid concentration 1 mol/L, and reaction time 6 hr. Under these conditions, the leaching rate of Fe and weight loss could reach 94.85% and 48.89% respectively. The leaching process of cyanided tailings by Mn²⁺/O³ was analyzed, and it was found that the leaching of pyrite depends on synergetic oxidation by high-valent manganese and O³, in which the former played an important part.     

Pesticides in shallow groundwater of Bahawalnagar, Muzafargarh, D.G. Khan and Rajan Pur districts of Punjab, Pakistan

In Pakistan there is little data on environmental contamination of rural water sources by pesticides. This study evaluated pesticide contamination of groundwater in four intensive cotton growing districts. Water samples were collected from 37 rural open wells in the areas of Bahwalnagar, Muzafargarh, D.G. Khan and Rajan Pur districts of Punjab and analysed for eight pesticides which are mostly used. Information on types of pesticide used and distance to nearest pesticide mixing area and application areas was obtained for each site. From the eight pesticides analysed, six pesticides were detected in the water samples. Only cypermethrin and cabosulfan were not detected. The percentage of detection of bifenthrin, lambda-cyhalothrin, carbofuran, endosulfan, methyl parathion and monocrotophos was, respectively 13.5%, 5.4%, 59.4%, 8%, 5.4% and 35.1% in July; 16.2%, 13.55%, 43.2%, 8%, N.D. (not detected) and 24.3% in October. Maximum contamination levels (MCLs) established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water were not exceeded. The study has shown the need for monitoring pesticide contamination in rural water resources, and the development of drinking water quality standards for specific pesticides in Pakistan. The conclusions and recommendations will be disseminated to senior decision makers in central and local governments, extension agents and farmers.     

Habitat preference and population estimates of Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) in district Chakwal of Potohar Plateau,Pakistan

Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) is a fossorial, “Near threatened” mammalian species occurring in Pakistan and facing a risk of endangerment in its wild habitat. Being nocturnal, ecological data of the species is lacking in the country and in south Asia as well. The current study investigated some ecological parameters of the species like, distribution, habitat analysis, population and food habits in district Chakwal of Potohar Plateau. Illegal trapping and killing by professional nomads for its scales is the main threat to the species in the study area.     

Solid waste bin detection and classification using Dynamic Time Warping and MLP classifier

The increasing requirement for Solid Waste Management (SWM) has become a significant challenge for municipal authorities. A number of integrated systems and methods have introduced to overcome this challenge. Many researchers have aimed to develop an ideal SWM system, including approaches involving software-based routing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Radio-frequency Identification (RFID), or sensor intelligent bins. Image processing solutions for the Solid Waste (SW) collection have also been developed; however, during capturing the bin image, it is challenging to position the camera for getting a bin area centralized image. As yet, there is no ideal system which can correctly estimate the amount of SW. This paper briefly discusses an efficient image processing solution to overcome these problems. Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) was used for detecting and cropping the bin area and Gabor wavelet (GW) was introduced for feature extraction of the waste bin image. Image features were used to train the classifier. A Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) classifier was used to classify the waste bin level and estimate the amount of waste inside the bin. The area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves was used to statistically evaluate classifier performance. The results of this developed system are comparable to previous image processing based system. The system demonstration using DTW with GW for feature extraction and an MLP classifier led to promising results with respect to the accuracy of waste level estimation (98.50%). The application can be used to optimize the routing of waste collection based on the estimated bin level.     

不同降水下覆盖与缓释肥减量对油菜土壤微生物群落结构的影响

为探讨沟垄集雨、秸秆覆盖和减量缓释肥集成技术对油菜土壤微生物群落结构的影响,在大田定位试验条件下,设置3种栽培方式（秸秆覆盖、沟垄集雨、传统平作）和4种施肥水平（习惯施肥、缓释肥减量20%、缓释肥减量40%、不施肥）,比较分析2016~2017年（多雨年份）和2017~2018年（季节性干旱年份）这2种不同降水年型下油菜土壤微生物群落结构对集成技术的响应.结果表明,不同降雨条件下,秸秆覆盖+缓释肥减量20%（J80）与沟垄覆盖+缓释肥减量20%（M80）较习惯栽培（PC）更利于土壤微生物生长.在多雨年型和季节性干旱年型下,J80与M80能平均分别提高微生物量碳9.94%和10.32%;提高土壤微生物量氮2.38%和1.19%.多雨年型下,土壤微生物磷酸脂肪酸（PLFA）总量较干旱年型降低30.75%,覆盖能有效提高土壤PLFA质量摩尔浓度.多雨年型下土壤细菌、真菌PLFA质量摩尔浓度较干旱年型平均减少33.67%和53.21%;而放线菌PLFA增加13.04%.微生物群落对异常降水具有敏感响应.多雨气候会造成细菌/真菌升高;干旱气候则会增加直链饱和脂肪酸/直链单不饱和脂肪酸及直链单不饱和脂肪酸/环丙烷脂肪酸.通过秸秆覆盖与缓释肥的集成技术,能稳定异常降水下的土壤微环境,缓解水分和养分胁迫,为油菜稳产和可持续发展提供有效途径.     

Investigation of oxidative stress enzymes and histological alterations in tilapia exposed to chlorpyrifos

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Chlorpyrifos (ChF) is an organophosphate pesticide that is widely used in agricultural fields and indoor for controlling pests. Aquatic ecosystems are...     

Influence of coal ash on the concrete properties and its performance under sulphate and chloride conditions

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study investigated the influence of coal bottom ash (CBA) on the concrete properties and evaluate the effects of combined exposure of sulphate...