Valorization of waste tire by pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction: a mini-review

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - An amount of 1.5 billion waste tires has been generated every year, resulting in serious environmental problems and damaging human health caused by...     

Synthesis of Succinylated Starches and Their Application as Adsorbents for the Removal of Phenol

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - Succinylated starches (SS) were prepared by the reaction of normal starch (NS) and porous starch (PS) with succinic anhydride (SA) in the presence of DMF...     

Leaf biochemistry of Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. at different stages of plant development as affected by mercury treatment

The effect of mercury (Hg) on the biochemical parameters of Lycopersicon esculentum Mill leaf was studied. Application of mercuric chloride in varying concentrations (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mM HgCl2 kg(-1) sand) caused significant reduction that went up to 89% and 72% chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b contents respectively (at flowering stage), 69% in carotenoid content, 64% in total soluble protein content and 91% in nitrate reductase activity (all at post-flowering stage). The amounts of nitrate and proline increased maximally (151% and 143% respectively) at the flowering stage, whereas total soluble sugar enhanced by 57% at the post-flowering stage. Changes observed in most of the parameters, were concentration dependent. Such studies seem to be able to discover suitable bioindicators of heavy metal pollution.     

Characterization of tannery effluent wastewater by proton-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) analysis to investigate their role in water pollution

Introduction  

Over the last few decades, the chromium-based tanning industry has shown rapid growth in Pakistan. However, the rules and regulations promulgated by the government are not strictly followed for processing the effluent discharge from the tanneries. Consequently, tannery effluents have become a great source of water pollution in surrounding areas.     

Precipitation Amount and Intensity Trends Across Southwest Saudi Arabia

This study examines precipitation accumulation and intensity trends across a region in southwest Saudi Arabia characterized by distinct seasonal weather patterns and mountainous terrain. The region is an example of an arid/semiarid area faced with maintaining sustainable water resources with a growing population. Annual and seasonal trends in precipitation amount were examined from 29 rain gages divided among four geographically unique regions from 1945/1946 to 2009. Two of the regions displayed significantly declining annual trends over the time series using a Mann‐Kendall test modified for autocorrelation (α < 0.05). Seasonal analysis revealed insignificant declining trends in at least two of the regions during each season. The largest and most consistent declining trends occurred during wintertime where all regions experienced negative trends. Several intensity metrics were examined in the study area from four additional stations containing daily data from 1985 to 2011. Intensity metrics included total precipitation, wet day count, simple intensity index, maximum daily annual rainfall, and upper/lower precipitation distribution changes. In general, no coherent trends were found among the daily stations suggesting precipitation is intensifying across the study area. The work represents the first of its size in the study area, and one of few in the region due to the lack of available long‐term data needed to properly examine precipitation changes.     

Genetic damage induced by lead chloride in different tissues of fresh water climbing perch Anabas testudineus (Bloch)

The present investigation was undertaken to study the induction of DNA damage by lead chloride (PbCl(2)) in freshwater climbing perch Anabas testudineus using alkaline single cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay). Based on the LC(50) values of lead chloride of A. testudineus three different concentrations viz., 0.1, 1.0 and 2.0 mg/L were selected to expose fish. The DNA damage was observed in the gill, kidney and liver tissue as the percentage of DNA in comet tails and comet heads in the tissue of the exposed fish. DNA damage at different concentrations showed sensitivity to particular tissue. The liver tissue exhibited significantly (p < 0.01) higher DNA damage, followed by kidney and gill. However, the DNA damage was found to be dose dependent; at 2 mg/L of PbCl(2) the tail and head DNA of liver tissue were 57.84% and 39.49%, in kidney tissue the values were 52.36% and 44.97% whereas in gill tissue the values were 48.86% and 48.96% respectively. The current study explored the utility of the comet assay for in vivo laboratory studies using A. testudineus species for screening the genotoxic potential of lead chloride.     

Industrial hygiene and toxicity studies in unorganized bone-based industrial units

A large variety of ornamental and decorative items are manufactured from bone waste by various unorganized sectors in India. An initial survey indicated that workers were exposed at various phases of final product. The subjects (12 industrial units) were tested for total suspended particulate matter (TSPM), particulate matter <10  $\upmu $ m (PM₁₀), and particulate matter <2.5  $\upmu $ m (PM_2.5). Prevalent levels of TSPM ranged between 2.90 and 5.89 mg m^???3. Respirable fractions of occupational dust as PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 were found in the range of 0.30?C2.08 and 0.26?C0.50 mg m^???3, respectively. Cytotoxicity study was conducted using hemolysis as a sensitive marker. In an in vitro study, rat RBCs were exposed to the concentration of 25?C1,000  $\upmu $ g/ml for 15?C120 min. A considerable variation was observed in the hemolytic activity of samples collected from different areas. At 500  $\upmu $ g/ml concentration, the hemolytic activity (12 h) was found to be in the range of 18?C25%. Due to limitation in sample mass of respirable fractions, only one concentration (100  $\upmu $ g/ml/2 h) was used for comparative study on hemolysis of RBCs caused by PM₁₀ and PM_2.5. Interestingly, the hemolytic activity was more at PM_2.5 than PM₁₀ and TSPM. These results suggest that the respirable particles are capable of reaching deep into the respiratory system. The finding is significant notably when there are no standards available in occupationally exposed populations. This is the first such study. Data could be of importance to policy makers and regulators.     

Environmental benefit of clean energy consumption: can BRICS economies achieve environmental sustainability through human capital?

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This paper scrutinizes the asymmetric impact of education and education expenditure on clean energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the BRICS...     

Rendering Bio-inert Low-Density Polyethylene Amenable for Biodegradation via Fast High Throughput Reactive Extrusion Assisted Oxidation

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - An energy-efficient high throughput pre-treatment of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) using a fast, reactive extrusion (REX) assisted oxidation technique...     

Comprehensive review on naringenin and naringin polyphenols as a potent anticancer agent

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Though the incidence of several cancers in Western societies is regulated wisely, some cancers such as breast, lung, and colorectal cancer are...