Assessment of DNA damage and cytotoxicity of palmatine on human skin epithelial carcinoma cells

The present investigation was carried out to examine the cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of a Tinospora cordifolia crude methanolic extract (palmatine) on human skin epithelial carcinoma cells (A431). T. cordifolia is one of the indispensable medicinal plants used in Ayurvedic medicine for treatment of various diseases and recommended for improving the immune system. Cytotoxicity and genotoxicity evaluation was carried out using A431 cells treated with different concentrations of palmatine. The duration of the treatment was 24 and 48 hr. A cellular proliferative capacity test showed that palmatine produced cytotoxicity in concentration- and time-dependent manner. Further, palmatine induced significant intracellular reactive oxygen species generation and elevated lipid peroxidation, as well as activities of catalase and superoxide dismutase. DNA fragmentation analysis using the comet assay showed that palmatine induced genotoxicity in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Evidence indicates palmatine is capable of induction of oxidative stress resulting in cell death and genomic instability.     

Estimating willingness to pay for a hypothetical earthquake early warning systems

The development of reliable, accessible, and transparent earthquake early warning systems (EEWSs) for disaster reduction have been given increased priority at local, national, and international levels. Accurately quantifying the social and economic benefits accrued to households and businesses from EEWSs are a challenging and difficult task. In this paper, the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) is used to evaluate the benefits of a hypothetical EEWS to the citizens of Tehran Metropolitan. This study clarifies public willingness to pay (WTP) for EEWS in Tehran, and the dominant factors involved in WTP through a CVM analysis. The survey, completed by more than 504 households, showed that on average households are willing to pay 367,471 Rials (~38 US$) per month for the hypothetical EEWS. Those willing to pay the most for EEWS are households, which currently possess a fire alarm. Also the more educated the respondents and the more children the respondents have, the more willing they are to pay for EEWS. These results could be used by policy makers and technology firms in order to determine the optimal investments in early warning systems for earthquake disaster reduction.     

Automatic detection of shoreline change: case of North Sinai coast,Egypt

This paper introduces an appropriate visualization of how to effectively digitize, quantify and predict shoreline kinematics changes. The method relies mainly on the coupling of Geographic Information System (GIS) with Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS). The North Sinai coast in Egypt is selected as a case study. The proposed technique is applied over a quarter-centennial period of 27 years (1989–2016). However, the years 2025, 2035, and 2050 are used for prediction purpose. Histogram threshold of band 5, Histogram threshold of band ratio, and Tasselled Cap Transformation (TCT) are initially tempted as semi-automatic shoreline extraction techniques for Landsat ETM 2010 imagery. Among of them, the TCT is found superior as a digitizing technique that attains the least normalized root mean square errors with the corresponding field data in 2010. Meanwhile, the shoreline change rates in the form of erosion/accretion patterns are automatically quantified by four statistical parameters functioned in DSAS coding. Those, namely end point rate (EPR), net shoreline movement (NSM), linear regression rate (LRR), and least median of squares (LMS). On the basis of the LRR and EPR results, this study offers to the coastal managers a highly reliable decision-support-algorism that can dynamically assist in elaborating strategies to curtail the non-affirmative consequences due to the erosion/accretion of the shoreline.     

Source apportionment and health risk assessment of potentially toxic elements in road dust from urban industrial areas of Ahvaz megacity,Iran

This study investigates the occurrence and spatial distribution of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) (Hg, Cd, Cu, Mo, Pb, Zn, Ni, Co, Cr, Al, Fe, Mn, V and Sb) in 67 road dust samples collected from urban industrial areas in Ahvaz megacity, southwest of Iran. Geochemical methods, multivariate statistics, geostatistics and health risk assessment model were adopted to study the spatial pollution pattern and to identify the priority pollutants, regions of concern and sources of the studied PTEs. Also, receptor positive matrix factorization model was employed to assess pollution sources. Compared to the local background, the median enrichment factor values revealed the following order: Sb > Pb > Hg > Zn > Cu > V > Fe > Mo > Cd > Mn > Cr ≈ Co ≈ Al ≈ Ni. Statistical results show that a significant difference exists between concentrations of Mo, Cu, Pb, Zn, Fe, Sb, V and Hg in different regions (univariate analysis, Kruskal–Wallis test p < 0.05), indicating the existence of highly contaminated spots. Integrated source identification coupled with positive matrix factorization model revealed that traffic-related emissions (43.5%) and steel industries (26.4%) were first two sources of PTEs in road dust, followed by natural sources (22.6%) and pipe and oil processing companies (7.5%). The arithmetic mean of pollution load index (PLI) values for high traffic sector (1.92) is greater than industrial (1.80) and residential areas (1.25). Also, the results show that ecological risk values for Hg and Pb in 41.8 and 9% of total dust samples are higher than 80, indicating their considerable or higher potential ecological risk. The health risk assessment model showed that ingestion of dust particles contributed more than 83% of the overall non-carcinogenic risk. For both residential and industrial scenarios, Hg and Pb had the highest risk values, whereas Mo has the lowest value.     

Mathematical modeling of sustainable development goals of India agenda 2030: a Neutrosophic programming approach

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Since 2015, the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) agenda 2030 has been designed with 17 goals, 169 targets, and 232 unique indicators...     

Foliar application of aspartic acid lowers cadmium uptake and Cd-induced oxidative stress in rice under Cd stress

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Cadmium (Cd) contamination of farmland soils is a widespread problem around the globe, and rice (Oryza sativa L.) tends to accumulate more Cd and is...     

Trophic transfer of CuO nanoparticles from brine shrimp (Artemia salina) nauplii to convict cichlid (Amatitlania nigrofasciata) larvae: uptake,accumulation and elimination

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - We investigated the trophic transfer potential of CuO-NPs from Artemia salina to Amatitlania nigrofasciata. The Cu uptake was investigated by exposure...     

Dechlorane Plus as an emerging environmental pollutant in Asia: a review

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Dechlorane Plus (DP) is an unregulated, highly chlorinated flame retardant. It has been manufactured from past 40&nbsp;years but its presence in...     

A short note on the simulation of turbulent stratified flow and mobile bed interaction using the continuum coupled flow and morphodynamics model

Environmental Fluid Mechanics - This paper aims at addressing issues related to the misrepresentation of the turbulent stratified flow for sand wave simulation using the continuum coupled flow and...