Correction to: Health risk assessment of hexachlorocyclohexane in soil,water and plants in the agricultural area of Potohar region,Punjab, Pakistan

Environmental Geochemistry and Health - A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-00910-5     

Increasing water productivity,nitrogen economy,and grain yield of rice by water saving irrigation and fertilizer-N management

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The looming water resources worldwide necessitate the development of water-saving technologies in rice production. An open greenhouse experiment was...     

Determination of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables in Islamabad market

Pesticide residues in fruits and vegetable from Islamabad market, Pakistan were determined by GLC using Perkin Elmer Autosystem equipped with 63NECD and capillary column. Dimethoate was determined in the quantity of 0.032 mg kg-1 in apple, 0.110 mg kg-1 in banana, 0.004 mg kg-1 in brinjal, 1.80 mg kg-1 in cauliflower and 0.13 mg kg-1 in arvi, fenvalerate 0.010 mg kg-1 in apple and chlorpyrifos 0.004 mg kg-1 in brinjal. The importance of these pesticide residues with reference to human health is also briefly discussed.     

Development of shopping centres in Jeddah

Recently developed shopping centres have become one of the main features of shopping activities in Jeddah. In fact the city of Jeddah experienced a surprising increase in the development of shopping centres during the last decade. Developers entered the land development process with the intention of realising profits from a long‐term investment, but a considerable number of shopping centres were developed on the basis of insufficient or no feasibility studies thereby underestimating or neglecting expected rate of return and occupancy. Spatially, shopping centres present distinctive spatial and rental value patterns. This article is concerned with explaining the supply side of shopping centres by examining the development process through which they were built. The analytical framework is based on discussing the interaction of three sets of variables: contextual factors, including land policy and market mechanisms; site characteristics, and the developer's characteristics.     

Innovative micro hole machining with minimum burr formation by the use of newly developed micro compound tool

The study focuses on the efforts for minimization of burr formation and improvement of hole surface roughness in micro through-hole machining. It deals with the development of micro compound tool which is consisting of a micro flat drill as the drilling part and a micro diamond-electroplated-grinding part for hole finishing. The finishing diameters of each drilling and grinding parts of the fabricated micro compound tool are 90 μm and 100 μm, respectively. The study focuses mainly on the effect of drill point angle and ultrasonic vibration applied during micro hole machining to the hole entrance and exit burrs formation. The used workpiece is made of stainless steel (SUS304) with a thickness of 100 μm. From the experiment, it was found that the tool having drill point angle of 118° resulted in a smaller burr formation although hole machining was conducted for 600 holes. Furthermore, the application of ultrasonic vibration during hole machining could improve the performance of the developed micro compound tool and decreased the burr size, especially the exit burr.     

Tualang honey supplementation improves oxidative stress status among chronic smokers

Free radicals induced by cigarette smoking have been linked to an increase in oxidative stress resulting in smoking-related cardiovascular diseases. However, the possible effect of honey that has antioxidant property in improving oxidative stress status among smokers has not yet been reported. Hence, this study was to determine the effects of 12-week Tualang honey supplementation on F₂-isoprostanes, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, catalase, and total antioxidant status among chronic smokers. A total of 32 non-smokers and 64 chronic smokers were recruited from Quit Smoking Clinic and Health Campus, Universiti Sains, Malaysia. Smokers were randomized into two groups (n = 32/group) namely smokers without supplementation and smokers with honey supplementation (20 g/day) for 12 weeks. Blood was obtained from non-smokers and smokers at pre-intervention and from smokers at post-intervention. During pre-intervention, the levels/activity of F₂-isoprostanes, total antioxidant status, and catalase were significantly higher while superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase were lower in smokers than non-smokers. During post-intervention, in supplemented smokers, there were significant decrease in F₂-isoprostanes and increase in total antioxidant status, glutathione peroxidase and catalase levels/activities compared with pre-intervention. This study indicates that honey supplementation improves oxidative stress status suggesting a beneficial role of honey in reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases.     

Relationship between Pb and Cd accumulations in house crow,their habitat,and food content from Klang area,Peninsular Malaysia

Heavy metal pollution has become a global concern due to accumulation in tissue and transferable effects to humans via the food chain. This study focused on monitoring the accumulation of cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) in surface soil and body content: bone, heart, brain, liver, lung, muscle, kidney, feathers, feces, and gizzard contents of house crow Corvus splendens in the Klang region, Malaysia. The results revealed the occurrence of Pb and Cd in all biological samples from house crows, food contents, and surface soil samples. Heart and kidney accrued high amounts of Cd, while high amounts of Pb were found to accumulate in bones and feathers. Major discrepancies were also discovered in the concentrations of metals between juvenile and adults, as well as female and male bird samples. Concentrations of Pb and Cd in house crow internal tissues correlated significantly with that of bird feathers, but none could be established with that of surface soil. In addition, a significant correlation was observed between Pb concentration in the internal tissues to that of the feces, but the same was not the case when compared with the surface soil concentration. Metal accrual in the house crows feathers and feces may be through a long-term transmission via the food chain, which are eliminated from feathers via molting. This may suggest the utility of molted breast feathers of house crow in the bio-monitoring of Cd and Pb contamination, whereas feces of house crow appear only to be suitable for the bio-monitoring of Pb contamination.