Statistical Modeling of Health Effects on Climate-Sensitive Variables and Assessment of Environmental Burden of Diseases Attributable to Climate Change in Nepal

An ecological time-series study is conducted to quantify health-effect coefficients associated with climate-sensitive variables namely temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, and wind speed and estimate environmental burden of diseases attributed to temperature as the main climatic variable together with climate change in Nepal. The study is based upon daily data of climate-sensitive variables and hospitalizations collected for 5 years between 2009 and 2014. Generalized linear model is used to estimate health-effect coefficients accounting distributed lag effects. Results show 3.08%, 10.14%, and 3.27% rise in water-borne, vector-borne, and renal disease hospitalizations, respectively, and 3.67% rise in water- and vector-borne disease deaths per 1 °C rise in average temperature. Similarly, 2.45% and 1.44% rise in heart disease hospitalization and all-cause mortality, respectively per 1 °C rise in absolute difference of average temperature with its overall average (20 °C). The computed attributable fractions are 0.3759, 0.6696, 0.2909, and 0.1024 for water-borne, vector-borne, renal, and heart disease hospitalizations, respectively, and 0.0607 and 0.4335 for all-cause mortality and disease-specific mortality of water- and vector-borne diseases, respectively. The percent change in attributable burdens due to climate change are found to be 4.32%, 4.64%, 7.20%, and ?2.29% for water-borne, vector-borne, renal, and heart disease hospitalizations, respectively, and ?1.39% and 6.55% for all-cause deaths and water-borne and vector-borne disease deaths, respectively. In conclusion, climate-sensitive variables have significant effects on many major health burdens in Nepal. In the context of changing climatic scenarios around the world including that of Nepal, such changes are bound to affect the health burden of Nepalese people.     

Circulating microRNAs as biomarkers of environmental exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: potential and prospects

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) produced from various pyrogenic and petrogenic sources in the environment has been linked...     

Bacterial tolerance strategies against lead toxicity and their relevance in bioremediation application

Among heavy metals, lead (Pb) is a non-essential metal having a higher toxicity and without any crucial known biological functions. Being widespread, non-biodegradable and persistent in every sphere of soil, air and water, Pb is responsible for severe health and environmental issues, which need appropriate remediation measures. However, microbes inhabiting Pb-contaminated area are found to have evolved distinctive mechanisms to successfully thrive in the Pb-contaminated environment without exhibiting any negative effects on their growth and metabolism. The defensive strategies used by bacteria to ameliorate the toxic effects of lead comprise biosorption, efflux, production of metal chelators like siderophores and metallothioneins and synthesis of exopolysaccharides, extracellular sequestration and intracellular bioaccumulation. Lead remediation technologies by employing microbes may appear as potential advantageous alternatives to the conventional physical and chemical means due to specificity, suitability for applying in situ condition and feasibility to upgrade by genetic engineering. Developing strategies by designing transgenic bacterial strain having specific metal binding properties and metal chelating proteins or higher metal adsorption ability and using bacterial activity such as incorporating plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria for improved Pb resistance, exopolysaccharide and siderophores and metallothionein-mediated immobilization may prove highly effective for formulating bioremediation vis-a-vis phytoremediation strategies.

     

Analysis of Long-term Energy and Carbon Emission Scenarios for India

In the coming years India faces greatchallenges in energy and environment. Thepath of development chosen by India, uponwhich lies the future growth of energy andemission trajectories, would be greatlyinfluenced by technological developmentsboth within and outside the country,economic cooperation between countries, andglobal cooperation in limiting greenhousegas emissions. This paper discusses theintegrated modeling system used fordeveloping and analyzing the long-termtrajectories and presents results for thescenarios developed. In the context ofongoing market reforms two scenarios –accelerated and decelerated reforms – aredeveloped depicting fast and slow progressin energy sector reforms compared toexpectations in the baseline scenario.Accelerated market reforms would spurimprovements in technological efficiencies.Reforms would lower investment risks inIndia, thereby stimulating increased levelsof foreign direct investment. On the otherhand in decelerated reform scenarioeconomic growth is lower than that in thebase case, there is low access to capital,and technological improvements lag behindthose in the base case. In another scenariowe assume specific policy interventions forpenetration of renewable technologies overthe baseline scenario, for promotion andaccelerated deployment of renewable energytechnologies over and above the baselineassumptions. A scenario with carbon(c) constraints has also been developed and theresults discussed.     

Reactive solute transport in macroscopically homogeneous porous media: analytical solutions for the temporal moments

In this work, we investigate one-dimensional solute transport affected by rate-limited sorption, first-order mass transfer, and first-order transformation. Analytical expressions are obtained for the temporal moments of the solute in the solution phase. The effect of various rate coefficients on the temporal moments is examined. It was found that, in the presence of transformation reactions, the mean arrival time, and the spread and skewness of the breakthrough curves, are not monotonic functions of the rate coefficients. These solutions will be useful as a preliminary analysis tool for ascertaining the relative importance of various processes under given conditions. They may also be used to analyze the accuracy of various numerical techniques used for simulation of reactive transport.     

Opposable spines facilitate fine and gross object manipulation in fire ants

Ants inhabit diverse terrestrial biomes from the Sahara Desert to the Arctic tundra. One factor contributing to the ants’ successful colonization of diverse geographical regions is their ability to manipulate objects when excavating nests, capturing, transporting and rendering prey or grooming, feeding and transporting helpless brood. This paper is the first to report the form and function of opposable spines on the foretarsi of queens and workers used during fine motor and gross motor object manipulation in the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta. In conjunction with their mandibles, queens and workers used their foretarsi to grasp and rotate eggs, push or pull thread-like objects out of their way or push excavated soil pellets behind them for disposal by other workers. Opposable spines were found on the foretarsi of workers from seven of eight other ant species suggesting that they might be a common feature in the Formicidae.     

Assessment of basin-scale hydrologic impacts of CO2 sequestration,Illinois basin

Idealized, basin-scale sharp-interface models of CO₂ injection were constructed for the Illinois basin. Porosity and permeability were decreased with depth within the Mount Simon Formation. Eau Claire confining unit porosity and permeability were kept fixed. We used 726 injection wells located near 42 power plants to deliver 80 million metric tons of CO₂/year. After 100 years of continuous injection, deviatoric fluid pressures varied between 5.6 and 18 MPa across central and southern part of the Illinois basin. Maximum deviatoric pressure reached about 50% of lithostatic levels to the south. The pressure disturbance (>0.03 MPa) propagated 10–25 km away from the injection wells resulting in significant well–well pressure interference. These findings are consistent with single-phase analytical solutions of injection. The radial footprint of the CO₂ plume at each well was only 0.5–2 km after 100 years of injection. Net lateral brine displacement was insignificant due to increasing radial distance from injection well and leakage across the Eau Claire confining unit. On geologic time scales CO₂ would migrate northward at a rate of about 6 m/1000 years. Because of paleo-seismic events in this region (M5.5–M7.5), care should be taken to avoid high pore pressures in the southern Illinois basin.     

Evaluation of the STP model: comparison of modelled and experimental results for ten polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

Screening level risk assessment models are used by many countries to assess the treatability of organic chemicals during the sewage treatment process, especially those that are new to commerce. The performance of one such model, the sewage treatment plant model, is evaluated in the current study by comparing model predictions with actual measurement data collected at various stages of a typical full-scale activated sludge type sewage treatment plant. A suite of ten polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with widely varying physico–chemical properties were monitored for the comparison. Model predicted removal efficiencies were in very good agreement with those measured for all ten PAHs. Observed chemical concentrations and their trends at various stages of the sewage treatment process were also well simulated by the model. Results also suggest that a reasonable first approximation estimate of a range for the biodegradation half-life needed for the model may be obtained by dividing reported aqueous biodegradation half-life by scaling factors of 50 and 150.     

Study of the voltammetric behaviour of the ethalfluralin and methalpropalin and its determination in environmental matrices at hanging mercury drop electrode

An electroanalytical method has been developed for the determination of the herbicides ethalfluralin[N-ethyl-N-(2-methyl-2-propenyl)-2,6-dinitro-4-(trifluoromethyl) bezenamine] and methalpropalin [N-(2-methyl-2-propenyl)-2, 6-dinitro-N-propyl-4 (trifluoromethyl) benzenamine] by differential pulse adsorptive stripping voltammetry (DP-AdSV) on a hanging mercury drop electrode (HMDE) with universal buffer as supporting electrolyte. The optimum adsorption conditions were found to be pH 6.0, an accumulation potential of -0.6 V (HMDE vs SCE), an accumulation time of 80 s. and scan rate 45 mVs(-1). Calibration curve is linear in the range 1.30 x 10(-9) to 1.32 x 10(-5) M of ethalfluralin and 1.13 x 10(-5) to 2.0 x 10(-8) M of methalpropalin with detection limits of 1.08 x 10(-9) and 1.87 x 10(-8) M, respectively. The relative SD and correlation coefficients were found to be 1.24%, 0.998 and 1.34%, 0.995, respectively for ten replicates. The method is applied to the determination of the ethalfluralin and methalpropalin in formulations and environmental matrices.     

Phycoremediation potential of marine microalga <Emphasis Type="Italic">Tetraselmis indica</Emphasis> on secondary treated domestic sewage for nutrient removal and biodiesel production

Marine microalga Tetraselmis indica (T. indica) was cultivated in secondary treated domestic sewage (STDS) in batch mode. Optimization studies showed that after 14 days of cultivation period, highest biomass yield reached was 0.88 ± 0.04 g/L at the optimum temperature of 27 ± 1 °C and light intensity of 135 μmol m^?2 s^?1. T. indica removed about 60.93% phosphate, 78.46% nitrate, 72.94% chemical oxygen demand (COD), 73.17% biological oxygen demand (BOD), 98.90% total dissolved solids (TDS) and heavy metals (83.11% Cd, 55.67% Ca, 45.12% Cu, 13.67% Mn, 50.88% Pb, and 98.92% Al) from STDS. The level of electrical conductivity was reduced to 0.0974 ± 0.045 dS/m. The fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profile showed the presence of palmitic acid (12.91%), oleic acid (35.94%), linoleic acid (14.89%) and eicosanoic acid (12.34%). This study indicates the potential of T. indica for removal of pollutants from STDS and also its capability of biodiesel production.