Should tobacco products’ waste be considered as hazardous in India?

Tobacco and its associated products are known to be harmful for health. Moreover, the waste emanating out of the production, processing, packaging, and consumption of these products is equally harmful for humans as well as other biotic/abiotic agencies. Taking into account the toxic nature of these waste products, it is necessary to have a well-defined approach to deal with this waste. Consideration of tobacco products’ waste as municipal solid waste has serious implications in the long-term as it results in dumping of these wastes mixed-up with domestic waste in landfills. With time, toxic components become part of the leachate which contaminates water and soil, further leading to the contamination in food chain. Therefore, many countries are now considering this waste under the hazardous category and evolving various measures to safely dispose it off. In the light of recent researches and policies, it is time to re-consider this important public health issue.     

Illinois State Water Survey Bulletin 75: New Precipitation Frequency Study for Illinois

Storm frequency estimates and their temporal distributions are important in determining estimates of runoff or peak flow rates in many engineering and hydrological problems. Illinois State Water Survey Bulletin 70 has been serving as the design rainfall standard in Illinois since its publication in 1989. Although Bulletin 70 represented the best available data at the time of its publication, the standards needed to be reevaluated and updated after more than three decades and with the growing evidence of the nonstationary nature of heavy precipitation. The trends in heavy precipitation in Illinois prompted the creation of a new frequency study named Bulletin 75, providing precipitation frequencies for event durations ranging from 5 min to 10 days and for recurrence intervals ranging from 2 months to 500 years. The results are presented for the same 10 geographic sections in Illinois as in Bulletin 70 to maintain the continuity of hydrologic studies and compatibility with regulations. The primary goal of this paper is to outline some of the key methodological issues and challenges, to compare the results with the previous sources, and to highlight the effects of the changing precipitation standards on the development of amendments to existing ordinances. Lake County in Illinois, as one of the most affected urban areas with the highest change in heavy precipitation, was selected to illustrate issues related to the application of modified precipitation standards.     

Chromium induced lipid peroxidation in the plants of Pistia stratiotes L.: role of antioxidants and antioxidant enzymes

In the plant, Pistia stratiotes L., the effect of different concentrations of chromium (0, 10, 40, 80 and 160 microM) applied for 48, 96 and 144 h was assessed by measuring changes in the chlorophyll, protein, malondialdehyde (MDA), cysteine, non-protein thiol, ascorbic acid contents and superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and guiacol peroxidase (GPX) activity of the plants. Both in roots and leaves, an increase in MDA content was observed with increase in metal concentration and exposure periods. In roots, the activity of antioxidant enzymes viz. SOD and APX increased at all the concentrations of Cr at 144 h than their controls. The GPX activity of the treated roots increased with increase in Cr concentration at 48 and 96 h of exposures, however, at 144 h its activity was found declined beyond 10 microM Cr. The level of antioxidants in the roots of the treated plant viz. cysteine and ascorbic acid was also found increased at all the concentrations of Cr at 144 h than their respective controls, however, an increase in the non-protein thiol content was recorded up to 40 microM Cr followed by decrease. The chlorophyll content decreased with increase in Cr concentrations and exposure periods. However, the protein content of both roots and leaves were found decreased with increase in Cr concentrations at all the exposure periods except an increase was recorded at 10 microM Cr at 48 h. In Cr treated plants, the no observed effect concentration (NOEC) and lowest observed effect concentration (LOEC) for leaves chlorophyll and protein contents were 40 and 80 microM Cr, respectively after 48 h exposure while NOEC and LOEC for root protein content were 10 and 40 microM, respectively after 48 h. The analysis of correlation coefficient data revealed that the metal accumulation in the roots of the plant was found positively correlated with antioxidant parameters except SOD after 48 h of exposure, however, negatively correlated with most of all the parameters studied at 144 h in both part of the plant. It may be suggested from the present study that toxic concentrations of Cr cause oxidative damage as evidenced by increased lipid peroxidation and decreased chlorophyll and protein contents. However, the higher levels of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants suggest the reason for tolerating higher levels of metals.     

Biochemical and Ultrastructural Changes in Plant Foliage Exposed to Auto-Pollution

Auto-pollution is the by-product of our mechanized mobility, which adversely affects both plant and human life. However, plants growing in the urban locations provide a great respite to us from the brunt of auto-pollution by absorbing the pollutants at their foliar surface. Foliar surface configuration and biochemical changes in two selected plant species, namely Ficus religiosa L. and Thevetia nerifolia L., growing at IT crossing (highly polluted sites), Picup bhawan crossing (moderately polluted site) and Kukrail Forest Picnic Spot (Low polluted site) were investigated. It was observed that auto-exhaust pollution showed marked alterations in photosynthetic pigments, protein and cysteine contents and also in leaf area and foliar surface architecture of plants growing at HP site as compared to LP site. The changes in the foliar configuration reveal that these plants can be used as biomarkers of auto-pollution.     

Correction to: Influence of physico-chemical properties of soil clay fractions on the retention of dissolved organic carbon

Environmental Geochemistry and Health - Unfortunately, in the original publication of the article, Prof. Yong Sik Ok’s affiliation was incorrectly published. The author’s affiliation is...     

Current trends in diagnosis and treatment strategies of COVID-19 infection

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Coronaviruses are terrifically precise and adapted towards specialized respiratory epithelial cells, observed in organ culture and human volunteers...     

Second International Conference on “Recent Trends in Environment and Sustainable Development” (RTESD 2019)

Environmental Science and Pollution Research -     

Carbon nanotube-based nano-biosensors for detecting heavy metals in the aquatic environment

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The identification of harmful metal ions in aquatic environments is a global concern since these contaminants can have serious consequences for...     

Development and operation of immobilized cell plug flow bioreactor (PFR) for treatment of textile industry effluent and evaluation of its working efficiency

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The release of untreated/partially treated effluent and solid waste from textile dyeing industries, having un-reacted dyes, their hydrolysed products...