Limitation of communal latrines in changing the prevalence of parasites and diarrhoeal attack rate in Dhaka Peri-urban slums

A study of the effects of communal latrines on diarrhoeal incidence and parasite prevalence rates was conducted in 1983 at Tongi, which had five communal Oxfam latrines with a manual flushing system for 924 people; and at Kalsi, which had 39 open fit latrines for 823 people. Inhabitants' stool samples were tested initially and also after twelve months to see the reinfection rates. All inhabitants were dewormed with pyrantel, and were visited weekly to obtain diarrhoea histories. In both communities, there were high prevalence rates of roundworm, hookworm, Trichuris trichiura, Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lambia and Strongyloides stercoralis. Following the dewormings, the prevalence rates of roundworm, hookworm and Trichuris infection came down significantly, in both areas. The prevalence or reinfection rates remained identical in both communities. There was also no difference in diarrhoea incidence rate for the two areas. It is found that keeping all other variables unchanged, use of communal latrines, without strict disposal of everyone's excreta, does not affect parasite prevalence and diarrhoea rates. People must be educated about the use of communal latrines and the safe disposal of all excreta, including that of children.     

Property-performance relationship of core-shell structured black TiO2 photocatalyst for environmental remediation

● Properties and performance relationship of CSBT photocatalyst were investigated. ● Properties of CSBT were controlled by simply manipulating glycerol content. ● Performance was linked to semiconducting and physicochemical properties. ● CSBT (W:G ratio 9:1) had better performance with lower energy consumption. ● Phenols were reduced by 48.30% at a cost of $2.4127 per unit volume of effluent. Understanding the relationship between the properties and performance of black titanium dioxide with core-shell structure (CSBT) for environmental remediation is crucial for improving its prospects in practical applications. In this study, CSBT was synthesized using a glycerol-assisted sol-gel approach. The effect of different water-to-glycerol ratios (W:G = 1:0, 9:1, 2:1, and 1:1) on the semiconducting and physicochemical properties of CSBT was investigated. The effectiveness of CSBT in removing phenolic compounds (PHCs) from real agro-industrial wastewater was studied. The CSBT synthesized with a W:G ratio of 9:1 has optimized properties for enhanced removal of PHCs. It has a distinct core-shell structure and an appropriate amount of Ti³⁺ cations (11.18%), which play a crucial role in enhancing the performance of CSBT. When exposed to visible light, the CSBT performed better: 48.30% of PHCs were removed after 180 min, compared to only 21.95% for TiO₂ without core-shell structure. The CSBT consumed only 45.5235 kWh/m³ of electrical energy per order of magnitude and cost $2.4127 per unit volume of treated agro-industrial wastewater. Under the conditions tested, the CSBT demonstrated exceptional stability and reusability. The CSBT showed promising results in the treatment of phenols-containing agro-industrial wastewater.     

Ozonation catalyzed by homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts for degradation of DEHP in aqueous phase

Di-(2-ethyl hexyl) phthalate (DEHP), a recalcitrant and an endocrine disrupting chemical, was studied for its removal from wastewater by advanced oxidation process. The effects of pH, transition metal ions, and granular activated carbon (GAC) were investigated. Removal of DEHP increased with increase in pH and among metal ions Cr(III) was found to be the most active catalyst to remove DEHP. In the case of GAC, original carbon (G0) and GAC pre-ozonated in gas phase for 10 min (G10) were tested as catalysts in catalytic ozonation and found G0 to be more active than G10. This is because, during pre-ozonation, basic groups like chromene, pyrones and also graphene layers were oxidized to acidic surface oxygen groups. These basic surface groups are reported to be active catalytic centres for ozone decomposition into .OH which is a strong oxidant. According to kinetic manipulations, DEHP degradation rate constant due to .OH was affected by the catalyst while that due to direct ozonation is same in all cases with or without catalyst. G0 was doped with chromia gels (G0/CrA) to combine the benefits of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. G0/CrA showed lower catalytic efficiency than that of only G0. This might be because of changes in surface structure of GAC caused by doping of chromia gel and changes in chemical nature of Cr(III) during formation of gel. A good correlation was found between the rate constants of ozone decay and DEHP degradation (R2=0.96). This correlation confirms that ozone decomposition into .OH is a critical factor for the activity of a catalyst during ozonation.     

Violence breeds violence: burnout as a mediator between patient violence and nurse violence

The present study examines whether patient-perpetrated violence triggers anger, hatred and other negative emotions that, under certain circumstances, might motivate nurses to behave violently with patients. In doing so, this study considers burnout as a mediator in the patient violence–nurse violence relationship. To test the causal paths, data were collected from 182 nurses working in two government-sector teaching hospitals of Pakistan's Punjab province. Results confirm that patient violence toward nurses leads to nurse violence toward patients through the mediating effect of burnout. The study advises hospitals to provide wellness and stress management programs to nurses who regularly experience events involving patient violence. Hospitals may consider allowing nurses to take short breaks after an encounter with violently behaving patients. In addition, hospitals should conduct empathy-promoting training, emotional intelligence training and ‘lens of the patient’ training programs to sensitize their nursing staff.     

Green synthesis,characterization, application and functionality of nitrogen-doped MgO/graphene nanocomposite

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - A facile, feasible, and green synthesis via an electrochemical exfoliation process was applied to synthesize nitrogen-doped MgO/graphene nanocomposite...     

Association between meteorological indicators and COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study was designed to investigate the impact of meteorological indicators (temperature, rainfall, and humidity) on total COVID-19 cases in...     

Monitoring of bacterial morphology for controlling filamentous overgrowth in an ultracompact biofilm reactor.

This research was part of a study of filamentous growth and control in an ultracompact biofilm reactor (UCBR). Morphologies of biofilm and filamentous bacteria in the UCBR were investigated. Ethanol was used as a substrate and sodium hypochlorite was applied as a toxicant to control filamentous growth. The results indicated that factors such as chemical oxygen demand, surface loading rate, pH, and dissolved oxygen could initiate filamentous overgrowth in the UCBR. Different biofilm and filamentous morphologies in the UCBR were observed under different operational conditions. Chlorination was an effective approach to control filamentous growth during and after biofilm formation. Proper chlorine dosing had no effect on biofilm, but killed filaments. Overdose of chlorine damaged biofilm and caused adverse effects such as low treatment efficiency, media clogging and washout, and biofilm color change in the reactor. Frequent monitoring of the morphologies of filaments and biofilm was needed during chlorination to prevent chlorine overdose.     

Composite indicators for famine early warning systems

Traditional famine early warning systems use a host of indicators to predict food crisis situations, from rainfall and increased rate of marketing of household durables to the behavior of birds and animals. Although many of these indicators are valid in general, limited understanding of the sensitivity and specificity of the distress signals makes food crisis prediction a highly subjective exercise. In order to make the system more effective and credible, we need to identify a limited number of 'composite' indicators, which naturally summarize most relevant food-related information contained in the specific predictors of food crisis. Considering the chronology of the food production and consumption chain, three composite indicators specific to three different stages of the chain have been identified. The satellite data based Normalized Deviation of Vegetative Index (NDVI), prices of major food grains, and malnutrition rates are found to be correlated not only with the quality and quantity of inputs of this process but also with the final outcome. Both NDVI and price data are widely used as important predictors of food crisis by famine warning systems. What we have demonstrated is that improved sensitivity of the indicators is likely to be due to their inherent capability of summarizing information from various specific measures. Child malnutrition rates also summarize inputs and outputs of the food consumption process very effectively, and therefore should be able to predict community level food crisis in an efficient manner. The empirical results confirm this conjecture by showing that malnutrition rates can predict food crisis probability three months into the future with a high degree of specificity. The use of 'composite' indicators not only simplifies the problem of aggregation, but is also likely to yield forecasts that are highly specific and sensitive.     

Identification of erosion-prone areas using morphometric parameters,land use land cover and multi-criteria decision-making method: geo-informatics approach

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Soil erosion is the main driving force of several devastating natural hazards in the complex mountainous terrain of the Himalayas where the Teesta...