LARVICIDAL CONSEQUENCES AND PHYSICAL CHANGES FOLLOWING THE UTILITY OF SOME PETROCHEMICAL FUELS IN EMBALMING SERVICES

An ideal embalming fluid: eliminates infection and health hazards; maintains ante-mortem appearance; eliminates sequence of decomposition; prevents occupation of larvae and fungi. No embalming formulae had met these attributes, hence, the quest to formulate an ideal embalmment fluid across the globe continues with the present study designed to hypothesize the larvicidal consequences and physical changes following addition of some petrochemical fuels to common embalming fluid using Wistar rats under bioethics standard. An embalmment composition was propounded with Group A (Control) having 75% of the composition along with 25% of sterile water. Groups B, C and D having 75% of the composition with 25% of Kerosene, Petrol and Diesel respectively. First stage: embalmment of two rats per group and monitoring for 12weeks for physical changes. Second stage: delayed embalmment by immersion of one rat per group that was occupied by larvae in different embalming mixtures and death rate monitored to assess larvicidal consequences of the mixture. Analysis done with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version-25) and the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The mean fluid needed to embalm 1g of tissue was 0.6±0.04ml. Retainment of ante-mortem weight was highest in Diesel-mixture after 12weeks of embalmment. Petrol-mixture killed all the larvae within 60seconds while others had no larvicidal effect per se. Petrol-mixture was best in damping offensive odour from necrotic tissue. Diesel-mixture conferred lustre beauty on the integumentary system. Petrol-mixture had unambiguous larvicidal effect. This study was veritably ‘Evidence Based Anatomy’ with the innovative outcomes in embalming affairs.

Assessment of the Carbon Footprint and VOCs Emissions Caused by the Manufacturing Process of the Footwear Industry in Bangladesh

Every industry has an impact on the environment, either good or bad, and leather and footwear industries are no exception. For the footwear industry, the main environmental impacts are the releasing of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and solid wastes. The pressure of reducing harm to the environment is coming from both the consumers and the legislation. CO2 and VOCs are hazardous to human health and also trigger serious environment problems, such as ozone layer depletion, offensive odour, photochemical smog, acid rain and many others. Adhesives, finishing products and cleaners contribute to VOCs emissions in the footwear manufacturing industry. VOCs emission may also arise from primers, separating agents, printing inks or finishing pastes. Some most commonly produced VOCs in the footwear manufacturing industry are benzene, toluene, styrene, ethylene, xylene, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, methyl ethyl ketone, chlorobenzene, phenol etc. All of these cause severe health problems in humans and have an adverse effect on the environment. An increasing number of footwear factories adversely affects the environment and human health. One of the largest environmental impacts of shoe industry comes from the manufacturing stages of the shoe’s life cycle. This study was carried out to measure the carbon footprint and VOCs emissions among ten selected footwear factories. The results revealed that the total energy footprint for one pair of shoes is 18.004826 MJ, the water footprint is 8.37167 litres and the carbon footprint is 9.174979 kg CO2 eq. The highest impact in terms of the carbon footprint lies in the shoe manufacturing process with a 5.85109 eq. CO2 (kg). The total VOCs consumption for a fashion shoe is around 36.5 g/pair on average. There should be an initiative taken with the aim of adjusting the choice of methods, materials, machines and the monitoring systems as well as the safety policy for the workers and the environment.

Kinetics studies on biodegradability of pharmaceutical effluent by pseudomonas aeruginosa ES 10

Every Industry has problems of effluent treatment. This can be revealed by the effective treatment of the effluent. The effective treatment can be done by using microorganisms to stabilize the organic and inorganic load of the effluent. The aim of the present work is to study the Industrial effluent microbiota and to identify some new active strains which can bring about fast biodegradation of the organic compounds. Studies were carried out to isolate the microorganisms from the collected effluent sample from the Industries of Bollaram, Hyderabad. An investigation was carried out to analyze Physicochemical parameters like Total suspended solids (TSS), Total dissolved solids (TDS), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) of untreated effluent and to degrade the effluent using native and non-native bacteria. The results of the parameters analysis revealed that untreated effluent was black in colour with an offensive odour. pH was alkaline with a high organic load such as TSS, TDS, BOD and COD which were higher than the permissible since the effluent had a high organic load, microbes (bacteria) present within the effluent was identified and isolated. The results of the study revealed the occurrence of Pseudomonas spp. And named as Pseudomonas auruginosa ES10. The presence of bacteria indicates the pollution status of the untreated tannery effluent, suggesting that it should be treated before its disposal using the biological method, particularly native and non-native bacteria for comparing their degrading efficiency. The results of the degradation study show that native bacteria Pseudomonas auruginosa ES10 was found to be very much successful in the reduction of toxic substances at the percentage range of 60-90% at different pH and incubation time, the bio-treated water can be reused for the agricultural and aqua-cultural purposes.

A Case Report of Plantar Psoriasis Treated with Homoeopathy

Psoriasis on the hands and feet often appears on the palms and soles that are called palmopantar psoriasis. Treatment in modern medicine uses local and systematic antibiotics. Homoeopathy has mentioned medicines for plantar psoriasis. A case reported was a female of 7 years of age suffering from symptoms of itching, red scaly plaques, eruption with very offensive odour which aggravates at night, burning in both hands and feet which aggravates at night, weight-bearing area of the sole had painful cracking, scaling, swelling and blister. Also, she had burning on both hands and feet which aggravates at night and was diagnosed as plantar psoriasis. The homoeopathic medicine Syphilinum 1000C was prescribed on the basis of totality of symptoms, Materia Medica and miasm. Plantar psoriasis was reduced considerably within 10 days, and it disappeared completely in 2 months 20 days. No recurrence of plantar psoriasis was observed for another 5 years as well. Photographs during follow-up visits have provided as documentary evidence about the effectiveness of homoeopathic medicine Syphilinum 1000C in plantar psoriasis.

Storage of aerobic granular sludge embedded in agar and its reactivation by real wastewater

Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) was preserved using an agar embedding method to maintain its stability. No obvious damage was imposed on the granular appearance during 30 days of cold and dry storage, but the granular microstructure had an uneven surface with a large number of holes. The results were consistent with the extinction of microbial communities and the monitored consumption of extracellular polymeric substances, in which granular specific oxygen utilization rate and mixed liquor volatile suspended solids/mixed liquor suspended solids ratio, respectively, decreased by 72.4% and 62.5% during storage. A mass conversation calculation indicated that the loss of granular mass was 1.6393 g. An offensive odour was smelled during storage, and the results indicated that a material transformation and mitigation were involved between AGS and the gas phase. Although the granular structure was destroyed to a certain extent, no obvious damage was imposed on the granular skeleton during storage. After it was aerated again after a feeding with real wastewater, the residual skeleton served as a carrier for the rapid proliferation of microorganisms, and good granular properties were obtained after 11 days of reactivation.

Pathological Evaluation and Nutritional Composition of Golden Melon (Cucumis Melo)

Studies on the pathological evaluation and nutritional composition of golden melon was carried out in the Plant Pathology and Food Science and Technology Laboratories in the Rivers State University. The freshly harvested fruits of the golden melon had high amount of moisture (58±0.04), sucrose, total solid, lipid with very low ash (0.56±0.00). Mineral composition analysis also revealed high amount of calcium (98.5±0.01), moderate quantity of potassium, and low amount of phosphorus (21.4±0.00). Vitamins A and C were also present in the fruits. Other components found were lactic acid and saponnins which occurred in minute quantities.Pathological evaluation of the associated fungi showed that five different fungi with varying degrees of incidence were associated with the spoilage of the fruits of golden melon. These fungi were Botrytis cinerea (60%), Aspergillus flavus(30%), Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus tamari (5%) respectively while Muccor species recorded the highest incidence (70%). However, all the fungal isolates were found to be pathogenic causing soft rot characterized by oozing of water with offensive odour.

Odour Intensity Assessment at Different Area of a Palm Oil Mill Using Olfactometry Method

Malaysia is one of the world’s largest palm oil exporters, amounting to 39 % of world palm oil production and 44 % of world exports [1]. Palm oil mill usually engaged with odour problem that came from the wastewater treatment pond that released odourous compounds such as ammonia, volatile organic acids, and sulfides. This study was done to investigate odour nuisance from palm oil mill operations and odour emission rate at United Oil Palm (UOP) Mill, Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia. Odour assessment was done on-site at four points and odour sample was taken from four anaerobic treatment ponds. Flux hood method was used and the samples were analysed by using the olfactometry method with six panels. It was found that in the UOP mill, the highest odour emission is from the anaerobic pond 2 with the average specific odour emission rate of 10.88 OUE/sm2, follow by cooling pond, acid pond and anaerobic pond 1. Besides knowing the main source of the odour, this study was run to find the intensity and offensiveness of the palm oil mill odour. A simple questionnaire was asked to the six panels about the odour intensity and odour offensiveness, and the average for both was at 5 (very strong odour) and 3 (definitely offensive odour). Higher level of offensiveness and intensity will increase the odour complaints, but by knowing those levels, it will help in deciding the limit of odour concentration that can be released and the threshold of odour that can be accepted by humans.

Relationships between skatole and androstenone in Large White and Meishan pigs

Boar taint is an offensive odour and flavour in the meat from some (perhaps 0.05) entire male pigs. It occurs when high concentrations of skatole and androstenone are reached in fat tissue. Boar taint is more common in some breeds than others and as part of an investigation into its genetic basis (Doranet al., 2001), we have studied skatole, androstenone and testosterone relationships in Large White and Meishan cross bred pigs.