Origin, transport and ecological risk assessment of illicit drugs in the environment - A review.

Illicit drugs are a novel group of emerging pollutants. A growing global environmental load and ecological risk is created by the ongoing release of these toxins into the environment. Conventional water processing plants fail to completely remove drugs of abuse from both surface water and wastewater. The origin, environmental fate and ecological repercussions of illicit drugs, despite their detection in surface waterways around the world, are not well understood. In this review, illicit drug detections in potable water, surface water and wastewater globally have been studied during the past 15 years in order to establish a baseline for future years. The most common drugs with abuse potential detected in different sources of potable and surface water were methadone (0.12-22.7 ng/L), cocaine (0.05-506.6 ng/L), benzoylecgonine (0.07-1019 ng/L), amphetamine (1.4-342.6 ng/L), and codeine (0.002-42 ng/L). The bulk of research only looked at a small number of drugs of abuse, indicating that despite widespread use, a large spectrum of these intoxicants has yet to be detected. This review focuses on the origin of illicit drug contaminants in water bodies, air, and soil, their persistence in the environment, and the typical concentrations at which they occur in the environment. The impact of these drugs on aquatic organisms like Elliptio complanata mussels, crayfish and zebrafish has also been reviewed.

Synthesis of bioactive compounds from vermicast isolated actinomycetes species and its antimicrobial activity against human pathogenic bacteria.

The present study was aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial activities of bioactive compounds synthesized from vermicast isolated actinomycetes species. Specifically, the synthesized bioactive compounds were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity against selected Gram + ve and Gram - ve human pathogenic bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus circulans, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli. Interestingly, a total of five different actinomycetes species were recovered from vermicasts. More interestingly, among these potential actinomycetes species, the bioactive compounds synthesized by isolate AS9 showed a significant antibacterial activity and its mean zone of inhibition was found at 11.3 ±â€¯1.6 mm, 9.5 ±â€¯0.91 mm, and 9.9 ±â€¯1.71mm against S. aureus, B. subtilis, and B. circulans, respectively. Furthermore, according to antibacterial activity and spectrum broadness, three of the actinomycetes strains were selected and characterized by conventional methods. Subsequently, the bioactive compound profiling of these isolated actinomycetes strains performed through GC-MS analysis indicating the presence of the bioactive compounds including 3, octadecene (E), behnic alcohol phenol, 2,4-bis(1,1-dimethyl ethyl) 1-nonadecene, 1-heneicosanol, milbemycin 3-eicosene (E), and 1-docosanol.

Classic Tower of Hanoi, Planning Skills, and the Indian Elderly.

OBJECTIVE: Elderly populations are vulnerable to age-related cognitive decline. Planning, a frontal lobe function, is reported to be affected in the elderly population. There is a paucity of studies which assessed planning skills in the elderly Indian population. The present study aimed to examine the utility of the classic Tower of Hanoi in the assessment of planning skills of elderly Indian subjects. METHODS: A total of 215 (60 of whom were females, all aged 55-80 years) cognitively normal elders and 24 patients with mild Alzheimer's disease were recruited. All subjects provided informed consent and their planning skills were assessed using the classic Tower of Hanoi. Performance at each level was measured by the total time taken to solve, number of moves to solve, and the number of rule violations. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was exploratively performed to test the utility of the Tower of Hanoi in differentiating patients with mild Alzheimer's disease from those who were cognitively normal. RESULTS: Performance measures of cognitively normal group steeply worsened with increasing complexity. With receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, patients with mild Alzheimer's disease were poorly differentiated from cognitively normal group according to their Tower of Hanoi performance. CONCLUSION: The Tower of Hanoi test is of limited value for the assessment of planning skills in the Indian elderly population. There is a need to modify and develop a suitable neuropsychology tool to assess the planning skills of elderly Indian subjects and further validate it.

A study of structural and functional connectivity in early Alzheimer's disease using rest fMRI and diffusion tensor imaging.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative condition where in early diagnosis and interventions are key policy priorities in dementia services and research. We studied the functional and structural connectivity in mild AD to determine the nature of connectivity changes that coexist with neurocognitive deficits in the early stages of AD. METHODS: Fifteen mild AD subjects and 15 cognitively healthy controls (CHc) matched for age and gender, underwent detailed neurocognitive assessment and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Rest fMRI was analyzed using dual regression approach and DTI by voxel wise statistics. RESULTS: Patients with mild AD had significantly lower functional connectivity (FC) within the default mode network and increased FC within the executive network. The mild AD group scored significantly lower in all domains of cognition compared with CHc. But fractional anisotropy did not significantly (p < 0.05) differ between the groups. CONCLUSION: Resting state functional connectivity alterations are noted during initial stages of cognitive decline in AD, even when there are no significant white matter microstructural changes.

Crystal growth and characterization of an organic nonlinear optical single crystal: 2,3-Dimethyl-N-[4-(Nitro) benzylidene] aniline.

An organic nonlinear optical material 2,3-Dimethyl-N-[4-(Nitro) benzylidene] aniline was synthesized by condensation reaction. The single crystals were grown by the slow evaporation technique at room temperature using ethyl acetate as solvent with large in size and having transparent nature. The unit cell parameters were determined and belong to a noncentrosymmetric orthorhombic crystal structure by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The crystalline nature of the synthesized material was recorded by the powder X-ray diffraction pattern. The molecular structure of the grown material was investigated by proton and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrum analysis. Functional groups were identified by the vibration spectrum analysis. The optical absorbance of the grown crystal was ascertained by Ultraviolet-Visible spectrum. Thermal behaviour and stability of the grown material was investigated by thermo gravimetric/differential thermal analysis. The nonlinear optic conversion efficiency was determined by powder technique and found to be 4.08 times greater that of KDP as a standard reference.

4-Fluoro-N-[(E)-3,4,5-tri-meth-oxy-benzyl-idene]aniline.

The title compound, C16H16FNO3, exists in a trans configuration with respect to the C=N bond [1.258 (2) Å]. The central meth-oxy O atom deviates from the plane of the attached benzene ring by 0.0911 (14) Å. The dihedral angle between the aromatic rings is 47.58 (11)°. The crystal structure features C-H⋯N and C-H⋯O inter-actions.

Synthesis, crystal growth and spectroscopic investigation of second order organic nonlinear optical single crystal: 2-chloro-N-[4-(dimethylamino)benzylidene]aniline.

Organic nonlinear optical (NLO) crystal 2-chloro-N-[4-(dimethylamino)benzylidene]aniline (2Cl4DBA) was synthesized and grown by restricted slow evaporation technique at room temperature using acetone as solvent with good degree of transparency. The lattice parameters were determined and found to be noncentrosymmetric orthorhombic system by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The crystalline nature of the synthesized material was recorded by the powder X-ray diffraction pattern. Molecular structure of the grown crystal was investigated by (1)H and (13)C NMR and functional groups were identified by FTIR spectrum analysis. The optical absorbance of the grown crystal was ascertained by recording UV-Visible spectrum. Thermal and physiochemical stability of the grown material was investigated by TG/DTA analysis. SHG efficiency was determined by Kurtz-Perry Powder SHG technique and found to be 4.2 and 1.54 times greater that of standard KDP and urea crystals respectively.

N-[4-(Di-methyl-amino)-benzyl-idene]-4-methyl-aniline.

The mol-ecules of the title compound, C16H18N2, exists in a trans conformation with respect to the C=N bond [1.270 (3) Å]. The least-squares plane of the di-methyl-amino group makes a dihedral angle of 1.3 (2)° with the ring to which it is attached. The dihedral angle between the two aromatic rings is 11.70 (2)°. The crystal structure features weak C-H⋯π inter-actions.

(E)-4-[2-(4-Eth-oxy-phen-yl)ethen-yl]-1-methyl-pyridinium naphthalene-2-sulfonate.

In the title salt, C16H18NO(+)·C10H7O3S(-), the substituents attached to the central C=C bond adopt a trans conformation and the benzene and pyridinium rings are nearly coplanar, making a dihedral angle of 6.01 (9)°. The crystal structure features weak C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds and C-H⋯π inter-actions .