Compact Electrochromic Optical Recording of Bioelectric Potentials.

Electrochromic optical recording (ECORE) is a label-free method that utilizes electrochromism to optically detect electrical signals in biological cells with a high signal-to-noise ratio and is suitable for long-term recording. However, ECORE usually requires a large and intricate optical setup, making it relatively difficult to transport and to study specimens on a large scale. Here, we present a Compact ECORE (CECORE) apparatus that drastically reduces the spatial footprint and complexity of the ECORE setup whilst maintaining high sensitivity. An autobalancing differential photodetector automates common-mode noise rejection, removing the need for manually adjustable optics, and a compact laser module conserves space compared to a typical laser mount. The result is a simple, easy-to-use, and relatively low cost system that achieves a sensitivity of 16.7 µV (within a factor of 5 of the shot noise limit), and reliably detects action potentials from Human-induced pluripotent stem cell (HiPSC) derived cardiomyocytes. This setup can be further improved to within 1.5 dB of the shot noise limit by filtering out power-line interference.

The impact of COVID-19 restrictions on acute hospital presentations due to alcohol-related harm in Waitemata Auckland, New Zealand.

AIMS: New Zealand's public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic has largely been considered successful, although there have been concerns surrounding the potential harms of the lockdown restrictions enforced, including alteration of alcohol consumption. New Zealand utilised a four-tiered alert level system of lockdowns and restrictions, with Level 4 denoting strict lockdown. This study aimed to compare alcohol-related hospital presentations during these periods with corresponding calendar-matched dates from the preceding year. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective case-controlled analysis of all alcohol-related hospital presentations between 1 January 2019 to 2 December 2021 and compared COVID-19 restriction periods to corresponding calendar-matched pre-pandemic periods. RESULTS: A total of 3,722 and 3,479 alcohol-related acute hospital presentations occurred during the four COVID-19 restriction levels and corresponding control periods respectively. Alcohol-related presentations accounted for a greater proportion of all admissions during COVID-19 Alert Levels 3 and 1 than the respective control periods (both p⁢0.05), but not during Levels 4 and 2 (both p>0.30). Acute mental and behavioural disorders accounted for a greater proportion of alcohol-related presentations during Alert Levels 4 and 3 (both p≤0.02), although alcohol dependence was present in a lower proportion of presentations during Alert Levels 4, 3, and 2 (all p⁢0.01). There was no difference in acute medical conditions including hepatitis and pancreatitis during all alert levels (all p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Alcohol-related presentations were unchanged compared to matched control periods during the strictest level of lockdown, although acute mental and behavioural disorders accounted for a greater proportion of alcohol-related admissions during this period. New Zealand appears to have avoided the general trend of increased alcohol-related harms seen internationally during the COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdown restrictions.

Global groundwater vulnerability for Pharmaceutical and Personal care products (PPCPs): The scenario of second decade of 21st century.

The global production of PPCPs have increased by multiple folds promoting excessive exposure of its metabolites to humans via different aquatic systems. The higher residence time of toxic precursors of these metabolites pose direct human health risk. Among the different aquatic systems, the contamination of groundwater by PPCPs is the most concerning threat. This threat is especially critical considering the lesser oxidizing potential of the groundwater as compared to freshwater/river water. A major challenge also arises due to excessive dependency of the world's population on groundwater, which is exponentially increasing with time. This makes the identification and characterization of spatial contamination hotspots highly probabilistic as compared to other freshwater systems. The situation is more vulnerable in developing countries where there is a reported inadequacy of wastewater treatment facilities, thereby forcing the groundwater to behave as the only available sequestrating sink for all these contaminants. With increased consumption of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals compounds, these wastes have proven capability in terms of enhancing the resistance among the biotic community of the soil systems, which ultimately can become catastrophic and carcinogenic in near future. Recent studies are supporting the aforementioned concern where compounds like diclofenac (analgesic) have attained a concentration of 1.3 mgL-1 in the aquifer systems of Delhi, India. The situation is far worse for developed nations where prolonged and indiscriminate usage of antidepressants and antibiotics have life threating consequences. It has been confirmed that certain compounds like ofloxacin (antibiotics) and bis-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate are present in some of the most sensitive wells/springs of the United States and Mexico. The current trend of the situation has been demonstrated by integrating a comparative approach of the published literatures in last three years. This review provides first-hand information report for formulating a directive policy framework for tackling PPCPs issues in the groundwater system.

Impact of River fluvial processes on arsenic enrichment in Mid Gangetic Plains: The coining of arsenic confirming pollution markers.

The present study traces the geochemical occurrence of arsenic and heavy metals along the active oxbow formations of river Ganga in MGP. A total of 31 groundwater samples were collected, specifically in close proximity to the river profile section, to understand the high spatial enrichment pattern of arsenic. The bivariate plots reveal strong influence of silicate weathering and anthropogenic leaching of fertilizers occurring concurrently with pyrite oxidation, leading to high arsenic vulnerability. The bicarbonate enrichment plays a major role in the replacement of adsorbed arsenic while most of the carbonate minerals remain in a state of oversaturation, causing their ultimate precipitation. The steep changes in river directional profile as evident through the high bulk density of the soil (1587 kg/m3) near the oxbow formations of the river has caused high sediment deposition which is coherent with the spatial distribution of soil organic carbon stock (8-33 tons/hectare). Further, high concentration of arsenic (~100 ppb) traces the high availability of the clay content (18-40 %) and moderate iron concentration of the soil confirming the role of river led recharge in promoting oxidizing conditions. Low cation exchange capacity (9-52 mmol. c.kg-1), indicative of illite as the dominant clay mineral, further supports our concern for groundwater vulnerability in terms of enhanced cation retention in the soil. Our study is a pioneering work in understanding arsenic spatial vulnerability under fluvial forcing through developing indicators which trace the arsenic mobilizing chemistry in a more coherent and direct ways.

Anthropogenic dominance on geogenic arsenic problem of the groundwater in the Ganga-Brahmaputra floodplain: A paradox of origin and mobilization.

The Ganga-Brahmaputra floodplains constitute a complex system that is vulnerable to arsenic recycling owing to its geomorphic sensitivity, aquifer profiles, high meandering scars and extreme sediment deposition, along with extreme monsoonal disturbances; and are subjected to significant alterations in arsenic recycling. We have put an effort to delineate the similarities and dissimilarities pertaining to the arsenic prevalence, origin and mobilization in the two hotspots, namely the Mid-Gangetic Floodplains (MGFP) and the Brahmaputra Floodplains (BFP). Pertaining to this, we collected 384 representative water samples for hydrogeochemical investigations, multivariate analyses, and saturation status based predictive modelling, with BFP having a maximum concentration of arsenic (As) reaching to almost 97.9 µgL-1 and MGFP having a maximum concentration of 50.1 µgL-1. Seasonality impelled changes and conforming riverine recharges are leading major ionic differentiations in both the floodplains across seasons. Meandering and aquifer dynamics control As prevalence in the MGFP and BFP, respectively. Non-interdependent HCO3- recharge mediated As-recycling was found in the BFP. Carbonate weathering is dominant in the MGFP, while both carbonate and silicate weathering take precedence in the BFP. Multivariate analysis hints at fertilizer influence on As mobilization in the MGFP. Reductive hydrolysis of Fe-OOH mediated As-release is more prominent in the BFP. Seasonal arsenic fluctuations are going to have more climatic dependency in near future owing to the increasing erratic rains, pumping and recharge events. Erratic precipitation will provoke immediate response in both floodplains in terms of As mobilization which urgently needs attention to counter increasing arsenic vulnerability.

Delineation of submarine groundwater discharge and seawater intrusion zones using anomalies in the field water quality parameters, groundwater level fluctuation and sea surface temperature along the Gujarat coast of India.

Nature mediated processes like seawater intrusion (SWI) and its complementary processes like submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) often cause severe water stress on the coastal water resources worldwide. The present work attempts to delineate the SWI and SGD zones along the North-Western coast of India (constituting the entire coastline of Gujarat) which is currently facing severe water crises due to the freshwater salinization and water loss through the coastal aquifer system. In the present work site-specific water characteristics and groundwater level were used as a proxy for identifying the probable zones of SWI and SGD. For the delineation purpose, we have collected 540 water samples distanced at 5-10 km (seawater, porewater and groundwater; 180 each) from the entire coastline of Gujarat. Further, a three-tier validation system has been adopted for delineating the SWI and SGD zones followed by the physical verification of the locations through the integration of (i) Groundwater fluctuation dynamic, (ii) MODIS derived sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly, and (iii) Electrical conductivity (EC) based gradient mapping. The study has identified 9 out of 14 districts being vulnerable to SWI, whereas the remaining five districts from south Gujarat and the Saurashtra coast are suspectable for SGD. The present work will act as a preliminary basis for formulating a framework for the detailed investigation of the mixing process along the coast.

Depicting the seasonal and spatial sensitivity of anthropogenic nutrient enrichment on phytoplankton in the Bay of Bengal, India.

High nutrient loading discharge into the oceans is an evolving threat to the marine biota at large, including the Bay of Bengal (BoB) which receives one of the highest inflows of nutrient fluxes from rivers like the Ganga and the Brahmaputra. Further, the complex riverine and deltaic formations are difficult to be quantified, hence satellite-based observation of chlorophyll and phytoplankton species can add more insight in the nutrient aggregation process. We evaluated the spatial sensitive zones in the BoB in terms of anthropogenic nutrients. Our study shows that coccolithophore population and chlorophyll a concentration can be an active indicator of flood mediated nutrient inflow into the oceans. SST illustrated weaker correlation with phytoplankton species during the monsoon owing to prevalence of cyclonic conditions and high nutrient concentration, however, the relationship is relatively stronger during the pre-monsoon when more stable oligotrophic conditions exist. Higher concentration of diatoms, cyanobacteria and chlorophytes in BOB compared to the Pacific Ocean indicates the ecological sensitivity and the resilience of the Bay of Bengal in terms of nutrient cycling.

Floodplains landforms, clay deposition and irrigation return flow govern arsenic occurrence, prevalence and mobilization: A geochemical and isotopic study of the mid-Gangetic floodplains.

This article attempts to understand the evolution of groundwater chemistry in the mid Gangetic floodplain through the identification of hydrogeochemical processes including the impact of surface recharge and geological features. Isotopic investigations identified that irrigation return flow is partly responsible for arsenic (As) enrichment through preferential vertical recharge. Further, the floodplain geomorphological attributes and associated As hydrogeochemical behaviour traced through isotopes tracers highlighted that meandering and ox-bow like geomorphological features owing to clay deposition leads to the anoxic condition induced reductive microbial dissolution of As-bearing minerals causing the arsenic contamination in the investigated aquifer of the mid-Gangetic plain (MGP). To achieve the objectives, 146 water samples for water chemistry and 62 samples for the isotopic study were collected from Bhojpur district, Bihar (district bounded by the river Ganges in the north and Son in the east) located in MGP during the pre-monsoon season of 2018. The chemical results revealed high arsenic concentration (BDL to 206 µg.L-1, 32% samples are exceeding the 10 µg.L-1 limit) in the Holocene recent alluviums which are characterized by various geomorphological features such as meander scars and oxbow lake (northern part of the district). Arsenic is more concentrated in the depth range of 15-40 m below ground surface. All other trace metals viz. Ni, Pb, Zn, Cd and Al were found in low concentration except Fe and Mn. The geochemical analyses suggest that rock-water interaction is controlling the hydro-geochemistry while the chemical constituent of the groundwater is mainly controlled by carbonate weathering with limited contribution from silicate weathering. The isotopic signatures revealed that the Son river is recharging groundwater while the groundwater is contributing to the Ganges river. A clear pattern of fast vertical recharge in the arsenic contaminated area is observed in the proximity to the river Ganges with an elevated nitrate concentration resulted from the reduced As dissolution. The origin of groundwater is local precipitation with low to high evaporation enrichment effect which is further indicating the vertical mixing of groundwater from the irrigation return flow and/or recharge from domestic discharge causing enhanced As mobilization through microbial assisted reductive dissolution of As-bearing minerals.

Integrated use of inverse and biotic ligand modelling for lake water quality resilience estimation: A case of Ramsar wetland, (Deepor Beel), Assam, India.

The present study evaluates the vulnerability of the lake system (Deepor Beel) due to the combined exposure of toxic metals, major ions and mineral dissociation. The hydro-chemistry of the Deepor Beel lake reveals the dominance of carbonate weathering with strong evidences of ion-exchange reaction occurring throughout the monsoon season of 2014 and 2015. Through an integrated application of multivariate analysis, the occurrence of albite weathering was confirmed, although as an isolated incidence only, along-with substantial evidence of waste water intrusion from fertilizer industries. The moderate cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the soil, indicates the presence of illite, chlorite and kaolinite which provides a strong buffering action in terms of phosphorous and nutrient retention. However, occurrences of chemical waste in the form of bleaching powder (Ca(OCl)2) are causing acidification of lake soil, which will trigger the release of phosphorous and may enhance the eutrophication level in near future. Through the simulations of Biotic Ligand (BL) model on ceriodaphnia dubia, it is being revealed, that the free availability of Ca2+ in the lake water, provides a higher adsorptive competition for labile metal species especially for Cu and Zn. Additionally, the risk among children from drinking lake water, has increased by three to seven times in a duration of just one year. The present study is a pioneering work, which has evaluated the vulnerability of Deepor Beel lake by adopting a sequential assessment strategy of lake internal as well as external ecology. Our proposed methodology can be a used as a scientific basis for future assessment of the lake health.

Evaluation, effect and utilization of submarine groundwater discharge for coastal population and ecosystem: A special emphasis on Indian coastline.

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is an important process driven by marine and terrestrial forces. Low tide affects SGD the most, therefore the ideal time to detect SGD is the low tide, especially during spring tide. Techniques to detect and quantify SGD along with the understanding of the related aquifer characteristics is discussed in this study. Scientific community across the world is realizing the importance of studying and mapping SGD because in the scenario of climate change, this part of the global hydrological cycle is an important process and is known to have a significant effect on the marine ecosystem due to nutrient and metal inputs around the region of discharge. Therefore, understanding the processes governing SGD becomes very important. In this review, various components and processes related to SGD (e.g. Submarine Groundwater Recharge, Deep Porewater Upwelling, Recirculated Saline Groundwater Discharge), along with detailed discussion on impacts of SGD for marine ecosystem is presented. Also, it highlights the future research direction and emphasis is put on more research to be done keeping in mind the changing climate and its impacts on SGD.

The combined exposure of microplastics and toxic contaminants in the floodplains of north India: A review.

Microplastics in aquatic ecosystem are an emerging environmental threat, primarily aggregating into sediments and living biota besides providing active transportation to toxic pollutants. Recent studies have revealed that a microplastic surface cannot be considered as "inert" and therefore the rate and stage of degradation of microplastic will determine its capability in adsorbing and transporting the solute to longer distances. Our concern is driven by the fact that there has been an absence of widescale research in India despite a country with one of the longest networks of rivers and a 7500 km long active coastline. Anthropogenic pollutants are expected to increase and the situation will further worsen when more persistent organic pollutants (POCs) and geogenic contaminants will find its sink via monsoon runoff. Studies on aquatic species including COD, daphnia magna and zebrafish suggest strong links of bio-accumulation, suspecting to a more serious situation for the coastal India where there is an almost three times increase in the density of the microplastics as the monsoon progresses. Evidences also suggests that microplastics can adsorb known carcinogens as well as endocrine disrupting chemicals leaving our aquatic life exposed to higher mortality. Our review is a first ever scientific attempt in compiling these evidences through researches done in this field to understand the risk that the major floodplains of North India are currently facing. We have adapted the theories and inferences of the available research to predict and postulate a probable mechanism that could explain the severity of the situation in India.

Making Waves Perspectives of Modelling and Monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 in Aquatic Environment for COVID-19 Pandemic.

Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the aquatic environment pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a global concern. Though SARS-CoV-2 is known as a respiratory virus, its detection in faecal matter and wastewater demonstrates its enteric involvement resulting in vulnerable aquatic environment. Here, we provide the latest updates on wastewater-based epidemiology, which is gaining interest in the current situation as a unique tool of surveillance and monitoring of the disease. Transport pathways with its migration through wastewater to surface and subsurface waters, probability of infectivity and ways of inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 are discussed in detail. Epidemiological models, especially compartmental projections, have been explained with an emphasis on its limitation and the assumptions on which the future predictions of disease propagation are based. Besides, this review covers various predictive models to track and project disease spread in the future and gives an insight into the probability of a future outbreak of the disease.

Examining an internet-delivered intervention for anxiety and depression when delivered as a part of routine care for university students: A phase IV trial.

BACKGROUND: There has been growing interest in the potential of emerging internet-delivered psychological treatments for supporting the mental health needs of university students. However, no large-scale prospective effectiveness trials examining their real-world potential have been reported. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the current study was to evaluate the acceptability and effectiveness of a brief, 5-week, internet-delivered and therapist-guided intervention for anxiety and depression, when delivered as part of routine care by a university counselling service. DESIGN: A large, prospective, single-group Phase-IV clinical trial. Students (n = 1326) engaging with the university counselling service were provided the opportunity to receive the intervention based on their preferences and identified needs. Students completed standardised measures of anxiety and depression at pre-treatment, each week of the intervention, post-treatment and 3-month follow-up. RESULTS: Over a 4 year period, 1081 students (10% of those presenting to the counselling service) participated in the intervention. Large clinical reductions in symptoms of both anxiety (% reduction = 41%; Cohen's d = 0.94) and depression (% reduction = 36%; Cohen's d = 0.81) were observed alongside high levels of acceptability. The intervention required relatively little counsellor time (M = 36.28 mins; SD = 20.56) per student, and symptom deterioration was observed in less than 5% of students. CONCLUSION: The findings of the current study are supportive of internet-delivered interventions provided as routine care to university students. Further research is needed to carefully explore whether these interventions could be used with a larger proportion of students presenting to counselling services, paying close attention to acceptability, engagement and clinical outcomes.