Heavy metals and trace minerals in commonly available shark species from North East Arabian Sea: A human health risk perspective.

Shark is a seafood commodity that is a good source of minerals and accumulates heavy metals and trace elements through biomagnification, which can pose health risk if taken above the permissible limit. A study was conducted on commonly landed eleven shark species (Scoliodon laticaudus, Rhizopriodon oligolinx, Sphyrna lewini (CR), Carcharhinus macloti, Carcharinus limbatus, Carcharhinus amblyrhynchoides, Carcharhinus sorrah, Carcharinus falciformes(VU), Glaucostegus granulatus, Chiloscyllium arabicum, Loxodon macrorhinus) and analyzed for their heavy metal content, Hazard Index, Total Hazard Quotient, Metal Pollution Index, and also calculated the health risk associated with the consumption. Most of the heavy metals and trace minerals were found to be within the acceptable limit. The Targeted Hazard Quotient (THQ) and the Hazard Index (HI) of all the species except two were less than 1 (HI ≤ 1.0). The Metal Pollution Index (MPI) is showing either no impact or very low contamination. An overall study on hazard identification and health risk characterization in terms of heavy metals shows contamination of some heavy metals in sharks, but there is no potential human health risk associated with consumption.

Antibacterial Efficacy of Manuka Honey-Doped Chitosan-Gelatin Cryogel and Hydrogel Scaffolds in Reducing Infection.

Honey has been used for centuries to reduce bacterial infection; Manuka honey (MH) possesses an additional antibacterial agent, Unique Manuka Factor (UMF). However, MH's physical properties challenge delivery to the wound site. Tissue-engineered scaffolds (cryogels/hydrogels) provide a potential vehicle for MH delivery, but effects on bacterial clearance and biofilm formation demand further examination. MH (0, 1, 5, or 10%) was incorporated into both chitosan-gelatin (1:4 ratio; 4%) cryogels and hydrogels. To assess physical changes, all scaffolds were imaged with scanning electron microscopy and subjected to swell testing to quantify pore size and rehydration potential, respectively. As MH concentration increased, both pore size and scaffold swelling capacity decreased. Both bacterial clearance and biofilm formation were also assessed, along with cellular infiltration. Bacterial clearance testing with S. aureus demonstrated that MH cryogels are superior to 0% control, indicating the potential to perform well against Gram-positive bacteria. However, higher concentrations of MH resulted in cell death over time. These results support our hypothesis that MH release from 5% cryogels would induce reduced viability for four bacteria species without compromising scaffold properties. These outcomes assist in the development of a standard of practice for incorporating MH into scaffolds and the evaluation of biofilm reduction.

Abandonment of fibreglass reinforced plastic fishing boats in Kerala, India, and chemical emissions arising from their burning.

Little information exists on the fate and impacts of boats constructed of fibreglass reinforced plastic (FRP) once they reach their end-of-life. In this study, the number of abandoned fishing boats constructed of FRP or constructed of plywood-wood and sheathed by FRP has been determined along the coast of Kerala, India, and chemical emissions have been estimated when boats are burned as a means of disposal. A total of 292 abandoned boats were observed across eight coastal transects constructed around selected landing centres, with abandonment ranging from 13 to 48 per km (average = 29 km-1). This results in the generation of 1420 kg of FRP debris (glass mat and epoxy resin) per km of coastline. A controlled combustion experiment, simulating open burning, revealed that 63% of original boat mass is emitted to the atmosphere, with the remainder forming a burnt residue. Total concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans emitted and remaining were found to be 2.6 ng Nm-3 and 249.6 µg kg-1, respectively, with respective calculated toxicity equivalence (TEQ) levels of 437.6 pg TEQ Nm-3 in air emissions and 26.6 µg TEQ kg-1 in the residue. These figures are equivalent to the total emission from FRP boat burning of about 17,000 µg TEQ t-1. Burning also generates significant quantities of potentially toxic metals, with resulting concentrations of Co, Cr and Cu close to or exceeding soil guideline values. The study calls for a greater awareness of the impacts arising from boat abandonment and burning amongst fishermen, and guidelines or regulatory protocols regarding safe and sustainable boat disposal or recycling.

Occurrence and characteristics of fibreglass-reinforced plastics and microplastics on a beach impacted by abandoned fishing boats: A case study from Chellanam, India.

Plastics and microplastics have been quantified and characterised at disposal sites of abandoned fishing boats and along the high-water line (HWL) of a fish landing centre in Chellanam, India. Fibreglass-reinforced plastic (FRP) made a greater contribution to the plastic pool at the disposal sites (~ 4.5 n m-2 and 18 g m-2) than the HWL (~ 0.25 n m-2 and < 1 g m-2) and was an abundant component of the microplastic pool at the former. Infrared analysis of micro-sized FRPs revealed various resins (e.g., alkyd, polyester, epoxy), while X-ray fluorescence analysis of the painted surfaces of meso-sized FRPs returned variable concentrations of copper and lead. Concentrations of Pb were high enough to contaminate sand up to ~400 mg kg-1. The relatively high density of FRP and its association with glass fibres and metal-bearing paints results in particles with potentially very different fates and toxicities to more "conventional" (non-composite) thermoplastics.

Genomic insight into the environmental adaptations and toxigenic features of endophytic Bacillus cereus CaB1 isolated from Capsicum annuum L.

In the study, a previously isolated plant beneficial endophytic B. cereus CaB1 was selected for the detailed analysis by whole-genome sequencing. The WGS has generated a total of 1.9 GB high-quality data which was assembled into a 5,257,162 bp genome with G + C content of 35.2%. Interestingly, CaB1 genome was identified to have 40 genes with plant beneficial functions by bioinformatic analysis. At the same time, it also showed the presence of various virulence factors except the diarrhoeal toxin, cereulide. Upon comparative analysis of CaB1 with other B. cereus strains, it was found to have random distributions of virulence and plant growth promoting traits. The core genome phylogenetic analysis of the Bacillus cereus strains further showed the close relation of plant associated strains with isolates from spoiled food products. The observed genome flexibility of B. cereus thus indicates its ability to make use of diverse hosts, which can result either in beneficial or harmful effects. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-023-03463-9.

Segmentation of Brain MRI Images using Multi-Kernel FCM EHO Method.

BACKGROUND: In image processing, image segmentation is a more challenging task due to different shapes, locations, image intensities, etc. Brain tumors are one of the most common diseases in the world. So, the detection and segmentation of brain tumors are important in the medical field. OBJECTIVE: The primary goal of this work is to use the proposed methodology to segment brain MRI images into tumor and non-tumor segments or pixels. METHODS: In this work, we first selected the MRI medical images from the BraTS2020 database and transferred them to the contrast enhancement phase. Then, we applied thresholding for contrast enhancement to enhance the visibility of structures like blood arteries, tumors, or abnormalities. After the contrast enhancement process, the images were transformed into the image denoising phase. In this phase, a fourth-order partial differential equation was used for image denoising. After the image denoising process, these images were passed on to the segmentation phase. In this segmentation phase, we used an elephant herding algorithm for centroid optimization and then applied the multi-kernel fuzzy c-means clustering for image segmentation. RESULTS: Peak signal-to-noise ratio, mean square error, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were used to assess the performance of the proposed methods. According to the findings, the proposed strategy produced better outcomes than the conventional methods. CONCLUSION: Our proposed methodology was reported to be a more effective technique than existing techniques.

Comparative clinical evaluation of a self-adhering flowable composite with conventional flowable composite in Class I cavity: An in vivo study.

Context: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of self-adhering flowable composite with that of a time-tested conventional flowable composite. Since the self-adhering composite reduces chair time and is convenient to use, its clinical behavior was monitored for a year. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical behavior of self-adhering flowable composite - Fusio Liquid Dentin - in small-sized Class I cavities and also to compare it with conventional flowable composite - Tetric N-Flow - bonded to the tooth structure with fifth-generation two-step-etch-and-rinse adhesive. Subjects and Methods: A total of 60 cavities were restored using flowable composite materials (30 cavities in each group) and evaluated at baseline, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year with modified United States Public Health Service criteria. The statistical analysis for the study was done using Fisher's exact test for intergroup comparison and Chi-square test for intragroup comparison. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Statistically no significant differences were observed in Fusio Liquid Dentin restorations during the recall visits. Statistically significant differences were found in color match evaluated for Tetric restorations during the recall visits. Conclusion: Based on the data acquired, the novel self-adhering composite material demonstrated good clinical behavior. As a result, at this point in the prospective clinical study, the use of Fusio Liquid Dentin to repair Class I cavities is acceptable.

Rapid detection of mobile resistance genes tetA and tetB from metaplasmid isolated from healthy broiler feces.

Containing antimicrobial resistance is the thought of the moment as it affects the human life from every aspect. Because, the inappropriate use of antibiotics in livestock animals for the growth promotion and prophylactic purpose has already generated significant challenges. The livestock farms which harbor and disseminate drug resistant microorganisms have already been identified as potential source of resistance genes acquired by the sensitive strains. Hence there is high demand for the affordable and effective surveillance method for the detection of antimicrobial resistance genes from livestock. In this study, direct detection of antibiotic resistance from metaplasmid DNA isolated from the poultry feces was conducted. For the initial standardization, plasmid DNA purified from the previously characterized Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae were used. The tetA and tetB genes amplified from the purified plasmid DNA were further confirmed by agarose gel electrophoresis and sequencing. Further to this, metaplasmid DNA was purified from 29 different poultry fecal samples and these were further screened for the presence of resistance genes. Among the 29 metaplasmid samples, 8 were positive for tetA gene and 9 were positive for tetB gene. The results of the study indicate the potential of PCR based methods for the rapid screening of poultry samples for the antibiotic stewardship in the livestock sector.

Design and development of an IoT based intelligent multi parameter screening system.

The SARS-CoV-2 or shortly COVID-19, is a viral disease which causes serious lung fever and hugely impacts different body parts from mild to critical depending on tolerant immune system. As the virus multiplies through human-to-human contact, it has affected our lives in a devastating way, including the vigorous pressure on the public health system, the world economy, education sector, workplaces, and shopping malls. Viral spreading of this virus can only be prevented by early detection of positive cases and to treat infected patients as quickly as possible. As many businesses, banks, gymnasiums, and stores etc., are using temperature screening as the primary step to assess for possible COVID-19 infection. Moreover, the proper hand sanitization is the very effective method to limit the outspread of this virus. This paper proposes the design and development of a fully automated low-cost portable electronic system in the form of a robot named CovBot that can be installed in the above-mentioned places by incorporating the mechanisms to automatically detect the body temperature, store the details directly to cloud so as to get the data latter by the authorities, to control/restrict the entry, a hand sanitization dispenser unit, auto alert to refill the sanitizer, a mobile display unit etc. Whole system can be managed by a mobile application. The system is controlled using an Arduino-Uno development board. The mobile and the microcontroller system is wirelessly communicated and that to cloud is done by IoT facility. Once this system is implemented, the primary concern and the initial screening associated to COVID-19 can be fully resolved. Comparing to other systems CovBot is cost effective and can be easily installed and operated.

Corrigendum: A Molecular CO2 Reduction Catalyst Based on Giant Polyoxometalate {Mo368}.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2018.00514.].

An Anthracene-Based Metal-Organic Framework for Selective Photo-Reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Formic Acid Coupled with Water Oxidation.

A Zr-based metal-organic framework has been synthesized and employed as a catalyst for photochemical carbon dioxide reduction coupled with water oxidation. The catalyst shows significant carbon dioxide reduction property with concomitant water oxidation. The catalyst has broad visible light as well as UV light absorption property, which is further confirmed from electronic absorption spectroscopy. Formic acid was the only reduced product from carbon dioxide with a turn-over frequency (TOF) of 0.69 h-1 in addition to oxygen, which was produced with a TOF of 0.54 h-1 . No external photosensitizer is used and the ligand itself acts as the light harvester. The efficient and selective photochemical carbon dioxide reduction to formic acid with concomitant water oxidation using Zr-based MOF as catalyst is thus demonstrated here.

Genome sequencing and annotation of multi-virulent Aeromonas veronii XhG1.2 isolated from diseased Xiphophorus hellerii.

The present study was intended to elucidate the genomic basis of antibiotic resistance and hyper-virulence of the fish pathogen Aeromonas veronii XhG1.2 characterized in our previous work. The identity of XhG1.2 was confirmed through 16S rDNA sequence analysis and whole genome sequence analysis. The top-hit species distribution analysis of XhG1.2 sequence data revealed major hits against the Aeromonas veronii. The identification of virulence genes using the VFDB showed the genome of XhG1.2 to have the genes coding for the virulence factors viz. aerolysin, RtxA, T2SS, T3SS and T6SS. The presence of antibiotic resistance predicted through the CARD database analysis showed it to have the CephA3, OXA-12, adeF and pulvomycin resistance genes. By the phylogenetic and comparative genomic analysis, A. veronii species were found to have genes for toxin production. This also confirmed the pathogenicity and drug resistance of A. veronii XhG1.2 and also its potential to cause disease in diverse ornamental fishes.

Healthy broilers disseminate antibiotic resistance in response to tetracycline input in feed concentrates.

Wide varieties of antibiotics are used in poultry farms to improve the growth and also to control the infection in broiler chicken. To identify the seriousness of the same in the poultry sector, current study has been designed to analyze the presence of tetracycline in poultry feed and also the tetracycline resistance among the bacteria released through the excreta of poultry. In the study, 27 bacteria belonging to the Escherichiacoli and Klebsiellapneumoniae. were isolated from the faecal samples collected from five different farms. Antibiotic susceptibility analysis showed 77% of E. coli and 100% of the K. pneumoniae. to be resistant to tetracycline. Further, molecular screening for tetA and tetB genes showed 85.18% of isolates to have tetA and 22.22% with tetB. The presence of tetracycline in collected feed samples was also analysed quantitatively by Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Here, three out of five feed samples were found to be positive for tetracycline. The study showed a direct correlation between the antibiotic supplemented feed and the emergence of antimicrobial resistance among the intestinal microflora. The results of the study indicate the need for strict control over antibiotic use in animal feed to limit the rapid evolution and spread of antimicrobial resistance.

Clinical data classification using an enhanced SMOTE and chaotic evolutionary feature selection.

Class imbalance and the presence of irrelevant or redundant features in training data can pose serious challenges to the development of a classification framework. This paper proposes a framework for developing a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) that addresses class imbalance and the feature selection problem. Under this framework, the dataset is balanced at the data level and a wrapper approach is used to perform feature selection. The following three clinical datasets from the University of California Irvine (UCI) machine learning repository were used for experimentation: the Indian Liver Patient Dataset (ILPD), the Thoracic Surgery Dataset (TSD) and the Pima Indian Diabetes (PID) dataset. The Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (SMOTE), which was enhanced using Orchard's algorithm, was used to balance the datasets. A wrapper approach that uses Chaotic Multi-Verse Optimisation (CMVO) was proposed for feature subset selection. The arithmetic mean of the Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC) and F-score (F1), which was measured using a Random Forest (RF) classifier, was used as the fitness function. After selecting the relevant features, a RF, which comprises 100 estimators and uses the Information Gain Ratio as the split criteria, was used for classification. The classifier achieved a 0.65 MCC, a 0.84 F1 and 82.46% accuracy for the ILPD; a 0.74 MCC, a 0.87 F1 and 86.88% accuracy for the TSD; and a 0.78 MCC, a 0.89 F1and 89.04% accuracy for the PID dataset. The effects of balancing and feature selection on the classifier were investigated and the performance of the framework was compared with the existing works in the literature. The results showed that the proposed framework is competitive in terms of the three performance measures used. The results of a Wilcoxon test confirmed the statistical superiority of the proposed method.

Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO2 to Acetic Acid by a Molecular Manganese Corrole Complex.

The controlled electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to value added chemicals is an important strategy in terms of renewable energy technologies. Therefore, the development of efficient and stable catalysts in an aqueous environment is of great importance. In this context, we focused on synthesizing and studying a molecular MnIII -corrole complex, which is modified on the three meso-positions with polyethylene glycol moieties for direct and selective production of acetic acid from CO2 . Electrochemical reduction of MnIII leads to an electroactive MnII species, which binds CO2 and stabilizes the reduced intermediates. This catalyst allows to electrochemically reduce CO2 to acetic acid in a moderate acidic aqueous medium (pH 6) with a selectivity of 63 % and a turn over frequency (TOF) of 8.25 h-1 , when immobilized on a carbon paper (CP) electrode. In terms of high selectivity towards acetate, we propose the formation and reduction of an oxalate type intermediate, stabilized at the MnIII -corrole center.

pH-induced phase transition and crystallization of soft-oxometalates (SOMs) into polyoxometalates (POMs): a study on crystallization from colloids.

In this work, we demonstrate a simple approach for growing 1D (one-dimensional) inorganic chains of K(C6H16N)3Mo8O26·H2O polyoxometalates (POMs) from its colloidal soft-oxometalate (SOM) phase through the variation of pH. The structure is composed mainly of a 1D inorganic chain with a ß-Mo8O264- binding node linked using K+ via Mo-O-K linkages, which results in a cuboctahedral geometry for the K+ ions. Crystal structure and Hirshfeld surface studies reveal the role of triethylammonium cations in restricting the growth of the 1D chain into 2D/3D (two-/three-dimensional) structures. During the nucleation process from the heterogeneous SOM phase, some of the intermolecular interactions in the dispersion phase are retained in the crystal structure, which was evidenced from residual O...O interactions. The crystallization of the species from its colloidal form as a function of pH was studied by the use of Raman spectroscopy and it was found that the increase in volume fraction of the ß-Mo8O264- species in the crystallizing colloidal mixture with the decrease in pH is responsible for the nucleation. This was monitored by time-dependent DLS (dynamic light scattering) measurement and zeta-potential studies, revealing the co-existence of both the crystal and the colloidal forms at pH 3-2. This brings us to the conclusion that in the crystallization of POMs, the colloidal SOM phase precedes the crystalline POM phase which occurs via a phase transition. This work could open up avenues for the study of POM formation from the stand-point of colloidal chemistry and SOMs.

A Molecular CO2 Reduction Catalyst Based on Giant Polyoxometalate {Mo368}.

Photocatalytic CO2 reduction in water is one of the most attractive research pursuits of our time. In this article we report a giant polyoxometalate {Mo368} based homogeneous catalytic system, which efficiently reduces CO2 to formic acid with a maximum turnover number (TON) of 27,666, turnover frequency (TOF) of 4,611 h-1 and external quantum efficiency of the reaction is 0.6%. The catalytic system oxidizes water and releases electrons, and these electrons are further utilized for the reduction of CO2 to formic acid. A maximum of 8.3 mmol of formic acid was observed with the loading of 0.3 µmol of the catalyst. Our catalyst material is also stable throughout the reaction. The starting materials for this experiment are CO2 and H2O and the end products are HCOOH and O2. The formic acid formed in this reaction is an important H2 gas carrier and thus significant in renewable energy research.

Adherence to treatment among hypertensives of rural Kerala, India.

INTRODUCTION: Poor adherence is an important barrier to adequate blood pressure control among the diagnosed hypertensives. The study aimed at assessing the level of adherence to medication and to identify factors associated with it in people with hypertension in a rural population of Kerala. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in July 2016 among 189 known hypertensives of a rural population in Kerala. Data was collected by interview method using a semistructured questionnaire. Medication adherence was assessed using 4-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale. Chi-square was used to test the significance of association, and logistic regression was done to identify independent predictors along with odds ratio (OR). RESULT: The mean age of study participants was 65.12 ± 11.71 years and the mean duration of disease was 8.69 ± 7.99 years. High adherence was seen in 46% of the patients, while medium and low adherence was seen in 41.3% and 12.7%, respectively. Risk factors of poor adherence identified were poor knowledge of the complications (OR - 2.120; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.110-4.048), availing government pharmacy (OR - 2.379; 95% CI 1.131-5.004), and being asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis (OR - 2.120; 95% CI 1.110-4.048). CONCLUSION: Adherence to medication among people with hypertension in the current study is poor. A comprehensive strategy to improve adherence to antihypertensive medications is the need of the hour.

Prevalence of Psychiatric Disorders among the Rural Geriatric Population: A Pilot Study in Karnataka, India.

BACKGROUND: Increasing life expectancy around the world, an outstanding achievement of our century, has brought with it new public health challenges. India is the second most populous country in the world, with over 72 million inhabitants above 60 years of age as of 2001. The life expectancy in India increased from 32 years in 1947 to over 66 years in 2010, with 8.0% of the population now reaching over 60 years of age. Few studies in India target the health, especially mental health, of this geriatric population. This study aims to estimate the current prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the geriatric population of the rural area of Singanodi,Karnataka, India. METHODS: This cross sectional, epidemiological, community-based study was conducted in a rural health training area of Singanodi, Raichur District, Karnataka, India.The General Health Questionnaire-12, Mini Mental State Examination, and Geriatric Depression Scale were administered to 366 participants. Chi square tests with Yates correction were utilized for statistical analysis using SPSS 19.0 software. RESULTS: We found that 33.9% of the geriatric population in the selected province were above the threshold for mental illness based on the GHQ-12 questionnaire. Females had a higher prevalence of mental disorder at 77.6% (152 out of 196) as compared to males who had a prevalence of 42.4% (72 out of 170). The most common psychiatric disorder was depression (21.9%), and generalized anxiety was present in 10.7% of the study population. Prevalence of cognitive impairment was 16.3%, with a significantly higher percentage of affected individuals in 80+ age group. CONCLUSION: Mental disorders are common among elderly people, but they are not well documented in rural India. The assessment of psychiatric disorder prevalence will help strengthen psycho-geriatric services and thus improve the quality of life of the elderly. A system that ensures comprehensive health care will have to be developed for this purpose as part of our future efforts.

(±)-trans-6,6'-Dieth-oxy-2,2'-[cyclo-hexane-1,2-diylbis(nitrilo-methanylyl-idene)]diphenol monohydrate.

In the title hydrate, C24H30N2O4·H2O, the organic mol-ecule adopts an E conformation with respect to the azomethine double bonds. The cyclo-hexane ring is in a chair conformation. The dihedral angle between benzene rings is 79.6 (2)°. Two intra-molecular O-H⋯N hydrogen bonds are present. In the crystal, the components are linked by O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds and weak C-H⋯π inter-actions, generating a three-dimensional supramolecular architecture.