The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
Antibiotic resistance is a stark reality across the globe, including in India. The challenges associated with controlling antibiotic resistance, particularly in India, are many and multifaceted. On one hand, antibiotics are necessary in many life-threatening cases. On the other hand, overuse of antibiotics can be disastrous in the long run. …
OVER A century ago in 1896, British physician E Hanbury Hankin reported in the French journal Annales de l’Institut Pasteur that cholera microbes died within three hours in the Ganga water, but continued to thrive in distilled water even after 48 hours. He had collected samples from below the bodies …
We read with interest the recent article by Murki, et al. on impact of cephalosporins restriction on incidence of extended spectrum b-lactamases (ESBLs) producing gram negative bacteria. Antibiotics restriction and their cycling are no doubt proven strategies to limit emergence of resistant microbial flora, provided they are employed judiciously. However, …
FROM sunscreens, antiseptics to medicines that fight HIV, artificially engineered nanoparticles are vital for numerous consumer and industrial products. Of a nanometre’s size, these particles are of silver, gold, titanium dioxide and other elements and compounds. While nanotechnology has become the latest buzzword in science, a group of scientists has …
WORLD leaders trying to mitigate the effects of depleting biodiversity of various ecosystems have a reason to worry. Loss of biodiversity may make organisms, including humans, more vulnerable to infectious diseases and influence emergence of new illnesses. That is the conclusion of a paper which stated animals, plants and microbes …
THERE is a good chance the leafy vegetables that make it to your salad bowls were irrigated using untreated or partially treated sewage. Each day an estimated 20,000 million litres of sewage is used for irrigation—five times what Delhi generates each day—but more than half of it is untreated. Faecal …
How do sanitisers harm the environment? Antimicrobial household and personal care products mostly depend on two chemicals—triclosan and triclocarban. As we use the products, the chemicals are washed down the drain. Even after treatment, 50 to 70 per cent of the compounds remain in municipal biosolids. Less than 3 per …
The arguments surrounding the merits and demerits of patents shift between the right of the inventor to enjoy the fruits of his labour and his duty towards the society. In the context of microorganisms, the most vital distinction between the legal practices of India and developed countries is that India …
NOW a novel technique speedily kills pathogens in water. The water filter created by scientists from Stanford university, uses electrically treated cotton fabric to deactivate bacteria instead of just filtering the water. The fabric combines carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires, which are good conductors of electricity. The team tested the …
Methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas (GHG), is involved in a number of chemical and physical processes in the earth’s atmosphere, including global warming. In the global CH4 cycle, substantial amount of CH4 is consumed by biological processes. The only known biological sink for atmospheric CH4 is its oxidation in …
The evolution of antibiotic resistance (AR) increases treatment cost and probability of failure, threatening human health worldwide. The relative importance of individual antibiotic use, environmental transmission and rates of introduction of resistant bacteria in explaining community AR patterns is poorly understood. Evaluating their relative importance requires studying a region where …
The spread of infectious disease via commercial airliner travel is a significant and realistic threat. To shed some light on the feasibility of detecting airborne pathogens, a sensor integration study has been conducted and computational investigations of contaminant transport in an aircraft cabin have been performed. Our study took into …
Pakistan is subjected to rapid water shortage due to different social and environmental problems. Moreoer, the drinking water is being contaminated at an alarming rate that is mostly due to the discharge of untreated domestic and industrial effluent and agricultural run-off. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the water …
IT TAKES over Rs 10,000 and over 24 hours to detect the presence of chikungunya, dengue or H1N1 virus in the body. US scientists have developed a biosensor that could detect viruses in 30 minutes and would cost about a dollar (Rs 45). Pathologists use ELISA (enzymelinked immunosorbant assays) and …
A BACTERIUM, which the biotech industry uses as a vehicle to insert foreign genes in plants, can alter the genetic makeup of other life forms like fungi in the environment, shows a research by UK scientists. This is a way, apart from cross pollination, modified genes could escape into the …
Luc Montagnier is applying unorthodox ideas to the treatment of autism. With support from the Autism Research Institute (ARI), based in San Diego, California, the Nobel laureate is about to launch a small clinical trial of prolonged antibiotic treatment in children with autism disorders.
Agricultural application of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), as nutrient source for plants and as soil conditioner, is the most costeffective option of MSW management because of its advantages over traditional means such as landfilling or incineration. However, agricultural application of MSW can lead to a potential environmental threat due to …
A treatability study was conducted to determine the most effective bioremediation strategies for the decontamination of sediments dredged from industrially polluted Gandigudem Lake. Microcosm experiments were performed with the addition of a microbial consortium and nutrients. The performance of each treatment was examined by monitoring biological parameters such as basal …
