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 …
A LIFE-threatening bacterium has been spreading quietly for some time and mutating. Resistant to almost all antibiotics, the Methicillin Resistant Staphylo-coccus aureus, or MRSA, has infected millions worldwide. Doctors are worried, because the bacterium usually rifles through hospitals, takes hold of open wounds, respiratory and urinary tracts and causes difficult- …
Each year, ocean sediments produce a quantity of methane equivalent to about half of the methane emitted to the atmosphere from all natural sources (1). Very little of the methane produced below the sea floor, however, reaches the ocean or the atmosphere; most is consumed by anaerobic microorganisms as it …
African Americans have higher rates of kidney disease than European Americans. Here, we show that, in African Americans, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) and hypertension-attributed end-stage kidney disease (H-ESKD) are associated with two independent sequence variants in the APOL1 gene on chromosome 22 {FSGS odds ratio = 10.5 [95% confidence interval …
The present investigation was undertaken to study the effect of organic amendments, bioinoculants and gypsum in relation to soil chemical properties in sodic soils. The experiment was conducted in two types of sodic land of cultivators field at village Muchehara of Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh durng kharif season of …
This study was conducted to determine the etiology of diarrhoea in a hospital setting in Kolkata. Active surveillance was conducted for 2 years on two random days per week by enrolling every fifth diarrhoeal patient admitted to the Infectious Diseases and Beliaghata General Hospital in Kolkata.
Use of fuel cells is an alternate energy technology that is being studied for full-scale implementation. These can be classified into three subgroups: catalytic, enzymatic, and microbial. Microbial fuel cells are unique in their ability to utilize microorganisms, rather than an enzyme or inorganic molecule, as catalysts for converting the …
Addition of carbon to the soil promotes microbial immobilization of plant-available nutrients, and is being considered as a method to counter alien plant invasions, particularly in disturbed habitats. In the present study the response of three confamilial alien invasive species, Anthemis cotula, Conyza canadensis, and Galinsoga parviflora, to independent and …
Dyes present in the effluent of textile industries are recalcitrant molecules difficult to be degraded biologically. In this study we used Pseudomonas fluorescens to degrade Direct Orange - 102 dye. Pseudomonas fluorescens NCIM 2100 was obtained from National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India, that was adapted to grow on Direct Orange …
Given the popularity of swimming for recreation and sport, it is remarkable that we are only in the early stages of understanding swimming pool chemistry, human exposure(s), and potential health risks. This is partly due to the complexity of swimming pool water chemistry, which increases with transformations that water undergoes …
Disinfection is a primary means to destroy/inactive waterborne pathogenic bacteria that could spread diseases in human. Disinfection process is a must in drinking water treatment, and we are all aware of this. In wastewater treatment, disinfectant process is equally important.
Legionella pneumophila is commonly found in a wide variety of aquatic environments including both natural bodies of water and manmade water systems such as industrial cooling water systems. The elevated water temperature, the moisture, the increased oxygen tension and the addition of nutrients provide a favorable environment for the growth …
Oslo: The ocean depths are home to myriad species of microbes, mostly hard to see but including spaghetti-like bacteria that form whitish mats the size of Greece on the floor of the Pacific, scientists said. The survey, part of a 10-year Census of Marine Life, turned up hosts of unknown …
Streptococcus pyogenes. Most people will not care for the tongue twister. But tell them that this seemingly arcane word refers to the common inhabitants of the throat, spherical bacteria, and they might end up googling it. The bacterium is behind our sore throat. This is one of the nuggets in …
Bacterial isolates from water and sediment samples from freshwater, estuarine and marine regions were tested for their growth in the presence of different concentrations of arsenic. Despite the generation times being longer in case of all bacterial isolates tested in nutrient broth with 200 ppm Arsenite (As3+), many of them …
If it were not for the quality of the mutton, Brijesh Kumar, a customer of five years, would not have endured the smell of ammonia that hung around Mohammed Haroon’s shop. The six-square-metre concrete platform from which Haroon plies trade is two metres from a public urinal in Paharganj near …
The risk of gastrointestinal illness to swimmers from fresh sewage and non-sewage fecal sources at recreational beaches was predicted using quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA). The QMRA estimated the probability of illness for accidental ingestion of recreational water with a specific concentration of fecal indicator bacteria, here the geometric mean …
Imagine the most sophisticated engineering feat you can think of, and you might not consider a living cell. And yet cells are fabulously sophisticated, able to produce all the proteins, tissues, and biological circuits that give rise to life. Scientists have spent hundreds of years just trying to understand cells …
Role of marine bacteria viz. Marinococcus albus, Methylobacterium mesophilicum and Nocardia otitidiscaviarum in bioremediation of crude oil contaminated Alang sea coast has been evaluated in the present study. Optimum concentrations of inorganic nutrients N, P & K as urea, super phos and potash fertilizers respectively on growth and degradation has …
It has been reported that cigarette smoking is a risk factor for bacterial pneumonia and other respiratory infections, and that smokers are more likely to harbor bacterial pathogens in their oral and nasopharyngeal cavities than nonsmokers. Effects of tobacco smoke and its constituents on immune function and mucociliary clearance have …
A study suggests that trees can act like chimneys, moving methane gas produced by soil microbes up through roots, stems and leaves before releasing it into the atmosphere. This effect could account for as much as 10% of methane emissions globally2. It could also help to explain why methane fluxes …
