Assessment of heavy metal levels in cow's milk and associated health risks in the vicinity of the MIDROC Laga Dambi gold mine in Ethiopia.

INTRODUCTION: The possible health effects of consuming milk contaminated with heavy metals have been the subject of considerable concern worldwide. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the level of heavy metals in cow's milk in the vicinity of MIDROC Laga Dambi gold mine and to assess their possible health risks for consumers. METHODS: Nine composite samples were formed by aggregating 243 milk samples obtained in triplicates from 81 domestic milk-producing households. Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy was used to measure the amount of heavy metals after samples digestion under optimal conditions. RESULTS: The heavy metals concentrations obtained were 13.913-7.843, 9.505-3.589, 5.972-3.147, 2.288-1.851, 0.403-0.143, 0.436-0.128, 0.26-0.153, 0.143-0.048, 0.160-ND (not detected), and 0.140-ND mgkg-1for Fe, Zn, Pb, Mn, Hg, Cr, Cd, As, Ni, and Co, respectively. Of the heavy metals identified, the levels of Pb, As, Cd, and Hg exceeded the recommended value. Based on the estimated daily intake (EDI), the total health quotient (THQ) is higher than unity even for Pb alone. It has been found that the consumption of cow milk increases the health index (HI) by 2.972. Ninety five percent of the HI in the study area was explained by the toxic heavy metals (Pb, Cd, As, and Hg) in the cow milk, which were found to be beyond the safe limit. CONCLUSION: This demonstrates that there is a health risk to the population who consume cow's milk sourced from the vicinity of MIDROC Laga Dambi gold mine. To safeguard the public's health, we advised strict monitoring and legislative control for the safety of cow's milk originating from study area.

In vitro antibacterial activity of fruit pulp extracts of Tamarindus indica against Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae.

BACKGROUND: Infectious diseases are increasingly recognized as public health concern worldwide as the rising incidence in multidrug resistance bacteria. This consequently enforces the need to find a new antimicrobial agent where plants have a potential source. This study investigated the antibacterial activity of fruit pulp extract of the Tamarindus indica against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae). METHODS AND MATERIALS: Maceration technique was employed for subsequent extraction of the sample using acetone and ethanol. Antibacterial activity of the plant extract was investigated based on minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against Gram-negative strain (K. pneumoniae (ATCC 700603)) and Gram-positive strain (S. aureus (ATCC 25923)) using agar disc-diffusion technique. RESULTS: It was found that both acetone and ethanol extracts showed significant antibacterial activities, against both S. aureus and K. pneumoniae as compared to the negative control (P = 0.00), but no significantly different from the drug (P > 0.05). However, K. pneumoniae showed more sensitivity to the extracts than S. aureus with MIC value of 18.75 mg/mL and 9.38 mg/mL for both acetone and ethanol extracts against S. aureus and K. pneumoniae respectively. CONCLUSION: This study suggested that the fruit pulp have antibacterial properties, which might validate their traditional uses.

Analysis of Achyranthes aspera leaf extract and acute toxicity study on fingerlings of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus.

Schistosomiasis is a debilitating chronic disease with great socioeconomic and public health impact affecting the poor rural populations who lack access to sanitation, and safe water supply. The high cost of synthetic molluscicides, their toxicity to non-target organisms, and their persistence in the environment have forced the research of plant-derived molluscicides. Although plant molluscicides are cheap, biodegradable, ecofriendly and less toxic to higher animals, unregulated applications could affect non-target organisms. Therefore, ecotoxicological studies are essential to assess the toxicity of these substances to economically and ecologically significant fish species and to establish safe dosage level. This study is intended to investigate the acute toxicity of a molluscicidal plant Achyranthes aspera to Nile tilapia fingerlings, Oreochromis niloticus (O. niloticus) (n = 7) were exposed to serial dilutions of A. aspera leaf aqueous extract using maceration method for 96 h in triplicate setup. Phytoconstituents were identified by GC-MS. Mortality data were analyzed by probit regression to determine lethal concentrations. The NOAEC was ascertained through hypothesis testing based on survival data. The respective piscicidal LC1 and LC10 values were 897.43 and 1063.87 mg/L while the LC50 is 1310.74 mg/L. In addition, the NOAEC was 1100 mg/L (p > 0.05). This piscicidal toxicity is much lower than its molluscicidal potency may be due to the presence of rotenones and triterpenoides which are commonly found in piscicidal natural products. The GC-MS analysis revealed 12 phytoconstituents including a monoterpene. This study indicates that A. aspera has low toxicity to Nile tilapia could be due to monoterpenes are nontoxic. The findings of this study demonstrate that, at this dose, the plant is safe to the test fish. Thus it can be effective, eco-friendly and sustainable alternative for the development of molluscicides for snail control.

Status, characterization, and quantification of municipal solid waste as a measure towards effective solid waste management: The case of Dilla Town, Southern Ethiopia.

This study aims to assess the status of solid waste management (SWM) practice and to characterize and quantify the municipal solid waste as a measure toward effective management in Dilla town Southern Ethiopia. Formal surveys of household residents and SWM operators using a structured questionnaire were conducted to gather data on the current waste management practices of the inhabitants. Repeated field investigations, on-site waste segregation, characterizations, and quantification were conducted. The average per-capita waste generation rate of residential households was found to be 0.475 kg/capita.day. The majority of the waste was organic (68.40% by weight). The recyclable waste accounts 1.90% plastics and 1.50% paper by weight. Whereas, other wastes account 0.30% metals, 0.30% glass, 0.50% leather and rubber, 19.60% inert, 0.96% textiles, and 6.90% miscellaneous by weight. The awareness of inhabitants on solid waste management, poor household waste segregation practice, and disposing of an unsanitary landfill are revealing the main solid waste management problems faced. Other SWM barriers include ineffective solid waste fee system, lack of trained manpower, inappropriate collection routes; unavailability of collection vehicles, illegal solid waste disposal, and inappropriate setting of community containers. From the results of this study, it can be concluded that organic waste constituted a lion share of the solid wastes generated in the town. Hence, the municipality can recover this waste by introducing integrated urban agriculture that might convert this waste to organic fertilizer through composting. To boost SWM, creating public awareness, providing equipment, provision of incentives and other financial policies, and other supplies currently lacking and inappropriate must be provided. The municipal authorities of the town may use this work as a benchmark and might push environmental protection authorities to reexamine the implementation of their policies and strategies with relation to the human and environmental health of the town.Implications: Nowadays, urban population is increasing in developing countries; led to generate an enormous amount of municipal waste in the areas which make more complicate its management pose environmental pollution and threat public health. Thus, to curve these problems this study finding will be important for various policymakers and town municipality. This study may also serve as a benchmark for the municipal authorities of Dilla town for whom the problem is still unseen and negligible, and can push environmental protection authorities to re-examine the implementation of their policies and strategies with regard to the wider issues of human and environmental health conditions of town inhabitants.