Water plays a vital role as a natural resource since life is unsustainable without it. If water is polluted or contaminated, it results in several health issues among people. Millions of people are infected with waterborne diseases globally, and India is no exception. In the present review, we have analyzed the outbreaks of waterborne diseases that occurred in several Indian states between 2014 and 2020, identified the key infections, and provided insights into the performance of sanitation improvement programs. We noted that acute diarrheal disease (ADD), typhoid, cholera, hepatitis, and shigellosis are common waterborne diseases in India. These diseases have caused about 11,728 deaths between 2014 and 2018 out of which 10,738 deaths occurred only after 2017. The outbreaks of these diseases have been rising because of a lack of adequate sanitation, poor hygiene, and the absence of proper disposal systems. Despite various efforts by the government such as awareness campaigns, guidance on diet for infected individuals, and sanitation improvement programs, the situation is still grim. Disease hotspots and risk factors must be identified, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services must be improved, and ongoing policies must be effectively implemented to improve the situation. The efforts must be customized to the local environment. In addition, the possible effects of climate change must be projected, and strategies must be accordingly optimized.
Waterborne Diseases , Humans , Waterborne Diseases/epidemiology , India/epidemiology , Disease Outbreaks , Risk Factors , Water
Microplastics are emerging as prominent pollutants across the globe. Oceans are becoming major sinks for these pollutants, and their presence is widespread in coastal regions, oceanic surface waters, water column, and sediments. Studies have revealed that microplastics cause serious threats to the marine ecosystem as well as human beings. In the past few years, many research efforts have focused on studying different aspects relating to microplastic pollution of the oceans. This review summarizes sources, migration routes, and ill effects of marine microplastic pollution along with various conventional as well as advanced methods for microplastics analysis and control. However, various knowledge gaps in detection and analysis require attention in order to understand the sources and transport of microplastics, which is critical to deploying mitigation strategies at appropriate locations. Advanced removal methods and an integrated approach are necessary, including government policies and stringent regulations to control the release of plastics.
PURPOSE: To describe the implementation of a contracted pharmacy service model for a co-located long-term acute care hospital (LTAC). SUMMARY: Historically, most LTACs have been free-standing healthcare facilities, but there is an increased trend towards the co-located LTAC ("hospital within a hospital") model. Co-located LTACs represent a solution for the management of patient throughput within a health system, with optimized bed capacity at the host hospital, increased revenue under a prospective payment system, and reduced readmission rates. A co-located LTAC will likely share resources with the host hospital, including ancillary departments such as pharmacy services, through a contractual model. Operationalization of pharmacy services in a co-located LTAC presents unique challenges in the integration of pharmacy services. Pharmacy leaders at Houston Methodist collaborated with executive leadership and other healthcare disciplines to expand services from a free-standing LTAC to a co-located LTAC at the academic medical center location. The contracted pharmacy service operationalization processes in the co-located LTAC comprised licensure and regulations, accreditation, information technology enhancements, a staffing model, operations/distribution services, clinical services, and a defined quality reporting structure. Admissions from the host hospital to the LTAC consisted of patients requiring long-term antibiotic administrations, pre- and post-organ transplant care, complex wound care, oncologic-related treatment, and neurological rehabilitation for strengthening and continued care. CONCLUSION: The framework described here offers guidance to health-system pharmacy departments to support establishment of a co-located LTAC. The case study outlines challenges, considerations, and processes for implementation of a successful contracted pharmacy service model.
Pharmaceutical Services , Pharmacy , Humans , Hospitals , Hospitalization , Continuity of Patient Care
Alkali-assisted acid pretreated rice straw was saccharified using cellulase from Aspergillus niger BK01. The cellulase production by the fungus was enhanced by parametric optimization using solid-state fermentation conditions. Maximum cellulase production (12.0 U/gds of carboxymethyl cellulase, CMCase) was achieved in 96 h, using 6.0% substrate concentration, 7.5% inoculum concentration, 1:2 solid to liquid ratio, at pH 5.5, and temperature 28 °C, by supplementation of the fermentation medium with 0.1% carboxymethylcellulose and 0.1% ammonium nitrate. Characterization of crude cellulases showed that highest CMCase activity was observed at pH 4.8 and temperature 40 °C. The CMCase was stable from pH 4.8-5.5 and at a temperature range of 35-50 °C. The pretreated biomass was subjected to hydrolysis with the fungal cellulases. The saccharification optimization studies showed that 2% (v/v) enzyme concentration and hydrolysis time of 2.5 h were optimum for maximum yield, i.e, 23.78% sugars and 35.96% saccharification value.
The potential of untreated Parthenium hysterophorus weed biomass was evaluated as a substrate for cellulase production. The cellulose in the biomass was used as the main source of carbon. Solid-state fermentation was carried out using Trichoderma reesei, and optimization of cultural conditions was done for maximization of cellulase production. The results revealed that highest cellulase production was achieved on the 8th day of incubation, at 30 °C, keeping solid-to-liquid ratio 1:2 when two discs of inoculum were used per gram of the substrate. The optimized inoculum age was 96 h for CMCase and 120 h for FPase. On studying the enhancing effect of different carbon and nitrogen sources, lactose and ammonium molybdate were found suitable, respectively. The optimized concentration of lactose for the highest CMCase and FPase activities was 1.5 and 1%, respectively. Ammonium molybdate was best at 1% concentration for both CMCase and FPase. Maximum CMCase and FPase activities obtained were 20.49 and 2.42 U/gds, respectively.
Second generation bioethanol production technology relies on lignocellulosic biomass composed of hemicelluloses, celluloses, and lignin components. Cellulose and hemicellulose are sources of fermentable sugars. But the structural characteristics of lignocelluloses pose hindrance to the conversion of these sugar polysaccharides into ethanol. The process of ethanol production, therefore, involves an expensive and energy intensive step of pretreatment, which reduces the recalcitrance of lignocellulose and makes feedstock more susceptible to saccharification. Various physical, chemical, biological, or combined methods are employed to pretreat lignocelluloses. Irradiation is one of the common and promising physical methods of pretreatment, which involves ultrasonic waves, microwaves, γ-rays, and electron beam. Irradiation is also known to enhance the effect of saccharification. This review explains the role of different radiations in the production of cellulosic ethanol.
Lignocellulose is the most abundant biomass on earth. Agricultural, forest, and agroindustrial activities generate tons of lignocellulosic wastes annually, which present readily procurable, economically affordable, and renewable feedstock for various lignocelluloses based applications. Lignocelluloses are the focus of present decade researchers globally, in an attempt to develop technologies based on natural biomass for reducing dependence on expensive and exhaustible substrates. Lignocellulolytic enzymes, that is, cellulases, hemicellulases, and lignolytic enzymes, play very important role in the processing of lignocelluloses which is prerequisite for their utilization in various processes. These enzymes are obtained from microorganisms distributed in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic domains including bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes. Actinomycetes are an attractive microbial group for production of lignocellulose degrading enzymes. Various studies have evaluated the lignocellulose degrading ability of actinomycetes, which can be potentially implemented in the production of different value added products. This paper is an overview of the diversity of cellulolytic, hemicellulolytic, and lignolytic actinomycetes along with brief discussion of their hydrolytic enzyme systems involved in biomass modification.
