Assessment of spring water quality of Khandbari Municipality in Sankhuwasabha District, Eastern Nepal.

The study was carried out in the Khandbari Municipality, Sankhuwasabha District, Eastern Nepal to document the spring location and assess the water quality of the spring water for drinking and irrigation purposes. A total of 85 springs were mapped, which are located from 274 to 2176 m in altitude. Spring water samples were collected from 33 springs in the pre-monsoon (November, 2021) and 31 springs in the post-monsoon (March, 2022). Correlation matrices, t-test, principal component analysis (PCA), Piper diagram, Gibbs diagram, water quality index (WQI), United States Salinity Laboratory (USSL) diagram, and Wilcox diagram were applied for evaluating the spring water. All the physicochemical parameters were within the Nepalese National Drinking Water Quality Standard (NDWQS) and drinking water quality guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) except for pH in the pre-monsoon and iron in the post-monsoon season. The main contributors to the groundwater are Na+, Ca2+, Cl-, total dissolved solids (TDS), and total hardness, which exhibit significant correlations with electrical conductivity (EC) similar to TDS, suggesting their common source of origin. Based on the WQI, spring water is excellent in the post-monsoon and excellent and good in the pre-monsoon season. Furthermore, the spring water is excellent for irrigation purposes except for the percent sodium in the post-monsoon and the magnesium ratio in the pre-monsoon season. Gibbs diagram illustrates that spring water is mainly governed by rock and precipitation dominance in some springs. The PCA indicates that anthropogenic activities (mixing of human waste and agricultural run-off in the spring water) are the main causes of contamination. Piper trilinear diagram demonstrates carbonate dissolution and silicate weathering as major processes for controlling the spring water chemistry. The study reveals that 62.5% of spring water was contaminated with microbes. For benthic macroinvertebrates, 18 springs were sampled, where nine orders and 17 families were recorded in the pre-monsoon and six orders and ten families in the post-monsoon season. The main influencing variables for macroinvertebrate assemblages are elevation, discharge, NO3-, and NH3.

Increased expression of RUNX3 inhibits normal human myeloid development.

RUNX3 is a transcription factor dysregulated in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, its role in normal myeloid development and leukemia is poorly understood. Here we investigate RUNX3 expression in both settings and the impact of its dysregulation on myelopoiesis. We found that RUNX3 mRNA expression was stable during hematopoiesis but decreased with granulocytic differentiation. In AML, RUNX3 mRNA was overexpressed in many disease subtypes, but downregulated in AML with core binding factor abnormalities, such as RUNX1::ETO. Overexpression of RUNX3 in human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) inhibited myeloid differentiation, particularly of the granulocytic lineage. Proliferation and myeloid colony formation were also inhibited. Conversely, RUNX3 knockdown did not impact the myeloid growth and development of human HSPC. Overexpression of RUNX3 in the context of RUNX1::ETO did not rescue the RUNX1::ETO-mediated block in differentiation. RNA-sequencing showed that RUNX3 overexpression downregulates key developmental genes, such as KIT and RUNX1, while upregulating lymphoid genes, such as KLRB1 and TBX21. Overall, these data show that increased RUNX3 expression observed in AML could contribute to the developmental arrest characteristic of this disease, possibly by driving a competing transcriptional program favoring a lymphoid fate.

Noise pollution and effectiveness of policy interventions for its control in Kathmandu, Nepal.

In Nepal, much emphasis has been given to the pollution of air, water, and solid waste both in terms of research and policymaking. Noise is an ignored pollutant, yet a growing public health concern in Kathmandu. This study is aimed at making an assessment of noise pollution in Kathmandu and study the effectiveness of the enforcement of noise standards and No Horn Regulation to control noise pollution. The study was conducted in 23 locations of four different zones (high traffic, low traffic, commercial, and residential) where 12 sites were considered for evaluating the effectiveness of No Horn Regulations. Noise level was studied at five different times of the day using a sound level meter to compute maximum, minimum, equivalent, and average noise level. This study concludes that (i) there is noise pollution problem in Kathmandu, (ii) No Horn Regulation is in place but it has not been strictly followed by the drivers and riders and monitored adequately by concerned authorities, and (iii) the regulation has been effective in reducing the noise level significantly. The average noise level of Kathmandu was recorded as 66.8 dB(A) with the highest noise level in High traffic zones, followed by commercial, low traffic, and residential zones. In 65.2% of the sampled sites, the noise level was beyond the permissible limit of WHO and National Sound Quality Standard of Nepal, 2012. Of the total honking events, 48.1% were against the provision of the No Horn Regulation. After the enforcement of the regulation, noise level was reduced significantly by 2.1 dB(A) in high traffic, low traffic, and residential zones. A comprehensive noise strategy with more emphasis on compliance monitoring and regular noise assessment should be formulated to address environmental noise as a major public health issue.

An ethylene cross-bridged pentaazamacrocycle and its Cu2+ complex: constrained ligand topology and excellent kinetic stability.

Rigid and topologically constrained ethylene cross-bridged tetraazamacrocycles have been increasingly utilised for thirty years as they form remarkably stable transition metal complexes for catalysis, biomedical imaging, and inorganic drug molecule applications. Extending these benefits to pentaazamacrocycles has been achieved and a first transition metal complex prepared and structurally characterized.