Inclusion of Pseudomonas fluorescens into soil-like fraction from municipal solid waste management park to enhance plastic biodegradation.

Single-use facial masks which are predominantly made out of polypropylene is being used and littered in large quantities during post COVID-19 situation. Extensive researches on bioremediation of plastic pollution on soil led to the identification of numerous plastic degrading microorganisms. These organisms assimilate plastic polymers as their carbon source for synthesizing energy. Pseudomonas fluorescens (PF) is one among such microorganism which is being identified to biodegrade plastic polymers in controlled environment. The natural biodegradation of facial mask in soil-like fraction collected from municipal waste management site, bioaugmentation of the degradation process with Pseudomonas fluorescens, biostimulation of the soil with carbonless nutritional supplements and combined bioaugmentation with biostimulation process were studied in the present work. The study has been conducted both in controlled and in natural condition for a period of 12 months. The efficiency of the degradation was verified through FTIR analyses using carbonyl index, bond energy change, Loss in ignition (LOI) measurement along with CHNS analyses of residual substances. The analysis of results reported that carbonyl index (in terms of transmittance) was reduced to 46% of the control batch through the inclusion of PF in natural condition. The bioaugmented batch maintained in natural condition showed 33% reduction of LOI with respect to the control batch. The unburnt carbon content of the residual matter obtained from the furnace were analysed using CHNS analyser and indicated the lowest carbon content in the same bioaugmented batch. In this study, an attempt is made to verify the feasibility of enhancing biodegradation of single-use facial mask by bioaugmentation of soil-like fraction available in solid waste management park with Pseudomonas fluorescens under natural condition. CHNS and FTIR analysis assures the biodegradation of plastic waste in the soil-like fraction using Pseudomonas fluorescens under both controlled and natural environmental condition.

Identification and characterization of spatio-temporal hotspots of forest fires in South Asia.

Forest fire is considered as one of the major threats to global biodiversity and a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. Rising temperatures, weather conditions, and topography promote the incidences of fire due to human ignition in South Asia. Because of its synoptic, multi-spectral, and multi-temporal nature, remote sensing data can be a state of art technology for forest fire management. This study focuses on the spatio-temporal patterns of forest fires and identifying hotspots using the novel geospatial technique "emerging hotspot analysis tool" in South Asia. Daily MODIS active fire locations data of 15 years (2003-2017) has been aggregated in order to characterize fire frequency, fire density, and hotspots. A total of 522,348 active fire points have been used to analyze risk of fires across the forest types. Maximum number of forest fires in South Asia was occurring during the January to May. Spatial analysis identified areas of frequent burning and high fire density in South Asian countries. In South Asia, 51% of forest grid cells were affected by fires in 15 years. Highest number of fire incidences was recorded in tropical moist deciduous forest and tropical dry deciduous forest. The emerging hotspots analysis indicates prevalence of sporadic hotspots, followed by historical hotspots, consecutive hotspots, and persistent hotspots in South Asia. Of the seven South Asian countries, Bangladesh has highest emerging hotspot area (34.2%) in forests, followed by 32.2% in India and 29.5% in Nepal. Study results offer critical insights in delineation of fire vulnerable forest landscapes which will stand as a valuable input for strengthening management of fires in South Asia.

Geospatial assessment and monitoring of historical forest cover changes (1920-2012) in Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Western Ghats, India.

Deforestation in the biosphere reserves, which are key Protected Areas has negative impacts on biodiversity, climate, carbon fluxes and livelihoods. Comprehensive study of deforestation in biosphere reserves is required to assess the impact of the management effectiveness. This article assesses the changes in forest cover in various zones and protected areas of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, the first declared biosphere reserve in India which forms part of Western Ghats-a global biodiversity hotspot. In this study, we have mapped the forests from earliest available topographical maps and multi-temporal satellite data spanning from 1920's to 2012 period. Mapping of spatial extent of forest cover, vegetation types and land cover was carried out using visual interpretation technique. A grid cell of 1 km × 1 km was generated for time series change analysis to understand the patterns in spatial distribution of forest cover (1920-1973-1989-1999-2006-2012). The total forest area of biosphere reserve was found to be 5,806.5 km(2) (93.8 % of total geographical area) in 1920. Overall loss of forest cover was estimated as 1,423.6 km(2) (24.5 % of the total forest) with reference to 1920. Among the six Protected Areas, annual deforestation rate of >0.5 was found in Wayanad wildlife sanctuary during 1920-1973. The deforestation in Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is mainly attributed to conversion of forests to plantations and agriculture along with submergence due to construction of dams during 1920 to 1989. Grid wise analysis indicates that 851 grids have undergone large-scale negative changes of >75 ha of forest loss during 1920-1973 while, only 15 grids have shown >75 ha loss during 1973-1989. Annual net rate of deforestation for the period of 1920 to 1973 was calculated as 0.5 followed by 0.1 for 1973 to 1989. Our analysis shows that there was large-scale deforestation before the declaration of area as biosphere reserve in 1986; however, the deforestation has drastically reduced after the declaration due to high degree of protection, thus indicating the secure future of reserve in the long term under the current forest management practices. The present work will stand as the most up-to-date assessment on the forest cover of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve with immediate applications in monitoring and management of forest biodiversity.

Combined preoperative onyx embolization and protective internal carotid artery covered stent placement for treatment of glomus vagale tumor: review of literature and illustrative case.

OBJECTIVE: Surgical resection of complex glomus vagale tumors can be complicated by extensive blood loss and might require surgical sacrifice of an encased internal carotid artery. METHODS: A young patient presented with mass effect from glomus valage tumor. Computerized tomography angiography showed an encased internal carotid artery. Cerebral angiography demonstrated a highly vascular tumor. A literature review was performed for endovascular treatment options for neck tumors. RESULTS: Staged preoperative embolization of feeder arteries via internal maxillary artery, and thyrocervical trunk with onyx was performed. A covered stent was implanted in the cervical internal carotid artery to the common carotid artery; this resulted in complete devascularization of the tumor with exclusion of external carotid artery from the circulation. This is followed by surgical resection of the tumor. CONCLUSION: Preoperative embolization with onyx decreased the amount of blood loss intra-operatively. The implantation of a covered stent in the cervical internal carotid artery through the common carotid artery contributed for further devasculatization of the tumor bed, as well as provided a lumen continuity in case iatrogenic carotid injury is encountered intra-operatively.