Physicochemical assessment of industrial effluents of Kala Sanghian drain, Punjab, India.

The discharge of industrial effluents has a significant impact on the Water Quality Index (WQI) of the water bodies and is a major source of contamination of groundwater. The present study investigated the physicochemical characteristics and scrutinized the pollution potential of the tannery, textile, and electroplating effluents uploading into the Kala Sanghian drain, located in Jalandhar, Punjab, India. In this study, 12 samples were collected from the four sites (leather complex drain (LD), leather complex outlet (LO), focal point drain (FD), and Bulandpur drain (BD)) of Kala Sanghian drain in the dry season. The result showed that the drain under consideration is very much contaminated and the water is not suitable for irrigation and agricultural purposes. Rather it has a bad impact on the health of local people, the physiology of aquatic organisms, and the soil quality of agricultural land nearby. The present study confirmed the water quality index was more than 100, indicating a highly contaminated drain and water is unfit for any use. The correlation analysis shows that there exists a positive correlation between TDS and temperature (r = 0.994), DO and pH (r = 0.808), BOD and temperature (r = 0.987), BOD and TDS (r = 0.978), EC and temperature (r = 0.963), EC and TDS (r = 0.954), and EC and BOD (r = 0.956). The principal component analysis (PCA) confirms that PC1 alone has more than 89% of the variance with high positive loading for TDS, temperature, EC, and BOD. The hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) reflected two clusters where cluster 1 consists of pH, DO, temperature, and BOD of water while cluster 2 consists of TDS and EC of water. The PCA and HCA study of the data set confirms the high degree contribution of anthropogenic activities through the application of chemicals in agriculture, disposal of municipal waste, and industrial effluents in the deterioration of water quality. The results of the study will help to enhance the sustainable action plan for the management of industrial effluents in the studied area.

Volatile organic compounds: A threat to the environment and health hazards to living organisms - A review.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are the organic compounds having a minimum vapor pressure of 0.13 kPa at standard temperature and pressure (293 K, 101 kPa). Being used as a solvent for organic and inorganic compounds, they have a wide range of applications. Most of the VOCs are non-biodegradable and very easily become component of the environment and deplete its purity. It also deteriorates the water quality index of the water bodies, impairs the physiology of living beings, enters the food chain by bio-magnification and degrades, decomposes and manipulates the physiology of living organisms. To unveil the adverse impacts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and their rapid eruption and interference in the living world, a review has been designed. This review presents an insight into the currently available VOCs, their sources, applications, sampling methods, analytic procedures, imposition on the health of aquatic and terrestrial communities and their contamination of the environment. Elaboration has been done on representation of toxicological effects of VOCs on vertebrates, invertebrates, and birds. Subsequently, the role of environmental agencies in the protection of environment has also been illustrated.

Distribution of different cerebral lesions showing restriction on diffusion weighted imaging cases

Background: Diffusion Weighted Images (DWI) is conventionally used to identify acute ischemic lesions. It has now become a routine technique in the magnetic resonance protocols for the evaluation of stroke patients. The objective of the present study was to find the distribution of different cerebral lesions showing restriction on DWI and influence of ADC on them.Methods: This was single blinded prospective study. Evaluating the magnetic resonance imaging was blinded for the clinical data of the patient. This study was done at M.R.I. unit of Department of Radio Diagnosis, C.S.M. Medical University, Lucknow, during a period of one year from August 2008 to July 2009.Total 93 subjects with restricted diffusion with age range of (6 to 95 years) were found. Data were analyzed using statistical software package, STATA 9.2 and the difference was considered to be significant if ‘p’ value was found to be <0.05.Results: Ninety-three cases of diffusion restriction were seen of which 55 of infarcts (37 male and 18 female) with age range of 6 to 95 years. 10 cystic lesions which were showing restriction on DWI with low ADC value were found. Total 12 cases of encephalitis were found showing restriction on DWI. Most of the cases of encephalitis were found to have ADC value between 400 to 800 x 10-6 mm2/s that 75% of total encephalitis cases. Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery was superior to T2 sequencing in showing cortical lesions.Conclusions: MRI with DWI and ADC values are helpful in the earlier diagnosis of the encephalitis, infarcts and helpful in better differentiation of infarcts, abscesses and encephalitis in comparison to MRI without DWI and ADC value.