Forty-two communities in rural Alaska are considered unserved or underserved with water and sewer infrastructure. Many challenges exist to provide centralized piped water and sewer infrastructure to the homes, and they are exacerbated by decreasing capital funding. Unserved communities in rural Alaska experience higher rates of disease, supporting the recommendation that sanitation infrastructure should be provided. Organizations are pursuing alternative solutions to conventional piped water and sewer in order to maximize water use and reuse for public health. This paper reviews initiatives led by the State of Alaska, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, and the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation to identify and develop potential long-term solutions appropriate and acceptable to rural communities. Future developments will likely evolve based on the lessons learned from the initiatives. Recommendations include Alaska-specific research needs, increased end-user participation in the design process, and integrated monitoring, evaluation, and information dissemination in future efforts.

The objective of the study is to analyze the long-run, causal, and inter-temporal relationships between food-beverage-tobacco consumption, smoking prevalence in male and females, and high-technology exports and their resulting impact on global healthcare sustainability agenda in a panel of 19 European, North American, and Asian countries during a period of 1990–2016. The results show that the sample countries are largely affected by high mass consumption of food, beverages, and tobacco, due to which the health spending is very high in their economies that increase healthcare costs and mortality rates accordingly. The relationship between death rate and per capita income is found negative in a panel of selected countries, where high death rates substantially decrease country’s per capita income. The Granger causality estimates confirm the unidirectional causality running from (i) high-technology exports to CO₂ emissions, (ii) smoking prevalence of male and female to health expenditures, (iii) industrial value added to mortality, (iv) health expenditures to per capita income, (v) per capita income to death rates, and (vi) food, beverages, and tobacco consumption to mortality indicators, whereas, the inter-temporal causation confirmed that lifetime risk of maternal death will largely influence health expenditures in a panel of selected countries for the next 10-year time period.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the nanoparticle emissions from a laser printer in a chamber in conjunction with emissions from printers in a print room (PR) and to characterize the processes that lead to increased nanoparticle concentrations, as well as to estimate the human particle dose of the printers’ users. Measurements were conducted in a small stainless steel environmental chamber under controlled conditions, where the evolution of particle size distributions (PSDs) with time and printed pages was studied in detail. Printer was generating nanoparticles (vast majority ˂ 50 nm with mode on ~ 15 nm) primarily during cold startup. Previously, 1-week sampling was also done in a PR at the Technical University of Crete, where the tested laser printer is installed along with three other printers. Similarly, as it was observed in the chamber study, printers’ startup on any given day was characterized by a sharp increase in particle number (PN) concentrations. Average measured PN concentrations during printing hours in PR (5.4 × 10³ #/cm³) is similar to the one observed in chamber measurements (6.7 × 10³ #/cm³). The ExDoM2 dosimetry model was further applied to calculate the deposition of particles in the human respiratory tract. More precisely, the increase in particle dose for an adult Caucasian male was 14.6- and 24.1-fold at printers’ startup, and 1.2- and 5.2-fold during printing in the PR and experimental chamber, respectively, compared to the exposure dose at background concentrations (BCs).

Imbalanced potassium (K) fertilization in agricultural fields has led to considerable negative impacts and remains to be the foremost challenge for maize production in India-Gangetic region. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, particularly potassium solubilizing rhizobacteria (KSR), could serve as inoculants and a promising strategy for enhancement of plant absorption of K hence reducing dependency on chemical fertilizers. Maize seeds were microbiolized for 30 min with KSR suspensions. In the present study, the use of chemical fertilizers along with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain OPVS10 showed pronounced beneficial effect on growth and yield attributes in maize. There was a significant difference among different parameters studied when varying doses of K and KSR strains were applied. Results showed that the combined application of KSR strain OPVS10 with 100% RDK (recommended dose of K) was most effective in modulating growth, physio-biochemical, and yield attributes in maize thus could be regarded as a promising alternative to mineral K-fertilization. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that 100-grain weight and grain yield were the most important properties to improve the sustainable growth of maize. Therefore, these KSR strains have different mechanisms for modulating various activities in maize plants. Results suggested that the synergistic application of KSR strain OPVS10 with 100% RDK can be used for optimized breeding, screening, and nutrient assimilation in maize crop. Hence, this eco-friendly approach may be one of the efficient methods for reducing dependency on chemicals, which pose adverse effects on human health directly and indirectly.

In present study, aerobic granular sludge (AGS) was applied as a high-efficient biosorbent for dye wastewater treatment. The feasibility of acid TiO₂ hydrosol as self-clean eluent for the regeneration of dye-loaded AGS and subsequently photo-catalytic degrade desorbed dyes was investigated. Acid TiO₂ hydrosol was successfully synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Batch sorption experiments suggested that methyl orange (MO) and crystal violet (CV) sorption onto AGS were both fitted well with Langmuir model, and the maximum adsorbed capacities of AGS for MO and CV were 741.6 and 323.6 mg/g, respectively. Biosorbent regeneration experiment indicated that adsorbed dyes were successfully desorbed from dye-loaded AGS and subsequently degraded by a self-cleaning acid TiO₂ hydrosol (pH at 2.0). It was found that the photodegradation times for MO and CV were 240 and 300 min, respectively. Moreover, the AGS retained more than 50 and 70% of its original MO and CV adsorption capacity after the fourth cycle. The result implied that the integration of biosorption with self-cleaning desorption and photocatalytic degradation process could be applied as a feasible technique for dye wastewater practical treatment.

Typha latifolia-planted vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands (VSSF CWs) and an unplanted microcosm constructed wetland were used for treating secondary refinery wastewater from the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC, Nigeria). Cow dung was applied to the planted wetlands at the start of the experiment and after 3 months to enhance plant growth and petroleum degradation. The T. latifolia-planted VSSF CWs removed 45–99% total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH), 99–100% phenol, 70–80% oil and grease, 45–91% chemical oxygen demand (COD), and 46–88% total suspended solids (TSSs). The performance of the unplanted control VSSF CW achieved lower removal efficiencies (15–58% TPH, 86–91% phenol, 16–44% oil and grease, 24–66% COD, and 20–55% TSS). T. latifolia plants had a bioaccumulation factor (BAF) > 1 for phenol, total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphate (TP), suggesting a high removal performance for these contaminants and good translocation ability (TF) for TPH, phenol, oil and grease, and TN, with the exception of TP which was mainly retained in their roots (BAF = 47). This study showed T. latifolia is a good candidate plant to be used in VSSF CWs for polishing secondary refinery wastewater in developing countries.

Mammalian δ-aminolevulinate dehydratase (δ-ALA-D) is a metalloenzyme, which requires Zn(II) and reduced thiol groups for catalytic activity, and is an important molecular target for the widespread environmental toxic metals. The δ-ALA-D inhibition mechanism by metals of Group 10 (Ni, Pd, and Pt) and 11 (Cu, Ag, and Au) of the periodic table has not yet been determined. The objective of this study was to characterize the molecular mechanism of δ-ALA-D inhibition caused by the elements of groups 10 and 11 using in vitro (δ-ALA-D activity from human erythrocytes) and in silico (docking simulations) methods. Our results showed that Ni(II) and Pd(II) caused a small inhibition (~ 10%) of the δ-ALA-D. Pt(II) and Pt(IV) significantly inhibited the enzyme (75% and 44%, respectively), but this inhibition was attenuated by Zn(II) and dithiothreitol (DTT). In group 11, all metals inhibited δ-ALA-D with great potency (~ 70–90%). In the presence of Zn(II) and DTT, the enzyme activity was restored to the control levels. The in silico molecular docking data suggest that the coordination of the ions Pt(II), Pt(IV), Cu(II), Ag(I), and Au(III) with thiolates groups from C135 and C143 residues from the δ-ALA-D active site are crucial to the enzyme inhibition. The results indicate that a possible mechanism of inhibition of δ-ALA-D by these metals may involve the replacement of the Zn(II) from the active site and/or the cysteinyl residue oxidation.

Crowdsourcing of citizens was used to determine the effectiveness of corrosion control in a water distribution system. This study examines the frequency and severity of “Red Water” complaints over a period of 4 years, and two different corrosion control chemicals, polyphosphate and zinc orthophosphate. The data revealed that the frequency of Red Water complaints was higher when using zinc orthophosphate while the severity (higher iron) was higher when using polyphosphates. Varying the dose of zinc orthophosphate to account for cold months induced a greater number of customer complaints. Moreover, corrosion coupons studies suggest similar performance of both corrosion inhibitor products. The corrosion and complaints might be driven by microbial-induced processes in which diatoms might play a significant role.

The influence of tramadol (TD) on hepatic tissue and the potential efficiency of lycopene to mitigate TD-induced hepatotoxic impacts were determined. Forty male albino rats were allocated into four groups: group I, untreated (placebo); group II, injected with TD (15 mg kg⁻¹) intraperitoneally (i.p.); group III, gastrogavaged with lycopene (10 mg kg⁻¹) per os (p.o.); and group IV received TD with lycopene with the same mentioned doses for 15 days. The results demonstrated that TD induced augmentation in tissue lipid peroxidation biomarker and disturbance in the antioxidant homeostasis and elevated the activity of serum liver injury biomarkers and decreased serum protein, globulin, and albumin. Hepatic glutathione S-transferase (GST), superoxide dismutase (SOD), thioredoxin-1 (Txn-1), and catalase (CAT) activities and gene expression were decreased and glutathione content was reduced in the TD-challenged rats, and these effects were alleviated by lycopene. Furthermore, TD induced apoptosis in liver tissues as shown by DNA fragmentation and upregulation of proapoptotic Bax and Casp-3 while lycopene upregulated the antiapoptotic Bcl-2. The results of Western blot showed that lycopene initiated low expression of mitogen activated protein kinase pathway (MAPK) protein expression in liver tissues of TD-challenged rats. In addition, lycopene reduced fatty degeneration and necrosis of the liver in TD-challenged group. Our data demonstrate that lycopene appears to be highly efficient in mitigating the hepatotoxic impacts of TD by preventing lipid peroxidation and initiating modifications in the expression and activity of antioxidant pathways. Surprisingly, lycopene fortified liver tissue by inhibiting DNA fragmentation and apoptosis signaling induced by TD. MAPK activation may be dependent from ROS generation; due to lycopene which possessed antioxidant potential did have a substantial effect on MAPK activity.

A magnetic adsorbent (MA) was synthesized from wasted iron mud of a groundwater treatment plant using a novel one-step hydrothermal method. The results showed that Fe content of MA was 41.8 wt%, 2.5 times higher than that of iron mud, which was caused by hydrothermal dissolution of non-ferrous impurities under alkaline condition, such as quartz and albite, regardless of addition of ascorbic acid or not. Ferrihydrite was 92.7% in dry iron mud before adding ascorbic acid and gradually decreased to 58.1% by increasing the molar ratio of ascorbic acid to Fe following hydrothermal treatment. The strongest saturation magnetization of 16.29 emu/g was observed in the prepared MA-4 when the ascorbic acid to Fe molar ratio was 1. The highest surface site concentration of 1.31 mmol/g was observed in MA-2 when the ratio was 0.02. The mechanism of hydrothermal conversion of wasted iron mud to MA was reductive dissolution of ferrihydrite to form siderite, which was then reoxidized to maghemite. When 12.5 g/L of MA-2 was applied to treat smelting wastewater, over 99% removal of Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, Pb²⁺, and Cd²⁺ was achieved. The major mechanisms of Cu²⁺ and Zn²⁺ adsorption by the adsorbent were cationic exchange.