Category: Nevin Manimala

Chemosphere. 2021 Mar 4;276:130176. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130176. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

In adsorption research, there was a good amount of adsorption data on various absorbent-adsorbate systems and many isotherm models were studied but there was no study on applicability of models to a group of adsorbent-adsorbate systems. In order to establish this, adsorption data obtained from literature for activated carbon with different solutes/sorbate(s) were considered and modelled with various adsorption models. The molecular mass of the solutes varies from 78.118(Benzene) to 932(Direct blue 2B dye) g.mol^-1 and adsorbent surface area varies from 516 to 1100 m² g^-1. In this work, twelve commonly known isotherms models were employed to correlate the adsorption data. For modelling polymath® software has been used. The input data for the polymath® software were amount of adsorbate per unit amount of adsorbent, q_e vs. concentration, c_e. Nonlinear optimization of isotherm data gives model parameters. The correlating ability of the various models was compared in terms of arithmetic average relative deviation (AARD) calculated based on q_e. The lowest overall AARD% values were observed for Baudu Isotherm and Langmuir-Freundlich and the corresponding AARD% values were 2.6 and 2.8 respectively. The highest overall AARD% value was observed for Marczewski-jaroniec isotherm and the corresponding AARD% is 23.5. Corrected Akaike’s information criterion (AIC_corrected) was employed to known the best model. We observed lowest AIC_corrected(15.859) value for Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm and the highest AIC_corrected(59.283) value for Marczewski-jaroniec isotherm. AIC_corrected reveals that Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm was efficient in correlating the isotherm data. Further, Pair-t test was performed between Baudu isotherm and other model.

PMID:33714156 | DOI:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130176

J Forensic Leg Med. 2021 Feb 26;79:102150. doi: 10.1016/j.jflm.2021.102150. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Injury and deaths inflicted by law enforcement are a topic of significant discussion in the US. The purpose of this study was to analyze injuries due to law enforcement activity that presented to emergency departments (ED) across the entire US and correlate the injury patterns with patient demographics.

METHODS: The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) All Injury Program (AIP) data was used for the years 2005 through 2015. Injuries due to legal/law enforcement activity were identified. Statistical analyses were performed with SUDAAN 11.0.01™. A p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS: There were 939,405 ED visits for non-fatal injuries due to law enforcement. The average age was 31.9 years; 84.6% were male. The mechanism of injury was being struck in 69.7%; firearm gunshot wounds accounted for only 1.2%. The most common location of injury was the head and neck (44.0%) followed by the upper extremity (20.2%). The vast majority of the patients (94.9%) were treated and released from the ED. The seven major diagnoses were contusion/abrasion (37.8%), strain/sprain (22.7%), laceration (12.9%), fracture (7.6%), puncture (8.2%), and foreign body (2.5%). The injuries with the highest percentage of hospital admissions were foreign bodies and fractures (11.4% and 11.3% respectively. Although the number of events occurring at schools or sporting venues was 2.0%, those seen at children’s hospitals demonstrated a higher percentage at 15.6%.

CONCLUSIONS: This data set provides another viewpoint of injuries inflicted by police. It can be used as baseline data for further studies, especially in the US recent sociopolitical environment calling for police reform and improvements in the education and training of police officers.

PMID:33714163 | DOI:10.1016/j.jflm.2021.102150

Child Abuse Negl. 2021 Mar 10;115:105025. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105025. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: This study aims to characterize the knowledge about infant crying and abusive head trauma (AHT), and shaking behaviors in parents of children in China, which are lacking currently.

METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2020. We collected information about the knowledge of the typical patterns of infant crying and AHT, and asked about beliefs of the effects of violent shaking on children’s health, and shaking behavior among parents.

RESULTS: A total of 568 parents completed the questionnaire, and only 1.6 % of them answered all nine knowledge questions related to infant crying correctly. Overall, 42.6 % of participants reported they had heard about AHT, but only 17.1 % of the parents reported they knew enough about the dangers of infant shaking. About 45 % of the parents acknowledged that they had shaken their infants at least once. Parents who were from western region of China (OR = 3.860; 95 % CI = 1.871, 7.966; p < 0.001) and have felt very frustrated because of the baby’s crying over half of the time (OR = 3.401; 95 % CI = 1.862, 6.211; p < 0.001) had the highest risk of shaking. Majority of the parents reported that they needed further information about infant soothing techniques, knowledge of prevention and treatment about AHT.

CONCLUSIONS: Majority of Chinese parents do not have enough knowledge about normal infant crying, nevertheless, most of them expressing needs in learning more. Community-wide advocating efforts aiming to educate parents on awareness and knowledge about AHT should be a health priority in China.

PMID:33714183 | DOI:10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105025

Environ Int. 2021 Mar 10;152:106476. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2021.106476. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Air pollution is hypothesized to affect pubertal development. However, the few studies on this topic yielded overall mixed results. These studies did not consider important pollutants like ozone, and none of them involved pubertal development assessed by estradiol and testosterone measurements. We aimed to analyze associations between long-term exposure to four pollutants and pubertal development based on sex hormone concentrations among 10-year-old children.

METHODS: These cross-sectional analyses were based on the 10-year follow-up medical examinations of 1945 children from the Munich and Wesel centers of the GINIplus and LISA German birth cohorts. Female and male pubertal development was assessed by dichotomizing the concentration of hormones in serum at 18.4 pmol/L and 0.087 nmol/L using the lower limits of quantification for estradiol and testosterone, respectively. Land-use regression models derived annual average concentrations of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 and 10 µm (PM_2.5 and PM₁₀), as well as spatial models assessed yearly average concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and ozone, were calculated at the 10-year residential addresses. To evaluate associations, we utilized logistic regressions adjusted for potential covariates. The analyses were stratified by area and sex.

RESULTS: Around 73% of the 943 females and 25% of the 1002 males had a high level of hormones and had already started puberty at the age of 10. Overall, we found no statistically significant associations between exposure to particles (PM_2.5 or PM₁₀) and pubertal development. Results on NO₂ and ozone were not significant as well; for instance, per 10 µg/m³ increase in ozone concentration, odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were 0.900 (0.605, 1.339) and 0.830 (0.573, 1.203) for females and males, respectively. Stratified by area, the aforementioned results did not reveal any associations either.

CONCLUSIONS: Our study did not observe the associations between ambient air pollutants and pubertal development determined by estradiol and testosterone levels in children. However, due to the current limited number of studies on this topic, our results should be cautiously interpreted. Future longitudinal studies are needed to assess the association.

PMID:33714142 | DOI:10.1016/j.envint.2021.106476

Am J Emerg Med. 2021 Mar 1;46:34-37. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2021.02.055. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Little is known regarding the differences in microbiology associated with cellulitis or abscess with or without lymphangitic streaking. The objective of our study is to assess whether there are differences in the pathogens identified from wound cultures of patients with paronychia with and without associated lymphangitis.

METHODS: Retrospective cross-sectional study at a tertiary pediatric emergency department over 25 years. We opted to assess patients with paronychia of the finger, assuming that these cases will have a greater variety of causative pathogens compared to other cases of cellulitis and soft tissue abscess that are associated with nail biting. Case identification was conducted using a computerized text-screening search that was refined by manual chart review. We included patients from 1 month to 20 years of age who underwent an incision and drainage (I&D) of a paronychia and had a culture obtained. The presence or absence of lymphangitis was determined from the clinical narrative in the medical record. We excluded patients treated with antibiotics prior to I&D as well as immune-compromised patients. We used descriptive statistics for prevalence and χ2 tests for categorical variables.

RESULTS: Two hundred sixty-six patients met inclusion criteria. The median age was 9.7 years [IQR 4.7, 15.4] and 45.1% were female. Twenty-two patients (8.3%) had lymphangitic streaking associated with their paronychia. Patients with lymphangitis streaking were similar to those without lymphangitis in terms of age and sex (p = 0.52 and p = 0.82, respectively). Overall, the predominant bacteria was MSSA (40%) followed by MRSA (26%). No significant differences were found between the pathogens in the 22 patients with associated lymphangitis compared to the 244 patients without.

CONCLUSION: Staphylococcus aureus represent the majority of pathogens in paronychia, although streptococcal species and gram-negative bacteria were also common. Among patients with paronychia of the finger, there seems to be no association between pathogen type and presence of lymphangitic streaking.

PMID:33714052 | DOI:10.1016/j.ajem.2021.02.055

Environ Pollut. 2021 Mar 3;278:116854. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116854. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer is the fifth most frequent tumor worldwide. In Spain, it presents a large geographic variability in incidence, suggesting a possible role of environmental factors in its etiology. Therefore, epidemiologic research focused on environmental exposures is necessary.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the association between risk of gastric cancer (by histological type and tumor site) and residential proximity to industrial installations, according to categories of industrial groups and specific pollutants released, in the context of a population-based multicase-control study of incident cancer conducted in Spain (MCC-Spain).

METHODS: In this study, 2664 controls and 137 gastric cancer cases from 9 provinces, frequency matched by province of residence, age, and sex were included. Distances from the individuals’ residences to the 106 industries located in the study areas were computed. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) for categories of distance (from 1 km to 3 km) to industries, adjusting for matching variables and potential confounders.

RESULTS: Overall, no excess risk of gastric cancer was observed in people living close to the industrial installations, with ORs ranging from 0.73 (at ≤2.5 km) to 0.93 (at ≤1.5 km). However, by industrial sector, excess risks (OR; 95%CI) were found near organic chemical industry (3.51; 1.42-8.69 at ≤2 km), inorganic chemical industry (3.33; 1.12-9.85 at ≤2 km), food/beverage sector (2.48; 1.12-5.50 at ≤2 km), and surface treatment using organic solvents (3.59; 1.40-9.22 at ≤3 km). By specific pollutant, a statistically significant excess risk (OR; 95%CI) was found near (≤3 km) industries releasing nonylphenol (6.43; 2.30-17.97) and antimony (4.82; 1.94-12.01).

CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest no association between risk of gastric cancer and living in the proximity to the industrial facilities as a whole. However, a few associations were detected near some industrial sectors and installations releasing specific pollutants.

PMID:33714062 | DOI:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116854

Food Chem. 2021 Mar 3;353:129431. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129431. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Phenolic compounds from plant sources have significant health-promoting properties and are known to be an integral part of folk and herbal medicines. Consumption of phenolics is known to alleviate the risk of various lifestyle diseases including cancer, cardiovascular, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s. In this context, numerous plant crops have been explored and characterized based on phenolic compounds for their use as supplements, nutraceutical, and pharmaceuticals. The present review highlights some important source of bioactive phenolic compounds and novel technologies for their efficient extraction. These techniques include the use of microwave, ultrasound, and supercritical methods. Besides, the review will also highlight the use of response surface methodology (RSM) as a statistical tool for optimizing the recoveries of the phenolic bioactives from plant-based matrices.

PMID:33714109 | DOI:10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129431

Food Chem. 2021 Mar 3;353:129429. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129429. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The mechanistic insights into the oral pungency of capsaicin-related dietary components have been elucidated from the spatial structural perspectives by establishing statistically significant and highly predictive three-dimensional quantitative structure-property relationship models. Our results visualized the possible favorable and unfavorable steric and electrostatic interactions with the pungent receptors with the assistance of pharmacophore models, and revealed the suitable electronegative/positive or bulky substitutions in the vanillyl group, amide moiety, linear alkyl chain and their adjacent structural area of capsaicin required for the desired pungency, which was not only complementary to the viewpoints proposed in our previous structure-pungency correlations, but also was applied to clearly clarify the pungent differences in compounds, and well predict the pungency of 21 capsaicin analogs though with ambiguous experimental data on pungency. Hopefully, this work would benefit the overall understanding of the pungent mechanism and facile discovery/design of analogs with desired pungency to expand their applications in foods.

PMID:33714121 | DOI:10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129429

J Environ Manage. 2021 Mar 10;287:112263. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112263. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Urban runoff is a diffuse source of pollution contributing to the poor ecological and chemical status of surface waters. Whilst the EU Priority Hazardous Substances Directive now identifies environmental quality standards for selected metals in relation to the bioavailable metal fraction the relationship between analytically determined metal size fractions transported by urban runoff and the often variably defined concept of bioavailability has not been thoroughly evaluated. This paper provides a review of the terminology used within urban runoff studies to characterise metal fractions and behaviour. Measured dissolved and truly dissolved (determined by ultrafiltration; <3000 molecular weight cutoff) Cu, Ni, and Zn concentrations are also compared to the bioavailable metal fraction (as predicted using Bio-met, a simplified biotic ligand model) in snowmelt and rainfall derived runoff samples from three urban catchments. The study shows that predicted bioavailable concentrations were significantly lower than truly dissolved concentrations for all metals and discusses current bioavailability modelling parameters in relation to rainfall and snowmelt runoff data sets. Statistical analysis of relationships between field and predicted bioavailable data sets indicate that the bioavailable fractions originate from both colloidal and truly dissolved fractions.

PMID:33714042 | DOI:10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112263

J Environ Manage. 2021 Mar 10;287:112252. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112252. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The provision of sanitation services for fast-growing urban populations is one of the world’s urgent challenges. Hutong neighborhoods in Beijing, capital of China, cannot be rebuilt due to the protection of historical heritage, while residents still need to keep the habit of defecating in public toilets. One hundred public toilets with non-sewered sanitation in the Hutong neighborhoods of Beijing were visited to investigate the actual operating status in response to the “toilet revolution” campaign. The fault tree approach was used to identify the barriers toward a decent and environment-friendly public toilet and evaluate potential risks from the malfunction of various components. Four subsystems are defined and elaborated to calculate the fault possibility. These subsystems are environment- and user-friendly, regarded as ancillary facilities, and used for fecal sludge (FS) management. Statistical analysis of targeted cases indicated that fault probabilities of environmental considerations, user-friendly considerations, ancillary facilities, FS management are calculated as 0.79, 0.96, 0.96, and 0, respectively. The subsystems were weighted using a Delphi method concept. Results showed that the well operation ratio of Beijing Hutong public toilets is only 32%, and the sanitation service value chain can be further optimized. This study also provides references for other countries, which are dedicated to promoting urban sanitation and public health.

PMID:33714043 | DOI:10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112252