Decolourization of Industrial Effluents – Available Methods and Emerging Technologies – A Review

Water pollution control is presently one of the major thrust areas of scientific research. While coloured organic compounds generally impart only a minor fraction of the organic load to wastewaters, their colour renders them aesthetically unacceptable. Stringent regulating measures are coaxing industries to treat their waste effluents to increasingly high standards. Colour removal, in particular, has recently become an area of major scientific interest as indicated by the multitude of related research reports. During the past two decades, several decolourization techniques have been reported, few of which have been accepted by some industries. There is a need to find alternative treatments that are effective in removing dyes and colourants from large volume of effluents, which are cost-effective, like the biological or integrated systems. This article reviews some of the widely used and most promising industrial wastewater decolourization methods. Data on decolourizing efficiencies of different causative agents, obtained by means of different physical, chemical and biological methods are discussed. Further a critical review is made on the various treatment methodologies and emerging technologies with a note on their advantages and disadvantages.     

Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica)—Biology,Ecology, and Management

Cogongrass is considered to be one of the ten most troublesome and problematic weedy species in the world. This species is found throughout tropical and subtropical regions, generally in areas disturbed by human activities. Over 100 common names have been associated with cogongrass, including japgrass, speargrass, alang-alang, and bladygrass. Although this species has several commercial uses, the problems associated with its weediness far outweigh most positive benefits. Cogongrass is a major impediment to reforestation efforts in southeast Asia, the number one weed in agronomic and vegetable production in many parts of Africa, and is responsible for thousands of hectares of lost native habitat in the southeastern U.S. Biologically, cogongrass possesses several features that foster its spread and persistence. Management efforts for cogongrass consist of an integrated approach with several control strategies. In agronomic production, the use of cover crops is widely successful, but incorporation into the overall production scheme is challenging. Success has been achieved with continuous deep tillage or chemical applications, but long-term eradication/suppression must employ sustainable revegetation strategies.     

Code Biology – A New Science of Life

Systems Biology and the Modern Synthesis are recent versions of two classical biological paradigms that are known as structuralism and functionalism, or internalism and externalism. According to functionalism (or externalism), living matter is a fundamentally passive entity that owes its organization to external forces (functions that shape organs) or to an external organizing agent (natural selection). Structuralism (or internalism), is the view that living matter is an intrinsically active entity that is capable of organizing itself from within, with purely internal processes that are based on mathematical principles and physical laws. At the molecular level, the basic mechanism of the Modern Synthesis is molecular copying, the process that leads in the short run to heredity and in the long run to natural selection. The basic mechanism of Systems Biology, instead, is self-assembly, the process by which many supramolecular structures are formed by the spontaneous aggregation of their components. In addition to molecular copying and self-assembly, however, molecular biology has uncovered also a third great mechanism at the heart of life. The existence of the genetic code and of many other organic codes in Nature tells us that molecular coding is a biological reality and we need therefore a framework that accounts for it. This framework is Code biology, the study of the codes of life, a new field of research that brings to light an entirely new dimension of the living world and gives us a completely new understanding of the origin and the evolution of life.     

Review Article – A System for Analysing Features in Studies Integrating Ecology, Development, and Evolution

Ecology is being introduced to Evolutionary Developmental Biology to enhance organism-, population-, species-, and higher-taxon-level studies. This exciting, bourgeoning troika will revolutionise how investigators consider relationships among environment, ontogeny, and phylogeny. Features are studied (and even defined) differently in ecology, development, and evolution. Form is central to development and evolution but peripheral to ecology. Congruence (i.e., homology) is applied at different hierarchical levels in the three disciplines. Function is central to ecology but peripheral to development. Herein, the supercategories form (‘isomorphic’ or ‘allomorphic’), congruence (‘homologous’ or ‘homoplastic’), and function (‘adaptive’ or ‘nonadaptive’) are combined with two developmental mode (i.e., growth) categories (‘conformational’ or ‘nonconformational’) to provide a 16-class system for analysing features in studies in which ecology, development, and evolution are integrated.     

Angular transformation – another effect of different sample sizes

Angular transformation has been widely used to analyze proportions or percentages in ecology. A new type of artifact can arise by applying angular transformation to proportions or percentages. Proportions with the same mean or expected value, but with different sample sizes (denominator of proportions), have different means or expected values after this transformation. Overdispersion causes a larger deviation of the expected value after the transformation. Angular transformation should be avoided unless the sample size (denominator of proportions) is the same for all the proportions analyzed.     

Rather rule than exception? How to evaluate the relevance of dual protein targeting to mitochondria and chloroplasts

Dual targeting of a nuclearly encoded protein into two different cell organelles is an exceptional event in eukaryotic cells. Yet, the frequency of such dual targeting is remarkably high in case of mitochondria and chloroplasts, the two endosymbiotic organelles of plant cells. In most instances, it is mediated by “ambiguous” transit peptides, which recognize both organelles as the target. A number of different approaches including in silico, in organello as well as both transient and stable in vivo assays are established to determine the targeting specificity of such transit peptides. In this review, we will describe and compare these approaches and discuss the potential role of this unusual targeting process. Furthermore, we will present a hypothetical scenario how dual targeting might have arisen during evolution.     

The discovery of Rubisco activase – yet another story of serendipity

A brief history of Rubisco (ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase) research and the events leading to the discovery and initial characterization of Rubisco activase are described. Key to the discovery was the chance isolation of a novel Arabidopsis photosynthesis mutant. The characteristics of the mutant suggested that activation of Rubisco was not a spontaneous process in vivo, but involved a heritable factor. The search for the putative factor by 2D electrophoresis identified two polypeptides, genetically linked to Rubisco activation, that were missing in chloroplasts from the mutant. An assay for the activity of these polypeptides, which were given the name Rubisco activase, was developed after realizing the importance of including ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP) in the assay. The requirement for ATP and the subsequent identification of activase as an ATPase came about fortuitously, the result of a RuBP preparation that was contaminated with adenine nucleotides. Finally, the ability of activase to relieve inhibition of the endogenous Rubisco inhibitor, 2-carboxyarabinitol 1-phosphate, provided an early indication of the mechanism by which activase regulates Rubisco. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

An Integrative Model of Patient-Centeredness – A Systematic Review and Concept Analysis

Background

Existing models of patient-centeredness reveal a lack of conceptual clarity. This results in a heterogeneous use of the term, unclear measurement dimensions, inconsistent results regarding the effectiveness of patient-centered interventions, and finally in difficulties in implementing patient-centered care. The aim of this systematic review was to identify the different dimensions of patient-centeredness described in the literature and to propose an integrative model of patient-centeredness based on these results.

Methods

Protocol driven search in five databases, combined with a comprehensive secondary search strategy. All articles that include a definition of patient-centeredness were eligible for inclusion in the review and subject to subsequent content analysis. Two researchers independently first screened titles and abstracts, then assessed full texts for eligibility. In each article the given definition of patient-centeredness was coded independently by two researchers. We discussed codes within the research team and condensed them into an integrative model of patient-centeredness.

Results

4707 records were identified through primary and secondary search, of which 706 were retained after screening of titles and abstracts. 417 articles (59%) contained a definition of patient-centeredness and were coded. 15 dimensions of patient-centeredness were identified: essential characteristics of clinician, clinician-patient relationship, clinician-patient communication, patient as unique person, biopsychosocial perspective, patient information, patient involvement in care, involvement of family and friends, patient empowerment, physical support, emotional support, integration of medical and non-medical care, teamwork and teambuilding, access to care, coordination and continuity of care. In the resulting integrative model the dimensions were mapped onto different levels of care.

Conclusions

The proposed integrative model of patient-centeredness allows different stakeholders to speak the same language. It provides a foundation for creating better measures and interventions. It can also be used to inform the development of clinical guidance documents and health policy directives, and through this support the shift towards patient-centered health care.     

Early Recreation Ecology Research in Europe – Disciplinary development and review of German-language research results

Recreation ecology, as a scientific field, has a long tradition in North America and the United Kingdom. In contrast, research conducted in the German-speaking areas of Europe (i.e. Germany, Austria and Switzerland) has, until now, gained no wide-spread attention within the international scientific community. This is primarily due to the language barrier.An extensive search of the literature published in German prior to 1980, is the basis for a systematic review of recreation ecology. Building upon this review, this paper outlines the formation of recreation ecology as a research field in German-speaking Europe. This formation corresponds with developments in other parts of the world. The conclusion discusses the potential for the advancement of recreation ecology research in Central Europe. These include the development of specific impact parameters and the focus on characteristic European ecosystem types.     

A Review of the Internet Site “Practical Molecular Biology”

In 2000, in the middle of September, the Russian Web site Practical Molecular Biology (http://molbiol.edu.ru) was opened. The main tasks of the project are (i) distribution of experimental work experience among Russian and foreign laboratories and (ii) organization of an information database in Russian for researchers connected with molecular biology or medicine.     

A Carapace-Like Bony ‘Body Tube’ in an Early Triassic Marine Reptile and the Onset of Marine Tetrapod Predation

Parahupehsuchus longus is a new species of marine reptile from the Lower Triassic of Yuan’an County, Hubei Province, China. It is unique among vertebrates for having a body wall that is completely surrounded by a bony tube, about 50 cm long and 6.5 cm deep, comprising overlapping ribs and gastralia. This tube and bony ossicles on the back are best interpreted as anti-predatory features, suggesting that there was predation pressure upon marine tetrapods in the Early Triassic. There is at least one sauropterygian that is sufficiently large to feed on Parahupehsuchus in the Nanzhang-Yuan’an fauna, together with six more species of potential prey marine reptiles with various degrees of body protection. Modern predators of marine tetrapods belong to the highest trophic levels in the marine ecosystem but such predators did not always exist through geologic time. The indication of marine-tetrapod feeding in the Nanzhang-Yuan’an fauna suggests that such a trophic level emerged for the first time in the Early Triassic. The recovery from the end-Permian extinction probably proceeded faster than traditionally thought for marine predators. Parahupehsuchus has superficially turtle-like features, namely expanded ribs without intercostal space, very short transverse processes, and a dorsal outgrowth from the neural spine. However, these features are structurally different from their turtle counterparts. Phylogeny suggests that they are convergent with the condition in turtles, which has a fundamentally different body plan that involves the folding of the body wall. Expanded ribs without intercostal space evolved at least twice and probably even more among reptiles.