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A growing number of synthetic plastics derived from fossil fuels are produced, and improper plastic waste management has caused a lot of pollution problems. There are many microplastics in the environment, and they disintegrate slowly in soil and water. The properties of microplastics (MPs) include long residence times, high stability, high fragmentation potential, and the ability to adsorb other contaminants. Invertebrates and planktonic organisms are easily able to accumulate microplastics in aquatic species. Therefore, microplastics (MPs) must be removed from the water and other media. This paper aims to review the occurrence, raw polymers and additives, and remediation methods for removing microplastics from the environment. Several methods are available for removing contaminants, including sorption, filtration and chemical treatments. Various removal methods are discussed along with their methods, efficiency and advantages.

The internal structure of a sunflower leaf could be reconstructed by applying RET reverse engineering techniques on measurements from terahertz time-domain probing (Time Domain Spectroscopy TDS). This new and non-destructive method allows us to follow the evolution of this structure in time during a process of dehydration. This paper is a synthesis of our previous work.

This study investigated the water quality of tanker waters that was collected from Bengaluru urban areas to assess its suitability for domestic purpose. A total of 50 samples were collected in dry (March 2019) season. All samples were analyzed for various hydrochemical parameters, such as pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), turbidity, dissolved oxygen (DO), total hardness (as CaCO3), calcium (CaCO2+), chloride (CaCO−) and nitrate (NO3−). Bacteriological analyses of water samples were analyzed for total coliform count. A very high level of total hardness (186 - 434.6 mg L-1) was determined in 27 water samples tested in this study indicating the necessity of water treatment before used for domestic purpose. Of the 50 samples tested, 7 showed a most probable number (MPN) index of < 23 and 9 showed < 240 and the remaining 34 were unsatisfactory with an MPN index of > 1600 per 100 ml. In some locations, the presence of high MPN index, in particular, rings the bell before using the tanker water in houses and restaurants. Exploration of the mechanisms by which water quality deteriorates during supply chain and potential implication for regulatory policy for monitoring of tanker water while distribution is the need of the hour.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was identified in Wuhan, China, and caused coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), which is still a global pandemic. Dermatologic manifestations have increasingly been identified as significant extrapulmonary manifestations of COVID-19. The dermatologic manifestations associated with COVID-19 infection reported to date include maculopapular rash, vesicular lesions, urticaria-like lesions, and chilblain-like lesions. Knowledge of dermatologic manifestations of COVID-19 may be essential for early diagnosis and a better prognosis in COVID-19 patients. This review summarizes the current understanding of common COVID-19-associated dermatologic manifestations.

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection causes cervical cancer (CC), a common malignancy among Kenyan women. New CC screening methods rely on oncogenic HPV (“high-risk”, or HR-HPV) detection, but most have not been evaluated in swabs from Kenyan women. Methods: HPV typing was performed on 155 cervical swabs from Kenyan women using the Roche Linear Array® (LA) and careHPV™ (careHPV) assays. Detection of 14 oncogenic HPV types in careHPV assay was compared to LA results. Results: Compared to LA, sensitivity and specificity of careHPV assay was 53.0% and 80.9%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of careHPV in swabs from women with cervical dysplasia was 74.1% and 65.2%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of careHPV in swabs from HIV-infected women was 55.9% and of 96.4%, respectively. Overall agreements of careHPV assay with LA was substantial. Conclusion: The results for careHPV assay are promising for oncogenic HPV detection in Kenyan women. The low sensitivity of careHPV for detection of HR-HPV could limit it’s benefit as a screening tool. Thus, a full clinical validation study is highly desirable before the careHPV assay can be accepted for cervical cancer screening.

Ephedra, an ancient herb, is applied to treat common cold and influenza for such a long time in China. Pseudoephedrine is a main active ingredient from Ephedra which is used for relieving nasal congestion clinically. We previously reported that pseudoephedrine showed a potent anti-inflammatory effect other than sympathomimetic effects. In the present study, we aimed to investigate whether pseudoephedrine could protect mice from the H1N1 virus infection. The mice were infected with a 20% LD50 influenza A virus (IAV) suspension via intranasal administration to establish a virus infection model. Further, the mice were orally administered pseudoephedrine or oseltamivir for 4 days from one day after infection. Our results showed that pseudoephedrine improved lung pathological damage during the IVA infection period, and it dramatically increased the survival rate and attenuated loss of body weight compared with the virus-infected control group. In addition, pseudoephedrine inhibited the cytokine storms and mRNAs expression of the TLR7 signaling pathway. Surprisingly, pseudoephedrine showed an inhibitory effect on the replication of IAV. These results give clear evidence that pseudoephedrine is a potential anti-influenza drug by blunting cytokine storms and inhibition of replication of IAV, and following these results, we speculate that it should be tested in the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19, a severe epidemic in China currently) in which the cytokine storms play a key role to damage bronchi and lung in the early stage.

Emergency medical care in palliative patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to provide a consistent treatment for stable patients that should be consistent with the goals and benefits, the perspective of these patients, but avoiding palliative patients with a poor prognosis that is unlikely to survive. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world around 8.8 million deaths a year. Worldwide, about 7-10 million patients are diagnosed with cancer each year, recently there has been a significant increase in the number of cases diagnosed with cancer. About 70% of cancer deaths are in low- and middle-income countries. The goals of emergency medical care based on the criteria of BLS and ACLS, that is should be done “Do not do resuscitation, do not intubate but continue medical treatment excluding endotracheal intubation without prospects for the patient, but offering BLS only treatment concentrated symptomatic. ED is often the only place that can provide the necessary medical interventions (e.g., intravenous fluids or pain management medications. Medications as well as immediate access to advanced diagnostic tests when needed such as CT, RM and other diagnostic and treatment procedures.

Among all the countries, Yemen is free of corona virus, and no single case has been recorded till today. Yemen is characterized by its mother geographical location on the Red Sea and its population is approximately 30 million people and an area of ​​555,000 square kilometers.

Introduction: Sports injuries can affect athletes across all ages, sexes, and levels of competition. The mental aspect of acute sports injury is often overlooked by coaches, trainers, and medical professionals. This study investigated if and how an acute traumatic sports injury affects an athlete’s psychological well-being, adherence to sport, and athletic identity. Methods: The study consisted of surveys sent to former or current athletes over 18 with one or more athletic injuries. The Qualtrics surveys were anonymous, and participants consented to the study within the survey. Results: There were 101 total participants (20.2% response rate) with an average age of 36. All reported one or more acute athletic injuries throughout their athletic careers. Specific survey sets were compared against each other using a variable correlation analysis (p - value < 0.05) and via Pearson’s Correlation.Conclusion: The results indicated that injury impacts the lives of athletes most significantly on the field and can harm their performance based on their perception of the severity of the injury. However, this decline in performance and decrease in confidence does not correlate to an athlete’s desire to leave their sport or how they identify as being an athlete. 

Background: The development of COVID-19 having been set apart as the third presentation of an exceptionally pathogenic coronavirus into the human populace after the extreme intense SARS-COV and MERS-COV in the twenty-first century. The infection itself doesn’t make a crucial commitment to mortality, anyway “cytokine storm” created by the unreasonable invulnerable reaction activated by the virus can result in a hyperinflammatory response of lung tissues and deadly lung injury, and in this way increment death rate. In this manner, immunomodulatory medications ought to likewise be remembered for treatment of COVID-19. Presentation of the hypothesis: the virus particles invade the respiratory mucosa firstly and infect other cells, triggering a series of immune responses and the production of cytokine storm in the body, which may be associated with the critical condition of COVID-19 patients. Once a cytokine storm is formed, the immune system may not be able to kill the virus, but it will certainly kill many normal cells in the lung, which will seriously damage the of lung function. Patients will have respiratory failure until they die of hypoxia. It is not yet clear what the death rate of Covid-19 will be, though the best estimate right now is that it is around 1 percent, 10 times more lethal than seasonal flu due to cytokines storm which trigger a violent attack by the immune system to the body, cause acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multiple organ failure, and finally lead to death in severe cases of COVID-19 infection. Therefore, inhibiting cytokine storm can significantly reduce inflammatory injury in lung tissues. Pyridostigmine (PDG), cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway (CAP) is a neural mechanism that modulates inflammation through the release of acetylcholine (ACh), resulting in decreased synthesis of inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α and IL-1. This finding emphasis, the nervous and immune systems work collaboratively during infection and inflammation. Implications of the hypothesis: Administrations of Pyridostigmine (PDG) as cholinergic agonist inhibits the inflammatory response and lower the mortality of COVID-19 patients. Likewise, activation of the CAP during systemic inflammation down-regulates the production and release of inflammatory cytokines.