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Electrocoagulation (EC) is an excellent and promising technology in wastewater treatment, as it combines the benefits of coagulation, flotation, and electrochemistry. During the last decade, extensive researches have focused on removal of emerging contaminants by using electrocoagualtion, due to its several advantages like compactness, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, low sludge production, and eco-friendness. Emerging contaminants (ECs) are micropollutants found in trace amounts that discharging into conventional wastewater treatment (WWT) plants entering surface waters and imposing a high threat to human and aquatic life. Various studies reveal that about 90% of emerging contaminants are disposed unscientifically into water bodies, creating problems to public health and environment. The studies on removal of emerging contaminants from wastewater are by global researchers are critically reviewed. The core findings proved that still more research required into optimization of parameters, system design, and economic feasibility to explore the potential of EC combined systems. This review has introduced an innovative collection of current knowledge on electro-coagulation for the removal of emerging contaminants. Graphical abstract

Currently, reservoirs, lakes, rivers etc. are being overloaded by the demand for fresh water, due to rapid industrialization and population explosion, and also the effluents from industries and domestic wastewater are continuously polluting these resources. To address this issue, several decentralized wastewater treatment system (DWTS) have been installed all over the globe to reuse and recycle wastewater/graywater for non-potable uses such as fire protection, toilet-flushing, and landscape irrigation. In this review, a comparison between different DWTS was carried out to evaluate their performance, merits and limitations. Hybrid technologies like the electrically enhanced biomass concentrator reactor and integration of physical/ biological methods with bio-electrochemical systems such as microbial fuel cells were found to be the most promising methods for near complete removal of pollutants from wastewater and also the issue of membrane fouling was reduced to a good extent.

Nanotechnology has proven its competence in almost all possible fields we are aware of. However, today nanotechnology has evolved in true sense by contributing to a very large extent to the food industry. With the growing number of mouths to feed, production of food is not adequate. It has to be preserved in order to reach to the masses on a global scale. Nanotechnology made the idea a reality by increasing the shelf life of different kinds of food materials. It is not an entirely full-proof measure; however it has brought down the extent of wastage of food due to microbial infestation. Not only fresh food but also healthier food is being designed with the help of nano-delivery systems which act as a carrier for the food supplements. There are regulations to follow however as several of them pose serious threats to the wellbeing of the population. In coming days, newer modes of safeguarding food are going to be developed with the help of nanotechnology. In this paper, an overview has been given of the different methods of food processing, packaging, and preservation techniques and the role nanotechnology plays in the food processing, packaging, and preservation industry.

In a smart city environment, with increased demand for energy efficiency, information exchange and communication through wireless sensor networks (WSNs) plays an important role. In WSNs, the sensors are usually operating in clusters, and they are allowed to restructure for effective communication over a large area and for a long time. In this scenario, load-balanced clustering is the cost-effective means of improving the system performance. Although clustering is a discrete problem, the computational intelligence techniques are more suitable for load balancing and minimizing energy consumption with different operating constraints. The literature reveals that the swarm intelligence-inspired computational approaches give excellent results among population-based meta-heuristic approaches because of their more remarkable exploration ability. Conversely, in this work, load-balanced clustering for sustainable WSNs is presented using improved gray wolf optimization (IGWO). In a smart city environment, the significant parameters of energy-efficient load-balanced clustering involve the network lifetime, dead cluster heads, dead gateways, dead sensor nodes, and energy consumption while ensuring information exchange and communication among the sensors and cluster heads. Therefore, based on the above parameters, the proposed IGWO is compared with the existing GWO and several other techniques. Moreover, the convergence characteristics of the proposed algorithm are demonstrated for an extensive network in a smart city environment, which consists of 500 sensors and 50 cluster heads deployed in an area of 500 × 500 m2, and it was found to be significantly improved.

ObjectivesEvaluation of remdesivir, an RNA polymerase inhibitor, for effectiveness in adults with COVID-19.Data sourcesElectronic search for eligible articles of PubMed, Cochrane Central and clinicaltrials.gov was performed on 20 September 2020.Participants and study eligibility criteriaOnly randomised controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating efficacy of remdesivir in COVID-19 were included for meta-analysis.InterventionsRemdesivir was compared with standard of care.Primary and secondary outcomesPrimary outcome was mortality and secondary outcomes were time to clinical improvement and safety outcomes like serious adverse events, respiratory failure.Study appraisal and synthesis methodsData synthesis was done with Cochrane review manager 5 (RevMan) V.5.3. Cochrane risk of bias V.2.0 tool was used for methodological quality assessment. The GRADE pro GDT was applied for overall quality of evidence.Results52 RCTs were screened and 4 studies were included in analysis, with total of 7324 patients. No mortality benefit was observed with remdesivir versus control group (OR=0.92 (95% CI 0.79 to 1.07), p=0.30, moderate quality evidence). Significantly higher rates of clinical improvement (OR=1.52 (95% CI 1.24 to 1.87), p<0.0001, low quality) and faster time to clinical improvement (HR=1.28 (95% CI 1.12 to 1.46), p=0.0002, very low quality) was observed with remdesivir versus control group. Significant decrease was found in the risk of serious adverse events (RR=0.75 (95% CI 0.62 to 0.90), p=0.0003, low quality); however, no difference was found in the risk of respiratory failure (RR=0.85 (95% CI 0.41 to 1.77), p=0.67, very low quality evidence) with remdesivir.ConclusionsAs per the evidence from current review, remdesivir has shown no mortality benefit (moderate quality evidence) in the treatment of COVID-19. From a cost–benefit perspective, it is our personal opinion that it should not be recommended for use, especially in low and lower middle income countries.Trial registration numberPROSPERO registration number: CRD42020189517.

Kawasaki disease (KD) is a common systemic vasculitis of childhood. Although it has been almost 6 decades since Dr. Tomisaku Kawasaki reported the first case series of KD, the underlying cause remains a mystery. KD is a self-limiting disease. However, a dreaded complication is development of coronary artery abnormalities (CAAs). KD is the most common cause of acquired heart disease in children in the developed world and is being increasingly reported from developing countries too. Over the years, significant observations have been made about epidemiology of KD. It usually affects children below 5, has male preponderance and has significantly higher incidence in North East Asian countries. While several hypotheses have been proffered for etiology of KD, none have been conclusive. These include associations of KD epidemics in Japan and the United Stated with changes in tropospheric wind patterns suggesting wind-borne agents, global studies showing peaks of incidence related to season, and increased rates in populations with a higher socioeconomic profile related to hygiene hypothesis and vaccination. Furthermore, the self-limiting, febrile nature of KD suggests an infectious etiology, more so with sudden decline noted in cases in Japan with onset of COVID-19 mitigation measures. Finally, single nucleotide polymorphisms have been identified as possible risk alleles in patients with KD and their significance in the pathogenesis of this disease are also being defined. The purpose of this review is to elucidate the puzzling associations of KD with different environmental factors. Looking at patterns associated with KD may help us better predict and understand this disease.

Additionally, newer tools such as base editing (BE) and prime editing (PE) platforms that have recently emerged may also have the potential for treating IEIs.Liu et al., in the same issue, have reviewed the role of CRISPR/Cas gene editing technology in the management of IEIs. The authors have outlined the development and progression of CRISPR/Cas gene-editing systems, including breakthroughs like double-strand break (DSB)-based gene editing and DSB-free base editing or prime editing systems. [...]more research is required to address specific challenges, customize treatments based on mutations, optimize editing efficiency, and improve the engraftment and self-renewal abilities of gene-corrected hematopoietic stem cells for successful clinical outcomes. Literature on the success of haploidentical HSCT in patients with IEIs has evolved over the last two decades, and has shown steadily improving survival rates (14,15).Yamashita et al.reported successful HLA-haploidentical HSCT in a 5-month-old girl with leukocyte adhesion deficiency type I (LAD-I) using post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PT-CY).

ObjectiveTo determine the prevalence of pesticide, corrosive, drugs, venom and miscellaneous poisoning in India.SettingSystematic literature search was done in PubMed Central, Cochrane and Google Scholar databases for studies that satisfied the inclusion criteria. Systematic review and meta-analyses of all observational studies published in the English language from January 2010 to May 2020 were included in this review.ParticipantsPatients exposed to poisoning reported to hospitals were included.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe prevalence of pesticide poisoning was analysed. The prevalence of poisoning due to corrosives, venom, drugs and miscellaneous agents, along with subgroup analysis based on age and region, was also determined. The percentage of persons with poisoning along with 95% CI was analysed.ResultsPooled analysis of studies revealed that pesticides were the main cause of poisoning in adults, with an incidence of 63% (95% CI 63% to 64%), while miscellaneous agents were the main cause of poisoning in children, with an incidence of 45.0% (95% CI 43.1% to 46.9%), among those presenting to hospitals. Pesticide poisoning was the most prevalent in North India (79.1%, 95% CI 78.4% to 79.9%), followed by South (65.9%, 95% CI 65.3% to 66.6%), Central (59.2%, 95% CI 57.9% to 60.4%), West (53.1%, 95% CI 51.9% to 54.2%), North East (46.9%, 95% CI 41.5% to 52.4%) and East (38.5%, 95% CI 37.3% to 39.7%). The second most common cause of poisoning was miscellaneous agents (18%, 95% CI 18% to 19%), followed by drugs (10%, 95% CI 10% to 10%), venoms (6%, 95% CI 6% to 6%) and corrosives (2%, 95% CI 1% to 2%).ConclusionsPesticide poisoning is the most common type of poisoning in adults, while miscellaneous agents remain the main cause of poisoning in children.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42020199427.

p-Anisidine being a component of wastewater generated through dye and pharmaceutical industries is highly toxic and carcinogenic in nature. Therefore, its presence in wastewater requires prior treatment before its disposal from the point of safety of human and aquatic life. Fenton’s oxidation is a type of advanced oxidation processes which is efficient, ecofriendly and reliable, and this was not studied for the removal of p-anisidine from wastewater. In this study, the effect of influent pH, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentration and ferrous ion (Fe2+) concentration on the removal of p-anisidine by Fenton’s reagent was carried out on a laboratory scale. All samples were examined for initial and final concentrations of p-anisidine using UV–Vis spectrophotometry, and also initial and final COD was analyzed. p-Anisidine shows maximum absorbance at 296 nm. At pH 2.5 and [H2O2]/[Fe2+] of 70:1 for the initial p-anisidine concentration of 0.5 mM and for 24 h reaction time, the maximum removal of p-anisidine was found to be 88.95% and maximum COD removal was 76.43%.

Primary immunodeficiency disorders (PIDs) are a group of genetic defects characterized by abnormalities of one or more components of the immune system. While there have been several advances in diagnosis, management, and research in the field of PIDs, they continue to remain underdiagnosed, especially in the less affluent countries. Despite several limitations and challenges, India has advanced significantly in the field of PIDs in the last few years. In this review, we highlight the progress in the field of PIDs in India over the last 25 years, the difficulties faced by clinicians across the country, the current state of PIDs in India and the future prospects.