A new medium, eggshell powder has been developed for fluoride removal from aqueous solution. Fluoride adsorption was studied in a batch system where adsorption was found to be pH dependent with maximum removal efficiency at 6.0. The experimental data was more satisfactorily fitted with Langmuir isotherm model. The kinetics and the factor controlling adsorption process fully accepted by pseudo-second-order model were also discussed. Eawas found to be 45.98 kJmol-1by using Arrhenius equation, indicating chemisorption nature of fluoride onto eggshell powder. Thermodynamic study showed spontaneous nature and feasibility of the adsorption process with negative enthalpy (∆H0) value also supported the exothermic nature. Batch experiments were performed to study the applicability of the adsorbent by using fluoride contaminated water collected from affected areas. These results indicate that eggshell powder can be used as an effective, low-cost adsorbent to remove fluoride from aqueous solution as well as groundwater.

ABSTRACT:The impact of salt stress under different salinity level (0,25,50,75,100,125,150 mM NaCl ) on five varieties of Wheat viz., HOW-234, HD-2689, RAJ-4101, RAJ-4123, and HD-2045 was conducted. The data showed that different level of salinity significantly affected the growth attributes by reducing root and shoot length for salinity below 125mM. Fresh weight and dry weight of root and shoot were reduced significantly with subsequent treatment. Regarding germination maximum germination was found in variety HD2689 in all the treatments and maximum inhibition was found to be in case of HOW234 variety at 150mM salinity level. Regarding biochemical analysis the sugar, proline content increased with increasing salinity level where as protein content decreased in the physiologically active leaves of different treatments for all the varieties of wheat. @ JASEM

Emissions from biomass combustion are a major source of indoor and outdoor air pollution, and are estimated to cause millions of premature deaths worldwide annually. In this study, we assessed the effect of exposure to biomass smoke on various health status including blood pressure, gaseous component and ventilation pattern of kitchen and living room. For this investigation, a number of measurements were done to obtain indoor air quality (IAQ) data (indoor humidity, temperature, CO, CO 2 and O 3 concentration). Blood pressure was measured at baseline and one hour post-exposure. Results highlighted that a higher concentration of CO 2 was released during burning of dry leaf, straw, cow dung compared to that from straw and LPG gas. Moreover, correlation study showed a strong negative relationship between CO and humidity (r = À0.609, p < 0.000). Symptoms like eye irritation, shortness of breath, cough and dizziness were highly prevalent among biomass users. Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure showed a strong positive (p < 0.05) relationship with age of biomass users. However, wood users suffer from high systolic pressure (p < 0.037). On the other hand, a very poor ventilation pattern was recorded in the studied population.

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The adipose hormone, leptin, not only restrains appetite, but also influences energy expenditure. One such influence is to promote sexual maturation and fertility. The neuromodulatory circuits that mediate this effect are not well known but the present study suggests that one mediator could be melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH). We show that the long-form receptor (Ob-Rb) is expressed in the zona incerta of the rat and that administration of leptin (both 0.5 microg and 1.0 microg/side) into this area of ovariectomized, oestrogen-primed rats stimulated the release of luteinizing hormone (LH) within 1 h, the effect enduring for a further 1 h. Injections of leptin into the arcuate nucleus induced a smaller, transient rise in LH while injections into the paraventricular and ventromedial nuclei were without effect. MCH neurones are present in the zona incerta and administration of this hormone into the medial preoptic area (mPOA) stimulates LH release, therefore we investigated the possibility that MCH might mediate this effect of leptin. An injection of MCH antiserum into mPOA prevented the rise in LH normally induced by leptin injected into the zona incerta. In addition, melanocortin receptor antagonists ([D-Arg8]ACTH(4-10) and [Ala6]ACTH(4-10)), previously shown to inhibit the stimulatory effect of MCH on LH release, also inhibited the effect of leptin. We propose that one route by which leptin may promote reproductive activity is by enhancing MCH release from fibres within the mPOA. Speculative mechanisms for the action of MCH include the following possibilities: MCH may be acting on the specific MCH receptor which in turn interacts with a melanocortin or melanocortin-like receptor; MCH may bind directly to one of the melanocortin receptors; or melanocortin antagonists may interact with the MCH receptor.