Evaluation of groundwater for drinking and irrigation applications concerning physicochemical and ionic parameters through multiple indexing approach: a case study around the industrial zone, Punjab, India

The seasonal quality of groundwater and its appropriateness for drinking and irrigation were assessed using a multiple indexing approach in this study. Physicochemical and ionic parameters were examined in groundwater samples near the industrial zone of Rupnagar, Punjab. To assess groundwater quality, water quality index (WQI) and pollution index were used. The Durov's, piper, wilcox and stiff diagrams were plotted to understand the hydro-chemistry. Similarly, the irrigation indices, i.e., salinity hazard, sodium adsorption ratio, soluble sodium percentage (Na%), magnesium adsorption ratio, residual sodium carbonate, permeability index and Kelley's ratio were applied to ascertain the water quality for agricultural purposes. As a result, total hardness, calcium (Ca²⁺), magnesium (Mg²⁺) and fluoride (F^-) were found above the standard permissible limits. WQI analysis showed 12% samples of pre-monsoon (PRE-M) and 28% samples of post-monsoon (POS-M) were of poor quality, which may pose health risks. Hydrochemistry revealed the predominance of Ca²⁺, Na⁺, Mg²⁺ and HCO₃^- ions in the groundwater attributed to natural and anthropogenic sources. Piper diagram revealed Ca²⁺-Mg²⁺-Cl^-, Na⁺-Cl^-, Ca²⁺-Na⁺- HCO₃^-, Ca²⁺- HCO₃^- and Ca²⁺-Cl, Ca²⁺-HCO₃^- water types exist in the study area. USSL diagram showed that the samples from both seasons come under the low salinity hazard. In addition, total dissolved solids and electrical conductivity showed a strong positive association, indicating the saline nature of groundwater. Furthermore, hierarchical clustering classified groundwater into three groups (I, II and III), revealing that groundwater quality varies due to natural and anthropogenic effects. Based on the findings, the groundwater was found marginally suitable for drinking and irrigation purposes. It is therefore recommended that the groundwater is examined on a regular basis in order to maintain its quality.

Spatial evolution analysis of groundwater chemistry, quality, and fluoride health risk in southern Hebei Plain, China

The present study investigated ion and fluoride concentrations in groundwater and their associated health risks to local populations in the southern Hebei Plain during 2018-2020. A total of 336 groundwater samples were collected from monitoring wells at 112 different locations. Statistical analysis, Gibbs diagram, principal ion ratio, and saturation index were carried out to clarify the chemical characteristics and control mechanism of groundwater. The results indicated that the groundwater types in the study area were mainly HCO₃-Ca, Cl-Na, and SO₄-Ca. The concentrations of cations and anions were Na⁺ > Ca²⁺ > Mg²⁺ > K⁺ and HCO₃^- > SO₄^2- > Cl^- > NO₃^- > F^-, respectively. Based on the water chemical parameters, the pollution index of groundwater (PIG) was used to comprehensively evaluate the water quality. The results showed that during the study period, 60.41% of groundwater samples were suitable for drinking purposes, and 39.59% needed purification treatment to meet the requirements of drinking water standards. The groundwater quality in the western pre-hill plain areas was good, while the water quality in the northeastern and southeastern areas was poor and contaminated to varying degrees. Groundwater quality was mainly affected by the combined effect of total dissolved solids (TDS), Na⁺, Mg²⁺, Cl^-, SO₄^2- and HCO₃^- concentrations. Fluoride concentrations in the groundwater samples ranged from 0.07 to 8.51 mg/L, with 44% of the samples containing fluoride below the recommended limit of 0.5 mg/L, which would put the population at risk of dental caries. Also, 8% of the samples exceeded the permissible limit for fluoride in drinking water (1.5 mg/L), which would expose the local population to the risk of fluorosis. The human health risk evaluation of fluoride showed significant differences in non-carcinogenic effects between two different groups of children and adults. HI_in values ranged from 0.08 to 10.19 for children and 0.03 to 4.65 for adults, with hazard indices greater than 1 at 29.16% and 10.11%, respectively. This indicates that children have a greater exposure risk than adults, and the entropy of higher risk is mainly distributed in the northeast of the study area. Based on the above analysis of the spatial evolution of groundwater chemistry, water quality, and fluoride health risks in the southern Hebei Plain region, corresponding protection and management measures were proposed, which also provided reference significance for the effective use of drinking water and health risk prevention in the region.

Human health risk assessment and pollution index of groundwater in Jammu plains of India: A geospatial approach

To examine the drinking water suitability as well as to study the influence of local lithology in controlling groundwater chemistry a study has been carried out in the Jammu plains of India by using 50 groundwater samples during the post-monsoon (POM) and pre-monsoon (PRM) seasons. The groundwater samples are found to be dominated by Mg-Ca-HCO₃, and Ca-Mg-HCO_3, types. Besides this, the Pollution Index of Groundwater (PIG) was also calculated to assess the overall groundwater quality of the study area. As per the PIG, the groundwater quality of the study is suitable for domestic utilization except for a few samples (2%) which need conventional treatment in order to make the groundwater resources potable. Based on rock water interaction, there is a considerable variation in the POM and PRM seasons, which indicates the role of weathering and dissolution of rock minerals. The multivariate statistical analysis reveals that the lithogenic factors, such as rock-water interactions and weathering of carbonate-bearing rocks, are predominantly controlling groundwater chemistry. Further, trace elements such as As, Cu, Cd, Fe, Mn, and Zn were also analyzed to determine the Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) in order to know about the carcinogenic risk in adults and children in the study area.

Lamin is essential for nuclear localization of the GPI synthesis enzyme PIG-B and GPI-anchored protein production in Drosophila

Membrane lipid biosynthesis is a complex process that occurs in various intracellular compartments. In Drosophila, phosphatidylinositol glycan-B (PIG-B), which catalyzes addition of the third mannose in glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI), localizes to the nuclear envelope (NE). Although this NE localization is essential for Drosophila development, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unknown. To elucidate this mechanism, we identified PIG-B-interacting proteins by performing immunoprecipitation followed by proteomic analysis. We then examined which of these proteins are required for the NE localization of PIG-B. Knockdown of Lamin Dm0, a B-type lamin, led to mislocalization of PIG-B from the NE to the endoplasmic reticulum. Lamin Dm0 associated with PIG-B at the inner nuclear membrane, a process that required the tail domain of Lamin Dm0. Furthermore, GPI moieties were distributed abnormally in the Lamin Dm0 mutant. These data indicate that Lamin Dm0 is involved in the NE localization of PIG-B and is required for proper GPI-anchor modification of proteins.

Highlighted Article: Lamin plays a role in post-translational modification of plasma membrane proteins by tethering the GPI modification enzyme PIG-B to the inner nuclear membrane.

Inherited glycophosphatidylinositol deficiency variant database and analysis of pathogenic variants

Background

Glycophosphatidylinositol‐anchored proteins (GPI‐APs) mediate several physiological processes such as embryogenesis and neurogenesis. Germline variants in genes involved in their synthesis can disrupt normal development and result in a variety of clinical phenotypes. With the advent of new sequencing technologies, more cases are identified, leading to a rapidly growing number of reported genetic variants. With this number expected to rise with increased accessibility to molecular tests, an accurate and up‐to‐date database is needed to keep track of the information and help interpret results.

Methods

We therefore developed an online resource (www.gpibiosynthesis.org) which compiles all published pathogenic variants in GPI biosynthesis genes which are deposited in the LOVD database. It contains 276 individuals and 192 unique public variants; 92% of which are predicted as damaging by bioinformatics tools.

Results

A significant proportion of recorded variants was substitution variants (81%) and resulted mainly in missense and frameshift alterations. Interestingly, five patients (2%) had deleterious mutations in untranslated regions. CADD score analysis placed 97% of variants in the top 1% of deleterious variants in the human genome. In genome aggregation database, the gene with the highest frequency of reported pathogenic variants is PIGL, with a carrier rate of 1/937.

Conclusion

We thus present the GPI biosynthesis database and review the molecular genetics of published variants in GPI‐anchor biosynthesis genes.

Nuclear envelope localization of PIG-B is essential for GPI-anchor synthesis in Drosophila

Membrane lipid biosynthesis is a complex process that takes place in various intracellular compartments. Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI), a lipid involved in membrane anchoring of some proteins, is synthesized by the PIG enzymes. Most PIGs are localized to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), but Drosophila PIG-B (DmPIG-B) is localized to the nuclear envelope (NE). To determine whether the NE localization of DmPIG-B is functionally important, we defined the determinants of localization and generated an ER-localized form, denoted DmPIG-B[ER]. The enzymatic activity of DmPIG-B[ER] was comparable to that of NE-localized DmPIG-B[NE]. Expression of DmPIG-B[ER] inefficiently rescued the lethality of the PIG-B mutant, whereas DmPIG-B[NE] rescued this lethality fully. DmPIG-B[ER] was preferentially degraded by lysosomes, suggesting that the NE localization is essential for function and stability of the protein. In addition, we found that the region of the ER proximal to the NE is the site of translation of GPI-anchored proteins and addition of GPI. Thus, the NE and proximal ER may provide a platform for efficient GPI anchoring.

Summary: In Drosophila, localization of the enzyme PIG-B in the nuclear envelope (NE) is important for GPI anchor synthesis, and the NE and the perinuclear ER form a platform for the GPI modification.

Pipeline Inspection Gauge's Velocity Simulation Based on Pressure Differential Using Artificial Neural Networks

Industrial pipelines must be inspected to detect typical failures, such as obstructions and deformations, during their lifetime. In the petroleum industry, the most used non-destructive technique to inspect buried pipelines is pigging. This technique consists of launching a Pipeline Inspection Gauge (PIG) inside the pipeline, which is driven by the pressure differential produced by fluid flow. The purpose of this work is to study the application of artificial neural networks to calculate the PIG’s velocity based on the pressure differential. We launch a prototype PIG inside a testing pipeline, where this PIG gathers velocity data from an odometer-based system, while a supervisory system gathers pressure data from the testing pipeline. Then we train a Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and a Nonlinear Autoregressive Network with eXogenous Inputs (NARX) network with the gathered data to predict velocity. The results suggest it is possible to use a neural network to model the PIG’s velocity from pressure differential measurements. Our method is a new approach to the typical speed measurements based only on odometer, since the odometer is prone to fail and present poor results under some circumstances. Moreover, it can be used to provide redundancy, improving reliability of data obtained during the test.

Genomic investigation of porcine periweaning failure to thrive syndrome (PFTS)

Porcine periweaning failure to thrive syndrome (PFTS) can be defined by anorexia, lethargy, progressive debilitation and compulsive behaviours that occur in seemingly healthy pigs within two to threeweeks of weaning in the absence of any known infectious, nutritional, management or environmental factors. A genetic component has been hypothesised for this syndrome. In the present study, 119 commercial pigs (80 cases and 39 controls) were genotyped with the porcine 80K single nucleotide polymorphism-chip and were analysed with logistic regression and two Fixation Index-based approaches. The analyses revealed several regions on chromosomes 1, 3, 6 and 11 with moderate divergence between cases and controls, particularly three haplotypes on SSC3 and 11. The gene-based analyses of the candidate regions revealed the presence of genes that have been reported to be associated with phenotypes like PFST including depression (PDE10A) and intestinal villous atrophy (CUL4A). It is important to increase the effort of collecting more samples to improve the power of these analyses.

Screening of Pig (Sus scrofa) Bactericidal Permeability-Increasing Protein (BPI) Gene as Marker for Disease Resistance

Salmonella infection can cause septicemia, acute or chronic enteritis and wasting in weaned pigs, but may occur in other age groups. The bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (BPI) gene plays an important role in the natural defense of the host and is found to be associated with resistance/susceptibility to Salmonella infection and identified as a candidate gene for disease resistance breeding in pig. This study was conducted to screen the resistance and/or susceptibility of pigs to Salmonella infection, to determine the genotype and evaluate presence of resistant allele of the BPI gene in population of pigs, and to establish genetic data for pig breeders for the improvement of Philippine pig industry. In this study, 389 blood samples from different pig breeds were collected from pig breeder farms in the Philippines. Genomic DNA was extracted from these samples and genotyping was done by PCR-RFLP analysis using AvaII restriction enzyme. Out of 389 pigs, the genotypic frequency showed that 98.4, 1.3, and 0.3% pigs are resistant (GG), heterozygous type (AG), and susceptible (AA), respectively. The application of BPI gene as marker for disease resistance will provide information to the pig industry to implement strategies for the identification of Salmonella infection-resistant pigs.

A Novel Method to Enhance Pipeline Trajectory Determination Using Pipeline Junctions

Pipeline inspection gauges (pigs) have been used for many years to perform various maintenance operations in oil and gas pipelines. Different pipeline parameters can be inspected during the pig journey. Although pigs use many sensors to detect the required pipeline parameters, matching these data with the corresponding pipeline location is considered a very important parameter. High-end, tactical-grade inertial measurement units (IMUs) are used in pigging applications to locate the detected problems of pipeline using other sensors, and to reconstruct the trajectories of the pig. These IMUs are accurate; however, their high cost and large sizes limit their use in small diameter pipelines (8″ or less). This paper describes a new methodology for the use of MEMS-based IMUs using an extended Kalman filter (EKF) and the pipeline junctions to increase the position parameters’ accuracy and to reduce the total RMS errors even during the unavailability of above ground markers (AGMs). The results of this new proposed method using a micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS)-based IMU revealed that the position RMS errors were reduced by approximately 85% compared to the standard EKF solution. Therefore, this approach will enable the mapping of small diameter pipelines, which was not possible before.

A new proportion measure of the treatment effect captured by candidate surrogate endpoints

The use of surrogate endpoints is expected to play an important role in the development of new drugs, as they can be used to reduce the sample size and/or duration of randomized clinical trials. Biostatistical researchers and practitioners have proposed various surrogacy measures; however, (i) most of these surrogacy measures often fall outside the range [0,1] without any assumptions, (ii) these surrogacy measures do not provide a cut-off value for judging a surrogacy level of candidate surrogate endpoints, and (iii) most surrogacy measures are highly variable; thus, the confidence intervals are often unacceptably wide. In order to solve problems (i) and (ii), we propose a new surrogacy measure, a proportion of the treatment effect captured by candidate surrogate endpoints (PCS), on the basis of the decomposition of the treatment effect into parts captured and non-captured by the candidate surrogate endpoints. In order to solve problem (iii), we propose an estimation method based on the half-range mode method with the bootstrap distribution of the estimated surrogacy measures. Finally, through numerical experiments and two empirical examples, we show that the PCS with the proposed estimation method overcomes these difficulties. The results of this paper contribute to the reliable evaluation of how much of the treatment effect is captured by candidate surrogate endpoints.

Phylogenetic analysis and positive-selection site detecting of vascular endothelial growth factor family in vertebrates

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), known to play an important role in vascular homeostasis, vascular integrity and angiogenesis, is little known about the evolutionary relationship of its five members especially the role of gene duplication and natural selection in the evolution of the VEGF family. In this study, seventy-five full-length cDNA sequences from 33 vertebrate species were extracted from the NCBI's GenBank, UniProt protein database and the Ensembl database. By phylogenetic analyses, we investigated the origin, conservation, and evolution of the VEGFs. Five VEGF family members in vertebrates might be formed by gene duplication. The inferred evolutionary transitions that separate members which belong to different gene clusters correlated with changes in functional properties. Selection analysis and protein structure analysis were combined to explain the relationship of the site-specific evolution in the vertebrate VEGF family. Eleven positive selection sites, one transmembrane region and the active sites were detected in this process.

Mortality among patients who receive or defer gastrostomies

BACKGROUND & AIMS

There are few data on outcomes and mortality of patients who have received gastrostomies. We assessed 30-day and 1-year mortalities of patients in the United Kingdom who were referred to hospitals for gastrostomies and of patients who deferred this intervention.

METHODS

We collected data from 1327 patients referred to 2 hospitals in Sheffield, United Kingdom, for gastrostomies from February 2004 through May 2010. Data were analyzed to determine 30-day and 1-year mortalities. Predicted mortality by using the validated Sheffield Gastrostomy Scoring System (SGSS) was then compared with actual mortality by using area under the receiver operator curves to determine levels of agreement in patients referred for gastrostomy.

RESULTS

Three hundred four patients (23%) did not undergo gastrostomy after multidisciplinary team discussion, which was based on physicians' recommendations. This group had 35.5% mortality at 30 days and 74.3% at 1 year, whereas mortality among patients who underwent gastrostomy (n = 1027) was 11.2% at 30 days and 41.1% at 1 year (P < .0001, compared with patients who deferred the procedure). The area under the receiver operator curves for the SGSS demonstrated acceptable agreement between predicted and actual mortality in patients who underwent or were deferred gastrostomy.

CONCLUSIONS

On the basis of data from 1327 patients, those who undergo gastrostomy have significantly lower mortality than those who defer the procedure. Without applying the SGSS, clinicians are able to select patients most likely to benefit from gastrostomy. The SGSS could provide objective support to clinicians involved in making ethically contentious or potentially litigious decisions.