The rates of waste generation in India have been increasing with increasing population and urbanization. Since higher education campuses are like mini autonomous cities, they can act as a model for solid waste management (SWM) and enhance sustainable development. SWM is the controlled generation, storage, collection, transport, processing, and disposal of solid waste considering public health, conservation, economics, and environmental conditions. A SWM program on campus will benefit the campus through reduced resource consumption and waste diversion. Developing countries like India are lacking behind in SWM from the developed countries which are using advanced technologies along with efficient management. This paper will analyze the issues related to SWM at IITR (Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee) campus and provide feasible solutions to be implemented at IITR campus for becoming zero waste campus. The SWM at the IITR campus is disorganized and incompetent. Lack of awareness and improper collection, imprecise segregation, exposed transportation, inefficient processing and disorganized disposal of solid waste are the major reasons for it. IITR has the potential to manage its waste properly through various techniques discussed in this paper. These would reduce the amount of waste diverted to landfills and the problems arising on campus due to solid waste, thus leading to a zero waste campus. Other campuses like IITR with similar context and issues can learn from this case study and work towards a zero-waste campus. This paper identifies a need to implement a robust SWM at the IITR campus in India.

Solid Waste Management on a Campus in a Developing Country: A Study of the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

Increasing concern over environmental issues has put onus on the construction industry to develop products and materials that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly. This paper focuses on the utilization of oil palm fibers (OPF) and glass powder (GP) to develop thermally efficient building material as a sustainable alternative. OPF are abundantly available in Malaysia as waste in palm oil manufacturing and are found to be useful in enhancing the thermal performance of building material
, while waste glass, which contributes to municipal solid waste generation, can be beneficially utilized as a supplementary cementitious material as it possesses pozzolanic behavior. OPF-reinforced blocks were successfully developed with targeted thermal, mechanical and microstructural properties as a sustainable alternative for application in the hot–humid weather conditions in Malaysia. This paper reports on the development of the glass powder–fiber-reinforced mortar (GPFRM) as a final phase of the research in the development of a sustainable thermally efficient wall system. The GPFRM mix was prepared utilizing fibers in ratios of 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% by weight of the binder, whereas GP was incorporated by replacement of 10% and 20% of cement. The developed GPFRM besides having good thermal performance has acceptable mechanical performance, hence proving to be a sustainable alternative to conventional mortar to be incorporated within masonry wall systems.

Utilization of Glass Powder and Oil Palm Fibers to Develop Thermally Efficient Blocks

Nucleoside analogues (NAs) are a family of compounds which include a variety of purine and pyrimidine derivatives, widely used as anticancer and antiviral agents. For their ability to compete with physiological nucleosides, NAs act as antimetabolites exerting their activity by interfering with the synthesis of nucleic acids. Much progress in the comprehension of their molecular mechanisms has been made, including providing new strategies for potentiating anticancer/antiviral activity. Among these strategies, new platinum-NAs showing a good potential to improve the therapeutic indices of NAs have been synthesized and studied. This short review aims to describe the properties and future perspectives of platinum-NAs, proposing these complexes as a new class of antimetabolites.

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Platinum-Nucleos(t)ide Compounds as Possible Antimetabolites for Antitumor/Antiviral Therapy: Properties and Perspectives

Introduction Colorectal cancer and other adult solid cancers pose a significant challenge for successful treatment because the tumor microenvironment both hinders the action of conventional therapeutics and suppresses the immune activities of infiltrating leukocytes. The immune suppression is largely the effect of enhanced local mediators such as purine nucleosides and eicosanoids. Genetic approaches have the promise of interfering with these mechanisms of local immunosuppression to allow both intrinsic and therapeutic immunological anticancer processes. Bacterial phages offer a novel means of enabling access into tissues for therapeutic genetic manipulations. Methods We generated spheroids of fibroblastic and CRC cancer cells to model the 3-dimensional stromal and parenchymal components of colorectal tumours. We used these to examine the access and effects of both wildtype (WT) and epidermal growth factor (EGF)-presenting bacteriophage λ (WT- λ and EGF-λ) as a means of delivery of targeted genetic interventions in solid cancers. We used both confocal microscopy of spheroids exposed to AF488-tagged phages, and the recovery of viable phages as measured by plaque-forming assays to evaluate access; and measures of mitochondrial enzyme activity and cellular ATP to evaluate the outcome on the constituent cells. Results Using flourescence-tagged derivatives of these bacteriophages (AF488-WT-λ and AF488-EGF-λ) we showed that phage entry into these tumour microenvironments was possible and that the EGF ligand enabled efficient and persistent uptake into the cancer cell mass. EGF-λ became localized in the intracellular portion of cancer cells and was subjected to subsequent cellular processing. The targeted λ phage had no independent effect upon mature tumour spheroids, but interfered with the early formation and growth of cancer tissues without the need for addition of a toxic payload, suggesting that it might have beneficial effects by itself in addition to any genetic intervention delivered to the tumour. Interference with spheroid formation persisted over the duration of culture. Discussion We conclude that targeted phage technology is a feasible strategy to facilitate delivery into colorectal cancer tumour tissue (and by extension other solid carcinomas) and provides an appropriate delivery vehicle for a gene therapeutic that can reduce local immunosuppression and/or deliver an additional direct anticancer activity.

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EGFR-targeted bacteriophage lambda penetrates model stromal and colorectal carcinoma tissues, is taken up into carcinoma cells, and interferes with 3-dimensional tumor formation

Concentrative nucleoside transporters (CNTs) are active nucleoside influx systems, but their in vivo roles are poorly defined. By generating CNT1 knockout (KO) mice, here we identify a role of CNT1 in the renal reabsorption of nucleosides. Deletion of CNT1 in mice increases the urinary excretion of endogenous pyrimidine nucleosides with compensatory alterations in purine nucleoside metabolism. In addition, CNT1 KO mice exhibits high urinary excretion of the nucleoside analog gemcitabine (dFdC), which results in poor tumor growth control in CNT1 KO mice harboring syngeneic pancreatic tumors. Interestingly, increasing the dFdC dose to attain an area under the concentration-time curve level equivalent to that achieved by wild-type (WT) mice rescues antitumor efficacy. The findings provide new insights into how CNT1 regulates reabsorption of endogenous and synthetic nucleosides in murine kidneys and suggest that the functional status of CNTs may account for the optimal action of pyrimidine nucleoside analog therapeutics in humans. 

/pdf/increased-renal-elimination-of-endogenous-and-synthetic-25rk3s07.pdf

Increased renal elimination of endogenous and synthetic pyrimidine nucleosides in concentrative nucleoside transporter 1 deficient mice

Nucleoside transporters and immunosuppressive adenosine signaling in the tumor microenvironment: Potential therapeutic opportunities.

Solid waste is the major concern observed now days in entire world. The reason for developed and under developing countries facing this problem is different. For developed countries it is due to excessive packaging along with high generation rate. While in developing countries improper handling and treatment is a major threat. The purpose of this paper is to focus on advancement in treatment options, handling and management of Solid Waste in recent times. Solid waste generation in metro cities found in 1995 was 0.64kg in Kanpur, 0.52kg in Lucknow, 0.4kg in Varanasi, 0.59kg in Ahmedabad and 0.44kg in Mumbai. Currently total solid waste generated in India is around 42 million tons annually. Waste generation varies from 200-600 kg/capita/day and collection efficiency ranges from 50-90%. Presently, advance treatment options provided for solid waste are: Incineration, Pyrolysis and vermin composting. Along with that reuse and recycling of waste materials also possess high opportunity. Segregation is still done by only rag pickers or scavengers at the disposal site only, which is highly hazardous to those people who involve in this and is also impracticable. The best option found to combat this problem is source segregation. The paper emphasizes on formal and organized system of segregation like segregation of wet waste, dry waste, plastic waste and hazardous waste, as per rule their generation because at the end of the cycle it becomes difficult to treat the solid waste because of its various characteristics.

A Review on Recent Advancement in Solid Waste Management Concept

Simple Summary Anticancer nucleoside analogs are promising treatments that often result in damaging toxicities and therefore ineffective treatment. Mechanisms of this are not well-researched, but cellular nucleoside transport research in mice might provide additional insight given transport’s role in mammalian hematopoiesis. Cellular nucleoside transport is a notable component of mammalian hematopoiesis due to how mutations within it relate to hematological abnormities. This review encompasses nucleoside transporters, focusing on their inherent properties, hematopoietic role, and their interplay in nucleoside drug treatment side effects. We then propose potential mechanisms to explain nucleoside transport involvement in blood disorders. Finally, we point out and advocate for future research areas that would improve therapeutic outcomes for patients taking nucleoside analog therapies. Abstract Anticancer nucleoside analogs produce adverse, and at times, dose-limiting hematological toxicities that can compromise treatment efficacy, yet the mechanisms of such toxicities are poorly understood. Recently, cellular nucleoside transport has been implicated in normal blood cell formation with studies from nucleoside transporter-deficient mice providing additional insights into the regulation of mammalian hematopoiesis. Furthermore, several idiopathic human genetic disorders have revealed nucleoside transport as an important component of mammalian hematopoiesis because mutations in individual nucleoside transporter genes are linked to various hematological abnormalities, including anemia. Here, we review recent developments in nucleoside transporters, including their transport characteristics, their role in the regulation of hematopoiesis, and their potential involvement in the occurrence of adverse hematological side effects due to nucleoside drug treatment. Furthermore, we discuss the putative mechanisms by which aberrant nucleoside transport may contribute to hematological abnormalities and identify the knowledge gaps where future research may positively impact treatment outcomes for patients undergoing various nucleoside analog therapies.

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/13/3113/pdf?version=1656390325

Kajal Anantbhai Desai

Papers

Nucleoside transporters and immunosuppressive adenosine signaling in the tumor microenvironment: Potential therapeutic opportunities.

A Review on Recent Advancement in Solid Waste Management Concept

Solute Carrier Nucleoside Transporters in Hematopoiesis and Hematological Drug Toxicities: A Perspective