Shigella dysenteriae type 1 is the causative agent of the most severe form of bacillary dysentery, which occurs as epidemics in many developing countries. We isolated a bacteriophage from surface water samples from Bangladesh that specifically lyses strains of S. dysenteriae type 1. This phage, designated SF-9, belongs to the Podoviridae family and has a 41-kb double-stranded DNA genome. Furthe...

The present work aims to ascertain the mechanisms of surfactant (dodecylbenzene sulfonate; DBS) effects on the aggregation behaviors of TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2-NPs) in natural water samples. Aggregation experiments were conducted at a TiO2-NPs concentration of 10mg/L in deionized water and in natural water samples via dynamic light scattering and Zeta potential determination. Average attachmen...

The Adenoviridae and Polyomaviridae families comprise a wide diversity of viruses which may be excreted for long periods in feces or urine. In this study, a preliminary analysis of the prevalence in the environment and the potential usefulness as source-tracking tools of human and animal adenoviruses and polyomaviruses has been developed. Molecular assays based on PCR specifically targeting hum...

This study was conducted to obtain the basic data of two common odorants-geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol (GSM and 2-MIB)-in environmental water. More specifically, the headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography mass spectrometry (HS-SPME/GC-MS) was applied to determine the levels of GSM and 2-MIB in water samples, and the samples were collected depending on water sources...

Peritrichs are a diverse, ecologically important ciliate group usually with a complex life cycle. To date, the community of the peritrichs has been investigated by using morphology-based methods such as living observation and silver staining. Here we show a molecular approach for characterizing the diversity and quantity of free-living peritrichs in environmental samples. We newly designed four...

This paper presents the occurrence, properties and origin of chromium, nickel and cobalt in environmental samples soil, water and the atmosphere. Methods of determining the above-mentioned elements and ways of preparing environmental samples for chemical analyses are presented. The content of chromium, nickel and cobalt in the atmosphere, naturally occurring waters, and soil is shown, along wit...

fuzzy water quality index (fwqi) was applied in order to assess the degree of drinking water resources in yazd province, iran. thisstudy has also offered the creation of a new fuzzy water quality index (fwqi) to evaluate this tool’s applicability. 12 chemicalparameters including toxic and non-toxic heavy metals measured in 71 groundwater samples collected from drinking water resourcesin rural a...

background: during recent years, overpopulation, increase of wastewater, and drop in water tables has led to high concentration of salts in underground water, which is an important environmental pollutant. if concentration of salt in drinking water exceeds the limits, it will be dangerous for health. the aim of this study was to measure physical and chemical parameters in drinking water of rura...

We introduce here a new method for computing differences between microbial communities based on phylogenetic information. This method, UniFrac, measures the phylogenetic distance between sets of taxa in a phylogenetic tree as the fraction of the branch length of the tree that leads to descendants from either one environment or the other, but not both. UniFrac can be used to determine whether co...

Legionnaires' disease is a multisystem disease with life-threatening acute and severe form of pneumonia which is responsible for 2-9% pneumonia with high mortality. Eighty six respiratory tract samples and urine were collected from clinically diagnosed pneumonia patients and 12 water samples were collected from different environment. Identification of Legionella was done by culture and Polymera...