Malaysia recorded 8904 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases and 124 deaths as of 27 July 2020. Globally, everyday there are thousands of new cases of COVID-19 being recorded. Due to the high number of infections globally and nationwide the increase in the amount of clinical waste (CW) generation was expected. Malaysia has reported a 27% (by weight) increase in the generation of CW which was mostly attributed to COVID-19 related waste. This article presents the impacts of COVID-19 in waste generation, policy and regulation of CW management (CWM) in Malaysia and a case study on the CWM at a selected hospital used as a COVID-19 focal point. The current practice of CWM due to COVID-19 related cases follows the existing policy and legislation of CWM detailed in the Schedule Waste Regulation (2005), Environmental Quality Act, 1974, and with the standard operating procedure provided by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia. The case study conducted through survey and questionnaire interviews revealed that the CWM in government hospitals followed existing guidelines for CWM for COVID-19 waste, with some additional precautions and rules by the waste management contractors.
Metal remediation is important considering the environmental pressure due to soil pollution from landfill leachate. Hence, identifying potential plant-based option for remediation, especially the use of bio-/hyper-accumulators, is inevitable. Contamination of soil with heavy metals has been a decades-long concern. This study is therefore aimed to evaluating the metal-remediation potentials of four ornamental plant species-Cordyline fruticosa, Duranta variegated, Tradescantia spathacea, and Chlorophylum comosum-on leachate-contaminated soil. Details of the study involved leachate analysis, soil characterization, and metal-accumulation test on selected plants. Characterization of both landfill soil and leachate has indicated that Pb, Cu, As, Mn, Cr, Zn, Fe, and Ni were higher than the prescribed limits. The high metal reduction efficiency of C. fruticosa on all the studied metals was about 63%, 85%, 77.88%, 77.55%, and 75% for Pb, As, Mn, Zn, and Cr concentrations. The metal removal by the plants was significantly higher as compared to control soil (P
The research aimed to determine the influence of endophytic fungi on tolerance, growth and phytoremediation ability of Prosopis juliflora in heavy metal-polluted landfill soil. A consortium of 13 fungal isolates as well as Prosopis juliflora Sw. DC was used to decontaminate heavy metal-polluted landfill soil. Enhanced plant growth (biomass and root and shoot lengths) and production of carotenoids, chlorophyll and amino acids L-phenylalanine and L-leucine that are known to enhance growth were found in the treated P. juliflora. Better accumulations of heavy metals were observed in fungi-treated P. juliflora over the untreated one. An upregulated activity of peroxidase, catalase and ascorbate peroxidase was recorded in fungi-treated P. juliflora. Additionally, other metabolites, such as glutathione, 3,5,7,2',5'-pentahydroxyflavone, 5,2'-dihydroxyflavone and 5,7,2',3'-tetrahydroxyflavone, and small peptides, which include Lys Gln Ile, Ser Arg Ala, Asp Arg Gly, Arg Ser Ser, His His Arg, Arg Thr Glu, Thr Arg Asp and Ser Pro Arg, were also detected. These provide defence supports to P. juliflora against toxic metals. Inoculating the plant with the fungi improved its growth, metal accumulation as well as tolerance against heavy metal toxicity. Such a combination can be used as an effective strategy for the bioremediation of metal-polluted soil.
The phosphate solubilizing properties of Lysinibacillus macroides ST-30, Pseudomonas pelleroniana N-26, and Bacillus cereus ST-6 were tested for the chickpea crop of the Tarai region of Uttarakhand. These microbially inoculated plants have shown significant (p > 0.05) improvement in the plant health and crop health parameters, viz., root length, shoot length, fresh weight, dry weight, nodule number, nodule fresh weight, nodule dry weight, chlorophyll content, and nitrate reductase. The highest shoot length (46.10 cm) and chlorophyll content (0.57 mg g-1 fresh weight) were observed in ST-30 at 75 DAS with 20 kg P2O5/ha. Similarly, for plant P content, an increase of 90.12% over control was recorded in the same treatment. Treatments consisting of Lysinibacillus macroides ST-30 along with 20 kg/ha P2O5 were found to be most suitable as phosphatic fertilizer. Conclusively, sustainable agriculture practices in the Tarai as well as the field region may be developed based on a strategy of exploring microbial inoculants from the pristine region of the Western Himalayas. The presence and abundance of bacterial inoculants were confirmed through qRT-PCT. We conclude that the effective plant growth-promoting bacterium Lysinibacillus macroides ST-30 broadens the spectrum of phosphate solubilizers available for field applications and might be used together with 20 Kg/ha P2O5.
Cordyceps militaris, a medicinal fungus, has gained considerable attention owing to its potential health benefits, notably the production of bioactive compounds such as cordycepin. Cordycepin possesses significant antifungal, antibacterial, and antiviral properties. The present study focused on optimizing the fermentation conditions for C. militaris to boost the production of mycelia and cordycepin, alongside investigating its antifungal properties using in silico and in vitro approaches. The optimal conditions, yielding the highest cordycepin and mycelial biomass, were a temperature of 20°C and a pH range of 4-6, with glucose and sucrose as carbon sources and yeast extract and casein hydrolysate as nitrogen sources. Under these conditions, cordycepin production peaked at low pH (600-1000 mg/L) and with carbon and maltose (400-500 mg/L). The low temperature favored cordycepin production (400 mg/L), whereas casein hydrolysate as a nitrogen source boosted cordycepin yield (600 mg/L). The docking analysis indicated that cordycepin had the highest binding affinity for the tubulin beta chain 2 (-10.4 kcal/mol) compared to the fungicide tebuconazole (-7.9 kcal/mol for both targets). The in silico results were corroborated by in vitro studies, where the mycelial extract of C. militaris inhibited approximately 75% of fungal growth at a concentration of 6000 ppm. These findings suggest that optimizing fermentation conditions significantly enhances cordycepin production, and cordycepin shows antifungal solid activity, making it a promising agent for biocontrol in agriculture.