Polydipsia Research Articles

Recent Advancement in Commercial and Other Sustainable Techniques for Energy and Material Recovery from Sewage Sludge

Rapid population growth and urbanization have resulted in a multi-fold increase in water consumption over the last few decades, resulting in the generation of large amounts of sewage and sewage sludge that impose severe environmental burdens if not handled properly. Sludge management itself accounts for up to 50% of the total operating costs of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Conventional sludge management practices such as incineration, landfilling, and ocean disposal have been deemed difficult in light of today’s stringent environmental legislation and compliance standards. As a result, progress has been made toward developing more sustainable approaches for sludge management. This study reviews recent advancements in sewage sludge management techniques that not only ensure the safe disposal of sewage sludge but also focus on utilizing the potential of sewage sludge as feedstock for energy and resource recovery. Energy could be recovered by subjecting the pre-treated sludge to controlled anaerobic digestion (AD) to produce biogas or by utilizing the lipid content of the sewage sludge through esterification or direct sludge pyrolysis to produce biodiesel/bio-oil. Heavy metals such as Ag, Au, Cu, Fe, Ga, Cr, and others, as well as nutrients such as N, P, K, Mg, S, and others, could also be recovered. If energy and resource recovery from sewage sludge is practiced on a global scale, it could significantly contribute to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction. This review discusses the commercially developed and still-under-research technologies for energy and other resource recovery of sewage sludge. Additionally, techniques, along with their limitations and potential measures to improve their yields, are also discussed.

Abstract P510: Increase in Obesity Reduction Initiatives in San Francisco After Sugary Beverages Tax Implementation

A diet high in sugar sweetened beverages (SSB, has been shown to be associated with adverse health outcomes. Several cities across the US have implemented SSB taxes to decrease consumption and distribution of sugary drinks. Revenues generated from taxes were often allocated to fund public health programs and enhancements to reduce obesity. We examined efforts in San Francisco where the Sugary Drinks Distributor Tax (SDDT or “soda tax”) was implemented in 2018. SDDT legislation mandated the establishment of the Sugary Drinks Distributor Tax Advisory Committee (SDDTAC), responsible for making annual recommendations for the allocation of tax-generated revenues. We reviewed SDDTAC recommendations and funding for new and existing services that support public health through reduction and prevention of diet related diseases. We assessed if there was a significant increase in funding and number of health promotion programs implemented in San Francisco after the implementation of the SDDT. We documented obesity prevention initiatives resulting from increased tax revenue. We reviewed city government budget documents and press releases at least 1 year before tax implementation (2017) and 4 years post (2018-2022). We cataloged initiatives for adults and children including health education, nutrition and lifestyle, and community projects. The first full year of SDDT implementation (2018-19) saw the highest revenue generated at $16,097,908. Total revenue for the implementation period (2018-2021) was reported as $42,415,548. The revenue generated in the first six months of fiscal year (FY) 2018 was spent in FY2019-2020. During that period, the San Francisco Public Health Foundation awarded 26 one-year SDDT community grants - aligning with priority expenditure categories for SDDTAC - totaling $1,702,211. SDDTAC priority categories include decreasing consumption of sugary drinks, increasing water consumption, oral health, healthy food access, physical activity, and other (e.g. research/Community-Based Participatory Research, new innovations, etc.). [ACV1] In FY2019-2020 78% of SDDT revenues were spent on Healthy Communities, oral health, Healthy Food Purchasing Supplement grants and SF City Funded Agencies’ programming. The remaining 22% were spent on social media grants, infrastructure, and administrative costs. To address COVID-19, $1.65 million of unused funds from FY2019-20 supported food security and food distribution for vulnerable populations. Tax generated funding for 65 new or existing programs since implementation. New programs are funded each year: five new Policy Systems and Environmental Change programs were funded in FY2019-2020 and one new school-based program funded in FY2021-22. We observed a significant increase in number of health programs in San Francisco since SDDT implementation.

Spatio-temporal analysis of climate and irrigated vegetation cover changes and their role in lake water level depletion using a pixel-based approach and canonical correlation analysis

Lake Urmia, located in northwest Iran, was among the world's largest hypersaline lakes but has now experienced a 7 m decrease in water level, from 1278 m to 1271 over 1996 to 2019. There is doubt as to whether the pixel-based analysis (PBA) approach's answer to the lake's drying is a natural process or a result of human intervention. Here, a non-parametric Mann-Kendall trend test was applied to a 21-year record (2000−2020) of satellite data products, i.e., temperature, precipitation, snow cover, and irrigated vegetation cover (IVC). The Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud-computing platform utilized over 10 sub-basins in three provinces surrounding Lake Urmia to obtain and calculate pixel-based monthly and seasonal scales for the products. Canonical correlation analysis was employed in order to understand the correlation between variables and lake water level (LWL). The trend analysis results show significant increases in temperature (from 1 to 2 °C during 2000–2020) over May–September, i.e., in 87 %–25 % of the basin. However, precipitation has seen an insignificant decrease (from 3 to 9 mm during 2000–2019) in the rainy months (April and May). Snow cover has also decreased and, when compared with precipitation, shows a change in precipitation patterns from snow to rain. IVC has increased significantly in all sub-basins, especially the southern parts of the lake, with the West province making the largest contribution to the development of IVC. According to the PBA, this analysis underpins the very high contribution of IVC to the drying of the lake in more detail, although the contribution of climate change in this matter is also apparent. The development of IVC leads to increased water consumption through evapotranspiration and excess evaporation caused by the storage of water for irrigation. Due to the decreased runoff caused by consumption exceeding the basin's capacity, the lake cannot be fed sufficiently.

Stricter energy regulations and water consumption: Firm-level evidence from China

Coordinating water and energy saving contributes to the sustainable development of China's industrial sector and alleviates the resource shortage risk. Taking the mandatory energy-saving targets outlined in the “11th Five Year Plan” as a quasi-natural experiment, in this study, the difference-in-differences strategy is employed to examine the real impact of stricter energy regulations on water consumption intensity. The results show that after strictly restricting energy input, the water consumption intensity of industrial enterprises has increased significantly. This result is reliable according to several robustness checks. The increased water consumption intensity caused by stricter energy regulations is particularly apparent in regions with high energy-saving targets, non-state-owned enterprises, large-scale enterprises, and high-energy consuming sub-sectors. The imposition of stricter energy regulations has not changed the input preference and substitution relationship between water and energy; therefore, it does not significantly impact the total water consumption of enterprises. However, the decline of energy input leads to an imbalanced factor input structure, which reduces the technical efficiency and output level. The total water input scale of enterprises has not been adjusted synchronously with the decreasing output level, resulting in an increase of consumed water per unit output.

Mechanisms and Applications of Bacterial Inoculants in Plant Drought Stress Tolerance

Agricultural systems are highly affected by climatic factors such as temperature, rain, humidity, wind, and solar radiation, so the climate and its changes are major risk factors for agricultural activities. A small portion of the agricultural areas of Brazil is irrigated, while the vast majority directly depends on the natural variations of the rains. The increase in temperatures due to climate change will lead to increased water consumption by farmers and a reduction in water availability, putting production capacity at risk. Drought is a limiting environmental factor for plant growth and one of the natural phenomena that most affects agricultural productivity. The response of plants to water stress is complex and involves coordination between gene expression and its integration with hormones. Studies suggest that bacteria have mechanisms to mitigate the effects of water stress and promote more significant growth in these plant species. The underlined mechanism involves root-to-shoot phenotypic changes in growth rate, architecture, hydraulic conductivity, water conservation, plant cell protection, and damage restoration through integrating phytohormones modulation, stress-induced enzymatic apparatus, and metabolites. Thus, this review aims to demonstrate how plant growth-promoting bacteria could mitigate negative responses in plants exposed to water stress and provide examples of technological conversion applied to agroecosystems.

Lime replacement by finely ground clay from the north fluminense region of RJ in mortar for coating walls and ceilings

This work aims to identify the effects of replacing lime to finely ground kaolinitic clay (GC) in mortars for coating walls and ceilings, evaluating the water retention, calorimetry, XRD, mechanical resistance, water absorption and void index, and comparing these properties with a mortar with lime, called reference mortar (RM), and one with the addition of a commercial clay (CC) sold at the local trade. The justificative of this work is due to the fact that clay is empirically incorporated into mortars, as a substitute for lime, in order to improve its workability. However, these replacements modify the properties of the mortars and, therefore, experimental evidence to evaluate the most important properties must be carried out. Through the tests performed, an increase in water consumption in mortars of 36% with CC and 45% with GC was observed, however these results did not influence the properties of water retention. Through the patterns obtained in the XRD test, it was observed that the addition of GC in the mortar consumed the portlandite, meaning that there is a probable pozzolanic reaction in the formation of new C–S–H compounds. These results prove that kaolinitic clay can be added in 1:1:6 mortars, maintaining its most important properties for use as coatings.

Study on Water Regulation of Yong’an River Basin Based on Ecological Flow Guarantee

Water resources are the necessary guarantee to support the development of human society and one of the most important resources to maintain the health and stability of the ecological environment. With the gradual increase of China’s population and the gradual increase of water consumption for industry, life and agriculture, the water consumption for ecological environment can not be met. As a result, some rivers have dried up, biological habitat has been lost and species diversity has been reduced. Therefore, how to ensure the river ecological flow is a very urgent problem to be solved. This paper selects Yong’an River Basin as the research object. Yong’an river is a mountainous river with the characteristics of uneven distribution of natural runoff throughout the year and seasonal water shortage. At present, the ecological flow demand of the river has not been considered in the reservoir operation. In this paper, four different scheduling schemes are set up according to the two constraints of ecological base flow and target ecological flow. Finally, the reservoir group operation scheme with better water supply assurance rate and ecological flow assurance rate is determined.

Identification of Nitrate Source of Surface Water in a Typical Peri-urban Watershed in the Tableland of the Loess Plateau, China

With the rapid development of industry and agriculture, nitrate pollution in surface water has become one of the serious environmental problems in the Loess Plateau region. In this study, Yanwachuan watershed, a typical suburban watershed in the gully region of a loess plateau, was selected as the research area. Using hydrochemical data and nitrogen and oxygen bistable isotopes, combined with the SIAR model, the contribution rates of different pollution sources of nitrate in surface water in the dry season and wet season were quantitatively identified, and the main reasons for seasonal differences in different pollution sources were clarified. The results showed that inorganic nitrogen mainly existed in the form of NO3--N and NO2--N, and the average concentration of NO3--N and NO2--N in the wet season was higher than that in the dry season, whereas NH4+-N showed the opposite characteristics. Nitrification was the main process of nitrate transformation in the surface water of the basin. In the wet season, the main sources of nitrate were manure and sewage, whereas in the dry season, manure, sewage, and soil N leaching were the dominant sources, followed by ammonium fertilizer. The contribution proportion of different pollution sources to nitrate in surface water of the watershed showed significant seasonal differences. The sewage had the highest contribution, accounting for 31.40% and 65.66% in the dry season and rainy season, respectively, and the contribution of sewage to NO3- in the wet season was much higher than that in the dry season. The increase in residential water consumption in summer led to a large amount of sewage discharge into the watershed.

Novel Furrow Diking Equipment-Design Aimed at Increasing Water Consumption Efficiency in Vineyards

Productivity in viticultural practices is highly dependent on seasonal availability of rainfall and the efficiency of soil and water conservation strategies. Sustainable water consumption has been regarded as a business, social, and environmental responsibility, since resource availability becomes more challenging. The present research evaluates a new agricultural equipment design, employed in furrow compartmentalization works, with the aim of improving the efficiency of rainwater storage in the soil, reducing the runoff and the erosion on sloping soils. The newly developed equipment operates on the basis of a rigid memory and employs the cam-tappet mechanism, known for its high customization potential. The system functionality has been improved by integrating enhanced hoe shapes, adapted for the demanding working conditions encountered in vineyards. The evaluated performance indicators showed an increased up to 7% of the water storage effectiveness, while the micro-basins construction performance improved by 10%. The furrow diking phase is integrated into the weeding works, and recorded low additional fuel consumption of only 3–5%, being appreciated by farmers due to its constructive simplicity. As a result, the equipment has shown a significant application potential to increase deep water storage in vineyards and reduce the negative impacts of climate change on agriculture.

A review study of Shadangapaniya in Jwara chikitsa with special reference to fever

In today's era, diseases are increasing rapidly and medical facilities are becoming expensive. In such a situation, diseases can be avoided through Ayurvedic remedies and at the same time, cheap treatment of many diseases is also available in Ayurveda. Fever is a minor disease but sometimes it takes terrible form. Allopathic has a lot of side effects of antibiotics and anti-pyretic due to which, in diseases like fever, Ayurveda should be preferred. Sadang-paniya is herbal medicine which is beneficial in fever as well as is very effective in burning, extreme thirst, fatigue. Fever is called Jwarain Ayurveda and Jwarais described in Ayurveda as a separate disease. In this article, along with Ayurvedic view of Jwara, Sadang-pania will study in detail.

The Visible-Light-Driven Activity of Biochar-Doped TiO2 Photocatalysts in β-Blockers Removal from Water.

Water is the most important life-giving resource on earth. Nowadays, intensive growth of the world population has resulted in increased water consumption and the production of wastewater. Additionally, the presence of pharmaceuticals in treated conventional wastewater or even in the environment is strictly indicating that present techniques of wastewater treatment are not efficient enough and are not designed to remove such pollutants. Scarce water resources in the world are the main driving force for the innovation of novel techniques of water and wastewater treatment. Photocatalysis, as one of the advanced oxidation processes, enables the transformation of recalcitrant and toxic pollutants into CO2, water, and inorganic salts. In the present paper, the photocatalytic oxidation of β-blockers-metoprolol and propranolol-are described. For photocatalytic oxidation, novel TiO2 photocatalysts modified with biochar were used. Photocatalysts were prepared by sol-gel method and the effect of photocatalysts type, presence of inorganic ions, dissolved organic matter, and different water matrix was established. The results indicate that using only the decrease in the tested pollutant concentration is not effective enough in establishing the treatment method's safety. There is a need to use additional testing such as ecotoxicity tests; however, the key parameter is the properly chosen tested organism.

The projected futures of water resources vulnerability under climate and socioeconomic change in the Yangtze River Basin, China

Despite being one of the most abundant water resources globally, the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) region is facing substantial risks aggravated by climatic and anthropogenic changes. Here, we adopted an integrated framework to investigate the plausible futures of water resource provisioning in YRB under current and future conditions on the sub-watershed level: (i) a process-based model (InVEST) was used to project the water yield of the whole of YRB in the nearest future (2040–2060) and distant future (2080–2100) and (ii) a socio-ecological index was developed to assess the spatio-temporal patterns of water resources vulnerability (WRV). Model projections indicated that several water-rich areas in the southeastern YRB would suffer declining water yield in the future. While water yield was projected to increase in some drier regions in the northwest. Future changes in the basin-level vulnerability were projected to decrease under low emissions scenarios (RCP2.6) combined with a sustainability socioeconomic scenario (SSP1). The greatest increase in vulnerability was projected under the medium-to-high end (RCP7.0) rather than high-end (RCP8.5) climate change scenario. The areas with high WRV were distributed in sub-watersheds near Taihu Lake and the source of the Yangtze River. Climate and socioeconomic change were projected to have different roles in shaping the future dynamics of WRV, with precipitation reduction and water consumption increase being likely to result in increased WRV levels in the southeastern lower reaches and the middle reaches, respectively. Our study added new spatial data on projected water resource dynamics for the region of vital ecological and economic importance in Asia. The areas prone to increased WRV should be prioritised in future water resources management practices. The assessment approach used in this study integrated concurrent measures from both subjective and objective perspectives and could be used in relevant studies on exploring how future vulnerability could respond to environmental changes.

The influence of the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change on water use and supply: experience of Istanbul, Türkiye

The coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has affected not only populations around the world but also the environment and natural resources. Lockdowns and restricted lifestyles have had wide-ranging impacts on the environment (e.g., air quality in cities). Although hygiene and disinfection procedures and precautions are effective ways to protect people from Covid-19, they have significant consequences for water usage and resources especially given the increasing impacts of climate change on rainfall patterns, water use and resources. Climate change and public health issues may compound one another, and so we used a drivers, pressures, state, impact, response framework (not previously used to examine the actual and potential impacts of Covid-19 and climate change on water consumption and resources) to scope the main factors that may interact to affect water use and resources (in the form of reservoirs) using evidence from Istanbul, Türkiye, with some discussion of the comparative situation elsewhere. We modified initial views on the framework to account for the regional, city and community level experiences. We note that water consumption in Istanbul has been increasing over the last two decades (except in times of very low rainfall/drought); that there were increases in water consumption in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic; and, despite some increase in rainfall, water levels in reservoirs appeared to decrease during lockdowns (for a range of reasons). Through a new simple way of visualising the data, we also noted that a low resource capacity might be recurring every 6 or 7 years in Istanbul (a similar finding to Thames Reservoir in London). We made no attempt in this paper to quantify the relative contribution that climate change, population growth, etc., are making to water consumption and reservoir levels as we focused on looking at those social, environmental and economic factors that appear to play a role in potential water stress and on developing a drivers, pressures, state, impact, response framework for policy and adaptive management options for Istanbul and other large complex conurbations. If there are periodic water resource issues and temperatures rise as expected in climate projections with an accompanying increase in the duration of hot spells, the subsequent additional stress on water systems might make managing future public health emergencies, such as a pandemic, even more difficult.

Ecological safety of water resources in Khujand (Tajikistan) area, in the development context of agricultural activities

The research deals with investigation of relation between agricultural activity and ground water, surface water composition and quantity. The area of investigation is under huge increases in water consumption and active development of agricultural and economic activities. On the one hand, the agricultural complex uses groundwater and thereby reducing the level of groundwater, on the other hand, the irrigation system causes the development of a desalination zone to the depths of groundwater. Anyway, the influence into the groundwater is obvious. In the article has analyzed the relationship of surface and groundwater, hydraulically connected. It was studied the expansion of irrigation area contributes to the irrigation water flow strengthening into the rivers, also to the groundwater flow.

Managing Drought Risk on Lentil Using Deficit Irrigation in Arid Zones

Grain legumes (pulses) are important crops for global food security, especially in developing countries. They also play an important role in enhancing sustainability through intensification and diversification of agricultural production systems. Meanwhile, the deficit irrigation strategy is one of the most important options for reducing water losses and maximizing water use efficiency in arid zones. A 2-year field experiment was conducted in the Agricultural Research Station, Higher Education Complex of Saravan during the growing seasons of 2018 and 2019. The experiment was split plot based on a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications. The main plots included four levels of irrigation (60, 80, 100, and 120%). Subplots were two different landraces from Iran for lentil crop (Baluchestan and Kurdestan). The results revealed that the effect of deficit irrigation was significant on grain yield, biological yield, harvest index, and water use efficiency. Apart from the landraces, with increasing water consumption, the grain yield of control treatment (100%) grew by 107% in comparison to 60% irrigation treatment, but this elevation was not significant at 120% level in comparison to the control treatment. Further, 120% irrigation treatment led to reduction in water use efficiency. The highest water use efficiency (2.9 kg ha-1 mm-1 ) was obtained in 80% irrigation treatment with 10% reduction in grain yield compared with control treatment. The highest harvest index was observed in the interaction of Baluchestan zones × 80% water treatment (0.24). Although the interaction of Baluchestan landrace × 80% water treatment had 10% grain yield lower than control treatment, its biological yield decreased by 27% compared to control treatment, which eventually led to 20% rise of the harvest index. Thus, our study revealed that deficit irrigation was a useful method to protect the water resources and could be used in cultivation of other plants in arid zones.

Use of a Water Filter at Home Reduces Sugary Drink Consumption among Parents and Infants/Toddlers in a Predominantly Hispanic Community: Results from the Water Up!@ Home Intervention Trial.

Water is recommended as an alternative for sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Low-income, minority groups in the United States continue to exhibit high SSB and low water consumption, and are more likely to exceed 100% fruit juice recommendations. To test the effects of a home-based intervention designed to replace SSBs with tap water and reduce excess juice consumption among parents and their infants/toddlers. Randomized controlled trial. Parents (n= 92) of infants/toddlers who participated in three Early Head Start home-visiting programs that serve predominantly Hispanic, low-income communities during 2019-2021. The 12-week intervention (Water Up!@Home) simultaneously addressed physical barriers to tap water consumption (via a water filter) and sociocultural barriers to replacing SSBs and juice with water (via a curriculum). Comparison group received a water filter only. We hypothesized that the intervention would lead to a reduction of 6 fl oz/d in SSB and juice consumption. Parent-reported self and infant/toddler SSBs, water (filtered, tap, or bottled), and 100% fruit juice consumption. Analysis of covariance to compare changes in consumption between experimental groups was performed. We also conducted t tests to assess changes within groups. Participants in both groups reported significant reductions in SSBs from baseline (parents: intervention [-11.2 fl oz/d; P < 0.01]; comparison [-8.0 fl oz/d; P < 0.01]; children: intervention [-1.50 fl oz/d; P= 0.03]; comparison [-1.56 fl oz/d; P= 0.02]), increased water consumption (parents in both groups [+5.6 fl oz/d]; children: intervention [+3.61 fl oz/d; P= 0.01], comparison [+2.24 fl oz/d; P= 0.05]), mostly from filtered tap water. Differences between groups were not statistically significant. Intervention participants reported significant reductions in 100% fruit juice vs comparison (parents: -3.6 fl oz/d vs -1.0 fl oz/d; P < 0.01; children: -0.73 fl oz/d vs+0.48 fl oz/d; P= .03). The intervention effectively reduced 100% fruit juice consumption. Water security should be examined as a contributor to SSB consumption in this population.

Evaluation of Childhood Beverage Consumption and Perceptions of Water Safety.

Context: Children ages 1-3 should consume about 35oz of plain water per day. The CDC and AAP recommend that children under 12 months do not receive any juice and children over 12 months should receive no more than 4oz of 100% juice with no sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). SSB consumption is associated with overweight and obesity, as well as an increase of tooth decay. 22% of preschool children do not regularly drink plain water and 46% regularly drink SSBs. Previous assessment found that families were more concerned about overall health and cavity prevention than childhood obesity, as well as concern about the safety of tap water. Objective: Assess current water and other beverage consumption and beliefs about water safety. Study Design and Analysis: Survey of the parents of 300 children between ages 0 and 5, developed based on prior qualitative study. Preliminary results: Only 44% of participants believed their tap water is safe and 50% purchased the water they drink. 38% of participants believed that water fountains are safe and 56% believed public water bottle filling stations are safe. On average children drank 22.3oz of water per day, and 12% of children did not drink any water in a typical week. On average children drank 12.9oz of juice per day, with 80% of children drink juice at least weekly and 52% drinking juice daily. On average children drank 4.5oz of SSBs, with 44% drinking SSBs at least weekly and 20% drinking SSBs daily. Conclusions: Children drank more juice and SSBs and less water than recommended. Previous assessment suggests that families may be more open to beverage consumption changes that other lifestyle changes that prevent childhood obesity. Improved perceptions of tap water safety may be a possible mechanism to decrease juice and SSB and increase water consumption.

Shear properties of engineered cementitious composites using polyvinyl alcohol fiber

The utilization of Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) fibers in Engineering Cementitious Composites (ECC) has garnered significant attention in the realm of construction materials. This composite, formed from cement and ultra-ductile fibers, demonstrates exceptional properties, including high strength, resistance to elevated temperatures and corrosion, making it indispensable in structural engineering. Notably effective in seismic-resistant infrastructure and enduring structures subjected to harsh environmental conditions, ECC with PVA fibers stands out for its ductility and strainhardening capabilities. This study delves into ECC by incorporating various materials like cement, fly ash, sand, PVA fibers, and superplasticizer. PVA fibers, despite being costly, significantly augment ECC's ductility, strain-hardening behavior, and energy absorption properties. The inclusion of these fibers bolsters both shear and compression strength, elevating overall structural performance. Unlike conventional concrete, ECC showcases a remarkable tensile strain capacity of 3- 7%, contributing to its distinct characteristics. The literature review consolidates studies investigating PVA fiber's impact on ECC's mechanical properties, emphasizing enhancements in strength, toughness, and crack control. Factors such as fiber types, density, and additives are explored, showcasing how ECC with PVA fibers can augment performance and sustainability in construction materials. Findings reveal an increase in compressive strength at 7 days with added PVA fibers, albeit with some variations at 28 days. Similarly, shear strength escalates with increased PVA fiber content up to 1.5%, enhancing bonding and load-bearing capacity. However, higher fiber content at 2% causes increased water consumption, reducing load-carrying capacity. ECC fortified with PVA fibers demonstrates superior strength and durability compared to traditional concrete, overcoming brittleness and crack susceptibility. The research highlights the influence of fiber content on enhancing bonding and shear strength, establishing the potential for ECC with PVA fibers to revolutionize construction materials and practices.

Physical Burden and Perceived Stress of Personal Protective Equipment During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Study in the United Arab Emirates.

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, personal protective equipment (PPE) has become necessary. According to published research, PPE-related physical impacts were probably underreported during the pandemic. To examine the physical burden and perceived stress associated with prolonged PPE wearing among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This was a cross-sectional retrospective study of 209 nurses working in two hospitals in the UAE. A convenience sampling technique was applied, and the data were collected using an online questionnaire. Data collection was completed within three months (April 2022 to June 2022). The completed questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS version 21. Chi-square statistics was used to test the association of categorical variables at a 5% level of significance. A total of 209 nurses had a mean age of 38.4 ± 8.7 years. More than 65.1% wore PPE continuously for 4 hrs per day. The most common physical burdens reported were difficulty in breathing (62.2%), excessive thirst (41.6%), and facial itchiness (39.2%). Most participants (95.2%) reported high-stress levels. There was no significant association between the level of stress and the duration of wearing PPE (p = .43 > .05). However, the authors found a statistically significant association between breathing difficulty with face masks and the duration of wearing them (p < .05). In addition, itchiness/rash related to gloves was significantly associated with wearing duration (p < .05). Findings show that nurses experienced adverse effects from PPE use, which increased with the number of hours of wearing. Further studies with a larger sample size will allow for generalization of the study results.

Health Status and Treatment Outcome of Tuberculosis with Diabetes Mellitus Cases, Rajkot City, Gujarat - A Longitudinal Study.

India, with the highest number of tuberculosis (TB) cases in the world, is also facing epidemic growth in diabetes mellitus (DM). TB is curable while DM is a metabolic and incurable disease that if not controlled will affect the health status of a person. This study was conducted to assess the health status and treatment outcome of TB with DM cases. We selected a total of 64 newly registered pulmonary TB (PTB) with DM cases from five tuberculosis units (TUs) in Rajkot city from October 2019 to December 2020. At the end of treatment, 64 cases were analyzed for treatment outcome and 56 cases (5 deaths; 3 lost to follow-up) were followed up to observe progression in health status. The information was collected in pretested proforma by interview. There was a significant improvement in TB symptoms (cough, weight loss, weakness, anorexia, evening rise of temperature, dyspnea, chest pain, hemoptysis), DM symptoms (frequent urination, excessive thirst and hunger, tingling and numbness), symptoms of mental health (fatigue, sleep disturbance, negative emotions, socially inactive), and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) on consecutive visits (McNemar's test, P < 0.001) and at the end of treatment (Cochran's Q test, P < 0.001). Improvement of nutritional status was also found statistically significant on consecutive visits (Wilcoxon test, P < 0.001) and at the end of treatment (Friedman's test, P < 0.001). The cure rate was 82.8% and 4.7% of cases had completed treatment. At the end of treatment, there was a significant improvement in health status and treatment outcome; also good cure rate was reported among cases.