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Changing the river course in the alluvial plain region is a common phenomenon that may have disastrous consequences. The risk of river bank erosion has increased dramatically during the last few decades. As a result, assessing the river bankline alteration is necessary. The study aims to determine the changes in the bankline in the lower Ganga River. This research presents a novel approach by using the digital shoreline analysis system (DSAS) in conjunction with geospatial data to monitor and predict long-term changes in river banks from 1965 to 2017, providing a comprehensive temporal analysis that is unprecedented in this study area. The study analyzes the bankline change along the river Ganga using DSAS using during the elapsed period. An erosion and accretion zonation was conducted based on the rate of bankline change of the river Ganga in the study area. The rate of bankline shifting was quantified using the endpoint rate (EPR) and linear regression rate (LRR) statistics computed using the DSAS model. The east bank of the Ganga in the study area experienced an average erosion of - 41.17 m/year according to the LRR model. Whereas, the west bank eroded an average of - 2.32 m/year between 1965 and 2017. 90.54% of the transect lines recorded erosion at the east bank and 53.69% of the transect lines at the west bank recorded erosion computed with LRR. For the assessment of the impact of river bankline change on the LULC of the study area, the future river banklines for 2027 and 2037 were forecasted. The result shows that by 2027 and 2037 about 133.24 and 147 km 2 of agricultural land and 7.19 and 11.47 km 2 of the built-up area may be affected by river bank erosion respectively. By extending the applications of DSAS and geospatial analytics to encompass predictive and impact assessment capabilities, this study significantly enriches the literature on the management of riverbank erosion and associated land use risks. This research provides important insights that improve river management and planning and enable the formulation of robust strategies to mitigate erosion risks on river banks., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Disinfection by-products (DBPs) are a concern due to their presence in chlorinated wastewater, sewage treatment plant discharge, and surface water, and their potential for environmental toxicity. Despite some attention to their ecotoxicity, little is known about the phytotoxicity of DBPs. This study aimed to evaluate the individual and combined phytotoxicity of four trihalomethanes (THMs: trichloromethane (TCM), bromodichloromethane (BDCM), dibromochloromethane (DBCM), and tribromomethane (TBM) and their mixture (THM4)), and trichloroacetic acid (TCAA) using genotoxic and cytotoxic assays. The analysis included seed germination tests using Vigna radiata and root growth tests, mitosis studies, oxidative stress response, chromosomal aberrations (CA), and DNA laddering using Allium cepa. The results showed a progressive increase in root growth inhibition for both plant species as the concentration of DBPs increased. High concentrations of mixtures of four THMs resulted in significant (p < 0.05) antagonistic interactions. The effective concentration (EC 50 ) value for V. radiata was 5655, 3145, 2690, 1465, 3570, and 725 mg/L for TCM, BDCM, DBCM, TBM, THM4, and TCAA, respectively. For A. cepa, the EC 50 for the same contaminants was 700, 400, 350, 250, 450, and 105 mg/L, respectively. DBP cytotoxicity was observed through CAs, including C-metaphase, unseparated anaphase, lagging chromosome, sticky metaphase, and bridging. Mitotic depression (MD) increased with dose, reaching up to 54.4% for TCAA (50-500 mg/L). The electrophoresis assay showed DNA fragmentation and shearing, suggesting genotoxicity for some DBPs. The order of phytotoxicity for the tested DBPs was TCAA > TBM > DBCM > BDCM > THM4 > TCM. These findings underscore the need for further research on the phytotoxicity of DBPs, especially given their common use in agricultural practices such as irrigation and the use of sludge as manure., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Historically, industrialization has been a catalyst for built-up expansion generated by economic growth that transforms a landscape. In India, there is a paucity of exploration into how the economic shift transforms the cityscape. Therefore, the objective of current research work was to monitor built-up growth induced by industrialization using Landsat datasets and registered industry data. The k-means clustering technique was applied for assessing land use/land cover, Shannon entropy for sprawl, and Pearson for correlation between industrial growth and built-up expansion. The results manifest exponential trend in industrialization with 102-year registered industry record along with increase in built-up density from 0.30 in 1989 to 0.69 by 2019 and in the entire Delhi; it rose from 0.16 to 0.39. Furthermore, Shannon entropy confirmed the sprawl and the strong positive correlation was found among built-up of industrial areas and built-up of Delhi and registered industries. The striking chorological change in industrial as well as city's landscape was observed co-occurring with the dynamics of economic reforms. The outcome of current research could be utilized for the sustainable planning of industrial landscape in Delhi and cities with alike geographical conditions., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Wetlands are among the most valuable components of the ecosystem, playing an important role in preventing floods, maintaining the hydrological cycle, protecting against natural hazards, and controlling local weather conditions and ecological restoration. The Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) is considered one of the most ecologically valuable regions in terms of wetland ecosystem, but due to haphazard development and human activities, the wetlands of the city are under constant threat of degradation. Therefore, this study aims to assess the factors responsible for wetland health and their dynamics using Driving Force-Pressure-State-Impact (DPSI) framework. To assess wetland health during 2011-2020, seventeen indicators and four sub-indicators were selected to calculate weights using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The results showed that most of the municipalities in the healthy category were in the pressure (P) section in 2011, while fluctuations were observed in the impact (I) section in several wards during 2011-20. The condition section (S) showed the overall change in the water, vegetation, and built-up categories from 2011 to 2020, so the most dominant category was "healthy," followed by "unhealthy" and "poor." The highly significant factors worsening wetland health were population density (B1), road density (B3), per capita wastewater generation (B5), per capita solid waste generation (B7), biological oxygen demand (D1a), dissolved oxygen (D1b), pH (D1c), and total coliform (D1d). The results of the study can help develop sustainable conservation and management of the wetland ecosystem in the KMA urban area and at the global level with similar geographical conditions., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The development of electrode materials plays a vital role in energy storage applications to save and store energy. In the present work, the synthesis of nanorod shaped Mn 3 O 4 supported with amorphous carbon (Mn 3 O 4 /AC) is reported by the microwave method for supercapacitor application. The as-prepared electrode material was then characterized using microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. The electrochemical supercapacitor performance of Mn 3 O 4 /AC was examined by the cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge method inside the three-electrode assembly cell. The results showed that the Mn 3 O 4 /AC delivers the excellent capacitance value of the 569.5 Fg -1 at the current load of 1 Ag -1 , higher than the previously reported Mn 3 O 4 based electrodes. The better performance of the Mn 3 O 4 /AC is credited to the excellent redox behaviour of the Mn 3 O 4 and the presence of the amorphous carbon, which facilitated the fast ion interaction between the electrode and electrolyte during the electrochemical reaction., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The current study was undertaken to determine the ability of different carrier materials for sustaining the viability of microbial consortium during storage. Different bioformulations consisting of carrier material and microbial consortium were prepared and examined for viability and stability for one year stored at 4 °C and ambient temperature. Total 8 bio-formulations were prepared consisting five economically viable carriers (gluten, talc, charcoal, bentonite, broth medium) and a microbial consortium. In present study, maximum enhanced shelf-life of consortium based on colony forming unit count were recorded for talc + gluten based (B4) bioformulation (9.03 log 10 cfu/g) over other bio-formulations stored for 360 days. Furthermore, the pot experiments was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of B4 formulation on growth of spinach in comparison with recommended dose of chemical fertilizer, uninoculated and no amendment control. The results depicted that B4 formulation increased biomass (176-666%), leaf area (33-123%), chlorophyll content (131-789%) and protein content (68.4-94.4%) of spinach over controls. Further B4 application significantly increased the nutrients like available nitrogen (131-475%), phosphorus (75-178%) and potassium (31-191%) of pot soil along with noteworthy improvement in root colonization as evident from scanning electron microscope analysis in comparison to controls at 60 days after sowing. Therefore, exploiting B4 formulation can serve as the environmentally sound approach to enhance the productivity, biomass and nutritional value of spinach. Thus, Plant growth promoting microbes-based formulation can be the novel paradigm to improve the soil health and eventually the crop productivity in economical and sustainable manner., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Trihalomethanes (THMs) are common disinfection by-products in chlorinated tap waters. They can cause various cancers and non-cancer health hazards. Ingestion, dermal contact, and inhalation are the three exposure routes considered in the THM hazard or risk assessments. Among these, inhalation hazard is generally calculated by assuming the initial concentration as zero. This assumption fails to address the case of continuous or successive showers that can happen in shared showering facilities such as student hostels or gymnasiums. In the present study, the leftover THM concentration from the previous bath was considered to assess the chronic daily intakes (CDI) and hazard index (HI) for successive showers. For this, tap water of a university campus was analyzed to understand the extent of THM exposure at consumer points and the result obtained was used for the hazard assessment. Total THM concentrations varied from 0.51 to 68.9 µg L -1 . To address the variability of the model input parameters, 50,000 iterations of Monte Carlo simulation were carried out. Maximum HI values of 7.94E - 02 ± 3.63E - 02, and 6.69E - 02 ± 3.08E-02 were observed for the 1 st shower for females and males, respectively. This value increased exponentially up to the 5 th shower and thereafter, the value was constant. The methodology followed in the present study successfully determines the risk and hazard of THMs through successive showers., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Chlorinated disinfectants are widely used in hospitals, COVID-19 quarantine facilities, households, institutes, and public areas to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus as they are effective against viruses on various surfaces. Medical facilities have enhanced their routine disinfection of indoors, premises, and in-house sewage. Besides questioning the efficiency of these compounds in combating coronavirus, the impacts of these excessive disinfection efforts have not been discussed anywhere. The impacts of chlorine-based disinfectants on both environment and human health are reviewed in this paper. Chlorine in molecular and in compound forms is known to pose many health hazards. Hypochlorite addition to soil can increase chlorine/chloride concentration, which can be fatal to plant species if exposed. When chlorine compounds reach the sewer/drainage system and are exposed to aqueous media such as wastewater, many disinfection by-products (DBPs) can be formed depending on the concentrations of natural organic matter, inorganics, and anthropogenic pollutants present. Chlorination of hospital wastewater can also produce toxic drug-derived disinfection by-products. Many DBPs are carcinogenic to humans, and some of them are cytotoxic, genotoxic, and mutagenic. DBPs can be harmful to the flora and fauna of the receiving water body and may have adverse effects on microorganisms and plankton present in these ecosystems., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Attachment to and fusion with cell membranes are two major steps in the replication cycle of many human viruses. We focus on these steps for three enveloped viruses, i.e., HIV-1, IAVs, and SARS-CoV-2. Viral spike proteins drive the membrane attachment and fusion of these viruses. Dynamic interactions between the spike proteins and membrane receptors trigger their specific attachment to the plasma membrane of host cells. A single virion on cell membranes can engage in binding with multiple receptors of the same or different types. Such dynamic and multivalent binding of these viruses result in an optimal attachment strength which in turn leads to their cellular entry and membrane fusion. The latter process is driven by conformational changes of the spike proteins which are also class I fusion proteins, providing the energetics of membrane tethering, bending, and fusion. These viruses exploit cellular and membrane factors in regulating the conformation changes and membrane processes. Herein, we describe the major structural and functional features of spike proteins of the enveloped viruses including highlights on their structural dynamics. The review delves into some of the case studies in the literature discussing the findings on multivalent binding, membrane hemifusion, and fusion of these viruses. The focus is on applications of biophysical tools with an emphasis on single-particle methods for evaluating mechanisms of these processes at the molecular and cellular levels., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare no competing interests., (© International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB) and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2022, Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Supercapacitors have attracted much attention in the field of electrochemical energy storage. However, material preparation, stability, performance as well as power density limit their applications in many fields. Herein, a sponge-like red phosphorus@graphene (rP@rGO) negative electrode and a Ni 2 P positive electrode were prepared using a simple one-step method. Both electrodes showed excellent performances (294 F g -1 and 1526.6 F g -1 for rP@rGO and Ni 2 P, respectively), which seem to be the highest among all rP@rGO- and Ni 2 P-based electrodes reported so far. The asymmetric solid-state supercapacitor was assembled by sandwiching a gel electrolyte-soaked cellulose paper between rP@rGO and Ni 2 P as the negative and positive electrodes. Compared to other asymmetric devices, the device, which attained a high operating window of up to 1.6 V, showed high energy and power density values of 41.66 and 1200 W kg -1 , respectively. It also has an excellent cyclic stability up to 88% after various consecutive charge/discharge tests. Additionally, the device could power commercial light emitting diodes and fans for 30 s. So, the ease of the synthesis method and excellent performance of the prepared electrode materials mat have significant potential for energy storage applications .

Lead and zinc are usually found at the same occupational places and occur as co-contaminants. Effects of lead toxicity are detrimental on human health as it is probable carcinogen and impairs normal growth and development. On the other hand, zinc is an important nutritional element, the deficiency of which causes debilitating effects on growth and development. The purpose of this study was to examine the possible association of blood lead and zinc levels and any influence of zinc over DNA damage, blood cell membrane aberration and oxidative stress among lead and zinc co-exposed workers. Atomic absorption spectroscopy was used for lead and zinc measurement and comet assay for DNA damage assessment. Haematological aberrations were studied using light and electron microscopy (LM and EM) followed by electron density X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and elemental mapping. Occupational exposure was observed to cause significant elevation in blood lead levels among workers. This elevation in lead levels and associated DNA damage among workers was significantly high in comparison to controls. Further light and electron micrographs of red blood cells revealed significant morphological alterations associated with increased lead ions in workers. It was clear from SEM-based elemental maps and EDS graphs that elevated lead levels were associated with low levels of zinc. The results suggest that lead absorption is highly influenced due to zinc levels in body which has an impact over DNA damage, blood cell aberration and oxidative stress caused by lead exposure. Efforts are going on to understand the role of other trace metals on lead toxicity in order to develop a sustainably nutrition-based therapeutic intervention. Graphical abstract.

Colorectal cancer is one of the commonest cancers in western world, while majority of cases of CRC are sporadic, a significant minority occurs as a result of inherited genetic mutations. Various studies have demonstrated that tumorigenesis of colon arises as a result of accumulation of multiple genetic alterations targeting the single signal transduction pathway. Genetic alteration of axin has been implicated in different cancers including colorectal cancers. Axin being a multidomain protein interacts with multiple proteins and acts as major scaffold protein in signaling pathways like c-jun/SAPK, TGF-β, and Wnt. In different signaling pathways, axin utilizes different domains and hence exerts distinct roles.