Silicosis is a major health issue among workers exposed to crystalline silica. Genetic susceptibility has been implicated in silicosis. The present research demonstrates key regulatory targets and propagated network of gene/miRNA/transcription factor (TF) with interactions responsible for silicosis by integrating publicly available microarray data using a systems biology approach. Array quality is assessed with the Quality Metrics package of Bioconductor, limma package, and the network is constructed using Cytoscape. We observed and enlist 235 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) having up-regulation expression (85 nos) and down-regulation expression (150 nos.) in silicosis; and 24 TFs for the regulation of these DEGs entangled with thousands of miRNAs. Functional enrichment analysis of the DEGs enlighten that, the maximum number of DEGs are responsible for biological process viz, Rab proteins signal transduction (11 nos.) and Cellular Senescence (20 nos.), whereas IL-17 signaling pathway (16 nos.) and Signalling by Nuclear Receptors (14 nos.) etc. are Biological Pathway involving more DEGs. From the identified 1100 high target microRNA (miRNA)s involved in silicosis, 1055 miRNAs are found to relate with down-regulated genes and 847 miRNAs with up-regulated genes. The CDK19 gene (Up-regulated) is associated with 617 miRNAs whereas down-regulated gene ARID5B is regulated by as high as 747 high target miRNAs. In Prediction of Small-molecule signatures, maximum scoring small-molecule combinations for the DEGs have shown that CGP-60774 (with 20 combinations), alvocidib (with 15 combinations) and with AZD-7762 (24 combinations) with few other drugs having the high probability of success.

The stability of two sequential moving bed bioreactor systems operated in anaerobic–anoxic–aerobic continuous moving bed bioreactor (CMBR: R1–R2–R3) and semi-continuous fed batch moving bed bioreactor (FMBR: B1–B2–B3) modes was assessed for phenol shock load (PSL) applications in the presence of thiocyanate and ammonia. Both the systems were exposed to 3000 mg phenol/L (PSL-I) and 3500 mg phenol/L (PSL-II) for 3 days each from initial 2500 mg phenol/L without any intermediate concentration at 6 days HRT (hydraulic retention time). The effect of PSL-I on R1 was reversible within 10–12 days. At PSL-II, R1 required 2 days stop of feed for stability and resumed removal efficiency of phenol (15%) and COD (3%). R2 remained robust to sustain both PSLs and recovered within 15 days from peak influent concentrations of 1727 mg phenol/L (removal: 67%) and 324 mg SCN−-/L (removal: 68–70%). In B1, effluent COD increased by 2%, though effluent phenol decreased by 3% than the pre-shock condition after PSL-I exposure. B2 acted similar to R2 when exposed to PSLs. The effect of PSL-I on R3 and B3 was negligible. However, at PSL-II R3 became vulnerable for nitrification, whereas phenol, COD and SCN− removal remained unaffected. In B3, PSL-II caused a decrease in phenol, SCN− and NH+4−N removal. In B3, stop of feed for 4 days also did not improve nitrification. The performance of the CMBR system was better than that of the FMBR system for organic shock load exposure in the presence of multiple pollutants.

Mining activity for extraction of the underground minerals for industrial operation and economic growth of a country is inevitable. After successful extraction of the minerals, the fine dumping contents termed as mine tailings (MT) with scattered traces of residual minerals, dig up the soil, and a disturbed ecosystem is left unattended and often without any treatment. This leads to serious threats to the surrounding ecosystems due to the presence of various toxic, primary and secondary elements in the form of organic/inorganic pollutants. In the present study, we considered MTs from three mining sites, namely, Nandini Limestone Mine, Limestone Century Cement Mine and Dalli Rajhara Iron Mine located in Chhattisgarh, India. Lead and iron along with sulfate are detected at high concentrations from the three sites. The laboratory acclimatized culture mixed with fresh MTs at four ratios (3:1, 2:1, 1:1 and 1:2) are exposed to three different environments, namely, anaerobic, anoxic and aerobic for determining the treatment potential. Microbial study confirms the presence of iron resistant microbial species namely, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus megaterium, Bordetella ansorpi and Sinorhizobium meliloti as well as lead resistance possessing microbes Bacillus thuringiensis, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens in the acclimatized reactor originated from MTs. Lead and iron resistant species are identified in all the sites capable of MTs treatment and at the ratio of 3:1, 2:1, 1:1 all the reactors provided similar performance, whereas there is a drop in performance efficiency of all the reactors at the ratio of 2:1. Therefore, with acclimatized indigenous culture, bioremediation of MTs rich in lead and iron is feasible in all three environments.

The present study gives a description on air quality index (AQI) for three major cities of Chhattisgarh namely, Raipur, Bilaspur and Raigarh. Major parameter considered for AQI computation are suspended particulate matter (SPM), respiratory particulate matter (RSPM), nitrogen oxide (NO₂) and sulfur dioxide (SO₂). The subindices, I_NO2, I_SO2, I_RSPM and I_SPM, for all these cities range good to unhealthy zone. SPM and RSPM play principal role governing AQI. AQI for Raipur, Bilaspur and Raigarh is in very poor and unhealthy zone with high value of 380, 308 and 223, respectively. Raipur being the capital city runs larger number of vehicles with higher population contributing higher environmental loading and finally high AQI. AQI of Raipur dramatically increased from 243 (2001) to more than 300 in next year and sustained. The climatic condition, industrial & mining activity and vehicular activity of the locality and state are mostly responsible for high AQI in the cities.