In this study, we tested a radical gas-based decontamination technique to prevent possible DNA contamination by the air and/or equipment used in molecular experiments. We prepared 10(4) molecules of model DNA contaminant and placed the dried DNA into test tubes, which were then exposed to radical gas. Quantitative PCR analysis showed that, even after a short exposure time of 30 minutes, 99.54% ...

This paper presents an analysis of the site restoration techniques that may be employed in a variety of contaminated site cleanup programs. It is recognized that no single specific technology may be considered as a panacea for all contaminated site problems. An easy-to-use summary of the analysis of the important parameters that will help in the selection and implementation of one or more appro...

Prokaryotes in coastal sediments are fundamental players in the ecosystem functioning and regulate processes relevant in the global biogeochemical cycles. Nevertheless, knowledge on benthic microbial diversity patterns across spatial scales, or as function to anthropogenic influence, is still limited. We investigated the microbial diversity in two of the most chemically polluted sites along the...

Conventional biological treatment process is not very efficient for the treatment of petroleum refinery wastewater (PRW) that contains high-concentration of organic contaminants. Prior to biological treatment, an additional pretreatment process for PRW is required for the effluent to meet the discharge standards. While re-circulated bio-filter (RBF) has been applied as a pretreatment process in...

Post-fire runoff has the potential to be a large source of contaminants to downstream areas. However, the magnitude of this effect in urban fringe watersheds adjacent to large sources of airborne contaminants is not well documented. The current study investigates the impacts of wildfire on stormwater contaminant loading from the upper Arroyo Seco watershed, burned in 2009. This watershed is adj...

Freshwater impoundments at Savannah National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), South Carolina, provide an important habitat for wildlife species, but degraded sediment quality in the Savannah River downstream of the discharge from two impoundments have caused concern about potential contaminant problems within the impoundments. The quality of sediments from five impoundments (impoundments no. 1, 2, 6, 7, ...

BACKGROUND Despite the successful retrieval of genomes from past remains, the prospects for human palaeogenomics remain unclear because of the difficulty of distinguishing contaminant from endogenous DNA sequences. Previous sequence data generated on high-throughput sequencing platforms indicate that fragmentation of ancient DNA sequences is a characteristic trait primarily arising due to depur...

A system of impulsive ordinary differential equations is used to model the growth of microorganisms in a self-cycling fermentor. The microorganisms are being used to remove a non-reproducing contaminant that is limiting to growth at both high and low concentrations. Hence it is the concentration of the contaminant that triggers the emptying and refilling process. This model predicts that either...

Chlorinated solvents in the subsurface are a widespread problem with thousands of impacted sites in the United States. A large body of literature exists that evaluates treatment of chlorinated solvents using granular zero valent iron, which has been shown to treat chlorinated solvents via reductive dechlorination. Much of this literature is conducted within the context of permeable reactive bar...