Background: Aquatic ecosystems are an important source of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) that can cause different diseases in human. Since culture of mycobacteria needs long-term incubation, fast-growing microorganisms and contaminants in the environment usually prevents the isolation of mycobacteria. Here, we compare different treatment protocols and describe a method that increases the rec...

In recent times, biotechnological applications of microbial lipases in synthesis of many organic molecules have rapidly increased in non-aqueous media. Microbial lipases are the 'working horses' in biocatalysis and have been extensively studied when their exceptionally high stability in non-aqueous media has been discovered. Stability of lipases in organic solvents makes them commercially feasi...

Rat lenses were incubated for 24 hr in media with various concentrations of potassium and a constant concentration of sodium. The media were prepared by adding potassium chloride to a basic 300 mOsm TC-199 medium. Concentrations of potassium up to 100 mM were produced with a maximum osmolarity of 500 mOsm. The content of lens water remained constant in all media even though the content of potas...

Conventional approaches to stormwater quality evaluation combine continuous flow rate monitoring and automated sample collection for chemical analysis to derive an event mean concentration for each pollutant of concern. This approach requires expensive flow monitoring and automated sample collection equipment and the costly analysis of high numbers of water samples. Consequently, such monitorin...

The use of Pfizer selective enterococcus (PSE) agar with the membrane filter technique for the enumeration of fecal streptococci is limited due to the inability of the characteristic black precipitate, indicative of esculin hydrolysis, to diffuse from the medium through the membrane. A modification of the membrane filter technique that consisted of placing the membrane on PSE agar and overlayin...

Chemical analysis revealed that water samples collected from Wadi El-Natrun Lakes were highly alkaline, of pH ranging from 8.4 –9.5 and of high levels of total soluble salts, chlorides, sodium and potassium. Water collected from El-Zugm Lake showed the highest levels of organic matter, sodium, calcium, magnesium and chlorides among the 8 lakes investigated. On the other hand, some parameters sh...

In two independent experiments, acclimatized chicory plants were transferred into an aeroponic system and to the soil. Then, the effects of biofertilizer (Nitrokara) and culture filtrate of Piriformospora indica were investigated on some plant characteristics in both aeroponic and soil cultivation system under greenhouse conditions. The plants were foliar sprayed with three different biofertili...

Exopolymer-producing bacteria can be used to modify soil profiles for enhanced oil recovery or bioremediation. Understanding the mechanisms associated with biomass plug development and propagation is needed for successful application of this technology. These mechanisms were determined from packed-bed and micromodel experiments that simulate plugging in porous media. Leuconostoc mesenteroides w...

Some physical, chemical and biological properties of raw water collected from Caroni River in Central Trinidad and raw wastewater from Angostura Distillery in North Trinidad were measured in the laboratory. In addition, the properties of the water effluent obtained by passing the raw Caroni River water through various sand-clay filter media that differed in the proportions of sand and clay by v...

The drinking water from a small drinking water system contained arsenic in a concentration of about 50 μg/L. Chemical analyses showed that the pentavalent form of arsenic was present. Since the MCL value is 10 μg/L, it was necessary to implement a technological treatment to make the water suitable for drinking. In order to do so, two technologies were suggested: activated alumina and α-FeOOH (T...