India Science Wire Archives - InnoHEALTH magazine

Faster Diagnostic Tests Developed for TB

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 09:10:58 +0000

Tuberculosis (TB) claims two million lives each year globally. Early detection and treatment are crucial to prevent spread, outbreaks, and development of resistance. Scientists at the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) Haryana and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi have jointly developed highly sensitive and rapid tests for detection of tuberculosis infection in lungs and surrounding membranes.

TB spreads from one person to another through inhalation of infected air. When the bacteria attacks the lungs, the disease manifests itself in a pulmonary form. It is the most common form of TB. But about 15% of new patients in 2016 were found infected with extrapulmonary TB where organs other than lungs may be affected. Till now, detection of all forms of TB is mostly based on sputum smear microscopy and culture tests. While smear microscopy is simple and rapid, it has low sensitivity. Culture test is highly sensitive but takes 2 to 8 weeks to get results.

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Also read: India aims to eliminate TB by 2025

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Conventional diagnostic tests use antibodies for detection of bacterial proteins in sputum samples. However, such tests suffer from limitations including batch-to-batch variability, limited shelf-life, and cost.

To address these problems, the researchers have now developed two DNA aptamer-based tests – Aptamer Linked Immobilized Sorbent Assay (ALISA) and Electro-Chemical Sensor (ECS) for detection of a bacterial protein in the sputum.

Aptamers are DNA, RNA or peptide molecules that bind to specific molecular targets. They are known to bind the right target (which defines sensitivity) and at the same time rule out any non-specific binding to other targets (specificity). The performance of the newly developed tests was compared with antibody-based tests in 314 sputum samples. ALISA showed 92% sensitivity while the antibody-based method was 68% sensitive.

The research team used ALISA to detect a bacterial protein, HspX. This method, however, took five hours to yield results because it requires sputum immobilization which is a time-consuming step. So the team made efforts to develop a simplified ECS test. In this, aptamer was immobilized with an electrode and upon binding to HspX in the sputum sample, a drop in the electrical signal was recorded.

The ECS test can be used for screening of samples in the field as it takes as less as 30 minutes to deliver results. It is highly sensitive and could detect HspX protein in 91% of the samples tested in this study. In addition, there is no need for sputum sample preparation which is a complex and time-consuming process.

The aim is to develop aptamers for detection of multiple bacterial proteins simultaneously which is expected to lead a more robust test said Dr. Tarun Sharma, a member of the research team. The aptamer-based screening tests for pulmonary TB, pleural TB, and TB meningitis hold immense promise for a country like India, where the disease burden in high and primary healthcare is only a dream for many. The ECS platform could be used in a mobile screening van at the point-of-care explained Dr. Jaya Tyagi, who led the research team AIIMS hoping that these tests are adopted by the TB programs in the country.

The group used the aptamer-based test also for the detection of pleural TB, the second most prevalent form of extrapulmonary TB. Early diagnosis of pleural TB is limited by the availability of a sensitive and rapid test. The performance of existing DNA-based tests varies widely due to low bacterial load in the pleural fluid sample.

There is no test for making a confirmed diagnosis of pleural TB. Even WHO-endorsed Gene Xpert has a poor sensitivity of 22%. On the contrary, the aptamer-based test for pleural TB has shown 93% sensitivity and is cost-effective explained Dr. Sagarika Haldar, a member of the research team.

The research teams were led by Dr. Jaya Tyagi (AIIMS), Dr. Tarun Sharma and Dr. Sagarika Haldar (THSTI) including other colleagues from the institutes. The pulmonary TB results were published in the journal ACS Infectious Diseases and the pleural TB results were published in Analytical Biochemistry. The studies were funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Department of Science and Technology, and THSTI.

By India Science Wire

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Young Indian Innovators Compete with Best Brains

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 10:32:14 +0000

Young Indian Innovators all set to compete with best brains from 78 countries

Obesity is on the rise globally, emerging as a major public health challenge. While sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy diets are major causes, there are several other contributory factors which are largely ignored.

Obesogens are a class of what are called endocrine disruptors. These chemicals inappropriately alter lipid homeostasis, change metabolic set points as well as regulation of appetite and satiety to promote fat accumulation. They are found abundantly in the environment including plastic bottles, metal food cans, and detergents and are, therefore, difficult to avoid.

Tanya Goyal and S.M.C. Ganesh from Maharaja Agrasen Public School in Delhi has found that freshwater algae named Chlorella Pituita could be a solution. “We have conducted four experiments including triglyceride assay to check fat storage and expression of genes associated with adipogenesis and fat accumulation. The results showed that the algae helped in the regulation of genes against activation induced by obesogens,” the children said while speaking to India Science Wire.

The two went to America and made a presentation at the Global Meet for Young Innovators organized by Intel at Pittsburg from May 13-18. As many as 1800 young innovators from 78 countries were competing for about USD 34 million in awards.

Antara Raaghavi Bhattacharya of C.D. Somani Memorial School, Mumbai, has been trying to analyze data from NASA’s exoplanet archive and Exoplanet Orbit Database. “In the last few years, many exoplanetary systems have been discovered, especially by NASA’s Kepler mission. Much recent work has focused on finding other Earth-like planets within potentially habitable zones around stars. However, a lot of exoplanetary data has still not been fully analyzed. I am looking at those data”.

In all, 25 school children from India participated in the competition. The other projects presented included a diagnostic tool to identify spatial abilities in scholastically classified slow learners, a new approach to help curb malignancy of tumor cells, a portable real-time data acquisition device for lake water quality monitoring and mapping and a project for non-invasive detection of asymptomatic heart attacks using bio-electric. One of the selected projects was designed by Antara Raaghavi Bhattacharya – for the better understanding of the formation and evolution of planetary systems.

The programme is part of a partnership between the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Indo-US Science and Technology Forum and Intel, known as the Initiative for Research and Innovation in Science (IRIS). It is conducted annually for school students from class 8 to 12. They compete in 17 subject categories.

Flagging off the 25 strong young innovators team at a function, DST Secretary Ashutosh Sharma expressed confidence that students would bring a lot of laurels to the country. So far, 115 Indian students have won 132 awards, competing against more than six million children of their age group from different parts of the world.

(By India Science Wire)

Also Read: Innovation Pitches from Global & Indian Companies

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Distributed incubation may help promote grassroots innovations

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 07:33:39 +0000

Several grassroots innovations which we often hear about failing to make it to the market. This is due to a number of factors including lack of access to formal incubation facilities, venture capital, and prototyping and mentoring. In order to overcome these hurdles, experts have suggested setting up of special purpose incubators that can provide necessary technical and mentoring support to innovators in the non-formal sector.
“The idea is to develop some kind of distributed incubation and to nurture ventures in their respective regions, in the spirit of in-situ incubation,” said Dr. Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST) while presenting recommendations emerging from roundtables held as part of the Festival of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Rashtrapati Bhawan few months back.

It was also suggested that since most innovative products fail to compete with large companies and against established products and brands, the government must develop norms for a preference in public procurement for such products.
Besides distributed incubation facilities, the roundtable also came up with the idea of ‘value addition centres’ which should be open for all innovators so that prototypes of innovations could be further developed and converted into marketable products. At present, academic and research institutions are involved in developing prototypes only and innovators have to look elsewhere for fabrication. Commercial fabricators accept orders for large quantities. “Innovators need special fabrication centers where limited units of a finished product can be developed for a pilot study, market research and test commercialization,” Dr. Sharma added.

Also Read: Innovation is the New Buzz Word

Innovators at FINE 2018
There is a need for testing and calibration of technologies developed by a large number of innovators. However, many innovators and startups do not have adequate funds for Distributed incubation may help promote grassroots innovations By Dinesh C Sharma this. A fund through which the testing and calibration of technologies could be facilitated is required.
In order to correctly ascertain the needs of the people, an appropriate need-gap analysis is essential to guide the R&D efforts in the right direction. If the industry could be involved during the initial phase of product development, the chances of the products’ acceptance by the people increase manifold. Hence, industry and R&D linkages at institutions be facilitated.
The roundtable on sustainable agriculture recommended adoption of one innovator by every agriculture institute and university. The Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR) already runs a program called Innovator Farmers – IARI Fellows. It was recommended that this scheme should be extended to central and state agriculture universities for innovations in agriculture and allied activities.
“We have seen that coming together of innovators from informal sector and institutions in the formal sector can help disseminate innovations on a wider scale,” observed Dr. Anil K Gupta, Executive Vice Chairperson of National Innovation Foundation which organized the innovation festival in collaboration with the Office of the President and DST.
“The exhibition of innovations held at Rashtrapati Bhavan has demonstrated to industry, government and civil society how innovators are collaborating for a creative and compassionate India,” President Ram Nath Kovind said while speaking at the concluding session.
However, he said, merely showcasing innovations was not the sole purpose of this Festival.
(By India Science Wire)

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Healthcare Newscope

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Fri, 11 May 2018 10:44:32 +0000

New Initiatives to Boost Technology Incubators

The government would set up 15 new biotechnology incubators and another 15 new technology business incubators in this financial year. The new initiatives spelt out in the budget is designed to help translate new technologies developed by biotech and other companies into products of use to society, said Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Dr Harsh Vardhan. Apart from the incubators, the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) will support setting up of 3,000 additional Start-ups in different parts of the country.

(The article is from India Science Wire)

NEET’s Qualification Mandatory for Foreign Medical Course

The Indian Citizens / Overseas Citizen of India intending to obtain the primary medical qualification from any medical institution outside India, on or after May 2018, shall have to mandatorily qualify the NEET for admission to MBBS courses abroad. The result of NEET shall be deemed to be treated as the Eligibility Certificate for such persons, provided that such persons fulfil the eligibility criteria for admission to the MBBS course prescribed in the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997.

A common National Entrance Exam viz. National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test has made mandatory for admission to all medical courses in the country. Indian students can also pursue medical education abroad and have to qualify a Screening Test called Foreign Medical Graduates Exam (FMGE), for registration to practice in India after obtaining the primary medical qualification (MBBS) overseas.

Encouragement of AYUSH Medicines

Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, an autonomous body under the Ministry of AYUSH has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine, the United Kingdom on Cooperation in the field of Research and Education in Homoeopathic Medicine.

The MoU aims at strengthening & developing co-operation in the field of Research & Education in Homoeopathic Medicine at International level. This encompasses joint research projects; exchange of information; organization of seminars/workshops etc, stated by Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH, Shripad Yesso Naik.

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National Technology Awards 2018

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Fri, 11 May 2018 06:58:39 +0000

President Ram Nath Kovind presented the National Award for successful commercialization of indigenous technology to Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech Ltd. and Ernakulam-based Agappe Diagnostics Ltd.

Bharat Biotech Ltd. has won the award for taking to the market a vaccine for rotavirus disease. The vaccine, Rotavac, is currently licensed in two countries, while the grant of license is under process in 30 other countries. It has also been prequalified by the World Health Organisation (WHO), making it eligible for procurement by UN and other humanitarian organizations for their public health vaccine programmes.

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Agappe Diagnostics Ltd. has won the award for commercializing an automated cartridge-based specific protein analyzer. The instrument has become highly popular as it is smaller and cheaper compared to similar machines available from multinational companies.

The President presented the awards to mark the 20th National Technology Day.

He also gave away national awards to five medium and small-scale enterprises for commercializing indigenous technologies. The winners are Synkromax Biotech, ANTS Ceramics, 3B Blackbio Biotech, Envision Scientific and Hind High Vacuum.

Synkromax got the award for marketing a life-saving implant developed by IIT Madras, while ANTS Ceramics got the award for commercializing high-end zirconia ceramic products and carbon sulphur analysis crucibles and 3B National Technology Awards presented Blackbio Biotech for working on a kit for diagnosis and prognosis of chronic myeloid leukemia.

Envision Scientific got the award for commercializing an indigenously developed drug eluting stent for diabetic patients and Hind High Vacuum got for commercializing thin film metallized alumina circuit for space applications.

Three start-ups got award for developing technologies that have commercial potentials – Astrome Technologies at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, for its work on GigaMesh, which is said to be the first point to multi-point millimeter wave wireless communication solution in the world; CyCa Onco Solutions at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar, for developing two drug delivery devices for delivery of anticancer drug, Crisplatin; and Xcellence in Bio Innovation and Technologies at BITS Pilani Hyderabad campus, for developing a point of care device for testing antibiotic sensitive of pathogens causing urinary tract infections.

Speaking on the occasion, the President noted that the National Technology Day was landmark day for the country as it was on this day two decades ago that the Pokhran nuclear tests took place and demonstrated India’s capacity as a nuclear weapons state as well as a mature and responsible technology power, capable of harnessing sensitive knowledge.

He said technology was a destiny for the country as all national programmes required a force multiplier in the form of technology. But, at the same time, it must also be about equity. “Its (technology’s) fruits must be accessible to all. Finance and resources should be available to all technologists who may wish to turn entrepreneurs – and to migrate from the lab room to the shop floor.” Above all, the President said, gender equity must be integrated with technology production and technology sharing.

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30 min of sunbath a week can make infants’ vitamin-D sufficient

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Tue, 08 May 2018 09:41:17 +0000

It used to be a routine practice in India to massage infants and give them a sunbath. But changing lifestyles in recent decades have confined kids to indoors. This has led to the emergence of Vitamin D deficiency as a major problem among infants.

A study from Delhi has suggested an estimate for the minimum duration for which infants need to be exposed to sunlight every day to achieve sufficient levels of vitamin-D in their body.

Doctors at the University College of Medical Sciences, New Delhi enrolled 100 infants and asked their mothers to record the time, duration, and the body area exposed during sunbath every day starting 6 weeks of age.

The study found that an exposure of as low as about 30 minutes of sunlight per week with about 40% of the child’s body exposed to the sunlight can help achieve adequate vitamin-D status at 6 months of age. The researchers also found that the ideal time to give the sunbath is between 10 AM and 3 PM.

Also Read: India’s Nutrition Atlas Goes Live

“This small intervention can help improve levels of vitamin D in infants without the need for supplements or formula feed. And can possibly benefit more than 16 million babies born in the country every year,” Dheeraj Shah, professor of pediatrics at the University College of Medicine Sciences, New Delhi, who is a co-author of the study.

The study took into account factors like the skin color of infants and season of sunbath. About 90% of the mothers in the study were themselves vitamin D deficient. Mothers who were on vitamin D supplements were excluded so that the study results remained unaffected. The journal Indian Pediatrics publishes the study.

“We are planning further studies with a larger group of infants to test it as an intervention therapy”, said Piyush Gupta, corresponding author of the paper. The skin synthesis with Vitamin D when ultraviolet rays from the sun convert a molecule,7-dehydrocholesterol, on the skin into an inactive form of the vitamin. This enters the blood circulation and converts to its active form in the liver and kidney.

Several studies over the years have shown that more than 50% of the Indian population is vitamin D deficient. This is a matter of concern, especially for infants. Because Vitamin D is important for calcium absorption, normal growth and development, and maintenance of bone health and hair follicles. Insufficient vitamin D levels cause lethargy, irritability, and a predisposition to infections. Extreme Deficiency of vitamin D can cause rickets which results in malformation of leg bones.

Umesh Kapil, professor of Gastroenterology at the AIIMS, New Delhi, felt that the proposed strategy may not be feasible in winters when the temperature remains low. While agreeing with Kapil, Shah said, “We have reported that for the winter months. If the child is fully clothed with only face and hands are exposed, the required sunbath is calculated to be two hours per week or approximately 17 minutes per day.”

Ramesh Agarwal, professor of Pediatrics AIIMS New Delhi, suggested that randomized control trials must be done to test this intervention as a therapy. He also highlights the need to evaluate the safety of sun exposure in relation to hyperthermia, burns and skin cancer in infants.

(Shared from India Science Wire)

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Alcohol addiction: Counselling can be of great help

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 10:31:46 +0000

Alcohol abuse contributes to illness and premature deaths in a big way. It is also associated with several socio-economic consequences such loss of earnings and domestic violence.

Over the years, several measures have been launched to overcome the problem including imposition of ban on alcohol sale and setting up of de-addiction centres to help the drinkers.

A group of researchers drawn from several national and international institutions have now found that it is possible to address the issue in a significantly effective manner at low costs. They have found that lot of benefit can be derived by merely equipping public health workers with different counselling techniques.

The study was conducted at 10 public primary healthcare centres in Goa. A total of 377 heavy drinkers in the age group of 18 to 65 years were enrolled. They were randomized into two groups- one receiving just the routine care and the other who also received counselling for two months. Their alcohol use was measured after 12 months.

In the group that received counseling, as much as 68 per cent of the men were found to have reduced their consumption to the safe level, as against 40 per cent in the case of the group that received only the routine care. The counselling programme was also not too intense. It consisted of just one to three sessions.

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The counselors were also just non-specialist health workers. They had no prior professional training or qualification in the field of mental health. However, they were given rigorous training on various aspects of counselling and they gave advice on how to deal with craving and motivated patients to quit drinking.

Speaking to India Science Wire, Vikram Patel, professor at the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine of the Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts in USA, who was the corresponding author for the study, said, “Given the great social and health harms associated with heavy drinking in India, and the effectiveness of this relatively brief and cheap treatment to reduce drinking levels,the government needs to scale up this treatment by training primary care health workers across the country”.

Besides Dr. Patel, the study team included Abhijit Nadkarni, Helen A Weiss, Benedict Weobong, David McDaid, Daisy R Singla, A-La Park, Bhargav Bhat, Basavaraj Katti, Jim McCambridge, Pratima Murthy, Michael King, G Terence Wilson, Betty Kirkwood, Christopher G Fairburn, and Richard Velleman.

National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru and Sangath, a NGO in Goa participated in the study. They collaborated with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford, University of Bath, University of York, University College London and London School of Economics and Political Science in United Kingdom, University of Toronto in Canada, Rutgers University in New Jersey, and Harvard Medical School in United States of America. The Indian Council of Medical Research gave the ethical approval for conducting the trial.

(Article shared from India Science Wire)

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Smartcity development are heat islands

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 06:02:34 +0000

The phenomenon of urban heat islands, in which concrete and built areas experience higher temperatures than surrounding rural areas, may get accentuated with rapid urbanization. This is the conclusion of a new study of urban areas selected for development of smart cities. The study, which covered 89 of 100 areas selected for development of smart cities, has found that agriculture and irrigation are two dominant drivers of urban heat islands or UHI in India. In addition, significant presence of atmospheric aerosols – mainly pollutants – over urban areas can influence UHI.

Moisture from irrigation canals and agriculture fields play a key role in keeping rural areas surrounding cities much cooler that urban areas, resulting cities becoming heat islands. In a heat island, temperature could be 1 to 6 degrees higher than surrounding areas. Remote sensing data and climate modelling were used to evaluate UHI across the country.

When the surrounding of non-urban areas have no agriculture during summer, cities are relatively cooler during daytime. However, if the non-urban areas are under irrigated agriculture, cities are warmer than surroundings. This means UHI effect during day time is mainly driven by agriculture and irrigation. However, in the night-time, cities are significantly warmer than surroundings in both winter and summer seasons. Night time urban heat is mainly driven by the amount of heat stored in buildings and other impervious surfaces.

Urban areas located in highly irrigated regions – Indo-Gangetic Plain and north-west India (Haryana and Punjab) – show UHI intensity of 3 to 5 degrees. During summer season (April and May), when air temperature is at the peak, land surface temperature becomes is higher than that of the post monsoon season in absence of agricultural operations. Moreover, amount of moisture and vegetation in non-urban areas are also limited as crops are largely harvested by the end of March and soil moisture is depleted due to high atmospheric water demands, the study said.

“While urban areas have experienced increased number of heat waves and temperature extremes in recent past, urban heat island effect driven by rapid urbanization can further worsen extreme hot conditions in cities,” pointed out Dr Vimal Mishra, a scientist at the Water and Climate Lab of Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, which did the study. The results of the study appeared in journal Scientific Reports on Wednesday.

The development of smart cities will result in rapid growth in urban infrastructure and population, leading to increases in UHI intensity. “Our results can provide policy insights for development of smart cities,” Dr Mishra said. “Considering night-time heating which could be significant during heat waves, measures such as passive cooling should be used. Building materials that absorb less heat and are sustainable can reduce the amount of heating caused by stored heat.” The presence of water bodies and vegetation in cities can also help reduce additional nighttime heating in urban heat islands.

The study team included Rahul Kumar and Vimmal Mishra (IIT Gandhinagar); Jonathan Buzan and Matthew Huber (Purdue University, USA); Rohini Kumar (UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany); and Drew Shindel (Duke University, USA).

(Article shared from India Science Wire)

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Forecast dengue spread

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 08:05:41 +0000

New method developed To forecast dengue spread

By Dr. Shikha T. Malik

Given its close link with both temperature and rainfall, it is possible to forecast outbreak of dengue. But for such disease forecasting to be effective it should be based on models specific for different climatic zones in the country, a new study has shown. The study has been jointly done by the Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Guwahati, in collaboration with scientists at the University of Liverpool.

Scientists have reached this conclusion after evaluating the relationship of climatic factors in the spread of dengue in different climatic zones in the country – Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Kerala. They focused on changes in a factor called ‘extrinsic incubation period (EIP) of the dengue virus by taking into account daily and monthly mean temperatures in these areas.
The extrinsic incubation period (EIP) is the time taken for incubation of the virus in the mosquito. During this period, after the mosquito draws virus rich blood meal, the virus escapes the gut and passes through the mosquito’s body and reaches it salivary glands. Once this happens, the mosquito is infectious and capable of transmitting the virus to a human host.

It has been found that climatic conditions play an important role in EIP. Lower temperatures (17–18 °C) result in longer EIPs thereby leading to decreased virus transmission. With increasing temperatures, feeding increases because of enhanced metabolism of the mosquito, leading to shorter EIPs. Even a 5-day decrease in the incubation period can hike transmission rate by three times, and with an increase in temperature from 17 to 30 °C, dengue transmission increases fourfold. However, a further increase in temperature beyond 35 °C is detrimental to the mosquito survival.
Dr. Shikha T. Malik The researchers observed that except for Gujarat which comprises of arid regions, there was a strong correlation between rainfall and dengue disease burden.

The study found that Kerala being warm (temperature range 23.5-30°C) and wet and with short EIPs (9-14 days) experiences the highest number of dengue cases.It has been found that EIP is the shortest during the monsoon season in most states and therefore there is an enhanced risk of dengue during this time.

This climate-based dengue forecasting model could help in planning effective and efficient disease control operations well in advance and optimize the use of resources meticulously.

With changes in temperature affecting the extrinsic incubation period of the virus, future changes in the climate might have a substantial effect on dengue and other vector borne disease burden in India. “Though such methods are in vogue for disease control operations, we are still in the initial stages of implementation of such strategic control methods,” Dr Rao told India Science Wire. Factors such as population density and migration also need to be included for future risk assessment studies. The study was published in journal Emerging Microbes & Infections.

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New method to remove harmful drugs from water

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 09:09:53 +0000

New method developed to remove harmful drugs from wastewater

Hospital wastewater is very toxic due to the presence of drugs in it which in turn leads to major environmental issues. A group of researchers from Belgium and India have developed a novel method of treating wastewater to get rid of such harmful substances from hospital waste. The wastewater may contain cytostatic drugs which are known to cause severe and irreversible damages to human body especially from hospitals specializing in cancer treatment.

Researchers have developed a slurry photocatalytic membrane reactor which involves a filtration process similar to the one used to purify drinking water. This device needs a light source like an LED to work. Scientists used a catalyst, titanium dioxide, to breakdown drugs. It is easily available, efficient, stable and not toxic. Monika Kundu Srivastava

The membrane used as a barrier to stop the drugs could be made up of a polymer or ceramic. Though polymers have small and distinct pore sizes and are capable of stopping the large-sized cytostatic drugs, previous studies have proved that ceramic membranes are able to withstand the inevitable `wear and tear’ associated with the filtration process better when these membranes also come in contact with various chemicals. Ceramic membranes were used in this study.

As waste water with cytostatic drugs enters photoreactor, the light source activates or ‘fires up’ the catalyst (titanium dioxide) breaking it up into two parts—titanium and ‘free’ oxygen. The ‘free’ oxygen then combines with the cytostatic drugs in waste water and breaks them into smaller parts thus making them ‘safer’.

If any drug particles are left unchanged, the membrane prevents them from passing through. Thereafter, the mixture goes into another part of the reactor where the catalyst is removed and re-circulated to the photoreactor. The results of this study were published in the journal Science of the Total Environment recently.

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