Advances in Research

Liquid wastewater is essentially the water disposal of the community after the pure water has been used in a variety of applications. In recent years, heavy metal concentrations, besides other pollutants, have increased to reach dangerous levels for living environment in many regions. Among the heavy metals lead has the most damaging effects on human health. It can enter a human body through uptake of food (65%), water (20%) and air (15%).  With this background certain low cost and easily available biosorbent like Olea Europaea was used and reported in this study. The scope of the present study is to remove Lead from its aqueous solution using Olea Europaea Resin as biosorbent. The Langmuir, Freundlich, Tempkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) models were used to describe the biosorption equilibrium of Lead Olea EuropaeaResin biosorbent.The results showed that the biosorption capacity of Olea Europaea Resin biosorbent was more for Lead removal around 34.2 mg/g and the biosorption followed the Langmuir isotherm. The kinetic models showed that the pseudo-second order rate expression was found to represent well with the biosorption data for the biosorbent.

Coagulation is a simple and widely used method for water and wastewater treatment. Chemical coagulants, on the other hand, not only produce vast volumes of toxic sludge, but they also have negative impacts on living organisms. This study demonstrates the use of neem tree leaf and banana leaf powders as natural coagulants for the treatment of dairy effluent. The jar test was used to determine the pH, turbidity, and metal ion content of the treated samples. The biocoagulants were experimented at a rate of 100 mg/L, 200 mg/L, and 300 mg/L at pH of 5, 6, and 7. The levels of turbidity, sodium (Na), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), barium (Ba), lithium (Li), and copper (Cu) were measured after the treatment process. Turbidity was reduced by 52%, and coagulants at 200 mg/L and 300 mg/L were more successful at removing metal ions from dairy effluent except in copper, where 100 mg/L was shown to be more effective. In the scattering between adjacent, similarly charged particles, the zeta potential reveals the strength of repulsive powers. There are more dispersion and suspension rates in the treatment of dairy wastewater using banana and neem leaf biocoagulants. Neem tree leaf and banana leaf powders were efficient and cost-effective eco-friendly biocoagulants for the treatment of dairy effluent.

The main objective of the study was to determine the impact of the drought on sorghum production and its adaptation strategies to overcome the impacts. The sorghum farmers of the Baki and Ruqi villages under the Baki districts were the respondents of the study. the study was conducted from 16 February 2022 – 1 January 2023, from the population, the study selected 109 sample sizes to represent the population by using the Slovin formula with the maximum acceptable error of 5%. The sampling procedure was non-probability particularly purposive sampling. fifteen major drought impacts faced by sorghum farmers were identified in the study. A four-point rating scale was used to measure the extent of drought impact, and based on the scale score, the farmers were categorized. Moreover, Drought Impact Index (DII) was calculated to rank the selected impacts. the highest proportion of sorghum farmers (78 percent) faced high drought impacts on the production of sorghum. Among the 15 selected drought impact the highest drought impact index (DII) was found for ‘Crop failure’ which is (DII 327) and the lowest was “increase the unemployment” with a score of (DII 279). The most prioritized suggestion adaptation strategies regarding the solution of the drought impacts were “Drought-tolerant crop varieties” followed by “Use of short-duration crop varieties” “water harvest for irrigation use”, and “weather forecasts and early warnings system”.  The study recommends the adaptation of drought-resistant crop varieties, short-duration crops, the establishment of weather forecasts and early warning systems, and water harvesting for irrigation use to adapt the climatic shocks.

Roughly over 700 million individuals suffer from a mental illness globally. In the United States alone, over 45 million individuals are afflicted with a mental disorder at any given point in their lives.  It is because of this that new methods of current therapies should be considered.  To date, major depression disorder (MAD), anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are treated with Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs). While current treatment shows some effectiveness, there are many negative and unfavorable side effects in addition to effectiveness being short in duration.  Currently, researchers have discovered the substantial benefits of utilizing psychedelic drugs under a controlled environment. Research has demonstrated favorable outcomes in the use of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) to treat many of these mental health disorders.  PAP is the supervised use of psychedelic drugs such as MDMA, psilocybin, LSD, and Ketamine by psychiatrists to patients as part of psychotherapy.  Under supervision, patients ingest a psychedelic drug consisting as part of the psychotherapeutic process. Combined with talk therapy, patients are observed for a therapeutic reaction. The three mental disorders that will be highlighted in this paper include MAD, anxiety, and PTSD. The psychedelic drugs featured in this paper include psilocybin, 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), ayahuasca, and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Naturalistic psychedelic use demonstrates to have astounding and fast results in mental health disorders.  A cross-sectional online survey-based study conducted confirms these findings in a cohort of psychedelic users with mental health disorders. The goal of this study is to shed light on the new and alternative treatment modalities to treat mental health illnesses.  Psychedelics are the new promise to the field of psychiatry and that spark of promise falls under the umbrella of psychedelic drugs.  Psychedelics serve as new tools for curtailing psychotherapy.

The present paper aimed at reporting the traditional indigenous knowledge related to the preparation of medicines by a primitive tribe of Uttarakhand i.e., the Buksa tribe. In this study 109 plant species were recorded which belongs to 53 families. The Buksa tribe uses the plant to prepare the medicines in order to cure many diseases. Herbs are most used plant type. It has been noticed that leaves are most used part of the plant for the preparation of medicines by the tribe. The Family Fabaceae (18%) followed by Malvaceae and Moraceae (13% each) and Apocynaceae (11%) were the dominant family of plants used by the tribe. It has been noticed that the knowledge related to the ethnobotany is only bound to the old agers. The young generation is lacking this knowledge. Buksas are used to be the best medical healers but passing of knowledge from one generation to other generation is decreasing. Their indigenous knowledge of preparing the medicine is also not documented earlier by them. The traditional knowledge which passes from one generation to another verbally is now in a disappearing state. Thus, it is the need of the hour to document the precious knowledge which can be used by the future generations.