Umwelt- und analytische Toxikologie

Synthetic chemical mosquito repellents based on deet were discovered to be harmful to persons suffering from diseases such as urea cycle disorders and thus cause contraindication in humans. These worrisome conditions necessitated the search for natural mosquito repellents that is cheap, effective, non-toxic, environment-friendly, and biodegradable. The global needs inspired the passion to research on mosquito repellant gel formulation using carbopol 940 prepared from oils obtained from essential plant of lemongrass, black pepper, turmeric, ginger, nimes and garlic and further evaluating the formulated gels repellence, appearance, PH, viscosity, spread ability, and swelling index. The mosquito repellent potential was evaluated and simultaneously compared with the positive control (bnc). In many developing nations of the world including nigeria, majority of the people do not have access to mosquito net, expensive mosquito repellant creams, and miscellaneous physical methods, this optimized gel in this research were evaluated and found to be effectual, inexpensive, and easily accessible way to prevent mosquito-borne diseases with environmental friendly potential as a way of preventing outbreak of malaria, and other diseases.

The battle between food and fuel is intensifying as renewable energy sources are promoted and gradually replace fossil fuels. Therefore, due to unfavorable circumstances like restrictions in fertilizer and water availability or the presence of contaminants like hydrocarbons or heavy metals, energy crops may be produced on unproductive marginal land. Phytoremediation, or the use of plants to extract or immobilise toxins from soil that is contaminated with heavy metals, is one possibility. The oil derived from the seeds of the annual herbaceous plant Carthamus tinctorius L. makes superior oil for use in biofuel production. It also has a deep root system.

The development and promotion of novel and environmentally friendly technologies are necessary to address the fairly alarming and timely issue of aquatic environmental pollution. Water pollution includes a variety of typical pollutants that can enter aquatic ecosystems by a number of different paths, including wastewater, the atmosphere, ship emissions, and a number of other sources. The majority of these harmful substances are ingested by aquatic species, where they then bioaccumulate in tissues and go up the food chain in a process called biomagnification. These methods have the potential to have negative effects on natural ecosystem biochemical processes and organism physiology, which could have an indirect negative impact on human health.

Lead is one of the most abundant naturally occurring heavy metal. When it is in low concentration it is beneficial for the physiological and biochemical activities in living organisms, however when its concentration exceed up to a certain limit it cause the serious health problems. It is non-biodegradable poisonous metal, today it has become a global health issue. There is almost no function in the human body which is not affected by the lead toxicity. Developing countries use the lead for their beneficial purposes and it became a common environmental pollutant. However in developed countries the people take preventative measure and apply the management strategies to control the lead toxicity up to a certain limit. Lead is highly persistent in the environment and its continuous use raise the level of lead in every country, cause the serious threats such as carcinogenicity, renal failure, high blood pressure, brain damage, hematological effects, reproductive system damage both in men and women, heart diseases, bone screening, liver damage etc. The effect of lead can be decreased by the number of techniques used today such as chelatin therapy and different types of medications.

Thirty-two extractives of seven plants obtained using hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol were tested for their in vitro antifungal activity against the mycelial growth of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. Among these extractives, ethyl acetate extractives of onion seeds, chilli seeds and chilli pericarps and methanol extractives of chilli seeds and chilli pericarps exhibited more than 20% mycelial growth inhibition at a concentration of 0.5% level. Methanol extractives of Solanum viarum berries and ethyl acetate extractive of soybean leaves exhibited more than 20% mycelial growth inhibition at a concentration of 1.0% level. Thin layer chromatographic bioautography showed that hexane and ethyl acetate extractives of onion seeds, chilli seeds and chilli pericarps exhibited spore germination inhibition of Cladosporium cucumerinum at a dose of 1.0 mg.