Browsing by Author "S.P. Rai"

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A rapid and cost-effective method of genomic DNA isolation from cyanobacterial culture, mat and soil suitable for genomic fingerprinting and community analysis
(2007) A.K. Srivastava; A. Ara; P. Bhargava; Y. Mishra; S.P. Rai; L.C. Rai
This study presents a phenol and lysozyme free protocol for genomic DNA isolation of cyanobacteria from culture, mats and soil. For an efficient and pure DNA isolation from cyanobacteria having tough cell wall, extra steps of glass beading and Sepharose 4B purification were added. The modified method gave a higher yield of DNA than the phenol: chloroform extraction method. Four parameters selected for purity testing of the isolated DNA were: (i) restriction digestion with Hind III, (ii) randomly amplified polymorphic DNA-PCR of axenic culture of cyanobacteria to assess phylogenetic relatedness, (iii) denaturing gradient gel electrophoretic (DGGE) analysis of cyanobacterial mat and soil to ascertain the applicability of the isolated DNA for community analysis, and (iv) sequencing of partial 16S rDNA of Hapalosiphon intricatus BHULCR1, Anabaena doliolum LCR1, Anabaena oryzae LCR2, Aulosira fertilissima LCR4, and Tolypothrix tenuis LCR7 and BLAST analysis to confirm their cyanobacterial identity. Data generated from above analyses lead us to conclude that the modified method in question is rapid, cost effective, health and time conscious and promising for genetic fingerprinting and community analysis of cyanobacteria from diverse habitats. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.
Cell mediated and humoral immunity in chronic suppurative otitis media
(1995) M.K. Agarwal; S.P. Rai; R.M. Gupta
The present study was carried out on 75 patients suffering from chronic otitis media and 25 healthy age and sex matched controls. The T. rosette percentage were depressed in malnourished pretreatment test cases and showed depressed cell mediated immunity (CMI), but once malnutrition was treated the CMI was improved. Anergy to challenge dose of 2:4 DNCB was not observed in any groups. Weak response was observed in 4% of controls, 18.7% of chronic otitis media patients and 5.7% of post treatment cases. Serum IgG, IgA and IgM levels were elevated in chronic otitis media patients from controls but once the infections were eliminated by treatment their values became insignificant (p 0.05) from controls. Presence of malnutrition significantly contributed to suppression of CMI response but no suppression of humoral immunity was observed. © 1995 Association of Otolaryngologists of India.
Cell mediated and humoral immunity in chronic suppurative otitis media
(1994) M.K. Agarwal; S.P. Rai; R.M. Gupta
The present study was carried out on 75 patients suffering from chronic otitis media and 25 healthy age and sex matched controls. The T. rosette percentage were depressed in malnouirished immunity (CMI), but once malnutrition was treated the CMI was improved. Anergy to challenge does of 2 : 4 DNCB was not observed in any groups. Weak response was observed in 4% of controls, 18.7% of chronic otitis media patients and 5.7% of post treatment cases. Serum IgG, IgA and IgM levels were elevated in chronic otitis media patients from controls but once the infections were eliminated by treatment their values became insignificant (p 0.05) from controls. Presence of Malnutrition significantly contributed to suppression of CMI response but no suppression of humoral immunity was observed. © 1994 Association of Otolaryngologists of India.
Impact of anthropogenic and geological factors on groundwater hydrochemistry in the unconfined aquifers of Indo-Gangetic plain
(Elsevier Ltd, 2022) Anant Gautam; S.C. Rai; S.P. Rai; Kripa Ram; Sanny
This study attempts to analyze the impact of anthropogenic activities and geological factors on the hydrogeochemical characteristics of groundwater of the Bist-Doab region of Punjab, India. Various bivariate plots, PCA, HCA, and Piper trilinear were employed to analyze hydrogeochemical processes and the association between the physicochemical parameters. The results reveal the dominance of Ca2+- Mg2+ - HCO3− type of groundwater at most of the places, attributed to the chemical weathering of carbonate and silicate minerals present in the geological setting. The process of urbanization, industrialization, over-extraction of groundwater, application of NPK fertilizers, and discharge of urban and industrial wastes were found to be responsible for altering groundwater chemistry. The bivariate plot of (SO42− + HCO3−) vs. (Ca2+ + Mg2+) reveals that both the process of ion exchange and reverse ion-exchange have contributed to the hydrochemistry of groundwater in the region. Analysis of saturation index revealed the predominance of calcite and dolomite minerals in characterizing groundwater in an unconfined aquifer setting in the area. The findings conclude that although geogenic factors attribute hydro-chemical characteristics to the groundwater; anthropogenic activities accelerate the pace of rock-water interaction in the aquifer environment. Controlling rapidly growing region-centric developmental activities may act as a boon for the conservation of groundwater resources in the region. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd
Influence of the water–sediment interaction on the major ions chemistry and fluoride pollution in groundwater of the Older Alluvial Plains of Delhi, India
(Springer, 2021) Shakir Ali; Shashank Shekhar; Trupti Chandrasekhar; Akhilesh Kumar Yadav; Naresh Kumar Arora; Chandrashekhar Azad Kashyap; Prosun Bhattacharya; S.P. Rai; Prabhas Pande; Dornadulla Chandrasekharam
Fluoride (F–) pollution in groundwater of the Older Alluvial Plain (OAP) of Delhi has been reported as a major problem. About 34% of the groundwater samples collected for this study had F– level beyond the permissible limit; with F– concentration in the range of 0.14–3.15 mg/L (average 1.20 mg/L). In this context, this article for the first time attempts on the genesis of major ions chemistry and F– pollution in groundwater of OAP Delhi by going beyond the statistical analysis to sediment geochemistry, chemical weathering processes and understanding of the processes using stable environmental isotopes (2H and 18O). The XRD of the OAP sediments revealed the dominance of fluor-biotite, albite, calcite, quartz, and chlorite. Whereas, the separated clay revealed the dominance of chlorite, kaolinite, and illite minerals. The saturation index (SI) values indicated that the groundwater chemistry is in the process of further F– enrichment by way of sediment groundwater interaction. With the given mineralogy of the sediments, the dominance of major ions like Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Cl– and F– has been attributed to chemical weathering of biotites, phlogopites, albite, and calcite during sediment–water interaction. While the dominance of SO42– has been attributed to anthropogenic sources and confirmed by its association with heavier stable isotopes of hydrogen (δ2H: −50.44 to −40.02‰) and oxygen (δ18O: −7.19 to −5.62‰) indicating evaporative enrichment during isotopic fractionation. © 2021, Indian Academy of Sciences.
Multivariate Investigation of Heavy Metals in the Groundwater for Irrigation and Drinking in Garautha Tehsil, Jhansi District, India
(Taylor and Francis Inc., 2020) Naseem Akhtar; M.I. Syakir; S.P. Rai; Ravi Saini; Neeraj Pant; M.T. Anees; Abdul Qadir; Usman Khan
Groundwater is an important source for drinking and irrigation purposes. Due to anthropogenic activities, heavy metals have been leaching due to industrial waste and agricultural activities to the groundwater causing pollution. The assessment of groundwater quality is necessary to reduce the pollution to acceptable levels. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate heavy metal concentrations in the groundwater of the villages of Garautha Tehsil, Jhansi where the anthropogenic activities are active. The groundwater samples were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and the results were compared to the 2012 Bureau of Indian Standard limits. Three multivariate statistical methods were used to analyze the groundwater quality for irrigation and drinking purposes and to investigate the geological and hydrogeological processes. The results of principal component analysis (PCA) identified four factors responsible for the data structure by illuminating the total variance of 77.83% of the dataset. The majority of groundwater samples contained Al, Co, Cu, Mn, Ni, Cr, Pb, and Fe within the acceptable limits except at few locations. However, the Al, Fe, and Mn concentration were high at a few sites due to rock–water interactions, whereas the concentration of As, Cd, and Zn were lower than their respective permissible limits in all groundwater samples. Furthermore, the groundwater quality for the use of irrigation is found to be acceptable at 19 locations, with only one high result. © 2019, © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Possibility of hydrological connectivity between Manasarovar Lake and Gangotri Glacier
(Indian Academy of Sciences, 2019) S.P. Rai; D. Singh; R. Saini; D.S. Rathore; S. Kumar; S.K. Jain; N. Pant
Considering the hydrological and religious significance of the Ganga River and the Manasarovar Lake in India, the present study has been devised to investigate the data related to the place of origin of the Ganges and to investigate the likely connection between waters of the two systems. Satellite data was employed to develop maps and find out the possibility of surface connectivity, whereas isotopic and chemical data, obtained from the field samplings and the published research literatures were used to investigate the possibility of subsurface connectivity of the Gangotri Glacier water with that of the Manasarovar Lake. Topographically, both the water systems are located in different catchment zones, separated by high mountain ridges; rejecting any possibility for the surface connectivity. Similarly, there are significant variations in isotopic and physiochemical properties of the water, suggesting no possibility of surface or sub-surface connectivity between water of the two systems. © 2019, Indian Academy of Sciences.
Snowmelt runoff and groundwater discharge in Himalayan rivers: a case study of the Satluj River, NW India
(Springer Verlag, 2018) A.S. Maurya; S.P. Rai; N. Joshi; K.S. Dutt; N. Rai
The Himalayas are one of the largest cryospheric systems outside the Polar Regions, and include more than 12,000 glaciers spread over an area of about 33,000 km2. The Himalayan glaciers and snow packs retreating at an accelerating rate, thereby creating an alarming situation for the huge population that resides in northwestern India and southeastern Pakistan, as they depend on surface water resources in the region and rivers emanating from the Himalayas. This work attempts to quantify the contribution of different sources such as glacial/ice/snow melt and groundwater discharge to the Satluj River using the stable isotopes based hydrograph separation method at Ropar (foot hill) and Yusufpur in plain of Punjab, India. A mass balance model of three-component mixing has been engaged using the values of δ18O and electrical conductivity of the river water, and its discharge fraction, to estimate the time-varying relative proportion of each component from July 2013 to January 2014. The proportion of glacier melt was found to peak up to ~ 64% at Ropar and ~ 15% at Yusufpur during the wet summer months. The fraction of groundwater discharge was found to vary between 10–20% at Ropar and 25–35% at Yusufpur (Punjab plain) over time. The observed trend of d-excess (deuterium excess) values of river water also suggests that the glaciers and snow packs at higher altitudes contain a significant fraction of snow derived from vapor originating in the Mediterranean region, driven by the mid-latitude westerlies known as western disturbances. © 2018, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
Spatial-diurnal variability of snow/glacier melt runoff in glacier regime river valley: Central Himalaya, India
(Elsevier Ltd, 2021) Rajeev S. Ahluwalia; S.P. Rai; Prikash N. Meetei; Sushil Kumar; Shushanta Sarangi; Pankaj Chauhan; Indira Karakoti
Spatial-diurnal variability in the snow/glacier melt isotope signature and their influence on hydrograph separation based on mixing model received less attention. We present isotope data from a high elevation catchment (glacierized area: 286 km2) in the central Himalaya (India) and investigated the spatial-diurnal variability of snow/glacier meltwater along with inferences of groundwater dynamics. Isotope signature variation in streamflow was small during the study period. We applied a two-component mixing model using oxygen-18 and electrical conductivity. Hydrograph separation (snow/glacier meltwater and groundwater) was carried out for Bhagirathi River at three sites i.e., Gaumukh, Bhojbasa, and Gangotri, during the ablation period of 2014 (September). The Bhagirathi River is a major tributary of river Ganga, originate from Gangotri Glacier (~30 km), the largest glacier in central Himalaya. The electrical conductivity of the river is measured in-situ and varies from 10 μS/cm to 100 μS/cm. The river water isotope signature of oxygen was ranged from −15.53‰ to −14.32‰ from Gaumukh to Gangotri, snow samples were ranged from - 17.63‰ to - 15.86‰ collected at Gaumukh. Groundwater samples were varied from −8.53‰ to-7.57‰ from Gaumukh to Gangotri. River water signature is close to snow/glacier melt runoff signature, reveal that the snow/glacier melt runoff contribution is higher in river flow. Average fractions of snow/glacier melt runoff were estimated ~82% to~76%, whereas groundwater was estimated ~18% to ~24%. The results of this study reveal the necessity of a multiple sampling approaches to characterize the snow/glacier melt and the importance of groundwater dynamics in catchments with snow/glacial runoff regime. © 2021
Spatio-temporal analysis of snow cover and effect of terrain attributes in the Upper Ganga River Basin, central Himalaya
(Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2022) Prikash N. Meetei; Rajeev Saran Ahluwalia; S.P. Rai; Suhas Khobragade; Shushanta Sarangi; Manmohan Goel; Sushil Kumar
Continuous monitoring of snow cover area (SCA) in space and time is a vital input to estimate the snow/glacier melt runoff, glacial mass balance and other hydrological studies. The present study aims to find out the spatio-temporal variation of SCA and inter-relationship between snow accumulation and topography in the Upper Ganga River Basin (UGRB) including Bhagirathi, Alaknanda, Mandakini and Pindar River sub-basins, central Himalaya using MODIS Terra (MOD10A2) data. SCA is found ∼32.33% to the total basin area of ∼18724 km2 in UGRB. The Average of 12 year shows that Bhagirathi River Basin has maximum SCA∼33.25%, whereas Pindar river basin has minimum SCA ∼17.50% among these four sub-basins. Maximum rate of change of SCA is found in the Mandakini River Basin. Slope class 20°–30°has more favorable conditions for snow accumulation. North and north-west aspect has higher snow accumulation with maximum positive attribution in January and minimum in July. © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Stable isotope systematics and geochemical signatures constraining groundwater hydraulics in the mining environment of the Korba Coalfield, Central India
(Springer Verlag, 2018) Rambabu Singh; A.S. Venkatesh; Tajdarul H. Syed; L. Surinaidu; Srinivas Pasupuleti; S.P. Rai; Manoj Kumar
The present study explores the use of stable isotopes and major ion chemistry of various water sources such as mine water, groundwater, river water, and rainwater to identify the dominant hydrogeochemical process that controls the water quality in the active opencast coal mining area of the Korba Coalfield, India. Different hydrochemical models have revealed that the study area is mostly characterized by two facies alongside a dominance by ion exchange: i.e., a slightly mineralized Ca2+–Mg2+–Cl− and a meteorically derived Ca2+–HCO3 − fresh water facies. In the isotope bivariate plot, the samples plot to the right of the LMWL and slopes observed in pre (4.94) and post-monsoon (5.85) seasons are not as steep as the LMWL (7.95) and this warrants the suggestion that meteoric water is the major source that replenishes the dynamic groundwater resource in the study area after being subjected to evaporation. The negative d-excess values (< 0) and enrichment of the δ18O ratio observed at some locations suggests a non-equilibrium process and a “mechanism of mixing”. A noteworthy fact is that isotopically river water is in tandem with the mine water samples for both seasons and testifies to a hydraulic connectivity between Hasdeo River water and mine water through a major fault. It is substantiated by mine inflows assessed by the sump test for Kusmunda and Gevra, which is two times higher than the predicted values by Darcy’s law. The wide variation in the isotopic composition is attributed to different vapor sources viz., southwest monsoon (SW) that originates in the Arabian Sea and locally driven air moisture from surface water bodies. © 2018, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
Understanding river–subsurface water interactions in upper Ganga basin, India
(Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2020) Gopal Krishan; Surjeet Singh; Renoj J. Thayyen; N.C. Ghosh; S.P. Rai; Manohar Arora
In the upper Ganga basin particularly in Himalayan terrain, precipitation and/or snow/glacial melt contribute towards the flow of the Ganga river in the form of surface and sub-surface water. In the present study, river–subsurface water chemistry is compared to infer river–subsurface water interactions in higher Himalayan region. Forty-one water samples from the Ganga river and its small tributaries between Gomukh and Dabrani section as well as subsurface water were collected during the months of March, May, September, October and November 2016 with in-situ measurements of pH, Electric Conductivity, temperature and bicarbonates. The samples were analysed for major ions and isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen. The results revealed that major ion chemistry of sub-surface water and river water is influenced by seasonal mineral dissolution and rock weathering reactions in the sub-surface water. A dominance of Calcium (36–43% in surface and 61–71% in sub-surface water), bicarbonate (13–66% in surface water and 45–85% in sub-surface water) and sulphate (31–86% in surface water; 15–47% in sub surface) is observed. High carbonate dominance is observed in surface water during the pre-monsoon (May 2016) suggesting more carbonate dissolution while high sulphates are found in March and September. The isotopes characterization of the surface and sub-surface water indicated highly evaporated sub-surface water in pre-monsoon season while in post monsoon season the slope and intercept values of δ18O and δD plot was more close to that of surface water suggesting its influence. The study helps understand to river–subsurface water interactions in the Himalayan terrain of the Ganga basin. The understanding of river–subsurface water interactions can help in management of the Ganga river water and in addressing downstream environmental issues associated with the river. © 2019, © 2019 International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research.