Publications by authors named "Ajith Nithin"

Microplastics (MPs) contamination has been reported in all environmental compartments, but very limited information is available at higher-altitude lakes. Nainital Lake, located at a high altitude in the Indian Himalayas, has various ecosystem services and is the major source of water for Nainital town, but the MP abundance is still unknown. This study presents the first evidence of the abundance and distribution of MP in Nainital Lake.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Climate change and marine litter are inextricably linked, and their interaction manifests differently depending on the specific environmental and biological characteristics, and other human activities taking place. The negative impacts resulting from those synergistic interactions are threatening coastal and marine ecosystems and the many goods and services they provide. This is particularly pervasive in the coastal zone of the Indian subcontinent.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - The study measures microplastic (MP) pollution in the Uppanar and Gadilam estuaries in Cuddalore, India, finding MP abundance varying from 36.3 to 51.6 particles per kg of sediment.
  • - Microplastics were categorized into shapes like fibers (41.7-47.9%), films (21.2-27.2%), and fragments (18.3-25.5%), with dominant colors including red (30.1-34.5%); six types of polymers were identified, primarily LDPE (39%) and PP (35%).
  • - Risk assessments indicate a hazard range of I to III, suggesting varying levels of environmental risk and highlighting the need for
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

An experiment was carried out to investigate the potential of virgin LDPE microplastics to transfer heavy metals. Desired shapes (fibres, fragments, and films) and sizes (< 5 mm) of virgin LDPE microplastics were immersed in a known concentration (30 µg/l) of chromium (IV). These Cr-coated microplastics were introduced into a culture tank containing edible scallops (Amusium pleuronectes).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Synthetic plastics are becoming hazardous wastes, posing a threat to environmental sustainable health; hence, they must be replaced with alternatives. This study aimed to prepare corn starch-based bioplastics using fish scale through film casting technique as an alternative to synthetic plastics. In this work, four types of bioplastic films (CSF, CSFSF1, CSFSF2, FSF) containing different percentages of fish-scale powder and corn starch were prepared.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The authors of the present research aimed to assess microplastics (MPs) contamination in the gills and gut of selected fishes from various aquatic zones and also to bring out the risks of the identified polymers. Accordingly, about 200 fish specimens of 10 different species were collected from the landing center at Parangipettai, southeast coast of India. The fishes were dissected to investigate MPs contamination in their gills and gut.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Microplastics (MPs) are toxic pollutants, which are found ubiquitously in the marine environment. The present study aimed to assess the level of MP contamination in Vellar estuary, southeast coast of India. MP abundance in surface water and sediments ranged from 1.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Researchers are exploring the potential of converting fish bone waste into valuable biomedical materials, specifically synthesizing nano-Hydroxyapatite (n-HAP) from discarded Sardinella longiceps using an alkaline hydrolysis method.
  • - Characterization of the synthesized n-HAP revealed its unique structural properties through multiple techniques (SEM, XRD, AFM, FTIR), with findings indicating dense particles and a small average size of 19.65 nm, which are essential for biomedical applications.
  • - Cell viability tests showed that n-HAP promotes healthy growth of human osteoblasts, with a peak viability rate of 141.3% observed at a concentration of 100 μg/mL, making it a promising candidate for applications in
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Microplastics are the major environmental health hazards spotted in almost all the marine habitats and biota of world. The earlier research on microplastics have mainly focused on studying abundance and distribution as well as impacts on organisms, while the existing review articles have reviewed on any one of the above aspects or the environmental fate of microplastics. The current review focuses on all the above facets thereby bringing out the incompleteness in information globally in the respective facets.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF