Indoor air pollution is an ongoing problem in developing countries. Respiratory diseases are common worldwide in rural communities. This study was undertaken to estimate the respirable particulate matter (PM10) concentrations emitted from cooking fuels and their effects on the respiratory health of the rural population of Jalgaon district. The respiratory status of the exposed population was assessed by conducting pulmonary function tests in the study area. The levels of forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in 1 second were lower, and difficulty in respiration and frequent coughing were more common with higher odds ratios (OR) of 2.53 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.1-2.83) and 1.84 (95% CI = 0.95-2.10) in agrowaste-user female subjects. Ventilatory impairment among the agrowaste-user subjects was higher than among users of gas and wood. Difficulty in respiration and frequent coughing were strongly associated in wood-user female subjects as well with ORs of 2.10 (95% CI = 0.85-2.49) and 1.79 (95% CI = 0.91-1.98), respectively. Chest pain was significantly associated in agrowaste- and wood-user female subjects. This study confirms an association between the reductions in lung efficiency with high PM10 exposure in the rural population. The result of this study reveals an association between respiratory diseases symptoms and indoor air quality in the biomass-using rural population of Jalgaon district.

This study was conducted to determine the optimum extraction conditions for the effective separation and removal of Cu2+, Fe2+, and Fe3+ using N-benzoyl-n-phenylhydroxylamine (BPA) as an analytical reagent. An efficient liquid-liquid extraction method was developed for the separation and removal of Cu2+, Fe2+, and Fe3+ from environmental waste samples. In this method, BPA was used as a chelating agent and the effect of different parameters- including solvents, pH, stripping agents, extraction time, and the interference of other ions- on the quantitative removal of these metals was investigated. This study demonstrates that chloroform is the most effective solvent for BPA. The maximum extraction of the selected metallic species was found between pH 3 and 5. It was demonstrated that the maximum percentage recovery of the metals can be attained using 1 M HCl as a stripping agent. Optimized conditions of different parameters could be beneficial for industry and environmental laboratories.

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The present study was conducted in saline affected villages of Purna river valley of Akola district of Maharashtra to establish the soil, fodder and serum mineral interrelationship. Total 104 soils, 71 fodders and 360 serum samples of animals were collected and subjected for micro mineral estimation. The study revealed non-significant multiple correlation coefficient between soil-fodder-animal for Cu, Fe and Mn, however, the direction between correlation found positive, indicating the direct association between soil-fodder and animal. The overall study concluded that the multiple correlation coefficients between animal-soil-fodder for Zn found highly significant indicated positive association between animal-soil-fodder for Zn in saline tract area of Akola district. Present study concluded that low Zn content in soil reflected in fodder grown on this soils and animals maintained in saline tract area of Akola district.