Assam is a state in Northeast India facing floods every year which leads to human misery and devastation of nature. The objective of this review is to explore the natural and anthropogenic factors causing flood in Assam over a period of 11 years. The SCOPUS, Science Direct, and Web of Science databases were searched to identify relevant studies in Assam. The outcome of interest was to identify the natural and anthropogenic factors that contributed to the occurrence of floods in Assam from 2010 to 2020. Data were charted and reported in accordance with the “PRISMA guidelines.” From 1582 screened citations, 54 articles went under full-text screening, among which 35 studies were eligible for this review. Rainfall events, climate change, urbanization, deforestation, improper drainage and embankment construction contributed most. This review concludes that anthropogenic factors outweigh the natural factors for flood occurrence in Assam.

Alkaline electrolyzed water (AEW) usually has a pH value ranging from of 8 to 10, and is postulated to produce many health benefits. Alkaline water consumption still invites a lot of controversy among health professionals and researchers. There were no comprehensive large-scale studies till date that compared the effects of AEW across various disease states targeting multiple system changes as outcomes. The present literature review was carried out to collate all the available clinical research works on Alkaline Water or AEW in improving disease state or promoting health. Search in various databases and search engines brought out 19 articles, of which nine met the eligibility criteria and were included for the analysis in the present study. The risk of bias and quality for every study included in the study were assessed. For all the randomized trials included in the study bias assessment was carried out using the Cochrane Risk-of-bias tool, and nonrandomized trials were assessed using nonrandomized studies of interventions tool. Reviewed studies have reported effects of AEW on oxidative stress, gastric cancer, blood sugar levels, exercise performance, blood viscosity, and gastrointestinal symptoms. AEW has shown considerable positive health effects in small-scale clinical studies. However, presently available evidence from the research works are not sufficient enough for recommendation to the mass in general or for use as a therapeutic intervention. Research works with larger study samples and among population of different demography are required.

Environmental health issues and epidemic pandemic aspects including infection spread during managing dead bodies revealed that infectious diseases and the associated mortality were often caused by infectious pathogens due to mismanagement of dead bodies. Dead body management is one of the main environmental health challenges during and after disasters and emergencies, especially following epidemic. This systematic review aimed to investigate the dead body management of epidemic victims. This systematic review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. In this study, electronic databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Pro Quest, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Library, were searched from March 1, 1970, to September 30, 2021. A comprehensive literature search was performed using scientific databases and gray literature. A thematic synthesis approach was used to analyze the data. In total, 2764 articles were identified, 11 of which met the inclusion criteria for entering the process of final synthesis. The findings showed three main sections, including (1) dead body management in the hospital and transfer of epidemic victims, (2) mortuary, shrouding, funeral, and burial of epidemic victims, and (3) management of families and risk communication. Implementation of the standards and protocols during dead body management of epidemic victims is essential with the aim of saving the lives of service providers and participants in ceremonial washing and burial.

A rise in the COVID-19 pandemic has led to increase in biomedical waste (BMW) all over the globe that leads to the perilous situation. Hence, this review has made an attempt to gather all the guidelines for appropriate BMW management in dental practice during COVID-19 pandemic. The keywords such as Biomedical waste management guidelines, COVID-19, dental waste management, and India were used in the literature search engines such as PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar along with the various guidelines provided by international, national agencies and verified government websites with a focus on the BMW management in dentistry during COVID-19. The result enumerated that Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016, categorizes the bio-medical waste generated from the health-care facility into four categories based on the segregation pathway and color code. These guidelines were reshaped in 2018, 2019, and in 2020 for COVID-19 pandemic. Collection and segregation of biomedical waste separately before handling it to the Common Bio-medical Waste Treatment and Disposal Facility was highly recommended that should be labeled with “COVID-19” both in medical and dental waste management guidelines. This review revealed that BMW management guidelines should be followed by all the health-care fraternities including oral health professionals as they are at a heightened risk of COVID-19, it is vital that they are informed of the most up-to-date protocols for BMW disposal in this pandemic.

Aim: This study aimed at the identification of environmental cleaning and managerial best practices for integration in competitive bidding documents for outsourcing of housekeeping services in tertiary care hospitals in India. Materials and Methods: This study design was cross-sectional. The sample comprised of tender documents of eight government super-specialty hospitals/corporations and housekeeping contract agreements of five private ones. Convenience sampling was used-current tenders of most popular government hospitals available online and housekeeping agreements of consenting popular private hospitals were considered. Excel sheet was used for the analysis. Results: Hospitals outsourced housekeeping services on performance or human resource basis, use risk classification (23%) of hospital areas for determining intensity of cleaning, and outlined scope of services (50%). Fifteen percent tenders provide comprehensive lists of material. Scrubber requirements ranged from one per 25–250 beds. In 40% tenders, scope included handling of biomedical waste. Workforce included managerial cadres. There is a focus on occupational health and safety. Quality assurance is inbuilt in the contracts including bid evaluation criteria for selecting competent agencies and penal provisions such as in case of adverse report (INR 10,000) and unsatisfactory survey reporting (1% of monthly payment). Conclusion: Since successful outsourcing must focus on above-mentioned parameters, this study provides necessary guidance for health-care administrators for patient satisfaction, positive image, reducing hospital-acquired infections, and ensuring provision of quality care services.

Aim: The early detection of cardiovascular diseases by noninvasive and low-cost methods such as data mining techniques has been considered by many researchers. This study intends to review the studies performed on the prognosis of coronary heart disease using data mining techniques. Materials and Methods: The published studies in English between 2001 and 2021 that the use classification methods to predict coronary heart disease were considered. Databases such as ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and ScoPURs were considered as searchable databases. After searching, 348 articles were retrieved. After removing duplicates and evaluating the articles, finally, 20 articles were used. Results: The three data mining techniques support vector machine (SVM), neural network, and naive Bayes which were the most used among the studies. In the most studies, risk factors age, blood pressure, gender, diabetes, and chest pain were used. The accuracy was the most-used measure. The Alizadeh Sani dataset was the most used among the studies. Conclusion: Techniques such as SVM and neural network have performed better than other techniques. The output of these techniques can be used as a decision support system so that clinicians can enter various risk factors such as age, blood pressure, gender, diabetes, and chest pain and then view system output.

This study aimed to review the impact of climate change around the world on the incidence of emerging and noncommunicable diseases in sensitive and vulnerable individuals, such as pregnant women and newborns. The combination of keywords such as climate change, ambient temperature, pregnancy outcomes, spontaneous abortion, preterm birth, stillbirth, autism, orofacial cleft, cleft palate, heart disorders, and diabetes was used for comprehensive search on reputable citation databases such as Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, throughout research conducted previously with a focus on the years from 2018 to 2020. The results of the literature cited showed that long-term exposure to high temperatures reduced birth weight. Heat has been reported to have serious adverse effect than cool weather for preterm birth. A significant association has been reported between seasonal changes and diabetes and gestational hypertension. Climate changes, by increasing infant mortality and miscarriage, have made a difference in sex ratios. Further, the development of neonatal abnormalities such as hypospadias, autism, cleft palate, and heart disorders has been significantly associated with climate change. Seasonal changes, rising temperatures, sunlight, increased ultraviolet rays, and ozone concentration have been suggested to involve in the prevalence of cleft palate. Changes in relative humidity, temperature, sunlight, oxygen pressure, and elevated environments have also contributed to the development of heart disorders. This review showed that climate change has played an important role in the incidence and prevalence of emerging diseases. Hence, climate change has adverse effects on pregnant women and neonates. This study confirms critical importance of climate change and its negative effect on susceptible people and next generation.

Changes in regulations and development of new technologies have affected the selection of alternative for treated wastewater disinfection. Disinfection is the last barrier of wastewater reclamation process to protect ecosystem safety and human health. Driving forces include water scarcity and drinking water supply, irrigation, rapid industrialization, using reclaimed water, source protection, overpopulation, and environmental protection. The safe operation of water reuse depends on effluent disinfection. Understanding the differences in inactivation mechanisms is critical to identify rate-limiting steps involved in the inactivation process as well as to develop more effective disinfection strategies. Disinfection byproducts discharged from wastewater treatment plants may impair aquatic ecosystems and downstream drinking-water quality. Numerous inorganic and organic micropollutants can undergo reactions with disinfectants. Therefore, to mitigate the adverse effects and also to enhance that efficiency, the use of alternative oxidation/disinfection systems should be evaluated as possible alternative to chlorine. This review gives a summary of the traditional, innovative, and combined disinfection alternatives and also disinfection byproducts for effluent of municipal wastewater treatment plants.