The presence of 28 antibiotics in three hospital effluents, five wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), six rivers and a drinking water storage catchment were investigated within watersheds of ...South–East Queensland, Australia. All antibiotics were detected at least once, with the exception of the polypeptide bacitracin which was not detected at all. Antibiotics were found in hospital effluent ranging from 0.01–14.5 μg L
−
1
, dominated by the β-lactam, quinolone and sulphonamide groups. Antibiotics were found in WWTP influent up to 64 μg L
−
1
, dominated by the β-lactam, quinolone and sulphonamide groups. Investigated WWTPs were highly effective in removing antibiotics from the water phase, with an average removal rate of greater than 80% for all targeted antibiotics. However, antibiotics were still detected in WWTP effluents in the low ng L
−
1
range up to a maximum of 3.4 μg L
−
1
, with the macrolide, quinolone and sulphonamide antibiotics most prevalent. Similarly, antibiotics were detected quite frequently in the low ng L
−
1
range, up to 2 μg L
−
1
in the surface waters of six investigated rivers including freshwater, estuarine and marine samples. The total investigated antibiotic concentration (TIAC) within the Nerang River was significantly lower (
p
<
0.05) than all other rivers sampled. The absence of WWTP discharge to this river is a likely explanation for the significantly lower TIAC and suggests that WWTP discharges are a dominant source of antibiotics to investigated surface waters. A significant difference (
p
<
0.001) was identified between TIACs at surface water sites with WWTP discharge compared to sites with no WWTP discharge, providing further evidence that WWTPs are an important source of antibiotics to streams. Despite the presence of antibiotics in surface waters used for drinking water extraction, no targeted antibiotics were detected in any drinking water samples.
Removal of 28 human and veterinary antibiotics was assessed in a conventional (activated sludge) and advanced (microfiltration/reverse osmosis) wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Brisbane, ...Australia. The dominant antibiotics detected in wastewater influents were cephalexin (med. 4.6
μg
L
−1, freq. 100%), ciprofloxacin (med. 3.8
μg
L
−1, freq. 100%), cefaclor (med. 0.5
μg
L
−1, freq. 100%), sulphamethoxazole (med. 0.36
μg
L
−1, freq. 100%) and trimethoprim (med. 0.34
μg
L
−1, freq. 100%). Results indicated that both treatment plants significantly reduced antibiotic concentrations with an average removal rate from the liquid phase of 92%. However, antibiotics were still detected in both effluents from the low-to-mid ng
L
−1 range. Antibiotics detected in effluent from the activated sludge WWTP included ciprofloxacin (med. 0.6
μg
L
−1, freq. 100%), sulphamethoxazole (med. 0.27
μg
L
−1, freq. 100%) lincomycin (med. 0.05
μg
L
−1, freq. 100%) and trimethoprim (med. 0.05
μg
L
−1, freq. 100%). Antibiotics identified in microfiltration/reverse osmosis product water included naladixic acid (med. 0.045
μg
L
−1, freq. 100%), enrofloxacin (med. 0.01
μg
L
−1, freq. 100%), roxithromycin (med. 0.01
μg
L
−1, freq. 100%), norfloxacin (med. 0.005
μg
L
−1, freq. 100%), oleandomycin (med. 0.005
μg
L
−1, freq. 100%), trimethoprim (med. 0.005
μg
L
−1, freq. 100%), tylosin (med. 0.001
μg
L
−1, freq. 100%), and lincomycin (med. 0.001
μg
L
−1, freq. 66%). Certain traditional parameters, including nitrate concentration, conductivity and turbidity of the effluent were assessed as predictors of total antibiotic concentration, however only conductivity demonstrated any correlation with total antibiotic concentration (
p=0.018,
r=0.7). There is currently a lack of information concerning the effects of these chemicals to critically assess potential risks for environmental discharge and water recycling.
Awareness of antibiotics in wastewaters and aquatic ecosystems is growing as investigations into alternate pollutants increase and analytical techniques for detecting these chemicals improve. The ...presence of three antibiotics (ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin and cephalexin) was evaluated in both sewage effluent and environmental waters downstream from a sewage discharge. Bacteria cultured from the sewage bioreactor and receiving waters were tested for resistance against six antibiotics (ciprofloxacin, tetracycline, ampicillin, trimethoprim, erythromycin and trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole) and effects of short term exposure (24
h) to antibiotics on bacterial denitrification rates were examined. Antibiotics were detected entering the sewage treatment plant with varying levels of removal during the treatment process. Antibiotics were also detected in effluent entering receiving waters and detectable 500
m from the source. Among the bacteria cultured from the sewage bioreactor, resistance was displayed against all six antibiotics tested and bacteria cultured from receiving waters were resistant against two of the antibiotics tested. Rates of denitrification were observed to decrease in response to some antibiotics and not to others, though this was only observed at concentrations exceeding those likely to be found in the environment. Findings from this preliminary research have indicated that antibiotics are entering our aquatic systems and pose a potential threat to ecosystem function and potentially human health.
A procedure to select the controlling factors connected to the slope instability has been defined. It allowed us to assess the landslide susceptibility in the Rio Beiro basin (about 10 km2) over the ...northeastern area of the city of Granada (Spain). Field and remote (Google EarthTM) recognition techniques allowed us to generate a landslide inventory consisting in 127 phenomena. To discriminate between stable and unstable conditions, a diagnostic area had been chosen as the one limited to the crown and the toe of the scarp of the landslide. 15 controlling or determining factors have been defined considering topographic, geologic, geomorphologic and pedologic available data. Univariate tests, using both association coefficients and validation results of single-variable susceptibility models, allowed us to select the best predictors, which were combined for the unique conditions analysis. For each of the five recognised landslide typologies, susceptibility maps for the best models were prepared. In order to verify both the goodness of fit and the prediction skill of the susceptibility models, two different validation procedures were applied and compared. Both procedures are based on a random partition of the landslide archive for producing a test and a training subset. The first method is based on the analysis of the shape of the success and prediction rate curves, which are quantitatively analysed exploiting two morphometric indexes. The second method is based on the analysis of the degree of fit, by considering the relative error between the intersected target landslides by each of the different susceptibility classes in which the study area was partitioned. Both the validation procedures confirmed a very good predictive performance of the susceptibility models and of the actual procedure followed to select the controlling factors.
The antibiotic resistance (AR) patterns of 462 Escherichia coli isolates from wastewater, surface waters, and oysters were determined. Rates of AR and multiple-AR among isolates from surface water ...sites adjacent to wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharge sites were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than those among other isolates, whereas the rate of AR among isolates from oysters exposed to WWTP discharges was low (<10%).
Purpose
Objective of this study was to assess the association between testosterone (T) levels and biochemical markers in a cohort of female patients admitted for SARS-CoV-2 infection in a respiratory ...intensive care unit (RICU).
Methods
A consecutive series of 17 women affected by SARSCoV-2 pneumonia and recovered in the RICU of the Hospital of Mantua were analyzed. Biochemical inflammatory markers as well as total testosterone (TT), calculated free T (cFT), sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), and luteinizing hormone (LH) were determined.
Results
TT and cFT were significantly and positively associated with PCT, CRP, and fibrinogen as well as with a worse hospital course. We did not observe any significant association between TT and cFT with LH; conversely, both TT and cFT showed a positive correlation with cortisol. By LOWESS analysis, a linear relationship could be assumed for CRP and fibrinogen, while a threshold effect was apparent in the relationship between TT and procalcitonin, LDH and ferritin. When the TT threshold value of 1 nmol/L was used, significant associations between TT and PCT, LDH or ferritin were observed for values above this value. For LDH and ferritin, this was confirmed also in an age-adjusted model. Similar results were found for the association of cFT with the inflammatory markers with a threshold effect towards LDH and ferritin with increased LDH and ferritin levels for values above cFT 5 pmol/L. Cortisol is associated with serum inflammatory markers with similar trends observed for TT; conversely, the relationship between LH and inflammatory markers had different trends.
Conclusion
Opposite to men, in women with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia, higher TT and cFT are associated with a stronger inflammatory status, probably related to adrenal cortex hyperactivity,
Aims.
We report on the X-ray time-resolved spectral analysis of
XMM-Newton
observations of NGC 3783. Our main goal is to detect transient features in the Fe K line complex in order to study the ...dynamics of the innermost accretion flow.
Methods.
We reanalyse archival observations of NGC 3783, a bright local active galactic nucleus, for which a transient Fe line was reported, complementing this data set with new available observations. This results in a long set of observations which can allow us to better assess the significance of transient features and possibly test their recurrence time. Moreover, as the new data catch the source in an obscured state, this analysis allows also to test whether the appearance and disappearance of transient features is linked to the presence of obscuring gas.
Results.
We detect discrete features at the ≥90% significance level both in emission and in absorption at different times of the observations, split into 5 ks time-resolved spectra. The overall significance of individual features is higher in the obscured dataset. The energy distribution of the detections changes between the two states of the source, and the features appear to cluster at different energies. Counting the occurrences of emission and absorption lines at the same energies, we identify several groups of ≥3
σ
detections: emission features in the 4–6 keV band are present in all observations and are most likely due to effects of the absorber present in the source; an emission line blend of neutral Fe K
β
and ionised Fe K
α
is present in the unobscured dataset; absorption lines produced by gas at different outflowing velocities and ionisation states show an increase in energy between the two epochs, shifting from ∼6.6 keV to ∼6.7 − 6.9 keV. The representation of the features in a time–energy plane via residual maps highlights a possible modulation of the Fe K
α
line intensity linked to the clumpiness of the absorbing medium.
DEET (
N,
N-diethyl-
m-toluamide) is the active ingredient of most commercial insect repellents. This compound has commonly been detected in aquatic water samples from around the world indicating ...that DEET is both mobile and persistent, despite earlier assumptions that DEET was unlikely to enter aquatic ecosystems. DEET's registration category does not require an ecological risk assessment, thus information on the ecological toxicity of DEET is sparse. This paper reviews the presence of DEET in aqueous samples from around the world (e.g. drinking water, streams, open seawater, groundwater and treated effluent) with reported DEET concentrations ranging from 40–3000 ng L
−
1
. In addition, new DEET data collected from 36 sites in coastal waterways from eastern Australia (detections ranging from 8 to 1500 ng L
−
1
) are examined. A summary of new and existing toxicity data are discussed with an emphasis on preparing a preliminary risk assessment for DEET in the aquatic environment. Collated information on DEET in the aquatic environment suggests risk to aquatic biota at observed environmental concentrations is minimal. However, the information available was not sufficient to conduct a full risk assessment due to data deficiencies in source characterisation, transport mechanisms, fate, and ecotoxicity studies. These risks warrant further investigation due to the high frequency that this organic contaminant is detected in aquatic environments around the world.
Increased nitrogen loading has been implicated in eutrophication occurrences worldwide. Much of this loading is attributable to the growing human population along the world’s coastlines. A ...significant component of this nitrogen input is from sewage effluent, and delineation of the distribution and biological impact of sewage-derived nitrogen is becoming increasingly important. Here, we show a technique that identifies the source, extent and fate of biologically available sewage nitrogen in coastal marine ecosystems. This method is based on the uptake of sewage nitrogen by marine plants and subsequent analysis of the sewage signature (elevated
δ
15N) in plant tissues. Spatial analysis is used to create maps of
δ
15N and establish coefficient of variation estimates of the mapped values. We show elevated
δ
15N levels in marine plants near sewage outfalls in Moreton Bay, Australia, a semi-enclosed bay receiving multiple sewage inputs. These maps of sewage nitrogen distribution are being used to direct nutrient reduction strategies in the region and will assist in monitoring the effectiveness of environmental protection measures.
PDF
