Aim of this study was to provide an up-to-date assessment of the antibiotics contaminating the aqueous environment in Italy, for a better understanding of risks for the ecosystem and human health. ...Antibiotics were first listed in order of their theoretical environmental loads, then were measured in wastewater of some sewage treatment plants (STPs) and in rivers in Italy. Macrolides, particularly clarithromycin and spiramycin, and quinolones, particularly ciprofloxacin and
l-floxacin/ofloxacin, were the most abundant antibiotics in untreated wastewater. Several of them were not removed in STPs and still remained in the treated wastewater, and a total estimate of 7–14
tons of active principles were discharged annually into the aqueous environment in Italy through this route. Results of the analysis of rivers in northern Italy agreed with these figures, with an average load of 5
kg/day, or about 1.8
tons/year, of antibiotics flowing in the River Po, at sampling sites covering a basin comprising about one-fifth of the Italian population. In conclusion, antibiotics, particularly macrolides and quinolones, are widespread environmental contaminants, and urban STPs are confirmed a major source of the contamination.
We reviewed the scientific literature on the evidence of the relationship between palm oil and adverse effects on human health. Few studies have investigated the effects of palm oil per se, and the ...main reason why it has been associated with negative health effects is the relatively high content of saturated fatty acids (SFAs), particularly palmitic acid, which in turn have been associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease and some tumours. However, more recent investigations on the topic seem to have reconsidered the negative role of the dietary SFAs as a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and show that not only the type of fat, but also that the triglyceride structure plays a role in cholesterolaemia. As regards to a role in cancer, specific studies on dietary palmitic acid or palm oil and the risk of cancer development are scanty, and the evidence is not convincing.
A predictive approach seems useful to identify pharmaceuticals in the environment and give an idea of overall levels of contamination, so as to restrict monitoring to those molecules most likely to ...be contaminants. We propose an approach based on two parts. The first is to rank the molecules according to the predicted environmental loads; the second is to refine the list by analysing the pharmaceuticals in sewage treatment plants (STPs) and comparing the concentrations with levels previously measured in surface water. This approach identified a restricted group of priority pollutants (ofloxacin, furosemide, atenolol, hydrochlorothiazide, carbamazepine, ibuprofen, spiramycin, bezafibrate, erythromycin, lincomycin and clarithromycin) in the aquatic environment in Italy, for further studies and monitoring.
Cocaine use seems to be increasing in some urban areas worldwide, but it is not straightforward to determine the real extent of this phenomenon. Trends in drug abuse are currently estimated ...indirectly, mainly by large-scale social, medical, and crime statistics that may be biased or too generic. We thus tested a more direct approach based on 'field' evidence of cocaine use by the general population.
Cocaine and its main urinary metabolite (benzoylecgonine, BE) were measured by mass spectrometry in water samples collected from the River Po and urban waste water treatment plants of medium-size Italian cities. Drug concentration, water flow rate, and population at each site were used to estimate local cocaine consumption.
We showed that cocaine and BE are present, and measurable, in surface waters of populated areas. The largest Italian river, the Po, with a five-million people catchment basin, steadily carried the equivalent of about 4 kg cocaine per day. This would imply an average daily use of at least 27 +/- 5 doses (100 mg each) for every 1000 young adults, an estimate that greatly exceeds official national figures. Data from waste water treatment plants serving medium-size Italian cities were consistent with this figure.
This paper shows for the first time that an illicit drug, cocaine, is present in the aquatic environment, namely untreated urban waste water and a major river. We used environmental cocaine levels for estimating collective consumption of the drug, an approach with the unique potential ability to monitor local drug abuse trends in real time, while preserving the anonymity of individuals. The method tested here--in principle extendable to other drugs of abuse--might be further refined to become a standardized, objective tool for monitoring drug abuse.
A survey was done in the river Po (Italy) to check for therapeutic drugs in the environment. A number of pharmaceuticals were selected for analysis on the basis of high consumption and excretion as ...parent compound in humans. Eight sampling stations along the rivers Po and Lambro made it possible to plot the patterns of contamination in a highly populated region with a large number of animal farms. Atenolol, lincomycin, erythromycin, clarithromycin, bezafibrate, and furosemide were present at all the sampling sites, and other drugs were found only in some. Concentrations ranged from 0.1 to 250 ng/L, and several drugs exceeded the trigger value (10 ng/L) suggested by recent documents from the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA), assessing environmental risks for these chemicals. The patterns of contamination showed differences among sub-basins which correlated with the presence of large human settlements and/or animal farms. The ratio of measured to predicted concentrations (MEC/PEC) allowed a gross division of the drugs into two groups. The first consisted of pharmaceuticals with a MEC/PEC in the range 0.01−0.3, where the ratio is probably determined by the environmental behavior and the extent of degradation of the molecule. The other group consisted of pharmaceuticals found at concentrations higher than those predicted (MEC/PEC > 1). In this group, which consists of drugs sold without prescription or for veterinary use, market justifications (sales load uncertainty) have more role than chemical properties and environmental fate in explaining the differences between measured and predicted environmental concentrations.
The main objective of this study was to assess the possible effects of airborne particulate matter less than 10 μm in diameter (PM
10
) from the Middle Eastern Dust (MED) events on human health in ...Khorramabad (Iran) in terms of estimated hospital admissions (morbidity) for cardiovascular diseases (HACD) and for respiratory diseases (HARD) during the period of 2015 to 2016. The AirQ program developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) was used to estimate the potential health impacts to daily PM
10
exposures. The numbers of excess cases for cardiovascular/respiratory morbidity were 20/51, 72/185, and 20/53 on normal, dusty, and MED event days, respectively. The highest number of hospital admissions was estimated for PM
10
concentrations in the range of 40 to 49 μg/m
3
, i.e, lower than the daily (50 μg/m
3
) limit value established by WHO. The results also showed that 4.7% (95% CI 3.2–6.7%) and 4.2% (95% CI 2.6–5.8%) of HARD and HACD, respectively, were attributed to PM
10
concentrations above 10 μg/m
3
. The study demonstrates a significant impact of air pollution on people, which is manifested primarily as respiratory and cardiovascular problems. To reduce these effects, several immediate actions should be taken by the local authorities to control the impacts of dust storms on residents’ health, e.g., developing a green beltway along the Iran-Iraq border and management of water such as irrigation of dry areas that would be effective as mitigation strategies.
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Increasing evidence indicates that inflammatory responses could play a critical role in the pathogenesis of motor neuron injury in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Recent findings ...have underlined the role of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and the involvement of both the innate and adaptive immune responses in ALS pathogenesis. In particular, abnormal TLR4 signaling in pro-inflammatory microglia cells has been related to motoneuron degeneration leading to ALS. In this study the effect of small molecule TLR4 antagonists on in vitro ALS models has been investigated. Two different types of synthetic glycolipids and the phenol fraction extracted from commercial extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) were selected since they efficiently inhibit TLR4 stimulus in HEK cells by interacting with the TLR4·MD-2 complex and CD14 co-receptor. Here, TLR4 antagonists efficiently protected motoneurons from LPS-induced lethality in spinal cord cultures, and inhibited the interleukine-1β production by LPS-stimulated microglia. In motoneurons/glia cocultures obtained from wild type or SOD1 G93A mice, motoneuron death induced by SOD1mut glia was counteracted by TLR4 antagonists. The release of nitric oxide by LPS treatment or SOD1mut glia was also inhibited by EVOO, suggesting that the action of this natural extract could be mainly related to the modulation of this inflammatory mediator.
Asthma, one of the most common chronic diseases in the world and a leading cause of hospitalization among children, has been associated with outdoor air pollution.
We applied the wastewater-based ...epidemiology (WBE) approach to study the association between the use of salbutamol, a short-acting beta-agonist used to treat acute bronchospasm, and air pollution in the population of Milan, Italy.
Composite 24-h samples of untreated wastewater were collected daily and analyzed for human metabolic residues of salbutamol by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Corresponding daily outdoor concentrations of particular matter up to 10µm (PM10) and 2.5µm (PM2.5) in aerodynamic diameter, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, and benzene were collected from the public air monitoring network. Associations at different lag times (0–10 days) were assessed by a log-linear Poisson regression model.
We found significant direct associations between defined daily doses (DDD) of salbutamol and mean daily concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 up to nine days of lag time. The highest rate ratio, and 95% confidence interval (CI), of DDD of salbutamol was 1.06 (95% CI: 1.02–1.10) and 1.07 (95% CI: 1.02–1.12) at seven days of lag time and for an increase of 10 μg/m3 of PM10 and PM2.5, respectively. Reducing the mean daily PM10 concentration in Milan from 50 to 30μg/m3 means that 852 (95% CI: 483–1504) daily doses of salbutamol per day would not be used. These results confirm the association between asthma and outdoor PM10 and PM2.5 and prove the potential of the WBE approach to quantitatively estimate the relation between environmental exposures and diseases.
•A new application of the wastewater-based epidemiology is proposed.•Daily consumption of salbutamol is correlated to air PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations.•The association between asthma and air pollution is confirmed.
Sustained inflammatory reactions are common pathological events associated with neuron loss in neurodegenerative diseases. Reported evidence suggests that Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is a key player ...of neuroinflammation in several neurodegenerative diseases. However, the mechanisms by which TLR4 mediates neurotoxic signals remain poorly understood. We investigated the role of TLR4 in in vitro and in vivo settings of motor neuron degeneration. Using primary cultures from mouse spinal cords, we characterized both the proinflammatory and neurotoxic effects of TLR4 activation with lipopolysaccharide (activation of microglial cells, release of proinflammatory cytokines and motor neuron death) and the protective effects of a cyanobacteria-derived TLR4 antagonist (VB3323). With the use of TLR4-deficient cells, a critical role of the microglial component with functionally active TLR4 emerged in this setting. The in vivo experiments were carried out in a mouse model of spontaneous motor neuron degeneration, the wobbler mouse, where we preliminarily confirmed a protective effect of TLR4 antagonism. Compared with vehicle- and riluzole-treated mice, those chronically treated with VB3323 showed a decrease in microglial activation and morphological alterations of spinal cord neurons and a better performance in the paw abnormality and grip-strength tests. Taken together, our data add new understanding of the role of TLR4 in mediating neurotoxicity in the spinal cord and suggest that TLR4 antagonists could be considered in future studies as candidate protective agents for motor neurons in degenerative diseases.
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