A human biomonitoring (HBM) Global Registry Framework: Further advancement of HBM research following the FAIR principles.

Data generated by the rapidly evolving human biomonitoring (HBM) programmes are providing invaluable opportunities to support and advance regulatory risk assessment and management of chemicals in occupational and environmental health domains. However, heterogeneity across studies, in terms of design, terminology, biomarker nomenclature, and data formats, limits our capacity to compare and integrate data sets retrospectively (reuse). Registration of HBM studies is common for clinical trials; however, the study designs and resulting data collections cannot be traced easily. We argue that an HBM Global Registry Framework (HBM GRF) could be the solution to several of challenges hampering the (re)use of HBM (meta)data. The aim is to develop a global, host-independent HBM registry framework based on the use of harmonised open-access protocol templates from designing, undertaking of an HBM study to the use and possible reuse of the resulting HBM (meta)data. This framework should apply FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) principles as a core data management strategy to enable the (re)use of HBM (meta)data to its full potential through the data value chain. Moreover, we believe that implementation of FAIR principles is a fundamental enabler for digital transformation within environmental health. The HBM GRF would encompass internationally harmonised and agreed open access templates for HBM study protocols, structured web-based functionalities to deposit, find, and access harmonised protocols of HBM studies. Registration of HBM studies using the HBM GRF is anticipated to increase FAIRness of the resulting (meta)data. It is also considered that harmonisation of existing data sets could be performed retrospectively. As a consequence, data wrangling activities to make data ready for analysis will be minimised. In addition, this framework would enable the HBM (inter)national community to trace new HBM studies already in the planning phase and their results once finalised. The HBM GRF could also serve as a platform enhancing communication between scientists, risk assessors, and risk managers/policy makers. The planned European Partnership for the Assessment of Risk from Chemicals (PARC) work along these lines, based on the experience obtained in previous joint European initiatives. Therefore, PARC could very well bring a first demonstration of first essential functionalities within the development of the HBM GRF

Analysis of chemical constitutents and additives in hydraulic fracturing waters 1. Technical review and proposal for a non-target approach

This technical report is a first one of series of reports addressing the issue of chemical constituents and additives occurring in the waters related to hydraulic fracturing in the exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbons. Specific focus is on the types of chemical constituents being addressed so far in flowaback, produced waters and potentially exposed ground and surface water. It gives on overview on typical approaches. With regard to organic constituents it addresses the typically examined compounds and investigates to which extent non-targeted approaches with accurate mass spectrometry can be used to fill existing knowledge gaps. The concept of an envisaged feasibility study for a imoproved baseline assessment is described, too.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Risk assessment of pesticides in estuaries: a review addressing the persistence of an old problem in complex environments

Co-financed by the ERDF under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-010145-FEDER-007728) REQUIMTE. FCT is also acknowledged for the grants SFRH/BPD/109734/2015 to M.M. and IF/00265/2015 to P.M.C. he research project GreenTech (PTDC/MAR-BIO/0113/2014), also funded by FCT, is acknowledged as well for the funding of the fellowship to N.C.Estuaries, coastal lagoons and other transition ecosystems tend to become the ultimate reservoirs of pollutants transported by continental runoff, among which pesticides constitute the class of most concern. High amounts of dissolved and particulated organic matter greatly contribute to the accumulation of pesticides that eventually become trapped in sediments or find their way along food chains. Perhaps not so surprisingly, it is common to find elevated levels of pesticides in estuarine sediments decades after their embargo. Still, it remains challenging to address ecotoxicity in circumstances that invariably imply mixtures of contaminants and multiple factors affecting bioavailability. Despite advances in methods for detecting pesticides in waters, sediments and organisms, chemical data alone are insufficient to predict risk. Many researchers have been opting for ex situ bioassays that mimic the concentrations of pesticides in estuarine waters and sediments using a range of ecologically relevant model organisms, with emphasis on fish, molluscs and crustaceans. These experimental procedures unravelled novel risk factors and important insights on toxicological mechanisms, albeit with some prejudice of ecological relevance. On the other hand, in situ bioassays, translocation experiments and passive biomonitoring strive to spot causality through an intricate mesh of confounding factors and cocktails of pollutants. Seemingly, the most informative works are integrative approaches that combine different assessment strategies, multiple endpoints and advanced computational and geographical models to determine risk. State-of-art System Biology approaches combining high-content screening approaches involving “omics” and bioinformatics, can assist discovering and predicting novel Adverse Outcome Pathways that better reflect the cumulative risk of persisting and emerging pesticides among the wide range of stressors that affect estuaries.publishersversionpublishe

a smart nanofibrous material for adsorbing and detecting elemental mercury in air

Abstract. The combination of the affinity of gold for mercury and nanosized frameworks has allowed for the design and fabrication of novel kinds of sensors with promising sensing features for environmental applications. Specifically, conductive sensors based on composite nanofibrous electrospun layers of titania easily decorated with gold nanoparticles were developed to obtain nanostructured hybrid materials capable of entrapping and revealing gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) traces from the environment. The electrical properties of the resulting chemosensors were measured. A few minutes of air sampling were sufficient to detect the concentration of mercury in the air, ranging between 20 and 100 ppb, without using traps or gas carriers (LOD: 1.5 ppb). Longer measurements allowed the sensor to detect lower concentrations of GEM. The resulting chemosensors are expected to be low cost and very stable (due to the peculiar structure), requiring low power, low maintenance, and simple equipment

Fate and Behavior of Pharmaceuticals in Groundwater of Arid and Semi-Arid Climates - Examples from the Lower Jordan Valley

Ausgangspunkt der vorliegenden Arbeit zur potentiellen Anreicherung von pharmazeutischen Spurenstoffen im Grundwasser semi-arider und arider Gebiete war ein Spurenstoffscreening im Grundwasser, Oberflächenwasser und Abwasser des Jordantals. Erhöhte Konzentrationen von Pharmazeutika im Grundwasser verglichen zum Oberflächenwasser warfen dabei die Frage auf, ob sich persistente Spurenstoffe, wie z.B. Röntgenkontrastmittel, unter den gegebenen Bedingungen über längere Zeiträume im Grundwasser anreichern und ob hierbei ökotoxikologisch relevante Konzentrationen entstehen können. Die daran anknüpfenden Untersuchungen dieser Arbeit wurden in zwei Regionen durchgeführt: Dem Unteren Jordantal und den Wadies Shueib und Kafrein. Am Talboden des Untere Jordantals wird extensive Bewässerungslandwirtschaft betrieben, wozu eine Mischung aus lokalem Grundwasser und importiertem Klärwasser genutzt wird. Dies bedeutet einen kontinuierlichen externen Stoffeintrag, der durch die zusätzliche Grundwasserentnahme zur Bewässerung zyklisch der Verdunstung ausgesetzt wird. Die Hydromorphologie ist charakterisiert durch geringen Niederschlagsraten, hohen Verdunstungsraten und dem Toten Meer als abflussloser lokaler Senke. Grundwasser befindet sich hauptsächlich in quartären Sedimenten. Die Wadis Shueib und Kafrein sind Seitentäler an der östlichen Kante des Jordantals die nach Westen hin steil abfallen und im oberen Drittel stark urbanisiert sind. Das Grundwasser ist durch anthropogene Schadstoffeinträge häufig kontaminiert, was sehr wahrscheinlich auf eine z.T. unzureichende oder defekte Abwasserinfrastruktur zurückgeführt werden kann. Grundwasser findet man in der durch verkarstete Kalkstein- und Dolomitformationen geprägten Gegend in zwei Aquifersystemen in Tiefen von 50 bis 75 m. Im Rahmen einer mehrjährigen Beprobungskampagne wurde die zeitliche und räumliche Verteilung verschiedener verschmutzungsrelevanter Parameter, wie Pharmakarückstände oder die Konzentration von Nitrat und coliformer Bakterien erfasst und ausgewertet. Parallel zu den Untersuchungen im Gelände wurde der Anreicherungsprozess im Labormaßstab anhand von ungesättigten Säulenversuchen untersucht. Im Laborversuch konnte hierbei für zwei Substanzen (Bezafibrat und Carbamazepin) eine evaporative Anreicherung unter biologisch inhibierten Bedingungen nachgewiesen werden, welche sich in der Größenordnung der verdunsteten Wassermenge bewegt. Die Akkumulationsraten waren ebenfalls in der gleichen Größenordnung wie die der konservativen Stoffe Chlorid oder Bromid. Die Experimente zeigten das evaporative Anreicherungspotential von abbauresistenten Pharmaka welches hier zum ersten Mal nachgewiesen werden konnte. Dieser Prozess sollte bei zukünftigen Risikobetrachtungen berücksichtigt werden. Eine Übertragung der Laborergebnisse unter naturnahen Bedingungen auf das Untere Jordantal zeigt auf absehbare Zeit keine Gesundheitsrisiken durch die Verwendung von Klärwasser in der Landwirtschaft. Im Rahmen der Beprobungskampagne konnte der Anreicherungseffekt im Untersuchungsgebiet durch über die Zeit stetig ansteigende Schadstoffkonzentrationen im Grundwasser nicht verifiziert werden. Dennoch lassen sich anhand der räumlichen und zeitlichen Spurenstoffverteilung und Konzentrationsentwicklung wichtige Informationen über die lokale Kontaminationsdynamik im Grundwasser ableiten. Die großflächige Verbreitung des Röntgenkontrastmittels Amidotrizoesäure (Standardsubstanz in der Diagnostik bis zur Vermeidungsempfehlung seit 2000) bei fast völliger Abwesenheit im Klär- und Oberflächenwasser, sowie über den Untersuchungszeitraum steigende Detektionsraten von Iopamidol (ein möglicher Ersatzstoff) geben Hinweise auf Änderungen in der Verschreibungspraxis. Anhand eines konzeptionellen Models konnte die Eintrags-, Transport und Auswaschungsdynamik der beiden Röntgenkontrastmittel für das Wadi Shueib beschrieben werden. Die Korrelation der Pharmaka- und Nitratkonzentration im Grundwasser der urbanen Einzugsgebiete Wadi Shueib und Wadi Kafrein weist auf Leckagen im Kanalsystem und in Klärgruben als Quelle der Nitratkontamination hin. Die Anzahl der an den Messstellen gefunden pharmazeutischen Substanzen korrelierte ebenfalls mit den Konzentrationen anderer typischer Abwasserinhaltsstoffe wie Nitrat und E. coli und kann somit als Abwasserindikator genutzt werden. Beide Feldstudien zeigen, dass persistente Spurenstoffe als nützliche Tracer für anthropogene Kontamination eingestuft werden können

Pesticides in water sources used for human consumption in the semiarid region of Argentina

Presence of pesticides in drinking water is an issue of great concern in agricultural areas. In Argentina’s semiarid regions, where surface water sources are scarce and groundwater may be of poor quality, rainwater becomes important for safe water supply. The expansion of agriculture in these regions due to no till management has led to a high use of pesticides which jeopardize the safety of all water sources used for human consumption. The objective was to monitor the presence of pesticides in different water sources from two agricultural areas of Santiago del Estero. Samples belonged to cisterns in which rainwater is collected, wells and dams. The most contaminated sources were dams, followed by cisterns and wells. Applied doses and frequency of use played an important role in the presence of pesticides. Thus, the most frequent molecules were mainly herbicides; atrazine and metolachlor were the most abundant. Glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid presented the highest concentrations. Almost all measured values were below the US Environmental Protection Agency limits, but 73% of the samples exceeded the limit of 0.5 μg L−1 established by the European Union for the sum of molecules although only 7.4% of individual molecules exceeded the limit of 0.1 μg L−1. However, risk assessment showed that pesticides from all sources presented a low potential risk to human health through drinking water exposure route.EEA QuimiliFil: Mas, Laura Inés. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Quimili; Argentina.Fil: Aparicio, Virginia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina.Fil: De Gerónimo, Eduardo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina.Fil: Costa, Jose Luis. Actividad privada; Argentin

Modeling Dispersal of UV Filters in Estuaries

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Environmental Science & Technology, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b03725Lagrangian ocean analysis, where virtual parcels of water are tracked through hydrodynamic fields, provides an increasingly popular framework to predict the dispersal of water parcels carrying particles and chemicals. We conduct the first direct test of Lagrangian predictions for emerging contaminants using (1) the latitude, longitude, depth, sampling date, and concentrations of UV filters in raft cultured mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) of the estuary Ria de Arousa, Spain (42.5°N, 8.9°W); (2) a hydrodynamic numerical model at 300 m spatial resolution; and (3) a Lagrangian dispersion scheme to trace polluted water parcels back to pollution sources. The expected dispersal distances (mean ± SD) are 2 ± 1 km and the expected dispersal times (mean ± SD) are 6 ± 2 h. Remarkably, the probability of dispersal of UV filters from potential sources to rafts decreases 5-fold over 5 km. In addition to predicting dispersal pathways and times, this study also provides a framework for quantitative investigations of concentrations of emerging contaminants and source apportionment using turbulent diffusion. In the coastline, the ranges of predicted concentrations of the UV-filters 4-methylbenzylidene-camphor, octocrylene, and benzophenone-4 are 3.2 × 10–4 to 0.023 ng/mL, 2.3 × 10–5 to 0.009 ng/mL, and 5.6 × 10–4 to 0.013 ng/mL, respectively. At the outfalls of urban wastewater treatment plants these respective ranges increase to 8.9 × 10–4 to 0.07 ng/mL, 6.2 × 10–5 to 0.027 ng/mL, and 1.6 × 10–3 to 0.040 ng/mL.This research is supported by the Spanish State Research Agency projects CTM2014-56628-C3-2-R, CTM2014-56628-C3-3-R, CTM2017-84763-C3-2-R, CTM2017-84763-C3-3-R, and CTM2017-90890-REDT (MINECO/AEI/FEDER, EU). This work used the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), which is supported by the National Science Foundation grant number NSF-OCE170005S

Zernike Piston Statistics in Turbulent Multi-Aperture Optical Systems

There is currently a lack of research into how the atmosphere effects Zernike piston. This Zernike piston is a coefficient related to the average phase delay of a wave. Usually Zernike piston can be ignored over a single aperture because it is merely a delay added to the entire wavefront. For multi-aperture interferometers though piston cannot be ignored. The statistics of Zernike piston could supplement and improve atmospheric monitoring, adaptive optics, stellar interferometers, and fringe tracking. This research will focus on developing a statistical model for Zernike piston introduced by atmospheric turbulence

Metabolite identification in Ruditapes philippinarum after exposure to an artificial sweetener (Acesulfame-K) and UV filter (4-MBC).

In the last decades several pollutants have been discharged in to the marine ecosystem causing alarming effects that awoke the social concern, triggering the implementation of legislation. Nowadays several new pollutants are discharged to the marine ecosystem in small quantity but constantly. Due to the improvement of new analytical techniques these pollutants, the so called “emerging pollutants”, are been identified and its occurrence has been determined in the environment. However, very little is known about the possible adverse effect of these emerging pollutants in the organism. In this context the present work evaluates possible biotransformation products of two EPs by the Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum in order to identify xenometabolites that could have negative impact in the functions of the organism. UPLC-GC/ quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (QTOFMS) with automated data analysis software (Metabolynx™) was applied to identify the metabolites of the UV filter 4-MBC and the artificial sweetener acesulfame-k in the tissue of the Manila clam. 6 different metabolites were identified for 4-MBC while no metabolites were identified for ACE-K, suggesting that the UV filter is accumulated and metabolised to facilitate its excretion while the artificial sweetener is almost not accumulated and excreted unchanged. These results are mainly due to the physicochemical properties of the compound. The present study provides important information about the metabolism of 4-MBC and ACE-K which will be helpful for fully understanding the mechanism of action of these compounds. Furthermore, this work demonstrates the potential of the UPLC-GC/QTOFMS approach using Metabolynx™ software for fast and accurate identification of metabolites of EPs.102 página