Large-scale monitoring campaigns of contaminants of emerging concern in the environment employing high- resolution mass spectrometry

Χιλιάδες Αναδυόμενοι Ρύποι (ΑΡ) απελευθερώνονται από, σημειακές και μη, πηγές ρύπανσης στα επιφανειακά ύδατα. Οι σημειακές πηγές αποτελούν μέσο εναπόθεσης υψηλών φορτίων ΑΡ στο περιβάλλον, διότι οι διεργασίες που εφαρμόζονται στα Κέντρα Επεξεργασίας Λυμάτων (ΚΕΛ) δεν επιτρέπουν την πλήρη απομάκρυνσή τους. Συνεπώς, οι πιο ανθεκτικοί καταλήγουν σε δεξαμενές γλυκού νερού, υπόγεια ύδατα, στο πόσιμο νερό και εισέρχονται στην τροφική αλυσίδα. Η παρουσία τους στην πανίδα απειλεί τη σταθερότητα των οικοσυστημάτων λόγω της τοξικότητας και της βιοσυσσώρευσης σε ζωικούς οργανισμούς που βρίσκονται σε υψηλότερα τροφικά επίπεδα. Παρ’ όλο που ο αριθμός των ερευνών για τους ΑΡ συνεχώς αυξάνεται, η μελέτη της συμπεριφοράς τους στα οικοσυστήματα και το πλήθος των φυσικών και μη διεργασιών που πραγματοποιούνται παραμένει πρόκληση. Ως γνωστόν, οι ΑΡ δημιουργούν σύνθετες μήτρες άγνωστης σύστασης, γεγονός που καθιστά την παρακολούθησή τους πρόκληση, εκτός αν χρησιμοποιούνται προηγμένες μέθοδοι σάρωσης και όργανα τελευταίας τεχνολογίας. Η παρούσα διατριβή διακρίνεται σε τρεις εργασίες που στοχεύουν (i) στον χαρακτηρισμό ΑΡ σε οικοσυστήματα υψηλής περιβαλλοντικής σημασίας (ποταμός Δούναβης) χρησιμοποιώντας προηγμένες αναλυτικές μεθόδους και εργαλεία επεξεργασίας δεδομένων, (ii) στην εκτίμηση κινδύνου και τοξικότητας όσων ταυτοποιηθούν στα δείγματα και (iii) στην εκτίμηση των επιπέδων συγκέντρωσης των ΑΡ σε δείγματα εισροών λυμάτων με τη χρήση Επιδημιολογίας Λυμάτων, ένα χημικό εργαλείο που αντικατοπτρίζει τις συνήθειες και τη δημόσια υγεία του πληθυσμού που εξυπηρετείται από το ΚΕΛ. Λόγω της εν εξελίξει πανδημίας που οφείλεται στη νόσο Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) και των μεταλλάξεων του αρχικού στελέχους, θα αναπτυχθεί και επικυρωθεί αναλυτικό πρωτόκολλο που περιλαμβάνει τρία στάδια (προσυγκέντρωση, απομόνωση και ανίχνευση) με σκοπό την εκτίμηση του ιικού φορτίου σε δείγματα εισροών αστικών λυμάτων από την Αθήνα και την ανάπτυξη ενός συστήματος έγκαιρης προειδοποίησης για την εξέλιξη της πανδημίας.Thousands of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are released from diffuse and point sources in surface waters. Point sources represent a major input of high loads of CECs in the environment because the technology applied in Wastewater Treatment plants (WWTPs) is insufficient to eliminate them. Consequently, the most persistent CECs end up in freshwater reservoirs, groundwater and even drinking water. Additionally, CECs may also enter the trophic chain depending on their properties. The occurrence of CECs in biota can threaten the stability of the ecosystems due to their toxicity and potential bioaccumulation to animals of higher trophic levels. Even though there is an increasing number of studies dealing with CECs in the literature, the investigation of their behavior in the ecosystem and the various natural and non-natural processes remains a challenge. CECs are known to create complex mixtures of unknown composition, which makes monitoring these substances challenging unless wide-scope screening methods and state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation is utilized. The proposed thesis is divided into three working packages (WP) that aim at (i) characterizing CECs in ecosystems of decisive environmental importance (Danube river basin) using advanced analytical methods and data processing tools, (ii) performing risk assessment to prioritize the compounds based on their hazard and (iii) evaluating the concentration levels of CECs in the influent wastewater and application of Wastewater- based Epidemiology (WBE), which is a chemical tool used to reflect the lifestyle and public health of the WWTP serving population. Due to the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) ongoing pandemic and SARS-CoV-2 variants, an analytical protocol including three steps (concentration, extraction and detection) will be developed and validated, in order to estimate the virus load in influent wastewater from Athens. Wastewater surveillance could be used as an early warning system for epidemics

Προσδιορισμός φαρμακευτικών και παρανόμως διακινούμενων ουσιών σε υγρά απόβλητα της Αθήνας με LC-MS/MS και LC-HRMS

Στην παρούσα εργασία πραγματοποιήθηκε ο προσδιορισμός 157 ενώσεων, που ανήκουν στις φαρμακευτικές κλάσεις των αναλγητικών, των αναισθητικών, των αντιβιοτικών, των αντιεπιληπτικών, των αντιυπερτασικών, των αντιλιπιδαιμικών, των αντιπρωτοζωϊκών, των αντιψυχωσικών, των γαστρικών, των βαρβιτουρικών, των βενζοδιαζεπινών, των βρογχοδιασταλτικών, των διουρητικών, των υπνωτικών, των μη στεροειδών αντιφλεγμονοδών, των αναστολέων επαναπρόσληψης σεροτονίνης-νορεπινεφρίνης, των εκλεκτικών αναστολέων επαναπρόσληψης σεροτονίνης, των στεροειδών, των συμπαθομιμητικών και των αντικαταθληπτικών. Επιπλέον προσδιορίστηκαν και 24 παράνομα διακινούμενες ουσίες που ανήκουν στα διεγερτικά (αμφεταμίνες και μεταβολίτες, κοκαΐνη και μεταβολίτες), στα παραισθησιογόνα (κανναβινοειδή), στα οπιούχα και οπιοειδή και τέλος το LSD και οι μεταβολίτες του. Το 2018 και το 2019 εικοσιτετράωρα σύνθετα δείγματα εισροών και εκροών συλλέχθηκαν από το Κέντρο Επεξεργασίας Λυμάτων της Ψυττάλεια στην Αθήνα. Οι αναλύτες στα ακετέργαστα λύματα αποτελούν δείκτες της κατανάλωσης από τον πληθυσμό αλλά και της έκθεσής του σε χημικά. Πραγματοποιήθηκε καθαρισμός των δειγμάτων και προσυγκέντρωση (200 φορές) με εκχύλιση στερεάς φάσης με υπόστρωμα που αποτελείται από τέσσερα διαφορετικά πληρωτικά υλικά με σκοπό να ανακτηθούν όλοι οι αναλύτες. Τα εκχυλίσματα αναλύθηκαν με LC-MS/MS μέθοδο όπου πραγματοποιήθηκε στοχευμένη σάρωση και με LC-HRMS μέθοδο για ύποπτη σάρωση. Επιπλέον, πραγματοποιήθηκαν υπολογισμοί προς τα πίσω για να εκτιμηθεί η ημερήσια κατανάλωση με σκοπό να βρεθεί το μοτίβο κατανάλωσης για να συσχετιστεί με την κοινωνική και οικονομική κατάσταση .This study presents the determination of 157 pharmaceutical compounds belonging to anagelsics, anesthetics, antibiotics, antiepileptics, antihypertensives, antilipidemics, antiprotozoals, antipsychotics, gastric and ulcer, barbitourates, benzodiazepines, bronchodilatos, diuretics, non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), SNRIs, SSRIs, steroids, sympathomimetics and antidepressants. 24 illicit drugs belonging to stimulants (amphetamines and its metabolites, cocaine and its metabolites), hallucinogens (cannabinoids), opiates and opioids and LSD and its metabolites were also determined among the others. In 2018 and 2019, daily flow-proportional composite influent and effluent wastewater were collected from Psittalia, the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Athens. Analytes in influent wastewater are markers of the consumption and the exposure of the chemicals in the population. Wastewater samples were cleaned up and enriched 200 times using a solid phase extraction protocol based on a mixture of four sorbent materials capable of retaining a wide-range of analytes. Extracts were analyzed by LC-MS/MS method for the determination of pharmaceutical compounds and illicit drugs (target screening) and by LC-HRMS method (suspect screening). Furthermore, the daily consumption of the substances was back-calculated with the aim of revealing trends in the use patterns of the compounds and associate the changes with socioeconomic phenomena

Οι ασυνόδευτοι ανήλικοι και η ένταξή τους στο ελληνικό εκπαιδευτικό σύστημα. Γνώσεις, αντιλήψεις , πρακτικές και επιμορφωτικές ανάγκες των εκπαιδευτικών ενός Διαπολιτισμικού Γυμνασίου

Τα τελευταία χρόνια, λόγω της προσφυγικής κρίσης έχει αυξηθεί σημαντικά ο αριθμός των ασυνόδευτων ανηλίκων που καταφτάνουν στην Ελλάδα. Με βάση τις διεθνείς συμβάσεις για τα δικαιώματα των προσφύγων, αλλά και τις ανθρωπιστικές αντιλήψεις για καλύτερη ποιότητα ζωής καθίσταται αναγκαία η ένταξη των παιδιών αυτών στο ελληνικό εκπαιδευτικό σύστημα. Στόχος της παρούσας εργασίας αποτελεί η διερεύνηση των γνώσεων που διαθέτουν ο διευθυντής και οι εκπαιδευτικοί ενός Διαπολιτισμικού Γυμνασίου για τους ασυνόδευτους ανήλικους, των αντιλήψεων τους για θέματα που σχετίζονται με τους συγκεκριμένους μαθητές αλλά και γενικότερα με την ύπαρξη της ετερότητας στην ελληνική κοινωνία, των πρακτικών που χρησιμοποιούν κατά τη διδασκαλία τους, καθώς και των επιμορφωτικών τους αναγκών. Για τη συλλογή των ερευνητικών δεδομένων χρησιμοποιήθηκε ημι- δομημένη συνέντευξη. Συγκεκριμένα, διεξήχθησαν συνεντεύξεις με το διευθυντή και τέσσερις εκπαιδευτικούς διαφόρων ειδικοτήτων. Από τα ευρήματα της έρευνας διαπιστώθηκε ότι από τη στιγμή που οι ασυνόδευτοι ανήλικοι φοιτούν σε Διαπολιτισμικό σχολείο, δεν μπορούμε να μιλάμε με όρους ένταξης. Πρόταση των εκπαιδευτικών αποτελεί η μετεγγραφή των μαθητών σε σχολεία που φοιτά και ο γενικός πληθυσμός μετά από ένα διάστημα φοίτησης στο διαπολιτισμικό σχολείο. Στο συγκεκριμένο σχολείο δίνεται ιδιαίτερη έμφαση στη διδασκαλία της ελληνικής γλώσσας με τη χρήση εκπαιδευτικού υλικού που παράγουν οι ίδιοι οι εκπαιδευτικοί και είναι προσαρμοσμένο στις ανάγκες των μαθητών τους. Σχετικά με τη φοίτηση των ασυνόδευτων ανηλίκων παρατηρείται έντονο το φαινόμενο της διακοπής της φοίτησης καθώς και της μη τακτικής φοίτησης , γεγονός που αποδίδεται αποκλειστικά σε παράγοντες που σχετίζονται με τους ίδιους τους μαθητές. Λόγω του μεγάλου αριθμού ασυνόδευτων ανηλίκων αλλά και παιδιών προσφύγων και των ιδιαίτερων αναγκών που παρουσιάζουν οι συγκεκριμένες ομάδες, ο διευθυντής και οι εκπαιδευτικοί εκφράζουν έντονη την ανάγκη ενδοσχολικής επιμόρφωσης, βιωματικού χαρακτήρα. Τέλος, χωρίς να θεωρούμε ότι η σχολική μονάδα είναι άμοιρη ευθυνών, το μεγαλύτερο μερίδιο ευθύνης της ένταξης των ασυνόδευτων ανήλικων στο εκπαιδευτικό σύστημα φέρει η πολιτεία που όμως αποδείχτηκε ανέτοιμη στο να εντάξει ομαλά τόσο τους ασυνόδευτους ανήλικους όσο και γενικότερα τα παιδιά των προσφύγων και των μεταναστών που κατέφτασαν στην Ελλάδα τα τελευταία χρόνια.In recent years, because of the refugee crisis, the number of unaccompanied minors arriving in Greece has increased substantially. Based on international conventions on the rights of refugees and the humane viewpoint on a better quality of life, it is necessary to integrate these children into the Greek educational system. The aim of this paper is to explore the knowledge of both, the Principal and the teachers of a Gymnasium for Intercultural Education about unaccompanied minors, their views on the issues related to these particular students, but also, more generally on the existence of diversity in the Greek society, the teaching practices they use and their training needs. A semi-structured interview was used to collect the research data. In particular, interviews were conducted with the Principal and four teachers of various disciplines. From the findings of the survey it was found that since unaccompanied minors attend an Intercultural School, we are in no position to talk about integration. The recommendation of the teachers is the following: after a period of study at the intercultural school, the students to be transferred to schools where the general population is enrolled. In this school special emphasis is being placed on teaching the Greek language by using training material produced by the teachers themselves and adapted to the needs of their pupils. As regards the subject of attendance of unaccompanied minors, the phenomenon of school drop-out and of non-regular attendance is frequently observed, which is attributable solely to factors related to the pupils themselves. Given the large number of unaccompanied minors and child refugees and the particular needs of these groups, the principal and the teachers express a strong need for experiential in-school training. Finally, without considering that the school unit entirely evades responsibility, the state bears most of the responsibility for the integration of unaccompanied minors into the educational system, but it has proved unprepared to ensure a smooth integration of both unaccompanied minors and children of refugees and immigrants who have arrived in Greece over the past few years

Signs and Symptoms of Temporomandibular Joint Disorders Related to the Degree of Mouth Opening and Hearing Loss

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The temporomandibular joint is a unique bi-condylar joint involved in mastication and speech. Temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD) have a range of symptoms, including aural symptoms, and are present in approximately 75% of normal populations. The present study examined the relationship between signs and symptoms of TMD and mouth opening, gender, joint and aural symptoms, and hearing loss.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study involved 464 healthy Greek university students (156 men and 308 women) with a mean age of 19.6 years. Age, gender and maximum mouth opening was recorded. Mouth opening was measured using Vernier calipers. An anamnestic questionnaire was used to stratify the subjects into four groups based on TMD severity. Aural symptoms and an audiogram were recorded for each subject too. Data were analyzed using multifactor ANOVA, chi-square, t-test, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall incidence of TMD signs and symptoms was 73.3%. The incidence and severity was greater in females than males (p-value 0.0001 < 0.05). The number of aural symptoms was associated to the TMD severity (p-value 0.0001 < 0.05) as well as maximum mouth opening (p-value 0.004 < 0.05). Audiometry showed that moderate and severe TMD was associated with hearing loss of median and low tones respectively (p-value 0.0001 < 0.05). TMJ pain (p-value 0.0001 < 0.05), TMJ ankylosis (p-value 0.0001 < 0.05), bruxism (p-value 0.0001 < 0.05) and ear itching (p-value 0.0001 < 0.05) were also found to be statistically different between TMD and non-TMD subjects.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>TMD signs and symptoms were more common and severe in females than males. TMD severity is correlated with the degree of mouth opening and the number of aural symptoms. The absence or presence of mild TMD are associated with normal audiograms while moderate and severe TMD are related to hearing loss in median and low tones respectively. Bruxism, joint ankylosis, joint pain and ear itching were more common in TMD than non-TMD patients.</p

Effect of the Novel Influenza A (H1N1) Virus in the Human Immune System

BACKGROUND: The pandemic by the novel H1N1 virus has created the need to study any probable effects of that infection in the immune system of the host. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Blood was sampled within the first two days of the presentation of signs of infection from 10 healthy volunteers; from 18 cases of flu-like syndrome; and from 31 cases of infection by H1N1 confirmed by reverse RT-PCR. Absolute counts of subtypes of monocytes and of lymphocytes were determined after staining with monoclonal antibodies and analysis by flow cytometry. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from patients and stimulated with various bacterial stimuli. Concentrations of tumour necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-6, IL-18, interferon (FN)-alpha and of IFN-gamma were estimated in supernatants by an enzyme immunoassay. Infection by H1N1 was accompanied by an increase of monocytes. PBMCs of patients evoked strong cytokine production after stimulation with most of bacterial stimuli. Defective cytokine responses were shown in response to stimulation with phytohemagglutin and with heat-killed Streptococcus pneumoniae. Adaptive immune responses of H1N1-infected patients were characterized by decreases of CD4-lymphocytes and of B-lymphocytes and by increase of T-regulatory lymphocytes (Tregs). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Infection by the H1N1 virus is accompanied by a characteristic impairment of the innate immune responses characterized by defective cytokine responses to S.pneumoniae. Alterations of the adaptive immune responses are predominated by increase of Tregs. These findings signify a predisposition for pneumococcal infections after infection by H1N1 influenza

Three years of wastewater surveillance for new psychoactive substances from 16 countries

The proliferation of new psychoactive substances (NPS) over recent years has made their surveillance complex. The analysis of raw municipal influent wastewater can allow a broader insight into community consumption patterns of NPS. This study examines data from an international wastewater surveillance program that collected and analysed influent wastewater samples from up to 47 sites in 16 countries between 2019 and 2022. Influent wastewater samples were collected over the New Year period and analysed using validated liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry methods. Over the three years, a total of 18 NPS were found in at least one site. Synthetic cathinones were the most found class followed by phenethylamines and designer benzodiazepines. Furthermore, two ketamine analogues, one plant based NPS (mitragynine) and methiopropamine were also quantified across the three years. This work demonstrates that NPS are used across different continents and countries with the use of some more evident in particular regions. For example, mitragynine has highest mass loads in sites in the United States, while eutylone and 3-methylmethcathinone increased considerably in New Zealand and in several European countries, respectively. Moreover, 2F-deschloroketamine, an analogue of ketamine, has emerged more recently and could be quantified in several sites, including one in China, where it is considered as one of the drugs of most concern. Finally, some NPS were detected in specific regions during the initial sampling campaigns and spread to additional sites by the third campaign. Hence, wastewater surveillance can provide an insight into temporal and spatial trends of NPS use

The NORMAN Suspect List Exchange (NORMAN-SLE): facilitating European and worldwide collaboration on suspect screening in high resolution mass spectrometry

Background: The NORMAN Association (https://www.norman-.network.com/) initiated the NORMAN Suspect List Exchange (NORMAN-SLE; https://www.norman-.network.com/nds/SLE/) in 2015, following the NORMAN collaborative trial on non-target screening of environmental water samples by mass spectrometry. Since then, this exchange of information on chemicals that are expected to occur in the environment, along with the accompanying expert knowledge and references, has become a valuable knowledge base for "suspect screening" lists. The NORMAN-SLE now serves as a FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) chemical information resource worldwide.Results: The NORMAN-SLE contains 99 separate suspect list collections (as of May 2022) from over 70 contributors around the world, totalling over 100,000 unique substances. The substance classes include per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), pharmaceuticals, pesticides, natural toxins, high production volume substances covered under the European REACH regulation (EC: 1272/2008), priority contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and regulatory lists from NORMAN partners. Several lists focus on transformation products (TPs) and complex features detected in the environment with various levels of provenance and structural information. Each list is available for separate download. The merged, curated collection is also available as the NORMAN Substance Database (NORMAN SusDat). Both the NORMAN-SLE and NORMAN SusDat are integrated within the NORMAN Database System (NDS). The individual NORMAN-SLE lists receive digital object identifiers (DOIs) and traceable versioning via a Zenodo community (https:// zenodo.org/communities/norman-.sle), with a total of > 40,000 unique views, > 50,000 unique downloads and 40 citations (May 2022). NORMAN-SLE content is progressively integrated into large open chemical databases such as PubChem (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) and the US EPA's CompTox Chemicals Dashboard (https://comptox. epa.gov/dashboard/), enabling further access to these lists, along with the additional functionality and calculated properties these resources offer. PubChem has also integrated significant annotation content from the NORMAN-SLE, including a classification browser (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/classification/#hid=101).Conclusions: The NORMAN-SLE offers a specialized service for hosting suspect screening lists of relevance for the environmental community in an open, FAIR manner that allows integration with other major chemical resources. These efforts foster the exchange of information between scientists and regulators, supporting the paradigm shift to the "one substance, one assessment" approach. New submissions are welcome via the contacts provided on the NORMAN-SLE website (https://www.norman-.network.com/nds/SLE/)

The NORMAN Suspect List Exchange (NORMAN-SLE): Facilitating European and worldwide collaboration on suspect screening in high resolution mass spectrometry

Background: The NORMAN Association (https://www.norman-network.com/) initiated the NORMAN Suspect List Exchange (NORMAN-SLE; https://www.norman-network.com/nds/SLE/) in 2015, following the NORMAN collaborative trial on non-target screening of environmental water samples by mass spectrometry. Since then, this exchange of information on chemicals that are expected to occur in the environment, along with the accompanying expert knowledge and references, has become a valuable knowledge base for “suspect screening” lists. The NORMAN-SLE now serves as a FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) chemical information resource worldwide. Results: The NORMAN-SLE contains 99 separate suspect list collections (as of May 2022) from over 70 contributors around the world, totalling over 100,000 unique substances. The substance classes include per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), pharmaceuticals, pesticides, natural toxins, high production volume substances covered under the European REACH regulation (EC: 1272/2008), priority contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and regulatory lists from NORMAN partners. Several lists focus on transformation products (TPs) and complex features detected in the environment with various levels of provenance and structural information. Each list is available for separate download. The merged, curated collection is also available as the NORMAN Substance Database (NORMAN SusDat). Both the NORMAN-SLE and NORMAN SusDat are integrated within the NORMAN Database System (NDS). The individual NORMAN-SLE lists receive digital object identifiers (DOIs) and traceable versioning via a Zenodo community (https://zenodo.org/communities/norman-sle), with a total of > 40,000 unique views, > 50,000 unique downloads and 40 citations (May 2022). NORMAN-SLE content is progressively integrated into large open chemical databases such as PubChem (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) and the US EPA’s CompTox Chemicals Dashboard (https://comptox.epa.gov/dashboard/), enabling further access to these lists, along with the additional functionality and calculated properties these resources offer. PubChem has also integrated significant annotation content from the NORMAN-SLE, including a classification browser (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/classification/#hid=101). Conclusions: The NORMAN-SLE offers a specialized service for hosting suspect screening lists of relevance for the environmental community in an open, FAIR manner that allows integration with other major chemical resources. These efforts foster the exchange of information between scientists and regulators, supporting the paradigm shift to the “one substance, one assessment” approach. New submissions are welcome via the contacts provided on the NORMAN-SLE website (https://www.norman-network.com/nds/SLE/)

The NORMAN Suspect List Exchange (NORMAN-SLE): facilitating European and worldwide collaboration on suspect screening in high resolution mass spectrometry

The NORMAN Association (https://www.norman-network.com/) initiated the NORMAN Suspect List Exchange (NORMAN-SLE; https://www.norman-network.com/nds/SLE/) in 2015, following the NORMAN collaborative trial on non-target screening of environmental water samples by mass spectrometry. Since then, this exchange of information on chemicals that are expected to occur in the environment, along with the accompanying expert knowledge and references, has become a valuable knowledge base for "suspect screening" lists. The NORMAN-SLE now serves as a FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) chemical information resource worldwide.The NORMAN-SLE project has received funding from the NORMAN Association via its joint proposal of activities. HMT and ELS are supported by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) for project A18/BM/12341006. ELS, PC, SEH, HPHA, ZW acknowledge funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101036756, project ZeroPM: Zero pollution of persistent, mobile substances. The work of EEB, TC, QL, BAS, PAT, and JZ was supported by the National Center for Biotechnology Information of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH). JOB is the recipient of an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellowship (EL1 2009209). KVT and JOB acknowledge the support of the Australian Research Council (DP190102476). The Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Queensland Department of Health. NR is supported by a Miguel Servet contract (CP19/00060) from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, co-financed by the European Union through Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER). MM and TR gratefully acknowledge financial support by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF, Bonn) through the project “Persistente mobile organische Chemikalien in der aquatischen Umwelt (PROTECT)” (FKz: 02WRS1495 A/B/E). LiB acknowledges funding through a Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) fellowship (11G1821N). JAP and JMcL acknowledge financial support from the NIH for CCSCompendium (S50 CCSCOMPEND) via grants NIH NIGMS R01GM092218 and NIH NCI 1R03CA222452-01, as well as the Vanderbilt Chemical Biology Interface training program (5T32GM065086-16), plus use of resources of the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) at Vanderbilt University. TJ was (partly) supported by the Dutch Research Council (NWO), project number 15747. UFZ (TS, MaK, WB) received funding from SOLUTIONS project (European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under Grant Agreement No. 603437). TS, MaK, WB, JPA, RCHV, JJV, JeM and MHL acknowledge HBM4EU (European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement no. 733032). TS acknowledges funding from NFDI4Chem—Chemistry Consortium in the NFDI (supported by the DFG under project number 441958208). TS, MaK, WB and EMLJ acknowledge NaToxAq (European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 722493). S36 and S63 (HPHA, SEH, MN, IS) were funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) Project No. (FKZ) 3716 67 416 0, updates to S36 (HPHA, SEH, MN, IS) by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) Project No. (FKZ) 3719 65 408 0. MiK acknowledges financial support from the EU Cohesion Funds within the project Monitoring and assessment of water body status (No. 310011A366 Phase III). The work related to S60 and S82 was funded by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), KK and JH acknowledge the input of Kathrin Fenner’s group (Eawag) in compiling transformation products from European pesticides registration dossiers. DSW and YDF were supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Genome Canada. The work related to S49, S48 and S77 was funded by the MAVA foundation; for S77 also the Valery Foundation (KG, JaM, BG). DML acknowledges National Science Foundation Grant RUI-1306074. YL acknowledges the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 22193051 and 21906177), and the Chinese Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2019M650863). WLC acknowledges research project 108C002871 supported by the Environmental Protection Administration, Executive Yuan, R.O.C. Taiwan (Taiwan EPA). JG acknowledges funding from the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment. AJW was funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. LuB, AC and FH acknowledge the financial support of the Generalitat Valenciana (Research Group of Excellence, Prometeo 2019/040). KN (S89) acknowledges the PhD fellowship through Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 859891 (MSCA-ETN). Exposome-Explorer (S34) was funded by the European Commission projects EXPOsOMICS FP7-KBBE-2012 [308610]; NutriTech FP7-KBBE-2011-5 [289511]; Joint Programming Initiative FOODBALL 2014–17. CP acknowledges grant RYC2020-028901-I funded by MCIN/AEI/1.0.13039/501100011033 and “ESF investing in your future”, and August T Larsson Guest Researcher Programme from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The work of ML, MaSe, SG, TL and WS creating and filling the STOFF-IDENT database (S2) mostly sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the RiSKWa program (funding codes 02WRS1273 and 02WRS1354). XT acknowledges The National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark. MaSch acknowledges funding by the RECETOX research infrastructure (the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, LM2018121), the CETOCOEN PLUS project (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000469), and the CETOCOEN EXCELLENCE Teaming 2 project supported by the Czech ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (No CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/17_043/0009632).Peer reviewe

Μεγάλης κλίμακας καμπάνιες παρακολούθησης αναδυόμενων ρύπων στο περιβάλλον με τη χρήση φασματομετρίας μαζών υψηλής διακριτικής ικανότητας

Thousands of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are released from diffuse and point sources in surface waters. Point sources represent a major input of high loads of CECs in the environment because the technology applied in Wastewater Treatment plants (WWTPs) is insufficient to eliminate them. Consequently, the most persistent CECs end up in freshwater reservoirs, groundwater and even drinking water. Additionally, CECs may also enter the trophic chain depending on their properties. The occurrence of CECs in biota can threaten the stability of the ecosystems due to their toxicity and potential bioaccumulation to animals of higher trophic levels. Even though there is an increasing number of studies dealing with CECs in the literature, the investigation of their behavior in the ecosystem and the various natural and non-natural processes remains a challenge. CECs are known to create complex mixtures of unknown composition, which makes monitoring these substances challenging unless wide-scope screening methods and state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation is utilized.The proposed thesis is divided into three working packages (WP) that aim at (i) characterizing CECs in ecosystems of decisive environmental importance (Danube river basin) using advanced analytical methods and data processing tools, (ii) performing risk assessment to prioritize the compounds based on their hazard and (iii) evaluating the concentration levels of CECs in the influent wastewater and application of Wastewater- based Epidemiology (WBE), which is a chemical tool used to reflect the lifestyle and public health of the WWTP serving population. Due to the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) ongoing pandemic and SARS-CoV-2 variants, an analytical protocol including three steps (concentration, extraction and detection) will be developed and validated, in order to estimate the virus load in influent wastewater from Athens. Wastewater surveillance could be used as an early warning system for epidemics.Χιλιάδες Αναδυόμενοι Ρύποι (ΑΡ) απελευθερώνονται από, σημειακές και μη, πηγές ρύπανσης στα επιφανειακά ύδατα. Οι σημειακές πηγές αποτελούν μέσο εναπόθεσης υψηλών φορτίων ΑΡ στο περιβάλλον, διότι οι διεργασίες που εφαρμόζονται στα Κέντρα Επεξεργασίας Λυμάτων (ΚΕΛ) δεν επιτρέπουν την πλήρη απομάκρυνσή τους. Συνεπώς, οι πιο ανθεκτικοί καταλήγουν σε δεξαμενές γλυκού νερού, υπόγεια ύδατα, στο πόσιμο νερό και εισέρχονται στην τροφική αλυσίδα. Η παρουσία τους στην πανίδα απειλεί τη σταθερότητα των οικοσυστημάτων λόγω της τοξικότητας και της βιοσυσσώρευσης σε ζωικούς οργανισμούς που βρίσκονται σε υψηλότερα τροφικά επίπεδα. Παρ’ όλο που ο αριθμός των ερευνών για τους ΑΡ συνεχώς αυξάνεται, η μελέτη της συμπεριφοράς τους στα οικοσυστήματα και το πλήθος των φυσικών και μη διεργασιών που πραγματοποιούνται παραμένει πρόκληση. Ως γνωστόν, οι ΑΡ δημιουργούν σύνθετες μήτρες άγνωστης σύστασης, γεγονός που καθιστά την παρακολούθησή τους πρόκληση, εκτός αν χρησιμοποιούνται προηγμένες μέθοδοι σάρωσης και όργανα τελευταίας τεχνολογίας.Η παρούσα διατριβή διακρίνεται σε τρεις εργασίες που στοχεύουν (i) στον χαρακτηρισμό ΑΡ σε οικοσυστήματα υψηλής περιβαλλοντικής σημασίας (ποταμός Δούναβης) χρησιμοποιώντας προηγμένες αναλυτικές μεθόδους και εργαλεία επεξεργασίας δεδομένων, (ii) στην εκτίμηση κινδύνου και τοξικότητας όσων ταυτοποιηθούν στα δείγματα και (iii) στην εκτίμηση των επιπέδων συγκέντρωσης των ΑΡ σε δείγματα εισροών λυμάτων με τη χρήση Επιδημιολογίας Λυμάτων, ένα χημικό εργαλείο που αντικατοπτρίζει τις συνήθειες και τη δημόσια υγεία του πληθυσμού που εξυπηρετείται από το ΚΕΛ. Λόγω της εν εξελίξει πανδημίας που οφείλεται στη νόσο Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) και των μεταλλάξεων του αρχικού στελέχους, θα αναπτυχθεί και επικυρωθεί αναλυτικό πρωτόκολλο που περιλαμβάνει τρία στάδια (προσυγκέντρωση, απομόνωση και ανίχνευση) με σκοπό την εκτίμηση του ιικού φορτίου σε δείγματα εισροών αστικών λυμάτων από την Αθήνα και την ανάπτυξη ενός συστήματος έγκαιρης προειδοποίησης για την εξέλιξη της πανδημίας