Pharmaceuticals in tap water: human health risk assessment and proposed monitoring framework in China

Background: Pharmaceuticals are known to contaminate tap water worldwide, but the relevant human health risks have not been assessed in China. Objectives: We monitored 32 pharmaceuticals in Chinese tap water and evaluated the life-long human health risks of exposure in order to provide information for future prioritization and risk management. Methods: We analyzed samples (n = 113) from 13 cities and compared detected concentrations with existing or newly-derived safety levels for assessing risk quotients (RQs) at different life stages, excluding the prenatal stage. Results: We detected 17 pharmaceuticals in 89% of samples, with most detectable concentrations (92%) at < 50 ng/L. Caffeine (median-maximum, nanograms per liter: 24.4-564), metronidazole (1.8-19.3), salicylic acid (16.6-41.2), clofibric acid (1.2-3.3), carbamazepine (1.3-6.7), and dimetridazole (6.9-14.7) were found in ≥ 20% of samples. Cities within the Yangtze River region and Guangzhou were regarded as contamination hot spots because of elevated levels and frequent positive detections. Of the 17 pharmaceuticals detected, 13 showed very low risk levels, but 4 (i.e., dimetridazole, thiamphenicol, sulfamethazine, and clarithromycin) were found to have at least one life-stage RQ ≥ 0.01, especially for the infant and child life stages, and should be considered of high priority for management. We propose an indicator-based monitoring framework for providing information for source identification, water treatment effectiveness, and water safety management in China. Conclusion: Chinese tap water is an additional route of human exposure to pharmaceuticals, particularly for dimetridazole, although the risk to human health is low based on current toxicity data. Pharmaceutical detection and application of the proposed monitoring framework can be used for water source protection and risk management in China and elsewhere

A comparison of the clinical, laboratory and epidemiological features of two divergent subpopulations of Plasmodium knowlesi

Plasmodium knowlesi, a simian malaria parasite responsible for all recent indigenous cases of malaria in Malaysia, infects humans throughout Southeast Asia. There are two genetically distinct subpopulations of Plasmodium knowlesi in Malaysian Borneo, one associated with long-tailed macaques (termed cluster 1) and the other with pig-tailed macaques (cluster 2). A prospective study was conducted to determine whether there were any between-subpopulation differences in clinical and laboratory features, as well as in epidemiological characteristics. Over 2 years, 420 adults admitted to Kapit Hospital, Malaysian Borneo with knowlesi malaria were studied. Infections with each subpopulation resulted in mostly uncomplicated malaria. Severe disease was observed in 35/298 (11.7%) of single cluster 1 and 8/115 (7.0%) of single cluster 2 infections (p = 0.208). There was no clinically significant difference in outcome between the two subpopulations. Cluster 1 infections were more likely to be associated with peri-domestic activities while cluster 2 were associated with interior forest activities consistent with the preferred habitats of the respective macaque hosts. Infections with both P. knowlesi subpopulations cause a wide spectrum of disease including potentially life-threatening complications, with no implications for differential patient management

What is at stake in a war? A prospective evaluation of the Ukraine and Russia conflict for business and society

War produces devastating impacts on humankind, especially in terms of lives and livelihoods. While war is a widely studied topic in history, it remains relatively understudied in business. To address this gap, this article explores the impact of war for business and society. To do so, this article undertakes a prospective evaluation of the Ukraine and Russia conflict as a recent case of war. In doing so, this article reveals that a war can impact society within (e.g., limit access to basic necessities and monetary resources, increase unemployment and reduce purchasing power, and increase asylum seekers and refugees) and outside (e.g., supply shortage and inflation and threat of false information) as well as business within(e.g., threat of cyberattacks, threat to digital and sustainable growth, and short-term and long-term sanctions and support) and outside (e.g., test of business ethics and moral obligations and test of brand management) war-torn countries. The article concludes with an agenda for future research involving war, business, and society

An interventional study on the levels of knowledge, attitude and practice on hand washing among the residents of Kampung Stapang I, Sibu from 11th June to 17th August 2012

/ Hand washing practice is one of preventive measures for some common infectious diseases. Thus to promote hand washing among community, level of knowledge and awareness amoog the population should be assessed so that appropriate interventions can be carried out. The objective of this study was to study the knowledge, attitude and practice 00 hand washing among residents of Stapang I aged 18 and above from 11th of June to 17th of August 201iJ The results obtained were then using as the baseline data to conduct an intervention programme beneficial to the community to enhance their level of knowledge, attitude and practice towards hand washing. Data collection was done by face to face interview using interview-based questionnaire. Data analysis was done using SPSS software version 20.0. Results showed that 50% of the respondents had good knowledge and good attitude while 63.3% had good practice towards hand washing. Post-intervention study showed significant improvement in the total score for knowledge and attitude towards hand washing (pO.05). In conclusion, there is a great need for intensive intervention in order to enhance the practice of hand washing among the respondents

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals &lt;1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Knowledge, attitude and perception on cervical cancer among female students in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)

This cross-sectional study aimed to assess knowledge, attitude and perception on HPV (Human papillomavirus), cervical cancer and their associations with socio-demographic characteristics among UNIMAS female students. Data were collected using questionnaires and the samples were selected by convenience. Analysis is done using SPSS 17.0 software. Fi e hundred respondents consented to participate in this study but only 418 completed it. Most of them were undergraduate (n=400, 95.7%), Malay (n=217, 51.9%), and Muslim (n=220, 52.6%) students. 101 (24.2%) of them were medical students while the remaining (n= 317, 76.8%) were non-medical students making the total of 418. Important findings in this study include poor knowledge on HPV and pap smear among female students in UNIMAS. Only 31 (7.4%) of the respondents have been vaccinated with HPV vaccine. Majority of the respondents (n=281, 95.9%) knew that HPV was transmitted sexually. There was no significant association between level of knowledge and races. However, Chinese respondents had a higher level of knowledge on HPV / cervical cancer probably due to the higher incidence rate of cervical cancer among Chinese women. Most of the respondents (0= 308, 73.7%) expressed their preference for a female doctor than a male doctor to perform pap smear on them. 316 or 80.6% ofthe respondents had poor knOWledg

Design and development of a portable fiber optic chemical sensor utilizing fluorescent carbon dots as receptor

Abstract not availabl

Complementary Sequential Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) and Cell-Free Tumor DNA (ctDNA) Profiling Reveals Metastatic Heterogeneity and Genomic Changes in Lung Cancer and Breast Cancer

Introduction Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and cell-free tumor DNA (ctDNA) are tumor components present in circulation. Due to the limited access to both CTC enrichment platforms and ctDNA sequencing in most laboratories, they are rarely analyzed together. Methods Concurrent isolation of ctDNA and single CTCs were isolated from lung cancer and breast cancer patients using the combination of size-based and CD45-negative selection method via DropCell platform. We performed targeted amplicon sequencing to evaluate the genomic heterogeneity of CTCs and ctDNA in lung cancer and breast cancer patients. Results Higher degrees of genomic heterogeneity were observed in CTCs as compared to ctDNA. Several shared alterations present in CTCs and ctDNA were undetected in the primary tumor, highlighting the intra-tumoral heterogeneity of tumor components that were shed into systemic circulation. Accordingly, CTCs and ctDNA displayed higher degree of concordance with the metastatic tumor than the primary tumor. The alterations detected in circulation correlated with worse survival outcome for both lung and breast cancer patients emphasizing the impact of the metastatic phenotype. Notably, evolving genetic signatures were detected in the CTCs and ctDNA samples during the course of treatment and disease progression. Conclusions A standardized sample processing and data analysis workflow for concurrent analysis of CTCs and ctDNA successfully dissected the heterogeneity of metastatic tumor in circulation as well as the progressive genomic changes that may potentially guide the selection of appropriate therapy against evolving tumor clonality