Evaluation of the Impact of the Plastic BioSand Filter on Health and Drinking Water Quality in Rural Tamale, Ghana

A randomized controlled trial of the plastic BioSand filter (BSF) was performed in rural communities in Tamale (Ghana) to assess reductions in diarrheal disease and improvements in household drinking water quality. Few studies of household water filters have been performed in this region, where high drinking water turbidity can be a challenge for other household water treatment technologies. During the study, the longitudinal prevalence ratio for diarrhea comparing households that received the plastic BSF to households that did not receive it was 0.40 (95% confidence interval: 0.05, 0.80), suggesting an overall diarrheal disease reduction of 60%. The plastic BSF achieved a geometric mean reduction of 97% and 67% for E. coli and turbidity, respectively. These results suggest the plastic BSF significantly improved drinking water quality and reduced diarrheal disease during the short trial in rural Tamale, Ghana. The results are similar to other trials of household drinking water treatment technologies

The operation, flow conditions and microbial reductions of an intermittently operated, household-scale slow sand filter

Nearly one-fifth of the world\u27s population lacks access to safe, reliable sources of drinking water. Point of use (POU) household water treatment technology allows people to improve the quality of their water by treating it in the home. A promising emerging POU technology is the biosand filter (BSF). The BSF is a household-scale, intermittently operated slow sand filter that maintains a wet media bed containing a schmutzdecke and allows periodic water dosing by the user. Step input chemical tracer tests indicated that the BSF operates at near-plug flow conditions. Six-to-eight week longitudinal challenge studies were conducted with daily charges of surface water spiked with E. coli strain B bacteria, coliphages MS2 and PRD-1 and human enteric virus echovirus type 12. The BSF ripened in a manner similar to conventional SSFs. Flow rate slowed and microbial reductions improved over time with ripening. E. coli reductions were ~90% following filter startup but improved to 95—99.5% over time. Microbial reductions were greater with greater residence time within the filter, especially for water retained in the filter bed overnight. E. coli and echovirus 12 reductions were greater than those of coliphages MS2 and PRD-1

Measurement of CYP1A2 and CYP3A4 activity by a simplified Geneva cocktail approach in a cohort of free-living individuals: a pilot study

Introduction: The cytochrome P450 enzyme subfamilies, including CYP3A4 and CYP1A2, have a major role in metabolism of a range of drugs including several anti-cancer treatments. Many factors including environmental exposures, diet, diseaserelated systemic inflammation and certain genetic polymorphisms can impact the activity level of these enzymes. As a result, the net activity of each enzyme subfamily can vary widely between individuals and in the same individual over time. This variability has potential major implications for treatment efficacy and risk of drug toxicity, but currently no assays are available for routine use to guide clinical decision-making.Methods: To address this, a mass spectrometry-based method to measure activities of CYP3A4, CYP1A2 was adapted and tested in free-living participants. The assay results were compared with the predicted activity of each enzyme, based on a self-report tool capturing diet, medication, chronic disease state, and tobacco usage. In addition, a feasibility test was performed using a low-volume dried blood spots (DBS) on two different filter-paper supports, to determine if the same assay could be deployed without the need for repeated standard blood tests.Results: The results confirmed the methodology is safe and feasible to perform in free-living participants using midazolam and caffeine as test substrates for CYP3A4 and CYP1A2 respectively. Furthermore, though similar methods were previously shown to be compatible with the DBS format, the assay can also be performed successfully while incorporating glucuronidase treatment into the DBS approach. The measured CYP3A4 activity score varied 2.6-fold across participants and correlated with predicted activity score obtained with the self-report tool. The measured CYP1A2 activity varied 3.5-fold between participants but no correlation with predicted activity from the self-report tool was found.Discussion: The results confirm the wide variation in CYP activity between individuals and the important role of diet and other exposures in determining CYP3A4 activity. This methodology shows great potential and future cross-sectional and longitudinal studies using DBS are warranted to determine how best to use the assay results to guide drug treatments

Recommendations for dealing with waste contaminated with Ebola virus: a Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points approach

Objective To assess, within communities experiencing Ebola virus outbreaks, the risks associated with the disposal of human waste and to generate recommendations for mitigating such risks. Methods A team with expertise in the Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points framework identified waste products from the care of individuals with Ebola virus disease and constructed, tested and confirmed flow diagrams showing the creation of such products. After listing potential hazards associated with each step in each flow diagram, the team conducted a hazard analysis, determined critical control points and made recommendations to mitigate the transmission risks at each control point. Findings The collection, transportation, cleaning and shared use of blood-soiled fomites and the shared use of latrines contaminated with blood or bloodied faeces appeared to be associated with particularly high levels of risk of Ebola virus transmission. More moderate levels of risk were associated with the collection and transportation of material contaminated with bodily fluids other than blood, shared use of latrines soiled with such fluids, the cleaning and shared use of fomites soiled with such fluids, and the contamination of the environment during the collection and transportation of blood-contaminated waste. Conclusion The risk of the waste-related transmission of Ebola virus could be reduced by the use of full personal protective equipment, appropriate hand hygiene and an appropriate disinfectant after careful cleaning. Use of the Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points framework could facilitate rapid responses to outbreaks of emerging infectious disease

Human Challenge Pilot Study with Cyclospora cayetanensis

We describe a pilot study that attempted to infect human volunteers with Cyclospora cayetanensis. Seven healthy volunteers ingested an inoculum of Cyclospora oocysts (approximately 200–49,000 oocysts). The volunteers did not experience symptoms of gastroenteritis, and no oocysts were detected in any stool samples during the 16 weeks volunteers were monitored

Occurrence of male-specific and somatic coliphages and relationship with rainfall in privately-owned wells from peri‑urban and rural households

Privately-owned drinking water wells serving fewer than 25 people (private wells) are prevalent and understudied across most of the US. Private wells primarily serve rural households located outside of municipal drinking water and sewerage service coverage areas. These wells are not regulated by United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Safe Drinking Water Act, are not regularly monitored by any public agency or utility, and generally do not undergo disinfection treatment. Coliphages are a group of viruses that infect coliform bacteria and are useful viral surrogates for fecal contamination in water systems in much the same way that fecal indicator bacteria (FIB), such as E. coli and to a lesser extent total coliforms, are used to quantify fecal contamination. Coliphages are approved by the EPA for regulatory monitoring in groundwater wells in the USA, but are not routinely used for this purpose. The present study characterizes the occurrence of male-specific and somatic coliphages, along with FIB, in private wells (n = 122) across two different counties in North Carolina. While occurrences of E. coli were rare and frequency of total coliform was generally low (~20%), male-specific and somatic coliphages were detectable in 66% and 54% of samples, respectively. Concentrations of male-specific coliphages were higher than somatics at each county and on a monthly basis. Rainfall appears to be partly influencing higher coliphage concentrations in December, January and February. This research underscores the need for increased surveillance in private wells and consideration of using coliphages in order to better characterize occurrence of fecal contamination at the time of sampling, especially during rainier months

Round robin investigation of methods for the recovery of poliovirus from drinking water.

Six laboratories actively involved in water virology research participated in a methods evaluation study, conducted under the auspices of the American Society for Testing and Materials Committee on Viruses in the Aquatic Environment, Task Force on Drinking Water. Each participant was asked to examine the Viradel (virus adsorption-elution) method with cartridge-type Filterite filters for virus adsorption and organic flocculation and aluminum hydroxide-hydroextraction for reconcentration. Virus was adsorbed to filter media at pH 3.5 and eluted with either glycine buffer (pH 10.5) or beef extract-glycine (pHG 9.0). Considerable variation was noted in the quantity of virus recovered from four 100-liter samples of dechlorinated tapwater seeded with low (350 to 860 PFU) and high (1,837 to 4,689 PFU) doses of poliovirus type 1. To have a more uniform standard of comparison, all the test samples were reassayed in one laboratory, where titers were also determined for the virus seed. Test results of the Viradel-organic flocculation method indicated that the average percentage of virus recovery for low-input experiments was 66%, with a range of 8 to 20% in two laboratories, 49 to 63% in three laboratories, and 198% in one laboratory. For the high-input experiments, two laboratories reported recoveries of 6 to 12%, and four laboratories reported recoveries of 26 to 46%. For the Viradel aluminum hydroxide-hydroextraction procedure, two laboratories recovered 9 to 11%, whereas four obtained 17 to 34% for low-input experiments. For the high-input tests, two laboratories reported a recovery of 3 to 5%, and four recovered 11 to 18% of the seeded virus.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS

Alumoxane/ferroxane nanoparticles for the removal of viral pathogens: the importance of surface functionality to nanoparticle activity

A bi-functional nano-composite coating has been created on a porous Nomex fabric support as a trap for aspirated virus contaminated water. Nomex fabric was successively dip-coated in solutions containing cysteic acid functionalized alumina (alumoxane) nanoparticles and cysteic acid functionalized iron oxide (ferroxane) nanoparticles to form a nanoparticle coated Nomex (NPN) fabric. From SEM and EDX the nanoparticle coating of the Nomex fibers is uniform, continuous, and conformal. The NPN was used as a filter for aspirated bacteriophage MS2 viruses using end-on filtration. All measurements were repeated to give statistical reliability. The NPN fabrics show a large decrease as compared to Nomex alone or alumoxane coated Nomex . An increase in the ferroxane content results in an equivalent increase in virus retention. This suggests that it is the ferroxane that has an active role in deactivating and/or binding the virus. Heating the NPN to 160 C results in the loss of cysteic acid functional groups (without loss of the iron nanoparticleﾒs core structure) and the resulting fabric behaves similar to that of untreated Nomex , showing that the surface functionalization of the nanoparticles is vital for the surface collapse of aspirated water droplets and the absorption and immobilization of the MS2 viruses. Thus, for virus immobilization, it is not sufficient to have iron oxide nanoparticles per se, but the surface functionality of a nanoparticle is vitally important in ensuring efficacy

A multiplexed, automated immuno-matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry assay for simultaneous and precise quantitation of PTEN and p110 alpha in cell lines and tumor tissues

The PI3-kinase/AKT/mTOR pathway plays a central role in cancer signaling. While p110 alpha is the catalytic alpha-subunit of PI3-kinase and a major drug target, PTEN is the main negative regulator of the PI3-kinase/AKT/mTOR pathway. PTEN is often down-regulated in cancer, and there are conflicting data on PTEN's role as breast cancer biomarker. PTEN and p110 alpha protein expression in tumors is commonly analyzed by immunohistochemistry, which suffers from poor multiplexing capacity, poor standardization, and antibody crossreactivity, and which provides only semi-quantitative data. Here, we present an automated, and standardized immuno-matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (iMALDI) assay that allows precise and multiplexed quantitation of PTEN and p110 alpha concentrations, without the limitations of immunohistochemistry. Our iMALDI assay only requires a low-cost benchtop MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer, which simplifies clinical translation. We validated our assay's precision and accuracy, with simultaneous enrichment of both target proteins not significantly affecting the precision and accuracy of the quantitation when compared to the PTEN- and p110 alpha-singleplex iMALDI assays (<15% difference). The multiplexed assay's linear range is from 0.6-20 fmol with accuracies of 90-112% for both target proteins, and the assay is free of matrix-related interferences. The inter-day reproducibility over 5-days was high, with an overall CV of 9%. PTEN and p110 alpha protein concentrations can be quantified down to 1.4 fmol and 0.6 fmol per 10 mu g of total tumor protein, respectively, in various tumor tissue samples, including fresh-frozen breast tumors and colorectal cancer liver metastases, and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) tumors.Proteomic