A collaborative approach to exploring the future of Cancer treatment and care in relation to Precision Medicine: A design perspective.

The Precision Medicine and the Future of Cancer project was jointly conceived by the Innovation School at Glasgow School of Art and the Institute of Cancer Sciences at the University of Glasgow. Graduating year Product Design students from the Innovation School were presented with a challenge-based project to produce a vision of the future based on current trends that relate to Precision Medicine(PM) and Cancer treatment. This project involved working closely with scientists, clinicians, patients, industry and academic professionals from Glasgow University, staff at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and Clinical Innovation Zone, staff at Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, Patient Representatives and external design experts from Studio AndThen and GOODD design consultancy. The objective of this project was to investigate, in both analytical and speculative ways, future forms and functions of cancer treatment and care in relation to Precision Medicine, to develop future scenarios and design artefacts, services, and the experiences associated with them. One of the most significant societal shifts currently taking place within the field of PM is the transformation around what it means to be a patient and a professional working within this context. The public’s role is developing beyond once-passive patients into stakeholders valued within the medical industry and healthcare sector for their participation in clinical trials, and contribution towards policy-making and decision-making committees. This new dynamic is changing the traditional patient-doctor relationship and challenging the hegemony of medical practice at an institutional level. The impetus for this shift is relentless technological acceleration and increased scientific research, in particular driven by advances in PM. This project asked students to consider what will happen in a cancer landscape ten years from now, where PM has evolved to the extent that new forms of medical practice, cancer treatment and care transform how we interact with each other, with professionals and the world around us. The brief gave students the opportunity to reflect on the underlying complexities regarding the future of health, technological acceleration, post-capitalism and human agency, to envision a future world context, develop it as an experiential exhibit, and produce the designed products, services and experiences for the people who might live and work within it. The project was divided into two sections: The first was a collaborative stage where groups of students were assigned a specific area of focus from Social, Technological, Economic, Ethical, Educational, Political, Legal, Ecological [STEEEPLE]. These groups focused on researching and exploring their specific lenses and gathering as much information and understanding while working with external experts to further their knowledge. This group stage culminated in an exhibition of the collaborative understanding of what the future could look like in 10 years from now, after exploring the possible consequences of current actions. The second stage saw students explore their individual response to the world that had been defined in the first stage. Each student had their own response to the research by iteratively creating a design outcome that was appropriate to the subject matter. This culminated in each student having created a design product/service/experience relating to the future scenario. A full report (Project Process Journal [PPJ]) is included within the repository of each student which breaks down their process of designing and the outcome they have designed. The project aims to tackle the emerging possibilities where medical professionals and design can collaborate, to create a future where forms of medical practice are more preventative and are more appropriate for an aging population now and into the future. The deposited materials are arranged as follows: Readme files - two readme files relate to stage one and stage two of the project as outlined above. Overview poster - gives a visual overview of the structure and timeline of the project. Data folders - the data folders for stage one of the project are named for the lens through which each group viewed possible futures. The data folders for stage two of the project are named for the individual students who conducted the work

Evaluation of estrogenic disrupting potency in aquatic environments and urban wastewaters: combination of chemical and biological analysis

Estrogenic disrupting potency was studied in rivers and wastewaters in the Orge catchment near Paris area, using analytical and biological approaches simultaneously. The MELN test was applied to surface water samples, urban storm runoff and WWTP effluent in parallel to analytical determinations of natural estrogens and synthetic estrogen (ethinylestradiol) using liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry. Estrone was quantified in all samples, from 0.1 to 15.7 ng·L-1. b-Estradiol was also quantified in all samples, but at a lower level: from 0.1 to 2.3 ng·L-1. a-Estradiol was never detected. Ethinylestradiol was only quantified in WWTP effluent (0.2 ng·L-1); Estriol was measured in WWTP effluent (12.1 ng·L-1) and downstream effluent (4.9 ng·L-1). The biological responses using the MELN test closely followed the chemical ones. Analytical quantification of estrogens appears to be a simple way to trace estrogenic disruption in surface waters of urban areas as these hormones are the main responsible of effects

Removal efficiency of emerging micropollutants in biofilter wastewater treatment plants in tropical areas

International audienceWe studied the removal of 61 emerging micropollutants, including illicit drugs, in a biofilter wastewater treatment plant located in the French Indies (Martinique). Raw wastewater concentrations were the highest for paracetamol followed by caffeine, naproxen, ibuprofen, its metabolite 2-hydroxyibuprofen, atenolol, ketoprofen, furosemide, methylparaben, cocaine, benzoylecgonine, and 11-nor-delta-9-carboxytetrahydrocannabinol (THC-COOH). The calculated removals were better than those reported in the literature, while the cumulative removal efficacy (i.e., removal of the total mass load) was estimated to be 92 ± 4%. However, this good performance may be partly explained by the removal of paracetamol (also named acetaminophen) and caffeine, which represented 86.4% of the total mass load. Our results point to the adsorption of some molecules on sludge, thus raising the question about local soil pollution from sludge spreading

Forensic Sci Int

Illicit drugs consumption can be back-calculated based on the analysis of drug residues in wastewater using the wastewater-based epidemiology method. The Music Day, held on June 21 in France since 1982, has grown to global proportions and is now celebrated as World Music Day. This large outdoor event takes place in many cities with people allowed to play music in the streets. As psychotropic drugs are often associated with music events, the goal of this study is to investigate the use of illicit drugs on this day in Bordeaux, the fifth largest urban area in France. Daily sampling campaigns of composite wastewater were carried out for seven days in two wastewater treatment plants in Bordeaux in 2017 (Music Day) and 2018. World Music Day in Bordeaux has no observable effect on illicit drug consumption even if this event has massive public participation: this is the first report of the absence of an illicit drug consumption increase in a festival of such magnitude, corroborating the effect of others’ views and opinions, because this event takes place publicly in the street and not among peers. Different hypothesizes are put forward to explain this fact: inappropriate type of event for drug consumption, effect of other festivals, and influence of the event’s timing on a weekday

Substances detected in used syringes of injecting drug users across 7 cities in Europe in 2017 and 2018: The European Syringe Collection and Analysis Project Enterprise (ESCAPE)

Background and aims: Injecting drug use is a matter of public health concern, associated with risks of overdoses, addiction and increased risk of bloodborne viral transmissions. Self-reported data on substances injected can be inaccurate or subject to bias or drug users might be oblivious to their injected substances or adulterations. Gathering of robust analytical information on the actual composition of substances injected might provide better information about the drugs that are being used. Therefore, this study aimed to analyse the residual content of discarded syringes collected across 7 European cities, collectively called the European Syringe Collection and Analysis Project Enterprise (ESCAPE). Methods: Used syringes were collected at street automatic injection kit dispensers or at harm-reduction services in Amsterdam, Budapest, Cologne, Glasgow, Helsinki, Lausanne and Paris. Two sampling periods were executed thus far, in 2017 and 2018. Qualitative chemical analysis of the content of used syringes was performed combining gas chromatographic (GC) and ultra(high)performance liquid chromatographic ((U)HPLC) analytical techniques with detection by mass spectrometry (MS). Results: Substances detected most frequently across both campaigns were cocaine, heroin, buprenorphine, amphetamines and synthetic cathinones. In Amsterdam, Cologne, Lausanne and Glasgow heroin and cocaine were the psychoactive substances most often detected, often in conjunction with each other. Helsinki showed a high presence of buprenorphine and amphetamines. In Budapest and Paris, synthetic cathinones were frequently detected. Less synthetic cathinones and cocaine was detected in 2018, whereas buprenorphine was detected almost twice as much. Inner-city variations were found, probably reflecting the types of people who inject drugs (PWID) in different areas of the city. Conclusion: Overall, laboratory-confirmed local data on injected substances showed resemblance to national surveys done among PWID. However, the ESCAPE data also showed some interesting differences, showing it can be used for local interventions and complementing existing monitoring data

PSDR4 DYNAMIQUES - Dynamiques de la biodiversité et des services écosystémiques pendant le développement périurbain

The DYNAMIQUES project is a multidisciplinary research program that studies the consequences of periurban development both on biodiversity and the services it provides to humans. The project is being carried out on the Saclay Plateau, an area located in the junction zone between the Paris conurbation and the great plains surrounding it, with the dual characteristic of being in the process of urbanization following the development of the great Paris Saclay science and technology cluster, and of integrating more than 2,000 hectares of some of the most fertile agricultural land of France. The general objective of the project is to produce knowledge to promote sustainable coexistence on the same territory between agriculture, the city and biodiversity, in conjunction with urban and agricultural development partners. One of the major characteristics of peri-urban spaces is the coexistence of two types of spaces that are highlymodified by human presence, agricultural spaces and urbanized spaces. It is already known that this strong modification has negative consequences for biodiversity, and that agricultural and urbanised spaces contain on average much lower biodiversity than natural spaces. The simultaneous presence of agricultural and urban areas on a territory could therefore seem particularly problematic for biodiversity, but it is also possible that these two types of highly modified areas complement each other and that their association is on the contrary relatively beneficial for biodiversity. The project has shown that in some cases there is a positive synergy between agricultural and urban spaces. Insect pollinators seem to benefit from the simultaneous presence of these two types of spaces, while in other cases the synergy is negative: peri-urban ponds suffer from double contamination when they are located in the agricultural and urbaninterfaces.Le projet DYNAMIQUES est un programme pluridisciplinaire de recherche qui étudie les conséquences du développement périurbain sur la biodiversité et les services qu’elle fournit aux humains. Le projet est réalisé sur le plateau de Saclay, un territoire situé dans la zone de jonction entre l'agglomération parisienne et les grandes plaines qui l'entourent et ayant la double particularité d’être en cours d'urbanisation suite au développement du grand pôle scientifique et technologique de Paris Saclay, et de comporter plus de 2000 hectares de terres agricoles parmi les plus fertiles de France. L’objectif général du projet est de produire des connaissances pour favoriser une coexistence durable sur un mêmeterritoire entre l'agriculture, la ville et la biodiversité, en lien avec les partenaires du développement urbain et agricole. Une des caractéristiques majeures des espaces périurbains est la coexistence de deux types d’espaces très modifiés par la présence humaine, les espaces agricoles et les espaces urbanisés. Il est déjà connu que cette forte modification a des conséquences négatives pour la biodiversité, et que lesespaces agricoles et urbanisés contiennent en moyenne une biodiversité nettement plus faible que les espaces naturels. La présence simultanée d’espaces agricoles et urbains sur un territoire pourrait par conséquent sembler particulièrement problématique pour la biodiversité mais il est également possible que ces deux types d’espaces très modifiés se complètent et que leur association soit au contrairerelativement bénéfique pour la biodiversité. Le projet a montré qu’on observe dans certains cas une synergie positive des espaces agricoles et urbain, les insectes pollinisateurs semblent ainsi bénéficier de la présence simultanée de ces deux types d’espaces, alors que dans d’autre cas elle est négative : les mares périurbaines subissent une double contamination quand elles sont situées dans les interfacesagricoles et urbaines

Comparing illicit drug use in 19 European cities through sewage analysis

The analysis of sewage for urinary biomarkers of illicit drugs is a promising and complementary approach for estimating the use of these substances in the general population. For the first time, this approach was simultaneously applied in 19 European cities, making it possible to directly compare illicit drug loads in Europe over a 1-week period. An inter-laboratory comparison study was performed to evaluate the analytical performance of the participating laboratories. Raw 24-hour composite sewage samples were collected from 19 European cities during a single week in March 2011 and analyzed for the urinary biomarkers of cocaine, amphetamine, ecstasy, methamphetamine and cannabis using in-house optimized and validated analytical methods. The load of each substance used in each city was back-calculated from the measured concentrations. The data show distinct temporal and spatial patterns in drug use across Europe. Cocaine use was higher in Western and Central Europe and lower in Northern and Eastern Europe. The extrapolated total daily use of cocaine in Europe during the study period was equivalent to 356 kg/day. High per capita ecstasy loads were observed in Dutch cities, as well as in Antwerp and London. In general, cocaine and ecstasy loads were significantly elevated during the weekend compared to weekdays. Per-capita loads of methamphetamine were highest in Helsinki and Turku, Oslo and Budweis, while the per capita loads of cannabis were similar throughout Europe. This study shows that a standardized analysis for illicit drug urinary biomarkers in sewage can be applied to estimate and compare the use of these substances at local and international scales. This approach has the potential to deliver important information on drug markets (supply indicator)

Contamination du bassin versant de l'ORGE par les micropolluants et effets toxiques associés

Depuis 2007, le bassin versant (BV) de l'Orge a été retenu comme site atelier par le PIREN Seine. Ce BV périurbain est, en effet, soumis à une pression anthropique importante, notamment dans sa partie aval fortement urbanisée. L'objectif de ces travaux était de poursuivre létude initiée en 2007, qui visait à caractériser la contamination du BV par différentes familles de micropolluants métalliques et organiques (dont plusieurs composés classés comme substances prioritaires par la DCE)