Fate of conjugated natural and synthetic steroid estrogens in crude sewage and activated sludge batch studies

This document is the unedited author's version of a Submitted Work that was subsequently accepted for publication in Environmental Science & Technology, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published work see http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es801952h.Steroids are excreted from the human body in the conjugated form but are present in sewage influent and effluent as the free steroid, the major source of estrogenic activity observed in water courses. The fate of sulfate and glucuronide conjugated steroid estrogens was investigated in batch studies using activated sludge grown on synthetic sewage in a laboratory-scale Husmann simulation and crude sewage from the field. A clear distinction between the fate of sulfate and glucuronide conjugates was observed in both matrices, with sulfated conjugates proving more recalcitrant and glucuronide deconjugation preferential in crude sewage. For each conjugate, the free steroid was observed in the biotic samples. The degree of free steroid formation was dependent on the conjugate moiety, favoring the glucuronide. Subsequent degradation of the free steroid (and sorption to the activated sludge solid phase) was evaluated. Deconjugation followed the first order reaction rate with rate constants for 17α-ethinylestradiol 3-glucuronide, estriol 16α-glucuronide, and estrone 3-glucuronide determined as 0.32, 0.24, and 0.35 h respectively. The activated sludge solid retention time over the range of 3−9 days had 74 to 94% of sulfate conjugates remaining after 8 h. In contrast, a correlation between increasing temperature and decreasing 17α-ethinylestradiol 3-glucuronide concentrations in the activated sludge observed no conjugate present in the AS following 8 h at 22 °C Based on these batch studies and literature excretion profiles, a hypothesis is presented on which steroids and what form (glucuronide, sulfate, or free) will likely enter the sewage treatment plant.EPSR

Modelling citrus Huanglongbing spread as affected by alternative hosts, vector populations and roguing.

Non-technical summary: We simulated the potential impact of an orange jasmine population on the HLB epidemic in citrus orchards of Recôncavo Baiano region. Our results strongly supports the need of preemptive control actions in a fashion of regional management of HLB. The results also show that measures such as roguing or elimination of alternative hosts will not work if used disconnected from other methods.Na publicação: Francisco F. Laranjeira

Constraining the invisible neutrino decay with KM3NeT-ORCA

Several theories of particle physics beyond the Standard Model consider that neutrinos can decay. In this work we assume that the standard mechanism of neutrino oscillations is altered by the decay of the heaviest neutrino mass state into a sterile neutrino and, depending on the model, a scalar or a Majoron. We study the sensitivity of the forthcoming KM3NeT-ORCA experiment to this scenario and find that it could improve the current bounds coming from oscillation experiments, where three-neutrino oscillations have been considered, by roughly two orders of magnitude. We also study how the presence of this neutrino decay can affect the determination of the atmospheric oscillation parameters sin^2(θ_23) and Δm^2_31, as well as the sensitivity to the neutrino mass ordering

Influence of operating parameters on the biodegradation of steroid estrogens and nonylphenolic compounds during biological wastewater treatment processes

This document is the unedited author's version of a Submitted Work that was subsequently accepted for publication in Environmental Science & Technology, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published work see http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es901612v.This study investigated operational factors influencing the removal of steroid estrogens and nonylphenolic compounds in two sewage treatment works, one a nitrifying/denitrifying activated sludge plant and the other a nitrifying/denitrifying activated sludge plant with phosphorus removal. Removal efficiencies of >90% for steroid estrogens and for longer chain nonylphenol ethoxylates (NP4−12EO) were observed at both works, which had equal sludge ages of 13 days. However, the biological activity in terms of milligrams of estrogen removed per day per tonne of biomass was found to be 50−60% more efficient in the nitrifying/denitrifying activated sludge works compared to the works which additionally incorporated phosphorus removal. A temperature reduction of 6 °C had no impact on the removal of free estrogens, but removal of the conjugated estrone-3-sulfate was reduced by 20%. The apparent biomass sorption (LogKp) values were greater in the nitrifying/denitrifying works than those in the nitrifying/denitrifying works with phosphorus removal for both steroid estrogens and nonylphenolic compounds possibly indicating a different cell surface structure and therefore microbial population. The difference in biological activity (mg tonne−1 d−1) identified in this study, of up to seven times, suggests that there is the potential for enhancing the removal of estrogens and nonylphenols if more detailed knowledge of the factors responsible for these differences can be identified and maximized, thus potentially improving the quality of receiving waters.Public Utilities Board (Singapore), Anglian Water Ltd, Severn Trent Water Ltd, Thames Water Utilities Ltd, United Utilities 393 Plc and Yorkshire Water Services

Estimating frontal and parietal involvement in cognitive estimation: a study of focal neurodegenerative diseases

We often estimate an unknown value based on available relevant information, a process known as cognitive estimation. In this study, we assess the cognitive and neuroanatomic basis for quantitative estimation by examining deficits in patients with focal neurodegenerative disease in frontal and parietal cortex. Executive function and number knowledge are key components in cognitive estimation. Prefrontal cortex has been implicated in multilevel reasoning and planning processes, and parietal cortex has been associated with number knowledge required for such estimations. We administered the Biber Cognitive Estimation Test (BCET) to assess cognitive estimation in 22 patients with prefrontal disease due to behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), to 17 patients with parietal disease due to corticobasal syndrome (CBS) or posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) and 11 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Both bvFTD and CBS/PCA patients had significantly more difficulty with cognitive estimation than controls. MCI were not impaired on BCET relative to controls. Regression analyses related BCET performance to gray matter atrophy in right lateral prefrontal and orbital frontal cortices in bvFTD, and to atrophy in right inferior parietal cortex, right insula and fusiform cortices in CBS/PCA. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that a frontal-parietal network plays a crucial role in cognitive estimation

Simultaneous determination of natural and synthetic steroid estrogens and their conjugates in aqueous matrices by liquid chromatography / mass spectrometry

An analytical method for the simultaneous determination of nine free and conjugated steroid estrogens was developed with application to environmental aqueous matrices. Solid phase extraction (SPE) was employed for isolation and concentration, with detection by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) using electrospray ionisation (ESI) in the negative mode. Method recoveries for various aqueous matrices (wastewater, lake and drinking water) were determined, recoveries proving to be sample dependent. When spiked at 50 ng/l concentrations in sewage influent, recoveries ranged from 62-89 % with relative standard deviations (RSD) < 8.1 %. In comparison, drinking water spiked at the same concentrations had recoveries between 82-100 % with an RSD < 5%. Ion suppression is a known phenomenon when using ESI; hence its impact on method recovery was elucidated for raw sewage. Both ion suppression from matrix interferences and the extraction procedure has bearing on the overall method recovery. Analysis of municipal raw sewage identified several of the analytes of interest at ng/l concentrations, estriol (E3) being the most abundant. Only one conjugate, estrone 3-sulphate (E1-3S) was observe

Fundamentos para a estruturação, desenvolvimento e gestão de redes de pesquisa: o caso da Rede AgroHidro da Embrapa.

A Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa), uma instituição pública ligada ao Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (Mapa), do governo federal brasileiro, instituiu a Rede AgroHidro para estudar as interações da agricultura com os recursos hídricos de bacias hidrográficas em diferentes biomas brasileiros. Para isto realizou-se uma pesquisa quanti-qualitativa de caráter longitudinal. Na primeira fase levantaram-se informações junto aos integrantes da Rede, sobre os aspectos relativos às competências individuais e à estrutura e gestão da Rede. Na segunda identificaram-se os elementos favorecedores da estruturação, desenvolvimento e gestão da Rede. Concluiu-se que os aspectos organizacionais e as relações e influências destes nas interações sociais ocorridas na Rede devem favorecer ações de troca de dados, informações, conhecimentos e experiências para facilitar a execução das atividades de Pesquisa, Desenvolvimento e Inovação (PD&I); promover uma gestão compartilhada para desenvolver vínculos entre os pares; estimular a organização de informações nas diversas áreas de conhecimentos e temas que envolvam as necessidades da Rede; e fortalecer as relações entre os pares a partir do estabelecimento de princípios comunicacionais voltados para autonomia crítica, dialogismo, corresponsabilidade entre os pares e pensamento complexo. Quanto aos aspectos relacionados à gestão, desenvolvimento e estruturação da Rede AgroHidro concluiu-se que as competências humanas e organizacionais existentes na Rede; o modelo de gestão praticado pelos diversos gestores que a integram; o excesso de burocracia; e o estabelecimento de papéis/atribuições claras entre os seus integrantes são fatores que favorecem, em maior ou menor grau, a estruturação, desenvolvimento e gestão da Rede.ADM 2017

Co-occurrence of photochemical and microbiological transformation processes in open-water unit process wetlands

The fate of anthropogenic trace organic contaminants in surface waters can be complex due to the occurrence of multiple parallel and consecutive transformation processes. In this study, the removal of five antiviral drugs (abacavir, acyclovir, emtricitabine, lamivudine and zidovudine) via both bio- and phototransformation processes, was investigated in laboratory microcosm experiments simulating an open-water unit process wetland receiving municipal wastewater effluent. Phototransformation was the main removal mechanism for abacavir, zidovudine, and emtricitabine, with half-lives (t1/2,photo) in wetland water of 1.6, 7.6, and 25 h, respectively. In contrast, removal of acyclovir and lamivudine was mainly attributable to slower microbial processes (t1/2,bio = 74 and 120 h, respectively). Identification of transformation products revealed that bio- and phototransformation reactions took place at different moieties. For abacavir and zidovudine, rapid transformation was attributable to high reactivity of the cyclopropylamine and azido moieties, respectively. Despite substantial differences in kinetics of different antiviral drugs, biotransformation reactions mainly involved oxidation of hydroxyl groups to the corresponding carboxylic acids. Phototransformation rates of parent antiviral drugs and their biotransformation products were similar, indicating that prior exposure to microorganisms (e.g., in a wastewater treatment plant or a vegetated wetland) would not affect the rate of transformation of the part of the molecule susceptible to phototransformation. However, phototransformation strongly affected the rates of biotransformation of the hydroxyl groups, which in some cases resulted in greater persistence of phototransformation products