Wastewater-Based Epidemiology (WBE) is currently used to monitor not only the spread of the pandemic virus SARS-CoV-2 but also for other viruses in endemic conditions, particularly in the absence of syndromic surveillance. Continuous monitoring of sewage requires high costs and significant time investment, highlighting the need for standardized methods and structured monitoring strategies. In this context, we conducted weekly wastewater monitoring in northwestern Italy, targeting Human Adenovirus (HAdV), Norovirus Genogroup II (NoVggII), Enterovirus (EV), and SARS-CoV-2. Samples collected at the entrance of treatment plants were concentrated using PEG/NaCl precipitation and viral nucleic acids were extracted and detected by real-time (RT-)qPCR. NoVggII resulted the most identified target (84.4%), followed by HAdV, SARS-CoV-2, and EV. Only HAdV and EV exhibited seasonal peaks in spring and summer. SARS-CoV-2 results compared with data previously collected in the same study area (February 2021 to September 2021) revealed a shift from an epidemic to a pandemic status, likely due to the evolution of variants. In conclusion, WBE, using standardized methods and an efficient monitoring strategy, proves valuable for virus surveillance in pandemic and epidemic scenarios, enabling the identification of temporal-local distribution patterns that are useful for making informed public health decision.

Coal gasification with carbon dioxide is a process for generating clean gaseous fuels and relieving greenhouse effect. Zhundong coal has high alkali and alkali earth metals (AAEMs) content, medium volatile and low ash in nature. Isothermal CO₂ gasification of char derived from Zhundong coal (R-char) and char from acid washing R-char (AR-char) are performed in thermo-gravimetric analyzer (TGA). The effect of AAEMs is investigated on the gasification behavior in the range of temperatures 1073 K to 1273 K. The carbon conversion increases rapidly with increasing reaction temperature and CO₂ concentration. R-char has high gasification rate and carbon conversion compared with AR-char. The accuracy of the free-model approach for calculating activation energy at different conversions is validated by compared with different kinetic models (volume reaction model, distributed activation energy model). Moreover, R-char gasification with CO₂ shows a compensation effect as the Arrhenius parameters (EA and k0) increase or decrease simultaneously.

Wastewater surveillance, initially conceived in the early 20th century during typhoid fever outbreaks, has evolved into a powerful tool for monitoring public health-relevant analytes. Recent applications in tracking SARS-CoV-2 infection highlight its potential. Beyond humans, it can be extended to livestock populations due to the increasing demand for livestock products. Livestock intensification poses risks of zoonotic disease emergence. Wastewater surveillance offers non-invasive, cost-effective means to detect potential outbreaks. This approach aligns with the "One Health" paradigm, emphasizing the interconnectedness of human, animal, and ecosystem health. By monitoring viruses in livestock wastewater, early detection, prevention, and control strategies can be employed, safeguarding both animal and human health, economic stability, and international trade. This integrated One Health approach enhances collaboration and a comprehensive understanding of disease dynamics, supporting proactive measures in the Anthropocene era where animal and human diseases are on the rise.

Three kinds of inorganic alkali are introduced into tetraethylenepentamine (TPEA) and polyethyleneimine (PEI) modified MCM-41 as the CO2 adsorbents. FT-IR and TGA are used to characterize the surface groups and the thermal stability of adsorbents. Chemical titration method is used to measure the alkali amounts of adsorbents. Thermo-gravimetric analysis with 10%CO2/N2 as the simulated flue gas is used to test the CO2 adsorption performance of adsorbents. The results show that all three kinds of inorganic alkali containing adsorbents exhibit promoted CO2 adsorption capability than traditional TPEA and PEI modified samples. Ca(OH)2 and PEI modified samples exhibit the highest adsorption capacity and stable regeneration property. The introduction of inorganic alkali changes the chemical adsorption mechanism between CO2 and increases the effective alkali amounts due to its hydroxyl groups. The CO2 adsorption capacities have a linear dependence relation with the alkali amounts of adsorbents, indicating that alkali amount is a critical factor for novel adsorbents exploring.

Enteric infections are a major public health concern. Detecting risk areas requires a strong surveillance system for pathogenic viruses in possible sources such as wastewater. To build an environmental surveillance system, we aimed to identify group A rotavirus (RVA) and human adenovirus (HAdV) in wastewater. We also focused on three different methods of viral concentration to determine suitability for a regular surveillance system. We screened 20 wastewater samples for HAdV and RVA using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and conventional polymerase chain reaction (cPCR). Sixteen posi-tives (18/20) and ten (14/20) positives for HAdV and RVA, respectively, were obtained on qPCR, representing a prevalence of 90% and 70%. Twelve (12) positives were successfully amplified. Bag-mediated filtration system (BMFS) and skimmed milk (SM) flocculation were the most consistent viral concentration methods for HAdV and RVA, respectively. Human adenovirus was identified with nucleotide identity range of 98.48% to 99.53%. Statistical analysis of positives showed that viral burden differed by site (P

Sewage surveillance can be used as an effective complementary tool for detecting pathogens in local communities, providing insights into emerging threats and aiding in the monitoring of outbreaks. In this study using qPCR and whole genomic sewage surveillance, we detected Mpox virus along with other viruses, in municipal and hospital wastewaters in Belo Horizonte, Brazil over a 9 months period (from July 2022 till March 2023). MPXV DNA detection rates varied in our study, with 19.6% (11 out of 56 samples) detected through the hybrid capture method of whole genome sequencing and 20% (12 out of 60 samples) through qPCR. In hospital wastewaters, the detection rate was higher at 40% (12 out of 30 samples), compared to 13.3%(4 out of 30 samples) in municipal wastewaters. This variation could be attributed to the relatively low number of MPXV cases reported in the city, which ranged from 106 to 341 cases during the study period, and to dilution effects, given that each of the two wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) investigated serves approximately 1.1 million inhabitants. Additionally, nine other virus families were identified in both hospitals and municipal wastewaters including Adenoviridade, Astroviridae, Caliciviridae, Picornaviridade, Polyomaviridae, Coronaviridae (which includes SARS-CoV-2), Herspesviridae, Papillomaviridae and Flaviviridae (notably including Dengue). These findings underscore the potential of genomic sewage surveillance as a robust public health tool for monitoring a wide range of viruses circulating in both community and hospitals environments including MPXV.

We systematically reviewed studies using wastewater for AMR surveillance in human populations, to determine: (i) the strength of the evidence for a wastewater-human AMR association, and (ii) methodological approaches which optimised identifying such an association, and which could be recommended as standard. We used Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) to quantify agreement between AMR prevalence in wastewater and human compartments, and logistic regression to identify study features (e.g. sampling methods) associated with high-agreement (defined as wastewater-human AMR prevalences within ±10%). Of 8,867 records and 232 full-text methods reviewed, 29 studies were included. AMR prevalence data was extractable from 20 studies conducting phenotypic-only (n=11), genotypic-only (n=1) or combined (n=8) AMR detection. Overall wastewater-human AMR concordance was reasonably high for both phenotypic (CCC=0.81 [95% CI 0.74-0.87]) and genotypic comparisons (CCC=0.88 (95% CI 0.85-0.91)) despite diverse species-phenotypes/genotypes and study design. Logistic regression was limited by inconsistent reporting of study features, and limited sample size; no significant relationships between study features and high wastewater-human AMR agreement were identified. Based on descriptive synthesis, composite/flow-proportional sampling of wastewater influent, longitudinal sampling >12 months, and time/location-matched comparisons generally had higher-agreement. Further research and clear and consistent reporting of study methods is required to confirm optimal practice.

Wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 has garnered extensive public attention during the COVID-19 pandemic as a proposed complement to existing disease surveillance systems. Over the past year, methods for detection and quantification of SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in untreated sewage have advanced, and concentrations in wastewater have been shown to correlate with trends in reported cases. Despite the promise of wastewater surveillance, for these measurements to translate into useful public health tools, it is necessary to bridge the communication and knowledge gaps between researchers and public health responders. Here we describe the key uses, barriers, and applicability of SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance for supporting public health decisions and actions, including establishing ethical consideration for monitoring. Overall, while wastewater surveillance to assess community infections is not a new idea, by addressing these barriers, the COVID-19 pandemic may be the initiating event that turns this emerging public health tool into a sustainable nationwide surveillance system.

Background: In the span of just two years, tracking the COVID-19 pandemic through wastewater surveillance has advanced from early reports of successful SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in untreated wastewater to implementation of programs in at least 60 countries. Early wastewater monitoring efforts primarily originated in research laboratories and are now transitioning into more formal surveillance programs run in commercial and public health laboratories. A major challenge in this progression has been to simultaneously optimize methods and build scientific consensus while implementing surveillance programs, particularly during the rapidly changing landscape of the pandemic. Translating wastewater surveillance results for effective use by public health agencies also remains a key objective for the field. Objectives: We examine the evolution of wastewater surveillance to identify model collaborations and effective partnerships that have created rapid and sustained success. We propose needed areas of research and key roles academic researchers can play in the framework of wastewater surveillance to aid in the transition of early monitoring efforts to more formalized programs within the public health system. Discussion: Wastewater surveillance has rapidly developed as a public health tool Clinical testing programs are ramping down and home testing is on the rise, making wastewater monitoring important for future surveillance of COVID-19. Our experience in initiating and implementing wastewater surveillance programs in the United States has allowed us to reflect on key barriers and organizational challenges and draw useful lessons. As wastewater surveillance programs are formalized, the working relationships developed between academic researchers, commercial and public health laboratories, and data users should continue and should promote knowledge co-development. While wastewater surveillance has demonstrated utility for tracking COVID-19, there remain technical challenges and open scientific questions that researchers are equipped to address, which will contribute to building robust surveillance programs that provide public health practitioners with new insights into population health.

Wastewater surveillance for pathogens using the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is an effective, resource-efficient tool for gathering additional community-level public health information, including the incidence and/or prevalence and trends of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater may provide an early-warning signal of COVID-19 infections in a community. The capacity of the world’s environmental microbiology and virology laboratories for SARS-CoV-2 RNA characterization in wastewater is rapidly increasing. However, there are no standardized protocols nor harmonized quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) procedures for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance. This paper is a technical review of factors that can lead to false-positive and -negative errors in the surveillance of SARS-CoV-2, culminating in recommendations and strategies that can be implemented to identify and mitigate these errors. Recommendations include, stringent QA/QC measures, representative sampling approaches, effective virus concentration and efficient RNA extraction, amplification inhibition assessment, inclusion of sample processing controls, and considerations for RT-PCR assay selection and data interpretation. Clear data interpretation guidelines (e.g., determination of positive and negative samples) are critical, particularly during a low incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. Corrective and confirmatory actions must be in place for inconclusive and/or potentially significant results (e.g., initial onset or reemergence of COVID-19 in a community). It will also be prudent to perform inter-laboratory comparisons to ensure results are reliable and interpretable for ongoing and retrospective analyses. The strategies that are recommended in this review aim to improve SARS-CoV-2 characterization for wastewater surveillance applications. A silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic is that the efficacy of wastewater surveillance was demonstrated during this global crisis. In the future, wastewater will play an important role in the surveillance of a range of other communicable diseases.

With the ongoing amendment of the EU legislation on the treatment of urban wastewater, stricter requirements for the removal of pollutants are expected, which calls for the need for innovative wastewater treatment technologies. Biological systems are still the first choice. The survey of typical bioreactors applied in wastewater treatment is presented. Wastewater treatment objective, bio-chemical environment and microbial growth are selected as a main criterion for classification of these bioreactors. Hydraulic and kinetic aspects are considered, advantages and drawbacks of these bioreactors regarding the selection of appropriate type of the reactor as well as regarding operation of reactors are mentioned. The aim of this paper is to provide operators and designers with a brief overview of selected traditional and advanced processes, reactors, and technologies for nutrient removal from municipal wastewater. Another goal is to discuss the possibilities and limitations to comply with more strict effluent standards. From the evaluation of the published papers, it follows that the currently applied traditional methods of nutrients removal have the potential to convey also with the expected stricter limits.

Occupational accidents, despite continuous safety updates, are still a scourge in the occupational and forensic spheres, constituting, among other things, the subject of a large share of litigation. Demographic data can help to understand the areas where the application of health surveillance is lacking. This meta-analysis sets out to analyze data from studies on accidents at work, focusing on the correlation between the areas in which accidents occur and whether or not personal safety equipment is used, about the different regulations in force. For the selection of the data, a systematic review was carried out according to the PRISMA guidelines, with the primary objective of identifying the trend of occupational accidents in specific geographical areas, which differ in terms of the attention paid to preventive aspects. The data we highlighted showed, regarding the type of accident, substantial differences between low-income countries and industrialized countries (stratified according to the Human Development Index) and, an overall indifference as to whether or not individual safety devices were used, revealing that, despite the continuous normative evolution in the field of safety at work, even today, the investigative data on the actual application of the regulations, during accidents at work, is underestimated and little researched.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to wastewater surveillance becoming an important tool for monitoring the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) within communities. As a result, molecular methods, in particular reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), have been employed to generate large data sets aimed at the detection and quantification of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. Although RT-qPCR is rapid and sensitive, there is no standard method that fits all use cases, there are no certified quantification standards and experiments are carried out using numerous different assays, reagents, instruments, and data analysis protocols. These variations can lead to the reporting of erroneous quantitative data resulting in potentially misleading interpretations and conclusions. We have reviewed the SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance literature focusing on the variability of RT-qPCR data as revealed by inconsistent standard curves and associated parameters. We find that variation in these parameters and deviations from best practices as described in The Minimum Information for Publication of Quantitative Real-Time PCR Experiments (MIQE) guidelines suggest a lack of reproducibility and reliability in quantitative measurements of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater.

Introduction Livestock abortigenic agents, which are microorganisms that lead to premature foetal death and expulsion before completion of the gestation period, are common in Africa and Asia. Abortion events cause economic losses by lowering reproduction (and hence herd/flock sizes) and effects on milk production. Despite the importance of livestock production for food security and livelihoods of millions of the world’s poorest communities, very little is known about the scale, magnitude or causes of livestock abortion in Africa. The aim of this review was to determine the current status of the burden of livestock abortion and surveillance measures adopted for livestock abortigenic pathogens in Africa and Asia, and to explore feasible surveillance technologies. Methodology A systematic literature search was conducted using Preferred Reporting of Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines in four databases for studies published between 1 Jan 1990 and 31 July 2021 that reported epidemiological surveys of livestock abortigenic pathogens in cattle, goats and sheep in Africa and Asia including; Brucella spp., Neospora caninum, Toxoplasma gondii, Rift valley fever virus, Coxiella burnetii, Chlamydia, Leptospira and Bovine viral Diarrhoea Virus. A meta-analysis was used to estimate the species-specific prevalence of the abortigenic diseases and the region where they were detected. Results In the systematic literature search, 48 full papers were included which in total included 50 species-specific surveillance reports from Africa and 19 from Asia. Adjusted median seroprevalence calculations estimated Brucella at 6.85% (range 1.2-11.6) of 9071 sheep, 3.35% (range 0.90-5.40) of 17,007 goats, 8.95% (range 0.50-63.60) of 171,733 cattle, Neospora at 6.80% (range 6.80 -6.80) of 555 sheep, 10.80 (range 10.80-10.80) of 185 goats, 12.65% (range 3.40- 25.60) of 3775 cattle, Toxoplasma at 27.50% (range 1.40 – 75.90) of 2284 sheep, 32.0% (range 20.00- 64.80) of 1226 goats, 7.50% (range 7.50 - 7.50) of 174 cattle, Coxiella at 9.20 (range 9.20 – 9.20) of 184 sheep, 24.20% (range 24.20-24.20) of 91 goats, 13.80% (range 13.80-13.80) of 217 cattle, Rift valley fever virus at 7.70 (2.40-40.00) of 874 sheep, 20.95 (range 2.50-40.00) of 547 goats, 7.45% (range 3.60-11.30) of 309 cattle, Bovine viral diarrhea virus at 78.90 (range 78.90 – 78.90) of 398 cattle, Leptospira at 70.50 (range 70.50 – 70.50) of 373 cattle and Chlamydia at 6.60 (6.60-6.60) of 803 sheep. We found that most studies, 45 (89%) used serological surveys, 1 (2%) used molecular and 1 (2%) reported to have used Mobile-phone based surveillance approach. Three studies (6.25%) of the 48 included were embedded in the national surveillance programs of the respective countries they were conducted, majority 89% were stand-alone cross-sectional studies. Conclusion In conclusion, livestock abortigenic pathogens are still a burden in many African and Asian countries.

In the case of a Cu-Mo-W polymetallic ore, the wastewater from the scheelite cleaning flowsheet contains large amounts of residual flocculants and metal ions, and the separation of chalcopyrite and molybdenite require a large number of environmentally harmful depressants. Therefore, it is necessary to find new methods to reduce the environmental and cost pressures of wastewater treatment and the use of depressants. In this work, the flotation wastewater from scheelite cleaning flowsheet for the separation of chalcopyrite and molybdenite by selective surface passivation was investigated for the first time. Flotations of single minerals and artificially mixed minerals with or without immersion pretreatment in the presence and absence of aeration were performed. The results showed that pulp pH had no effect on the flotation of either mineral, and a molybdenite recovery of 93.22% with chalcopyrite recovery of 10.77% was achieved under the conditions of 10 days of immersion pretreatment with aeration, 350 mg/L of kerosene, and 100 mg/L of MIBC. By combining the electrochemical cyclic voltammetry analysis and characterization by XRD and SEM, the selective surface passivation mechanism of chalcopyrite was discussed, which could be due to the coverage of the insoluble oxidation products, especially jarosite. This work has simultaneously achieved the depressant-free flotation separation of molybdenite and chalcopyrite and the reuse of scheelite flotation wastewater, which is of great significance for environmental protection and cost saving.

Electrochemical methods are used for the treatment of both municipal and industrial wastewater, either independently or in conjunction with biological methods. This conjunction is used for pretreatment or posttreatment of biologically treated wastewater. In our work, we focused on the combination of these processes, where pre-electrolysis was used to produce dissolved iron before the activation process. Electrolysis was also directly introduced into the activation using either iron or carbon electrodes. The surface of one iron electrode was 32.2 cm2, the applied voltage was 21 V, and the supplied current was 270 mA. The surface of one carbon electrode was 7.54 cm2, the supplied current was 82.5 mA, and the applied voltage was 21 V. From laboratory research on the treatment of synthetic municipal wastewater using a combination of electrolysis and activation processes, it resulted that the use of iron electrodes increased the efficiency of phosphorus removal compared to its precipitation with iron salts. The electrolysis had a positive effect on the sedimentation properties of sludge and the destruction of filamentous microorganisms. Electrolysis negatively affected the respiration rates of activated sludge and the efficiency of denitrification. However, it did not have a negative impact on the nitrification activity of the sludge.

In an attempt to reuse fibrous textile waste and, at the same time, to address dye pollution in textile wastewater, waste cotton-based yarn was utilized as both a cheap and sustainable adsorbent and a precursor for carbon adsorbent production. Cotton and cotton/polyester yarn samples underwent thermal modification through carbonization followed by chemical activation with KOH. Various techniques including nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and surface charge determination were employed to analyze the morphological and surface properties of the cotton-based adsorbents. Adsorption properties were evaluated by testing the removal of selected cationic and anionic dyes from water. The impact of temperature, contact time, initial concentration, and pH of the adsorbate solution on adsorption was investigated, with experimental data analyzed using theoretical models. While carbonization alone did not significantly enhance adsorption properties, activated samples exhibited high efficacy in removing both cationic and anionic dyes from water. Despite the negative influence of the polyester component in the carbon precursor on the efficiency of activated samples in removing methyl orange, results indicated that activated cotton and cotton/polyester yarn could be used to prepare highly efficient adsorbents for the rapid removal of methylene blue from real wastewater samples.

Micropollutants belongs to various groups of chemicals. One of the most diverse and large group of them are pharmaceuticals. The presence of pharmaceutical residues in wastewater poses a significant challenge to water quality and environmental health. This paper provides an overview of recent advancements in the removal of pharmaceuticals from water, focusing on various treatment processes and their effectiveness in eliminating micropollutants. Through a review of literature, including studies on ozonation, UV irradiation, sulphate radical-based tech-nologies, and photocatalytic processes, insights into degradation mechanisms and optimal con-ditions for their removal are synthesized. Additionally, with new legislation mandating the monitoring of selected micropollutants and the implementation of quaternary treatment in wastewater treatment plants, the paper discusses prospects for future research and recommen-dations for effective pharmaceuticals removal. Key actions include conducting comprehensive laboratory and pilot trials, implementing quaternary treatment of wastewaters, continuously monitoring of water quality, investing in research and development, and promoting collabora-tion and knowledge sharing among stakeholders. By embracing these strategies, we can work towards safeguarding water resources and protecting public health from the adverse effects of pharmaceutical contamination.

The per capita availability of freshwater resources on a global scale is gradually decreasing due to population growth, rapid urbanization, industrialization, and modern lifestyles. In this situation, wastewater management becomes a major concern. Conventional treatment processes used to treat wastewater discharges are not adequate for the advanced removal of pollutants, especially refractory organic pollutants, which are mainly organic compounds that are not easily biodegradable in the environment. The use of photocatalytic membrane reactors (PMRs) for tertiary wastewater treatment has attracted much interest in recent periods, and various configurations have been investigated. The performance of a PMR using an iron doped titanium photo catalyst and Polysulfone-based polymeric membrane for municipal wastewater treatment was evaluated under natural and simulated solar light. Obtained results proved that solar driven PMRs can remove organic loading (COD) with high efficiencies and may represent a suitable alternative for the tertiary treatment step of municipal wastewater.

Unmanned vehicles (UVs) have become increasingly important in various scenarios of civil and military operations. The present work aims at the conceptual design of a modular Amphibious Unmanned Ground Vehicle (A-UGV), that can be easily adapted for different types of land and/or water missions, with low monetary cost (<5k€, without sensors). Basing the design on the needs highlighted in the 2021 review of the Strategic Directive of the Portuguese Navy, the necessary specifications and requirements are established for two mission scenarios. Then a market research analysis focused on vehicles currently available, and their technological advances, is conducted to identify existing UVs solutions and respective characteristics/capabilities of interest to the current work. To study and define the geometry of the hull and the configuration of the A-UGV itself, preliminary computational structural and fluid analyses are carried out to ensure it complies with the specifications initially established. As a result, one obtains a fully electric vehicle, with approximate dimensions of 1050×670×450mm (length-width-height), enabled with 6×6 traction capable of reaching 20km/h in land, possesses amphibious capabilities of independent propulsion in water up to 8kts, and with an estimated autonomy of over 60 minutes.

The study investigated the application of Wastewater-Based Epidemiology (WBE) as a tool for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in a city in Northern Italy from October 2021 to May 2023. Starting from a widely applied deterministic model, this study proposed a variation to take into account population characteristics and virus biodegradation in the sewer network. The model calculated virus loads and corresponding COVID-19 cases over time in different areas of the city and was validated with healthcare data while considering viral mutations, vaccinations, and testing variability. The correlation between the predicted and reported cases was high across the three waves that occurred in the considered period, demonstrating the model’s capacity to predict relevant fluctuations in the number of cases. Population characteristics did not substantially influence the predicted and reported infection rates. Conversely, biodegradation significantly reduced the virus load reaching the wastewater treatment plant, resulting in a 30% reduction in the total virus load produced in the study area. This approach can be applied for comparing virus load values across cities with varying population demographics and sewer network structures, enhancing the comparability of WBE data for effective surveillance and intervention strategies.

Public restrooms are often a hub of microbial contamination, and the examination of bacterial contamination in these facilities can serve as an important indicator of the transmission of infectious diseases. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of bacterial contamination in public restrooms based on the economic class of the building. Samples were collected from various spots in 32 restrooms found in 10 shopping malls, classifying them into two categories: upper-end restrooms and lower-end restrooms. The findings showed that the level of contamination was higher in the lower-end restrooms, with the seat being the most contaminated area. The most dominant Gram-positive bacteria were coagulase-negative staphylococci species, making up 86% of the identified Gram-positive isolates. The most dominant Gram-negative bacteria identified were Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The antibiotic sensitivity test results revealed the presence of multi-drug resistant bacteria among the Gram-positive and negative isolates, including Staphylococcus haemolyticus, Staphylococcus kloosi, Acinetobacter baumanii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In conclusion, the study underscores the significance of monitoring bacterial contamination in public restrooms and the need for measures to reduce the spread of infectious diseases. Further research is crucial to gain a complete understanding of the bacterial contamination in public restrooms and their resistance patterns, to ensure the safety and health of the public. The implementation of improved cleaning practices and hands-free designs in restrooms can help reduce the risk of cross-contamination and prevent the spread of diseases.

In the era of mounting water scarcity, particularly in arid regions, the agricultural sector is striving to optimize the water resource management practices. Treated wastewater (TWW) has emerged as a viable alternative to freshwater for irrigation, offering a sustainable solution to water conservation. However, ensuring the safety and quality of TWW is paramount to safeguard for both crop health and environmental integrity. Electrical conductivity (EC), a critical factor in assessing TWW suitability for irrigation, can significantly impact crop yields and soil health since it is directly linked to the concentration of dissolved salts and ions. Therefore, this study delves into the development of advanced predictive models for EC assessment by employing supervised machine learning (ML) techniques like the Support Vector Regression (SVR), Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR). The TWW samples collected from Al-Qatif area, Saudi Arabia were assessed in the lab through a sensor-based real-time monitoring system integrated with Internet of Things (IoT) network and a multiprobe device. The key water quality parameters assessed involved, temperature (T), pH, Oxidation Reduction Potential (ORP), Resistivity (RES), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Salinity and Turbidity which served as the foundation for these models, given their profound influence on and their anticipated impact on EC levels. Following feature selection, two distinct model combinations were identified for the SVR, ANFIS and MLR models. Furthermore, to evaluate prediction performance, four statistical criteria, including coefficient of determination (R²), correlation coefficient (R), mean square error (MSE), and root mean square error (RMSE), were employed. Overall, the comparative performance results proved that ANFIS-M2 indicated the strongest predictive capability with the R² value of 0.99572 and 0.75145 and the RMSE values of 0.00965 and 0.01134, respectively in both calibration and verification stages.

We construct a Bayesian estimator for the dilution of a wastewater sample. When wastewater is diluted by rainwater an estimate of the level of dilution is required if we are to normalise sample measurements of disease markers such as SARS-CoV-2 RNA. We consider the situation where flow measurements are available, but will regularly be unreliable because of the action of combined sewer outflows (CSOs) and wastewater storage tanks, which divert wastewater away from treatment plants when the flow is excessive. However, we also have proxies for the flow from various chemical markers (e.g.\ phosphate, ammonium, electrical conductivity), whose level per unit of population is fixed. The new flow estimator has multiple advantages compared to existing procedures: credible intervals for the estimates; optimal weighting of the chemical markers; systematic handling of missing and censored values; and model based smoothing without lags.

Several pathotypes of enteric E. coli have been identified. The group represented by Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) is of particular interest. Raw milk and raw milk products are significant sources of STEC infection in humans; therefore, identifying pathogens at the herd level is crucial for public health. Most national surveillance programs focus solely on raw milk and raw milk cheeses that are ready for retail sale, neglecting the possibility of evaluating the source of contamination directly at the beginning of the dairy chain. In order to assess the viability of new molecular methodologies applied to raw milk filters enabling the identification of the presence of STEC serotypes in milk production and apply the same methods to identify the presence of these pathogens in calf feces we analyzed, through a commercial real-time PCR assay, a total of 290 samples coming from 18 different dairy herds; 88 bulk tank milk (BTM), 104 raw milk filters (RMF) and 98 calves’ feces samples. In total 3.4% of BTM, 41.4% of RMF and 73.4% of calves’ feces tested positive for stx presence, supporting our hypothesis that BTM is not a suitable matrix to assess the STEC presence at herd level, underestimating it. Our conclusion is that the surveillance program needs critical and extensive improvements such as RMF and calves’ feces analysis implementation in order to be more efficient in detecting and preventing STEC infections. The epidemiology of these infections and the characteristics of the pathogen clearly show how a One Health approach will be pivotal to improve our capabilities to control the spread of these infections.

This paper is motivated by spatio-temporal pattern in the occurrence of Leishmaniasis in Afghanistan and the relatively high number of zero counts. We hold the view that correlations that arise from spatial and temporal sources are inherently distinct. Our method decouples these two sources of correlations, there are at least two advantages in taking this approach. First, it circumvents the need to inverting a large correlation matrix, which is a commonly encountered problem in spatio-temporal analyses. Second, it simplifies the modelling of complex relationships such as anisotropy, which would have been extremely difficult or impossible if spatio-temporal correlations were simultaneously considered. We identify three challenges in the modelling of a spatio-temporal process: (1) accommodation of covariances that arise from spatial and temporal sources; (2) choosing the correct covariance structure and (3) extending to situations where a covariance is not the natural measure of association. Moreover, because the data covers a period that overlaps with the US invasion of Afghanistan, the high number of zero counts may be the result of no disease incidence or lapse of data collection. To resolve this issue, a model truncated at zero built on a foundation of the generalized estimating equations was proposed.

The study assessed the trapping efficacy of locally-modified 1) Gravid Aedes Trap(GAT) lined with insecticide-treated net (ITN) as a killing agent, 2) Autocidal Gravid Ovitrap(AGO) with sticky board in the semi-field system (SFS) and field setting. Fully-balanced Latin square experiments were conducted to compare GAT lined with ITN vs AGO, both with either yeast or grass infusion. Biogents-Sentinel (BGS) with BG-Lure and no CO2 was used as standard trap for Aedes mosquitoes. In the SFS, GAT outperformed AGO in collecting both nulliparous (65% vs 49%,OR=2.22,[95%CI:1.89-2.60],p

Dietary habits, including meal frequency, meal timing, and skipping meals, have been extensively studied due to their association with the development of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). This study describes dietary habits, meal timing, meal frequency, skipping meals, and late-night eating in Kuwaiti adults. The Kuwait National Nutrition Surveillance System data was utilized to reach the objectives of this study. The findings reveal that approximately 50% of the adults in Kuwait eat after 10 p.m., 29% skip breakfast, and 9.8% skip dinner. Furthermore, adults in Kuwait consume 4.4 meals per day on average. Women skip breakfast more often and have extended night fasting than men (p<0.001). Married adults skip breakfast and dinner less than unmarried adults (p<0.001). In conclusion, this descriptive study provides valuable insights into the dietary habits of Kuwaiti adults, emphasizing the importance of further investigating the association between meal timing, meal frequency, and the prevalence of NCDs in Kuwait.

Water pollution, intensified by the release of hard-to-degrade pollutants, poses severe threats to ecosystems, human health, and economic development. The existing advanced oxidation processes often involve high operational costs and may result in secondary pollution, highlighting the necessity for innovative and more sustainable solutions. To address these challenges, our study introduces a cost-effective and eco-friendly corona discharge barrier plasma discharger for wastewater treatment. Through the central composite design/response surface methodology, a high decolorization rate of 98% of methylene blue (MB) within 10 minutes was achieved by optimizing parameters such as pH and voltage. Furthermore, the mechanisms of the generation of reactive oxygen species via this device was discussed in detail and the degradation pathways of MB were described. Moreover, this device is also very energy-efficient, with a low energy density and electrical energy per order of 0.15 watt/mL and 5.79 kWh/m³/order, respectively. In conclusion, the plasma discharger developed in this study provides a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable solution for dye wastewater treatment. This research contributes significantly to the advancement of sustainable dye wastewater management practices, offering an innovative method that meets both environmental and economic objectives.

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has emerged as a key method for continuous monitoring of COVID-19 prevalence including circulating SARS-CoV-2 lineages. WBE addresses limitations of traditional clinical COVID-19 surveillance such as clinical test availability, fluctuating testing rates and increased reliance on rapid antigen tests. Our study in Perth, Western Australia, found a significant positive correlation between SARS-CoV-2 concentrations in wastewater and clinical PCR positivity rates (rs = 0.772; p < 0.001) over an 18-month period that included four successive COVID-19 waves. A strong positive correlation was apparent between the proportions of SARS-CoV-2 lineages in wastewater and clinical cases within the same region (rs = 0.728; p < 0.001), including earlier detection of Omicron and recombinant lineages in wastewater before clinical case confirmation. The successful integration of WBE with healthcare data underscores its critical role in enhancing public health decision-making and pandemic management. This approach not only demonstrates the value of WBE in current global health surveillance efforts but also highlights the potential of WBE to address future public health challenges, as a comprehensive disease monitoring and response approach.

Human exposure to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through food is now very imperfectly understood, creating a significant gap in the design of interventions. The interchange of AMR genes and the transfer of AMR bacteria from animals to humans through the food chain necessitate comprehensive methods to risk reduction. With a focus on AMR in bacterial species isolated from food products, foods (of both animal and non-animal origin), and ambient samples, the current meta-analysis gathered up-to-date information on the epidemiology of AMR in animal-source food chain. As a result, the combined prevalence of AMR across the various food sources was calculated. From the 18,784 food samples obtained as a result of selected publications, 7,676 (40.9%) samples were contaminated, including 4343 (56.6%) and 3363 (43.4%) samples from Taiwan and India, respectively. Meat (chicken, pork, and beef), fish and milk all have moderate to medium potential for AMR exposure to both Gram-positive and Gram-negative foodborne pathogens such S. aureus, Clostridium, E. coli, Salmonella, etc. Antibiotic resistance to β-lactam, fluoroquinolone, carbapenem etc, is present in the majority of food samples. The results of this study emphasize the persistent danger of antimicrobial residue in animal-derived foods in Taiwan, India, and other nations with comparable customs.

Applications in security and electronic surveillance require combination of excellent magnetic softness with good mechanical and anti-corrosive properties and low dimensionality. We overviewed the properties of soft magnetic glass-coated microwires and different post-processing making them quite attractive for electronic article surveillance and security applications. We studied the magnetostatic interaction between the microwires and routes to tune the non-linear hysteresis loops by using the arrays of different types of amorphous microwires. The presence of neighbouring microwire (either Fe or Co-based) significantly affects the hysteresis loop of the whole microwires array. In a microwires array containing magnetically bistable microwires we observed splitting of the initially rectangular hysteresis loop with a number of Barkhausen jumps correlated with the number of magnetically bistable microwires. Essentially, non-linear and irregular hysteresis loops have been observed in mixed arrays containing Fe and Co-rich microwires. The observed non-linearity in hysteresis loops allowed to increase the harmonics and tune their magnetic field dependencies. Non-linear hysteresis loops have been also observed upon devitrification of amorphous microwires. On the other hand, several routes allowing to tune the switching field by either post-processing or modifying the magnetoelastic anisotropy have been reviewed. Observed unique combination of magnetic properties together with thin dimensions and excellent mechanical and anti-corrosive properties provide excellent perspectives for the use of glass-coated microwires for security and electronic surveillance applications.

Saliva, as a diagnostic medium, offers a promising alternative to blood by virtue of its non-invasive collection, which enhances patient compliance, especially in paediatric and geriatric populations. In this study, we assessed the utility of saliva as a non-invasive medium for measuring V. cholerae-specific serum antibodies in naturally infected individuals. We tested paired serum and saliva samples obtained from a total of 63 cholera patients enrolled in a cohort study. Vibriocidal antibodies assay (IgM/IgG) as markers for accurate determination was used to determine cholera specific antibody levels. Using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve, we found that the best cut-off that maximizes (sensitivity + specificity) is 10 titers. At this saliva titer, the sensitivity is 76.9% (95%CI: 60.9%, 87.7%) and specificity is 80.0% (95%CI: 56.6%, 92.5%). Using Spearman’s correlation coefficient, we also found evidence of a positive correlation between Vibrio Cholerae saliva and serum antibodies (rho=0.66, p&lt;0.001). In conclusion, saliva-based diagnostic cholera tests has high diagnostic accuracy, and would be advantageous, cheaper, and quicker for early diagnosis of severe cholera outcomes.

C. auris is a newly emerging yeast, raising public health concerns due to its outbreak potential, lack of protocols for decontamination and isolation of patients or contacts, increased resistance to common antifungals and associated high mortality. This research aimed to describe the challenges related to identifying the outbreak, limiting further contamination, and treating affected individuals. We retrospectively analysed all cases of C. auris detected between October 2022 and August 2023, but our investigation focused on a three-month-long outbreak in the department of cardio-vascular surgery and the related intensive care unit. Along with isolated cases in different wards, we identified 13 patients who became infected or colonized in the same area and time, even though the epidemiological link could be traced only in 10 patients, according to the epidemiological investigation. In conclusion, our study emphasizes the substantial challenge encountered in clinical practice when attempting to diagnose and limit the spread of an outbreak. Therefore, it is crucial to promptly apply contact precaution measures and appropriate environmental cleaning, from the first case detected positive.

(1) Background: Considering highly selected patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), active surveillance is a valid alternative to surgery. Our study is aimed at showing the reliability of post-biopsy complete lesion removal, documented by mammogram, as additional criterion to select these patients. (2) Methods: 2173 Vacuum Assisted Breast Biopsies (VABB) documented as DCIS have been reviewed. Surgery has been performed in all cases. We retrospectively collected the reports of post-VABB complete lesion removal and the histological results of the biopsy and surgery. We calculated the rate of upgrade of DCIS identified on VABB upon excision for patients with post-biopsy complete lesion removal and for those showing residual lesion. (3) Results: We observed 2173 cases of DCIS: 408 classified as low grade; 1262 as intermediate grade; 503 as high grade. The overall upgrading rate to invasive carcinoma was 15.2% (330/2173). The upgrade rate was significantly lower (8.2%) when considering patients showing mammographically documented complete removal of the lesion. (4) Conclusion: The absence of mammographically documented residual lesion following VABB is associated to a lower upgrading rate of DCIS to invasive carcinoma on surgical excision and should be considered when deciding the proper management DCIS diagnosis.

Bats are of significant interest as reservoirs for various zoonotic viruses with high diversity. During the past two decades, many herpesviruses have been identified in various bats worldwide by genetic approaches, whereas there have been few reports on the isolation of infectious herpesviruses. Herein, we report the prevalence of herpesvirus infection of bats captured in Zambia and genetic characterization of novel gammaherpesviruses isolated from Macronycteris vittatus bats. By our PCR screening, herpesvirus genomes were detected in 29.2% (7/24) of Rousettus aegyptiacus, 78.1% (82/105) of Macronycteris vittatus, and 100% (1/1) of Hipposideros caffer bats in Zambia. Phylogenetic analyses of the detected herpesvirus genomes revealed that the Zambian bat herpesviruses were divided into seven betaherpesvirus groups and five gammaherpesvirus groups. Two infectious strains of a novel gammaherpesvirus, tentatively named Macronycteris gammaherpesvirus 1 (MaGHV1), were successfully isolated from Macronycteris vittatus bats, and their complete genomes were sequenced. The genome of MaGHV1 encoded 79 open reading frames, and phylogenic analyses of the DNA polymerase and glycoprotein B demonstrated that MaGHV1 formed an independent lineage sharing a common origin with other bat-derived gammaherpesviruses. Our findings provide new information regarding the genetic diversity of herpesviruses maintained in African bats.

South Africa is afflicted with the worst epidemic of HIV in the world a legacy of the system of oscillating migrant labour in the region and the consequent social disruption that was the legacy of Apartheid. The initial response from the national government was slow and ineffective but once the magnitude of the epidemic became apparent the government began to respond. The investment in HIV- and TB-related activities in 2013 was R22 Bn or (US$2.5; 2013 exchange rate) of which the South Africa government contributed 80% and the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) 17%. South Africa now has the more people on anti-retroviral therapy than any other country and treatment is being started much sooner after infection. Much of the best biomedical, virological, immunological, mathematical and social science around the treatment and prevention of HIV and AIDS and the associated epidemic of TB has been done by South African’s and their international collaborators. If the efforts to control the epidemic are maintained South Africa is on track to meet the UNAIDS 90-90-90target by 2020 and to End AIDS by 2030 in spite of the magnitude of the problem. While individual, patient level data are increasingly available, especially in the Western Cape, much greater efforts need to be made to ensure that the information collected in this way is used to give feedback and support to clinic staff, to ensure that health clinics are providing the best possible service, and to individual patients and people living with HIV to ensure that they are receiving the best possible care and support. South Africa needs to make better use of the rich and detailed data that are being collected from individual clinics and their patients to identify problems or difficulties at the clinic level and to ensure that individual patients are retained on treatment, are virally suppressed and receive the best possible care and support.

Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) is presently wreaking havoc on public health and socio-economic development. Besides the upper and lower respiratory tract involvement, gastrointestinal symptoms are also reported in COVID-19 patients through gut-lung axis. Finding its way through the feces of infected individuals and other sources, the genetic material of SARS-CoV-2 (ssRNA) is reported widely in wastewater and is being used as a fingerprint for its detection. With millions of cases arriving every day, there is a need to level up the testing speed efficiency. Due to the restricted sampling potential of testing laboratories, clinical testing is unable to track all the symptomatic and asymptomatic cases. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) bestows an auxiliary monitoring tool that will contribute in community level screening. Sample collection, concentration, RNA extraction, quantification and data analysis are the main steps involved in implementation of WBE that can be relied upon as an alarm call for an upcoming wave, emergence of a new variant or any future pandemic. WBE can be a cheaper and more practical alternative to high end and sophisticated clinical testing for community transmission detection. Worldwide, there are more than 300 reports entailing the occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater exhibiting unique temporal trends with five of them in India. This review aims to address the present knowledge on surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater and its implications.

Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) representing a promising technology for the extract of energy and resources through wastewater and it also offer an economic solution to the problem of environment effluent and energy crisis in near future. The advance device is rather appealing, due its potential benefits, its practical application is, however hindered by several drawbacks, such an internally competing microbial reaction, and low power generation. This report is an endeavor to address various design connected to the MFCs application to wastewater treatment, in particular cost effective bioelectricity from waste water are reviewed and discussed with a multidisciplinary approach. The conclusions drawn herein can be of practical interest to all new researchers dealing with effluent wastewater treatment using MFCs.

Piggery wastewater (PWW) is characterized by its high concentrations of organic matter and ammonium, and by their odour nuisance. Traditionally, PWW has been treated in open anaerobic lagoons, anaerobic digesters and activated sludge systems, which exhibit high greenhouse gas emissions, a limited nutrients removal and a high energy consumption, respectively. Photosyn-thetic microorganisms can support a sustainable PWW treatment in engineered photobioreactors at low operating costs and with an efficient recovery of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous. These microorganisms are capable of absorbing solar irradiation through the photosynthesis process to obtain energy, which is used for their growth and associated carbon and nutrients assimilation. Purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) represent the photosynthetic microorganisms with the most versatile metabolism in nature, while microalgae are the most studied photosynthetic microor-ganisms in recent years. This review describes the fundamentals, symmetry and asymmetry of PWW treatment using photosynthetic microorganisms such as PPB and microalgae. The main photobioreactor configurations along with the potential of PPB and microalgae biomass valori-zation strategies are also discussed.

Microalgae wastewater treatment has long been promoted as a sustainable method to handle the influx of human waste due to population growth. Initially, in the early 1900’s, microalgae was noted to increase wastewater treatment efficiency by aerating the water and consuming waste. By mid-century, wastewater grown microalgae was being investigated as a way to produce biomass for food, fuel, and other biomaterials. The space race in the 1960’s led to the use of microalgae in life support systems. Technological developments and political pressure in the 1970’s spurred studies of the impact of wastewater on the growth of phytoplankton in the oceans as well as methods to use microalgae wastewater treatment in aquaculture. Simultaneously, the oil crisis of that decade promoted research of alternative fuels, which included microalgae biofuels via the Aquatic Species Program. This program led to research into the use of wastewater as a feedstock for microalgae growth. By the later 2000’s, instability in the oil market caused another energy crisis which further prompted investment in microalgae biofuels, some of which involved combined wastewater treatment. Currently, microalgae wastewater treatment is being researched as a way to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions to curb global warming and produce sustainable biofuels.

Wet coffee processing methods will produce wastewater containing organic matter. The high content of organic matter can be utilized as biogas through the anaerobic process. Anaerobic digesters construction can affect removal process of wastewater pollution and biogas quantity. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of digester construction between conventional digester, CSTR and UASB producing biogas from coffee wastewater. The conventional digester worked without temperature control system as control, a UASB digester, and CSTR digester worked with temperature control system. Biomass volume was about 5 L with 35 days incubation time. Temperature and pH for UASB and CSTR were set within the range 30 – 35^oC and pH 6.0 – 8.0. Based on the feeding variations, UASB has a stable performance with 83.57 ml/day of average biogas production. It has also highest remediation efficiency of COD, BOD and C/N with 85.00±0.34 %, 84.40%± 5.66 and 97.78± 0.57.

Preventing the rebound of black and odorous water bodies is critical for improving the ecological environment of water bodies. This study investigated the effect and mechanism of in-situ improvement of sediment microenvironment by nitrate in tailwater of wastewater treatment plants combined with aerobic denitrifying bacteria under low-DO regulation (TailN+CFM+LDO). On the 60th day of remediation, the dissolved oxygen and oxidation-reduction potential in the overlying water increased to 5.6 mg/L and 300 mV, respectively, the acid volatile sulfide in the sediment decreased by 70.4%, and the organic matter in the sediment was reduced by 62.7%, in which the HFOM was degraded from 105 g/kg to 56 g/kg, and the potential risk of water reverting to black and odorous conditions significantly decreased. Amplicon sequencing analysis revealed that the relative abundance of electroactive bacteria Thiobacillus and Pseudomonas with denitrification capacity was found to be significantly higher in the TailN+CFM+LDO group than in the other remediation groups. Functional prediction of 16S sequencing results indicated that both the quantity and activity of critical microbial enzymes involved in nitrification and denitrification processes could enhance in the TailN+CFM+LDO group. These results improved our understanding of the improvement of the sediment microenvironment and could thus facilitate its application.

This paper proposes a new kind of airship actuator configuration for surveillance and environmental monitoring missions. We present the design and application of a 6-propeller electrical airship (Noamini) with independent tilting propellers, allowing improved and flexible maneuverability. The vehicle has different combinations of differential propulsion and can be used in 2, 4 or 6 motors configuration. We developed a high-fidelity airship simulator for the Noamini airship, which was used to test and validate a control-guidance approach. Incremental Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion (INDI) is used for the velocity/attitude control to follow a high-level L1 guidance reference in a simulated waypoint tracking mission with wind and turbulence. The proposed framework will be soon implemented in the onboard control system of the Noamini, an autonomous airship for environmental monitoring and surveillance applications.

Huge-scale video surveillance systems have become essential in crime prevention and situation recording. Traditional surveillance systems relied on human monitoring of video streams, which often led to errors and difficulties in understanding events. Furthermore, locating specific scenes within recorded videos required extensive human investigation. To overcome these challenges of inefficiency, inconvenience, and potential risks, we propose an intelligent analysis scheme that utilizes abnormal behavior recognition and metadata retrieval algorithms to replace human monitoring. The proposed method consists of three stages: i) metadata generation through object detection and tracking, ii) abnormal behavior recognition, and iii) SQL-based metadata retrieval. By incorporating specific information such as object color and aspect ratio, our technique enhances the usability of retrieval. Moreover, our abnormal behavior recognition module demonstrates robust classification capabilities for activities such as pushing, violence, falling, and crossing barriers. The proposed method can be seamlessly deployed on both edge cameras and analysis servers, making it adaptable to various surveillance setups. This approach revolutionizes the traditional surveillance paradigm, enabling more efficient, reliable, and secure video monitoring and analysis.

Non-typhoid salmonellosis is a common and problematic foodborne zoonotic disease in which pork and pork products can be an important potential source of infection. In order to prevent this disease important efforts to monitor the situation in the main source, livestock, are conducted in most developed countries. In the European Union EFSA and ECDC compile information at the member state level, even though important differences in production systems and surveillance systems exist. Here, Salmonella surveillance systems in one of the main sources of foodborne salmonellosis, swine, and humans in Spain were reviewed to identify potential gaps and discuss potential ways of integration under a One Health approach. Despite the extensive information generated through the surveillance activities source attribution can be only routinely performed through ad-hoc outbreak investigations, and national reports on human outbreaks do not provide sufficiently detailed information to gain a better understanding of the epidemiology of the pathogen. Human and animal monitoring of Salmonella would benefit from a better exchange of information and collaboration. Analysis of spatio-temporal trends in livestock and humans could help to identify likely sources of infection and to target surveillance efforts in areas with higher prevalence or where specific strains are found.

Recycled wastewater is considered as a sustainable source of irrigation water. Despite commendable safety records, viral contamination of agricultural products has occurred the past causing disease outbreaks. This review examines the apprehension that the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) may also spread through recycled wastewater irrigation (RWI) industry. The novel SARS-CoV-2 is now perceived as an enteric pathogen, and has been found to remain stable in the wastewater for days. Mounting evidences also suggest that viral particles shed by infected individuals through sewage, and greywater is much higher (up to 10 Log₁₀) than the amount typically removed (6-7 Log₁₀) through the recycled water disinfection processes. Such gap indicated an increased risk of infection through fecal-oral transmission route. This study also identified greywater irrigation schemes posing a higher risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2. It was recommended that countries putting greywater in the ‘low risk’ category may rewrite the safety guidelines in post COVID-19 times. This review also suggest that the choice of irrigation method could be critical in protecting the farmers, and the consumers from possible infections during the pandemic. In this regard, irrigation methods (i.e. sprinkler) that generate airborne droplet (leading to aerosols) may be operated with caution when public spaces are in the vicinity. The study also indicated that the developing countries should regulate surface irrigation practice that pump water from polluted rivers during the pandemic.

Rabies is a fatal zoonosis that is considered a re-emerging infectious disease. Although rabies remains endemic in canines throughout much of the world, vaccination programs have essentially eliminated dog rabies in the Americas and much of Europe. However, despite the goal of eradicating dog rabies in the European Union by 2020, sporadic cases of dog rabies still occur in Eastern Europe, including Georgia. To assess the genetic diversity of strains recently circulating in Georgia, we sequenced 78 RABV-positive samples from brain tissues of rabid dogs and jackals using Illumina short-read sequencing of total RNA shotgun libraries. Seventy-seven RABV genomes were successfully assembled and annotated, 74 of them to the coding complete status. Phylogenetic analyses of the nucleoprotein (N) and attachment glycoprotein (G) genes placed all the assembled genomes into the Cosmopolitan clade, consistent with the Georgian origin of the samples. Amino acid alignment of the G glycoprotein ectodomain identified twelve different sequences for this domain among the samples. Only one of the ectodomain groups contained a residue change in an antigenic site, an R264H change in the G5 antigenic site. Three isolates were cultured, and these were found to be efficiently neutralized by human monoclonal antibody A6. Overall, our data show that recently circulating RABV isolates from Georgian canines are predominantly closely related phylogroup I viruses of the Cosmopolitan clade. Current rabies vaccines should offer protection against infection by Georgian canine RABVs. The genomes have been deposited in GenBank (accessions: OQ603609-OQ603685).

Antibiotics are in excessive use that has extensively increased antimicrobial resistance worldwide which has become the major public concern among the countries. To control this threat proper monitoring of the antimicrobial usage along with the increasing rate of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is required. Further, surveillance of both the parameters is highly recommended for comparing the differences in distinct countries. Moreover, alternatives for antibiotics are also surveyed and are being researched for quick use in the near future. AMR is an issue that needs immense attention from various sectors. Thus, intervention of multisector is highly encouraged for better outcomes. One Health is one of the approaches that play a vital role in resolving this issue. In this research paper, six different European countries are discussed in terms of antimicrobial usage and AMR in the human and livestock sectors with the help of literature study and various reports published by different organizations. Data study has been conducted to collect the data for comparison study. Data sources of AMR and antimicrobial usage are analyzed and a thorough comparison of both antimicrobial use and AMR are conducted. Also, the application of One Health is studied for a balanced system. This article provides about various surveillance systems that are formed only to keep a track on the upcoming situation of AMR and the consumption of antimicrobials by the humans as well as animals. The article does not provide about all the details required to monitor the AMR issue but firmly allow the readers to get acknowledged with the broad information about the antimicrobial resistance across the six countries of Europe. The regular data collected by the different organizations play a vital role in monitoring the status of AMR and antimicrobial usage by humans and in live stocks. These annual reports have highly helped the government to decide for alternatives and have focused in many training activities to combat the AMR situation globally. AMR prevention is linked to the One Health concept. As antibiotic resistance genes persist on an interface between environment and animal and animal health, an approach is required in all three areas that stress the concept of 'One Approach to Health.'

Production of wastewater related to the oil and gas industries is increasing over the years. The compounds found in industrial wastewater typically show high toxicity, and in this way, they have become a primary environmental concern. Several techniques have been applied in industrial effluents remediation. In spite of the efforts, these techniques are yet ineffective to treat oily wastewater before it can be discharged safely to the environment. Membrane technology is an attractive approach to treat oily wastewater. This is dedicated to the immobilisation of TiO2 nanoparticles on poly (vinylidene fluoride–trifluoro ethylene) (PVDF-TrFE) porous matrix by solvent casting. Membranes with interconnected pores with an average diameter of 60 micrometres and the contact angle of 97°, decorated with TiO2 nanoparticles, are obtained. The degradation of oily wastewater demonstrated the remarkable photocatalytic efficiency of the nanocomposite membranes: under sunlight irradiation for 7 hours, colourless water was obtained. These results show the suitability of TiO2/P(VDF–TrFE) nanocomposite for photocatalytic applications for oily wastewater remediation.

Removal of hexavalent chromium had attracted much more attention as it was a hazardous contaminant. Electrochemical reduction technology was applied to removal chromium (VI) from wastewater. The mechanism and parameters affect the reduction process were investigated. The results showed that the reduction efficiency was significantly affected by the concentration of H2SO4, current density and reaction temperature. And the reduction efficiency was up to 86.45% at concentration of H2SO4 of 100g/L, reaction temperature of 70 ℃, current density at 50 A/m2, reaction time at 180 min and stirring rate of 500 rpm. The reduction process of chromium (VI) was followed pseudo-first-order equation, and the reduction rate could be expressed as Kobs = k [H2SO4]1• [j] 4•exp-4170/RT.

This study identified and mapped worldwide surveillance actions and initiatives of drinking water quality implemented by government agencies or public health services. The scoping review was conducted between July 2021 and August 2022 based on the Joanna Briggs Institute. The search was performed in relevant databases and grey literature; 49 studies were obtained. Quantitative variables were presented as absolute and relative frequencies, while qualitative variables were analyzed using the IRaMuTeQ software. The actions developed worldwide and their impacts and results provided four thematic classes: (1) assessment of coverage, accessibility, quantity, and drinking water quality in routine and emergency situations; (2) analysis of physical-chemical and microbiological parameters in public supply networks or alternative water supply solutions; (3) identification of household water contamination, communication, and education with the community; (4) and investigation of water-borne disease outbreaks. Preliminary results were shared with stakeholders to favor early knowledge dissemination.

Total edentulism is the loss of all teeth for any cause by a multifactorial process that involves biological and patient-related factors. Studies on edentulism and risk factors in Mexico are limited, and the epidemiological surveillance data is scarce and controversial since official governmental reports are not statistically representative of the country. We estimate the distribution for edentulism according to sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables in adults from a low-income state in 2003 and its progress in Mexico. We analyzed data from the National Performance Evaluation Survey in Oaxaca, Mexico, and the annual reports of the Epidemiological Surveillance System of Oral Pathologies in 2009-2019 using X². Oaxacan patients older than 75 y.o (17.9%, p<0.05), those with lower schooling (11.2%), and diabetes (14.5%) presented the highest percentage of edentulism. We do not observe differences in edentulism between sex or residence (p>0.05). From 2009 to 2019, country data reports the lowest rate of edentulism in adults over 20 y.o (0.32%; 95% CI 0.18%-0.48%) and the most affected population over 79 y.o. (7.29%; 95% CI 5.2%-9.30%). As it is a cumulative phenomenon, it is necessary to establish better surveillance, prevention, and treatment programs to improve the oral health of older thus reducing edentulism.

Ecosystem surveillance monitoring is critical to managing natural resources and especially so under changing environments. Despite this importance, the design and implementation of monitoring programs across large temporal and spatial scales has been hampered by the lack of appropriately standardised methods and data streams. To address this gap, we outline a surveillance monitoring method based on permanent plots and voucher samples suited to rangeland environments around the world that is repeatable, cost-effective, appropriate for large-scale comparisons and adaptable to other global biomes. The method provides comprehensive data on vegetation composition and structure along with soil attributes relevant to plant growth, delivered as a combination of modules that can be targeted for different purposes or available resources. Plots are located in a stratified design across vegetation units, landforms and climates to enhance continental and global comparisons. Changes are investigated through revisits. Vegetation is measured to inform on composition, cover and structure. Samples of vegetation and soils are collected and tracked by barcode labels and stored long-term for subsequent analysis. Technology is used to enhance the accuracy of field methods, including differential GPS r plot locations, instrument based Leaf Area Index (LAI) measures, and three dimensional photo-panoramas for advanced analysis. A key feature of the method is the use of electronic field data collection to enhance data delivery into a publicly-accessible database.Our method is pragmatic, whilst still providing consistent data, information and samples on key vegetation and soil attributes. The method is operational and has been applied at more than 704 field locations across the Australian rangelands as part of the Ecosystem Surveillance program of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN). The methodology enables continental analyses, and has been tested in communities broadly representative of rangelands globally, with components being applicable to other biomes. Here we also recommend the consultative process and guiding principles that drove the development of this method as an approach for development of the method into other biomes. The consistent, standardised and objective method enables continental, and potentially global analyses than were not previously possible with disparate programs and datasets.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed many knowledge gaps with implications toward the speed and nature of our response to contain, assess and mitigate risk. The routine discharge of treated and untreated wastewater into rivers and coastal waters has placed SARS-CoV-2 viability in wastewater at the centre of an emerging hazard and potential risk to water industry workers and the public who come into contact with sewage-impacted water. Here we provide a review of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus primary literature that presents the evidence base pertaining to the key questions of whether the SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 is shed in stool and urine, is recoverable, and infectious in wastewater. We discuss the challenges posed by the current literature base and the extent to which the current evidence is fit for the purpose of informing robust human and environmental risk assessments.

In recent years, the discharge of various emerging pollutants, chemicals and dyes in water and wastewater has represented one of the prominent human problems. Since water pollution is directly related to human health, highly resistant and emerging compounds in aquatic environments will pose many potential risks to the health of all living. Therefore, water pollution is a very acute problem that has constantly increased in recent years with the expansion of various industries. Consequently, choosing efficient and innovative wastewater treatment methods to remove contaminants is crucial. Among advanced oxidation processes, electrochemical oxidation (EO) is the most common and effective method for removing persistent pollutants from municipal and industrial wastewater. However, there are still many gaps despite the great progress in using EO to treat real wastewater. This is due to the lack of comprehensive information on the operating parameters which affect the process and its operating costs. In this paper, among various scientific articles, the impact of operational parameters on the EO performances, a comparison between different electrochemical reactor configurations, and a report on general mechanisms of electrochemical oxidation of organic pollutants have been reported. Moreover, an evaluation of cost analysis and energy consumption requirements have also been discussed. Finally, the combination process between EO and another important advanced oxidation technology, PEC, called photoelectrocatalysis (PEC), has shortly been discussed and reviewed. This article showed that there is a direct relationship between important operating parameters with the amount of costs and the final removal efficiency of emerging pollutants. Optimal operating conditions can be achieved by paying special attention to reactor design, which can lead to higher efficiency and more efficient treatment. The rapid development of EO for removing emerging pollutants from impacted water and its combination with other green methods can result in more efficient approaches to face the pressing water pollution challenge.

The drought is one of all phenomena at local to a global scale that caused climate change impacts, alongside it also the human activities related, which were deforested and land use changed that caused to ecological disturbance, which one is hydrological changes. Hence, it’s a lot of lost productivity, chiefly to farming land aspects and the other, so the land restoration by reforestation is needed in framework to water cycle (hydrology) process kindly. The aim of this research has identified and analyzed ecological restoration to ecosystem services, chiefly in wastewater management (treatment) to conservation, especially in Al Zaytun areas (Pesantren), so observing and in-depth individual interview (with some of personage and pesantren of boards) is one method that used to data collected, alongside land survey management to classified type development in Al Zaytun areas. The result of this research revealed that Al Zaytun successfully in water management to conservation by wastewater treated management by Eichhornia crassipes (Enceng gondok), afterward to the reservoir as water saved development. Those conservation types considered capability in reviving to ecological systems to ecosystem services increased kindly, alongside to land restoration by some of the plant species or trees to grow and developed in which Tectona grandis L. f is more dominantly and it's favorite because of investment economic that advantage based on ecological perspective. These were type management that did by Al Zaytun, alongside its able in coping to both drought and climate change impacts kindly and adaptively, and of course, it’s part of an obligation as the follower’s Islam religion in preserving and maintaining natural resources, chiefly to water resources.

This study surveyed the variation in Perfluorinated Compounds (PFCs) concentration entering urban wastewater treatment plants and proposed an optimal PFCS treatment method. The PFCS concentration in influent was shown to be affected by the types of industries and operating rate. The concentration of PFCs in the wastewater treatment effluent was slightly lower than that of influent. Thus, PFCs were considered to have barely been removed by the existing biological treatments. The pilot test result showed that about 10% of PFCs were removed by coagulation and precipitation, and the ozone and chlorine test also showed that few PFCs were removed regardless of the amount of injection. The activated carbon adsorption test showed that the removal was significantly increased by the empty bed contact time, with about a 60% removal in five minutes and over a 90% removal in 15 minutes. Therefore it is determined that a more stable and higher PFCs removal would result from the continuous oxidation processes such as ozone and adsorption processes such as activated carbon rather than a single biological treatment.

Food composition data in the EMR countries are often lacking, obsolete or unreliable. The study aims to provide reliable and up-to-date nutrient data of selected food products consumed in Oman in order to evaluate consistency of nutrition labelling and update the current used food composition database. Contents of total fat, fatty acids, carbohydrates, total nitrogen, sugars and sodium were chemically analyzed in 221 foods and beverages purchased in 2022 and label and corresponding laboratory values were compared using the tolerance levels of the European Union. Food items were classified according their nutritional composition, the extent of processing and coded according FoodEx2 system. Results indicate that the nutrient values stated on a label align with the values obtained in the laboratory with the exception of a 6.3% discrepancy in TFAs content, where the reported values are higher than the appropriate reference values. The category with the highest frequency (71.5%) consisted of ultra-processed foods. In terms of inconsistencies in the nutrition claims, 5.1% of food products with claims did not comply with the statement “sugar free” or “low salt”. These findings underscore the significance of vigilant monitoring of nutritional labels as a means to implement measures that promote the well-being of consumers.

Human violence recognition is an area of great interest in the scientific community, given its broad spectrum of applications, especially in video surveillance systems, since detecting violence in real-time could prevent criminal acts and save lives. Despite the number of existing proposals and research, most focus on the precision of results, leaving aside efficiency and its practical implementation. Thus, this work proposes a model that is effective and efficient in recognizing human violence in real-time. The proposed model consists of three modules: a first module called Spatial Motion Extractor (SME), in charge of extracting regions of interest from a frame; a second module called Short Temporal Extractor (STC), whose function is to extract temporal characteristics of rapid movements, finally the Global Temporal Extractor (GET) module, responsible for identifying long-lasting temporal features and fine-tuning the model. The proposal was evaluated regarding efficiency, effectiveness, and ability to operate in real-time. The results obtained on Hockey, Movies, and RWF-2000 datasets demonstrated that this approach is highly efficient compared to other alternatives. A VioPeru dataset was created to validate real-time applicability with violent and non-violent videos captured by real video surveillance cameras in Peru. The effectiveness results in this dataset outperformed the best existing proposal. Therefore, our proposal has contributions in efficiency, effectiveness, and real-time.

Vehicle identification is an important task in traffic monitoring because it allows for efficient inference and provides a cause for action. Vehicle classification via deep learning and other approaches such as segmentation is a critical tool for re-identification. In this paper, instance segmentation is used to identify vehicle makes with license plate detection, allowing for better unique vehicle recognition for re-identification. A dataset is annotated and modified, for example, by segmenting it with polygonal bounding boxes that capture the vehicle's unique frontal features. In addition, license plate localization is performed. The results showed improved classification as well as a high mAP for the dataset when compared to previous approaches based on CNN and deformed CNN. Furthermore, a deep residual network and fully connected layer-based classification were utilized as the backbone for feature representation. Instance segmentation detects objects by segmenting and classifying regions of interest. The imbalance in the dataset is resolved using a mosaic-tiled approach, which produces greater precision than other approaches.

We present an integrable, sensor inlay for monitoring crack initiation and growth inside bondlines of structural carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) components. The sensing structures are sandwiched between crack stopping polyvinyliden fluoride (PVDF) and a thin reinforcing polyetherimide (PEI) layer. Good adhesion at all interfaces of the sensor system and to the CFRP material is crucial as weak bonds can counteract the desired crack stopping functionality. At the same time, the chosen reinforcing layer must withstand high strains, safely support the metallic measuring grids and possess outstanding fatigue strength. We show that this robust sensor system, which measures the strain at two successive fronts inside the bondline, allows to recognize cracks in the proximity of the inlay regardless of the mechanical loads. Feasibility is demonstrated by static load tests as well as cyclic long-term fatigue testing with up to 1,000,000 cycles. In addition to pure crack detection, crack distance estimation based on sensor signals is illustrated. The inlay integration process is developed with respect to industrial applicability. Thus, implementation of the proposed system will allow the potential of lightweight CFRP constructions to be better exploited by expanding the possibilities of structural adhesive bonding.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is becoming the leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), liver-related mortality, and liver transplantation. There is reasonable epidemiological cohort data to recommend surveillance of patients with NAFLD based upon the incidence of HCC. The American Gastroenterology Association (AGA) expert review published in 2020 recommend that NAFLD patients with cirrhosis or advanced fibrosis estimated by non-invasive tests (NITs) should consider HCC surveillance. NITs include fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index, the enhanced liver fibrosis (ELF) test, FibroScan, and MR elastography. The recommended surveillance modality is abdominal ultrasound (US) given that it is cost effective and noninvasive with good sensitivity. However, US is limited in obese patients and those with NAFLD. In NAFLD patients with a high likelihood of having an inadequate US or if US is attempted but inadequate, CT or MRI may be utilized. The GALAD score, consisting of age, gender, AFP, lens culinaris-agglutinin-reactive fraction of AFP (AFP-L3), and protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II (PIVKA-II), can help to identify high risk of incident HCC in NAFLD patients. Innovative parameters including Mac-2 binding protein glycated isomer , type IV collagen 7S, free apoptosis inhibitor of macrophage, combination of single nucleoside polymorphisms are expected to be established. Considering a large number of NAFLD population, optimal screening tests must meet several criteria including high sensitivity, cost effectiveness and availability.

The physicochemical treatment/recovery techniques, including precipitation, membrane technology, solvent extraction, foam fractionation, adsorption, and aqueous two-phase systems, will be reviewed. The bio-treatment processes, based on microorganisms and/or enzymes consuming nutrients available in food-processing wastewater as low-cost substrates to produce valuable products, will be discussed in detail, including the production of microalga biomass in wastewater treatment systems. Finally, future research direction will be proposed to integrate the circular economy and develop integrated food processing wastewater management systems.

Today major environmental issue facing the universe is Industrial wastewater. They are present in the form of various pollutants like organic/inorganic, heavy metals, and non-disintegrating materials at an enormous amount. As of now, eliminating these pollutants from wastewater from industries in a viable manner has become a significant issue. Productive refinement methodologies are required to eliminate those toxins before removal. Furthermore, nanomaterials are innovationally powerful to purification of water by utilizing inexpensive nanofiltration and nano adsorbent. Heavy metal ions removal in an efficient way from the environment is the first and foremost problem from a biological and ecological perspective, and numerous research practices have been dedicated to the removal of harmful metal particles, involved both in the underground and surface wastewater. This article mainly focuses on the nanomaterials utilization of various contaminating materials removal from industrial wastewater with an exceptional spotlight on rare earth components and nanofiber and nanocomposite films. The objective is to offer references an outline in the field of developing nanomaterials utilization for harmful pollutants removal from industrial wastewater for industrializers and analysts.

This study investigates how Electronic Livestock Health Recording Systems (ELHRs) facilitates the detection of disease burden and make cluster analysis by applying data analytics tools and techniques. A sample size of 18333 livestock disease cases reported from 2007-2015 by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Federal Democratic of Ethiopia was used for data collection. The results showed that ELHRs are important as livestock disease data preservers, saving costs, and facilitating the extraction of up-to-date and complete information. Euclidean and Manhattan distance performed well at 98%, while cosine distance measurement metrics performed poorly. Finally, with the application of the selected clustering techniques, metrics, tools, and dataset, it has been attempted to successfully detect an optimal number of disease clusters and meet the objectives of the study.

Background and Objectives: Vision impairments and related blindness are major public health problems. Prevalence of eye disease and barriers to optimal care markedly vary among different geographic areas. In the Abruzzo region (Central Italy), an epidemiological surveillance on the state of ocular health in the population aged over 50 years was performed in 2019. Materials and Methods: Participants were sampled to be representative of the region inhabitants. Data were collected through a telephone interview and an eye examination. Prevalence of cataract, glaucoma, retinopathy, maculopathy was assessed. The Cohen’s kappa (k) was used to measure the agreement between presence of eye disease and awareness of the disease by the participants. Results: Overall, 983 people with mean age of 66.0±9.5 years were included in the study. The prevalence of cataract, glaucoma, maculopathy, and retinopathy was 52.6%, 5.3%, 5.6%, and 29.1%, respectively. Among the total of affected people, those aware of their condition were 21.8% (k=0.12, slight agreement) for cataract, 65.4% (k=0.78, substantial agreement) for glaucoma, 7.1% (k=0.10, slight agreement) for maculopathy, and 0% for retinopathy (k=-0.004, agreement lower than that expected by chance). Refractive defects were corrected in the vast majority of participants. Conclusion: In the Abruzzo region, about two third of citizens aged 50 years or over suffer from cataract, glaucoma, retinopathy or maculopathy, which are recognized as leading causes of blindness. Many people with eye disease do not know they have it. These data can be used by clinicians and policymakers to undertake clinical, political, and social actions.

In mountain communities like Sebei, Uganda, that are highly vulnerable to emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, community-based surveillance plays an important role in the monitoring of public health hazards. In this survey, we explored capacities of Village Health Teams (VHTs) in Sebei communities of Mount Elgon in undertaking surveillance tasks for emerging and reemerging infectious diseases in the context of a changing climate. We used participatory epidemiology techniques to elucidate VHTs’ perceptions on climate change and public health and assess their capacities in conducting surveillance for emerging and reemerging infectious diseases. Overall, VHTs perceived climate change to be occurring with wider impacts on public health. However, they have inadequate capacities in collecting sur-veillance data. The VHTs lack transport to navigate through their communities and have in-sufficient capacities in using mobile phones for sending alerts. They do not engage in reporting other hazards related with the environment, wildlife and domestic livestock that would ac-celerate infectious disease outbreaks. Records are not maintained for disease surveillance ac-tivities and the abilities of VHTs to analyze data are also limited. However, VHTs have access to platforms that can enable them to disseminate public health information. The VHTs thus need to be retooled to conduct their work effectively and efficiently through equipping them with adequate logistics and knowledge on collecting, storing, analyzing, and relaying data, which will improve infectious disease response and mitigation efforts.

COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan and is later declared as a pandemic by World Health Organization. Different-aged people have varying gender-wise immunity control properties that necessitates understanding COVID-19 impact on age and gender which does not exist, currently. In this paper, COVID-19 surveillance variables are extensively studied along with hospitalization, tests-performed, and recovery data. Dataset is curated from three sources; however, age and gender data belong to Belgium, particularly. Visualizations, frequencies, Pearson’s and polyserial correlation, student’s t-test, and Cramer’s V are used for enhanced analysis. Results show higher mortality rate in males and need of more ventilators to combat severe symptoms.

The outbreak of coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has already taken on pandemic proportions and has affected more than 100 countries in recent weeks. It is imperative that global healthcare systems are prepared. Containment initiatives in Jordan, on the other hand, have decreased new cases by over 63%. The Jordanian national health system has been very pleased with its ability to adequately meet the needs of the patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia, and includes intensive care. From 2 March to 14 April 2020, between 4% and 8% of active infected patients in Jordan registered daily in intensive care. The percentage is very low.

Τhe concept of remote insect surveillance at large spatial scales for a number of serious insect pests of agricultural and medical importance is introduced in a series of our papers. We augment typical, low-cost plastic traps for many insect pests with the necessary optoelectronic sensors to guard the entrance of the trap in order to detect, time-stamp, GPS tag, and –in relevant cases- identify the species of the incoming insect from their wingbeat. For every important crop pest there are monitoring protocols to be followed in order to decide when to initiate a treatment procedure before a serious infestation occurs. Monitoring protocols are mainly based on specifically designed insect traps. Traditional insect monitoring suffers in that the scope of such monitoring: is curtailed by its cost, requires intensive labor, is time consuming, an expert is often needed for sufficient accuracy and can sometimes raise safety issues for humans. These disadvantages reduce the extent to which manual insect monitoring is applied and therefore its accuracy, which finally results in significant crop loss due to damage caused by pests. With the term ‘surveillance’ we intend to push the monitoring idea to unprecedented levels of information extraction regarding the presence, time-stamping detection events, species identification and population density of targeted insect pests. Insect counts as well as environmental parameters that correlate with insect’s population development are wirelessly transmitted to the central monitoring agency in real time, are visualized and streamed to statistical methods to assist enforcement of security control to insect pests. In this work we emphasize on how the traps can be self-organized in networks that collectively report data at local, regional, country, continental, and global scales using the emerging technology of the Internet of Things (IoT). This research is necessarily interdisciplinary and falls at the intersection of entomology, optoelectronic engineering, data-science and crop science and encompasses the design and implementation of low-cost, low-power technology to help reduce the extent of quantitative and qualitative crop losses by many the most significant agricultural pests. We argue that smart traps communicating through IoT to report in real-time the level of the pest population from the field straight to a human controlled agency can, in the very near future, have a profound impact on the decision making process in crop protection and will be disruptive of existing manual practices. In the present study, three cases are investigated : monitoring Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) using a) Picusan and b) Lindgren trap, and c) monitoring various stored grain beetle pests using the pitfall trap.

Solid particle cationic polyacrylamide (CPAM) is one of the most commonly used organic polymer flocculants in oilfield wastewater treatment, but there are some problems, such as slow dissolution rate, and easy to form a "fish-eye" in the process of diluting into aqueous solution. However, the current liquid CPAM products also have some problems, such as low effective content, poor storage stability, degradation in a short time and high preparation cost. In this paper, a secondary processing technology of solid particle CPAM was studied, and a CPAM suspension was successfully prepared. This suspension has an effective content of 50.00%, No separation in 7 days of storage at room temperature, no separation in 30 min of centrifugation at a speed of 2000 r/min, and diluted to a 0.40 % weak gel solution in just 16.00 min. For 1000 NTU of diatomite simulated wastewater, the optimal turbidity removal rate of the suspension was 99.50%, which was higher than the optimal turbidity removal rate of 98.40% for the inorganic flocculant polymeric aluminum chloride (PAC). For oil and gas field oily wastewater, the optimal turbidity removal rate of CPAM suspension was 35.60%, which was higher than the optimal turbidity removal rate of 28.40% for solid particle CPAM.

Background: Wastewater represents a health risk for populations. For sanitary safety, it is important to know their physico-chemical and microbiological qualities in order to better understand the risks incurred by the population. Objective: The aim of this study is to analyse the microbiological and physico-chemical quality of domestic wastewater in Adétikopé. Methodology: 12 wastewater samples were collected in Adétikopé from December 2022 to February 2023. Physico-chemical parameters were determined in accordance with AFNOR T90-105/ T90-023 and French standard NF T 90101. In microbiology, AFNOR was used as a reference for the detection of germs contaminating wastewater. Results were assessed in relation to European Union Criteria 98/83/EC. Results: The wastewater analyzed had a pH close to neutral, with an average pH of 7.05. The pollutant load generated ranged from 32 mg/l to 201 mg/l for BOD5, from 660 mg/l to 900 mg/l for COD and from 408 mg/l to 2080 mg/l for suspended solids. Concentrations of fecal coliforms and fecal streptococci are very high, far exceeding WHO guidelines for population health safety.

This study aims to determine the optimal configuration (position and operation duration) for wall mounted mechanical mixers based on the comparison of three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling results and physical data collected from the treatment plant. A three-dimensional model of anoxic zone 1, 2 and 3 of Northern Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) located at Cairns Regional Council, Cairns, Queensland, Australia was developed and validated. The model was used to simulate the flow pattern of the WWTP and the simulation results are in good agreement with the physical data varying between 0% to 15% in key locations. The anoxic zones were subject to velocities less than the desired 0.3 metres per second however results for suspended solids concentration indicate that good mixing is being achieved. Results for suspended solids concentrations suggest that the anoxic zones are towards the upper limits recommended by literature for specific power dissipation. The duration for operation of mechanical mixers was investigated and identified that the duration could be reduced from 900 seconds down to 150 seconds. Alternative mixer positioning was also investigated and identified positioning which would increase the average flow velocity with decreased duration (150 seconds). The study identified that Council may achieve savings of $24,000 per year through optimisation of the mechanical mixers.

We present the use of interconnected optical mesh networks for early earthquake detection and localization, exploiting existing terrestrial fiber infrastructure. Employing a Waveplate model, we integrate real ground displacement data from seven earthquakes, magnitudes ranging from four to six, to simulate the strains within fiber cables and collect large set of light’s polarization evolution data. These simulations help to enhance a Machine-Learning model that is trained and validated to detect Primary waves arrivals that precede earthquakes’ destructive Surface waves. The validation results show that the model achieves over 95% accuracy. The Machine-Learning model is then tested against an M4.3 earthquake, exploiting three interconnected mesh networks as a smart sensing grid. Each network is equipped with a sensing fiber placed to correspond with three distinct seismic stations. The objective is to confirm earthquake detection across the interconnected networks, localize the epicenter coordinates by a triangulation method and calculate fibers to epicenter distance. This setup allows early warning generation to municipalities close to epicenter location, and progressing to those further away. The model testing shows 98% of accuracy in detecting primary wave and one-second of detection time, affording nearby areas 21-seconds to take countermeasures, and an extended 57-seconds in more distant areas.

The ever-burgeoning growth of autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has demonstrated a promising platform for utilization in real-world applications. In particular, UAV equipped with a vision system could be leveraged for surveillance applications. This paper proposes a learning-based UAV system for achieving autonomous surveillance, in which the UAV can be of assistance in autonomously detecting, tracking, and following a target object without human intervention. Specifically, we adopted the YOLOv4-Tiny algorithm for semantic object detection and then consolidated it with a 3D object pose estimation method and Kalman Filter to enhance the perception performance. In addition, a back-end UAV path planning for surveillance maneuver is integrated to complete the fully autonomous system. The perception module is assessed on a quadrotor UAV, while the whole system is validated through flight experiments. The experiment results verified the robustness, effectiveness, and reliability of the autonomous object tracking UAV system in performing surveillance tasks. The source code is released to the research community for future reference.

While microcredits are, by the development practitioners, repeatedly hailed as a useful measure of development policy, this empirical research in Bangladesh arrives at different results: the governing and disciplinary measures are necessary to trigger the best possible repayment success. Based on interviews with the microfinance beneficiaries, loan officers, and microfinance experts in Bangladesh, I chart some of the most frequently used governing and disciplinary techniques including fictitious proximity of loan officers, their fields of visibility and surveillance processes. The “success” of credit delivery is a neoliberal stance that ensures the ceaseless debt repayment process using the intentional and planned conduct, capitalizing social capital and credit honour reputation, surveillance over business enterprises, use of equivocal language and different forms of deception. The development strategy through microfinance in Bangladesh is a development “dispositif” with a changing shift in its declared social missions.

Infectious diarrhoea such as shigellosis causes considerable morbidity and mortality, especially in infants, immune-compromised individuals and those living with HIV/AIDS. It is endemic in developing countries and in Sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa, where diarrhoeal disease remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. This study was undertaken to establish incidences of Shigella, its serotype and resistant pattern of isolates from human faeces from residence of Johannesburg, South Africa. All stools received between January to April from the private healthcare system were cultured on Xylose Lysine Deoxycholate and MacConkey Agar and Shigella was confirmed by standard biochemical reactions and a serological method. An antimicrobial sensitivity test was used. A total of 11 009 samples from patients between 22 days to 94 years old yielded 110 Shigella isolates, of which 47 (43%) were S. flexneri, 61 (55%) were S. sonnei, 1 (1%) was S. dysenteriae and 1 (1 %) was S. boydii. The majority of patients were children between < 1 to 5 years, 76 (69%), followed by those between 6 to 10 years 13 (12%). In children up to 10 years, S. sonnei was confirmed in 52 cases (59%) and S. flexneri in 36 cases (41%). Overall, 53 (48%) males and 57 (52%) females were infected.

In this article we present the design and development of T-Shirt prototypes that embed novel textile sensors for the capture of cardio and respiratory signals. The sensors are connected through textile interconnects to either an embedded custom designed data acquisition and transmission unit or to snap fastener terminals for connection to external monitoring devices. Prototypes with diverse approaches of integration are presented. The performance of the wearable systems is addressed in terms of signal-to-noise ratio amplitude and signal interference caused by baseline wander and motion artifacts, through laboratorial tests with subjects in standing and walking conditions. Performance tests were also conducted in Hospital environment using a T-Shirt prototype connected to a commercial 3-channel Holter monitoring device. The textile sensors and interconnects were realized with the assistance of an industrial 6-needle digital embroidery tool and their resistance to wear addressed with normalized tests of laundering and abrasion. The main aspects of the system´s design leading to major improvements and failure factors are discussed. Pathways and methods for the overall system´s optimization are highlighted.

Industries are required to utilize treatment technologies to reduce contaminants in wastewater prior discharge and valorize by-products to increase sustainability and competitiveness. Most acid leaching gypsum purification studies have obviated the treatment of the highly acidic wastewater produced. In this work, acidic wastewater from acid leaching purification of post-consumer gypsum was treated to recover a valuable solid product and reusable water. The main aims of this work were to determine the impact of recirculating acidic and treated wastewaters on the efficiency of the acid leaching purification process and to valorize the impurities in the wastewater. Samples were characterized through X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction. SimaPro 9.5 and ReCiPe 2016 midpoint method were used for the life cycle assessment of three wastewater management approaches. The reuse of the acidic wastewater did not improve the chemical purity of gypsum. Soluble impurities were precipitated at pH 10.5 as a magnesium-rich gypsum that could be commercialized as fertilizer or soil ameliorant. The alkaline treated water was reused for 6 acid leaching purification cycles without impacting the efficiency of the purification process. An acid leaching-neutralization-filtration-precipitation approach demonstrated superior overall environmental performance. Barriers and enabling measures for the implementation of an in-house wastewater treatment were identified.

The treatment of petroleum refinery wastewater (PRWW) is of great interest in the field of industrial wastewater management. The wastewater contains a diverse concentration of contaminants such as oil and grease, petroleum hydrocarbons, phenol, ammonia, sulfides, as well as other organic and inorganic composites etc. The treatment of refinery wastewater has been treated through various processes including; physical, biological, chemical or hybrid methods which combine two or more techniques. Hence, the objective of this review is to summarize the recent research studies applied in the treatment of petroleum refinery wastewater using conventional, advanced as well as integrated treatment techniques. Furthermore, critically highlight the efficiencies and major limitations of each technique as well as prospects for improvement. Several conventional treatment techniques (basically, the physicochemical and biological processes) were discussed. In this context, advanced oxidation processes (AoPs) especially electrochemical oxidation and photocatalysis as well as the integrated/hybrid processes are found effective to remove the recalcitrant fraction of organic pollutants because of their various inherent mechanisms. These techniques could effectively remove COD and phenols concentration with an average removal efficiency exceeding 90%. Hence, the review also presented an elaborate discussion of the photocatalytic process as one of the advanced techniques and highlighted some basic concepts to optimize the degradation efficiency of a photocatalyst. Finally, a brief recommendation for research prospects is also presented.

The larvicidal potential of olive mill waste water (OMWW) extract against mosquito larvae was evaluated. We exposed second instar Culex laticinctus (Edwards) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse) larvae to increasing OMWW concentrations. In addition, we tested the effects of long term exposure to a low OMWW concentration on larval development. The two mosquito species responded differently to OMWW extracts. Larval Cx. laticinctus showed higher vulnerability to increasing OMWW concentrations in comparison to Ae. albopictus. By contrast, Cx. laticinctus exposed to a low OMWW concentration until pupation did not exhibit survival differences, but rather sex-specific development responses. These trends were not observed in Ae. albopictus whose survival was significantly reduced following long exposer to OMWW extraction. These results showed that OMWW, which is known as agricultural byproduct waste, may be reused as a biopesticide.

This study investigates distillery wastewater, commonly known as vinasse, as a potential culture medium for the production of Chlorella vulgaris and its most relevant metabolites. The effect of vinasse concentration on the composition of the biomass (proteins, carbohydrates and lipids) was evaluated in treatments performed in 6-L tubular air-lift reactors. The reactors were operated at 25 °C for 18 days, in total darkness, under a continuous flow of air. Results showed a rapid growth of microalgae in the first ten days, when an average production of 0.87 g/L was reached. Then, the daily biomass productivity began to decrease, up to an average value of 11.8 g/L at the 16th day. For all treatments, there was a significant reduction in the concentration of most metabolites in the first eight days. This was likely due to the adaptation of the biomass to the new conditions, with a the transition from autotrophic to heterotrophic metabolism. From the 10th day, the concentration of metabolites in the biomass began to increase, reaching a nearly constant value at the 16th day. The observed maximum concentrations (%w/w) were: 48.95% proteins, 2.88% xylose, 7.82% glucose, 4.54% arabinose, 8.28% fructose and 4.82% lipids. These values were only marginally affected by the type of treatment. Overall, the results obtained suggest that vinasse is a promising and sustainable medium for the growth of C. vulgaris and the production of valuable metabolites.

Urban water management rules have long been oriented towards the rapid disposal of rainwater and wastewater through combined or separate drainage networks. This type of urban water management has shown its limits in both developed and undeveloped countries, notably because of its inexorable degradation over time and the cost of its rehabilitation and adaptation to the increase in demand due to urban growth. Sanitation data from the Office Nationale de l’Assainissement du Sénégal. Rainfall data are processed and analyzed to describe the current situation and how variable and high rainfall affects the neighborhood. Approximately 70-92% of the Dakar region's inhabitants have on-site sanitation facilities and sufficient income makes it difficult to manage their wastewater without exposing the environment or the health of citizens. The volumes of domestic wastewater flowed into the environment, in addition to poorly evacuated rainwater, show that the current sanitation system in the Dakar region is largely outdated, and insufficient for an effective drainage of rainwater and wastewater. Increasingly, frequent flash floods of polluted storm water from large amounts of domestic sewage are occurring, resulting in damage to human health. Exceptionally high rainfall is in correlation with high daily rainfall, therefore in recent years daily rainfall higher than 100 mm have been recorded in connection with above-average annual rainfall. That increase in rainfall disrupts the drainage of wastewater in the region of Dakar. A pragmatic and voluntary policy based on the principles of ecohydrology to recreate natural areas will be the only way for Dakar to efficiently manage storm water and wastewater. It can bring Dakar in 2030 into the international group of sustainable green cities.

Antibiotic resistance is a major public health issue that requires a multifaceted approach. One potential source of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is wastewater in developing countries, which often lacks proper treatment infrastructure and can release high levels of antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria into the environment. This review article summarizes current knowledge on strategies to combat antibiotic resistance in wastewater in developing countries. Our review highlights the importance of improving wastewater treatment infrastructure to effectively remove antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria, implementing measures to reduce the release of antibiotics into the environment, and monitoring and surveillance to track the presence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in wastewater. We also discuss the potential challenges and barriers to implementing these strategies and the need for further research to determine their effectiveness in real-world settings. Overall, this review highlights the need for a comprehensive approach to address antibiotic resistance in wastewater in developing countries and underscores the importance of addressing this issue to protect public health.

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a growing global concern, threatening human and environ-mental health, particularly among urban populations. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are thought to be “hotspots” for antibiotic resistance dissemination. The conditions of WWTPs, in conjunction with the persistence of commonly used antibiotics, may favor the selection and trans-fer of resistance genes among bacterial populations. WWTPs provide an important ecological niche to examine the spread of antibiotic resistance. We used heterotrophic plate count methods to identify phenotypically resistant cultivable portions of these bacterial communities and charac-terized the composition of the culturable subset of these populations. Resistant taxa were more abundant in raw sewage and wastewater before the biological aeration treatment stage. While some antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) were detectable downstream of treated wastewater re-lease, these organisms are not enriched relative to effluent-free upstream water, indicating effi-cient removal during treatment. Combined culture-dependent and culture-independent analyses revealed a stark difference in community composition between culturable fractions and the envi-ronmental source material, irrespective of culturing conditions. Higher proportions of the envi-ronmental populations were recovered than predicted by the widely accepted 1% culturability paradigm. These results represent baseline abundance and compositional data for ARB commu-nities for reference in future studies addressing the dissemination of antibiotic resistance associ-ated with urban wastewater treatment ecosystems.

Abstract The global concern about the leather industries is increasing as the leather industries grow bigger each year. These industries face a very challenging task with an increase in stringent pollution control regulation enforced by various bodies due to environmental concern and human risks. The chromium salts are the most widely used chemical for the tanning process in leather industries, about 35% of chromium used for the tanning process remain as metal and discharge to wastewater stream. The removal and recovery of this quantity of wasted chromium are necessary for environmental pollution control and economic reason. This paper sheds light on the chromium recovery and reuse system of Chromium salts in tanning wastewater by using NaOH as an effective chemical precipitation method to regenerate chromium solution, adapted chrome recovery plant, and evaluated the system technically and economically.

Herpes B virus (BV) is a zoonotic virus which can be transmitted from macaques to humans, which is often associated with high mortality rates. Because macaques often exhibit asymptomatic infections, individuals who come into contact with these animals face unexpected risks of BV infections. Serological test is widely performed to investigate BV infections. However, the assay’s sensitivity and specificity appeared to be inadequate, and it does not necessarily indicate ongoing viral shedding. Here, we developed LAMP and qPCR assays aiming to detect BVs with high sensitivity and specificity in various macaque species and validated them using oral swab samples collected from 97 wild cynomolgus macaques living in Thailand. Our LAMP and qPCR assays detected more than 50 and 10 copies of the target sequences per reaction, respectively. The LAMP assay could detect BV within 25 min, indicating its advantages for the rapid detection of BV. Collectively, our findings indicated that both assays developed in this study exhibit advantages and usefulness for BV surveillance and diagnosis of BV infections in macaques. Furthermore, for the first time, we determined the partial genome sequences of BVs detected in cynomolgus macaques in Thailand. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the species-specific evolution of BV within macaques.

In today's world, wherein more than 80% of world trade is carried out by maritime routes, the safety and security of the seas where this trade takes place is of vast importance for nations and the in-ternational community. For this reason, ensuring the sustainable safety and security of the seas has become an integral part of the mission of all maritime-related entities. The utilization of big data extracted from the seas and maritime activities into meaningful information with artificial intelli-gence applications and developing applications that can be used in maritime surveillance will be of great importance for augmenting maritime safety and security. In this article, data sources which can be used by a maritime surveillance system based on big data and artificial intelligence tech-nologies and which can be established around sensitive sea areas and critical coastal facilities, are identified and a model proposal using this maritime big data is put forward.

Disease surveillance is critical to monitor ongoing control activities, detect early outbreaks and to inform intervention priorities and policies. Unfortunately, most data from disease surveillance remain under-utilised to support decision-making in real-time. Using the Brazilian Amazon malaria surveillance data as a case study, we explore unsupervised anomaly detection machine learning techniques to analyse and discover potential anomalies. We found that our models are able to detect early outbreaks, peak of outbreaks as well as change points in the proportion of positive malaria cases. Specifically, the sustained rise in malaria in the Brazilian Amazon in 2016 was flagged by several models. We also found that no single model detects all the anomalies across all health regions. The approaches using Clustering-based local outlier algorithm ranked first before Principal component analysis and Stochastic outlier selection in maximising the number of anomalies detected in local health regions. Because of this, we also provide the minimum number of machine learning models (top-k models) to maximise the number of anomalies detected across different health regions. We discovered that the top-3 models that maximise the coverage of the number and types of anomalies detected across the 13 health regions are: Principal component analysis, Stochastic outlier selection and Multi-covariance determinant. Anomaly detection approaches provide interesting solutions to discover patterns of epidemiological importance when confronted with a large volume of data across space and time. Our exploratory approach can be replicated for other diseases and locations to inform timely interventions and actions toward endemic disease control.

The major goal of this paper is to use image enhancement techniques for enhancing and extracting data in FANET applications to improve the efficiency of surveillance. The proposed conceptual system design can improve the likelihood of FANET operations in oil pipeline surveillance, and sports and media coverage with the ultimate goal of providing efficient services to those who are interested. The system architecture model is based on current scientific principles and developing technologies. A FANET, which is capable of gathering image data from video-enabled drones, and an image processing system that permits data collection and analysis are the two primary components of the system. Based on the image processing technique, a proof of concept for efficient data extraction and enhancement in FANET situations and possible services is illustrated

Infectious diseases, as COVID-19 is proving, pose a global health threat in an interconnected world. In the last 20 years, resistant infectious diseases such as SARS, MERS, H1N1, Ebola, Zika and now COVID-19 have been impacting global health defences, and aggressively flourishing within the rise of global travel, urbanization, climate change and ecological degradation. In parallel, this extraordinary episode in global human health highlights the potential for artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled disease surveillance to collect and analyse vast amounts of unstructured and real-time data to inform epidemiological and public health emergency responses. The uses of AI in these dynamic environments are increasingly complex, challenging the potential for human autonomous decisions. In this context, our study of qualitative perspectives will consider a responsible AI framework to explore its potential application to disease surveillance in a global health context. Thus far, there is a gap in the literature in considering these multiple and interconnected levels of disease surveillance and emergency health management through the lens of a responsible AI framework.

Medical surveillance and risk mitigation protocols to reduce viral transmission have underpinned the return of elite football during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article describes the evidence-informed approach and surveillance findings from the English Football League across a 9-week period at the end of the 2019-20 season. Protocols were devised by the lead EFL Medical Advisor with specialist occupational medicine input. Isolation requirements for cases and contacts were in-line with UK Government regulations, with external contact tracing conducted by local public health authorities. Quantitative PCR testing was conducted twice weekly and within 72 hours of fixtures. 43 individuals, including 18 players returned positive tests. No positive results were returned after week 5 (round 10). Our findings support those from other leagues that with appropriate compliance, elite football can continue safely during this pandemic. We recommend that protocols and compliance should be revised as necessary according to community prevalence and changes in viral transmission dynamics.

This work introduces a device for long term systematic monitoring of trees against borers. A widely applied way to detect wood-boring insects is to insert a piezoelectric probe with uncoated waveguide in the tree trunk and listen for locomotion or feeding sounds through headphones. This approach has several shortcomings: a) frequent manual inspection of trees is costly and impractical to be scaled to hundreds or thousands of trees, b) the larvae could be present but inactive during the inspection time and, c) when the trees are in urban environments the background noise can be significant and can mask the feeble sounds of wood-boring insects even with the use of specialized headphones. We introduce a remotely controlled device that records and wirelessly transmits on a scheduled basis short recordings of the internal vibrations of a tree to a server. The user can listen remotely or process the recording automatically to infer the infestation state of the tree with wood-boring insects that feed or move inside the tree. When integrated within the IoT framework this device can scale up to automatically monitoring the trees of the entire city. The proposed approach led to detection results in field trials of the pests Xylotrechus chinensis and Rhynchophorus ferrugineus.

In 2015 in Brazil, Zika virus showed features of geographic expansion and potentially increased virulence. In 2016, New York State issued emergency regulations after the World Health Organization declared Zika virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. In this study, mosquito surveillance was conducted in Westchester County, New York, to identify Zika virus and other arboviruses. Twenty trap sites were used for surveillance of Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, the Zika virus vector. The Westchester County Department of Health performed testing for Zika, West Nile, Eastern equine encephalitis, and other flaviviruses on 369 batches comprising 8,891 mosquitoes. Aedes albopictus mosquitoes were identified in Nassau, Rockland, Suffolk, Westchester, and New York City. Despite the increased capacity for specimen analysis, Zika virus was not detected. This study provides the first evidence of appropriate Zika virus surveillance. However, the results do not allow determination of the potential mechanism of local vector-to-human transmission of Zika virus among Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. This study adds to the evidence regarding the distribution, emergence, and trapping capabilities of potential Zika virus vectors.

A discharge mixing zone (DMZ) is a defined geographical area or volume of water in the receiving environment of a discharge where initial dilution of the effluent occurs and where exceedance of water quality criteria may be permitted. DMZs are essential to inform determination of discharge consent conditions and an important element of risk management frameworks to reduce any effects of the discharges on the environment and human health. In this review, we describe the principles and technical application of DMZs. We present an overview of the physical processes that govern the dispersion and dilution of wastewater discharges and the fate of contaminants in coastal environments and define key criteria for determining the size of DMZs. We summarize DMZ requirements in international legislation and guidance and exemplify their application to different types of discharges by means of case studies. The selected case studies illustrate different modelling tools for defining DMZs and different monitoring approaches to assess their effectiveness in achieving ecological and human health objectives.

This study conducted an extensive analysis of campylobacteriosis surveillance in Portugal from 2009 to 2021, aiming to investigate demographic shifts, seasonal variations, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) within Campylobacter isolates. Surveillance network and sentinel laboratory-based system data revealed a substantial under-notification of campylobacteriosis cases, suggesting an underestimated disease burden. A paradigm shift was observed in notification rates, with a notable prevalence among the pediatric population, particularly in children aged 1-4 years, diverging from European reports. However, the study also highlighted an emerging trend of Campylobacter infections in younger adults (15-44 years). The study unveiled a unique seasonal distribution of cases, defying typical summer peaks seen elsewhere. AMR analysis revealed extremely to very high-level resistance to ciprofloxacin and tetracycline, both in C. jejuni (93.7% and 79.2%, respectively) and in C. coli (96.5% and 93.2%, respectively), stable throughout the studied period (2013-2021). C. coli also exhibited significantly higher resistance to erythromycin, gentamicin, ampicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (decreased resistance), and ertapenem compared to C. jejuni (P&lt;0.001). In conclusion, the study highlights the need for enhanced surveillance efforts and emphasizes worrying AMR levels. The implementation of WGS-based surveillance is recommended to attain a more profound comprehension of disease patterns and the evolving landscape of AMR.

In December 2019, the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in the province of Wuhan, China. Since then, it has spread worldwide with new mutations being reported. We performed genomic analysis to identify the changes in genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 between December 2019 and November 2020, and through molecular surveillance, we monitored the mutations that could be involved in viral fitness. We analyzed 2,213 complete genomes from 6 geographical regions worldwide, which were downloaded from GenBank and GISAID databases. Although SARS-CoV-2 presented low genetic diversity, there has been an increase over time, with the presence of several hotspot mutations throughout its genome. We identified 7 frequent mutations that resulted in non-synonymous substitutions (dN). Two of them, C14408T>P323L and A23403G>D614G, located in the nsp12 and Spike protein, respectively, emerged early in the pandemic and showed a considerable increase in frequency over time. Two other mutations, A1163T>I120F in nsp2 and G22992A>S477N in the Spike protein emerged recently and have spread in Oceania and Europe. Continuous molecular surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 will be necessary to detect and describe the transmission dynamics of new variants of the virus with clinical relevance. This information is important to improve programs to control the virus.

Extracellular vesicles (EV) released by tumor cells are a major aspect of the resistance-associated secretory phenotype (RASP), by which immune evasion can be established. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are an evolutionarily conserved family of molecular chaperones, which stabilize proteins, minimize protein misfolding and aggregation within the cell, besides facilitating protein translocation, refolding and degradation. (i) Releases of extracellular HSPs (ex-HSP) and EV-associated HSPs (EV-HSP) are essential in RASP, by which molecular cotransfer of HSPs with oncogenic factors into recipient cells can promote cancer progression and resistance against stress such as hypoxia, radiation, chemicals, and immune system. (ii) RASP of tumor cells can eject anticancer drugs, molecularly targeted therapeutics, and immune checkpoint inhibitors with EVs. (iii) Cytotoxic lipids can be also released from tumor cells as RASP. Nevertheless, ex-HSP and EV-HSP can play immunostimulatory and immunosuppressive roles by binding to receptors such as LRP1/CD91/A2MR, scavenger receptors, and toll-like receptors expressed on recipient cells. Liquid biopsy of HSPs in body fluids may be useful in diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment in cancer. Regarding HSP90-targeted therapeutics, we summarize the pros, cons, and problem solutions in this review. Although production of HSPs are canonically induced by heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) and hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1), recent studies discovered that production of HSPs is also regulated by matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP3) and heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) and production of cochaperone CDC37 is reciprocally regulated by myeloid zinc finger 1 (MZF1) and SCAN-D1.

The rapid increasing rate of soil and water bodies pollution is the main anthropogenic effect caused by the mismanagement of post-consumer plastics. This research evaluated the effectiveness of cattail (Typha Latifolia) fibers (CFs) as bio-adsorbents of microplastic particles (MPPs) from wastewater. The effect of the adsorption environment composition on the adsorption rate was investigated. Batch tests were conducted to evaluate the “spontaneous” adsorption of MPs onto CFs. Five MPPs materials (PVC, PP, LDPE, HDPE, and Nylon 6) were evaluated. An industrial wastewater (PW) and Type II Distilled Water (DW) were employed as adsorption environments. The batch tests results show that CFs are effective in removing MPPs from DW and PW. However, higher removal percentage of MPPs were obtained in PW, ranging from 89% to 100% for PVC, PP, LDPE, and HDPE; while the adsorption of Nylon 6 increased to 29.9%, a removal increased of 50%. These observations indicate that hydrophobic interactions drive the “spontaneous and instantaneous” adsorption process and that adjusting the adsorption environment effectively enhances the MPPs removal rate. This research demonstrates the important role that bio-substrates can play in reducing the environmental pollution as efficient, sustainable, low cost, and reliable adsorbents for the removal of MPPs from wastewaters.