Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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- Creators: Savic, Sonja
The COVID-19 pandemic caused uncertainty and changing public health recommendations across the world as our understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 virus changed. Following a preliminary assessment by the World Health Organization, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were said to worsen symptoms and should be avoided before the recommendation was subsequently revoked. There also was pain associated with infection, leading to the hypothesis that use of over-the-counter pain medication increases may correlate with increases of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Wastewater samples were collected from two communities in Tempe, AZ from December 2019 to July 2020 (n = 35) and were analyzed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to identify levels of acetaminophen, ibuprofen and their metabolites, acetaminophen sulfate and carboxy-ibuprofen. Results showed 100% detection frequency of all analytes in all samples across the duration of the study. Mass loadings of acetaminophen (918.4 g day-1 +/- 354.8 g day-1) were higher than ibuprofen (182.9 g day-1 +/- 49.8 g day-1), potentially driven by flushing behaviors rather than consumption activities. However, ibuprofen was more heavily consumed than acetaminophen across all days of the study period. Comparisons to COVID-19 clinical cases data showed increased use in ibuprofen with increases in clinical cases loads, while acetaminophen showed no change, suggesting ibuprofen was the over the counter (OTC) medication of choice during the first wave of the pandemic.