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- All Subjects: wastewater
- Creators: Halden, Rolf U.
Description
Monitoring human exposure to chemicals posing public health threats is critically important for risk management and for informing regulatory actions. Chemical threats result from both environmental pollutants and elected substance use (e.g., consumption of drugs, alcohol and tobacco). Measuring chemical occurrence and concentrations in environmental matrices can help to pinpoint human exposure routes. For instance, indoor dust, a sink of indoor environmental contaminants, can serve to assess indoor air contamination and associated human exposures. Urban wastewater arriving at treatment plants contains urine and stool from the general population, the analysis of which can provide information on chemical threats in the community and ongoing harmful exposures. Analysis of sewage sludge can serve to reveal the identity and quantity of persistent organic pollutants in cities and inform estimates of toxic body burdens in local populations.
The objective of this dissertation was to investigate the occurrence and quantity of select, potentially harmful, anthropogenic chemicals in various environmental matrices and to explore the diagnostic value of analytical assays for informing public health decision-making. This dissertation (i) is the first to report spatio-temporal variations and estrogenic burdens of five parabens in sewage sludge from at the U.S. nationwide scale; (ii) represents the first China-wide survey to assess the occurrence and toxic emissions of parabens, triclosan, triclocarban, as well as triclocarban metabolites and transformation products contained in Chinese sewage sludge; (iii) documents the first use of a dispersive solid phase extraction method for indoor dust to measure dust-borne parabens, triclosan and triclocarban and estimating associated human exposures from dust ingestion; and (iv) is the first U.S. study to assess population-level alcohol and nicotine consumption in three U.S. communities using wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE). Obtained data on baseline levels of selected emerging contaminants in sewage sludge and indoor dust can serve to inform the future monitoring needs, risk assessment, and policy making. This work showcases the utility of WBE and urban metabolism metrology via dust and sewage sludge analysis to assess human behavior (e.g., drinking and smoking) and exposure risks more rapidly, efficiently and anonymously than traditional approaches can.
The objective of this dissertation was to investigate the occurrence and quantity of select, potentially harmful, anthropogenic chemicals in various environmental matrices and to explore the diagnostic value of analytical assays for informing public health decision-making. This dissertation (i) is the first to report spatio-temporal variations and estrogenic burdens of five parabens in sewage sludge from at the U.S. nationwide scale; (ii) represents the first China-wide survey to assess the occurrence and toxic emissions of parabens, triclosan, triclocarban, as well as triclocarban metabolites and transformation products contained in Chinese sewage sludge; (iii) documents the first use of a dispersive solid phase extraction method for indoor dust to measure dust-borne parabens, triclosan and triclocarban and estimating associated human exposures from dust ingestion; and (iv) is the first U.S. study to assess population-level alcohol and nicotine consumption in three U.S. communities using wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE). Obtained data on baseline levels of selected emerging contaminants in sewage sludge and indoor dust can serve to inform the future monitoring needs, risk assessment, and policy making. This work showcases the utility of WBE and urban metabolism metrology via dust and sewage sludge analysis to assess human behavior (e.g., drinking and smoking) and exposure risks more rapidly, efficiently and anonymously than traditional approaches can.
ContributorsChen, Jing (Author) / Halden, Rolf U. (Thesis advisor) / Borges, Chad R (Committee member) / Abbaszadegan, Morteza (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The Future of Wastewater Sensing workshop is part of a collaboration between Arizona State University Center for Nanotechnology in Society in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society, the Biodesign Institute’s Center for Environmental Security, LC Nano, and the Nano-enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) Systems NSF Engineering Research Center. The Future of Wastewater Sensing workshop explores how technologies for studying, monitoring, and mining wastewater and sewage sludge might develop in the future, and what consequences may ensue for public health, law enforcement, private industry, regulations and society at large. The workshop pays particular attention to how wastewater sensing (and accompanying research, technologies, and applications) can be innovated, regulated, and used to maximize societal benefit and minimize the risk of adverse outcomes, when addressing critical social and environmental challenges.
ContributorsWithycombe Keeler, Lauren (Researcher) / Halden, Rolf (Researcher) / Selin, Cynthia (Researcher) / Center for Nanotechnology in Society (Contributor)
Created2015-11-01
Description
Novel means are needed to diagnose neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) and cancer, given delays in medical diagnosis and rising rates of disease incidence, prevalence, and mortality worldwide. Development of NDDs and cancer has been linked to environmental toxins. Ensuing epigenetic changes may serve as helpful biomarkers to diagnose amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s Disease (PD), and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) as well as various cancers sooner and more accurately. This dissertation tabulates and evaluates a spectrum of diagnostic matrixes (i.e., soil, sewage sludge, blood) and markers of disease to inform disease surveillance. A literature search using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and Bradford Hill criteria implicated BMAA, formaldehyde, Mn, Hg, and Zn as environmental factors with strong association to ALS risk. Another PRISMA search identified epigenetic changes (e.g., DNA methylation) in NDD patients associated with environmental toxic exposures to air pollutants, heavy metals, and organic chemicals. Of the 180 environmental toxins hypothesized to be associated with AD, PD, or ALS, four heavy metals (As, Cd, Mn, and Hg) were common to these NDDs. Sources, as well as evidence and proxies of human exposure to these heavy metals and Pb were investigated here, namely the metal industries, and metal concentrations in topsoil, sewage sludge, and blood. Concentrations of Cd and Pb in sewage sludge were found to be significantly correlated with NDD prevalence rates in co-located populations (state-level) with odds ratios of 2.91 and 4.08, respectively. Markers of exposure and disease in urine and feces were also evaluated using PRISMA, finding 73 of 94 epigenetic biomarker panels to be valid for tracking primarily gastric and urinary cancers. In all studies, geospatial analyses indicated a preference in study cohorts located in the U.S., Europe, and the northern hemisphere, leaving underserved many populous regions particularly in the southern hemisphere. This dissertation draws attention to sewage sludge as a currently underutilized proxy matrix for assessing toxic human exposures and further identified a spectrum of particularly attractive, non-invasive biomarkers for future diagnostic use to promote early detection, survivability, and quality of life of individuals at risk of NDDs and cancer.
ContributorsNewell, Melanie Engstrom (Author) / Halden, Rolf U. (Thesis advisor) / Mastroeni, Diego (Committee member) / Lee, Heewook (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023