A method and its application to determine the amount of cannabinoids in sewage sludge and biosolids.

Xenobiotic cannabinoids (phyto and synthetic) are highly lipophilic compounds and have been shown to accumulate within the particulate fraction of wastewater. Limited research has been conducted to investigate the occurrence of cannabinoids in sewage sludge and/or biosolids. The analysis of excreted cannabinoids from sewage sludge or biosolids can provide information about community health, as well as potentially long-term environmental impacts. In this study, a liquid-liquid extraction method was developed for the extraction and detection method for 50 cannabinoids by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, including the cannabis urinary biomarker 11-nor-9-carboxy-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC-COOH), Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), and a variety of different generation synthetic cannabinoids and their respective metabolites. Method validation assessed criteria including linearity, selectivity, recovery, and matrix effects. The method was applied to samples collected from a conventional activated sludge reactor treatment facility from various stages of the treatment process. Three cannabinoids were abundant in primary sludge including THC, THC-COOH, and CBD, where THC was the most ubiquitous with concentrations up to 3200 µg kg-1. Only THC and THC-COOH were detectable in aged biosolids. The detection of some cannabinoids in biosolids demonstrated that these compounds are stable throughout the treatment process.

Aquatic Phytotoxicity to Lemna minor of Three Commonly Used Drugs of Addiction in Australia.

The manufacturing and consumption of drugs of addiction has increased globally and their widespread occurrence in the environment is an emerging concern. This study evaluated the phytotoxicity of three compounds: methamphetamine, codeine and morphine; commonly reported in Australian urban water, to the aquatic plant Lemna minor under controlled conditions. L. minor was sensitive to lower drug concentrations when administered in multi-compound mixtures (100-500 µg L-1) than when applied individually (range 600-2500 µg L-1), while no adverse effects were observed at environmentally-relevant concentrations (1-5 µg L-1) detected in wastewater effluent. In conclusion, the results show that the concentrations of these compounds discharged into the environment are unlikely to pose adverse phytotoxic effects. These three compounds are known to be the most stable of their group under such conditions indicating that with this respect it is safe to use recycled water for existing regulated reclaimed purposes including agricultural or parklands irrigation or replenishing surface and groundwater. However, more research on the analysis of methamphetamines and opiates in municipal effluents is needed to reassure the likely environmental hazard of these neuroactive drug classes to aquatic organisms. Given the ever-growing production and aquatic disposal of discharge wastewater globally, this study provides timely and valuable insights into the likely drug-related impacts of effluent disposal on aquatic plants in receiving environments.

Removal of emerging drugs of addiction by wastewater treatment and water recycling processes and impacts on effluent-associated environmental risk.

Drugs of addiction, have been recognized as potential contaminants of concern to the environment. Effluent wastewater discharge is a major source of contamination to aquatic receiving environments. A year-long monitoring program was undertaken in Australia to characterise the fate of four emerging drugs of addiction: methamphetamine; MDMA; pharmaceutical opioids: codeine and morphine and a metabolite: benzoylecgonine in four wastewater treatment plants operating with different secondary treatment technologies: conventional activated sludge (CAS), membrane bioreactors (MBR), integrated fixed-film AS (IFAS) and sequencing batch reactor (SBR). The effect of subsequent tertiary treatment (coagulation/flocculation) on the removal efficiency was also assessed. Drugs were detected in influent and effluent samples (mean concentration ranged from 43-4777 and 17-1721 ng/L, respectively). Treated effluents had noticeably lower levels compared to raw influents. Removal efficiency of compounds depended on the secondary treatment employed, with IFAS and MBR performing the best with significant removal of compounds (≈90%) followed by CAS (54-96%) and lastly SBR (42-83%). Despite the low levels of drugs measured after the secondary treatment, near complete removal after tertiary treatment (≈99%) was recorded, which demonstrated the effectiveness of using the coagulation/flocculation process as an effective step for enhancing the removal efficiency. The levels of drugs were at a low level in the effluents released into the environment and used for recycling and all posed a low environmental risk in urban water courses based on the risk assessment. The information given here provides new and useful information to the water industry and regulators on the efficiency of drug removal in a range of wastewater treatment configurations.

Design, Synthesis, Anticonvulsant Activity, Preclinical Study and Pharmacokinetic Performance of N-{[3-(4-chlorophenyl)-4-oxo-3, 4-dihydroquinazolin- 2-yl] methyl}, 2-[(2-isopropyl-5-methyl) 1-cyclo Hexylidene] Hydrazinecarboxamide.

BACKGROUND: N-{[3-(4-chlorophenyl)-4-oxo-3, 4-dihydroquinazolin-2-yl] methyl}, 2-[(2- isopropyl-5-methyl) 1-cyclohexylidene] hydrazinecarboxamide QS11 was designed by computational study. It possessed essential pharmacophoric features for anticonvulsant activity and showed good docking with iGluRs (Kainate) glutamate receptor. METHODS: QSAR and ADMET screening results suggested that QS11 would possess good potency for anticonvulsant activity. QS11 was synthesised and evaluated for its anticonvulsant activity and neurotoxicity. QS11 showed protection in strychnine, thiosemicarbazide, 4-aminopyridine and scPTZ induced seizure models and MES seizure model. QS11 showed higher ED50, TD50 and PI values as compared to the standard drugs in both MES and scPTZ screen. A high safety profile (HD50/ED50 values) was noted and hypnosis, analgesia, and anaesthesia were only observed at higher doses. No considerable increase or decrease in the concentration of liver enzymes was observed. Optimized QS11 was subjected to preclinical (in-vivo) studies and the pharmacokinetic performance of the sample was investigated. The result revealed that the pharmacokinetic performance of QS11 achieved maximum plasma concentrations (Cmax) of 0.315 ± 0.011 µg/mL at Tmax of 2.0 ± 0.13 h, area under the curve (AUC0-∞) value 4.591 ± 0.163 µg/ml x h, elimination half-life (T1/2) 6.28 ± 0.71 h and elimination rate constant was found 0.110 ± 0.013 h-1 . RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Above evidences indicate that QS11 could serve as a lead for development of new antiepileptic drugs.

Occurrence, removal and environmental risk of markers of five drugs of abuse in urban wastewater systems in South Australia.

The occurrence and fate of five drugs of abuse in raw influent and treated effluent wastewater were investigated over a period of 1 year in the Adelaide region of South Australia. Four wastewater treatment plants were chosen for this study and monitored for five drugs which included cocaine in the form of its metabolite benzoylecgonine (BE), methamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and two opioids (codeine and morphine) during the period April 2016 to February 2017. Alongside concentrations in raw sewage, the levels of drugs in the treated effluent were assessed and removal efficiencies were calculated. Drug concentrations were measured by mixed-mode solid phase extraction and liquid chromatography coupled to a quadrupole mass spectrometer. Drug concentrations detected in the raw wastewater ranged from 7 to 6510 ng/L and < LOD to 4264 ng/L in treated effluent samples. Drug removal rates varied seasonally and spatially. The mass loads of drugs discharged into the environment were in descending order: codeine > methamphetamine > morphine > MDMA > BE. Results showed that all the targeted drugs were on average incompletely removed by wastewater treatment, with removal performance highest for morphine (94%) and lowest for MDMA (58%). A screening-level environmental risk assessment was subsequently performed for the drugs based on effluent wastewater concentrations. Based on calculated risk quotients, overall environmental risk for these compounds appears low, with codeine and methamphetamine likely to pose the greatest potential risk to receiving environments. Given the recognised limitations of current ecotoxicological models and risk assessment methods for these and other pharmaceutical drugs, the potential for environmental impacts associated with the continuous discharge of these compounds in wastewater effluents should not be overlooked.

Etiology of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) and its Symptomatic Correlation with Audiometry Observations in Type II Diabetes.

Type II diabetic mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disease that impairs normal insulin production and glucose transport to the liver and muscles. In the India, about 1-5% population suffer from diabetes or related complication. So there is need to cure this disease. DM chronic auditory complications may include spiral ganglia atrophy, degeneration of the vestibulocochlear nerve myelin sheath, reduction of the number of spiral lamina nerve fibres, and thickening of the capillary walls of the stria vascularis and small arteries. This study aims to know the incidence of common parameters, blood sugar levels, levels of lipids and the hearing thresholds of individuals. It is a Noise-Induced Hearing Loss research study featuring hearing impairment in transport workers diagnosed as type II diabetic. All individuals were interviewed by various questioners related to listening ability of subjects and underwent a physical examination, blood investigations and audiometry. Hearing impairment was more prevalent among adults with diabetes. Sensory neuron hearing loss is predominant in both study groups. Mixed Bilateral Hearing Loss showed significant p value in (>.001) by audiometry. The percentage of hearing loss in diabetes (ranges 5.3-28.1%) and in non-diabetics (ranges 3.4-24.1%) and risk factors in diabetes (ranges 22.8-35.1%) over nondiabetics (ranges 17.2-20.1%) which is eye opener. The correlation between type II diabetes and hearing impairment was independent of known risk factors for hearing impairment, such as noise exposure, build-up wax, ototoxic medication, smoking, tobacco chewing etc.

Occurrence of illicit drugs in water and wastewater and their removal during wastewater treatment.

This review critically evaluates the types and concentrations of key illicit drugs (cocaine, amphetamines, cannabinoids, opioids and their metabolites) found in wastewater, surface water and drinking water sources worldwide and what is known on the effectiveness of wastewater treatment in removing such compounds. It is also important to amass information on the trends in specific drug use as well as the sources of such compounds that enter the environment and we review current international knowledge on this. There are regional differences in the types and quantities of illicit drug consumption and this is reflected in the quantities detected in water. Generally, the levels of illicit drugs in wastewater effluents are lower than in raw influent, indicating that the majority of compounds can be at least partially removed by conventional treatment processes such as activated sludge or trickling filters. However, the literature also indicates that it is too simplistic to assume non-detection equates to drug removal and/or mitigation of associated risks, as there is evidence that some compounds may avoid detection via inadequate sampling and/or analysis protocols, or through conversion to transformation products. Partitioning of drugs from the water to the solids fraction (sludge/biosolids) may also simply shift the potential risk burden to a different environmental compartment and the review found no information on drug stability and persistence in biosolids. Generally speaking, activated sludge-type processes appear to offer better removal efficacy across a range of substances, but the lack of detail in many studies makes it difficult to comment on the most effective process configurations and operations. There is also a paucity of information on the removal effectiveness of alternative treatment processes. Research is also required on natural removal processes in both water and sediments that may over time facilitate further removal of these compounds in receiving environments.