Demonstrating scale-up of a novel water treatment process using super-bridging agents.

Fiber-based materials have emerged as a promising option to increase the efficiency of water treatment plants while reducing their environmental impacts, notably by reducing the use of unsustainable chemicals and the size of the settling tank. Cellulose fiber-based super-bridging agents are sustainable, reusable, and versatile materials that considerably improve floc separation in conventional settling tanks or via alternative screening separation methods. In this study, the effectiveness of fiber-based materials for wastewater treatment was evaluated at lab-scale (0.25 L) and at pilot-scale (20 L) for two separation methods, namely settling and screening. For the fiber-based method, the performance of floc separation during settling was slightly affected by an 80x upscaling factor. A small decrease in turbidity removal from 93 and 86 % was observed for the jar and pilot tests, respectively. By contrast, the turbidity removal of the conventional treatment, i.e., no fibers with a settling separation, was largely affected by the upscaling with turbidity removals of 84 and 49 % for jar and pilot tests, respectively. Therefore, results are suggesting that fiber-based super-bridging agents could be implemented in full-scale water treatment plants. Moreover, the tested fibers increase the robustness of treatment by providing better floc removal than conventional treatment under several challenging conditions such as low settling time and screening with coarse screen mesh size. Furthermore, at both lab-scale and pilot-scale, the use of fiber-based materials reduced the demand for coagulant and flocculant, potentially lowering the operational costs of water treatment plants and reducing the accumulation of metal-based coagulants and synthetic polymers in sludge. Acute toxicity tests using the model organism Daphnia magna show that the cellulose fibers introduce insignificant toxicity at the optimized fiber concentration. Although dedicated mechanistic studies are required at various scales to understand in detail the influence of fibers on water treatment (coagulation/flocculation time, floc formation, floc size distribution velocity gradient, etc.), the efficacy and scalability of the fiber-based approach, along with its minimal environmental impact, position it as a viable and sustainable option for existing and future wastewater treatment plants.

Effects of weathering on the properties and fate of secondary microplastics from a polystyrene single-use cup.

In this work, we probed the changes to some physicochemical properties of polystyrene microplastics generated from a disposable cup as a result of UV-weathering, using a range of spectroscopy, microscopy, and profilometry techniques. Thereafter, we aimed to understand how these physicochemical changes affect the microplastic transport potential and contaminant sorption ability in model freshwaters. Exposure to UV led to measured changes in microplastic hydrophobicity (20-23 % decrease), density (3% increase), carbonyl index (up to 746 % increase), and microscale roughness (24-86 % increase). The settling velocity of the microplastics increased by 53 % after weathering which suggests that UV aging can increase microplastic deposition to sediments. This impact of aging was greater than the effect of the water temperature. Weathered microplastics exhibited reduced sorption capacity (up to 52 % decrease) to a model hydrophobic contaminant (triclosan) compared to unaged ones. The adsorption of triclosan to both microplastics was slightly reversible with notable desorption hysteresis. These combined effects of weathering could potentially increase the transport potential while decreasing the contaminant transport abilities of microplastics. This work provides new insights on the sorption capacity and mobility of a secondary microplastic, advances our knowledge about their risks in aquatic environments, and the need to use environmentally relevant microplastics.

Fabrication of graphene-based porous materials: traditional and emerging approaches.

The anisotropic nature of 'graphenic' nanosheets enables them to form stable three-dimensional porous materials. The use of these porous structures has been explored in several applications including electronics and batteries, environmental remediation, energy storage, sensors, catalysis, tissue engineering, and many more. As method of fabrication greatly influences the final pore architecture, and chemical and mechanical characteristics and performance of these porous materials, it is essential to identify and address the correlation between property and function. In this review, we report detailed analyses of the different methods of fabricating porous graphene-based structures - with a focus on graphene oxide as the base material - and relate these with the resultant morphologies, mechanical responses, and common applications of use. We discuss the feasibility of the synthesis approaches and relate the GO concentrations used in each methodology against their corresponding pore sizes to identify the areas not explored to date.

Fate of microfibres from single-use face masks: Release to the environment and removal during wastewater treatment.

Single-use face masks can release microfibres upon exposure to environmental conditions. This study investigates the number of microfibres released in the presence and absence of UV irradiation and mechanical friction and the removal of the released microfibres in a simulated conventional wastewater treatment process. UV exposure results in a four-fold increase in the number of microfibres released from new masks and used masks resulting in ~2400 microfibres/mask and ~1100 microfibres/mask, respectively. Application of mechanical friction to the UV-exposed new and used masks further increases the number of released microfibres per mask. In a simulated coagulation/flocculation process, the removals of microfibers originating from new masks and used masks are 79% and 91%, respectively. XPS analysis reveals that the silica content of the used masks is 240% higher than that of new masks, which could explain the higher removal efficiency of microfibers from used masks. FTIR analysis of the masks after UV exposure shows carbonyl indices of 0.73 ± 0.70 and 0.27 ± 0.10 for the microfibres from used and new masks, respectively. Based on available data, we estimate that 4-47 million polypropylene microfibres can be released into natural waters per day after wastewater treatment in an urban environment (for a population of 4300 persons/km2).

Weathering pathways and protocols for environmentally relevant microplastics and nanoplastics: What are we missing?

To date, most studies of microplastics have been carried out with pristine particles. However, most plastics in the environment will be aged to some extent; hence, understanding the effects of weathering and accurately mimicking weathering processes are crucial. By using microplastics that lack environmental relevance, we are unable to fully assess the risks associated with microplastic pollution in the environment. Emerging studies advocate for harmonization of experimental methods, however, the subject of reliable weathering protocols for realistic assessment has not been addressed. In this work, we critically analysed the current knowledge regarding protocols used for generating environmentally relevant microplastics and leachates for effects studies. We present the expected and overlooked weathering pathways that plastics will undergo throughout their lifecycle. International standard weathering protocols developed for polymers were critically analysed for their appropriateness for use in microplastics research. We show that most studies using weathered microplastics involve sorption experiments followed by toxicity assays. The most frequently reported weathered plastic types in the literature are polystyrene>polyethylene>polypropylene>polyvinyl chloride, which does not reflect the global plastic production and plastic types detected globally. Only ~10% of published effect studies have used aged microplastics and of these, only 12 use aged nanoplastics. This highlights the need to embrace the use of environmentally relevant microplastics and to pay critical attention to the appropriateness of the weathering methods adopted moving forward. We advocate for quality reporting of weathering protocols and characterisation for harmonization and reproducibility across different research efforts.

Understanding and Improving Microplastic Removal during Water Treatment: Impact of Coagulation and Flocculation.

The efficacy of plastic particle removal by municipal water treatment plants is currently uncertain, and the mechanisms involved in microplastic (MP) coagulation and flocculation have only been superficially investigated. The removal of pristine versus weathered plastic debris and the impact of plastic particle size on removal remain largely unexplored. In this study, coagulation, flocculation, and settling performances were investigated using pristine and weathered MPs (polyethylene (PE) and polystyrene (PS) microspheres, and polyester (PEST) fibers). Weathering processes that changed the surface chemistry and roughness of MPs impacted MP affinity for coagulants and flocculants. A quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring was used to identify the mechanisms involved during MP coagulation and flocculation. Measured deposition rates confirmed the relatively low affinity between plastic surfaces and aluminum-based coagulants compared to cationic polyacrylamide (PAM). In every case examined, coagulant efficiency increased when the plastic surface was weathered. Removals of 97 and 99% were measured for PEST and weathered PE, respectively. Larger pristine PE MPs were the most resistant to coagulation and flocculation, with 82% removal observed even under enhanced coagulation conditions. By understanding the interaction mechanisms, the removal of weathered MPs was optimized. Finally, this study explored the use of settled water turbidity as a possible indicator of MP removal.

Selection of media for the design of ballasted flocculation processes.

Conventional clarification processes imply specific facility footprints that translate into important capital costs. Ballasted flocculation, consisting of injecting ballast medium to increase floc specific gravity and size, is being increasingly used in the water industry owing to its potential for design with very high superficial velocities. However, no systematic approach has yet been proposed to compare and select an appropriate ballast medium with respect to its specific gravity and size. In order to facilitate this procedure, this research project explores the hypothesis that flocculation performance is controlled by the surface area of the medium available for ballasted flocculation. This hypothesis was tested at laboratory scale by evaluating five ballast media with differing specific gravity and size: granular activated carbon, anthracite, silica sand, ilmenite, and magnetite sand having specific gravities of 1.24, 1.45, 2.62, 3.70, and 5.08, respectively. Flocculation kinetics were monitored by measuring floc size through microscopy and with a camera installed directly on the jar-test beaker. Settling performance was monitored using turbidity measurements. This study shows that all ballast media, when expressed as total surface available during flocculation, required similar surface concentrations to achieve settled water turbidity near 1 NTU and lower. In addition, the effects from the ballast media size and specific gravity were lowered for settling time longer than 3 min. Inversely, for settling time of 12 s, larger and denser media produced lower settled water turbidity. For certain applications, lighter ballast media may be more economical because they offer more available surface area for a given mass concentration, hence reducing the amount of ballast media required in the flocculation tank. Finally, the ballast media point of zero charge and shape were not identified as key criteria for ballasted flocculation.

Dual starch-polyacrylamide polymer system for improved flocculation.

Organic polyelectrolytes such as polyacrylamide (PAM) are commonly used in the water industry to improve flocculation. However, potential adverse health effects may arise from the use of PAM owing to the presence of trace acrylamide monomers in commercial products. Hence, there is growing interest in replacing synthetic polyelectrolytes with natural and sustainable alternatives, which would eliminate risks related to the presence of toxic monomers/impurities and oxidation by-products from the interaction of polymers and common disinfectants such chlorine and ozone. Starch-based flocculants are recognized to offer fairly good flocculation performance, but require higher polymer dosages than conventional high-molecular-weight PAM. To reduce exposure to acrylamide monomers, this study examined the combination of an activated starch-based polymer with PAM to determine whether synergistic effects can be achieved using a dual polymer system. Flocculation performance (floc size, density and rate of aggregation) was monitored using jar tests. Turbidity removal was also assessed to confirm settling performance. Single PAM/starch mixture injection and sequential dual polymer injection were compared in order to simplify practical industrial applications. For the tested samples of surface water and wastewater, jar tests showed that the PAM dosage can be significantly reduced (50-70% for surface water) for both conventional and ballasted flocculation if a dual starch-PAM polymer system is used.

Characterization of ballasted flocs in water treatment using microscopy.

Ballasted flocculation is widely used in the water industry for drinking water, municipal wastewater, storm water and industrial water treatment. This gravity-based physicochemical separation process involves the injection of a ballasting agent, typically microsand, to increase the floc density and size. However, the physical characteristics of the final ballasted flocs are still ill-defined. A microscopic method was specifically developed to characterize floc 1) density, 2) size and 3) shape factor. Using this information, probability density functions (PDFs) of the floc settling velocity were calculated. The impacts of the mixing intensity, polymer dosage, microsand size and contact time during the floc maturation phase were assessed. No correlation was identified between the floc diameter, form and density PDFs. The floc equivalent diameter mainly controls the settling velocity (r = 0.94), with the floc density (r = 0.26) and shape factor (r = 0.25) having lower impacts. A velocity gradient of 165 s(-1) was optimal to maintain the microsand in suspension while simultaneously maximizing the floc diameter. An anionic high molecular weight polyacrylamide formed 1.5-fold larger aggregates compared with the starch-based polymer tested, but both polymers produced flocs of similar density (relative density = 1.53 ± 0.03). Generally, the floc mean settling velocity is a good predictor of the turbidity removal. An in-depth analysis of the floc characteristics indicates a correlation between the floc size and the largest microsand grain potentially embeddable in the floc structure.

Validation of warfarin pharmacogenetic algorithms in clinical practice.

AIM: The goal of this study was to evaluate the performance of four warfarin pharmacogenetic algorithms in a real clinical setting, namely the algorithms of Gage et al., Michaud et al., Wadelius et al. and the International Warfarin Pharmacogenetics Consortium algorithm. PATIENTS & METHODS: Data was obtained retrospectively for 605 patients who had initiated warfarin therapy at the Montreal Heart Institute. Warfarin dosing and International Normalized Ratio history were obtained from hospital charts and CYP2C9 and VKORC1 polymorphisms were genotyped. RESULTS: The four algorithms produced similar accuracy with mean absolute error ranging from 1.36-1.52 mg/day and adjusted R(2) from 40-44%. Gage's algorithm and Wadelius' algorithm predicted the largest proportion of patients within ± 20% of their observed stable warfarin dose. For patients requiring low doses, Gage's algorithm provided the highest proportion of patients within ideal dose range (36.3%), while Wadelius' algorithm performed the best for patients requiring high doses (37.3% of patients within ideal dose range). CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates the value of published pharmacogenetic dosing algorithms for the prediction of warfarin doses, in particular for patients with low or high therapeutic dose requirements.

Truncating mutations in NRXN2 and NRXN1 in autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia.

Growing genetic evidence is converging in favor of common pathogenic mechanisms for autism spectrum disorders (ASD), intellectual disability (ID or mental retardation) and schizophrenia (SCZ), three neurodevelopmental disorders affecting cognition and behavior. Copy number variations and deleterious mutations in synaptic organizing proteins including NRXN1 have been associated with these neurodevelopmental disorders, but no such associations have been reported for NRXN2 or NRXN3. From resequencing the three neurexin genes in individuals affected by ASD (n = 142), SCZ (n = 143) or non-syndromic ID (n = 94), we identified a truncating mutation in NRXN2 in a patient with ASD inherited from a father with severe language delay and family history of SCZ. We also identified a de novo truncating mutation in NRXN1 in a patient with SCZ, and other potential pathogenic ASD mutations. These truncating mutations result in proteins that fail to promote synaptic differentiation in neuron coculture and fail to bind either of the established postsynaptic binding partners LRRTM2 or NLGN2 in cell binding assays. Our findings link NRXN2 disruption to the pathogenesis of ASD for the first time and further strengthen the involvement of NRXN1 in SCZ, supporting the notion of a common genetic mechanism in these disorders.

De novo truncating mutation in Kinesin 17 associated with schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia (SCZ) is one of the most disabling psychiatric disorders. It is thought to be due to a complex interplay between polygenic and various environmental risk factors, although recent reports on genomic copy number variations suggest that a fraction of the cases could result from variably penetrant de novo variants. The gene encoding the synaptic motor protein kinesin 17 (KIF17) involved in glutamatergic synapse is a candidate gene for SCZ. METHODS: As part of our Synapse to Disease project, we resequenced KIF17 in a cohort of individuals with sporadic SCZ (188 subjects). Additional populations included autism spectrum disorder (142 subjects), nonsyndromic mental retardation (95 subjects), and control subjects (568 subjects). Functional validation of the human mutation was done in developing zebrafish. RESULTS: Here we report the identification of a de novo nonsense truncating mutation in one patient with SCZ, in kinesin 17, a synaptic motor protein. No de novo or truncating KIF17 mutations were found in the additional samples. We further validated the pathogenic nature of this mutation by knocking down its expression in zebrafish embryos, which resulted in a developmental defect. CONCLUSIONS: Together our findings suggest that disruption of KIF17, although rare, could result in a schizophrenia phenotype and emphasize the possible involvement of rare de novo mutations in this disorder.

De novo mutations in the gene encoding the synaptic scaffolding protein SHANK3 in patients ascertained for schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia likely results from poorly understood genetic and environmental factors. We studied the gene encoding the synaptic protein SHANK3 in 285 controls and 185 schizophrenia patients with unaffected parents. Two de novo mutations (R1117X and R536W) were identified in two families, one being found in three affected brothers, suggesting germline mosaicism. Zebrafish and rat hippocampal neuron assays revealed behavior and differentiation defects resulting from the R1117X mutant. As mutations in SHANK3 were previously reported in autism, the occurrence of SHANK3 mutations in subjects with a schizophrenia phenotype suggests a molecular genetic link between these two neurodevelopmental disorders.

Human angiomotin-like 1 associates with an angiomotin protein complex through its coiled-coil domain and induces the remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton.

Angiostatin is a potent inhibitor of angiogenesis. One mechanism through which angiostatin inhibits angiogenesis is by binding to the cell surface protein p80-angiomotin. The p80-angiomotin protein promotes angiogenesis, in part, by conferring a hypermigratory phenotype to endothelial cells. Although p80-angiomotin is extensively characterized, less is known about the related protein angiomotin-like 1. We report that angiomotin-like 1 forms part of a protein complex containing p80-angiomotin. Structure-function studies revealed that angiomotin-like 1 associates with this p80-angiomotin-containing complex via its coiled-coil domain. Since p80-angiomotin plays a role in cell migration, a process that involves the remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton, we then addressed the hypothesis that angiomotin-like 1 may interact with the cytoskeleton. Immunofluorescence studies reveal that angiomotin-like 1 not only co-localizes with filamentous actin but also significantly modifies the architecture of the actin cytoskeleton. Regarding migration, angiomotin-like 1 increases the velocity of migration and decreases the persistence of migration directionality. Together these observations strongly suggest that angiomotin-like 1 is involved in actin-cytoskeleton-based processes, in part, via its interaction with a p80-angiomotin-containing complex and the actin cytoskeleton. These findings have important implications for angiogenesis-driven disease since angiomotin and angiomotin-like 1 are both expressed in capillaries.

An external delta-carbonic anhydrase in a free-living marine dinoflagellate may circumvent diffusion-limited carbon acquisition.

The oceans globally constitute an important sink for carbon dioxide (CO(2)) due to phytoplankton photosynthesis. However, the marine environment imposes serious restraints to carbon fixation. First, the equilibrium between CO(2) and bicarbonate (HCO(3)(-)) is pH dependent, and, in normal, slightly alkaline seawater, [CO(2)] is typically low (approximately 10 mum). Second, the rate of CO(2) diffusion in seawater is slow, so, for any cells unable to take up bicarbonate efficiently, photosynthesis could become carbon limited due to depletion of CO(2) from their immediate vicinity. This may be especially problematic for those dinoflagellates using a form II Rubisco because this form is less oxygen tolerant than the usually found form I enzyme. We have identified a carbonic anhydrase (CA) from the free-living marine dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum that appears to play a role in carbon acquisition. This CA shares 60% sequence identity with delta-class CAs, isoforms so far found only in marine algae. Immunoelectron microscopy indicates that this enzyme is associated exclusively with the plasma membrane. Furthermore, this enzyme appears to be exposed to the external medium as determined by whole-cell CA assays and vectorial labeling of cell surface proteins with (125)I. The fixation of (14)CO(2) is strongly pH dependent, suggesting preferential uptake of CO(2) rather than HCO(3)(-), and photosynthetic rates decrease in the presence of 1 mm acetazolamide, a non-membrane-permeable CA inhibitor. This constitutes the first CA identified in the dinoflagellates, and, taken together, our results suggest that this enzyme may help to increase CO(2) availability at the cell surface.

Reassessing the role of a 3'-UTR-binding translational inhibitor in regulation of circadian bioluminescence rhythm in the dinoflagellate Gonyaulax.

The nightly bioluminescence of the dinoflagellate Gonyaulax is a circadian rhythm caused by the presence in cells of specialized bioluminescent organelles, termed scintillons, containing the reaction catalyst luciferase, the substrate luciferin and a luciferin-binding protein (LBP). LBP levels increase at the start of the night phase because of increased protein synthesis rates in vivo, and this regulation has been ascribed to circadian binding of an inhibitory protein factor binding to the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of lbp mRNA at times when LBP is not normally synthesized. To purify and characterize the binding factor, the electrophoretic mobility shift assays and UV crosslinking experiments used to first characterize the factor were repeated. However, neither these protocols nor binding to biotinylated RNA probes confirmed the presence of a specific circadian RNA-binding protein. Furthermore, neither RNA probe screening of a cDNA library expressed in bacteria nor three-hybrid assays in yeast were successful in isolating a cDNA encoding a protein able to bind specifically to the lbp 3'UTR. Taken together, these results suggest that alternative mechanisms for regulating lbp translation should now be examined.