scholarly journals Phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5) Inhibitors as Emergent Environmental Contaminants: Advanced Remediation and Analytical Methods

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 2859
Author(s):  
Giuliana Bianco ◽  
Luca Foti ◽  
Raffaella Pascale ◽  
Filomena Lelario ◽  
Donatella Coviello ◽  
...  

Pharmaceuticals, fundamental in therapy and the prevention of known pathologies, are responsible for environmental pollution. These substances, called “emerging contaminants,” are harmful to human health because they enter the environment in quantities exceeding the natural self-capacity purification of the ecosystems. Furthermore, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) cannot remove these substances, which can undergo chemical/biological transformations in the environment, thus forming by-products, sometimes more toxic than the parent molecules; successively, they move into rivers and could reach the drinking water supplies. All these phenomena represent a severe public health problem. Therefore, the Water Framework Directive by European Union imposed the monitoring of drugs’ levels in aqueous matrices. Every two years, the EU carefully updates the list of potential water pollutants, called the Watch List, including pharmaceuticals, to evaluate their risk on the aquatic environment. The last Commission Implementing Decision (EU 2018/840) comprises several substances of primary concern. In addition, the scientific community is giving particular attention to other pharmaceuticals not yet on the Watch list, whose markets are in growth; particularly, the Phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE-5) inhibitors used for the pharmaceutical treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED) in men. This review discusses the presence of PDE-5 inhibitors in environmental systems, their toxic effects, the different kinds of removal, and the analytical methods normally adopted for their detection. In addition, the study helps figure out the best possible strategy to tackle pharmaceutical pollution by using analytical and advanced diagnostic methods.

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrique Gracia ◽  
Marisol Lila ◽  
Faraj A. Santirso

Abstract. Attitudes toward intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) are increasingly recognized as central to understanding of this major social and public health problem, and guide the development of more effective prevention efforts. However, to date this area of research is underdeveloped in western societies, and in particular in the EU. The present study aims to provide a systematic review of quantitative studies addressing attitudes toward IPVAW conducted in the EU. The review was conducted through Web of Science, PsychINFO, Medline, EMBASE, PUBMED, and the Cochrane Library, in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) recommendations. This review aimed to identify empirical studies conducted in the EU, published in English in peer-reviewed journals from 2000 to 2018, and analyzing attitudes toward IPVAW. A total of 62 of 176 eligible articles were selected according to inclusion criteria. Four sets of attitudes toward IPVAW were identified as the main focus of the studies: legitimation, acceptability, attitudes toward intervention, and perceived severity. Four main research themes regarding attitudes toward IPVAW emerged: correlates of attitudes, attitudes as predictors, validation of scales, and attitude change interventions. Although interest in this research area has been growing in recent years, the systematic review revealed important gaps in current knowledge on attitudes toward IPVAW in the EU that limits its potential to inform public policy. The review outlines directions for future study and suggests that to better inform policy making, these future research efforts would benefit from an EU-level perspective.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 1393
Author(s):  
Franciane de Almeida Brehm Goulart ◽  
Gabriela Reichert ◽  
Tais Cristina Felippe ◽  
Alinne Mizukawa ◽  
Jhonatas Antonelli ◽  
...  

In urban areas, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) play a major role in the water quality of rivers. The removal efficiency of emerging contaminants by WWTPs is strongly correlated with the type of treatment and the hydraulic retention time (HRT) of the process, which can vary according to the volumetric influent flow of wastewater and occasional peak flows. This paper aims, for the first time, to assess the daily variation of lipid regulators and personal care products in an urban river impacted by domestic effluents. Samples were collected upstream and downstream of a WWTP. The concentrations downstream of the effluent discharge were higher than upstream, but they varied significantly during the day. Concentration peaks upstream of the WWTP were detected at 07:00, 15:00 and 21:00, while downstream of the effluent discharge, concentration peaks occurred between 13:00 and 19:00 and between 21:00 and 23:00. The highest downstream concentrations of triclosan and methylparaben (420 ng L−1 and 460 ng L−1) were 6.8 and 5.4 times higher than the lowest concentrations detected, respectively. These results show that in WWTP-impacted rivers, the time of the sampling has a great influence on the final results and conclusions of a monitoring study.


1996 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 119-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen C. Chao ◽  
Sergio J. de Luca ◽  
Carlos N. Idle

Studies concerning the treatment, stabilization and final disposal of biosolids, one of the by-products of wastewater treatment, in environmental recovery, have been intensified by the sanitary and environmental effects of land disposal. The careful assessment of biosolid quality shows that, when appropriately managed, the environmental risks of their uses can be minimized by chemical stabilization, and biosolids could even be used as fertilizer and soil conditioner. A research study of biosolid stabilization was performed using lime as a standard process compared to potassium ferrate (VI). The chances of leaching and solubilization of metals were tested, simulating conditions for disposal in the environment. The sanitary effectiveness in terms of pathogens (bacteria, fungi and helminth eggs) were also evaluated. Experiments were performed on the lime and ferrate(VI) treatment of compounds such as ammonia, nitrate, soluble sulphides, and total sulphates, indicators of odouriferous offensive compounds which might occasionally prevent some uses of the solids, and the results are presented in this paper. Wastewater Treatment Plants emit offensive odours generated during the sewage treatment process, as well as during the treatment and the management of biosolids. This occurs in the drying beds and the spreading of biosolids on land, due to the high concentrations of sulphur compounds, nitrogen compounds, acids and organic compounds (aldehydes and ketones). The potassium ferrate(VI) utilized in the research is a powerful oxidizing agent throughout the pH scale, with the advantage of not generating by-products which will cause toxicity or mutagenicity (DE LUCA, 1981). The ion ferrate(VI) has greater oxidizing power than permanganate, e.g., it oxidizes reduced sulfur forms to sulphate, ammonia to nitrate, hypochlorite to chlorite and chlorite to chlorate(DE LUCA et al., 1992; CHAO et al., 1992). This paper shows that, as expected, the potassium ferrate (VI) treatment replaces several chemical products utilized for odour control of sludges, mainly aggressive odours caused by ammonia and sulphides, through the formation of precipitates with iron compounds. Ferrate (VI) has often been shown to destroy soluble sulphides, transforming them into sulphate. The generation of oxygen in the decomposition of ferrate(VI) increases its oxidizing power. Ferrate(VI) applied to sludges also has the double effect of transforming ammonia into nitrates, such that this product takes the place of sulphates, acting as an electron acceptor, thus preventing the development of further odours when biosolids are utilized.


2014 ◽  
Vol 608 ◽  
pp. 62-67
Author(s):  
Karin Kandananond

Although the manufacturing businesses have played an important role in generating the highest GDP for Thailand, they also emit more greenhouse gas (GHG) than other sectors. Due to the cap and trade scheme by European Union (EU), the carbon footprint is the GHG emitted by products, organization or persons and it has to be tracked and recorded. Since the ceramic production process also has a major contribution on the emission, its carbon footprint is a piece of product information which cannot be ignored. In this research, the carbon footprint for the whole life cycle of a local ceramic product was recorded and calculated. It is interesting to note that the resource extraction stage has contributed to the highest emission followed by the product use, manufacturing, disposal and distribution. The results from this research are useful for local ceramic manufacturers who want to export their products to the EU countries and it is also important for the customers who are concerned about the environment.


2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-118

The formation of Disinfection By-Products (DBPs) in drinking water results from the reaction of chlorine or other disinfectants added to the water with naturally occurring organic materials, and has raised concerns during the last decades because these compounds are harmful for human health. During the present work, the formation of different categories of DBPs was investigated in four water treatment plants (WTP) using chlorine as disinfectant, and in selected points of the distribution network of Athens, Greece, which is supplied from these four WTP, during a period of ten years. The concentrations of DBPs were generally low and the annual mean concentrations always well below the regulatory limit of the European Union (EU) for the total trihalomethanes (TTHMs). The haloacetic acids (HAAs) have not been regulated in the EU, but during this investigation they often occurred in significant levels, sometimes exceeding the levels of TTHMs, which highlights the importance of their monitoring in drinking water. Apart from THMs and HAAs, several other DBPs species were detected at much lower concentrations in the chlorinated waters: chloral hydrate, haloketones and, in a limited number of cases, haloacetonitriles.


Talanta ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 192 ◽  
pp. 508-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Martín-Pozo ◽  
Blanca de Alarcón-Gómez ◽  
Rocío Rodríguez-Gómez ◽  
María Teresa García-Córcoles ◽  
Morsina Çipa ◽  
...  

2004 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Rio ◽  
C. Faur-Brasquet ◽  
L. Le Coq ◽  
D. Lecomte ◽  
P. Le Cloirec

Sewage sludges produced from wastewater treatment plants continue to create environmental problems in terms of volume and method of valorization. Thermal treatment of sewage sludge is considered as an attractive method in reducing sludge volume which at the same time produces reusable by-products. This paper deals with the first step of activated carbon production from sewage sludge, the carbonization step. Experiments are carried out on viscous liquid sludge and limed sludge by varying carbonization temperature and heating rate. The results show that carbonized residue properties are interesting for activated carbon production.


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