Publications by authors named "Adrian Hinkle"
Article Synopsis
- Wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 RNA can enhance COVID-19 response by correlating viral loads in wastewater with clinical case data, but challenges remain in accurately interpreting the data due to various external factors.
- *The study analyzed SARS-CoV-2 concentrations in wastewater from multiple locations and found a strong detection rate linked to local COVID-19 case counts, particularly when rates exceeded 2.4 cases per 100,000 people.
- *Normalization using crAssphage showed less variability and maintained a significant correlation with clinical data, but ultimately no method improved overall interpretation; the timing of wastewater sampling was crucial for aligning trends with clinical reporting.*
Article Synopsis
- * The newly developed kit-free method called "4S" uses simple and inexpensive materials (sodium chloride, ethanol, and silica) and can recover six times more SARS-CoV-2 RNA than traditional methods.
- * The 4S method also successfully captures other viral controls and maintains RNA stability during storage, allowing for efficient processing of samples and contributing to more effective monitoring of COVID-19 prevalence.
Article Synopsis
- Viral genome sequencing has enhanced our understanding of SARS-CoV-2's genetic diversity and spread during the COVID-19 pandemic, traditionally done through patient nasopharyngeal swabs.
- Recent advancements include using RT-qPCR on municipal wastewater to measure SARS-CoV-2 levels and metatranscriptomic sequencing to analyze viral diversity in communities.
- In the San Francisco Bay Area, sequencing sewage samples revealed SARS-CoV-2 genotypes matching local clinical samples, showing wastewater analysis can detect new viral variants earlier than traditional clinical methods.
Article Synopsis
- - Wastewater-based epidemiology is used to track COVID-19 by measuring SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater, but current extraction methods need improvement to be faster and more cost-effective.
- - The new "4S" method uses simple and inexpensive ingredients (sodium chloride, ethanol, silica) to extract six times more SARS-CoV-2 RNA compared to older methods, while also detecting other viruses for control.
- - The 4S method is quick (about 3 hours), helps prevent RNA degradation, and aligns with COVID-19 infection data from clinical tests, making it a valuable tool in monitoring the pandemic efficiently and affordably.
Increasing recognition that abiotic natural attenuation (NA) of chlorinated solvents can be important has created demand for improved methods to characterize the redox properties of the aquifer materials that are responsible for abiotic NA. This study explores one promising approach: using chemical reactivity probes (CRPs) to characterize the thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of contaminant reduction by reducing iron minerals. Assays of thermodynamic CRPs were developed to determine the reduction potentials (ECRP) of suspended minerals by spectrophotometric determination of equilibrium CRP speciation and calculations using the Nernst equation.
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