Seven-years of alcohol consumption in Australia by wastewater analysis: Exploring patterns by remoteness and socioeconomic factors.

Background: Wastewater analysis provides a complementary measure of alcohol use in whole communities. We assessed absolute differences and temporal trends in alcohol consumption by degree of remoteness and socioeconomics indicators in Australia from 2016 to 2023.

Methods: Alcohol consumption estimates from 50 wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) in the Australian National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program were used.

Workflow to facilitate the detection of new psychoactive substances and drugs of abuse in influent urban wastewater.

The complexity around the dynamic markets for new psychoactive substances (NPS) forces researchers to develop and apply innovative analytical strategies to detect and identify them in influent urban wastewater. In this work a comprehensive suspect screening workflow following liquid chromatography - high resolution mass spectrometry analysis was established utilising the open-source InSpectra data processing platform and the HighResNPS library. In total, 278 urban influent wastewater samples from 47 sites in 16 countries were collected to investigate the presence of NPS and other drugs of abuse.

Monitoring the use of novel psychoactive substances in Australia by wastewater-based epidemiology.

Users of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) are at risk, due to limited information about the toxicity and unpredictable effects of these compounds. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been used as a tool to provide insight into NPS use at the population level. To understand the preferences and trends of NPS use in Australia, this study involved liquid chromatography mass spectrometry analysis of wastewater collected from Australian states and territories from February 2022 to February 2023.

Amphetamine-type drug-related fatalities in the context of 8 years of methamphetamine use measured by wastewater analysis in South Australia.

Methamphetamine is the illicit stimulant of choice in Australia. Countless initiatives have been employed to reduce methamphetamine use and drug-related harm. Wastewater analysis (WWA) has been used effectively as an objective measure of drug use at a population level and can be compared to indicators of harm, such as the number of drug-related fatalities.

Using wastewater-based epidemiology to evaluate the relative scale of use of opioids.

Wastewater analysis (WWA) has been used as a tool to monitor population drug use, both pharmaceutical and illicit, for over 15 years. Policymakers, law enforcement and treatment services may use WWA-derived data to seek an objective understanding of the extent of drug use in specific areas. Therefore, wastewater data should best be reported in a meaningful form to allow those that are not experts in the field to compare the scale within and between drug classes.

Three years of wastewater surveillance for new psychoactive substances from 16 countries.

The proliferation of new psychoactive substances (NPS) over recent years has made their surveillance complex. The analysis of raw municipal influent wastewater can allow a broader insight into community consumption patterns of NPS. This study examines data from an international wastewater surveillance program that collected and analysed influent wastewater samples from up to 47 sites in 16 countries between 2019 and 2022.

A method for improved detection of 8-isoprostaglandin F and benzodiazepines in wastewater.

Wastewater-based epidemiology is a tool incorporating biomarker analysis that can be used to monitor the health status of a population. Indicators of health include endogenous oxidative stress biomarkers and hormones, or exogenous such as alcohol and nicotine. 8-Iso-prostaglandin F is a biomarker of endogenous metabolism that can be used to measure oxidative stress in a community.

Methcathinone in wastewater: Drug of choice, or artefact?

Methcathinone is a prevalent Novel Psychoactive Substance (NPS) used illicitly in some countries. Routine analysis of wastewater sampled from catchments in South Australia has shown a consistent low-level presence of the compound, inconsistent with NPS use. This raised the question was the occurrence due to regular use as a drug of choice or was it an artefact being produced from other sources in the sewer system? NPS consumption is generally sporadic and would therefore point to the origin of methcathinone in wastewater being due to in-sewer oxidation of its legal precursor, pseudoephedrine.

Genotoxicity of advanced glycation end products in vitro is influenced by their preparation temperature, purification and cell exposure time.

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are formed via non-enzymatic reactions between amino groups of proteins and the carbonyl groups of reducing sugars. Previous studies have shown that highly glycated albumin prepared using a glucose-bovine serum albumin (Glu-BSA) model system incubated at 60°C for 6 weeks induces genotoxicity in WIL2-NS cells at 9 days of exposure measured by the cytokinesis-block micronucleus cytome (CBMNcyt) assay. However, this AGE model system is not physiologically relevant as normal body temperature is 37°C and the degree of glycation may exceed the extent of albumin modification in vivo.

Can a digital slide scanner and viewing technique assist the visual scoring for the cytokinesis-block micronucleus cytome assay?

The cytokinesis-block micronucleus cytome (CBMNcyt) assay is a comprehensive method to measure DNA damage, cytostasis and cytotoxicity caused by nutritional, radiation and chemical factors. A slide imaging technique has been identified as a new method to assist with the visual scoring of cells for the CBMNcyt assay. A NanoZoomer S60 Digital Pathology slide scanner was used to view WIL2-NS cells treated with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and measure CBMNcyt assay biomarkers using a high-definition desktop computer screen.

Advanced glycation end-products accelerate telomere attrition and increase pro-inflammatory mediators in human WIL2-NS cells.

This study investigated the effect of dietary sugars and advanced glycation end-products (AGE) on telomere dynamics in WIL2-NS cells. Dietary sugars [glucose (Glu) and fructose (Fru); 0.1 M each] were incubated with bovine serum albumin (BSA) (10 mg/ml) at 60 ± 1°C for 6 weeks to generate AGE-BSA.

Dietary sugars and related endogenous advanced glycation end-products increase chromosomal DNA damage in WIL2-NS cells, measured using cytokinesis-block micronucleus cytome assay.

This study investigated the effect of glucose and fructose, and advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) on genome damage in WIL2-NS cells, measured using the cytokinesis-block micronucleus cytome (CBMN-Cyt) assay. The effect of AGEs was investigated using the bovine serum albumin (AGE-BSA) model system induced either with glucose (Glu-BSA) or with fructose (Fru-BSA). Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis showed higher Nε-carboxymethyllysine (CML; 26.