Comparative assessment of Nanotrap and polyethylene glycol-based virus concentration in wastewater samples.

Wastewater-based epidemiology is now widely used in many countries for the routine monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses at a community level. However, efficient sample processing technologies are still under investigation. In this study, we compared the performance of the novel Nanotrap® Microbiome Particles (NMP) concentration method to the commonly used polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation method for concentrating viruses from wastewater and their subsequent quantification and sequencing.

Near-source passive sampling for monitoring viral outbreaks within a university residential setting.

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has proven to be a powerful tool for the population-level monitoring of pathogens, particularly severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). For assessment, several wastewater sampling regimes and methods of viral concentration have been investigated, mainly targeting SARS-CoV-2. However, the use of passive samplers in near-source environments for a range of viruses in wastewater is still under-investigated.

Diurnal changes in pathogenic and indicator virus concentrations in wastewater.

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been commonly used for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks. As sampling times and methods (i.e.

Wastewater monitoring for detection of public health markers during the COVID-19 pandemic: Near-source monitoring of schools in England over an academic year.

Background: Schools are high-risk settings for infectious disease transmission. Wastewater monitoring for infectious diseases has been used to identify and mitigate outbreaks in many near-source settings during the COVID-19 pandemic, including universities and hospitals but less is known about the technology when applied for school health protection. This study aimed to implement a wastewater surveillance system to detect SARS-CoV-2 and other public health markers from wastewater in schools in England.

Evaluation of variant calling algorithms for wastewater-based epidemiology using mixed populations of SARS-CoV-2 variants in synthetic and wastewater samples.

Wastewater-based epidemiology has been used extensively throughout the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 19) pandemic to detect and monitor the spread and prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) and its variants. It has proven an excellent, complementary tool to clinical sequencing, supporting the insights gained and helping to make informed public-health decisions. Consequently, many groups globally have developed bioinformatics pipelines to analyse sequencing data from wastewater.

Wastewater-based monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 at UK airports and its potential role in international public health surveillance.

It is well established that air travel plays a key role in the global spread of many enteric and respiratory diseases, including COVID-19. Even with travel restrictions (e.g.

A spatio-temporal framework for modelling wastewater concentration during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The potential utility of wastewater-based epidemiology as an early warning tool has been explored widely across the globe during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Methods to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater were developed early in the pandemic, and extensive work has been conducted to evaluate the relationship between viral concentration and COVID-19 case numbers at the catchment areas of sewage treatment works (STWs) over time. However, no attempt has been made to develop a model that predicts wastewater concentration at fine spatio-temporal resolutions covering an entire country, a necessary step towards using wastewater monitoring for the early detection of local outbreaks.

Rapid Assessment of SARS-CoV-2 Variant-Associated Mutations in Wastewater Using Real-Time RT-PCR.

Within months of the COVID-19 pandemic being declared on March 20, 2020, novel, more infectious variants of SARS-CoV-2 began to be detected in geospatially distinct regions of the world. With international travel being a lead cause of spread of the disease, the importance of rapidly identifying variants entering a country is critical. In this study, we utilized wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) to monitor the presence of variants in wastewater generated in managed COVID-19 quarantine facilities for international air passengers entering the United Kingdom.

Establishment of local wastewater-based surveillance programmes in response to the spread and infection of COVID-19 - case studies from South Africa, the Netherlands, Turkey and England.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in over 340 million infection cases (as of 21 January 2022) and more than 5.57 million deaths globally. In reaction, science, technology and innovation communities across the globe have organised themselves to contribute to national responses to COVID-19 disease.

Suitability of aircraft wastewater for pathogen detection and public health surveillance.

International air travel is now widely recognised as one of the primary mechanisms responsible for the transnational movement and global spread of SARS-CoV-2. Monitoring the viral load and novel lineages within human-derived wastewater collected from aircraft and at air transport hubs has been proposed as an effective way to monitor the importation frequency of viral pathogens. The success of this approach, however, is highly dependent on the bathroom and defecation habits of air passengers during their journey.

Research needs for optimising wastewater-based epidemiology monitoring for public health protection.

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is an unobtrusive method used to observe patterns in illicit drug use, poliovirus, and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). The pandemic and need for surveillance measures have led to the rapid acceleration of WBE research and development globally. With the infrastructure available to monitor SARS-CoV-2 from wastewater in 58 countries globally, there is potential to expand targets and applications for public health protection, such as other viral pathogens, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), pharmaceutical consumption, or exposure to chemical pollutants.

Comparative Assessment of Filtration- and Precipitation-Based Methods for the Concentration of SARS-CoV-2 and Other Viruses from Wastewater.

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been widely used to track levels of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the rapid expansion of WBE, many methods have been used and developed for virus concentration and detection in wastewater. However, very little information is available on the relative performance of these approaches.

An analysis of 45 large-scale wastewater sites in England to estimate SARS-CoV-2 community prevalence.

Accurate surveillance of the COVID-19 pandemic can be weakened by under-reporting of cases, particularly due to asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic infections, resulting in bias. Quantification of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater can be used to infer infection prevalence, but uncertainty in sensitivity and considerable variability has meant that accurate measurement remains elusive. Here, we use data from 45 sewage sites in England, covering 31% of the population, and estimate SARS-CoV-2 prevalence to within 1.

Monitoring occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 in school populations: A wastewater-based approach.

Clinical testing of children in schools is challenging, with economic implications limiting its frequent use as a monitoring tool of the risks assumed by children and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, a wastewater-based epidemiology approach has been used to monitor 16 schools (10 primary, 5 secondary and 1 post-16 and further education) in England. A total of 296 samples over 9 weeks have been analysed for N1 and E genes using qPCR methods.

Understanding and managing uncertainty and variability for wastewater monitoring beyond the pandemic: Lessons learned from the United Kingdom national COVID-19 surveillance programmes.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put unprecedented pressure on public health resources around the world. From adversity, opportunities have arisen to measure the state and dynamics of human disease at a scale not seen before. In the United Kingdom, the evidence that wastewater could be used to monitor the SARS-CoV-2 virus prompted the development of National wastewater surveillance programmes.

Building knowledge of university campus population dynamics to enhance near-to-source sewage surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 detection.

Wastewater surveillance has been widely implemented for monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 during the global COVID-19 pandemic, and near-to-source monitoring is of particular interest for outbreak management in discrete populations. However, variation in population size poses a challenge to the triggering of public health interventions using wastewater SARS-CoV-2 concentrations. This is especially important for near-to-source sites that are subject to significant daily variability in upstream populations.

Physiological and Behavioral Responses to Vocalization Playback in Mice.

In mice, the caller's production of social vocalizations has been extensively studied but the effect of these vocalizations on the listener is less understood, with playback studies to date utilizing one vocalization category or listeners of one sex. This study examines how several categories of mouse vocalizations affect listeners of both sexes to better understand the communicative functions of these vocal categories. We examined physiological and behavioral responses of male and female CBA/CaJ mice to playback of four social vocalization categories: ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), low-frequency harmonic calls, mid-frequency vocalizations, and noisy calls.

Moving towards a Network of Autonomous UAS Atmospheric Profiling Stations for Observations in the Earth's Lower Atmosphere: The 3D Mesonet Concept.

The deployment of small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to collect routine in situ vertical profiles of the thermodynamic and kinematic state of the atmosphere in conjunction with other weather observations could significantly improve weather forecasting skill and resolution. High-resolution vertical measurements of pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed and wind direction are critical to the understanding of atmospheric boundary layer processes integral to air-surface (land, ocean and sea ice) exchanges of energy, momentum, and moisture; how these are affected by climate variability; and how they impact weather forecasts and air quality simulations. We explore the potential value of collecting coordinated atmospheric profiles at fixed surface observing sites at designated times using instrumented UAS.

Communication calls produced by electrical stimulation of four structures in the guinea pig brain.

One of the main central processes affecting the cortical representation of conspecific vocalizations is the collateral output from the extended motor system for call generation. Before starting to study this interaction we sought to compare the characteristics of calls produced by stimulating four different parts of the brain in guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus). By using anaesthetised animals we were able to reposition electrodes without distressing the animals.

Prenatal stress changes courtship vocalizations and bone mineral density in mice.

Stress during the prenatal period has various effects on social and sexual behavior in both human and animal offspring. The present study examines the effects of chronic restraint stress in the second vs third trimester in pregnancy and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) heterozygous mutation on C57BL/6N male offspring's vocal courtship behavior in adulthood by applying a novel analyzing method. Finally, corticosterone and testosterone levels as well as bone mineral density were measured.

Contextual Modulation of Vocal Behavior in Mouse: Newly Identified 12 kHz "Mid-Frequency" Vocalization Emitted during Restraint.

While several studies have investigated mouse ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) emitted by isolated pups or by males in mating contexts, studies of behavioral contexts other than mating and vocalization categories other than USVs have been limited. By improving our understanding of the vocalizations emitted by mice across behavioral contexts, we will better understand the natural vocal behavior of mice and better interpret vocalizations from mouse models of disease. Hypothesizing that mouse vocal behavior would differ depending on behavioral context, we recorded vocalizations from male CBA/CaJ mice across three behavioral contexts including mating, isolation, and restraint.