Looking Forward: The Role of Academic Researchers in Building Sustainable Wastewater Surveillance Programs.

Background: In just over 2 years, tracking the COVID-19 pandemic through wastewater surveillance advanced from early reports of successful SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in untreated wastewater to implementation of programs in at least 60 countries. Early wastewater monitoring efforts primarily originated in research laboratories and are now transitioning into more formal surveillance programs run in commercial and public health laboratories. A major challenge in this progression has been to simultaneously optimize methods and build scientific consensus while implementing surveillance programs, particularly during the rapidly changing landscape of the pandemic.

Interlaboratory performance and quantitative PCR data acceptance metrics for NIST SRM® 2917.

Surface water quality quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) technologies are expanding from a subject of research to routine environmental and public health laboratory testing. Readily available, reliable reference material is needed to interpret qPCR measurements, particularly across laboratories. Standard Reference Material® 2917 (NIST SRM® 2917) is a DNA plasmid construct that functions with multiple water quality qPCR assays allowing for estimation of total fecal pollution and identification of key fecal sources.

Assessment of Commonly Measured Wastewater Parameters to Estimate Sewershed Populations for Use in Wastewater-Based Epidemiology: Insights into Population Dynamics in New York City during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Understanding per capita rates of disease incidence or prevalence from wastewater surveillance data requires an estimate of the population contributing to wastewater samples, given that populations in large urban areas are dynamic, especially if major events, such as the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, cause large population shifts. To assess whether commonly measured wastewater parameters can be used to estimate sewershed populations, we used wastewater data collected from New York City's (NYC) 14 wastewater treatment facilities to evaluate the relationship between influent loads of four wastewater parameters-ammonia, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, total suspended solids, and five-day carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand-and census-based population estimates of the corresponding sewersheds during 2019, when populations were assumed to be relatively stable. Ammonia mass load had the most consistent relationship with sewershed population, regardless of wet weather contributions to NYC's predominantly combined sewer system.

Identification of Bisphenol A-Assimilating Microorganisms in Mixed Microbial Communities Using C-DNA Stable Isotope Probing.

A wide range of trace organic contaminants (TOrCs), including the endocrine-disrupting compound bisphenol A (BPA), are subject to microbial transformations during biological wastewater treatment. However, relatively little is known about the identity of organisms capable of assimilating emerging contaminants. Here, C-DNA stable isotope probing (DNA-SIP) was used to investigate biodegradation and assimilation of BPA by mixed microbial communities collected from two full-scale wastewater treatment plant bioreactors in New York City and subsequently enriched under two BPA exposure conditions.

Improved results with diabetic below-knee amputations.

This study of 100 consecutive below-knee amputations in 98 diabetic patients was undertaken to review our results and to compare them with a similar report of 20 years ago. Ninety-three limbs were ischemic, and 79% of the patients had significant infection. This finding was similar to that in our previous study group.

Carotid artery surgery in diabetic patients.

We present a retrospective study of 191 carotid artery operations in which a large population of diabetic patients is compared with a smaller nondiabetic group of patients. Of the patients who were studied, 62.3% were diabetic and 37.

Muscle and liver pyruvate kinases are closely related: amino acid sequence comparisons.

Previous evidence has shown that the M1 and L pyruvate kinase isozymes differ markedly in kinetic and immunological properties, amino acid compositions and peptide maps. However, the amino acid sequence results we present here for the N-terminal region and for a region of the C domain show that the M1 and L isozymes are very similar. The variable length of the N-terminal sequences also explains the difference in regulation by phosphorylation between the M1 and L isozymes.

Women alcoholics--are they different from other women?

Research to date suggests that the woman who becomes alcoholic is conflicted and ambivalent about being a woman. Yet, most of the alcoholism literature is based on men's lives; theories about why women drink are offshoots of theories about male drinking behavior. There have been no studies reported considering alcoholic women from a normal developmental perspective.

The use of arm veins in femoral-popliteal bypass grafts.

In view of the increasing debate as to the best alternative to saphenous vein for femoral popliteal bypass grafts, we present our experience with the use of arm vein grafts. Though there are many anecdotal reports, only one series has been previously published. Arm veins were used when saphenous vein was unavailable in 18 femoral popliteal or femoral tibial bypass grafts.

Noninvasive prediction of amputation level in diabetic patients.

Noninvasive laboratory testing was used to predict successful amputation levels in 150 diabetic patients. The cases of 100 patients undergoing forefoot amputation and 50 patients undergoing below-knee amputation were evaluated using segmental systolic pressures and pulse volume recordings (PVRs). The decision for and the level of amputation were based solely on clinical judgment.

Predicting success of forefoot amputations in diabetics by noninvasive testing.

Sixty-six diabetic patients underwent needed forefoot amputations when clinical assessment indicated a reasonable chance of healing. All patients underwent noninvasive testing consisting of segmental systolic pressure measurements and pulse volume recordings (PVRs) taken at the thigh, calf, ankle, and forefoot levels. Segmental systolic pressures were falsely high (greater than 200 mm Hg) and therefore not useful in 56%.