Equity in wastewater monitoring: Differences in the demographics and social vulnerability of sewered and unsewered populations across North Carolina.

Wastewater monitoring is a valuable public health tool that can track a variety of health markers. The strong correlations between trends in wastewater viral concentrations and county-level COVID-19 case counts point to the ability of wastewater data to represent changes in a community's disease burden. However, studies are lacking on whether the populations sampled through wastewater monitoring represent the characteristics of the broader community and the implications on health equity.

Separating signal from noise in wastewater data: An algorithm to identify community-level COVID-19 surges in real time.

Wastewater monitoring has provided health officials with early warnings for new COVID-19 outbreaks, but to date, no approach has been validated to distinguish signal (sustained surges) from noise (background variability) in wastewater data to alert officials to the need for heightened public health response. We analyzed 62 wk of data from 19 sites participating in the North Carolina Wastewater Monitoring Network to characterize wastewater metrics around the Delta and Omicron surges. We found that wastewater data identified outbreaks 4 to 5 d before case data (reported on the earlier of the symptom start date or test collection date), on average.

Sociodemographic Disparities in Mercury Exposure from United States Coal-Fired Power Plants.

Hazardous air pollutants emitted by United States (U.S) coal-fired power plants have been controlled by the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) since 2012. Sociodemographic disparities in traditional air pollutant exposures from U.

The Utility of Machine Learning Models for Predicting Chemical Contaminants in Drinking Water: Promise, Challenges, and Opportunities.

Purpose Of Review: This review aims to better understand the utility of machine learning algorithms for predicting spatial patterns of contaminants in the United States (U.S.) drinking water.

Lower Intent to Comply with COVID-19 Public Health Recommendations Correlates to Higher Disease Burden in Following 30 Days.

Objectives: We sought to determine whether self-reported intent to comply with public health recommendations correlates with future coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease burden.

Methods: A cross-sectional, online survey of US adults, recruited by snowball sampling, from April 9 to July 12, 2020. Primary measurements were participant survey responses about their intent to comply with public health recommendations.

Developing and testing an automated qualitative assistant (AQUA) to support qualitative analysis.

Qualitative research remains underused, in part due to the time and cost of annotating qualitative data (coding). Artificial intelligence (AI) has been suggested as a means to reduce those burdens, and has been used in exploratory studies to reduce the burden of coding. However, methods to date use AI analytical techniques that lack transparency, potentially limiting acceptance of results.

A Statistical Approach for Identifying Private Wells Susceptible to Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Contamination.

Drinking water concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exceed provisional guidelines for millions of Americans. Data on private well PFAS concentrations are limited in many regions and monitoring initiatives are costly and time-consuming. Here we examine modeling approaches for predicting private wells likely to have detectable PFAS concentrations that could be used to prioritize monitoring initiatives.

Developing a Flexible National Wastewater Surveillance System for COVID-19 and Beyond.

Background: Wastewater testing offers a cost-effective strategy for measuring population disease prevalence and health behaviors. For COVID-19, wastewater surveillance addresses testing gaps and provides an early warning for outbreaks. As U.

Isolating the AFFF Signature in Coastal Watersheds Using Oxidizable PFAS Precursors and Unexplained Organofluorine.

Water supplies for millions of U.S. individuals exceed maximum contaminant levels for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

PFAS Exposure Pathways for Humans and Wildlife: A Synthesis of Current Knowledge and Key Gaps in Understanding.

We synthesize current understanding of the magnitudes and methods for assessing human and wildlife exposures to poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Most human exposure assessments have focused on 2 to 5 legacy PFAS, and wildlife assessments are typically limited to targeted PFAS (up to ~30 substances). However, shifts in chemical production are occurring rapidly, and targeted methods for detecting PFAS have not kept pace with these changes.

Tap Water Contributions to Plasma Concentrations of Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in a Nationwide Prospective Cohort of U.S. Women.

Background: Between 2013 and 2015, concentrations of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in public drinking water supplies serving at least six million individuals exceeded the level set forth in the health advisory established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

A review of the pathways of human exposure to poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and present understanding of health effects.

Here, we review present understanding of sources and trends in human exposure to poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and epidemiologic evidence for impacts on cancer, immune function, metabolic outcomes, and neurodevelopment. More than 4000 PFASs have been manufactured by humans and hundreds have been detected in environmental samples. Direct exposures due to use in products can be quickly phased out by shifts in chemical production but exposures driven by PFAS accumulation in the ocean and marine food chains and contamination of groundwater persist over long timescales.

Shifting Global Exposures to Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) Evident in Longitudinal Birth Cohorts from a Seafood-Consuming Population.

Rapid declines in legacy poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have been reported in human populations globally following changes in production since 2000. However, changes in exposure sources are not well understood. Here, we report serum concentrations of 19 PFASs (∑PFAS) measured in children between 1993 and 2012 from a North Atlantic fishing community (Faroe Islands).

Can profiles of poly- and Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in human serum provide information on major exposure sources?

Background: Humans are exposed to poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) from diverse sources and this has been associated with negative health impacts. Advances in analytical methods have enabled routine detection of more than 15 PFASs in human sera, allowing better profiling of PFAS exposures. The composition of PFASs in human sera reflects the complexity of exposure sources but source identification can be confounded by differences in toxicokinetics affecting uptake, distribution, and elimination.

Temporal Shifts in Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) in North Atlantic Pilot Whales Indicate Large Contribution of Atmospheric Precursors.

Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are persistent, bioaccumulative anthropogenic compounds associated with adverse health impacts on humans and wildlife. PFAS production changed in North America and Europe around the year 2000, but impacts on wildlife appear to vary across species and location. Unlike other mammal species, cetaceans lack the enzyme for transforming an important intermediate precursor (perfluorooctane sulfonamide: FOSA), into a prevalent compound in most wildlife (perfluorooctanesulfonate: PFOS).

Source attribution of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in surface waters from Rhode Island and the New York Metropolitan Area.

Exposure to poly and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) has been associated with adverse health effects in humans and wildlife. Understanding pollution sources is essential for environmental regulation but source attribution for PFASs has been confounded by limited information on industrial releases and rapid changes in chemical production. Here we use principal component analysis (PCA), hierarchical clustering, and geospatial analysis to understand source contributions to 14 PFASs measured across 37 sites in the Northeastern United States in 2014.

Detection of Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) in U.S. Drinking Water Linked to Industrial Sites, Military Fire Training Areas, and Wastewater Treatment Plants.

Drinking water contamination with poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) poses risks to the developmental, immune, metabolic, and endocrine health of consumers. We present a spatial analysis of 2013-2015 national drinking water PFAS concentrations from the U.S.