Whole-sediment toxicity identification and evaluation (WS-TIE) is a relatively new approach for assessing the cause of toxic effects to benthic organisms in sediments. Akin to aqueous TIE methods, the premise of the WS-TIE method is that the chemical toxicant(s) responsible for observed effects can be identified through a series of treatments that are designed to reduce the bioavailability and,...

6 High sensitivity methods such as next generation sequencing and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are adversely impacted by organismal and DNA contaminants. Current methods for detecting contaminants in microbial materials (genomic DNA and cultures) are not sensitive enough and require either a known or culturable contaminant. Therefore, high sensitivity methods not requiring a priori assumptio...

Microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP), an emerging technology for soil improvement, also may be used to sequester (biomineralize) radionuclides and metal contaminants (e.g., 90 Sr 2+ , Cd 2+ ) in groundwater, a significant problem at some U.S. Department of Energy sites. Previous work using the bacterium Bacillus pasteurii suggests that in-situ sequestration of these contaminants c...

There are many potential sources of chemical constituents and contaminants in water that can reach drinking water. Not all substances will be present in any particular water. Some substances may be of benefit to health but others can be a threat. However, very few have been clearly shown to cause adverse health effects in humans through drinking water and evidence may be complicated by simult...

The US EPA and state regulatory agencies are developing sediment quality criteria and standards for the protection of water quality from sediment-associated contaminants. Many of the approaches being pursued rely in whole or substantive part on the bulk concentrations of selected chemical contaminants in the sediment as a basis for determining those sediments sufficiently contaminated to warran...

A nanoscale sensing modality for detection of bacterial contaminants was developed. The modality uses fluorescent nanoparticles, also known as “Quantum dots” (QDs) conjugated to fragmented antibodies of targeted contaminants, and a quenching dye that labels an antigen surrogate. Coupling of the QD-labeled fragmented antibody and the quencher-labeled antigen allows sufficient fluorescent resonan...

We have investigated the specificity of the fluorometric method we proposed [C/in. Chem. 19, 710 (1973)] for plasma or serum li-hydroxycorticosteroid determinations. The principal specific fluorogenic contaminants in the cortisol-containing extract of plasma, as detected by thin-layer chromatography and chemically, were triglycerides and total cholesterol. These contaminants contributed an aver...

It is hypothesized that, within Bose-Einstein condensates, contaminants will form a potential that effects the energy state of a condensate. While assuming a system governed by the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, contaminants are modelled as boundary conditions for the wave function of the condensate. It is then found that the energy of the system depends directly upon the distance between contamina...

Where Do We Go from Here? Given the number of chemicals in the environment and people's variability in exposure and susceptibility to harm, it's a daunting challenge to catalog all possible drinking water contaminants and assess their associated health risks. But after reviewing the state of the science and the data gaps surrounding drinking water contaminants , a team of authors presents in th...

Increasing the degradation of groundwater quality in Oman by salinization and chemical contaminants threaten primary sources of drinking water, especially in the coastal agricultural areas. This work elaborates the quality deterioration of groundwater due to chemical contaminants. First, we describe the development and application of Dynamic Bayesian Networks (DBNs) to determine the impact of t...