Percorrer por autor "Meijer, Wim"
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- Desenvolvimento de Ferramentas Analíticas para o Rastreamento de Fontes Fecais: Acção-piloto 3 do Projecto ICREW : sumário executivoPublication . Gawler, Andrew; Brandão, João; Carroll, Nora; Falcão, Leonor; Masterson, Bartholomew; Nunes, Baltazar; Rincé, Alain; Gourmelon, Michele; Rodrigues, Raquel; Thorp, Martin; Walters, Martin; Meijer, WimA Agência Ambiental de Inglaterra e País de Gales assegurou o financiamento EU INTERREG IIIB de um projecto denominado ‘ICREW’ – Melhorar as Águas Costeiras e Recreativas. Pretendia-se com o projecto ajudar cinco estados-membro da UE – Reino Unido, Irlanda, França, Portugal e Espanha – a melhorar a qualidade das referidas águas e preparar a implementação de nova legislação da UE respeitante às mesmas. O projecto ICREW foi avaliado em aproximadamente €8m. e era composto por sete projectos, ou “acções piloto”. O projecto ICREW decorreu entre Abril de 2003 e Abril 2006. Uma dessas acções piloto, Acção Piloto 3, que envolvia parceiros da Irlanda, França, Portugal e RU, abordou o tema do rastreamento da fonte microbial da poluição fecal, do ponto de vista regulamentar. O seu objectivo foi “gerar uma ferramenta de trabalho que pode ser usada para distinguir as fontes de poluição que contribuem para uma amostra ambiental”.
- Knowledge and regulation on fungal contamination of sand and water: progress report and perspectivesPublication . Gangneux, Jean-Pierre; Brandão, João; Segal, Ester; Arikan-Akdagli, Sevtap; Barac, Aleksandra; Bertout, Sébastien; Bostanaru, Andra-Cristina; Brito, Sara; Bull, Michelle; Çerikçioğlu, Nilgün; Chapman, Belinda; Delhaes, Laurence; Efstratiou, Maria; Ergin, Çagri; Frenkel, Michael; Guerra, Alexis Danielle; Gitto, Aurora; Gonçalves, Cláudia Isabel; Guegan, Hélène; Gunde-Cimerman, Nina; Güran, Mümtaz; Irinyi, Laszlo; Jiang, Sunny; Jonikaitė, Egle; Jozić, Slaven; Kataržytė, Marija; Klingspor, Lena; Mares, Mihai; Meijer, Wim; Melchers, Willem; Meletiadis, Joseph; Meyer, Wieland; Nastasa, Valentin; Novak-Babič, Monika; Ogunc, Dilara; Ozhak, Betil; Prigitano, Anna; Ranque, Stéphane; Richardson, Malcolm; Roger, Frédéric; Rusu, Raluca-Oana; Sabino, Raquel; Sampaio, Ana; Silva, Susana; Solo-gabriele, Helena; Stephens, Jayne; Tehupeiory-Kooreman, Marlou; Tortorano, Anna-Maria; Velegraki, Aristea; Veríssimo, Cristina; Vukić Lušić, Darija; Wunderlich, GeorgoaFungal flora in coastal/inland beach sand and recreational water is a neglected field of study, despite its potential impact on human health. A joint International Society for Human and Animal Mycology/European Confederation for Medical Mycology (ISHAM/ECMM) working group was formed in 2019 with the task to set up a vast international initiative aimed at studying the fungal contamination of beaches and bathing waters. Here we review the importance of the topic, and list the main results and achievements from 12 scientific publications. Fungal contamination exists at different levels, and the genera most frequently found were Aspergillus spp., Candida spp., Fusarium spp., and Cryptococcus spp., both in sand and in water. A site-blind median was found to be 89 colony-forming units of fungi per gram of sand in coastal/inland freshwaters. This threshold has been used for the sand quality criterion of the blue flag in Portugal. Additionally, our data were considered pivotal and therefore used for the first inclusion of fungi as a biological taxon of interest in water quality and sand monitoring recommendations of the World Health Organization's new guidelines on recreational water quality (Vol.1-Chap7). The findings of the consortium also suggest how environmental conditions (climate, salinity, soil pH, nitrogen, etc.) influence microbial communities in different regions, and that yeast species like Candida glabrata, Clavispora lusitaniae, and Meyerozyma guilliermondii have been identified as potential fungal indicators of fecal contamination. Climate change and natural disasters may affect fungal populations in different environments, and because this is still a field of study under exploration, we also propose to depict the future challenges of research and unmet needs.
- Minimizing Errors in RT-PCR Detection and Quantification of SARS-CoV-2 RNA for Wastewater SurveillancePublication . Ahmed, Warish; Simpson, Stuart; Bertsch, Paul; Bibby, Kyle; Bivins, Aaron; Blackall, Linda; Bofill-Mas, Silvia; Bosch, Albert; Brandao, Joao; Choi, Phil; Ciesielski, Mark; Donner, Erica; D'Souza, Nishita; Farnleitner, Andreas; Gerrity, Daniel; Gonzalez, Raul; Griffith, John; Gyawali, Pradip; Haas, Charles; Hamilton, Kerry; Hapuarachchi, Chanditha; Harwood, Valerie; Haque, Rehnuma; Jackson, Greg; Khan, Stuart; Khan, Wesaal; Kitajima, Masaaki; Korajkic, Asja; La Rosa, Giuseppina; Layton, Blythe; Lipp, Erin; McLellan, Sandra; McMinn, Brian; Medema, Gertjan; Metcalfe, Suzanne; Meijer, Wim; Mueller, Jochen; Murphy, Heather; Naughton, Colleen; Noble, Rachel; Payyappat, Sudhi; Petterson, Susan; Pitkanen, Tarja; Rajal, Veronica; Reyneke, Brandon; Roman, Fernando; Rose, Joan; Rusinol, Marta; Sadowsky, Michael; Sala-Comorera, Laura; Setoh, Yin Xiang; Sherchan, Samendra; Sirikanchana, Kwanrawee; Smith, Wendy; Steele, Joshua; Sabburg, Rosalie; Symonds, Erin; Thai, Phong; Thomas, Kevin; Tynan, Josh; Toze, Simon; Thompson, Janelle; Whiteley, Andy; Wong, Judith; Sano, Daisuke; Wuertz, Stefan; Xagoraraki, Irene; Zhang, Qian; Zimmer-Faust, Amity; Shanks, OrinWastewater surveillance for pathogens using the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is an effective, resource-efficient tool for gathering additional community-level public health information, including the incidence and/or prevalence and trends of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater may provide an early-warning signal of COVID-19 infections in a community. The capacity of the world’s environmental microbiology and virology laboratories for SARS-CoV-2 RNA characterization in wastewater is rapidly increasing. However, there are no standardized protocols nor harmonized quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) procedures for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance. This paper is a technical review of factors that can lead to false-positive and -negative errors in the surveillance of SARS-CoV-2, culminating in recommendations and strategies that can be implemented to identify and mitigate these errors. Recommendations include, stringent QA/QC measures, representative sampling approaches, effective virus concentration and efficient RNA extraction, amplification inhibition assessment, inclusion of sample processing controls, and considerations for RT-PCR assay selection and data interpretation. Clear data interpretation guidelines (e.g., determination of positive and negative samples) are critical, particularly during a low incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. Corrective and confirmatory actions must be in place for inconclusive and/or potentially significant results (e.g., initial onset or reemergence of COVID-19 in a community). It will also be prudent to perform inter-laboratory comparisons to ensure results are reliable and interpretable for ongoing and retrospective analyses. The strategies that are recommended in this review aim to improve SARS-CoV-2 characterization for wastewater surveillance applications. A silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic is that the efficacy of wastewater surveillance was demonstrated during this global crisis. In the future, wastewater will play an important role in the surveillance of a range of other communicable diseases.
- Performance of Human Fecal Anaerobe-Associated PCR-Based Assays in a Multi-Laboratory Method Evaluation StudyPublication . Layton, Blythe; Yiping, Cao; Ebentier, Darcy; Kaitlyn, Hanley; Ballesté, Elisenda; Brandão, João; Byappanahalli, Muruleedhara; Converse, Reagan; Farnleitner, Andreas; Gentry-Shields, Jennifer; Gidley, Maribeth; Gourmelon, Michèle; Soo Lee, Chang; Lee, Jiyoung; Lozach, Solen; Madi, Tania; Meijer, Wim; Noble, Rachel; Peed, Lindsay; Reischer, Georg; Rodrigues, Raquel; Rose, Joan; Schriewer, Alexander; Sinigalliano, Chris; Srinivasan, Sangeetha; Stewart, Jill; Van De Werfhorst, Laurie; Wang, Dan; Whitman, Richard; Wuertz, Stefan; Jay, Jenny; Holden, Patricia; Boehm, Alexandria; Shanks, Orin; Griffith, JohnA number of PCR-based methods for detecting human fecal material in environmental waters have been developed over the past decade, but these methods have rarely received independent comparative testing in large multi-laboratory studies. Here, we evaluated ten of these methods (BacH, BacHum-UCD, B. thetaiotaomicron (BtH), BsteriF1, gyrB, HF183 endpoint, HF183 SYBR, HF183 Taqman, HumM2, and M. smithii nifH (Mnif)) using 64 blind samples prepared in one laboratory. The blind samples contained either one or two fecal sources from human, wastewater or non-human sources. The assay results were assessed for presence/absence of the human markers and also quantitatively while varying the following: 1) classification of samples that were detected but not quantifiable (DNQ) as positive or negative; 2) reference fecal sample concentration unit of measure (such as culturable indicator bacteria, wet mass, total DNA, etc); and 3) human fecal source type (stool, sewage or septage). Assay performance using presence/absence metrics was found to depend on the classification of DNQ samples. The assays that performed best quantitatively varied based on the fecal concentration unit of measure and laboratory protocol. All methods were consistently more sensitive to human stools compared to sewage or septage in both the presence/absence and quantitative analysis. Overall, HF183 Taqman was found to be the most effective marker of human fecal contamination in this California-based study.
- Validation of host-specific Bacteriodales 16S rRNA genes as markers to determine the origin of faecal pollution in Atlantic Rim countries of the European UnionPublication . Gawler, Andrew; Beecher, Jean; Brandão, João; Nora, Carroll; Falcão, Leonor; Gourmelon, Michele; Masterson, Bartholomew; Nunes, Baltazar; Rince, Alain; Porter, Jonathan; Thorp, Martin; Walters, Martin; Meijer, Wim; Rodrigues, RaquelThe recent implementation of the Revised Bathing Water Directive in the European Union has highlighted the need for development of effective methods to differentiate between sources of faecal contamination. It had previously been shown that amplification of 16S rRNA genes of host-specific cacteriodales species using the HF183F and CF128F primers could be used as markers for human and bovine faecal contamination in the United States. This paper determined the sensitivity and specificity of these markers in four Atlantic Rim countries (France, Ireland, Portugal and the United Kingdom) to evaluate their usefulness in determining the origin of faecal contamination. It was shown that the HF183F marker displayed high sensitivity (80–100%) and specificity (91–100%), and is reliable as an indication of human faecal contamination. The CF128F marker displayed 100% sensitivity in all four countries. However, strong regional variations in specificity (41–96%) were observed, highlighting the need for local validation before this marker is employed in source tracking of faecal contamination.
- Workshop Report: Developing Pollution Source Tracking for Recreational and Shellfish WatersPublication . Pond, Kate; Rangdale, R.; Meijer, Wim; Brandão, João; Falcão, Leonor; Rince, Alain; Greaves, John; Gawler, Andy; Masterson, Bartholomew; McDonnell, E.; Cronin, A.; Pedley, S.The Environment Agency of England and Wales obtained European Community Initiative INTERREG IIIB funding for a project called ICReW—Improving Coastal and Recreational Waters. The project consists of seven pilot actions aiming to contribute to the reduction of pollution, to enhance water quality, and to ensure that land-use practices and recreational activities can exist side by side without impacting public health. One of these actions is to identify and develop a common methodology for source-tracking fecal pollution, for regulatory purposes, over a wide geographical area in Europe. In order to do this the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK, sponsored the first international workshop on the subject. Key researchers from around the world were invited to attend to recommend the most appropriate method(s) for development and field trial in Europe. The meeting concluded that for the specific requirements of the ICReW project two methods should be developed and trialled: bacteroides genotyping and F+RNA coliphage genotyping. This article summarizes the reasons why these methods were chosen as the most appropriate for the circumstances of this particular project. The inherent challenges of establishing a pilot program to test the methods are outlined and recommendations were provided for the trial.