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a b s t r a c tContamination of water bodies with pharmaceutical compounds and their adverse effects on human and wildlife has been a source of concern for many societies. The need for more effective water treatment processes has been felt to eliminate these contaminants from water. In this work, single electrode non-thermal plasma in a floating electrode streamer corona discharge (FESCD) system is utilized for effective degradation of antibiotic ampicillin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) ibuprofen. It was found that, after 3 h of plasma treatment, 100% of ampicillin and 90% of ibuprofen was degraded in the solution. The energy yield (the amount of degraded contaminants by consuming 1 kWh of energy) was calculated to be 0.12-0.13 g/kWh. Total Organic Carbon (TOC) measurements showed 20% and 60% mineralization for ampicillin and ibuprofen, respectively. Hydroxyl radicals were found to play a major role in the degradation of both contaminants. Furthermore, in both cases, the formation of oxygenated by products implied a possible role of ozone molecules in the degradation mechanism. Finally, Fluorescence Excitation-Emission Matrix (FEEM) was utilized to track the degradation of the contaminants in the tap water through the change in fluorescence properties and the connections between FEEM signals and the identified degradation by products were outlined.

PSA is the most routine marker to detect prostate cancer, but due to its low specificity that can lead to a number of unnecessary biopsies, there is great need for an alternate method. Can PCA3 be one of these methods? PCA3 is overexpressed in prostate cancer, not in benign conditions such as prostatitis (unlike PSA). Because of its efficacy (being more sensitive and specific in comparison with PSA), this biomarker could be a very useful and promising method for the early detection of prostate cancer, especially in combination with other tests such as TMPRSS2-ERG gene fusion.