Wastewater surveillance represents a complementary approach to clinical surveillance to measure the presence and prevalence of emerging infectious diseases like the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. This innovative data source can improve the precision of epidemiological modeling to understand the penetrance of SARS-CoV-2 in specific vulnerable communities. Here, we tested wastewater collected at a major urban treatment facility in Massachusetts and detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA from the N gene at significant titers (57 to 303 copies per ml of sewage) in the period from 18 to 25 March 2020 using RT-qPCR. We validated detection of SARS-CoV-2 by Sanger sequencing the PCR product from the S gene. Viral titers observed were significantly higher than expected based on clinically confirmed cases in Massachusetts as of 25 March. Our approach is scalable and may be useful in modeling the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and future outbreaks. IMPORTANCE Wastewater-based surveillance is a promising approach for proactive outbreak monitoring. SARS-CoV-2 is shed in stool early in the clinical course and infects a large asymptomatic population, making it an ideal target for wastewater-based monitoring. In this study, we develop a laboratory protocol to quantify viral titers in raw sewage via qPCR analysis and validate results with sequencing analysis. Our results suggest that the number of positive cases estimated from wastewater viral titers is orders of magnitude greater than the number of confirmed clinical cases and therefore may significantly impact efforts to understand the case fatality rate and progression of disease. These data may help inform decisions surrounding the advancement or scale-back of social distancing and quarantine efforts based on dynamic wastewater catchment-level estimations of prevalence.
XQ(2); Lee WL(2); Kauffman K (3); Hanage WP(4); Matus M (5); Ghaeli N(5); Endo N(5); Duvallet C(5); Moniz K(1); Erickson TB(6); Chai PR (6); Thompson J(7); Alm EJ (1,2,5) Abstract. Wastewater surveillance may represent a complementary approach to measure the presence and even prevalence of infectious diseases when the capacity for clinical testing is limited. Moreover, aggregate, population-wide data can help inform modeling efforts. We tested wastewater collected at a major urban treatment facility in Massachusetts and found the presence of SARS-CoV-2 at high titers in the period from March 18 -25 using RT-qPCR. We then confirmed the identity of the PCR product by direct DNA sequencing. Viral titers observed were significantly higher than expected based on clinically confirmed cases in Massachusetts as of March 25. The reason for the discrepancy is not yet clear, and until further experiments are complete, these data do not necessarily indicate that clinical estimates are incorrect. Our approach is scalable and may be useful in modeling the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and future outbreaks.
We present an unquenched calculation of the quark propagator in Landau gauge with 2+1 flavors of dynamical quarks. We use configurations generated with an improved staggered ("Asqtad") action by the MILC collaboration. This quark action has been seen to have excellent rotational symmetry and scaling properties in the quenched quark propagator. Quenched and dynamical calculations are performed on a 20 3 × 64 lattice with a nominal lattice spacing of a = 0.125 fm. The matched quenched and dynamical lattices allow us to investigate the relatively subtle sea quark effects, and even in the quenched case the physical volume of these lattices gives access to lower momenta than our previous study. We calculate the quark mass function and renormalization function for a variety of valence and sea quark masses.
Glycerol/diol dehydratases catalyze the conversion of glycerol to 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde (3-HPA), the basis of a multi-component system called reuterin. Reuterin has antimicrobial properties and undergoes chemical conjugation with dietary heterocyclic amines (HCAs). In aqueous solution reuterin is in dynamic equilibrium with the toxicant acrolein. It was the aim of this study to investigate the extent of acrolein formation at various physiological conditions and to determine its role in biological and chemical activities. The application of a combined novel analytical approach including IC-PAD, LC-MS and NMR together with specific acrolein scavengers suggested for the first time that acrolein, and not 3-HPA, is the active compound responsible for HCA conjugation and antimicrobial activity attributed to reuterin. As formation of the HCA conjugate was observed in vivo, our results imply that acrolein is formed in the human gut with implications on detoxification of HCAs. We propose to re-define the term reuterin to include acrolein.
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