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Marine and freshwater mammalian predators and fish samples, retrieved from environmental specimen banks (ESBs), natural history museum (NHMs) and other scientific collections, were analysed by LIFE APEX partners for a wide range of legacy and emerging contaminants (2545 in total). Network analysis was used to visualize the chemical occurrence data and reveal the predominant chemical mixtures for the freshwater and marine environments. For this purpose, a web tool was created to explore these chemical mixtures in predator-prey pairs. Predominant chemicals, defined as the most prevalent substances detected in prey-predator pairs were identified through this innovative approach. The analysis established the most frequently co-occurring substances in chemical mixtures from AP&P in the marine and freshwater environments. Freshwater and marine environments shared 23 chemicals among their top 25 predominant chemicals. Legacy chemical, including perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hexachlorobenzene and mercury were dominant chemicals in both environments. Furthermore, N-acetylaminoantipyrine was a predominant pharmaceutical in both environments. The LIFE APEX chemical mixture application (https://norman-data.eu/LIFE_APEX_Mixtures) was proven to be useful to establish most prevalent compounds in terms of number of detected counts in prey-predator pairs. Nonetheless, further research is needed to establish food chain associations of the predominant chemicals., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All the authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Nontargeted screening (NTS) utilizing liquid chromatography electrospray ionization high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC/ESI/HRMS) is increasingly used to identify environmental contaminants. Major differences in the ionization efficiency of compounds in ESI/HRMS result in widely varying responses and complicate quantitative analysis. Despite an increasing number of methods for quantification without authentic standards in NTS, the approaches are evaluated on limited and diverse data sets with varying chemical coverage collected on different instruments, complicating an unbiased comparison. In this interlaboratory comparison, organized by the NORMAN Network, we evaluated the accuracy and performance variability of five quantification approaches across 41 NTS methods from 37 laboratories. Three approaches are based on surrogate standard quantification (parent-transformation product, structurally similar or close eluting) and two on predicted ionization efficiencies (RandFor- IE and MLR- IE ). Shortly, HPLC grade water, tap water, and surface water spiked with 45 compounds at 2 concentration levels were analyzed together with 41 calibrants at 6 known concentrations by the laboratories using in-house NTS workflows. The accuracy of the approaches was evaluated by comparing the estimated and spiked concentrations across quantification approaches, instrumentation, and laboratories. The RandFor- IE approach performed best with a reported mean prediction error of 15× and over 83% of compounds quantified within 10× error. Despite different instrumentation and workflows, the performance was stable across laboratories and did not depend on the complexity of water matrices.

With the global concerns on antibiotic resistance (AR) as a public health issue, it is pivotal to have data exchange platforms for studies on antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment. For this purpose, the NORMAN Association is hosting the NORMAN ARB&ARG database, which was developed within the European project ANSWER. The present article provides an overview on the database functionalities, the extraction and the contribution of data to the database. In this study, AR data from three studies from China and Nepal were extracted and imported into the NORMAN ARB&ARG in addition to the existing AR data from 11 studies (mainly European studies) on the database. This feasibility study demonstrates how the scientific community can share their data on AR to generate an international evidence base to inform AR mitigation strategies. The open and FAIR data are of high potential relevance for regulatory applications, including the development of emission limit values / environmental quality standards in relation to AR. The growth in sharing of data and analytical methods will foster collaboration on risk management of AR worldwide, and facilitate the harmonization in the effort for identification and surveillance of critical hotspots of AR. The NORMAN ARB&ARG database is publicly available at: https://www.norman-network.com/nds/bacteria/., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) are widely used to control rodent populations, resulting in the serious secondary exposure of predators to these contaminants. In the United Kingdom (UK), professional use and purchase of SGARs were revised in the 2010s. Certain highly toxic SGARs have been authorized since then to be used outdoors around buildings as resistance-breaking chemicals under risk mitigation procedures. However, it is still uncertain whether and how these regulatory changes have influenced the secondary exposure of birds of prey to SGARs. Based on biomonitoring of the UK Common Buzzard ( Buteo buteo ) collected from 2001 to 2019, we assessed the temporal trend of exposure to SGARs and statistically determined potential turning points. The magnitude of difenacoum decreased over time with a seasonal fluctuation, while the magnitude and prevalence of more toxic brodifacoum, authorized to be used outdoors around buildings after the regulatory changes, increased. The summer of 2016 was statistically identified as a turning point for exposure to brodifacoum and summed SGARs that increased after this point. This time point coincided with the aforementioned regulatory changes. Our findings suggest a possible shift in SGAR use to brodifacoum from difenacoum over the decades, which may pose higher risks of impacts on wildlife.

Trace elements are chemical contaminants spread in the environment by anthropogenic activities and threaten wildlife and human health. Many studies have investigated this contamination in apex raptors as sentinel birds. However, there is limited data for long-term biomonitoring of multiple trace elements in raptors. In the present study, we measured the concentrations of 14 essential and non-essential trace elements in the livers of the common buzzard (Buteo buteo) collected in the United Kingdom from 2001 to 2019 and investigated whether concentrations have changed during this period. In addition, we estimated the importance of selected variables for modelling element accumulations in tissues. Except for cadmium, hepatic concentrations of harmful elements in most buzzards were lower than the biological significance level of each element. Hepatic concentrations of certain elements, including lead, cadmium, and arsenic, varied markedly seasonally within years. Their peak was in late winter and trough in late summer, except copper which showed an opposite seasonal pattern. In addition, lead in the liver consistently increased over time, whereas strontium showed a decreasing trend. Hepatic concentrations of cadmium, mercury, and chromium increased with age, whereas selenium and chromium were influenced by sex. Hepatic concentrations of arsenic and chromium also differed between different regions. Overall, our samples showed a low risk of harmful effects of most elements compared to the thresholds reported in the literature. Seasonal fluctuation was an important descriptor of exposure, which might be related to the diet of the buzzard, the ecology of their prey, and human activities such as the use of lead shot for hunting. However, elucidating reasons for these observed trends needs further examination, and biomonitoring studies exploring the effects of variables such as age, sex, and seasonality are required., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

A state-of-the-art wide-scope target screening of 2,362 chemicals and their transformation products (TPs) was performed in samples collected within the Joint Danube Survey 4 (JDS4) performed in 2019. The analysed contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) included three major categories: plant protection products (PPPs), industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). In total, 586 CECs were detected in the samples including 158 PPPs, 71 industrial chemicals, 348 PPCPs, and 9 other chemicals. A wide-variety of sample matrices were collected including influent and effluent wastewater, groundwater, river water, sediment and biota. Forty-five CECs (19 PPPs, 8 industrial chemicals, 18 PPCPs) were detected at levels above their ecotoxicological thresholds (lowest predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC) values) in one or more of the investigated environmental compartments, indicating potential adverse effects on the impacted ecosystems. Among them 12 are legacy substances; 33 are emerging and qualify as potential Danube River Basin Specific Pollutants (RBSPs). Moreover, the efficiency of the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) was evaluated using 20 selected performance indicator chemicals. WWTPs showed effective removal (removal rate ≥80%) and medium removal (removal rate 25-80%) for 6 and 8 of the indicator chemicals, respectively. However, numerous contaminants passed the WWTPs with a lower removal rate. Further investigation on performance of WWTPs is suggested at catchment level to improve their removal efficiency. WWTP effluents are proven to be one of the major sources of contaminants in the Danube River Basin (DRB). Other sources include sewage discharges, industrial and agricultural activities. Continuous monitoring of the detected CECs is suggested to ensure water quality of the studied area., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Environmental studies which aim to assess the ecological impact of chemical and other types of pollution should employ a complex weight-of-evidence approach with multiple lines of evidence (LoEs). This study focused on in situ genotoxicological methods such as the comet and micronucleus assays and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA analysis as one of the multiple LoEs (LoE3) on the fish species Alburnus alburnus (bleak) as a bioindicator. The study was carried out within the Joint Danube Survey 4 (JDS4) at nine sites in the Danube River Basin in the Republic of Serbia. Out of nine sampling sites, two were situated at the Tisa, Sava, and Velika Morava rivers, and three sites were at the Danube River. The three additionally employed LoEs were: SumTUwater calculated based on the monitoring data in the database of the Serbian Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) (LoE1); in vitro analyses of JDS4 water extracts employing genotoxicological methods (LoE2); assessment of the ecological status/potential by SEPA and indication of the ecological status for the sites performed within the JDS4 (LoE4). The analyzed biomarker responses in the bleak were integrated into the unique integrated biomarker response index which was used to rank the sites. The highest pollution pressure was recorded at JDS4 39 and JDS4 36, while the lowest was at JDS4 35. The impact of pollution was confirmed at three sites, JDS4 33, 40, and 41, by all four LoEs. At other sampling sites, a difference was observed regarding the pollution depending on the employed LoEs. This indicates the importance of implementing a comprehensive weight-of-evidence approach to ensure the impact of pollution is not overlooked when using only one LoE as is often the case in environmental studies., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the UK Environmental Mutagen Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Raptors are ideal indicators for biomonitoring studies using wildlife in order to assess the environmental pollution in the terrestrial ecosystem, since they are placed in the highest trophic position in the food webs and their life expectancy is relatively long. In this study, 26 eggs of 4 bird species (Peregrine falcon, Eurasian curlew, Little owl and Eagle owl) collected in Germany, were investigated for the presence of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and thousands of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). Generic sample preparation protocols were followed for the extraction of the analytes and the purification of the extracts, and the samples were analyzed both by liquid (LC) and gas chromatography (GC) coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), for capturing a wide range of organic micropollutants with different physicochemical properties. State-of-the-art screening methodologies were applied in the acquired HRMS data, including wide-scope target analysis of 2448 known pollutants and suspect screening of over 65,000 environmentally relevant compounds. Overall, 58 pollutants from different chemical classes, such as plant protection products, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and medicinal products, as well as their transformation products, were determined through target analysis. Most of the detected compounds were lipophilic (logP>2), although the presence of (semi)polar contaminants should not be overlooked, underlying the need for holistic analytical approaches in environmental monitoring studies. p,p'-DDE, PCB 153 and PCB138, PFOS and methylparaben were the most frequently detected compounds. 50 additional substances were identified and semi-quantified through suspect screening workflows, including mainly compounds of industrial use with high production volume., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Using monitoring data from apex predators for chemicals risk assessment can provide important information on bioaccumulating as well as biomagnifying chemicals in food webs. A survey among European institutions involved in chemical risk assessment on their experiences with apex predator data in chemical risk assessment revealed great interest in using such data. However, the respondents indicated that constraints were related to expected high costs, lack of standardisation and harmonised quality criteria for exposure assessment, data access, and regulatory acceptance/application. During the Life APEX project, we demonstrated that European sample collections (i.e. environmental specimen banks (ESBs), research collection (RCs), natural history museums (NHMs)) archive a large variety of biological samples that can be readily used for chemical analysis once appropriate quality assurance/control (QA/QC) measures have been developed and implemented. We therefore issued a second survey on sampling, processing and archiving procedures in European sample collections to derive key quality QA/QC criteria for chemical analysis. The survey revealed great differences in QA/QC measures between ESBs, NHMs and RCs. Whereas basic information such as sampling location, date and biometric data were mostly available across institutions, protocols to accompany the sampling strategy with respect to chemical analysis were only available for ESBs. For RCs, the applied QA/QC measures vary with the respective research question, whereas NHMs are generally less aware of e.g. chemical cross-contamination issues. Based on the survey we derived key indicators for assessing the quality of biota samples that can be easily implemented in online databases. Furthermore, we provide a QA/QC workflow not only for sampling and processing but also for the chemical analysis of biota samples. We focussed on comprehensive analytical techniques such as non-target screening and provided insights into subsequent storage of high-resolution chromatograms in online databases (i.e. digital sample freezing platform) to ultimately support chemicals risk assessment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Apex predators are good indicators of environmental pollution since they are relatively long-lived and their high trophic position and spatiotemporal exposure to chemicals provides insights into the persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) properties of chemicals. Although monitoring data from apex predators can considerably support chemicals' management, there is a lack of pan-European studies, and longer-term monitoring of chemicals in organisms from higher trophic levels. The present study investigated the occurrence of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in 67 freshwater, marine and terrestrial apex predators and in freshwater and marine prey, gathered from four European countries. Generic sample preparation protocols for the extraction of CECs with a broad range of physicochemical properties and the purification of the extracts were used. The analysis was performed utilizing liquid (LC) chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), while the acquired chromatograms were screened for the presence of more than 2,200 CECs through wide-scope target analysis. In total, 145 CECs were determined in the apex predator and their prey samples belonging in different categories, such as pharmaceuticals, plant protection products, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, their metabolites and transformation products. Higher concentration levels were measured in predators compared to prey, suggesting that biomagnification of chemicals through the food chain occurs. The compounds were prioritized for further regulatory risk assessment based on their frequency of detection and their concentration levels. The majority of the prioritized CECs were lipophilic, although the presence of more polar contaminants should not be neglected. This indicates that holistic analytical approaches are required to fully characterize the chemical universe of biota samples. Therefore, the present survey is an attempt to systematically investigate the presence of thousands of chemicals at a European level, aiming to use these data for better chemicals management and contribute to EU Zero Pollution Ambition., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The Black Sea is an important ecosystem, which is affected by various anthropogenic pressures, such as shipping activities and wastewater inputs from large coastal cities. Significant loads of chemical pollutants are being continuously brought in by major European rivers. This study investigated the spatial distribution of chemicals in the Ukrainian shelf (the northwestern part of the Black Sea) and their main sources. Chemical occurrence data used in the study was generated within the Joint Black Sea Surveys (JBSS), which took place in 2016 and 2017 as a part of the EU/UNDP EMBLAS II project (www.emblasproject.org). During the JBSS, seawater samples were analyzed by a non-target screening workflow using liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS). Open-source algorithms were applied to generate a combined dataset of 30,489 detected chemical signals and their intensities. Out of these, 35 compounds were tentatively identified by the application of a non-target screening identification workflow based on automated matching of their mass spectra against those in available mass spectral libraries. The dataset was used to generate images, representing spatial distribution of each of the signals. These images were then used as an input to a deep learning convolutional neural network classification model. The study resulted in the development of an open-source end-to-end workflow for the estimation of the pollution load by chemicals contributed by the two major inflowing rivers (Danube and Dnieper) and other, so far unidentified, sources. A dedicated dashboard was built to facilitate data visualization per detected signal/compound. The presented model proved to be especially useful at the prioritization of signals of unknown compounds, which is of key importance for the follow up structure elucidation efforts of bulky non-target screening data. The deep learning approach for peak prioritization of unknown chemicals in the environment has been used for the first time., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

There is an increasing need for developing a strategy to quantify the newly identified substances in environmental samples, where there are not always reference standards available. The semi-quantitative analysis can assist risk assessment of chemicals and their environmental fate. In this study, a rigorously tested and system-independent semi-quantification workflow is proposed based on ionization efficiency measurement of emerging contaminants analyzed in liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry. The quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR)-based model was built to predict the ionization efficiency of unknown compounds which can be later used for their semi-quantification. The proposed semi-quantification method was applied and tested in real environmental seawater samples. All semi-quantification-related calculations can be performed online and free of access at http://trams.chem.uoa.gr/semiquantification/ ., (© 2022. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are under regulatory scrutiny since some of them are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic. The occurrence of 4777 PFAS was investigated in the Danube River Basin (DRB; 11 countries) using target and suspect screening. Target screening involved investigation of PFAS with 56 commercially available reference standards. Suspect screening covered 4777 PFAS retrieved from the NORMAN Substance Database, including all individual PFAS lists submitted to the NORMAN Suspect List Exchange Database. Mass spectrometry fragmentation patterns and retention time index predictions of the studied PFAS were established for their screening by liquid chromatography - high resolution mass spectrometry using NORMAN Digital Sample Freezing Platform (DSFP). In total, 82 PFAS were detected in the studied 95 samples of river water, wastewater, groundwater, biota and sediments. Suspect screening detected 72 PFAS that were missed by target screening. Predicted no effect concentrations (PNECs) were derived for each PFAS via a quantitative structure-toxicity relationship (QSTR)-based approach and used for assessment of their environmental risk. Risk characterization revealed 18 PFAS of environmental concern in at least one matrix. The presence of PFAS in all studied environmental compartments across the DRB indicates a potentially large-scale migration of PFAS in Europe, which might require their further systematic regulatory monitoring., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The ability of bacteria to degrade organic pollutants influences their fate in the environment, impact on the other biota and accumulation in the food web. The aim of this study was to evaluate abundance and expression activity of the catabolic genes targeting widespread pollutants, such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and hexachloro-cyclohexane (HCH) in the Black Sea water column and sediments. Concentrations of PAHs, PCBs and HCH were determined by gas chromatography (GC) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) and electron capture (ECD) detectors. bphA1, PAH-RHDα, nahAc, linA and linB that encode biphenyl 2,3 dioxygenase, α-subunits of ring hydroxylating dioxygenases, naphthalene dioxygenase, dehydrochlorinase and halidohydrolase correspondently were quantified by quantitative PCR. More recalcitrant PAHs, PCBs and HCH tended to accumulate in the Black Sea environments. In water samples, 3- and 4-ringed PAHs outnumbered naphthalene, while PAHs with > 4 rings prevailed in the sediments. Congeners with 4-8 chlorines with ortho-position of the substituents were the most abundant among the PCBs. β-HCH was determined at highest concentration in water samples, and total amount of HCH exceeded its legacy Environmental Quality Standard value. bphA1, was the most numerous gene in water layers (10 5 copies/mL) and sediments (10 5 copies/mg), followed by linB and PAH-RHDα genes (10 3 copies/mL; 10 5 copies/mg). The least abundant genes were linA (10 3 copies/mL; 10 4 copies/mg) and nahAc (10 2 copies/mL; 10 4 copies/mg). The most widely distributed gene bphА1 was one of the least expressed (10 -3 -10 -2 copies/mL; 10 -1 copies/mg). The most actively expressed genes were linB (10 1 -10 2 copies/mL; 10 3 copies/mg), PAH-RHDα (10 1 copies/mL; 10 2 copies/mg) and linA (10 -1 -10 0 copies/mL; 10 0 copies/mg). Interaction of bacteria with PAHs, PCBs and HCH is evidenced by high copy numbers of the catabolic genes that initiate their degradation. More persistent compounds, such as high-molecular weight PAHs or β-HCH are accumulating in the Black Sea water and sediments, albeit microbial activity is directed against them., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) and gas chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS) have revolutionized analytical chemistry among many other disciplines. These advanced instrumentations allow to theoretically capture the whole chemical universe that is contained in samples, giving unimaginable opportunities to the scientific community. Laboratories equipped with these instruments produce a lot of data daily that can be digitally archived. Digital storage of data opens up the opportunity for retrospective suspect screening investigations for the occurrence of chemicals in the stored chromatograms. The first step of this approach involves the prediction of which data is more appropriate to be searched. In this study, we built an optimized multi-label classifier for predicting the most appropriate instrumental method (LC-HRMS or GC-HRMS or both) for the analysis of chemicals in digital specimens. The approach involved the generation of a baseline model based on the knowledge that an expert would use and the generation of an optimized machine learning model. A multi-step feature selection approach, a model selection strategy, and optimization of the classifier's hyperparameters led to a model with accuracy that outperformed the baseline implementation. The models were used to predict the most appropriate instrumental technique for new substances. The scripts are available at GitHub and the dataset at Zenodo.

Treated wastewater irrigation (TWW) releases antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) into the environment and might thus promote the dissemination of antibiotic resistance in groundwater (GW). We hypothesized that TWW irrigation increases ARG abundance in GW through two potential mechanisms: the contamination of GW with resistant bacteria and the accumulation of antibiotics in GW. To test this, the GW below a real-scale TWW-irrigated field was sampled for six months. Sampling took place before, during and after high-intensity TWW irrigation. Samples were analysed with 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, qPCR of six ARGs and the class 1 integron-integrase gene intI1, while liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry was performed to detect antibiotic and pharmaceutical residues. Absolute abundance of 16S rRNA in GW decreased rather than increased during long-term irrigation. Also, the relative abundance of TWW-related bacteria did not increase in GW during long-term irrigation. In contrast, long-term TWW irrigation increased the relative abundance of sul1 and intI1 in the GW microbiome. Furthermore, GW contained elevated concentrations of sulfonamide antibiotics, especially sulfamethoxazole, to which sul1 confers resistance. Total sulfonamide concentrations in GW correlated with sul1 relative abundance. Consequently, TWW irrigation promoted sul1 and intI1 dissemination in the GW microbiome, most likely due to the accumulation of drug residues., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

We measured SARS-CoV-2 RNA load in raw wastewater in Attica, Greece, by RT-qPCR for the environmental surveillance of COVID-19 for 6 months. The lag between RNA load and pandemic indicators (COVID-19 hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions) was calculated using a grid search. Our results showed that RNA load in raw wastewater is a leading indicator of positive COVID-19 cases, new hospitalization and admission into ICUs by 5, 8 and 9 days, respectively. Modelling techniques based on distributed/fixed lag modelling, linear regression and artificial neural networks were utilized to build relationships between SARS-CoV-2 RNA load in wastewater and pandemic health indicators. SARS-CoV-2 mutation analysis in wastewater during the third pandemic wave revealed that the alpha-variant was dominant. Our results demonstrate that clinical and environmental surveillance data can be combined to create robust models to study the on-going COVID-19 infection dynamics and provide an early warning for increased hospital admissions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Provisional patent applications entitled “Detection and mutational analysis of an RNA virus in an environmental sample” were filed by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and the authors Andreas Scorilas, Margaritis Avgeris, Panagiotis G. Adamopoulos and Nikolaos S. Thomaidis on February 11, 2021 to the Hellenic Industrial Property Organisation (Case Number: 231-0004089064) and on March 22, 2021 to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT application number: PCT/EP2021/057316). All other authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The increasing use of chemicals in the European Union (EU) has resulted in environmental emissions and wildlife exposures. For approving a chemical within the EU, producers need to conduct an environmental risk assessment, which typically relies on data generated under laboratory conditions without considering the ecological and landscape context. To address this gap and add information on emerging contaminants and chemical mixtures, we analysed 30 livers of white-tailed sea eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) from northern Germany with high resolution-mass spectrometry coupled to liquid and gas chromatography for the identification of >2400 contaminants. We then modelled the influence of trophic position (δ 15 N), habitat (δ 13 C) and landscape on chemical residues and screened for persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) properties using an in silico model to unravel mismatches between predicted PBT properties and observed exposures. Despite having generally low PBT scores, most detected contaminants were medicinal products with oxfendazole and salicylamide being most frequent. Chemicals of the Stockholm Convention such as 4,4'-DDE and PCBs were present in all samples below toxicity thresholds. Among PFAS, especially PFOS showed elevated concentrations compared to other studies. In contrast, PFCA levels were low and increased with δ 15 N, which indicated an increase with preying on piscivorous species. Among plant protection products, spiroxamine and simazine were frequently detected with increasing concentrations in agricultural landscapes. The in silico model has proven to be reliable for predicting PBT properties for most chemicals. However, chemical exposures in apex predators are complex and do not solely rely on intrinsic chemical properties but also on other factors such as ecology and landscape. We therefore recommend that ecological contexts, mixture toxicities, and chemical monitoring data should be more frequently considered in regulatory risk assessments, e.g. in a weight of evidence approach, to trigger risk management measures before adverse effects in individuals or populations start to manifest., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of emerging substances that have proved to be persistent and highly bioaccumulative. They are broadly used in various applications and are known for their long-distance migration and toxicity. In this study, 65 recent specimens of a terrestrial apex predator (Common buzzard), freshwater and marine apex predators (Eurasian otter, harbour porpoise, grey seal, harbour seal) and their potential prey (bream, roach, herring, eelpout) from northern Europe (United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden) were analyzed for the presence of legacy and emerging PFAS, employing a highly sensitive liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) method. 56 compounds from 14 classes were measured; 13 perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs), 7 perfluoroalkyl sulphonic acids (PFSAs), 3 perfluorooctane sulfonamides (FOSAs), 4 perfluoroalkylphosphonic acids (PFAPAs), 3 perfluoroalkylphosphinic acids (PFPi's), 5 telomer alcohols (FTOHs), 2 mono-substituted polyfluorinated phosphate esters (PAPs), 2 di-substituted polyfluorinated phosphate esters (diPAPs), 6 saturated fluorotelomer acids (FTAS), 3 unsaturated fluorotelomer acids (FTUAs), 2 N-Alkyl perfluorooctane sulfonamidoethanols (FOSEs), 3 fluorotelomer sulphonic acids (FTSAs), 2 perfluoroether carboxylic acids (PFECAs) and 1 chlorinated perfluoroether sulphonic acid (Cl-PFESA). All samples were lyophilized before analysis, in order to enhance extraction efficiency, improve the precision and achieve lower detection limits. The analytes were extracted from the dry matrices through generic methods of extraction, using an accelerated solvent extraction (ASE), followed by clean-up through solid phase extraction (SPE). Method detection limits and method quantification limits ranged from 0.02 to 1.25 ng/g wet weight (ww) and from 0.05 to 3.79 ng/g (ww), respectively. Recovery ranged from 40 to 137%. Method precision ranged from 3 to 20 %RSD. The sum of PFAS concentration in apex predators livers ranged from 0.2 to 20.2 μg/g (ww), whereas in the fish species muscle tissues it ranged from 16 to 325 ng/g (ww). All analyzed specimens were primarily contaminated with PFOS, while the three PFPi's included in this study exhibited frequency of appearance (FoA) 100 %. C9 to C13 PFCAs were found at high concentrations in apex predator livers, while the overall PFAS levels in fish fillets also exceeded ecotoxicological thresholds. The findings of our study show a clear association between the PFAS concentrations in apex predators and the geographical origin of the specimens, with samples that were collected in urban and agricultural zones being highly contaminated compared to samples from pristine or semi-pristine areas. The high variety of PFAS and the different PFAS composition in the apex predators and their prey (AP&P) samples is alarming and strengthens the importance of PFAS monitoring across the food chain., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: The NORMAN Association (https://www.norman-network.com/) initiated the NORMAN Suspect List Exchange (NORMAN-SLE; https://www.norman-network.com/nds/SLE/) in 2015, following the NORMAN collaborative trial on non-target screening of environmental water samples by mass spectrometry. Since then, this exchange of information on chemicals that are expected to occur in the environment, along with the accompanying expert knowledge and references, has become a valuable knowledge base for "suspect screening" lists. The NORMAN-SLE now serves as a FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) chemical information resource worldwide., Results: The NORMAN-SLE contains 99 separate suspect list collections (as of May 2022) from over 70 contributors around the world, totalling over 100,000 unique substances. The substance classes include per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), pharmaceuticals, pesticides, natural toxins, high production volume substances covered under the European REACH regulation (EC: 1272/2008), priority contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and regulatory lists from NORMAN partners. Several lists focus on transformation products (TPs) and complex features detected in the environment with various levels of provenance and structural information. Each list is available for separate download. The merged, curated collection is also available as the NORMAN Substance Database (NORMAN SusDat). Both the NORMAN-SLE and NORMAN SusDat are integrated within the NORMAN Database System (NDS). The individual NORMAN-SLE lists receive digital object identifiers (DOIs) and traceable versioning via a Zenodo community (https://zenodo.org/communities/norman-sle), with a total of > 40,000 unique views, > 50,000 unique downloads and 40 citations (May 2022). NORMAN-SLE content is progressively integrated into large open chemical databases such as PubChem (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) and the US EPA's CompTox Chemicals Dashboard (https://comptox.epa.gov/dashboard/), enabling further access to these lists, along with the additional functionality and calculated properties these resources offer. PubChem has also integrated significant annotation content from the NORMAN-SLE, including a classification browser (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/classification/#hid=101)., Conclusions: The NORMAN-SLE offers a specialized service for hosting suspect screening lists of relevance for the environmental community in an open, FAIR manner that allows integration with other major chemical resources. These efforts foster the exchange of information between scientists and regulators, supporting the paradigm shift to the "one substance, one assessment" approach. New submissions are welcome via the contacts provided on the NORMAN-SLE website (https://www.norman-network.com/nds/SLE/)., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12302-022-00680-6., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© The Author(s) 2022.)

Aliskiren was selected as a compound of potential concern among a suspect screening list of more than 40,000 substances on a basis of high occurrence, potential risk and the absence of information about its environmental fate. This study investigated the photoinduced degradation of aliskiren in river water samples spiked at trace levels exposed to simulated sunlight. A half-life time of 24 h was observed with both direct and indirect photolysis playing a role on pollutant degradation. Its photo-induced transformation involved the formation of six transformation products (TPs), elucidated by LC-HRMS - resulted from the drug hydroxylation, oxidation and moieties loss with subsequent cyclization structurally. The retrospective suspected analysis performed on a total of 754 environmental matrices evidenced the environmental occurrence of aliskiren and two TPs in surface waters (river and seawater), fresh water, sediments and biota. In silico bioassays suggested that aliskiren degradation undergoes thought the formation of TPs with distinct toxicity comparing with the parent compound., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Chemicals are part of our daily lives, and we are exposed to numerous chemicals through multiple pathways. Relevant scientific evidence contributing to the regulation of hazardous chemicals require a holistic approach to assess simultaneous exposure to multiple compounds. Biomonitoring provides an accurate estimation of exposure to chemicals through very complex and costly sampling campaigns. Finding efficient proxies to predict the risk of chemical exposure in humans is an urgent need to cover large areas and populations at a reasonable cost. We conducted an exploratory study to characterize the human chemical exposome in maternal blood and placenta samples of a population-based birth cohort in Barcelona (2018-2021). Ultimate HRMS-based approaches were applied including wide-scope target, suspect, and nontarget screening. Forty-two chemicals were identified including pesticides, personal care products, or industrial compounds, among others, in the range of ng/mL and ng/g. In parallel, sewage sludge from the wastewater treatment plants serving the residence areas of the studied population were also screened, showing correlations with the type and concentrations of chemicals found in humans. Our findings were suggestive for the potential use of sewage sludge as a proxy of the human exposure and its application in early warning systems to prevent bioaccumulation of hazardous chemicals., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2021 American Chemical Society.)

COVID-19 pandemic spread rapidly worldwide with unanticipated effects on mental health, lifestyle, stability of economies and societies. Although many research groups have already reported SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in untreated wastewater, only few studies evaluated the implications of the pandemic on the use of chemicals by influent wastewater analysis. Wide-scope target and suspect screening were used to monitor the effects of the pandemic on the Greek population through wastewater-based epidemiology. Composite 24 h influent wastewater samples were collected from the wastewater treatment plant of Athens during the first lockdown and analyzed by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. A wide range of compounds was investigated (11,286), including antipsychotic drugs, illicit drugs, tobacco compounds, food additives, pesticides, biocides, surfactants and industrial chemicals. Mass loads of chemical markers were estimated and compared with the data obtained under non-COVID-19 conditions (campaign 2019). The findings revealed increases in surfactants (+196%), biocides (+152%), cationic quaternary ammonium surfactants (used as surfactants and biocides) (+331%), whereas the most important decreases were estimated for tobacco (-33%) and industrial chemicals (-52%). The introduction of social-restriction measures by the government affected all aspects of life., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All the authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Since 2019, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), impaired public health with considerable morbidity and mortality due to the lack of vaccines and effective treatment. The severe disease mainly harmed adults with predisposing medical comorbidities (such as heart disease, hypertension, chronic lung disease), while it can occur in healthy individuals that may be asymptomatic. Wastewater-based Epidemiology (WBE), a non-invasive, objective, chemical tool was used to monitor and estimate the changes in drug's consumption and prescription patterns under normal conditions (2019) and under COVID-19 pandemic conditions (2020). NSAIDs, antihypertensives, diuretics, antiepileptics, antilipidemics, antibiotics, analgesics, antivirals, anticancer drugs, contrast iodinated drugs, antidiabetics, antiallergic drugs, antiulcers and other pharmaceuticals were studied in wastewater and revealed the application of various treatments during the first wave of the pandemic in Athens, Greece. Data were correlated with COVID-19 infection therapeutical plans. The result of the analysis revealed a remarkable increase for antiviral drugs (170%), hydroxychloroquine (387%), and antibiotics (57%), which were the most applied treatments against COVID-19 during the first wave in Greece. In agreement with related authorities urge, NSAIDs presented decrease (27%) during the first lockdown, while paracetamol demonstrated a remarkable increase (198%). The use levels for Angiotensin II receptor blockers such as valsartan, and co-administrated diuretics, such as hydrochlorothiazide, were reduced during 2020, by 32% and 26% respectively., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)