Found 55 publications. Showing page 1 of 3:
An AI-Enhanced Systematic Review of Climate Adaptation Costs: Approaches and Advancements, 2010–2021
This study addresses the critical global challenge of climate adaptation by assessing the inadequacies in current methodologies for estimating adaptation costs. Broad assessments reveal a significant investment shortfall in adaptation strategies, highlighting the necessity for precise cost analysis to guide effective policy-making. By employing the PRISMA 2020 protocol and enhancing it with the prismAId tool, this review systematically analyzes the recent evolution of cost assessment methodologies using state-of-the-art generative AI. The AI-enhanced approach facilitates rapid and replicable research extensions. The analysis reveals a significant geographical and sectoral disparity in research on climate adaptation costs, with notable underrepresentation of crucial areas and sectors that are most vulnerable to climate impacts. The study also highlights a predominant reliance on secondary data and a lack of comprehensive uncertainty quantification in economic assessments, suggesting an urgent need for methodological enhancements. It concludes that extending analyses beyond merely verifying that benefits exceed costs is crucial for supporting effective climate adaptation. By assessing the profitability of adaptation investments, it becomes possible to prioritize these investments not only against similar interventions but also across the broader spectrum of public spending.
MDPI
2024
High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry for Human Exposomics: Expanding Chemical Space Coverage
In the modern “omics” era, measurement of the human exposome is a critical missing link between genetic drivers and disease outcomes. High-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), routinely used in proteomics and metabolomics, has emerged as a leading technology to broadly profile chemical exposure agents and related biomolecules for accurate mass measurement, high sensitivity, rapid data acquisition, and increased resolution of chemical space. Non-targeted approaches are increasingly accessible, supporting a shift from conventional hypothesis-driven, quantitation-centric targeted analyses toward data-driven, hypothesis-generating chemical exposome-wide profiling. However, HRMS-based exposomics encounters unique challenges. New analytical and computational infrastructures are needed to expand the analysis coverage through streamlined, scalable, and harmonized workflows and data pipelines that permit longitudinal chemical exposome tracking, retrospective validation, and multi-omics integration for meaningful health-oriented inferences. In this article, we survey the literature on state-of-the-art HRMS-based technologies, review current analytical workflows and informatic pipelines, and provide an up-to-date reference on exposomic approaches for chemists, toxicologists, epidemiologists, care providers, and stakeholders in health sciences and medicine. We propose efforts to benchmark fit-for-purpose platforms for expanding coverage of chemical space, including gas/liquid chromatography–HRMS (GC-HRMS and LC-HRMS), and discuss opportunities, challenges, and strategies to advance the burgeoning field of the exposome.
2024
Pioneering an effect-based early warning system for hazardous chemicals in the environment
Existing regulatory frameworks often prove inadequate in promptly identifying contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and determining their impacts on biological systems at an early stage. The establishment of Early Warning Systems (EWSs) for CECs is becoming increasingly relevant for policy-making, aiming to proactively detect chemical hazards and implement effective mitigation measures. Effect-based methodologies, including bioassays and effect-directed analysis (EDA), offer valuable input to EWSs by pinpointing the relevant toxicity drivers and prioritizing the associated risks. This review evaluates the analytical techniques currently available to assess biological effects, and provides a structured plan for their systematic integration into an EWS for hazardous chemicals in the environment. Key scientific advancements in effect-based approaches and EDA are discussed, underscoring their potential for early detection and management of chemical hazards. Additionally, critical challenges such as data integration and regulatory alignment are addressed, emphasizing the need for continuous improvement of the EWS and the incorporation of analytical advancements to safeguard environmental and public health from emerging chemical threats.
2024
Extracellular Vesicles as Next-Generation Diagnostics and Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) hold great promise for clinical application as new diagnostic and therapeutic modalities. This paper describes major GMP-based upstream and downstream manufacturing processes for EV large-scale production, also focusing on post-processing technologies such as surface bioengineering and uploading studies to yield novel EV-based diagnostics and advanced therapy medicinal products. This paper also focuses on the quality, safety, and efficacy issues of the bioengineered EV drug candidates before first-in-human studies. Because clinical trials involving extracellular vesicles are on the global rise, this paper encompasses different clinical studies registered on clinical-trial register platforms, with varying levels of advancement, highlighting the growing interest in EV-related clinical programs. Navigating the regulatory affairs of EVs poses real challenges, and obtaining marketing authorization for EV-based medicines remains complex due to the lack of specific regulatory guidelines for such novel products. This paper discusses the state-of-the-art regulatory knowledge to date on EV-based diagnostics and medicinal products, highlighting further research and global regulatory needs for the safe and reliable implementation of bioengineered EVs as diagnostic and therapeutic tools in clinical settings. Post-marketing pharmacovigilance for EV-based medicinal products is also presented, mainly addressing such topics as risk assessment and risk management.
MDPI
2024
Zürich II Statement on Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs): Scientific and Regulatory Needs
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a class of synthetic organic chemicals of global concern. A group of 36 scientists and regulators from 18 countries held a hybrid workshop in 2022 in Zürich, Switzerland. The workshop, a sequel to a previous Zürich workshop held in 2017, deliberated on progress in the last five years and discussed further needs for cooperative scientific research and regulatory action on PFASs. This review reflects discussion and insights gained during and after this workshop and summarizes key signs of progress in science and policy, ongoing critical issues to be addressed, and possible ways forward. Some key take home messages include: 1) understanding of human health effects continues to develop dramatically, 2) regulatory guidelines continue to drop, 3) better understanding of emissions and contamination levels is needed in more parts of the world, 4) analytical methods, while improving, still only cover around 50 PFASs, and 5) discussions of how to group PFASs for regulation (including subgroupings) have gathered momentum with several jurisdictions proposing restricting a large proportion of PFAS uses. It was concluded that more multi-group exchanges are needed in the future and that there should be a greater diversity of participants at future workshops.
American Chemical Society (ACS)
2024
Adult neurotoxicity (ANT) and developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) assessments aim to understand the adverse effects and underlying mechanisms of toxicants on the human nervous system. In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on the so-called new approach methodologies (NAMs). The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), together with European and American regulatory agencies, promote the use of validated alternative test systems, but to date, guidelines for regulatory DNT and ANT assessment rely primarily on classical animal testing. Alternative methods include both non-animal approaches and test systems on non-vertebrates (e.g., nematodes) or non-mammals (e.g., fish). Therefore, this review summarizes the recent advances of NAMs focusing on ANT and DNT and highlights the potential and current critical issues for the full implementation of these methods in the future. The status of the DNT in vitro battery (DNT IVB) is also reviewed as a first step of NAMs for the assessment of neurotoxicity in the regulatory context. Critical issues such as (i) the need for test batteries and method integration (from in silico and in vitro to in vivo alternatives, e.g., zebrafish, C. elegans) requiring interdisciplinarity to manage complexity, (ii) interlaboratory transferability, and (iii) the urgent need for method validation are discussed.
Springer
2024
The movement towards an animal-free testing approach for risk assessment represents a key paradigm shift in toxicology. Risk assessment of engineered and anthropogenic nanoscale materials (NM) is dependent on reliable hazard characterization, which requires validated test methods and models, and increasingly on mechanistic insights into the mode of action. The properties that make NMs so advantageous for a wide range of commercial and industrial applications also pose a challenge when it comes to safety testing under in vitro and in chemico experimental settings. Their large reactive surface area makes NMs prone to interactions with assay reagents, readout signals, or intermediate steps of many test assays, leading to the potential for biased results and data inconsistencies, collectively referred to as interferences. Therefore, methods and protocols developed and validated for conventional chemicals often require adaptation and checking for reliability in NMs' toxicity assessment. This review presents the collected scientific knowledge on NMs-induced interferences for the most common in vitro toxicity assays and methods related to cytotoxicity, oxidative stress and inflammatory response evaluation. Our analysis of existing scientific literature showed that the challenge of NMs-induced interference was not explicitly addressed in more than 90% of the papers published up to 2014 reporting the safety and toxicity of NMs. In later years, increasing number of studies tackled the interference challenge in toxicity testing of NMs, which initiated exhaustive work on standardization and validation of existing regulatory-relevant in vitro test protocols and guidelines. Due to the specificity of the different NMs and the range of ways they can potentially interfere with in vitro assays, interference and fit-for purpose controls should be included for each NM type and method applied, unless label-free assays are selected. Here, we provide a decision tree to guide researchers on how to design experiments to avoid interferences during in vitro testing by taking appropriate mitigation actions and how to include proper interference controls in their experimental design where complete avoidance is not possible. The application of this decision tree will improve the reliability, comparability and reusability of in vitro toxicity data on engineered NMs or ENMs, increasing the relevance of in silico hazard data for use in risk assessment and in science-based risk governance of NMs. The approach is applicable more broadly also, to advanced materials and to hazard assessment of anthropogenic nanoscale materials such as microplastic and tyre-wear particles.
Elsevier
2024
Troll observing network – for useful new data about Antarctica
What do Antarctic petrels in Svarthamaren, soil structure movements at Troll research station and ocean chemistry in the Håkon VII Sea have in common? They will all be studied at the Troll observing network currently being established at Troll research station in Dronning Maud Land in Antarctica.
2023
NORMAN guidance on suspect and non-target screening in environmental monitoring
Increasing production and use of chemicals and awareness of their impact on ecosystems and humans has led to large interest for broadening the knowledge on the chemical status of the environment and human health by suspect and non-target screening (NTS). To facilitate effective implementation of NTS in scientific, commercial and governmental laboratories, as well as acceptance by managers, regulators and risk assessors, more harmonisation in NTS is required. To address this, NORMAN Association members involved in NTS activities have prepared this guidance document, based on the current state of knowledge. The document is intended to provide guidance on performing high quality NTS studies and data interpretation while increasing awareness of the promise but also pitfalls and challenges associated with these techniques. Guidance is provided for all steps; from sampling and sample preparation to analysis by chromatography (liquid and gas—LC and GC) coupled via various ionisation techniques to high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (HRMS/MS), through to data evaluation and reporting in the context of NTS. Although most experience within the NORMAN network still involves water analysis of polar compounds using LC–HRMS/MS, other matrices (sediment, soil, biota, dust, air) and instrumentation (GC, ion mobility) are covered, reflecting the rapid development and extension of the field. Due to the ongoing developments, the different questions addressed with NTS and manifold techniques in use, NORMAN members feel that no standard operation process can be provided at this stage. However, appropriate analytical methods, data processing techniques and databases commonly compiled in NTS workflows are introduced, their limitations are discussed and recommendations for different cases are provided. Proper quality assurance, quantification without reference standards and reporting results with clear confidence of identification assignment complete the guidance together with a glossary of definitions. The NORMAN community greatly supports the sharing of experiences and data via open science and hopes that this guideline supports this effort.
Springer
2023
Nanomedicine and epigenetics: New alliances to increase the odds in pancreatic cancer survival
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is among the deadliest cancers worldwide, primarily due to its robust desmoplastic stroma and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME), which facilitate tumor progression and metastasis. In addition, fibrous tissue leads to sparse vasculature, high interstitial fluid pressure, and hypoxia, thereby hindering effective systemic drug delivery and immune cell infiltration. Thus, remodeling the TME to enhance tumor perfusion, increase drug retention, and reverse immunosuppression has become a key therapeutic strategy. In recent years, targeting epigenetic pathways has emerged as a promising approach to overcome tumor immunosuppression and cancer progression. Moreover, the progress in nanotechnology has provided new opportunities for enhancing the efficacy of conventional and epigenetic drugs. Nano-based drug delivery systems (NDDSs) offer several advantages, including improved drug pharmacokinetics, enhanced tumor penetration, and reduced systemic toxicity. Smart NDDSs enable precise targeting of stromal components and augment the effectiveness of immunotherapy through multiple drug delivery options. This review offers an overview of the latest nano-based approaches developed to achieve superior therapeutic efficacy and overcome drug resistance. We specifically focus on the TME and epigenetic-targeted therapies in the context of PDAC, discussing the advantages and limitations of current strategies while highlighting promising new developments. By emphasizing the immense potential of NDDSs in improving therapeutic outcomes in PDAC, our review paves the way for future research in this rapidly evolving field.
Elsevier
2023
Carcinogenic chemicals, or their metabolites, can be classified as genotoxic or non-genotoxic carcinogens (NGTxCs). Genotoxic compounds induce DNA damage, which can be detected by an established in vitro and in vivo battery of genotoxicity assays. For NGTxCs, DNA is not the primary target, and the possible modes of action (MoA) of NGTxCs are much more diverse than those of genotoxic compounds, and there is no specific in vitro assay for detecting NGTxCs. Therefore, the evaluation of the carcinogenic potential is still dependent on long-term studies in rodents. This 2-year bioassay, mainly applied for testing agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, is time-consuming, costly and requires very high numbers of animals. More importantly, its relevance for human risk assessment is questionable due to the limited predictivity for human cancer risk, especially with regard to NGTxCs. Thus, there is an urgent need for a transition to new approach methodologies (NAMs), integrating human-relevant in vitro assays and in silico tools that better exploit the current knowledge of the multiple processes involved in carcinogenesis into a modern safety assessment toolbox. Here, we describe an integrative project that aims to use a variety of novel approaches to detect the carcinogenic potential of NGTxCs based on different mechanisms and pathways involved in carcinogenesis. The aim of this project is to contribute suitable assays for the safety assessment toolbox for an efficient and improved, internationally recognized hazard assessment of NGTxCs, and ultimately to contribute to reliable mechanism-based next-generation risk assessment for chemical carcinogens.
Frontiers Media S.A.
2023
Integrating Solar Energy and Nature-Based Solutions for Climate-Neutral Urban Environments
This study focuses on achieving climate neutrality in European cities by integrating solar energy technologies and nature-based solutions. Through an examination of current practices, emerging trends, and case examples, the study explores the benefits, challenges, and prospects associated with this integration in urban contexts. A pioneering approach is presented to assess the urban heat and climate change mitigation benefits of combining building-integrated photovoltaics and nature-based solutions within the European context. The results highlight the synergistic relationship between nature-based components and solar conversion technology, identifying effective combinations for different climatic zones. In Southern Europe, strategies such as rooftop photovoltaics on cool roofs, photovoltaic shadings, green walls, and urban trees have demonstrated effectiveness in warmer regions. Conversely, mid- and high-latitude European cities have seen positive impacts through the integration of rooftop photovoltaics and photovoltaic facades with green roofs and green spaces. As solar cell conversion efficiency improves, the environmental impact of photovoltaics is expected to decrease, facilitating their integration into urban environments. The study emphasizes the importance of incorporating water bodies, cool pavements, spaces with high sky-view factors, and effective planning in urban design to maximize resilience benefits. Additionally, the study highlights the significance of prioritizing mitigation actions in low-income regions and engaging citizens in the development of social photovoltaics-positive energy houses, resilient neighbourhoods, and green spaces. By adopting these recommendations, European cities can create climate-neutral urban environments that prioritize clean energy, nature-based solutions, and the overall wellbeing of residents. The findings underscore the need for a multidisciplinary approach combining technological innovation, urban planning strategies, and policy frameworks to effectively achieve climate neutrality.
2023
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2023
Information on the global production and environmental releases of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is of critical importance for regulating and eliminating these chemical substances of worldwide environmental and health concerns. Here, we conduct an extensive literature review to collect and curate quantitative information on the historical global production and multimedia environmental releases of 25 intentionally produced POPs. Our assembled data indicate that as of 2020, a cumulative total of 31 306 kilotonnes (kt) of the 25 POPs had been synthesized and commercialized worldwide, resulting in cumulative releases of 20 348 kt into the global environment. As of 2020, short-chain chlorinated paraffins were the most produced POP, with a historical global cumulative tonnage amounting to 8795 kt, whereas α-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) had the largest historical global cumulative environmental releases of 6567 kt among these 25 POPs. The 1970s witnessed the peak in the annual global production of the 25 investigated POPs. The United States and Europe used to be the hotspots of environmental releases of the 25 investigated POPs, notably in the 1960s and 1970s. By contrast, global environmental releases occurred primarily in China in the 2000s–2010s. Preliminary efforts are also made to integrate the production volume information with “hazard” attributes (persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity, and long-range transport potential) in the evaluation of potential environmental impacts of the 25 POPs. The results show that dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are potentially associated with higher environmental impacts than other POPs because they are among the top rankings in both the global cumulative production and hazard indicators. This work for the first time reveals the astonishing magnitudes of POP production and environmental releases in contemporary human history. It also underscores the importance of tonnage information in assessments of POPs, POP candidates, and other chemicals of emerging concern.
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
2023
Plastic pollution (including microplastics) has been reported in a variety of biotic and abiotic compartments across the circumpolar Arctic. Due to their environmental ubiquity, there is a need to understand not only the fate and transport of physical plastic particles, but also the fate and transport of additive chemicals associated with plastic pollution. Further, there is a fundamental research gap in understanding long-range transport of chemical additives to the Arctic via plastics as well as their behavior under environmentally relevant Arctic conditions. Here, we comment on the state of the science of plastic as carriers of chemical additives to the Arctic, and highlight research priorities going forward. We suggest further research on the transport pathways of chemical additives via plastics from both distant and local sources and laboratory experiments to investigate chemical behavior of plastic additives under Arctic conditions, including leaching, uptake, and bioaccumulation. Ultimately, chemical additives need to be included in strategic monitoring efforts to fully understand the contaminant burden of plastic pollution in Arctic ecosystems.
2023
2022
2021
2021
2021
The role of nature-based solutions for improving environmental quality, health and well-being
Nature-based solutions (NbS) have been positioned and implemented in urban areas as solutions for enhancing urban resilience in the face of a wide range of urban challenges. However, there is a lack of recommendations of optimal NbS and appropriate typologies fitting to different contexts and urban design. The analytical frameworks for NbS implementation and impact evaluation, that integrate NbS into local policy frameworks, socio-economic transition pathways, and spatial planning, remain fragmented. In this article, the NbS concept and its related terminologies are first discussed. Second, the types of NbS implemented in Europe are reviewed and their benefits over time are explored, prior to categorizing them and highlighting the key methods, criteria, and indicators to identify and assess the NbS’s impacts, co-benefits, and trade-offs. The latter involved a review of the websites of 52 projects and some relevant publications funded by EU Research and Innovation programs and other relevant publications. The results show that there is a shared understanding that the NbS concept encompasses benefits of restoration and rehabilitation of ecosystems, carbon neutrality, improved environmental quality, health and well-being, and evidence for such benefits. This study also shows that most NbS-related projects and activities in Europe use hybrid approaches, with NbS typically developed, tested, or implemented to target specific types of environmental–social–economic challenges. The results of this study indicate that NbS as a holistic concept would be beneficial in the context of climate action and sustainable solutions to enhance ecosystem resilience and adaptive capacity within cities. As such, this article provides a snapshot of the role of NbS in urban sustainability development, a guide to the state-of-the-art, and key messages and recommendations of this rapidly emerging and evolving field.
MDPI
2021
2021
2021