Hampton Roads Sanitation District

ABSTRACTBackground:Temporomandibular Joint Disorders (TMDs) are a group of conditions affecting the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), masticatory muscles, and associated structures. Suburban populations often experience barriers to healthcare access, potentially influencing TMD prevalence and management.Objective:To analyze the prevalence and types of TMDs in suburban areas, identify associated risk factors, and assess the patterns of healthcare-seeking behavior among affected individuals.Methods:This cross-sectional epidemiological research was conducted in suburban regions over six months. A total of 500 individuals aged 18–65 years were evaluated using the “Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD)”. Data on demographics, clinical presentations, and risk factors were collected and analyzed.Results:The prevalence of TMDs was 23.6%. Among the affected individuals, myofascial pain (42.4%) was the most common type, followed by internal derangements (35.2%) and degenerative joint diseases (22.4%). Female participants showed a significantly higher prevalence (64.8%). Key risk factors included bruxism, stress, and malocclusion.Conclusion:The findings highlight the need for targeted awareness and healthcare initiatives in suburban areas to address TMDs effectively. Early identification and management of modifiable risk factors can improve outcomes.

A stakeholder structured engagement process at the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Management (SWIM) conference and workshop was held in December 2024. The participants identified critical current and future issues facing the water sector that are synthesized in this paper. In particular, they highlighted issues of water systems’ vulnerability and lack of resilience to hazards and stressors; inequities associated with water scarcity; and water quality problems – all affected by natural or man-made influences. The Smart One Water (S1W) vision was the baseline for the SWIM 2024 conference. This paper expands the S1W vision with a synthesis of the conference discussions about S1W-related fundamental concepts, practices and implementation barriers. It includes initial recommendations – based on a digital, data-focused, stakeholder-driven approach – with expert representatives of the public and private water supply sectors, academia, government and policymakers tasked to generate real-world adaptable ideas and practical solutions. Specifically, S1W envisions a future where water management and governance silos are eliminated to provide the necessary collaboration to enable efficient, resilient, affordable and equitable water access capable of adapting to a changing environment. This would be a future where communities govern collaboratively through integrated decision-making on policy, management and funding of natural and engineered water systems at the river basin scale.

Minimizing antimicrobial use is a recommended strategy to reduce the evolution and spread of antibiotic resistance; however, efficacy is elusive to measure. Wastewater-based surveillance provides a promising means to relate trends in microbial community antibiotic resistance profiles as a function of interventions and other factors. We examined influent sewage metagenomes for two neighboring wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) serving a university and a nearby community. We compared antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) profiles as a function of diagnoses of COVID-19 and other illnesses, antibiotic use, antibiotic/antimicrobial and disinfectant/quaternary ammonium compound concentrations, and COVID-19-related behavioral shifts. Diversity and abundances of ARGs unique to the corresponding sewage were consistently higher for the community WWTP, but converged in 2022 when antibiotic prescriptions surged in the university zip code. Decreases in ARG diversity/abundance were not apparent during periods of decreased antibiotic usage, indicating that extended times may be required for wastewater ARG signals to attenuate following interventions.

In the present study, a novel pilot ozone contactor configuration was employed using hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and multiple ozone diffusion zones in an over-under contactor to reduce bromate formation in three wastewater effluents.

Leveraging comammox Nitrospira and anammox bacteria for shortcut nitrogen removal can drastically lower the carbon footprint of wastewater treatment facilities by decreasing aeration energy, carbon, alkalinity, and tank volume requirements while also potentially reducing nitrous oxide emissions. However, their co-occurrence as dominant nitrifying bacteria is rarely reported in full-scale wastewater treatment. As a result, there is a poor understanding of how operational parameters, in particular, dissolved oxygen, impact their activity and synergistic behavior. Here, we report the impact of dissolved oxygen concentration (DO = 2, 4, 6 mg/L) on the microbial community's transcriptomic expression in a full-scale integrated fixed film activated sludge (IFAS) municipal wastewater treatment facility where nitrogen removal is predominantly performed by comammox Nitrospira and anammox bacterial populations. 16S rRNA transcript compositions revealed anammox bacteria and Nitrospira were significantly more active in IFAS biofilms compared to suspended sludge biomass. In IFAS biofilms, anammox bacteria significantly increased hzo expression at lower dissolved oxygen concentrations and this increase was highly correlated with the amoA expression levels of comammox bacteria. Interestingly, the genes involved in nitrite oxidation by comammox bacteria were significantly more upregulated, relative to the genes involved in ammonia oxidation with decreasing dissolved oxygen concentrations. Ultimately, our findings suggest that comammox Nitrospira supplies anammox bacteria with nitrite via ammonia oxidation and that this synergistic behavior is dependent on dissolved oxygen concentrations.

Jefferson Lab is actively exploring the environmental applications of compact irradiation facilities utilizing Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) accelerator technology ? a well-established technology primarily used in large research machines. Recent advancements, such as the application of thin films of superconducting alloys in radio frequency (RF) resonators and the development of high-capacity cryocoolers, have made it feasible to employ this key technology in compact, standalone irradiation facilities. The main advantage over conventional systems based on normal conducting technology is the significantly enhanced efficiency in beam power generation, enabling exposure to substantially higher radiation doses. In the realm of addressing contaminants in wastewater treatment, particularly concerning persistent substances known as "forever chemicals," this technology presents an attractive solution, given the required considerable effort i.e. dose to break them down. Experiment Numbers:

Abstract Biological treatment is gaining ground as a means to enhance removal of total organic carbon (TOC) as part of a multi‐barrier treatment train for water reuse. Here we applied biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC) analysis to evaluate the extent of removal of various TOC fractions through a pilot‐scale water reuse train employing flocculation/sedimentation, ozone, biologically active carbon (BAC), and granular activated carbon (GAC). BDOC analysis highlighted GAC and ozone treatments as critical to non‐biodegradable dissolved organic carbon removal and the need to optimize BAC performance to maximize GAC adsorption capacity. BDOC analysis was further applied to benchmark process performance to operational conditions, such as empty bed contact time (EBCT), occurrence of nitrification, and operational upsets. The lower EBCT proved to be less resilient to nonideal conditions. Overall, BDOC analysis proved an asset for understanding and improving operation of ozone/BAC/GAC treatments for water reuse.