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A Standardized Test Protocol for Evaluation of Scale Reduction Technologies.

ABSTRACT: Precipitation of calcium carbonate (i.e., scaling) can occur in both traditional tank (electric and gas) and "green" tankless hot water systems that have implications for public health, water and energy sustainability, infrastructure damage, and consumer esthetics. There are many scale reduction devices and technologies that aim to reduce or eliminate such problems, and several standardized methods have been proposed to research their performance with scientific rigor. All of the existing approaches were inherently nonreproducible or could not quantify important aspects of scale deposition, including quantity, location, and deposit durability. Here we develop and vet a Standardized Scaling Test Protocol that overcomes many of these deficiencies, using a laboratory-scale model premise plumbing system and a synthesized synthetic scaling water that could be reproduced in any laboratory. This approach produced 25.1 g of calcium carbonate scaling (95% confidence interval of 20.3-29.8 g, n = 3) in ∼5 days. Illustrative scale reduction for a range of representative technologies, including cation exchange, electrochemical deionization, magnetism, electric field generator, media-induced precipitation, phosphate sacrificial media, and citric acid sacrificial media, ranged from 0% to 100% using the standardized protocol. The general approach was also applied to suitable local natural water with high scaling potential, and similar capabilities were observed.

SUBMITTER: Devine C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8713702 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BACKGROUND:HIV testing guidelines provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are continually changing to reflect advancements in new testing technology. Evaluation of existing and new point-of-care (POC) HIV tests is crucial to inform testing guidelines and provide information to clinicians and other HIV test providers. Characterizing the performance of POC HIV tests using unprocessed specimens can provide estimates for the window period of detection, or the time from HIV acquisition to test positivity, which allows clinicians and other HIV providers to select the appropriate POC HIV tests for persons who may be recently infected with HIV. OBJECTIVE:This paper describes the protocols and procedures used to evaluate the performance of the newest POC tests and determine their sensitivity during early HIV infection. METHODS:Project DETECT is a CDC-funded study that is evaluating POC HIV test performance. Part 1 is a cross-sectional, retrospective study comparing behavioral characteristics and HIV prevalence of the overall population of the Public Health-Seattle & King County (PHSKC) Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Clinic to Project DETECT participants enrolled in part 2. Part 2 is a cross-sectional, prospective study evaluating POC HIV tests in real time using unprocessed whole blood and oral fluid specimens. A POC nucleic acid test (NAT) was added to the panel of HIV tests in June 2018. Part 3 is a longitudinal, prospective study evaluating seroconversion sensitivity of POC HIV tests through serial follow-up testing. For comparison, HIV-1 RNA and HIV-1/HIV-2 antigen/antibody tests are also performed for participants enrolled in part 2 or 3. A behavioral survey that collects information about demographics, history of HIV testing, STD history, symptoms of acute HIV infection, substance use, sexual behaviors in the aggregate and with recent partners, and use of pre-exposure prophylaxis and antiretroviral therapy is completed at each part 2 or 3 visit. RESULTS:Between September 2015 and March 2019, there were 14,990 Project DETECT-eligible visits (part 1) to the PHSKC STD Clinic resulting in 1819 part 2 Project DETECT study visits. The longitudinal study within Project DETECT (part 3) enrolled 27 participants with discordant POC test results from their part 2 visit, and 10 (37%) were followed until they had fully seroconverted with concordant positive POC test results. Behavioral survey data and HIV test results, sensitivity, and specificity will be presented elsewhere. CONCLUSIONS:Studies such as Project DETECT are critical for evaluating POC HIV test devices as well as describing characteristics of persons at risk for HIV acquisition in the United States. HIV tests in development, including POC NATs, will provide new opportunities for HIV testing programs. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID):RR1-10.2196/16332.

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A Standardized Test Protocol for Evaluation of Scale Reduction Technologies.

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