The quantity and type of macro- and microplastics was investigated in rotting material during the composting process of two state-of-the-art composting plants in Austria. Microplastics >0.2 mm, were found already after the first turning event in both facilities. The generation of microplastics was more extensive in the plant that used shorter turning intervals during the first four weeks and generated approx. 21 particles per week and kg^-1 DM. After 4 weeks of operation less microplastic particles were detected, which suggested that particles were fractionated to smaller sizes during processing. In addition, a total of nine composts from three different facilities that were operated in various settlement structures were compared. 7 to 232 macro- and microplastic particles per kg DM were found, whereas the highest plastic burden was observed in the composts made from biowaste that originated from the most densely populated area.

The microsomal stability assay is commonly used to rank compounds according to their metabolic stability. Determination of the unbound intrinsic clearance (CL_in,u) is essential for the accurate comparison of compounds, since nonspecific binding to microsomes can lead to an underestimation of the microsomal clearance. In this study, a new method (linear extrapolation in the stability assay, LESA) was established, which allows direct calculation of CL_in,u from microsomal stability data, without the need to independently determine the fraction of free (unbound) drug. The method was validated using nine drugs with different chemical structures and physicochemical properties. The CL_in,u of these compounds was extrapolated from the intrinsic clearance values obtained at different concentrations of human liver microsomes and compared with that calculated by the conventional method, using microsomal intrinsic clearance values and the free fraction of drug determined by equilibrium dialysis, ultracentrifugation, or ultrafiltration. A good agreement was observed between the data generated by the LESA method and those determined by conventional procedures. The method was further evaluated using a published dataset for 10 additional drugs and found to yield intrinsic clearance data comparable to the previously reported values. LESA provides a convenient and rapid method to determine the influence of microsome binding on intrinsic clearance in a single assay.

Amyloid-β (Aβ) oligomers represent a promising biomarker for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, state-of-the-art methods for immunodetection of Aβ oligomers in body fluids show a large variability and lack a reliable and stable