Search results for "Contamination"
showing 10 items of 916 documents
Recent advances in Nanomaterial-mediated Bio and immune sensors for detection of aflatoxin in food products
2017
Abstract Aflatoxin is the most harmful mycotoxin which is ubiquitous in foods and agricultural supplies. Since the health of human population is largely determined by the condition of food-producing, contaminated foods and agricultural supplies with aflatoxin can put the safety of people in jeopardy and lead to some fatal disease. In 2003 estimated the annual cost of aflatoxin contamination in the U.S. at about $500 million strong concern for human life. There are a great demand for development of rapid, sensitive and specific methods for detection of aflatoxin at trace levels. The purpose of this review is limited to novel aflatoxin biosensors, paying special attention to those based on th…
Climate Change and Effects on Molds and Mycotoxins
2022
Earth’s climate is undergoing adverse global changes as an unequivocal result of anthropogenic activity. The occurring environmental changes are slowly shaping the balance between plant growth and related fungal diseases. Climate (temperature, available water, and light quality/quantity; as well as extreme drought, desertification, and fluctuations of humid/dry cycles) represents the most important agroecosystem factor influencing the life cycle stages of fungi and their ability to colonize crops, survive, and produce toxins. The ability of mycotoxigenic fungi to respond to Climate Change (CC) may induce a shift in their geographical distribution and in the pattern of mycotoxin occurrence. …
Screening for new accumulator plants in potential hazards elements polluted soil surrounding Peruvian mine tailings
2016
Abstract Tailings usually provide an unfavorable substrate for plant growth because of their multi-stress environment. Plants growing on naturally metal-enriched soils are of particular interest in this perspective, since they are genetically tolerant to high metal concentrations and have an excellent adaptation to extreme conditions. Soil and plant samples were taken in Peru, at a polymetallic mine (mainly Ag, Pb and Cu) in Cajamarca Province, Hualgayoc district. Top soils (0–20 cm) were analyzed for physical and chemical properties by standard methods. Total As, Cu, Pb and Zn concentrations in top soils were determined by ICP–OES. Similar metals in plants were analyzed separately (aerial …
Can technical, functional and structural characteristics of dental units predict Legionella pneumophila and Pseudomonas aeruginosa contamination?
2011
Legionella pneumophila and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are common colonizers of water environments, particularly dental unit waterlines. The aim of this study was to assess whether the technical, functional and structural characteristics of dental units can influence the presence and the levels of opportunistic pathogens. Overall, 42 water samples were collected from dental units in a teaching hospital in Palermo, Italy, including 21 samples from the 21 taps supplied by the municipal water distribution system and 21 samples from oral rinsing cups at 21 dental units. L. pneumophila was present in 16 out of 21 water samples (76.2%) from dental units, and the median concentration was higher in samp…
[Legionella spp. contamination in indoor air: preliminary results of an Italian multicenter study].
2014
Obiettivo. Rilevare la presenza di Legionella spp. nell’aria attraverso un protocollo standardizzato, a fianco dei tradizionali metodi impiegati per la rete idrica. Disegno. In dieci strutture sanitarie è stato selezionato un bagno, la cui acqua presentava una contaminazione da Legionella >1.000 unità formanti colonie (ufc)/litro. La contaminazione dell’aria è stata valutata tramite campionamento attivo (Surface Air System, SAS) e passivo, impiegando piastre di sedimentazione per la valutazione dell’Indice Microbico Aria (Index of Microbial Air, IMA). I campionamenti sono stati effettuati per 8 ore consecutive, a circa 1 m dal pavimento e a 50 cm dal rubinetto. Con il campionamento attivo, …
Environmental applications (air)
2020
Abstract The use of solid sorbent-based devices for the monitoring of contaminants in the air is a widespread trend due to its versatility, physicochemical stability, and high enrichment factor. Active and passive sampling strategies have been developed for air monitoring using different materials, such as carbon-based organic polymers and inorganic sorbents. It has been updated in the literature regarding the most recent applications of the use of solid sorbent-based samplers for the monitoring of air in different sites such as rural, urban, industrialized, and indoor areas, including workplace environments for the evaluation of occupational exposure risks.
Occurrence and risk assessment of mycotoxins, acrylamide, and furan in Latvian beer.
2018
This work reports data on the occurrence of nine mycotoxins and two food processing contaminants - acrylamide and furan - in a total of 100 beers produced in Latvia. Mycotoxins were detected by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry, acrylamide by HPLC coupled with quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometry, and furan by headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The most frequently occurring mycotoxins were HT-2 and deoxynivalenol (DON), which were detected in 52% and 51% of the analysed samples. The highest content was observed for DON, reaching the maximum of 248 µg kg-1. Furan was ubiquitous, and 74% of the samples contained acrylamid…
Application of Pinhole Plasma Jet Activated Water against Escherichia coli, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, and Decontamination of Pesticide Residues…
2022
Plasma activated water (PAW) generated from pinhole plasma jet using gas mixtures of argon (Ar) and 2% oxygen (O2) was evaluated for pesticide degradation and microorganism decontamination (i.e., Escherichia coli and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides) in chili (Capsicum annuum L.). A flow rate of 10 L/min produced the highest concentration of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) at 369 mg/L. Results showed that PAW treatment for 30 min and 60 min effectively degrades carbendazim and chlorpyrifos by about 57% and 54% in solution, respectively. In chili, carbendazim and chlorpyrifos were also decreased, to a major extent, by 80% and 65% after PAW treatment for 30 min and 60 min, respectively. E. coli popula…
The feasibility of pulsed light processing in the meat industry
2019
Abstract Today, the increasing demand for minimally processed foods that are nutritious, sensorially acceptable, and free from microbial, chemical and physical hazards, challenges research and development to establish alternative methods to reduce the level of bacterial contamination. As one of the newly developing non-thermal methods, pulsed light is a technology for the fast, mild, and residue-free surface decontamination of meat and meat contact materials in the meat processing environment. This review provides specific information on pulsed light technology and the feasibility of its application for unpackaged and packaged meat and meat products as well as meat contact materials. The ad…
Démarche statistique pour la sélection des indicateurs par Random Forests pour la surveillance de la qualité des sols
2013
The volume of data, and the large number of biological variables to be tested (one hundred), require analytical techniques, such asRandom Forests, which can overcome the problem of multi-colinearity for the selection of indicators, sensitive to various factors.Random Forests methodology is appropriate for the selection of the most discriminant variables. So, we searched for the best wayto select them, by bringing together all biological variables, representing the Microflora and Fauna. This approach focuses on impactindicators from the Bio2 program, indicators of flora and indicators of accumulation (snails) were not included.This work has been implemented on the three factors of discrimina…