Search results for "contamination"
showing 10 items of 916 documents
Seasonal and spatial dynamics of enteric viruses in wastewater and in riverine and estuarine receiving waters
2018
International audience; Enteric viruses represent a global public health threat and are implicated in numerous foodborne andwaterborne disease outbreaks. Nonetheless, relatively little is known of their fate and stability in the environment. In this studywe used carefully validatedmethods tomonitor enteric viruses, namely adenovirus (AdV), JC polyomavirus (JCV), noroviruses (NoVs), sapovirus (SaV) and hepatitis A and E viruses (HAV and HEV) fromwastewater source to beaches and shellfish beds. Wastewater influent and effluent, surface water, sediment and shellfish samples were collected in the Conwy catchment (North Wales, UK) once a month for one year. High concentrations of AdV and JCV wer…
Effects of innovative and conventional sanitizing treatments on the reduction of Saccharomycopsis fibuligera defects on industrial durum wheat bread
2016
Wickerhamomyces anomalus, Hyphopichia burtonii and Saccharomycopsis fibuligera are spoilage yeasts causing chalk mold defects on sliced bread packaged under modified atmosphere. The first objective of this study, carried out in a bread-making company for two consecutive years, was to genetically identify yeasts isolated from spoiled sliced bread in Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) and to determine the dominant species among identified strains. The second objective was to evaluate the effects of hydrogen peroxide and silver solution 12% (HPS) treatment in the leavening cells and cooling chambers, in comparison with the conventional Ortho-Phenylphenol (OPP) fumigating treatment, on the inc…
Mycotoxins in dry-cured meats: A review
2017
Dry-cured meats products are consumed in various regions of the world and, consumers are increasingly demanding better quality and safety of these products. Some fungal species can produce mycotoxins in drycured meats, such as aflatoxins and ochratoxins, which, when ingested, can produce carcinogenic and mutagenic effects in humans. Contamination of these products can occur at different points of the production chain, from the field (animal contaminated with feed) to the production or storage of the final product. Although the presence of mycotoxins in drycured meats has been reported in several regions of the world, the presence of these contaminants are not legislated in most countries. T…
Toxicity of biomining effluents to Daphnia magna: Acute toxicity and transcriptomic biomarkers
2018
Increasing metal consumption is driving the introduction of new techniques such as biomining to exploit low grade ores. The biomining impacts notably aquatic ecosystems, yet, the applicability of ecotoxicological tests to study the complex mixture effects of mining waters is insufficiently understood. The aim of the present work was to test if transcriptomic biomarkers are suitable and sensitive for the ecotoxicity assessment of biomining affected waters. The study site had been affected by a multimetal biomine, and the studied water samples formed a concentration gradient of contamination downstream from the biomining site. Cadmium and nickel were used as positive controls in the toxicity …
What Healthcare Workers Should Know about Environmental Bacterial Contamination in the Intensive Care Unit
2017
Intensive care unit- (ICU-) acquired infections are a major health problem worldwide. Inanimate surfaces and equipment contamination may play a role in cross-transmission of pathogens and subsequent patient colonization or infection. Bacteria contaminate inanimate surfaces and equipment of the patient zone and healthcare area, generating a reservoir of potential pathogens, including multidrug resistant species. Traditional terminal cleaning methods have limitations. Indeed patients who receive a bed from prior patient carrying bacteria are exposed to an increased risk (odds ratio 2.13, 95% confidence intervals 1.62–2.81) of being colonized and potentially infected by the same bacterial spec…
Yeasts and moulds contaminants of food ice cubes and their survival in different drinks
2018
Aims To evaluate the levels of unicellular and filamentous fungi in ice cubes produced at different levels and to determine their survival in alcoholic beverages and soft drinks. Methods and Results Sixty samples of ice cubes collected from home level (HL) productions, bars and pubs (BP) and industrial manufacturing plants (MP) were investigated for the presence and cell density of yeasts and moulds. Moulds were detected in almost all samples, while yeasts developed from the majority of HL and MP samples. Representative colonies of microfungi were subjected to phenotypic and genotypic characterization. The identification was carried out by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) ana…
Fostering the antiviral activity of green tea extract for sanitizing purposes through controlled storage conditions
2018
Food-contact surfaces is considered an important vehicle for the indirect transmission of foodborne viral diseases with enteric viruses, especially human norovirus (HuNoV) and hepatitis A virus (HAV). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the antiviral activity of green tea extract (GTE) at room temperature as a function of pH and storage time and to relate it with changes in composition as a consequence of degradation and epimerization reactions in the storage conditions. The obtained results revealed that freshly prepared GTE was very effective in inactivating murine norovirus (MNV) and HAV at neutral and alkaline pH but was ineffective at pH 5.5. Additionally, storage of the solut…
Application of high-content screening for the study of hepatotoxicity: Focus on food toxicology
2020
Safety evaluation of thousands of chemicals that are directly added to or come in contact with food is needed. Due to the central role of the liver in intermediary and energy metabolism and in the biotransformation of foreign compounds, the hepatotoxicity assessment is essential. New approach methodologies have been proposed for the safety evaluation of compounds with the idea of rapidly gaining insight into effects on biochemical mechanisms and cellular processes and screening large number of compounds. In this sense, high-content screening (HCS) is the application of automated microscopy and image analysis for better understanding of complex biological functions and mechanisms of toxicity…
atzgene expressions during atrazine degradation in the soil drilosphere
2010
One of the various ecosystemic services sustained by soil is pollutant degradation mediated by adapted soil bacteria. The pathways of atrazine biodegradation have been elucidated but in situ expression of the genes involved in atrazine degradation has yet to be demonstrated in soil. Expression of the atzA and atzD genes involved in atrazine dechlorination and s-triazine ring cleavage, respectively, was investigated during in situ degradation of atrazine in the soil drilosphere and bulked samples from two agricultural soils that differed in their ability to mineralize atrazine. Interestingly, expression of the atzA gene, although present in both soils, was not detected. Atrazine mineralizati…
Manganese: A New Emerging Contaminant in the Environment
2012
The environment is composed of the atmosphere, earth and water. According to the World Health Organization, more than 100,000 chemicals are released into the global ambient every year as a consequence of their production, use and disposal. The fate of a chemical substance depends on its chemical application and physical-chemical properties, in combination with the characteristics of the environment where it is released. Chemical substances or contaminants discharged into the environment may be “natural” or “manmade”. One of the most misunderstood concepts regarding contamination is the missinterpretation of term “natural”. A “natural” contaminant is one substance that can occur without huma…