Heavy Metals in Foods and Beverages: Global Situation, Health Risks and Reduction Methods.

Heavy metals are chemical elements with a toxic effect on the human body. The expansion of industries has led to significant increasing levels of these constituents in the environment. Intensive agriculture can also lead to an increased concentration of heavy metals as a result of using different fertilizers and pesticides.

Evaluation of in vitro corrosion resistance and in vivo osseointegration properties of a FeMnSiCa alloy as potential degradable implant biomaterial.

In vitro electrochemical characterization and in vivo implantation in an animal model were employed to evaluate the degradation behaviour and the biological activity of FeMnSi and FeMnSiCa alloys obtained using UltraCast (Ar atmosphere) melting. Electrochemical characterization was based on open circuit potential measurement, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic polarization techniques while the alloys were immersed in Ringer's solution at 37 °C for 7 days. Higher corrosion rates were measured for the Ca-containing material, resulting from inefficient passivation of the metal surface by oxy-hydroxide products.

RETRACTED: In vitro corrosion resistance and in vivo osseointegration testing of new multifunctional beta-type quaternary TiMoZrTa alloys.

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CUPRAC Voltammetric Determination of Antioxidant Capacity in Tea Samples by Using Screen-Printed Microelectrodes.

Measurement of antioxidant capacity represents an analytical major challenge in terms of accuracy, efficiency, rapid response, or low cost of detection methods. Quantification of antioxidant capacity of food samples using disposable screen-printed microelectrodes (SPMEs) was based on cyclic voltammetry versus open-circuit potential (CV vs OCP) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) as compared with spectrophotometric measurement of the CUPRAC reaction with 6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid (trolox). The SPMEs are organic-resistant electrodes and thus compatible with food samples and organic solvents used to dissolve trolox.

Monitoring methods and predictive models for water status in Jonathan apples.

Evaluation of water status in Jonathan apples was performed for 20 days. Loss moisture content (LMC) was carried out through slow drying of wholes apples and the moisture content (MC) was carried out through oven drying and lyophilisation for apple samples (chunks, crushed and juice). We approached a non-destructive method to evaluate LMC and MC of apples using image processing and multilayer neural networks (NN) predictor.