The worrying and constant increase in the quantities of food and beverage industry by-products and wastes is one of the main factors contributing to global environmental pollution. Since this is a direct consequence of continuous population growth, it is imperative to reduce waste production and keep it under control. Re-purposing agro-industrial wastes, giving them new life and new directions of use, is a good first step in this direction, and, in global food production, vegetables and fruits account for a significant percentage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimer's disease (AD) is a widespread multifactorial aging-related pathology, which includes cholinergic deficit among its main causes. Following a multi-target design strategy, the structure of the approved drug donepezil was taken as the starting point for generating some new potential multi-functional compounds. Therefore, a series of twenty molecular hybrids were synthesized and assayed against three different enzymes, namely the well-established targets acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), and the innovative one fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUrinary biomarkers of mycotoxin exposure were evaluated in the case of healthy people ( = 41) and coeliac patients ( = 19) by using a multi-biomarker LC-MS/MS immunoaffinity based method capable to analyse biomarkers of nine mycotoxins, i.e., fumonisin B1 (FB1), fumonisin B2 (FB2), deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZEN), ochratoxin A (OTA), Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin and Nivalenol (NIV).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOchratoxin A (OTA) is a well-known mycotoxin with wide distribution in food and feed. Fungal genome sequencing has great utility for identifying secondary metabolites gene clusters for known and novel compounds. A comparative analysis of the OTA-biosynthetic cluster in , and has revealed a high synteny in OTA cluster organization in five structural genes (, , , and ).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present study investigated the dietary and urinary OTA occurrence among 44 Lebanese children. Relying on HPLC-FLD analysis, OTA was found in all the urine samples and in 46.5% and 25% of the 24 h duplicate diet and dinner samples, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOchratoxin A (OTA) occurrence in grapes is caused by black Aspergilli (Aspergillus carbonarius followed by A. niger) vineyards contamination. It depends on climatic conditions, geographical regions, damage by insects, and grape varieties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpices are susceptible to mycotoxin contamination which can cause gastrointestinal and adverse central nervous symptoms in humans, which highlights the importance of assessing the risk of their consumption on a daily basis. The aim of this study was to assess the risk of mycotoxin intake from spices in routinely prepared Lebanese dishes. 150 households were interviewed about their usage of 27 type of spices and 6 routinely prepared Lebanese dishes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe determination of mycotoxin and metabolite concentrations in human and animal urine is currently used for risk assessment and mycotoxin intake measurement. In this study, pig urine ( = 195) was collected at slaughterhouses in 2012 by the Swedish National Food Agency in three counties representing East, South and West regions of Sweden. Urinary concentrations of four mycotoxins, (deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZEA), fumonisin B (FB), and ochratoxin A (OTA)), and four key metabolites, (deepoxy-deoxynivalenol (DOM-1), aflatoxin M (AFM, biomarker of AFB), α-zearalenol (α-ZOL), and β-zearalenol (β-ZOL)) were identified and measured by UPLC-MS/MS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPancreatic lipase, a key enzyme for lipid absorption, is one of the most important targets for the treatment of obesity, while natural compounds have recently attracted much interest as potential inhibitors of this enzyme. Here, in an attempt to find new effective agents, the methanolic extract from (L.) DC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwelve different approaches commonly used for the simultaneous LC tandem MS (MS/MS) determination of mycotoxins (deoxynivalenol, aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, T-2 and HT-2 toxins, fumonisins, and zearalenone) were tested in cereals and feed materials. They comprised different extraction solvents, types of cleanup [solid-phase extraction, QuEChERS, and immunoaffinity (IMA)], and calibration approaches (external or matrix-matched). The percentage of mycotoxins with acceptable recovery, according to Regulation (EC) No.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFood Addit Contam Part A Chem Anal Control Expo Risk Assess
April 2018
Deoxynivalenol (DON) is an important mycotoxin produced by several species of Fusarium. It occurs often in wheat grain and is frequently associated with significant levels of its modified form DON-3-glucoside (DON-3-Glc). Ozone (O) is a powerful disinfectant and oxidant, classified as GRAS (Generally Recognised As Safe), that reacts easily with specific compounds including the mycotoxins aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, trichothecenes and zearalenone.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetabolic profile of urine from piglets administered with single boluses contaminated with mycotoxin mixture (deoxynivalenol, aflatoxin B, fumonisin B, zearalenone, and ochratoxin A) were studied by H NMR spectroscopy and chemometrics (PCA, PLS-DA, and OPLS-DA). The mycotoxin levels were close to the established maximum and guidance levels for animal feed (2003/100/EC and 2006/576/EC). Urine samples were obtained from four groups of four piglets before (control, C) or within 24 h (treated, T) after receiving a contaminated boluses with increasing doses of mycotoxins (boluses 1-4).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeoxynivalenol (DON) exposure is estimated by the combined measures of urinary DON and DON-glucuronides. In this study, data from single-mycotoxin (SM) and a multimycotoxin (MM) methods were compared for 256 Swedish adult urine samples. Both methods included β-glucuronidase predigestion, immunoaffinity enrichment, and LC-MS/MS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe efficacy of four agricultural byproducts (ABPs) and two commercial binders (CBs) to reduce the gastrointestinal absorption of a mixture of mycotoxins was tested in piglets using urinary mycotoxin biomarkers as indicator of the absorbed mycotoxins. Twenty-eight piglets were administered a bolus contaminated with the mycotoxin mixture containing or not ABP or CB. Twenty-four hour urine was collected and analyzed for mycotoxin biomarkers by using a multiantibody immunoaffinity-based LC-MS/MS method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Aspergillus carbonarius is the main responsible fungus of ochratoxin A (OTA) contamination of grapes and derived products. To date, the biosynthetic mechanism of this mycotoxin has been partially elucidated. Availability of genome sequence of A.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe efficacy of color sorting on reducing aflatoxin levels in shelled apricot kernels was assessed. Naturally-contaminated kernels were submitted to an electronic optical sorter or blanched, peeled, and manually sorted to visually identify and sort discolored kernels (dark and spotted) from healthy ones. The samples obtained from the two sorting approaches were ground, homogenized, and analysed by HPLC-FLD for their aflatoxin content.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGrape pomaces are increasingly being used as starting material in the industrial production of plant food supplements (PFS), food coloring, and tartrates, but they are at risk of ochratoxin A (OTA) contamination, a mycotoxin with nephrotoxic and carcinogenic effects. We analyzed 24 commercial PFS and 13 food coloring samples derived from Vitis vinifera, mainly pomaces, using a HPLC-FLD method for OTA determination. OTA was found in 75% of PFS samples and 69% of food coloring samples at levels of <1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe fate of aflatoxins during processing of contaminated almonds into nougat, pastries, and almond syrup was evaluated by testing the effect of each processing step (blanching, peeling, roasting, caramelization, cooking, and water infusion) on the distribution and levels of aflatoxins. Blanching and peeling did not reduce total aflatoxins that were distributed between peeled almonds (90-93%) and skins (7-10%). Roasting of peeled almonds reduced up to 50% of aflatoxins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman exposure assessment to deoxynivalenol (DON), aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), fumonisin B1 (FB1), zearalenone (ZEA) and ochratoxin A (OTA) can be performed by measuring their urinary biomarkers. Suitable biomarkers of exposure for these mycotoxins are DON + de-epoxydeoxynivalenol (DOM-1), aflatoxin M1 (AFM1), FB1, ZEA + α-zearalenol (α-ZOL) + β-zearalenol (β-ZOL) and OTA, respectively. An UPLC-MS/MS multi-biomarker method was used to detect and measure incidence and levels of these biomarkers in urine samples of 52 volunteers resident in Apulia region in Southern Italy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSubsistence farmers are exposed to a range of mycotoxins. This study applied novel urinary multi-mycotoxin LC-MS/MS methods to determine multiple exposure biomarkers in the high oesophageal cancer region, Transkei, South Africa. Fifty-three female participants donated part of their maize-based evening meal and first void morning urine, which was analysed both with sample clean-up (single and multi-biomarker) and by a 'dilute-and-shoot' multi-biomarker method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMaize harvested in the Centane region of the former Transkei, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, by subsistence farmers has been shown over many seasons to be contaminated with fumonisin mycotoxins. However, there are limited data on the presence of other mycotoxins. Two multimycotoxin LC-MS/MS methods were applied to good and moldy maize samples, as separated by the farmers themselves from the 2011 harvest.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHumans and animals can be simultaneously exposed through the diet to different mycotoxins, including aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, and fumonisins, which are the most important. Evaluation of the frequency and levels of human and animal exposure to these mycotoxins can be performed by measuring the levels of the relevant biomarkers in urine. Available data on the toxicokinetics of these mycotoxins in animals suggest that aflatoxin M(1) (AFM(1)), ochratoxin A (OTA), deoxynivalenol (DON)/de-epoxydeoxynivalenol (DOM-1), alpha-zearalenol (α-ZOL)/beta-zearalenol (β-ZOL), and fumonisin B(1) (FB(1)) can be used as urinary biomarkers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA liquid chromatographic method for the determination of fumonisins B1 (FB1) and B2 (FB2) in corn-based foods for infants and young children was subjected to an interlaboratory validation study involving 11 laboratories. Five blind duplicate sample pairs of each matrix were analyzed to establish the accuracy, repeatability, and reproducibility of the method. Mass fractions in the baby food samples ranged from 89.
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