Exposure to certain drugs can trigger new-onset psoriasis or flaring of existing psoriatic disease. The clinical presentation of drug-induced psoriasis can vary, and although there are features suggestive of drug-induced psoriasis, there are currently no standardized criteria to differentiate it from conventional psoriasis. Patients may present with localized psoriasiform plaques, or variants such as palmoplantar, nail disease, or widespread erythroderma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Fertiliser applications are well-established tools in pasture-based agricultural landscapes. This study focuses on the impact of phosphorus (P) fertiliser on grass grub (Costelytra giveni), a major pasture pest. This research investigates the interplay between P, plant growth, and grass grub fitness in Epichloë endophyte-infected perennial ryegrass (Epichloë sp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCyclic imines are a class of lipophilic shellfish toxins comprising gymnodimines, spirolides, pinnatoxins, portimines, pteriatoxins, prorocentrolides, spiro-prorocentrimine, symbiomines and kabirimine. They are structurally diverse, but all share an imine moiety as part of a bicyclic ring system. These compounds are produced by marine microalgal species and are characterized by the rapid death that they induce when injected into mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF(Project LINK) was a service-learning cultural competence training programme completed by undergraduate dietetic students enrolled in the University of Saskatchewan's (USASK) nutrition and dietetic programme.This paper evaluates the impact of participation in the programme on students' cultural competence. We conducted a cross-sectional survey and qualitative analysis of reflective essays of 107 participants of Project LINK from 2011 to 2014.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There is a clinical need for treatments that can slow or prevent the growth of an abdominal aortic aneurysm, not only to reduce the need for surgery, but to provide a means to treat those who cannot undergo surgery.
Methods: Analysis of the UK Aneurysm Growth Study (UKAGS) prospective cohort was conducted to test for an association between cardiometabolic medications and the growth of an abdominal aortic aneurysm above 30 mm in diameter, using linear mixed-effect models.
Results: A total of 3670 male participants with data available on abdominal aortic aneurysm growth, smoking status, co-morbidities, and medication history were included.
Paralytic shellfish poisoning is a worldwide problem induced by shellfish contaminated with paralytic shellfish toxins. To protect human health, a regulatory limit for these toxins in shellfish flesh has been adopted by many countries. In a recent study, mice were dosed with saxitoxin and tetrodotoxin mixtures daily for 28 days showing toxicity at low concentrations, which appeared to be at odds with other work.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRegulatory limits for toxins in shellfish are required to ensure the health of consumers. However, these limits also impact the profitability of shellfish industries making it critical that they are fit for purpose. Since human toxicity data is rarely available, the setting of regulatory limits is dependent on animal data which can then be extrapolated for use in the assessment of human risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study investigated the potential influence of the 2019 Canada's Food Guide (CFG) on the eating environment and food provided in early learning and childcare centres across Canada. Directors of childcare centres were invited to complete an online survey about their awareness and adoption of the 2019 CFG and submit their menus for analysis. Twenty-five directors completed the survey, and eighteen cycle menus were analyzed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFungal endophytes in perennial ryegrass are essential to New Zealand's pastoral system due to anti-insect effects. However, endophytes also produce compounds which can be detrimental to animals. Furthermore, as these toxins have been detected in the milk and fat of animals grazing common-toxic (containing lolitrem B) or AR37 endophyte-infected herbage they could enter the human food chain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCan J Diet Pract Res
December 2022
The home environment and parental influence are strong predictors of eating behaviours in young children and can influence healthy development. The objective of this study was to describe the feeding practices of a sample of families on Prince Edward Island. Eleven parent participants were recruited, one-on-one interviews were held, and a thematic analysis was conducted.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIdentifying compounds responsible for the observed toxicity of the species is a critical step to ascertaining whether they contribute to ciguatera poisoning. Macroalgae samples were collected during research expeditions to Rarotonga (Cook Islands) and North Meyer Island (Kermadec Islands), from which two new species were characterized, CAWD232 and CAWD242. Previous chemical and toxicological investigations of these species demonstrated that they did not produce the routinely monitored Pacific ciguatoxins nor maitotoxin-1 (MTX-1), yet were highly toxic to mice via intraperitoneal (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEpichloë endophytes in grass associations express a myriad of secondary metabolites which can affect the health of grazing animals and reduce the impact of insect pests on pasture. The ideal endophyte-grass association must have a favourable chemical profile such that the impact on animal health is minimised while the beneficial, deterrent effect on insect pests is maximised. A number of endophyte-perennial ryegrass associations have been successfully commercialised but research is on-going to further improve production in farming systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSaxitoxin and its derivatives, the paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs), are well known to be toxic to humans, and maximum permitted levels in seafood have been established by regulatory authorities in many countries. Monitoring of PSTs is typically performed using chemical methods which quantify the concentration of the individual PST analogues, of which there are many. However, since the toxicities of analogues are different, they do not equally contribute to the overall toxicity of the sample.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRegulatory limits for shellfish toxins are required to protect human health. Often these limits are set using only acute toxicity data, which is significant, as in some communities, shellfish makes up a large proportion of their daily diet and can be contaminated with paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) for several months. In the current study, feeding protocols were developed to mimic human feeding behaviour and diets containing three dose rates of saxitoxin dihydrochloride (STX.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA number of studies have demonstrated that patients with autoimmune disease have lower levels of vitamin D prompting speculation that vitamin D might suppress inflammation and immune responses in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The objective of this study was to compare vitamin D levels in children with JIA at disease onset with healthy children. We hypothesized that children and adolescents with JIA have lower vitamin D levels than healthy children and adolescents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnderstanding the toxicity and production rates of the various secondary metabolites produced by and cohabitating benthic dinoflagellates is essential to unravelling the complexities associated with ciguatera poisoning. In the present study, a sulphated cyclic polyether, gambierone, was purified from CAWD232 and its acute toxicity was determined using intraperitoneal injection into mice. It was shown to be of low toxicity with an LD of 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPectenotoxins (PTXs) are produced by spp., along with okadaic acid, dinophysistoxin 1, and dinophysistoxin 2. The okadaic acid group toxins cause diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP), so are therefore regulated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe cyanobacterium Microcoleus autumnalis grows as thick benthic mats in rivers and is becoming increasingly prevalent around the world. M. autumnalis can produce high concentrations of anatoxins and ingestion of benthic mats has led to multiple dog deaths over the past two decades.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEpoxyjanthitrems I-IV (-) and epoxyjanthitriol () were isolated from seed of perennial ryegrass () infected with the endophytic fungus var. Although structures for epoxyjanthitrems I-IV have previously been proposed in the literature, this is the first report of a full structural elucidation yielding NMR (Nuclear magnetic resonance) assignments for all five epoxyjanthitrem compounds, and additionally, it is the first isolation of epoxyjanthitriol (). Epoxyjanthitrem I induced tremors in mice and gave a dose dependent reduction in weight gain and feeding for porina (), a common pasture pest in New Zealand.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCiguatera fish poisoning (CFP) is prevalent around the tropical and sub-tropical latitudes of the world and impacts many Pacific island communities intrinsically linked to the reef system for sustenance and trade. While the genus Gambierdiscus has been linked with CFP, it is commonly found on tropical reef systems in microalgal assemblages with other genera of toxin-producing, epiphytic and/or benthic dinoflagellates - Amphidinium, Coolia, Fukuyoa, Ostreopsis and Prorocentrum. Identifying a biomarker compound that can be used for the early detection of Gambierdiscus blooms, specifically in a mixed microalgal community, is paramount in enabling the development of management and mitigation strategies.
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