Research Publications (Food Safety)

Owing to the increasing application of engineered nanoparticles (NPs), besides the workplace, human beings are also exposed to NPs from nanoproducts through the skin, respiratory tract, digestive tract and vein injection. This review states pathways of cellular uptake, subcellular distribution and excretion of NPs.

The amino acid derivative reactivity assay (ADRA) is an in chemico alternative method that focuses on protein binding as the molecular initiating event for skin sensitization. It is a simple and versatile method that has successfully solved some of the problems of the direct peptide reactivity assay (DPRA). The transferability and within‐ and between‐laboratory reproducibility of ADRA were evaluated and confirmed as part of a validation study conducted at four participating laboratories.

Arsenic is a metalloid widely found in the environment in organic and inorganic forms. Exposure to inorganic arsenic forms via drinking water has been associated with an increased incidence of negative health effects, including reproductive disorders and dysfunction of the endocrine system. However, the impact of arsenic exposure on female reproductive development is still unclear.

Spent lead paste is the main component in lead-acid batteries reaching end of life. It contains about 55% lead sulphate and 35% lead dioxide, as well as minor amounts of lead oxide. It is necessary to recycle spent lead paste with minimal pollution and low energy consumption instead of the conventional smelting method.

The adverse health consequences of environmental, occupational, and dietary exposure to either diethylnitrosamine (DEN) or cadmium (Cd) have been widely investigated. However, because most environmental exposures to xenobiotics do not occur in isolation but in mixtures, the effects of simultaneous exposure to both DEN and Cd on hepatorenal function deserves investigation.

The aim of this study was to examine whether a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-γ agonist could affect cadmium (Cd)-induced cytotoxicity via the increased expression of megalin, one of the uptake pathways, using renal epithelial LLC-PK1 cells.

Environmental pollution is significant and oftentimes hazardous in the areas, where mining, foundries and smelters and other metallurgical operations are located. Systematic research on the chronic effects of metals started during the past century; nevertheless, it is evident that even today, there are large gaps in knowledge regarding the assessment of the health effects caused by environmental and occupational exposures to these metals.

Background: Missile-related blood lead elevations and toxicity are well documented in the literature but reports on its associated risk factor(s) are few.
Objective: To determine if bone fracture(s) contribute to an elevated lead blood level.

In most laboratory studies with oral exposure of terrestrial invertebrates to metals an artificial food, which is easy to handle, is used. The bioavailability of metals from this artificial food may, however, be much higher than from more field relevant food sources. Such differences may affect toxicokinetic processes in different tissues.

Leaves of five selected plants Citrus limon (Rutaceae), Ceratonia siliqua L., Olea europaea (Oleaceae), Washingtonia filifera, and Myoporum (Myoporaceae) grown in Jordan were examined for removal of heavy metals (cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) ions) for aqueous solutions. Cd and Pb were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrometry. A pH S-2 acidometer was used for determining the acidity of leaves–solution systems.

In a recent article in this journal, Luby, Polasky, and Swackhamer come to the provocative conclusion that urban water prices in the United States are “cheaper when drier.” They also argue that utilities fail to provide affordable water and that they charge less for “additional” use compared to “essential” use. We challenge these claims.

We propose a time series modeling approach based on nonlinear dynamical systems to recover the underlying dynamics and predictability of streamflow and to produce projections with identifiable skill. First, a wavelet spectral analysis is performed on the time series to identify the dominant quasiperiodic bands. The time series is then reconstructed across these bands and summed to obtain a signal time series.

Phase five of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project enabled a range of decadal modeling experiments where climate models were initialized with observations and allowed to evolve freely for 10–30 years. However, climate models struggle to realistically simulate rainfall and the skill of rainfall prediction in decadal experiments is poor.

We describe a new effort to enhance climate forecast relevance and usability through the development of a system for evaluating and displaying real‐time subseasonal to seasonal (S2S) climate forecasts on a watershed scale. Water managers may not use climate forecasts to their full potential due to perceived low skill, mismatched spatial and temporal resolutions, or lack of knowledge or tools to ingest data.

by Yasmin Chau, Fu-Shuang Li, Olesya Levsh, Jing-Ke Weng

Author(s): Xiangsong Meng, Sultan Ahmed Khoso, Jianhua Kang, Jiangqiu Wu, Jiande Gao, Shangyong Lin, Meirong Wu, Wei Sun, Yuehua Hu

Author(s): Xunzhang Pan, Hailin Wang, Ziwei Wang, Lu Lin, Qi Zhang, Xinzhu Zheng, Wenying Chen

Author(s): Wei Ma, Yuanyuan Tang, Pengfei Wu, Yunxue Xia

Author(s): Wei-Jie Xue, Chang-Bo Zhang, Pei-Pei Wang, Chang-Rong Wang, Yong-Chun Huang, Xin Zhang, Zhong-Qi Liu

Author(s): Huijuan Song, Liang Peng, Zhiyi Li, Xiaozhou Deng, Jihai Shao, Ji-dong Gu

Author(s): Jiajun Wen, Zhongwu Li, Ninglin Luo, Mei Huang, Xiang Ding, Xianrong Bu, Ming Chen

Author(s): Lixian Yao, Manus P. Carey, Jiawen Zhong, Cuihua Bai, Changmin Zhou, Andrew A. Meharg

Author(s): Feng Li, Yang Zheng, Jiang Tian, Fei Ge, Xingwang Liu, Yixin Tang, Chuang Feng

Author(s): HuaWei Fang, WuShuang Li, ShuXin Tu, YongZhen Ding, RuiGang Wang, Christopher Rensing, YuanPing Li, RenWei Feng

Author(s): B.F. Yan, C. Nguyen, O.S. Pokrovsky, F. Candaudap, C. Coriou, S. Bussière, T. Robert, J.Y. Cornu