IZLOŽENOST HRVATSKOG STANOVNIŠTVA OKRATOKSINU A

The exposure of general population in Croatia to ochratoxin A (OTA) was checked in several studies by measuring its concentration either in food samples or in human blood. The concentration of OTA in food and the frequency of OTA-positive samples show high variability from year to year according to the meteorological conditions. Regional variability in OTA contamination of cereals, wine and beans is also significant. However, while higher OTA concentrations and higher number of OTA-positive samples of cereals and beans are found in the northern part of Croatia, wine from the southern part of Croatia contains higher OTA concentrations. These differences are due to the distribution of different moulds, producers of OTA that specifically contaminate various commodities. However, a large-scale study performed on plasma from five Croatian cities collected four times a year showed a higher mean OTA concentration during the summer. The most exposed are citizens of Osijek, because there was no OTA-free sample collected in this town, and the frequency of samples containing the highest OTA concentration was significantly higher than in other cities.Izloženost hrvatskog stanovništva mikotoksinu okratoksinu A (OTA) ispitivana je u nekoliko navrata mjerenjem njegove koncentracije u uzorcima hrane ili u ljudskoj krvi. Koncentracija mikotoksinu OTA u hrani i učestalost pozitivnih uzoraka različita je u uzorcima saku-pljenim u različitim godinama, što ovisi o meteorološkim uvjetima. U žitaricama, vinu i grahu nađene su značajno različite koncentracije OTA s obzirom na mjesto uzorkovanja. Raspodjela uzoraka koji sadrže veću koncentraciju OTA različita je u različitim prehrambenim namirnicama. Značajno veća koncentracija OTA nađena je u uzorcima žitarica i graha sakupljenih u sjevernim dijelovima Hrvatske, dok je vino iz istog područja sadržavalo manju koncentra-ciju OTA negoli vino iz južnih krajeva. Te se razlike mogu objasniti time što u različitim namirnicama različite gljivice proizvode OTA. U opsežnom istraživanju izloženosti OTA hrvatskog stanovništva, sakupljeni su uzorci krvi u pet hrvatskih gradova (Osijek, Rijeka, Split, Varaždin i Zagreb) četiri puta tijekom godine. Najviša je srednja koncentracija u svim uzorcima nađena u uzorcima saku-pljenim u ljeti, a stanovnici Osijeka najviše su izloženi ovom mikotoksinu. Svi uzorci sakupljeni u Osijeku sadržavali su OTA, a učestalost uzoraka koji su sadržavali veće koncentracije OTA bila je značajno viša negoli u drugim gradovima

Pharmaceutical pollution of the world's rivers

Environmental exposure to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can have negative effects on the health of ecosystems and humans. While numerous studies have monitored APIs in rivers, these employ different analytical methods, measure different APIs, and have ignored many of the countries of the world. This makes it difficult to quantify the scale of the problem from a global perspective. Furthermore, comparison of the existing data, generated for different studies/regions/continents, is challenging due to the vast differences between the analytical methodologies employed. Here, we present a global-scale study of API pollution in 258 of the world's rivers, representing the environmental influence of 471.4 million people across 137 geographic regions. Samples were obtained from 1,052 locations in 104 countries (representing all continents and 36 countries not previously studied for API contamination) and analyzed for 61 APIs. Highest cumulative API concentrations were observed in sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia, and South America. The most contaminated sites were in low- to middle-income countries and were associated with areas with poor wastewater and waste management infrastructure and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The most frequently detected APIs were carbamazepine, metformin, and caffeine (a compound also arising from lifestyle use), which were detected at over half of the sites monitored. Concentrations of at least one API at 25.7% of the sampling sites were greater than concentrations considered safe for aquatic organisms, or which are of concern in terms of selection for antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, pharmaceutical pollution poses a global threat to environmental and human health, as well as to delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Waulsortian Mud Mounds

Published: 01 February 2011. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011.Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEpu