Bacterial quality and depuration of the green mussel Perna viridis from natural beds

Green mussel (Perna viridis) and sea water from their natural beds on the coastal areas of Porto Novo were studied between April and August 1996 for their bacterial quality. Water samples from the beds were also analysed for their physico-chemical parameters. The total bacterial count of mussels from natural beds as well as bed waters ranged 10³ organisms per gram of mussel meat suspension and per milliliter of sea water. The faecal coliforms were found to be within the permissible limits. Pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella spp., Streptococcus spp. and Staphylococcus spp. were absent. The variations in pH, temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen of the seawater samples were insignificant. The mussels were subjected to depuration by different methods among which chlorination was found to be most effective

Editorial: Obesogens in the XXI century: Emerging health challenges

The global prevalence of overweight and obesity has risen dramatically in recent decades. Obesity is a major public health problem, recognized by the World Health Organization as one of the most important public health challenges of the 21st century (1). Therefore, preventing obesity is a public health priority for adults, children, and adolescents. This is especially important because overweight and obese children are likely to remain obese into adulthood and are more likely to develop non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease at a younger age. Several factors are thought to be involved in the obesity pandemic, but in recent years the focus has been on exposure to specific environmental pollutants, the obesogens. The obesogen hypothesis was postulated in 2006 by Grün and Blumberg (2). The authors found that tributyltin could induce adipogenesis in vitro and in vivo. This “simple” finding was a huge breakthrough in Endocrinology and Metabolism. In these almost two decades, a significant body of evidence was gathered, and currently, obesogens have been considered key actors in the obesity epidemic

Evaluation of environmental quality of mediterranean coastal lagoons using persistent organic pollutants and metals in thick-lipped grey mullet

The evaluation of past and present anthropogenic impacts affecting the ecological quality status of transitional ecosystems is crucial from the perspective of protecting them from further deterioration, and to evaluate remediation and restoration measures. Contamination patterns of thick-lipped grey mullet from two Mediterranean coastal lagoons within a protected area in Italy were assessed and compared in order to evaluate their overall quality status and to collect information that can provide useful feedback on management choices aimed at enhancing environmental quality and biodiversity conservation. The quality status of the two lagoons was evaluated by an environmental assessment methodology based on indicators of direct and indirect human pressures, while a broad range of analyses were carried out to determine the presence and concentration of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and metals in fish muscle tissue. A good quality status resulted for both lagoons, and an overall limited anthropogenic impact in the surrounding area. This could account for POPs and metal contamination levels found in mullet, although limited, and relating to their patterns. The overlap of results achieved with the two evaluation approaches can provide support for management choices in Mediterranean lagoon environments, especially for those committed to the protection and conservation of biodiversity

Determination of halogenated flame retardants in food: optimization and validation of a method based on a two-step clean-up and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

In this work, a new simple method based on a two-step clean-up and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis for the determination of emerging halogenated flame retardants (HFRs), such as dechlorane plus (DP) and brominated phthalates, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in different food items was optimized and validated. Several types of food items, i.e. fish (smoked salmon and cod fillet), meat (chicken breast), chicken eggs, cow milk, and extra virgin olive oil, were chosen as representative matrices of the main food categories. After lyophilisation, the food samples were extracted using acetonitrile:toluene (9:1, v/v). As interferences, such as lipids and pigments, were co-extracted, a two-step clean-up (including Florisil and acid silica) was performed to efficiently remove them prior to GC-MS analysis in electron capture negative ionization mode (GC-ECNI/MS). The performance criteria established by the European Commission (2014/118/EU) were achieved with this method for all target analytes, except for the LOQ achieved for BDE-209 (0.1 ng/g wet weight, ww). The trueness ranged between 75 and 125% for most compounds and the matrices analyzed and the repeatability (expressed as RSD%) was &lt;20%, within the set performance criteria. The method was then used for the determination of PBDEs and emerging HFRs in 20 different food items purchased from Antwerp supermarkets, revealing a prevalent contamination with PBDEs (up to 2.02 ng/g ww) and tribromoanisole (up to 6.6 ng/g ww) in the fish/seafood category.</p

Multi-contaminant analysis of organophosphate and halogenated flame retardants in food matrices using ultrasonication and vacuum assisted extraction, multi-stage cleanup and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A multi-residue analytical method was developed for the determination of a range of flame retardants (FRs), including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), emerging halogenated FRs (EFRs) and organophosphate FRs (PFRs), in food matrices. An ultrasonication and vacuum assisted extraction (UVAE), followed by a multi-stage clean-up procedure, enabled the removal of up to 1. g of lipid from 2.5. g of freeze-dried food samples and significantly reduce matrix effects. UVAE achieves a waste factor (WF) of about 10%, while the WFs of classical QuEChERS methods range usually between 50 and 90%. The low WF of UVAE leads to a dramatic improvement in the sensitivity along with saving up to 90% of spiking (internal) standards. Moreover, a two-stage clean-up on Florisil and aminopropyl silica was introduced after UVAE, for an efficient removal of pigments and residual lipids, which led to cleaner extracts than normally achieved by dispersive solid phase extraction (d-SPE). In this way, the extracts could be concentrated to low volumes, e.g. <100. μL and the equivalent matrix concentrations were up to 100. g ww/mL. The final analysis of PFRs was performed on GC-EI-MS, while PBDEs and EFRs were measured by GC-ECNI-MS. Validation tests were performed with three food matrices (lean beef, whole chicken egg and salmon filet), obtaining acceptable recoveries (66-135%) with good repeatability (RSD 1-24%, mean 7%). Method LOQs ranged between 0.008 and 0.04. ng/g dw for PBDEs, between 0.08 and 0.20. ng/g dw for EFRs, and between 1.4 and 3.6. ng/g dw for PFRs. The method was further applied to eight types of food samples (including meat, eggs, fish, and seafood) with lipid contents ranging from 0.1 to 22%. Various FRs were detected above MLOQ levels, demonstrating the wide-range applicability of our method. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first method reported for simultaneous analysis of brominated and organophosphate FRs in food matrices.Peer Reviewe

Circulating phthalates during critical illness in children are associated with long-term attention deficit: a study of a development and a validation cohort

PURPOSE: Environmental phthalate exposure has been associated with attention deficit disorders in children. We hypothesized that in children treated in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), circulating phthalates leaching from indwelling medical devices contribute to their long-term attention deficit. METHODS: Circulating plasma concentrations of di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) metabolites were quantified in 100 healthy children and 449 children who had been treated in PICU and were neurocognitively tested 4 years later. In a development patient cohort (N = 228), a multivariable bootstrap study identified stable thresholds of exposure to circulating DEHP metabolites above which there was an independent association with worse neurocognitive outcome. Subsequently, in a second patient cohort (N = 221), the observed independent associations were validated. RESULTS: Plasma concentrations of DEHP metabolites, which were virtually undetectable [0.029 (0.027-0.031) µmol/l] in healthy children, were 4.41 (3.76-5.06) µmol/l in critically ill children upon PICU admission (P < 0.001). Plasma DEHP metabolite concentrations decreased rapidly but remained 18 times higher until PICU discharge (P < 0.001). After adjusting for baseline risk factors and duration of PICU stay, and further for PICU complications and treatments, exceeding the potentially harmful threshold for exposure to circulating DEHP metabolites was independently associated with the attention deficit (all P ≤ 0.008) and impaired motor coordination (all P ≤ 0.02). The association with the attention deficit was confirmed in the validation cohort (all P ≤ 0.01). This phthalate exposure effect explained half of the attention deficit in post-PICU patients. CONCLUSIONS: Iatrogenic exposure to DEHP metabolites during intensive care was independently and robustly associated with the important attention deficit observed in children 4 years after critical illness. Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT00214916.status: publishe