Mycotoxin contamination of Maize and Guinea corn from markets in Plateau State, Nigeria

Maize (Zea mays) and guinea corn (Sorghum bicolor) are major food items in Plateau state, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to select the markets and store/warehouses used for this study; sample collection employed a simple random sampling method from different sampling points within designated areas. A total of 18 representative samples were collected and analyzed for the following mycotoxins: aflatoxins (Aflatoxin B1 - AFB1, Aflatoxin B2 - AFB2, Aflatoxin G1 - AFG1 and Aflatoxin G2 - AFG2), fumonisins (Fumonisin B1 - FB1 and Fumonisin B2 - FB2 ) and cyclopiazonic acid (CPA). Out of 12 samples analyzed for Aflatoxins, AFB1 was detected in 5, AFB2 in 1, AFG1 in 1 and AFG2 in 6 samples respectively. The highest concentration of AFB1 and AFG2 were found in maize samples from Pankshin market. Only maize samples from Mangu market were contaminated with AFB2 and also harboured the lowest concentration of AFG2. AFG1 contamination occurred in only guinea corn from Shendam market. and FB1 was detected in all 18 samples analyzed. The mycotoxin CPA was not detected in any of the samples. Aflatoxins levels in analyzed samples were regarded as safe based on Nigerian and European Union maximum permissible levels of 4g/kg. With the exception of two samples, FB1 levels in analyzed maize samples were within European Union maximum permissible levels of 1,000 to 3000g/kg. The health and food safety implications of these results for the human and animal population are further discussed

Identification of mycotoxigenic fungi from grains in a Nigerian region using the modern polyphasic methodology

Mycotoxins are poisonous substances produced by fungi which contaminate agricultural commodities. Many foods and feeds can become contaminated with mycotoxins since they can form in commodities before harvest, during the time between harvesting and drying, and in storage. The food crops most often affected include maize, peanuts, sorghum, wheat, cocoa and tree nuts. Mycotoxins may also be carried over to animal products due to consumption of contaminated feed. Maize (Zea mays) and guinea corn (Sorghum bicolor) form a major staple of the study area and are high risk commodities for mycotoxigenic fungi and mycotoxin contamination. Multistage sampling technique was used to select the markets and store/warehouses used for this study; sample collection employed a simple random sampling method from different sampling points within designated areas. Identification of all fungal isolates was carried out using the modern polyphasic methodology for filamentous fungi identification. At the level of phenotypic approach, the mycotoxigenic fungi Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Penicillium were identified. These fungal isolates also produced the mycotoxins Aflatoxins B1 and B2, Fumonisin B1, Cyclopiazonic acid, Ochratoxin A and Ochratoxin alfa. Spectral analysis by MALDI-TOF MS identified the Aspergillus species as A. flavus, A. aculeatus, A. niger and A. tamarii. Work is currently on-going to complete fungal identification for all isolates down to species level using the genotypic approach. In view of the toxic effects of mycotoxin contamination, the isolation, identification and characterization of mycotoxigenic fungi from maize and guinea corn in the study area pose serious health risks for the human and animal population and also have implications for food safety and public health in Nigeria

Caracterização de genes com expressão tecido-específica em raiz e folha de Coffea arabica.

O grande número de genes que tem sido identificado nos últimos anos terá um grande impacto no melhoramento genético vegetal, principalmente pela obtenção de plantas geneticamente modificadas. Tal inovação, apesar de já ocasionar um grande impacto na agricultura mundial aumentando produtividade e diminuindo custos no cultivo, tem sido alvo de muitas críticas e, uma das principais, tem sido a expressão constitutiva dos transgenes, a qual é promovida pelas seqüências promotoras atualmente empregadas. A alternativa mais viável para substituição de tais promotores é investir na clonagem e caracterização de promotores tecido específicos. Visando selecionar genes com expressão tecido específica em café (Coffea arabica) para posterior clonagem dos promotores correspondentes, no presente trabalho foi realizada a identificação e posterior validação de ESTs com expressão específica em raiz e folha. Para tal, análises ?in sílico? foram realizadas utilizando-se as informações e ferramentas disponíveis no Banco de Dados do Projeto Genoma Café. Até o momento foram identificadas treze seqüências com expressão específica em raiz e quatorze seqüências com expressão específica de folha. Visando a validação biológica de tais resultados, primers específicos para as seqüências alvo foram sintetizados. No processo de validação por RTPCR empregando RNA total de diferentes tecidos, dentre os vinte e sete candidatos analisados, apenas dois confirmaram ser tecido específicos, apresentando expressão em raiz e folha, respectivamente

An analysis of cosmological perturbations in hydrodynamical and field representations

Density fluctuations of fluids with negative pressure exhibit decreasing time behaviour in the long wavelength limit, but are strongly unstable in the small wavelength limit when a hydrodynamical approach is used. On the other hand, the corresponding gravitational waves are well behaved. We verify that the instabilities present in density fluctuations are due essentially to the hydrodynamical representation; if we turn to a field representation that lead to the same background behaviour, the instabilities are no more present. In the long wavelength limit, both approachs give the same results. We show also that this inequivalence between background and perturbative level is a feature of negative pressure fluid. When the fluid has positive pressure, the hydrodynamical representation leads to the same behaviour as the field representation both at the background and perturbative levels.Comment: Latex file, 18 page

Contact Representations of Graphs in 3D

We study contact representations of graphs in which vertices are represented by axis-aligned polyhedra in 3D and edges are realized by non-zero area common boundaries between corresponding polyhedra. We show that for every 3-connected planar graph, there exists a simultaneous representation of the graph and its dual with 3D boxes. We give a linear-time algorithm for constructing such a representation. This result extends the existing primal-dual contact representations of planar graphs in 2D using circles and triangles. While contact graphs in 2D directly correspond to planar graphs, we next study representations of non-planar graphs in 3D. In particular we consider representations of optimal 1-planar graphs. A graph is 1-planar if there exists a drawing in the plane where each edge is crossed at most once, and an optimal n-vertex 1-planar graph has the maximum (4n - 8) number of edges. We describe a linear-time algorithm for representing optimal 1-planar graphs without separating 4-cycles with 3D boxes. However, not every optimal 1-planar graph admits a representation with boxes. Hence, we consider contact representations with the next simplest axis-aligned 3D object, L-shaped polyhedra. We provide a quadratic-time algorithm for representing optimal 1-planar graph with L-shaped polyhedra

Hydrolysis of α-lactalbumin by cardosin A immobilized on highly activated supports

In the present research effort, production of derivatives of cardosin A (a plant protease) encompassing full stabilization of its dimeric structure has been achieved, via covalent, multi-subunit immobilization onto highly activated agarose-glutaraldehyde supports. Boiling such enzyme derivatives in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate and β-mercaptoethanol did not lead to leaching of enzyme, thus providing evidence for the effectiveness of the attachment procedure. Furthermore, the cardosin A derivatives prepared under optimal conditions presented ca. half the specific activity of the enzyme in soluble form, and were successfully employed at laboratory-scale trials to perform (selective) hydrolysis of α-lactalbumin (α-La), one of the major proteins in bovine whey. Hydrolysates of α-La were assayed for by the OPA method, as well as by FPLC, SDS–PAGE and HPLC. Thermal inactivation of the immobilized cardosin A was also assessed at 40, 50 and 55 °C; at these temperatures, no thermal denaturation took place during incubation for 48 h. The highest degree of hydrolysis was attained by 5 h reaction, at 55 °C and pH 5.2. SDS–PAGE of α-La hydrolysates displayed bands corresponding to low molecular weight peptides. Our results suggest that cardosin A in immobilized form is a good candidate to bring about proteolysis in the dairy industry, namely in whey processing

Fiber reinforced concrete. Part II: Application

The present paper is the second part of two companion papers related with the design and application of fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) in structural elements. It is presented a case study regarding the use of FRC in the development and construction of a new sustainable building system based on the assembly of structural prefabricated sandwich panels formed by thin outer layers of steel fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete (SFRSCC) and an insulation core. The outer layers of SFRSCC are connected with innovative glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) connectors. The structural concept is presented and the numerical and experimental work carried out for the construction of a real scale prototype is briefly describe

What makes re-finding information difficult? A study of email re-finding

Re-nding information that has been seen or accessed before is a task which can be relatively straight-forward, but often it can be extremely challenging, time-consuming and frustrating. Little is known, however, about what makes one re-finding task harder or easier than another. We performed a user study to learn about the contextual factors that influence users' perception of task diculty in the context of re-finding email messages. 21 participants were issued re-nding tasks to perform on their own personal collections. The participants' responses to questions about the tasks combined with demographic data and collection statistics for the experimental population provide a rich basis to investigate the variables that can influence the perception of diculty. A logistic regression model was developed to examine the relationships be- tween variables and determine whether any factors were associated with perceived task diculty. The model reveals strong relationships between diculty and the time lapsed since a message was read, remembering when the sought-after email was sent, remembering other recipients of the email, the experience of the user and the user's ling strategy. We discuss what these findings mean for the design of re-nding interfaces and future re-finding research