Mycotoxin contamination of fresh berries and fruits marketed in the central region of Russia

New emerging strains of toxigenic molds in agricultural areas and insufficient data on levels of their toxic metabolites occurring in domestic horticultural fruits and berries require risk assessment of MT contamination for this plant group of mass consumer products. This study concentrated on samples of fresh fruits and berries sold on the consumer market (185 samples, including 127 intact and 58 with signs of deformation and molding). We applied our own developed technique for quantification of mycotoxins based on HPLC-MS/MS. In this study, we were the first in the RF to examine contamination of garden strawberries, raspberries, currants, huck-leberries, blueberries, gooseberries, dogwood, plums, blackthorn, apples, pears) with 27 MT including poorly studied emergent MT (EMT), produced by Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium and Alternaria. Strawberries, gooseberries, black currants and raspberries turned out to be the most contaminated with MT; red currants, apples and pears were less contaminated. The greatest variety of MT and EMT species was found in strawberries (23 MT), gooseberries (8 MT), black currants (7 MT) and raspberries (6 MT). Among the regulated MT, fumonisins B1 and B2, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, T-2 toxin, ochratoxin A and aflatoxin B1 were detected in intact strawberries; patulin, in raspberries; deoxynivalenol and zearalenone, in black currant. As for damaged and moldy berries and fruits, the list of detectable toxins was expanded, primarily due to the detection of several types of unregulated EMTs. EMT tenuazonic acid was mainly detected in moldy berries; its levels increased manifold in almost all species, except for strawberries in which penicillic acid prevailed. These new data on MT contamination in fruits and berries indicate the necessity to perform in-depth hygienic assessment of such products sold on the Russian market to identify MT, EMT and their producers. The obtained results will be used to identify hazards at the first stage in risk assessment with its focus on MT and EMT contamination of fresh fruits and berries

Global Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Stroke Volumes and Cerebrovascular Events: One-Year Follow-up.

Declines in stroke admission, intravenous thrombolysis, and mechanical thrombectomy volumes were reported during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a paucity of data on the longer-term effect of the pandemic on stroke volumes over the course of a year and through the second wave of the pandemic. We sought to measure the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the volumes of stroke admissions, intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), intravenous thrombolysis (IVT), and mechanical thrombectomy over a one-year period at the onset of the pandemic (March 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021) compared with the immediately preceding year (March 1, 2019, to February 29, 2020). We conducted a longitudinal retrospective study across 6 continents, 56 countries, and 275 stroke centers. We collected volume data for COVID-19 admissions and 4 stroke metrics: ischemic stroke admissions, ICH admissions, intravenous thrombolysis treatments, and mechanical thrombectomy procedures. Diagnoses were identified by their ICD-10 codes or classifications in stroke databases. There were 148,895 stroke admissions in the one-year immediately before compared to 138,453 admissions during the one-year pandemic, representing a 7% decline (95% confidence interval [95% CI 7.1, 6.9]; p<0.0001). ICH volumes declined from 29,585 to 28,156 (4.8%, [5.1, 4.6]; p<0.0001) and IVT volume from 24,584 to 23,077 (6.1%, [6.4, 5.8]; p<0.0001). Larger declines were observed at high volume compared to low volume centers (all p<0.0001). There was no significant change in mechanical thrombectomy volumes (0.7%, [0.6,0.9]; p=0.49). Stroke was diagnosed in 1.3% [1.31,1.38] of 406,792 COVID-19 hospitalizations. SARS-CoV-2 infection was present in 2.9% ([2.82,2.97], 5,656/195,539) of all stroke hospitalizations. There was a global decline and shift to lower volume centers of stroke admission volumes, ICH volumes, and IVT volumes during the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the prior year. Mechanical thrombectomy volumes were preserved. These results suggest preservation in the stroke care of higher severity of disease through the first pandemic year. This study is registered under NCT04934020