Uptake of perfluoroalkyl substances, pharmaceuticals, and parabens by oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) and exposure risk in human consumption

Organic micropollutants (MPs) pose potential threats to environmental ecosystems and human health. This study investigated uptake of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), pharmaceuticals, and paraben by edible oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus), cultivated on spiked growth substrate. Concentrations of pharmaceuticals and paraben in substrate showed a decreasing trend over a 20-day harvesting period, whereas PFAS concentrations were variable over the harvesting period. However, only propylparaben, clarithromycin, and PFASs were detected in fruiting bodies of oyster mushroom. Uptake of PFASs by oyster mushroom fruit bodies was negatively correlated with perfluorocarbon chain length. An impact of MPs on fungal colonization was observed, with decreased respiration in treatments with the highest concentration of MPs, but production of fruiting bodies was not affected by exposure level. The potential human risk from ingestion of MPs was evaluated for oyster mushrooms exposed to the highest concentration of MPs in substrate, based on acceptable daily intake (ADI)

Survey about the dissemination of different cabin categories in plant protection of German practice

Das Bundesamt für Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit (BVL) hat festgelegt, dass bestimmte Fahrerkabinen beim Einsatz im Pflanzenschutz geeignet sind, persönliche Schutzausrüstung zu ersetzen, die mit der Zulassung von Pflanzenschutzmitteln während der Anwendung vorgeschrieben sind. Diese Schutzwirkung wird seit 2017 für Fahrerkabinen der Kategorien 3 oder 4 (EN 15695-1/2017) und seit 2020 für geschlossene Kabinen, die über eine Klimaanlage sowie eine Zuluft-Filterung verfügen (BVL-Kategorie 2*), angenommen. Das Schutzniveau von Kat. 2* Kabinen wird aktuell in einem Forschungsprojekt untersucht.Vor diesem Hintergrund wurde eine Umfrage bei Praktikern durchgeführt, um mehr Informationen über die Verbreitung und Ausstattung von Traktorkabinen in der landwirtschaftlichen Praxis in Deutschland zu erhalten.Der Fragebogen gliedert sich in zwei Abschnitte. Im ersten Teil werden demografische Daten zur Person sowie Daten zur Struktur und Lage des Betriebs erfasst. Im zweiten Teil geht es um die technische Ausstattung und Nutzung der Fahrzeuge. Insgesamt konnten 4.199 gültige Fragebögen ausgewertet werden. Die Ergebnisse aus Teil 1 der Umfrage zur prozentualen Verteilung der beteiligten Betriebe über die Bundesländer und die repräsentierten Betriebsgrößen sind nahe an den statistischen Daten von Destatis. Größere Betriebe sind in dieser Umfrage leicht überrepräsentiert. Trotzdem liefern die Ergebnisse profunde Informationen über die Verbreitung von verschiedenen Kabinenkategorien in der landwirtschaftlichen Praxis im Pflanzenschutz in Deutschland.Die Auswertung zeigt, dass es in den letzten 10 Jahren zu einer signifikanten Zunahme von Kabinen der Kategorie 3 und 4 in der Praxis gekommen ist, mit einem etwas höheren Anteil bei den größeren Betrieben. In Bezug auf die Betriebsform ist der Anteil von Kategorie 3 und 4 Kabinen insbesondere im Obstbau, in den Spezialkulturen und bei den Lohnunternehmen höher. Die Umfrage lieferte weitere Ergebnisse, unabhängig von der Kabinenkategorie. Es zeigte sich, dass das Wechselintervall bei den Zuluft-Filtern in den meisten Fällen kleiner als 2 Jahre ist, dass 40% der Befragten angeben, ihre Kabinen nach der Applikation von Pflanzenschutzmitteln zu reinigen und knapp 90% der Anwender sich in ihrer Kabine gut gegen Pflanzenschutzmittel geschützt fühlen. Die Ergebnisse sind plausibel und decken sich mit früheren Annahmen. Mit der Veröffentlichung der Ergebnisse liegen jetzt stichhaltige Informationen zu diesem Thema vor.The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) specified that certain driver cabs are suitable to replace personal protective equipment prescribed with the approval of plant protection products during application. This protective effect has been accepted since 2017 for category 3 or 4 driver's cabs (EN 15695-1/2017) and since 2020 for enclosed cabs equipped with air conditioning including an air filtration system (BVL category 2*). The protection level of cat. 2* cabins is currently being investigated in a research project. In this context, a survey of farmers was conducted to obtain more information about the distribution and equipment of tractor cabins in agricultural practice in Germany. The questionnaire is divided into two sections. The first part collects personal demographic data and data on the structure and location of the farms. The second part deals with the technical equipment and use of the vehicles. A total of 4,199 valid questionnaires were evaluated. The results from Part 1 of the survey on the percentage distribution of participating farms across the German Federal States and the sizes of farms represented are close to the statistical data from Destatis. Larger farms are slightly overrepresented in this survey. Nevertheless, the results provide profound information on the prevalence of different cab categories in agricultural practice in plant protection in Germany.The survey provided further results, regardless of the cab category. It showed that the replacement interval for cabin air filters is less than 2 years in most cases, that 40% of the participants indicated that they clean their cab after applying plant protection products, and that almost 90% of the users feel well protected against plant protection products in their cab. The results are plausible and in line with earlier assumptions. With the publication of the results, valid information on this topic is now available

AGS Main Magnets Moved and BPM Survey Summer 2003

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Development of a method for measuring exposure of residents and bystanders following high crop application of plant protection products

Residents and bystanders may be exposed to spray drift during application of plant protection products. The assessment of possible risks is carried out on the basis of a harmonized exposure model of EFSA. For orchards and vineyards, there are currently still gaps in the assessment. These data gaps have been addressed by BVL, JKI and BfR in a joint project. The development of a robust method to perform reproducible field trials was a core element of the project. The fluorescent dye pyranine served in the trials as a readily detectable substitute for real plant protection products. In the course of several years of optimization, suitable clothing was identified for mannequins representing adults and children. Tyvek® cover­alls proved suitable for detecting even small amounts of dye with high accuracy. The development process provides the basis for a JKI guideline for preparing and conducting field trials. The different development stages are described here. The data generated with the developed method will enable EFSA to improve the exposure assessment models

Development of a selective testing method to pesticide aerosols for characterization and comparison of agricultural tractor cabs classified according to EN 15695-1

Only preliminary results from tactile tests are currently available on the exposure-reducing effect of different tractor cabs according to EN 15695-1. Scientifically reliable data are not available. To close this gap, a project was initiated by the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) and by the Social Insurance for Agriculture, Forestry and Horticulture (SVLFG) – with the participation of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). Due to the expertise and the available technical facilities (machinery and laboratories), corresponding tests were carried out by the Institute for Application Techniques in Plant Protection at the Julius Kühn Institute (JKI), Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants. As part of the project, data was collected to enable a well-founded review of the management decision on the protective effect of the different type of cabins mentioned in EN 15695-1. The current paper gives an overview about the methodology developed for gathering the data

Net precipitation over the Baltic Sea for one year using several methods

Precipitation and evaporation over the Baltic Sea are calculated for a one-year period from September 1998 to August 1999 by four different tools, the two atmospheric regional models HIRLAM and REMO, the oceanographic model PROBE-Baltic in combination with the SMHI (1 × 1)° database and Interpolated Fields, based essentially on ship measurements. The investigated period is slightly warmer and wetter than the climatological mean. Correlation coefficients of the differently calculated latent heat fluxes vary between 0.81 (HIRLAM and REMO) and 0.56 (SMHI/PROBE-Baltic and Interpolated Fields), while the correlation coefficients between model fluxes and measured fluxes range from 0.61 and 0.78. Deviations of simulated and interpolated monthly precipitation over the Baltic Sea are less than ±5 mm in the southern Baltic and up to 20 mm near the Finnish coast for the one-year period. The methods simulate the annual cycle of precipitation and evaporation of the Baltic Proper in a similar manner with a broad maximum of net precipitation in spring and early summer and a minimum in late summer. The annual averages of net precipitation of the Baltic Proper range from 57 mm (REMO) to 262 mm (HIRLAM) and for the Baltic Sea from 96 mm (SMHI/PROBE-Baltic) to 209 mm (HIRLAM). This range is considered to give the uncertainty of present-day determination of the net precipitation over the Baltic Sea

Birth Order, Caesarean Section, or Daycare Attendance in Relation to Child- and Adult-Onset Type 1 Diabetes: Results from the German National Cohort

Background: Global incidence of type 1 diabetes (T1D) is rising and nearly half occurred in adults. However, it is unclear if certain early-life childhood T1D risk factors were also associated with adult-onset T1D. This study aimed to assess associations between birth order, delivery mode or daycare attendance and type 1 diabetes (T1D) risk in a population-based cohort and whether these were similar for childhood- and adult-onset T1D (cut-off age 15); (2) Methods: Data were obtained from the German National Cohort (NAKO Gesundheitsstudie) baseline assessment. Self-reported diabetes was classified as T1D if: diagnosis age ≤ 40 years and has been receiving insulin treatment since less than one year after diagnosis. Cox regression was applied for T1D risk analysis; (3) Results: Analyses included 101,411 participants (100 childhood- and 271 adult-onset T1D cases). Compared to “only-children”, HRs for second- or later-born individuals were 0.70 (95% CI = 0.50–0.96) and 0.65 (95% CI = 0.45–0.94), respectively, regardless of parental diabetes, migration background, birth year and perinatal factors. In further analyses, higher birth order reduced T1D risk in children and adults born in recent decades. Caesarean section and daycare attendance showed no clear associations with T1D risk; (4) Conclusions: Birth order should be considered in both children and adults’ T1D risk assessment for early detection

Grip strength values and cut-off points based on over 200,000 adults of the German National Cohort - a comparison to the EWGSOP2 cut-off points

BACKGROUND: The European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) updated in 2018 the cut-off points for low grip strength to assess sarcopenia based on pooled data from 12 British studies. OBJECTIVE: Comparison of the EWGSOP2 cut-off points for low grip strength to those derived from a large German sample. METHODS: We assessed the grip strength distribution across age and derived low grip strength cut-off points for men and women (peak mean -2.5 × SD) based on 200,389 German National Cohort (NAKO) participants aged 19–75 years. In 1,012 Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg (KORA)-Age participants aged 65–93 years, we calculated the age-standardised prevalence of low grip strength and time-dependent sensitivity and specificity for all-cause mortality. RESULTS: Grip strength increased in the third and fourth decade of life and declined afterwards. Calculated cut-off points for low grip strength were 29 kg for men and 18 kg for women. In KORA-Age, the age-standardised prevalence of low grip strength was 1.5× higher for NAKO-derived (17.7%) compared to EWGSOP2 (11.7%) cut-off points. NAKO-derived cut-off points yielded a higher sensitivity and lower specificity for all-cause mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Cut-off points for low grip strength from German population-based data were 2 kg higher than the EWGSOP2 cut-off points. Higher cut-off points increase the sensitivity, thereby suggesting an intervention for more patients at risk, while other individuals might receive additional diagnostics/treatment without the urgent need. Research on the effectiveness of intervention in patients with low grip strength defined by different cut-off points is needed

A denitrifying community associated with a major, marine nitrogen fixer

The diazotrophic cyanobacterium, Trichodesmium, is an integral component of the marine nitrogen cycle and contributes significant amounts of new nitrogen to oligotrophic, tropical/subtropical ocean surface waters. Trichodesmium forms macroscopic, fusiform (tufts), spherical (puffs) and raft-like colonies that provide a pseudobenthic habitat for a host of other organisms including marine invertebrates, microeukaryotes and numerous other microbes. The diversity and activity of denitrifying bacteria found in association with the colonies was interrogated using a series of molecular-based methodologies targeting the gene encoding the terminal step in the denitrification pathway, nitrous oxide reductase (nosZ). Trichodesmium spp. sampled from geographically isolated ocean provinces (the Atlantic Ocean, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean) were shown to harbor highly similar, taxonomically related communities of denitrifiers whose members are affiliated with the Roseobacter clade within the Rhodobacteraceae (Alphaproteobacteria). These organisms were actively expressing nosZ in samples taken from the mid-Atlantic Ocean and Red Sea implying that Trichodesmium colonies are potential sites of nitrous oxide consumption and perhaps earlier steps in the denitrification pathway also. It is proposed that coupled nitrification of newly fixed N is the most likely source of nitrogen oxides supporting nitrous oxide cycling within Trichodesmium colonies