Development and comparison of two multiresidue methods for the determination of 17 Aspergillus and Fusarium mycotoxins in cereals using HPLC-ESI-TQ-MS/MS

Cereals can be contaminated by several mycotoxins, whose co-presence may represent an undervalued risk for humans and animals. Maize and wheat are the most contaminated cereals and in temperate areas could be affected in field conditions by several Fusarium and Aspergillus infections. To date, only B-fumonisins (FBs), aflatoxins (AFs), zearalenone (ZEA), deoxynivalenol (DON) and T-2 and HT-2 toxins have been regulated in cereals in European Union. The other fungal metabolites, are commonly referred to as “emerging” and “masked” mycotoxins, and more information on their occurrence in combination with the regulated mycotoxins, are needed to design combined toxicological and exposure assessments.This research intends to develop and compare two multiresidue HPLC-ESI-TQ-MS/MS methods for the simultaneous determination of the main regulated, emerging and masked mycotoxins in maize and wheat, among which: FB1, FB2, DON, ZEA, AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2, moniliformin (MON), deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside (DON-3-G), 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol (3-ADON), 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol (15-ADON), nivalenol (NIV), enniatins A, A1, B, B1 (ENNA, ENNA1, ENNB, ENNB1). The extraction was performed for both methods using a mixture of CH3CN/H2O/CH3COOH (79/20/1, v/v/v), while the dilution/purification was carried out through two different procedures: (1) by the “dilute-and-shoot” technique diluting 1:2 the filtered extract with CH3CN/H2O/CH3COOH (20/79/1, v/v/v) to reduce the matrix effect; (2) using the Oasis® PRiME HLB clean-up columns. The analysis was carried out using CH3OH and H2O both acidified with 0.1% of CH3COOH as eluents. The injection volume was 20 μL and the flow rate 200 μL min-1. The analysis of two reference material (maize and wheat), was performed to evaluate the trueness and precision of the two methods by matrix-matched calibration curves. For all the regulated mycotoxins analyzed by both methods, the range of recovery percentage established by the Regulation (EC) No. 401/2006 was respected, except for ZEA by using the Oasis® PRiME HLB clean-up columns. Nevertheless, the results suggest that the Oasis® PRiME HLB clean-up columns, could be a valid alternative to the dilute-and-shoot method, although an additional cost for the clean-up has to be considered. In conclusion, both two analytical methods considerably reduce the analytical time and costs and therefore result to be promising and applicable for high-throughput routine multi-mycotoxins analysis by the use of a TQ

The use of dietary supplements among soccer referees: How much do they know?

Referees are essential for the correct execution of each soccer match and national soccer associations support them with physical training guidelines in order to improve agility, aerobic and sprint capacity, to reduce the risk of injury and to meet the minimum required performance levels. Despite the importance given to performance skills no specific nutritional guideline is provided to support the performance required. This study was aimed to investigate soccer field and assistant referees knowledge and consumption of dietary supplements. Seventy-one European referees participated to this survey by filling a short and quick anonymous questionnaire designed to collect information about their refereeing category, educational level, frequency of supplement consumption, type of supplement consumed. Moreover, a sub-group of 20 participants wore a training watch to record energy expenditure, distance, and heart rate during training sessions and matches. Our data show that referees frequently consume supplements especially those refereeing in lower categories, moreover they often follow a friend\u2019s suggestion when deciding to take a supplement instead of trusting a professional prescription. According to our survey, national and international soccer federations should care more about their referee nutritional education

The Impact on the Ohio River Watershed by the United States Federal Government

poster abstractThis interactive timeline, which currently covers 1775 through the first quarter of 2014, takes accounts of water-related actions of the federal government and places them alongside water-related environmental events. Research drew together water use information within Acts of Congress, legal cases argued before the Supreme Court, actions undertaken by agencies within the Executive Department, and reports of pollution or flood incidents. This data was then charted using Tiki-Toki software into separate bands along the timeline with descriptions, images, and links to add depth of explanation. This juxtaposition reveals a story tracing human interaction along the Ohio River watershed since the American Revolution. In addition, the Tiki-Toki software makes the information available in multiple views through which different patterns emerge allowing future researchers to manipulate the timeline to more easily see connections with their own projects. Because of the data’s inclusiveness and ease of use, this timeline can provide a platform for comparison with the companion site of the Rivers of the Anthropocene study, the River Tyne. However, since the primary region of study in the United States is the Ohio River and its tributaries, only data applicable to this region specifically or all water in the United States generally was utilized. Because of the exclusiveness of the data, frequent gaps in events may risk being misinterpreted as a period of inactivity on the part of the federal government, though this is likely not the case; even apparent inactivity along the Ohio reveals much about human impact on the waterway systems

Rivers of the Anthropocene, Phase 1: A Comparative Study of the Ohio and Tyne River Systems

poster abstractRivers of the Anthropocene” addresses a fundamental problem facing scholars and policy makers alike: despite important advances in our understanding of the earth as a system — one in which humans and human systems have become recognized as prime agents in effecting changes to the earth — we have yet to create an approach that brings together scholars of earth systems with scholars of human systems. This is to the detriment of our overall understanding of global ecological change and limits our ability to respond to escalating crises. Without integrating methods from the earth sciences, social sciences, and humanities, scholars of the environment lose important tools in tackling some of the biggest issues facing humanity in the 21st century. As humans continue to play an increasingly significant role in altering their planet, it is incumbent upon environmental scholars to understand the human-environment interface in all its complexities. It is not enough that scientists measure what humans have done or what they can do to shift environmental systems; it is necessary that they work hand-in-hand with specialists in human systems to understand the limits and feedback mechanisms that beliefs, practices, ideologies, social structures, and cultural norms impose on human action. A comparative study of international river systems is a good place to begin building more meaningful bridges across the science-humanities divide, and it addresses the pressing issue of global water insecurity, which 80% of the earth’s population faces. The first stage of “Rivers of the Anthropocene” will create a flexible, interdisciplinary methodological and conceptual framework for examining the human-environment interface, one in which specialists in the earth sciences can learn from the approaches of the humanities and human sciences and vice versa