Deserts: Can they be the potential suppliers of bioavailable iron?

GEOPHYSICAL RESERCH LETTERS VOL. 29, NO. 11に収録されている原

Survey of sulfites in wine and various Turkish food and food products intended for export, 2007-2010

Surveys were carried out between 2007 and 2010 to determine the total levels of sulfites in 1245 samples of wines, dried apricots, dried vegetables, nuts, juices and purees, frozen foods and cereals containing dried fruit supplied by food inspectors and by food producers for testing or for export certification. Sulfite analysis of wine was carried out using the Ripper method with an LOQ of 5 mg l(-1) and for dried and other foods the Monier-Williams distillation procedure was employed with an LOQ of 10 mg kg(-1). In the survey all wines contained measurable sulfites, but with the exception of one sample of white wine they were otherwise below Turkish Food Codex limits of 160 mg kg(-1) for red wine, 210 mg kg(-1) to white wine and 235 mg kg(-1) for sparkling wine. None of the cereal products, frozen foods, juices or purees contained sulfites above 10 mg kg(-1). However, all dried apricot samples contained significant levels of sulfite with around 40% having levels exceeding the Turkish limit of 2000 mg kg(-1). Significant levels of sulfite were found in other samples of dried fruit with even a fruit and nut bar containing 1395 mg kg(-1) of sulfite, suggesting the dried fruit ingredients contained levels above regulatory limits

Surveys of aflatoxin B1 contamination of retail Turkish foods and of products intended for export between 2007 and 2009

Surveys were carried out between 2007 and 2009 to determine the aflatoxin B1 content of 3345 commercial Turkish foodstuffs supplied by producers for testing for their own purposes or for export certification. To simplify the reporting of data, foods were categorized as: 1, high sugar products with nuts; 2, nuts and seeds; 3, spices; 4, grain; 5, cocoa products; 6, dried fruit and vegetables; 7, processed cereal products; 8, tea; and 9, baby food and infant formula. Aflatoxin analysis was carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection after immunoaffinity column clean-up, with a recoveries ranging from 91% to 99%, depending on the matrix. Of the 3345 samples analysed, 94% contained aflatoxin B1 below the European Union limit of 2 mu g kg-1, which applies to nuts, dried fruit, and cereals products. The 6% of the 206 contaminated samples were mainly nuts and spices. For pistachios, 24%, 38%, and 42% of the totals of 207, 182, and 24 samples tested for 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively, were above 2 mu g kg-1, with 50 samples containing aflatoxin B1 at levels ranging from 10 to 477 mu g kg-1

Computer Vision-Based Image Analysis For The Estimation Of Acrylamide Concentrations Of Potato Chips And French Fries

In this study, digital colour images of fried potato chips and french fries were analyzed to estimate acrylamide levels based on the correlation with analyses using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. In fried potato images, bright yellow (Region 1), yellowish brown (Region 2) and darker brown (Region 3) regions were clearly visible, having different kinds of image pixels with characteristic mean values of red, green and blue components. Pixels of the fried potato image were classified into three sets (Set 1, Set 2 and Set 3) by means of semi-automatic and automatic segmentation. There was a strong correlation between acrylamide concentration and NA2 value, which is defined as the number of pixels in Set 2 divided by the total number of pixels of the entire fried potato image. To verify the applicability of this approach, a linear regression equation was used to estimate the acrylamide concentrations of a number of commercial potato chips and home-made french fries. Mean differences between the measured and predicted acrylamide concentrations were found to be +4 +/- 14% and -14 +/- 24% for commercial potato chips and home-made french fries, respectively. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Wo

Free rectus abdominis muscle flap for the treatment of complications after neurosurgical procedures

Neurosurgical procedures may lead to mortal complications. Exposure of the dura mater, brain, or other intracranial structures; persistent cerebrospinal fluid fistulas; and connection between the extradural space and the nasopharynx and paranasal sinuses are complications that can be best treated with microvascular free tissue transfers. We report two patients with complications that occurred after neurosurgical operations. Both patients were treated by a team, including a plastic surgeon, ear, nose, and throat surgeon, and a neurosurgeon. Free rectus abdominis muscle flap was the choice of treatment for reconstruction

Occurrence of fungi and their mycotoxins in individual Turkish dried figs

Fifty individual figs which had been rejected as potentially contaminated by sorting under UV light were separately analysed to identify the presence of fungi and their mycotoxins. Aflatoxin B-1 was found in 49 samples with levels ranging from 0.7 to 222 ng g(-1), with 40 individual figs containing more than 2 ng g(-1), indicating the efficacy of the UV screening process in identifying contaminated fruit. Ochratoxin A (OTA) was found in 32 of the figs at levels from 0.4 to 1710 ng g(-1), with 50% of the samples containing levels above 1 ng g(-1). There was no evident correlation between levels of aflatoxin B-1 and levels of OTA. Twenty fungal species were isolated from the outer and inner surfaces of the figs, some of which were subsequently cultured on YES and PDB and the media analysed for the presence of aflatoxin B-1 and OTA to establish their toxigenicity

Determining mycotoxins and mycotoxigenic fungi in food and feed

Over the last few decades it has become increasingly clear that mycotoxins play a significant role in food and feed safety. Indeed, mycotoxins have been shown to be the principal threat regarding chronic toxicity. Legislative limits for a range of mycotoxins continue to develop worldwide resulting in an increased number of official controls deriving from national food safety plans and for food trade purposes. This book therefore focuses on recent developments in the determination of mycotoxins and mycotoxigenic fungi in food and feed. A mycotoxin test procedure is a multi-stage process generally consisting of three steps: sampling, sample preparation and analytical determination. The sampling phase is the largest source of variability of the test procedure. The official sampling protocols are still complicated and very challenging in practical terms. Further extensive research on sampling plans is mandatory, taking into account the real risk to human health together with the economic perspective. New developments in sample preparation focus on faster, environmentally friendly, cost effective and fit-for-purpose extraction and clean-up methods in food, feed, biological tissue and bodily fluids. Screening immunochemical and confirmatory chromatographic analytical methods are widely used; a clear trend towards multimycotoxin analysis and more precisely towards LC–MS/MS has been noticed. Quality assurance in mycotoxin analysis is of the utmost importance. Notwithstanding the general acceptance of the benefits of adopting a performance criteria-based approach, some countries have a regulatory framework which requires the publication of ‘official methods’ in their own regulations. Food control laboratories should continuously follow actual progress in analysis development and statistical method validation within an accredited quality environment such as prescribed in the ISO 17025 norm. Further attention towards a harmonized method validation procedure is necessary. In order to understand possible links between mycotoxins and human disease or animal disease outbreaks, it is necessary to measure the exposure to the toxin in question. Advances in analytical techniques have resulted in the development and use of various biological markers (biomarkers) which allow more accurate and objective assessment of exposure at the individual level. The development and determination of validated exposure as well as mechanism-based biomarkers is critical to reduce the existing uncertainty in the risk assessment of most mycotoxins. Fungal isolates involved in mycotoxicoses are preferably identified by a polyphasic approach in order to avoid mistakes, starting at genus level and further to species level using a combination of morphological, physiological, nutritional and chemical data. The identification is validated by PCR-based molecular methods which can be considered under two main complementary approaches: by targeting conserved functional genes or regions of taxonomical interest, or by focusing on the mycotoxigenic genes. The possibility of using a highly standardized, rapid and practical DNA barcoding protocol that can be easily used both by researchers involved in species definition studies and by non-experts for practical uses is currently investigated. However, in order to assess the risks related to the presence of mycotoxigenic fungi in food and feedstuffs reliably, one should also investigate whether or not the mycotoxin genes are expressed. Further progress in transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics will continue to advance the understanding of fungal secondary metabolism, providing insight into how to reduce mycotoxin contamination of crop plants and the food/feed derived therefrom. Fungal secondary metabolites, mycotoxins and food safety will continue to be of critical interest to a variety of researchers for years to come. Innovations take place at a rapid pace, for example through new nanotechnology-based biosensing techniques and non-destructive spectroscopic techniques. Furthermore, the discovery of masked mycotoxins and the inherent analytical challenges will be the subject of future research