Chemical contaminants in food in Pacific Island countries

The presence in foods of chemical contaminants such as heavy metals, pesticides, aflatoxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) has been of international concern for decades. Since most of these are associated with intensive industrial and agricultural activity, the minimal existence of such activities in Pacific island countries has led to the conclusion that the consumption of these contaminants in food is unlikely to be a health problem in the Pacific. Because of this little effort has been expended in studying the level of these contarnlnants in Pacific foods. Most of the data are from environmental studies in which some of the analytes are edible. These have mainly been performed at the three major universities in the region, the University of the South Pacific, the University of Guam and the University of Papua New Guinea. Some data are also available from a Japanese study. More recently the United States Environmental Protection Agency has been studying sites potentially contaminated by PCBs in the forrner United States Trust Territories. It should be emphasized that these are scientific studies of the incidence of pollution and not country-driven analyses of the status of these pollutants in the food supply. It is also important to recognize that for the tropical Pacific islands the most important chemical food contaminants are a variety of marine toxins, especially ciguatoxins, that affect health and economies of a significant percentage of Pacific islanders

Value of traditional oral narratives in building climate-change resilience: insights from rural communities in Fiji

In the interests of improving engagement with Pacific Island communities to enable development of effective and sustainable adaptation strategies to climate change, we looked at how traditional oral narratives in rural/peripheral Fiji communities might be used to inform such strategies. Interviews were undertaken and observations made in 27 communities; because the custodians of traditional knowledge were targeted, most interviewees were 70-79 years old. The view that oral traditions, particularly those referring to environmental history and the observations/precursors of environmental change, were endangered was widespread and regretted. Interviewees’ personal experiences of extreme events (natural disasters) were commonplace but no narratives of historical (unwitnessed by interviewees) events were found. In contrast, experiences of previous village relocations attributable (mainly) to environmental change were recorded in five communities while awareness of environmentally driven migration was more common. Questions about climate change elicited views dominated by religious/fatalist beliefs but included some more pragmatic ones; the confusion of climate change with climate variability, which is part of traditional knowledge, was widespread. The erosion of traditional environmental knowledge in the survey communities over recent decades has been severe and is likely to continue apace, which will reduce community self-sufficiency and resilience. Ways of conserving such knowledge and incorporating it into adaptation planning for Pacific Island communities in rural/peripheral locations should be explored

Carotenoid content of pandanus fruit cultivars and other foods of the Republic of Kiribati

Abstract Background Kiribati, a remote atoll island country of the Pacific, has serious problems of vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Thus, it is important to identify locally grown acceptable foods that might be promoted to alleviate this problem. Pandanus fruit (Pandanus tectorius) is a well-liked indigenous Kiribati food with many cultivars that have orange/yellow flesh, indicative of carotenoid content. Few have been previously analysed. Aim This study was conducted to identify cultivars of pandanus and other foods that could be promoted to alleviate VAD in Kiribati. Method Ethnography was used to select foods and assess acceptability factors. Pandanus and other foods were analysed for β- and α-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, lycopene and total carotenoids using high-performance liquid chromatography. Results Of the nine pandanus cultivars investigated there was a great range of provitamin A carotenoid levels (from 62 to 19 086 μg β-carotene/100 g), generally with higher levels in those more deeply coloured. Seven pandanus cultivars, one giant swamp taro (Cyrtosperma chamissonis) cultivar and native fig (Ficus tinctoria) had significant provitamin A carotenoid content, meeting all or half of estimated daily vitamin A requirements within normal consumption patterns. Analyses in different laboratories confirmed high carotenoid levels in pandanus but showed that there are still questions as to how high the levels might be, owing to variation arising from different handling/preparation/analytical techniques. Conclusions These carotenoid-rich acceptable foods should be promoted for alleviating VAD in Kiribati and possibly other Pacific contexts where these foods are important. Further research in the Pacific is needed to identify additional indigenous foods with potential health benefit

Placing the Fijian Honeyeaters within the meliphagid radiation: implications for origins and conservation

Understanding the evolutionary relationships of threatened species provides an important framework for making decisions about their conservation. However, unrecognised problems with the underlying phylogenetic analyses may bias the decision-making process. Recent phylogenetic studies have improved our understanding of Meliphagidae, but also indicate discordance between molecular datasets. Here, we examine the causes of this discordance using maximum likelihood tree-building and network analyses of identically sampled datasets for four genetic loci. Our results suggest that while we can be reasonably confident of relationships within species groups, discordance within and between molecular datasets tends to obscure relationships towards the base of the meliphagid tree. This ongoing uncertainty likely reflects differences in the sampling of markers and taxa between previously published analyses. To avoid the problems of conflicting data we used divergence time analyses of only the most densely sampled marker, NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase chain 2, to investigate the age and origins of the Fijian Meliphagidae. Our analyses suggest two temporally distinct colonisations of the Fijian archipelago. The large-bodied honeyeaters arrived ,15.6 million years ago, subsequently diversifying and spreading to Tonga and Samoa. In contrast, Myzomela appears to have arrived within the last 5.0 million years. The phylogenetic results therefore imply that conserving the evolutionary diversity of Meliphagidae in Polynesia requires that effort be spread across both the currently recognised taxa and geographical range

Aurantoside K, a New Antifungal Tetramic Acid Glycoside from a Fijian Marine Sponge of the Genus Melophlus

A new tetramic acid glycoside, aurantoside K, was isolated from a marine sponge belonging to the genus Melophlus. The structure of the compound was elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis (1H NMR, 1H–1H COSY, HSQC, and HMBC, as well as high-resolution ESILCMS). Aurantoside K did not show any significant activity in antimalarial, antibacterial, or HCT-116 cytotoxicity assays, but exhibited a wide spectrum of antifungal activity against wild type Candida albicans, amphotericin-resistant C. albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium sp., Rhizopus sporangia and Sordaria sp

Callophycoic acids and callophycols from the Fijian red alga Callophycus serratus

Callophycoic acids A−H (1−8) and callophycols A and B (9 and 10) were isolated from extracts of the Fijian red alga Callophycus serratus, and identified by NMR, X-ray, and mass spectral analyses. These natural products represent four novel carbon skeletons, providing the first examples of diterpene−benzoic acids and diterpene−phenols in macroalgae. Compounds 1−10 exhibited antibacterial, antimalarial, and anticancer activity, although they are less bioactive than diterpene-benzoate macrolides previously isolated from this red alga

High content live cell imaging for the discovery of new antimalarial marine natural products

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The human malaria parasite remains a burden in developing nations. It is responsible for up to one million deaths a year, a number that could rise due to increasing multi-drug resistance to all antimalarial drugs currently available. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the discovery of new drug therapies. Recently, our laboratory developed a simple one-step fluorescence-based live cell-imaging assay to integrate the complex biology of the human malaria parasite into drug discovery. Here we used our newly developed live cell-imaging platform to discover novel marine natural products and their cellular phenotypic effects against the most lethal malaria parasite, <it>Plasmodium falciparum</it>.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A high content live cell imaging platform was used to screen marine extracts effects on malaria. Parasites were grown <it>in vitro </it>in the presence of extracts, stained with RNA sensitive dye, and imaged at timed intervals with the BD Pathway HT automated confocal microscope.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Image analysis validated our new methodology at a larger scale level and revealed potential antimalarial activity of selected extracts with a minimal cytotoxic effect on host red blood cells. To further validate our assay, we investigated parasite's phenotypes when incubated with the purified bioactive natural product bromophycolide A. We show that bromophycolide A has a strong and specific morphological effect on parasites, similar to the ones observed from the initial extracts.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Collectively, our results show that high-content live cell-imaging (HCLCI) can be used to screen chemical libraries and identify parasite specific inhibitors with limited host cytotoxic effects. All together we provide new leads for the discovery of novel antimalarials.</p

The role of locally managed marine areas (LMMAs) in the development of Ecotourism in Fiji

This report provides an overview of the characteristics and implementation of Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMA) in the Pacific region, and outlines the status of LMMA activities in Palau, Fiji, Tonga, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and the Federated States of Micronesia. The report provides a case study of the Fiji LMMA Network; presenting the process followed and outcomes achieved. It has been observed that “small community-based protected areas can yield significant increase in biological productivity and associated biodiversity also seems to increase in undisturbed (protected) areas.” Socioeconomic benefits from LMMAs have also been observed; in one area there has been reported a significant increase household income and an increase in catch rates. The author reports that community and cultural pride have increased with spread of the successes being experienced, and interest has been developed in the younger generations in both scientific and traditional ways. Community cohesion has increased and skills developed in resource planning, monitoring, analysis and communication. The report highlights that “some individual LMMA sites have already discovered the mutual benefits of having the tourism industry be closely involved in these community-based conservation efforts” and communicates a hope that the involvement of the tourism industry in LMMA network will continue and develop