scholarly journals Environment Changes, Aflatoxins, and Health Issues, a Review

Author(s):  
Rafael Valencia-Quintana ◽  
Mirta Milić ◽  
Daniela Jakšić ◽  
Maja Šegvić Klarić ◽  
María Guadalupe Tenorio-Arvide ◽  
...  

Crops contaminated by aflatoxins (AFs), the toxic and carcinogenic mycotoxins produced namely by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, have severe impacts on human health. Changes in temperature and water availability related to actual climate changes (increased temperature, heavy rainfalls, and droughts) are modulating factors of mould growth and production of mycotoxins. To protect human and animal health from the harmful effects caused by AFs, the development of a safe and effective multifaceted approach in combating food and feed contamination with AFs is necessary. This review aims to collect and analyze the available information regarding AF presence in food and feed to reinforce AF management and to prevent health issues related to the AF exposure in the light of actual climate changes.

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 78-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Evrenosoğlu ◽  
K. Mertoğlu

Fire blight is one of the most destructive diseases of pome fruits, especially pears. In current conditions when the demand for organic products is increasing, improvement of resistant rootstock and varieties is becoming important due to the lack of an effective disease management method against fire blight caused by Erwinia amy-lovora as well as the harmful effects of chemicals on environment, human and animal health. The findings of the researchers as to which variety performs well in terms of the transmission of fire blight resistance are quite important for new breeding programs. In the study, three varieties with high commercial value (Magness, Santa Maria and Williams) were identified as the maternal parents and 21 hybridization combinations were made with seven varieties (Akça, Ankara, Conference, Güz, Kaiser Alexandre, Kieffer and Taş) as pollinators. The Magness maternal parent was found superior when compared with the other maternal parents for the variety susceptibility level to fire blight. Apart from the differences in the susceptibility level of 21 different combinations of hybrids to fire blight, the commercially superior ten hybrids (I-15-24, II-13-1, II-13-19, II-13-34, II-13-73, II-27-21, II-27-55, II -32-44, III-22-638, III-27-590) have been determined via the weighted ranking method from the parameters of disease resistance and different fruit characteristics measuring the commercial preference of the fruits such as fruit quality, attractiveness, size, firmness and rustiness


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Arroyo-Manzanares ◽  
José F. Huertas-Pérez ◽  
Ana M. García-Campaña ◽  
Laura Gámiz-Gracia

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by different fungi, with different chemical structures. Mycotoxins contaminate food, feed, or raw materials used in their production and cause diseases and disorders in humans and livestock. Because of their great variety of toxic effects and their extreme heat resistance, the presence of mycotoxins in food and feed is considered a high risk to human and animal health. In order to ensure food quality and health consumers, European legislation has set maximum contents of some mycotoxins in different matrices. However, there are still some food commodities susceptible to fungal contamination, which were not contemplated in this legislation. In this context, we have developed new analytical techniques for the multiclass determination of mycotoxins in a great variety of food commodities (some of them scarcely studied), such as cereals, pseudocereals, cereal syrups, nuts, edible seeds, and botanicals. Considering the latest technical developments, ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry has been chosen as an efficient, fast, and selective powerful analytical technique. In addition, alternative sample treatments based on emerging methodologies, such as dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction and QuEChERS, have been developed, which allow an increased efficiency and sample throughput, as well as reducing contaminant waste.


Author(s):  
Nanang E. Gunawan ◽  
Tamarine Foreman

This article aims to present a practical conceptual perspective on ecological counseling as a theoretical framework for counselors' integrative cognitive complexity to work with students who experience mental health challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The transition of educational activities into virtual learning has caused various challenges for students worldwide that risk their mental health. Indonesia is one of the countries implementing virtual learning for more than a year with various social, technical, and environmental obstacles. Besides the benefit of distanced learning, this online learning model has widely caused mild to severe anxiety among students. Although researchers have investigated the impacts of virtual learning on mental health problems, the intervention strategies to help students with mental health issues remain lack attention. Ecological counseling has been known for its principles of seeing individuals' mental health issues involving a broader milieu that allows counselors to understand clients according to their contextual living systems. This framework offers a culturally sensitive perspective to help counselors withdraw appropriate and best available information for intervention purposes. This article also includes an application illustration of the ecological counseling framework in the Indonesian community as a practical guideline. It is expected that this article provides academic supports for academics to work with students dealing with their mental health challenges during this pandemic adhere to the counselors' integrative cognitive complexity functions.Keywords: ecological counseling, cognitive complexity, COVID-19 mental health, counselors, Indonesia


Author(s):  
Said Sajjad Ali Shah ◽  
Adnan Khan

One health is a collective term used to address human and animal health issues under one platform. More than half of the diseases of humans are directly or indirectly related to animal health and spread from animals to humans or vice versa. Etiological agents of zoonotic diseases may be bacterial, viral, or parasitic in origin. Among them, parasitic agents are very important because they are either directly involved as etiological agents or as vectors of other pathogenic organisms. Parasitic zoonoses are transmitted to humans through vectors, food, or drinking water, and thus categorized as vector borne, food borne, and water borne parasitic zoonoses. Food borne and water borne parasitic zoonoses include all those parasitic diseases which are transmitted to humans by consuming contaminated food and water. An extensive alliance is necessary amongst physicians, veterinarians, and public health workers for timely response and approach to guarantee the prevention and management of infections.


Author(s):  
Stephen G. Mackenzie ◽  
◽  
Ilias Kyriazakis ◽  

The focus of this chapter is on the environmental impact consequences of endemic livestock health challenges that lead to deterioration in animal health, and on the potential impacts arising from their mitigations. The first part of the chapter concentrates on the potential of animal health to affect the environmental impact of livestock systems. Subsequently, it reviews the literature to date which has quantified the impact of health challenges for the environmental impacts of livestock systems. The potential of successful health interventions to mitigate negative environmental impacts represents a point of synergy between concerns around environmental sustainability and animal welfare, both of which represent 'hot topics' in the discourse surrounding the livestock industry and its sustainability. The challenges associated with modelling health interventions and their potential to mitigate environmental impacts constitute the last section in the chapter.


Toxins ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 565
Author(s):  
M. O. Samuel Aikore ◽  
Alejandro Ortega-Beltran ◽  
Daisy Eruvbetine ◽  
Joseph Atehnkeng ◽  
Titilayo D. O. Falade ◽  
...  

In warm agricultural areas across the globe, maize, groundnut, and other crops become frequently contaminated with aflatoxins produced primarily by the fungus Aspergillus flavus. Crop contamination with those highly toxic and carcinogenic compounds impacts both human and animal health, as well as the income of farmers and trade. In Nigeria, poultry productivity is hindered by high prevalence of aflatoxins in feeds. A practical solution to decrease crop aflatoxin content is to use aflatoxin biocontrol products based on non-toxin-producing strains of A. flavus. The biocontrol product Aflasafe® was registered in 2014 for use in maize and groundnut grown in Nigeria. Its use allows the production of aflatoxin-safe maize and groundnut. A portion of the maize treated with Aflasafe in Nigeria is being used to manufacture feeds used by the poultry industry, and productivity is improving. One of the conditions to register Aflasafe with the national regulator was to demonstrate both the safety of Aflasafe-treated maize to avian species and the impact of Aflasafe as a public good. Results presented here demonstrate that the use of maize colonized by an atoxigenic strain of Aflasafe resulted in superior (p < 0.05) broiler performance in all evaluated parameters in comparison to broilers fed with toxigenic maize. Use of an aflatoxin-sequestering agent (ASA) was not sufficient to counteract the harmful effects of aflatoxins. Both the safety and public good value of Aflasafe were demonstrated during our study. In Nigeria, the availability of aflatoxin-safe crops as a result of using Aflasafe allows poultry producers to improve their productivity, their income, and the health of consumers of poultry products.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Gjerris ◽  
C. Gamborg ◽  
H. Röcklinsberg

Given a growing global human population and high pressures on resources, interest in insects as a source of protein for human food (entomophagy) and for animal feed is growing. So far, the main issues discussed have been the embedded technical challenges of scaling up the production. The use of insects as a major human food and feed source is thought to present two major challenges: (1) how to turn insects into safe, tasty socially acceptable feed and food; and (2) how to cheaply yet sustainably produce enough insects? Entomophagy, however, as any utilisation of animals and the rest of nature also entails ethical issues – both regarding the impact on human health, the environment and climate change and regarding production methods such as intensification and biotechnology. The aim of the paper is to give a systematic overview of ethical aspects embedded in the notion of utilising insects as protein providers in the Western food and feed production chains. We identify five areas where ethical questions are especially pertinent: environmental impact, human and animal health, human preferences and social acceptability, animal welfare and finally broader animal ethics issues. Especially the latter two are more scantly dealt with in the literature. This part of the review will therefore contain suggestions for ethical issues that should be examined closer.


2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Baumgartner ◽  
M. Führer ◽  
R. Krska

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungi belonging mainly to the Aspergillus, Penicillium and Fusarium genera. They represent a relevant source of danger to human and animal health causing food- and feedborne intoxication. One group, produced by Fusarium spp., are the trichothecenes, of which T-2 toxin belongs to the type-A trichothecenes and deoxynivalenol to the type-B trichothecenes. As these mycotoxins are ubiquitous, the testing of products is required to keep our food and feed safe. For this purpose, sensitive and reliable tests are needed to detect contaminations. One detection possibility is an immunoanalytical based test which needs antibodies as reagents. Cell culture facilities allow cell line selection and production of monoclonal antibodies for further immunological test development. Especially for mycotoxins antibody development for further use in immunoassays is a crucial task. T-2 toxin and deoxynivalenol specific monoclonal antibodies were developed and further characterised to test stability and solvent resistance properties. Especially cross-reactivities were determined to related mycotoxins also belonging to the trichothecene family, e.g. HT-2 toxin or 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol.


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