Mycotoxins, Phytoestrogens and Other Secondary Metabolites in Austrian Pastures: Occurrences, Contamination Levels and Implications of Geo-Climatic Factors

Pastures are key feed sources for dairy production and can be contaminated with several secondary metabolites from fungi and plants with toxic or endocrine-disrupting activities, which possess a risk for the health, reproduction and performance of cattle. This exploratory study aimed to determine the co-occurrences and concentrations of a wide range of mycotoxins, phytoestrogens and other secondary metabolites in grazing pastures. Representative samples of pastures were collected from 18 Austrian dairy farms (one sample per farm) between April to October 2019. After sample preparation (drying and milling) the pastures were subjected to multi-metabolite analysis using LC-MS/MS. In total, 68 metabolites were detected, including regulated zearalenone and deoxynivalenol (range: 2.16–138 and 107–505 μg/kg on a dry matter (DM) basis, respectively), modified (3-deoxynivalenol-glucoside, HT-2-glucoside) and emerging Fusarium mycotoxins (e.g., enniatins), ergot alkaloids and Alternaria metabolites along with phytoestrogens and other metabolites. Aflatoxins, fumonisins, T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin and ochratoxins were not detected. Of the geo-climatic factors and botanical diversity investigated, the environment temperature (average of 2 pre-sampling months and the sampling month) was the most influential factor. The number of fungal metabolites linearly increased with increasing temperatures and temperatures exceeding 15 °C triggered an exponential increment in the concentrations of Fusarium and Alternaria metabolites and ergot alkaloids. In conclusion, even though the levels of regulated mycotoxins detected were below the EU guidance levels, the long-term exposure along with co-occurrence with modified and emerging mycotoxins might be an underestimated risk for grazing and forage-fed livestock. The one-year preliminary data points out a dominant effect of environmental temperature in the diversity and contamination level of fungal metabolites in pastures.

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10 Occurrence of mycotoxins in wheat middlings

Journal of Animal Science ◽

10.1093/jas/skz258.030 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 97 (Supplement_3) ◽

pp. 15-15

Author(s):

Paige N Gott ◽

Erika G Hendel ◽

Shelby M Curry ◽

Ursula Hofstetter ◽

G Raj Murugesan

Keyword(s):

Ergot Alkaloids ◽

Fungal Metabolites ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Risk Levels ◽

Flour Milling ◽

Wide Range ◽

Wheat Middlings ◽

Type A Trichothecenes ◽

Livestock Health

Abstract Mycotoxins are harmful secondary fungal metabolites which can contaminate a variety of feedstuffs worldwide. Various negative effects in vivo are associated with these toxins and severity is dependent on the level, type, and duration of exposure and age, species, and health status of animals. Wheat middlings or “midds” are a by-product of flour milling and are used in a wide range of livestock rations including frequent inclusion in pelleted feeds. The objectives of the current study were to determine the occurrence of mycotoxins in wheat midds samples and to evaluate the potential risk posed to livestock. Since November 2015, 97 samples submitted from 21 states and provinces have been screened via LC-MS/MS technique for the presence of six major mycotoxin groups: aflatoxins, type A trichothecenes, type B trichothecenes (B-Trich), fumonisins, zearalenone, and ochratoxin A (OTA) at Romer Labs (Union, MO, USA) or Activation Laboratories (Ancaster, Ontario, Canada). A subset of samples were also screened for the presence of six ergot alkaloids. Parameters of the main mycotoxins detected are presented in Table 1. On average, 1.7 mycotoxin groups were detected per sample with 91.8% of samples testing positive for at least one mycotoxin. The B-Trich deoxynivalenol was detected in 89.7% of samples (mean 1871.5 ± 157.5 ppb). OTA was also frequently detected (30.9% positive), but at low risk levels (4.2 ± 0.5 ppb). Out of 33 samples screened for ergot alkaloids, 72.7% were positive (493.3 ppb ± 68.3 ppb). Wheat midds are a commonly used feed ingredient for various livestock species. The types and concentrations of mycotoxins detected may pose challenges to livestock health, performance, and reproduction. Special consideration for young animals which are especially susceptible to mycotoxin challenges, such as calves consuming starter feeds, is warranted.

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COMPETITIVE STATUS OF UKRAINE

International scientific journal Internauka Series Economical Sciences ◽

10.25313/2520-2294-2020-9-6311 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Olena Zayats ◽

Keyword(s):

National Economy ◽

Financial System ◽

Product Market ◽

Global Competitiveness ◽

Innovation Potential ◽

Wide Range ◽

Ict Adoption ◽

World Economic ◽

Global Competitiveness Index ◽

One Year

The article examines the competitive status and competitive positions of Ukraine. It proves that in the current context the competitive status of the national economy is determined by the presence of a strong global competitive force that provides dynamic growth based on innovation potential, developed institutions, infrastructure, ICT adoption, macroeconomic stability, health, skills, product market, labor market, financial system, market size, business dynamism rather than by traditional factors (natural resources, geopolitical situation). It has been identified that a wide range of factors in global competitive force establishment suggests the complexity of its assessment. It has been noted that in world economic practice the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum is predominantly used to assess the competitive status of the national economy. It has been determined that according to this index, in the overall ranking among 141 countries in 2019, Ukraine ranked 85th (2009-2010 – 82/133; 2018 – 83/140). The article analyzes of the competitive status of Ukraine in the international arena in terms of twelve pillars of the studied index and in the context of components of the said pillars. The dynamics of Ukraine's global competitive force in recent years shows that there has not been any build up. However, if one analyzes it in terms of the criteria of the global competitive force of the domestic economy, their assessment is volatile: the main regression can be traced in the sphere of the financial system, where Ukraine dropped by 19 positions in one year (2018 – 117/140, 2019 – 136/141), and the greatest progress is observed in the product market, where Ukraine rose by 16 positions in one year (2018 – 73/140, 2019 – 57/141). Analysis of the components of Ukraine’s global competitive force criteria shows that the worst positions in terms of such components are as follows: non-performing loans (% of gross total loans) – 139/141 and soundness of banks – 131/141. The best positions are in terms of the following components: costs of starting a business – 14/141 and attitude towards entrepreneurial risk – 18/141.

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Analysis of organic removal rates in the aerated submerged fixed film process

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.1998.0809 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 38 (8-9) ◽

pp. 213-221 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Mohamed F. Hamoda ◽

Ibrahim A. Al-Ghusain

Keyword(s):

Pilot Plant ◽

Removal Rate ◽

Domestic Wastewater ◽

Removal Rates ◽

Hydraulic Loading ◽

Organic Removal ◽

Wide Range ◽

Fixed Film ◽

Cod Removal Rate ◽

And Performance

Performance data from a pilot-plant employing the four-stage aerated submerged fixed film (ASFF) process treating domestic wastewater were analyzed to examine the organic removal rates. The process has shown high BOD removal efficiencies (> 90%) over a wide range of hydraulic loading rates (0.04 to 0.68 m3/m2·d). It could also cope with high hydraulic and organic loadings with minimal loss in efficiency due to the large amount of immobilized biomass attained. The organic (BOD and COD) removal rate was influenced by the hydraulic loadings applied, but organic removal rates of up to 104 kg BOD/ m2·d were obtained at a hydraulic loading rate of 0.68 m3/m2·d. A Semi-empirical model for the bio-oxidation of organics in the ASFF process has been formulated and rate constants were calculated based on statistical analysis of pilot-plant data. The relationships obtained are very useful for analyzing the design and performance of the ASFF process and a variety of attached growth processes.

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Associated microflora of medicinal ferns: biotechnological potentials and possible applications

International Journal of Bioassays ◽

10.21746/ijbio.2016.03.0017 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (03) ◽

pp. 4927 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Shubhi Srivastava ◽

Paul A. K.

Keyword(s):

Secondary Metabolites ◽

Growth Promotion ◽

Biological Activities ◽

Hydrolytic Enzymes ◽

In Vitro Production ◽

Wide Range ◽

Negative Effect ◽

Bacteria And Fungi

Plant associated microorganisms that colonize the upper and internal tissues of roots, stems, leaves and flowers of healthy plants without causing any visible harmful or negative effect on their host. Diversity of microbes have been extensively studied in a wide variety of vascular plants and shown to promote plant establishment, growth and development and impart resistance against pathogenic infections. Ferns and their associated microbes have also attracted the attention of the scientific communities as sources of novel bioactive secondary metabolites. The ferns and fern alleles, which are well adapted to diverse environmental conditions, produce various secondary metabolites such as flavonoids, steroids, alkaloids, phenols, triterpenoid compounds, variety of amino acids and fatty acids along with some unique metabolites as adaptive features and are traditionally used for human health and medicine. In this review attention has been focused to prepare a comprehensive account of ethnomedicinal properties of some common ferns and fern alleles. Association of bacteria and fungi in the rhizosphere, phyllosphere and endosphere of these medicinally important ferns and their interaction with the host plant has been emphasized keeping in view their possible biotechnological potentials and applications. The processes of host-microbe interaction leading to establishment and colonization of endophytes are less-well characterized in comparison to rhizospheric and phyllospheric microflora. However, the endophytes are possessing same characteristics as rhizospheric and phyllospheric to stimulate the in vivo synthesis as well as in vitro production of secondary metabolites with a wide range of biological activities such as plant growth promotion by production of phytohormones, siderophores, fixation of nitrogen, and phosphate solubilization. Synthesis of pharmaceutically important products such as anticancer compounds, antioxidants, antimicrobials, antiviral substances and hydrolytic enzymes could be some of the promising areas of research and commercial exploitation.

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Bioprospecting Cryptogams as Potential Source of Unique Biodynamic Phytochemicals with Diverse Pharmaceutical Applications

Cryptogam Biodiversity and Assessment ◽

10.21756/cba.v1i1.10959 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Brahma N. Singh ◽

Garima Pandey ◽

Prateeksha ◽

J. Kumar

Keyword(s):

Secondary Metabolites ◽

Higher Plants ◽

New Drugs ◽

Terrestrial Plants ◽

Pharmacological Activities ◽

Therapeutic Drugs ◽

Potential Source ◽

Therapeutic Value ◽

Wide Range ◽

Novel Structures

With the advent of green pharmaceuticals, the secondary metabolites derived from plants have provided numerous leads for the development of a wide range of therapeutic drugs; however the discovery of new drugs with novel structures has declined in the past few years. Cryptogams including lichens, bryophytes, and pteridophytes represent a group of small terrestrial plants that remain relatively untouched in the drug discovery process though some have been used as ethnomedicines by various tribes worldwide. Studies of their secondary metabolites are recent but reveal unique secondary metabolites which are not synthesized by higher plants. These compounds can have the potential to develop more potential herbal drugs for prevention and treatment of diseases The present article . deals with the secondary metabolites and pharmacological activities of cryptogams with an objective to bring them forth as potential source of biodynamic compounds of therapeutic value.

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Synonymous single nucleotide polymorphism in arsenic (+3) methyltransferase of the Western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) and its gene expression among field populations

Ecotoxicology ◽

10.1007/s10646-021-02376-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Daesik Park ◽

Catherine R. Propper ◽

Guangning Wang ◽

Matthew C. Salanga

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Sequence Variation ◽

Allelic Variation ◽

Arsenic Concentration ◽

Gambusia Affinis ◽

Contamination Level ◽

Water Medium ◽

Single Nucleotide ◽

Wide Range ◽

High Arsenic

AbstractNaturally occurring arsenic is toxic at extremely low concentrations, yet some species persist even in high arsenic environments. We wanted to test if these species show evidence of evolution associated with arsenic exposure. To do this, we compared allelic variation across 872 coding nucleotides of arsenic (+3) methyltransferase (as3mt) and whole fish as3mt gene expression from three field populations of Gambusia affinis, from water sources containing low (1.9 ppb), medium-low (3.3 ppb), and high (15.7 ppb) levels of arsenic. The high arsenic site exceeds the US EPA’s Maximum Contamination Level for drinking water. Medium-low and high populations exhibited homozygosity, and no sequence variation across all animals sampled. Eleven of 24 fish examined (45.8%) in the low arsenic population harbored synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in exons 4 and/or 10. SNP presence in the low arsenic population was not associated with differences in as3mt transcript levels compared to fish from the medium-low site, where SNPs were noted; however, as3mt expression in fish from the high arsenic concentration site was significantly lower than the other two sites. Low sequence variation in fish populations from sites with medium-low and high arsenic concentrations suggests greater selective pressure on this allele, while higher variation in the low population suggests a relaxed selection. Our results suggest gene regulation associated with arsenic detoxification may play a more crucial role in influencing responses to arsenic than polymorphic gene sequence. Understanding microevolutionary processes to various contaminants require the evaluation of multiple populations across a wide range of pollution exposures.

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Fabrication and Compressive Behavior of a Micro-Lattice Composite by High Resolution DLP Stereolithography

Polymers ◽

10.3390/polym13050785 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 785

Author(s):

Chow Shing Shin ◽

Yu Chia Chang

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

Lattice Structure ◽

Low Cost ◽

Hierarchical Structures ◽

Dip Coating ◽

Unit Cell ◽

Digital Light Processing ◽

Unit Cell Size ◽

Wide Range ◽

And Performance

Lattice structures are superior to stochastic foams in mechanical properties and are finding increasing applications. Their properties can be tailored in a wide range through adjusting the design and dimensions of the unit cell, changing the constituent materials as well as forming into hierarchical structures. In order to achieve more levels of hierarchy, the dimensions of the fundamental lattice have to be small enough. Although lattice size of several microns can be fabricated using the two-photon polymerization technique, sophisticated and costly equipment is required. To balance cost and performance, a low-cost high resolution micro-stereolithographic system has been developed in this work based on a commercial digital light processing (DLP) projector. Unit cell lengths as small as 100 μm have been successfully fabricated. Decreasing the unit cell size from 150 to 100 μm increased the compressive stiffness by 26%. Different pretreatments to facilitate the electroless plating of nickel on the lattice structure have been attempted. A pretreatment of dip coating in a graphene suspension is the most successful and increased the strength and stiffness by 5.3 and 3.6 times, respectively. Even a very light and incomplete nickel plating in the interior has increase the structural stiffness and strength by more than twofold.

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Novel Protein-Repellent and Antibacterial Resins and Cements to Inhibit Lesions and Protect Teeth

International Journal of Polymer Science ◽

10.1155/2019/5602904 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2019 ◽

pp. 1-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Li Cao ◽

Junling Wu ◽

Qiang Zhang ◽

Bashayer Baras ◽

Ghalia Bhadila ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Orthodontic Treatment ◽

The Novel ◽

Dental Resin ◽

Biofilm Growth ◽

New Class ◽

Dental Resins ◽

Wide Range ◽

Oral Biofilms ◽

One Year

Orthodontic treatment is increasingly popular as people worldwide seek esthetics and better quality of life. In orthodontic treatment, complex appliances and retainers are placed in the patients’ mouths for at least one year, which often lead to biofilm plaque accumulation. This in turn increases the caries-inducing bacteria, decreases the pH of the retained plaque on an enamel surface, and causes white spot lesions (WSLs) in enamel. This article reviews the cutting-edge research on a new class of bioactive and therapeutic dental resins, cements, and adhesives that can inhibit biofilms and protect tooth structures. The novel approaches include the use of protein-repellent and anticaries polymeric dental cements containing 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) and dimethylaminododecyl methacrylate (DMAHDM); multifunctional resins that can inhibit enamel demineralization; protein-repellent and self-etching adhesives to greatly reduce oral biofilm growth; and novel polymethyl methacrylate resins to suppress oral biofilms and acid production. These new materials could reduce biofilm attachment, raise local biofilm pH, and facilitate the remineralization to protect the teeth. This novel class of dental resin with dual benefits of antibacterial and protein-repellent capabilities has the potential for a wide range of dental and biomedical applications to inhibit bacterial infection and protect the tissues.

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BSAS Ethical Policy British Society of Animal Science Ethical guidelines for research in animal science

Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science ◽

10.1017/s1752756200011571 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 2005 ◽

pp. 247-253 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

S. Jarvis ◽

J.E.L. Day ◽

B. Reed

Keyword(s):

Ethical Issues ◽

Science Research ◽

British Society ◽

Ethical Guidelines ◽

Animal Science ◽

Ethical Implications ◽

Ethical Policy ◽

Physical Environments ◽

Wide Range ◽

And Performance

Animal science research is important in relation to our understanding of animals, their function and performance, and their relationships with their social and physical environments. Animal science research covers a wide range of disciplines and so can lead to the use of a variety of experimental techniques on animals for many different purposes. This has the potential to lead to a multitude of diverse ethical issues. Members of the British Society of Animal Science and authors of papers submitted to the Society for publication come from countries around the world and therefore are subject to differences in legislative requirements and recommendations regarding animal experimentation. These legal requirements, along with the ethical implications of the research must be fully considered before any experimental work is undertaken.

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CFD Study of Nozzle Configurations for Ultra High Bypass Engines

Volume 3C: General ◽

10.1115/93-gt-389 ◽

1993 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

H. Zimmermann ◽

R. Gumucio ◽

K. Katheder ◽

A. Jula

Keyword(s):

Engine Performance ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Aerodynamic Design ◽

Thrust Coefficient ◽

Optimum Range ◽

Installation Effects ◽

Wide Range ◽

And Performance ◽

Aircraft Aerodynamics ◽

Bypass Ratio

Performance and aerodynamic aspects of ultra-high bypass ratio ducted engines have been investigated with an emphasis on nozzle aerodynamics. The interference with aircraft aerodynamics could not be covered. Numerical methods were used for aerodynamic investigations of geometrically different aft end configurations for bypass ratios between 12 and 18, this is the optimum range for long missions which will be important for future civil engine applications. Results are presented for a wide range of operating conditions and effects on engine performance are discussed. The limitations for higher bypass ratios than 12 to 18 do not come from nozzle aerodynamics but from installation effects. It is shown that using CFD and performance calculations an improved aerodynamic design can be achieved. Based on existing correlations, for thrust and mass-flow, or using aerodynamic tailoring by CFD and including performance investigations, it is possible to increase the thrust coefficient up to 1%.

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