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Food toxicology: quantitative analysis of the research field literature
International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition
Abstract
Total-scale quantitative research literature analysis on the food toxicology scientific field has yet to be conducted. In this work, we identified and analysed food toxicology publications in the existing scientific literature. A literature search was performed with the online Web of Science database. Full records and cited references of the 73,099 identified manuscripts were imported into VOSviewer software for analysis. This research field has been growing steadily since the 1990s. Article to review ratio was 7.4:1. The publications were mainly related to toxicology, environmental sciences, food science and technology, pharmacology/pharmacy and biochemistry/molecular biology. The United States and China are major contributors to food toxicology research, followed by other European and Asian countries. The prolific authors have formed three major clusters within a citation network. Toxic or hazardous chemicals related to food with high citations included aflatoxin, dioxin, fumonisin, malondialdehyde, mycotoxin, ochratoxin, phthalate, and polychlorinated biphenyl.
... Food toxicology is a subject that studies the properties, sources, adverse reactions and possible damage effects and mechanisms of exogenous chemicals in foods, determines the safety limits of these substances and evaluates food safety [2]. From the perspective of toxicology, food toxicology studies the harm of exogenous chemicals that may be contained in foods to the health of consumers, and tests and evaluates the safety or safety range of foods, so as to achieve the purpose of ensuring human health [3]. This paper was aimed to summarize and introduce the case database construction and casebased learning of food toxicology course in public health specialty of our university. ...
... what is the LD50 of clenbuterol? (3) what are the indicators for evaluating the acute toxicity of clenbuterol? (4) what is the basis of the acute toxicity of clenbuterol and how to evaluate the acute toxicity? ...
... (2) briefly explain the mechanism of exogenous chemicals on DNA damage. (3) what are the adverse consequences of mutation? Through the explanation and analysis of the case, students can master the mutagenicity and the types of mutagenicity, be familiar with the mechanism of DNA damage caused by exogenous chemicals, understand the adverse consequences of mutation and other knowledge points, and be able to use them in future practical work. ...
Computer science and technology have gone deep into many fields, including medical care and public health. The network teaching platform, online courses and formative evaluation developed based on computer science and technology have been widely used in the teaching process of public health, and have played a key role in training qualified public health talents. Case-based learning is a teaching method that takes students as the center and cases as the basis, in which students are guided to find, analyze and solve problems by presenting case situations, and closely combining theory with practice, so that they can understand theories, form their own views and improve their abilities. In this study, the necessity and importance of case-based learning, the basic strategy for the construction of case database, and the design of typical cases of food toxicology were investigated in combination with the training objectives of public health major and the basic situation of food toxicology course in our university. At the same time, a case-based learning was applied in the course of food toxicology, and it was found that this teaching mode could effectively improve the students’ academic performance and teaching satisfaction, and should be of great help to students’ ability to obtain information, learn independently and evaluate information, worth popularizing.
... The experience is engaging, easy to use, increases participation, and creates a more comfortable environment. 13,14 The VR and AR can help to solve dental procedures for your patients using interactive methods. Therefore, there is a need to implement the use of VR and AR as they have the potential to revolutionize the field of dentistry, improving both the patient experience and treatment outcomes. ...
... The experience is engaging, easy to use, increases engagement, and creates a more welcoming environment. 13,14 Virtual reality has been shown to be an effective tool to improve skills in diagnostic and surgical procedures, including reducing errors and procedure times in novice hospital residents performing laparoscopy. 19 In addition, it has been used to assess suturing skills in different groups of operators, which could improve the quality and accuracy of surgical procedures. ...
Aim
The aim of this study was to perform a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications in dental education.
Materials and methods
A cross-sectional research was carried out using a bibliometric methodology. This process entailed the assessment of metadata from scientific publications that are catalogued in the Scopus database, covering the period from January 2018 to August 2023. A variety of indicators were utilized to scrutinize scientific production and dissemination within the academic community. These encompassed elements such as the author, the publication itself, the number of citations, institutional and collaborative affiliations, geographical location, journal quartile ranking, h-index, Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP), Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI), SCImago Journal Rank (SJR), and the CiteScore.
Results
Several institutions from different countries and their academic output were found. Beihang University stands out with 16 scholarly articles, followed by Stanford University with 16 articles and 170 citations. The Q1 quartile has experienced a steady increase, reaching 87 scientific articles. The top 10 authors in scientific production on augmented and VR in dentistry include Joe Amal Cecil, Avinash Gupta, and Miguel A Pirela-Cruz. In terms of co-authorship by country, the United States, Germany, and China are the most predominant in the clusters represented. However, other clusters also have a significant presence. By analyzing the explored trends and themes of keyword co-occurrence, four main clusters were identified. The yellow cluster contained the largest amount of research with the keyword “virtual reality.” In addition, the blue cluster was found to be best related to the green “simulation,” purple “virtual reality (VR),” and light blue “human-centered computing” clusters.
Conclusion
This study evidenced the availability and quality of the data used for the analysis. Future studies could consider the use of VR systems with integrated eye tracking and compare their effect in dentistry during dental procedures.
Clinical significance
The clinical importance of this study lies in its potential to improve dental education. The VR and AR can provide dental students with immersive, hands-on learning experiences, which can enhance their understanding and clinical skills. Furthermore, the translational value of this study extends beyond dental education. The insights gained from this research could be applicable to other fields of medical education where hands-on training is crucial. Thus, the findings of this study have the potential to influence the broader landscape of medical education, ultimately leading to improved healthcare outcomes.
How to cite this article
Alvitez-Temoche D, Silva H, Aguila ED, et al. Scientometric Analysis of the World Scientific Production on Augmented and Virtual Reality in Dental Education. J Contemp Dent Pract 2024;25(4):358–364.
... The most rapid and general approach to gaining an understanding of a field of research literature is performing a bibliometric analysis. Bibliometrics is an analytical approach that generates an integrative view and quantitative parameter profiling of specific scientific application areas or entire research fields [19,20]. Here, a bibliometric analysis was applied to identify the scientific literature on the links between gut microbiota, chronic painful conditions, and nutrition, revealing the popular research topics and the key authors, scientific institutions, countries, and journals. ...
Background
The link between gut microbiota and chronic painful conditions has recently gained attention. Nutrition, as a common intervention in daily life and medical practice, is closely related to microbiota and pain. However, no published bibliometric reports have analyzed this link.
Methods
We used bibliometrics to identify the characteristics of the global trends over the past 20 years. We also aimed to capture how nutrition can modulate the abovementioned link. Relevant papers were searched in the Web of Science database. All necessary data were acquired and exported to Bibliometrix for further analyses. The keywords mentioned were illustrated using visualization maps.
Results
The role of nutrition has been overlooked in clinical applications of microbiota therapy (IDDF2024-ABS-0243 Figure 1). From 2003 to 2022, a total of 1,551 papers revealed the relationship between gut microbiota and pain (IDDF2024-ABS-0243 Figure 2). There has been a growing trend each year since the earliest publication in 2003, reaching 100 publications in 2017. Among them, there were 1,020 original articles (65.76%) and 531 reviews (34.24%). The first paper discussing how nutrition modulates pain-gut microbiota was published in 2008, comprising 68 original articles (55.74%) and 54 reviews (44.26%) (IDDF2024-ABS-0243 Figure 3, IDDF2024-ABS-0243 Figure 4). Most of the top 10 prolific institutions were from the United States, with Nanjing Medical University being the only Chinese academic institution among the top 10. However, only 122 papers discussed the association between nutrition and regulation. Citations and focus were concentrated on gut microbiota, pain, and probiotics. Nutritional status garnered significant attention in thematic keywords (IDDF2024-ABS-0243 Figure 5, IDDF2024-ABS-0243 Figure 6).
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Abstract IDDF2024-ABS-0243 Figure 1
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Abstract IDDF2024-ABS-0243 Figure 2
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Abstract IDDF2024-ABS-0243 Figure 3
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Abstract IDDF2024-ABS-0243 Figure 4
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Abstract IDDF2024-ABS-0243 Figure 5
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Abstract IDDF2024-ABS-0243 Figure 6
Conclusions
This bibliometric analysis is applied to identify research related to gut microbiota, chronic pain, and nutrition. Analysis based on bibliometric tools provides a new perspective on evolving research trends globally, which is relatively more comprehensive and objective compared to traditional reviews. We aimed to explore whether dysbiosis of microbiota and subsequent malnutrition were indeed the causes of various human pains or merely results. Research in this area faces some limitations, making it difficult to draw definitive conclusions. In the clinic, more high-quality mechanistic studies are needed to explore more among gut microbiota, nutrition, and pain to draw more accurate conclusions.
... Bibliometric analysis is an information visualization technique that has been widely used in many fields to understand the knowledge structure and pinpoint research frontiers or hotspots in a given field [12][13][14]. This is achieved by consolidating a comprehensive overview of all the literature in the specific topic and conducting a quantitative analysis of the data extracted from that literature, together with meteorological characteristics, employing statistical and mathematical methodologies. ...
Background
Due to the rapid advancement of technology, artificial intelligence (AI) has become extensively used for the diagnosis and prognosis of various diseases, such as lung cancer. Research in the field of literature has demonstrated that artificial intelligence (AI) can be valuable in the timely detection of lung cancer and the formulation of an effective treatment plan. This study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis to examine and illustrate the specific areas of focus, research frontiers, evolutionary processes, and trends in existing research on artificial intelligence in the context of lung cancer.
Methods
Publications on AI in lung cancer were selected from the SCIE and ESCI indexes on September 19, 2023. The examination of nations, academic publications, organizations, writers, citations, and terms in this domain was visually analyzed with InCites and VOSviewer.
Results
In this study, a total of 4275 publications were selected and analyzed. Artificial intelligence-related lung cancer publications have increased significantly in the last 5 years. China and the USA have contributed the most to the literature in this field (1418 publications with 13.92 citation impacts and 1117 publications with 37.34 citation impacts, respectively). The institution with the highest contribution was “Chinese Academy of Sciences,” with 118 publications and 29.09 citation impacts. Among the research categories, “Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Imaging”, “Oncology”, and “Engineering, Biomedical” were in first place.
Conclusion
The USA and China have always been leaders in this field and will continue to be for some time. Research in countries such as the Netherlands is increasing. However, research collaboration has to be strengthened in developing countries.
... Despite the growing scientific literature on the use of VR in pain management, there is still a lack of studies on its development trends and hot spots, which can provide scientific guidance for researchers in this area. Bibliometrics is an analytical method that can generate a comprehensive view or quantitative parametric analysis of an entire research field or a specific scientific application area [24][25][26]. This study aimed to analyze the application of VR in the field of pain management in the past 2 decades using bibliometrics, to provide researchers with an overall research development trend and to help guide future research directions. ...
Background
Virtual reality (VR) is a computer simulation technique that has been increasingly applied in pain management over the past 2 decades.
Objective
In this study, we used bibliometrics to explore the literature on VR and pain control, with the aim of identifying research progress and predicting future research hot spots.
Methods
We extracted literature on VR and pain control published between 2000 and 2022 from the Web of Science Core Collections and conducted bibliometric analyses. We analyzed the publication and citation trends in the past 2 decades, as well as publication and citation analyses of different countries, institutions, journals, and authors. For references, we conducted cocitation and burst analyses. For keywords, we conducted co-occurrence, clustering, timeline view, and citation burst analyses.
Results
Based on 1176 publications, we found that there was a continuous increase in publication and citation volumes, especially in the last 5 years. The United States was the most representative country, and the University of Washington was the most representative institution, with both having the most publications and citations. The most popular journal in this field was Burns , and Hoffman HG was the most productive author, leading many studies on patients with burn pain. The reference with the most citation burst was a study on the verification of new hardware in pain control. The keywords with the highest citation bursts related to various situations of pain such as “burn pain,” “wound care,” “low back pain,” and “phantom limb.”
Conclusions
VR has been applied in various clinical situations for pain management, among which burns and pediatric surgery have achieved satisfactory results. We infer that VR will be extended to more clinical pain situations in the future, such as pain control in wound care, low back pain, and phantom limb pain. New research hot spots will include the development of software and hardware to improve the immersive experience of VR for pain control. However, our work was based solely on English literature from the Web of Science database. For future studies, we recommend that researchers explore literature from multiple databases to enhance the scope of their research.
... The most rapid and general approach to gaining an understanding of a field of research literature is performing a bibliometric analysis. Bibliometrics is an analytical approach that generates an integrative view and quantitative parameter profiling of specific scientific application areas or entire research fields [19,20]. Here, a bibliometric analysis was applied to identify the scientific literature on the links between gut microbiota, chronic painful conditions, and nutrition, revealing the popular research topics and the key authors, scientific institutions, countries, and journals. ...
Introduction:
The link between gut microbiota and chronic painful conditions has recently gained attention. Nutrition, as a common intervention in daily life and medical practice, is closely related to microbiota and pain. However, no published bibliometric reports have analyzed the scientific literature concerning the link.
Methods and results:
We used bibliometrics to identify the characteristics of the global scientific output over the past 20 years. We also aimed to capture and describe how nutrition can modulate the abovementioned link. Relevant papers were searched in the Web of Science database. All necessary publication and citation data were acquired and exported to Bibliometrix for further analyses. The keywords mentioned were illustrated using visualization maps. In total, 1551 papers shed light on the relationship from 2003 to 2022. However, only 122 papers discussed how nutritional interventions can modulate this link. The citations and attention were concentrated on the gut microbiota, pain, and probiotics in terms of the pain-gut relationship. Nutritional status has gained attention in motor themes of a thematic map.
Conclusions:
This bibliometric analysis was applied to identify the scientific literature linking gut microbiota, chronic painful conditions, and nutrition, revealing the popular research topics and authors, scientific institutions, countries, and journals in this field. This study enriches the evidence moving boundaries of microbiota medicine as a clinical medicine.
... VOSviewer was also used to identify the top 20 recurring author keywords. The study design was similar to prior bibliometric studies conducted by the authors [14][15][16]. ...
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt health systems worldwide, conducting Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) at specified intervals has become an essential part of many people’s lives around the world. We identified and analyzed the academic literature on COVID-19 RAT. The Web of Science electronic database was queried on 6 July 2022 to find relevant publications. Publication and citation data were retrieved directly from the database. VOSviewer, a bibliometric software, was then used to relate these data to the semantic content from the titles, abstracts, and keywords. The analysis was based on data from 1000 publications. The most productive authors were from Japan and the United States, led by Dr. Koji Nakamura from Japan (n = 10, 1.0%). The most academically productive countries were in the North America, Europe and Asia, led by the United States of America (n = 266, 26.6%). Sensitivity (n = 32, 3.2%) and specificity (n = 23, 2.3%) were among the most frequently recurring author keywords. Regarding sampling methods, “saliva” (n = 54, 5.4%) was mentioned more frequently than “nasal swab” (n = 32, 3.2%) and “nasopharyngeal swab” (n = 22, 2.2%). Recurring scenarios that required RAT were identified: emergency department, healthcare worker, mass screening, airport, traveler, and workplace. Our bibliometric analysis revealed that COVID-19 RAT has been utilized in a range of studies. RAT results were cross-checked with RT-PCR tests for sensitivity and specificity. These results are consistent with comparable exchanges of methods, results or discussions among laboratorians, authors, institutions and publishers in the involved countries of the world.
... The broad range of digital technology use in cardiology is reflected by a large scientific literature base. Bibliometric analysis provides an integral view with quantitative evaluations of publishing metrics of research literature [82][83][84]. The purpose of this bibliometric analysis of digital technology uses in cardiology is to describe and discover current trends, topics, and scientometric characteristics within this body of literature, providing a high-level overview of the scientific literature and enabling insights for future directions in digital health in cardiology. ...
BACKGROUND
Digital technology uses in cardiology have become a popular research focus in recent years. However, there has been no published bibliometric report that analyzed the corresponding academic literature in order to derive key publishing trends and characteristics of this scientific area.
OBJECTIVE
We used a bibliometric approach to identify and analyze the academic literature on digital technology uses in cardiology, and to unveil popular research topics, key authors, institutions, countries, and journals. We further captured the cardiovascular conditions and diagnostic tools most commonly investigated within this field.
METHODS
The Web of Science electronic database was queried to identify relevant papers on digital technology uses in cardiology. Publication and citation data were acquired directly from the database. Complete bibliographic data were exported to VOSviewer, a dedicated bibliometric software package, and related to the semantic content of titles, abstracts, and keywords. A term map was constructed for findings visualization.
RESULTS
The analysis was based on data from 12,529 papers. Of the top 5 most productive institutions, 4 were based in the United States. The United States was the most productive country (4224/12,529, 33.7%), followed by United Kingdom (1136/12,529, 9.1%), Germany (1067/12,529, 8.5%), China (682/12,529, 5.4%), and Italy (622/12,529, 5.0%). Cardiovascular diseases that had been frequently investigated included hypertension (152/12,529, 1.2%), atrial fibrillation (122/12,529, 1.0%), atherosclerosis (116/12,529, 0.9%), heart failure (106/12,529, 0.8%), and arterial stiffness (80/12,529, 0.6%). Recurring modalities were electrocardiography (170/12,529, 1.4%), angiography (127/12,529, 1.0%), echocardiography (127/12,529, 1.0%), digital subtraction angiography (111/12,529, 0.9%), and photoplethysmography (80/12,529, 0.6%). For a literature subset on smartphone apps and wearable devices, the Journal of Medical Internet Research (20/632, 3.2%) and other JMIR portfolio journals (51/632, 8.0%) were the major publishing venues.
CONCLUSIONS
Digital technology uses in cardiology target physicians, patients, and the general public. Their functions range from assisting diagnosis, recording cardiovascular parameters, and patient education, to teaching laypersons about cardiopulmonary resuscitation. This field already has had a great impact in health care, and we anticipate continued growth.
... The broad range of digital technology use in cardiology is reflected by a large scientific literature base. Bibliometric analysis provides an integral view with quantitative evaluations of publishing metrics of research literature [82][83][84]. The purpose of this bibliometric analysis of digital technology uses in cardiology is to describe and discover current trends, topics, and scientometric characteristics within this body of literature, providing a high-level overview of the scientific literature and enabling insights for future directions in digital health in cardiology. ...
Background: Digital technology uses in cardiology have become a popular research focus in recent years. However, there has been no published bibliometric report that analyzed the corresponding academic literature in order to derive key publishing trends and characteristics of this scientific area.
Objective: We used a bibliometric approach to identify and analyze the academic literature on digital technology uses in cardiology, and to unveil popular research topics, key authors, institutions, countries, and journals. We further captured the cardiovascular conditions and diagnostic tools most commonly investigated within this field.
Methods: The Web of Science electronic database was queried to identify relevant papers on digital technology uses in cardiology. Publication and citation data were acquired directly from the database. Complete bibliographic data were exported to VOSviewer,
a dedicated bibliometric software package, and related to the semantic content of titles, abstracts, and keywords. A term map was constructed for findings visualization.
Results: The analysis was based on data from 12,529 papers. Of the top 5 most productive institutions, 4 were based in the United States. The United States was the most productive country (4224/12,529, 33.7%), followed by United Kingdom (1136/12,529,
9.1%), Germany (1067/12,529, 8.5%), China (682/12,529, 5.4%), and Italy (622/12,529, 5.0%). Cardiovascular diseases that had been frequently investigated included hypertension (152/12,529, 1.2%), atrial fibrillation (122/12,529, 1.0%), atherosclerosis
(116/12,529, 0.9%), heart failure (106/12,529, 0.8%), and arterial stiffness (80/12,529, 0.6%). Recurring modalities were electrocardiography (170/12,529, 1.4%), angiography (127/12,529, 1.0%), echocardiography (127/12,529, 1.0%), digital subtraction
angiography (111/12,529, 0.9%), and photoplethysmography (80/12,529, 0.6%). For a literature subset on smartphone apps and wearable devices, the Journal of Medical Internet Research (20/632, 3.2%) and other JMIR portfolio journals (51/632, 8.0%)
were the major publishing venues.
Conclusions: Digital technology uses in cardiology target physicians, patients, and the general public. Their functions range from assisting diagnosis, recording cardiovascular parameters, and patient education, to teaching laypersons about cardiopulmonary resuscitation. This field already has had a great impact in health care, and we anticipate continued growth.
... Bibliometric analysis (29)(30)(31)(32)(33), which has been widely applied in many fields, is an information visualization method to comprehend the knowledge structure and identify the research frontiers or hotspots of a certain field by summarizing all the literature of this field around the world and quantitatively analyzing the literature data and metrological characteristics by using mathematical and statistical methods. Meanwhile, by using this method, we can also compare the research status of various countries, institutions, authors, or journals through the paper information from the database, so as to evaluate global scientific articles and the latest frontier research progress, better understand scientific publications, and visualize their trends (34)(35)(36). ...
Background
With the rapid development of technology, artificial intelligence (AI) has been widely used in the diagnosis and prognosis prediction of a variety of diseases, including prostate cancer. Facts have proved that AI has broad prospects in the accurate diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.
Objective
This study mainly summarizes the research on the application of artificial intelligence in the field of prostate cancer through bibliometric analysis and explores possible future research hotspots.
Methods
The articles and reviews regarding application of AI in prostate cancer between 1999 and 2020 were selected from Web of Science Core Collection on August 23, 2021. Microsoft Excel 2019 and GraphPad Prism 8 were applied to analyze the targeted variables. VOSviewer (version 1.6.16), Citespace (version 5.8.R2), and a widely used online bibliometric platform were used to conduct co-authorship, co-citation, and co-occurrence analysis of countries, institutions, authors, references, and keywords in this field.
Results
A total of 2,749 articles were selected in this study. AI-related research on prostate cancer increased exponentially in recent years, of which the USA was the most productive country with 1,342 publications, and had close cooperation with many countries. The most productive institution and researcher were the Henry Ford Health System and Tewari. However, the cooperation among most institutions or researchers was not close even if the high research outputs. The result of keyword analysis could divide all studies into three clusters: “Diagnosis and Prediction AI-related study”, “Non-surgery AI-related study”, and “Surgery AI-related study”. Meanwhile, the current research hotspots were “deep learning” and “multiparametric MRI”.
Conclusions
Artificial intelligence has broad application prospects in prostate cancer, and a growing number of scholars are devoted to AI-related research on prostate cancer. Meanwhile, the cooperation among various countries and institutions needs to be strengthened in the future. It can be projected that noninvasive diagnosis and accurate minimally invasive treatment through deep learning technology will still be the research focus in the next few years.
... Bibliometrics is an analytical approach that generates an integrative view and quantitative parameter profiling of entire research fields or specific scientific application areas [20][21][22]. Previous work has focused on specific areas of VR application such as dementia and rehabilitation medicine [23,24]. ...
BACKGROUND
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have recently become popular research themes. However, there are no published bibliometric reports that have analyzed the corresponding scientific literature in relation to the application of these technologies in medicine.
OBJECTIVE
We used a bibliometric approach to identify and analyze the scientific literature on VR and AR research in medicine, revealing the popular research topics, key authors, scientific institutions, countries, and journals. We further aimed to capture and describe the themes and medical conditions most commonly investigated by VR and AR research.
METHODS
The Web of Science electronic database was searched to identify relevant papers on VR research in medicine. Basic publication and citation data were acquired using the “Analyze” and “Create Citation Report” functions of the database. Complete bibliographic data were exported to VOSviewer and Bibliometrix, dedicated bibliometric software packages, for further analyses. Visualization maps were generated to illustrate the recurring keywords and words mentioned in the titles and abstracts.
RESULTS
The analysis was based on data from 8399 papers. Major research themes were diagnostic and surgical procedures, as well as rehabilitation. Commonly studied medical conditions were pain, stroke, anxiety, depression, fear, cancer, and neurodegenerative disorders. Overall, contributions to the literature were globally distributed with heaviest contributions from the United States and United Kingdom. Studies from more clinically related research areas such as surgery, psychology, neurosciences, and rehabilitation had higher average numbers of citations than studies from computer sciences and engineering.
CONCLUSIONS
The conducted bibliometric analysis unequivocally reveals the versatile emerging applications of VR and AR in medicine. With the further maturation of the technology and improved accessibility in countries where VR and AR research is strong, we expect it to have a marked impact on clinical practice and in the life of patients.
... Bibliometrics is an analytical approach that generates an integrative view and quantitative parameter profiling of entire research fields or specific scientific application areas [20][21][22]. Previous work has focused on specific areas of VR application such as dementia and rehabilitation medicine [23,24]. ...
Background
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have recently become popular research themes. However, there are no published bibliometric reports that have analyzed the corresponding scientific literature in relation to the application of these technologies in medicine.
Objective
We used a bibliometric approach to identify and analyze the scientific literature on VR and AR research in medicine, revealing the popular research topics, key authors, scientific institutions, countries, and journals. We further aimed to capture and describe the themes and medical conditions most commonly investigated by VR and AR research.
Methods
The Web of Science electronic database was searched to identify relevant papers on VR research in medicine. Basic publication and citation data were acquired using the “Analyze” and “Create Citation Report” functions of the database. Complete bibliographic data were exported to VOSviewer and Bibliometrix, dedicated bibliometric software packages, for further analyses. Visualization maps were generated to illustrate the recurring keywords and words mentioned in the titles and abstracts.
Results
The analysis was based on data from 8399 papers. Major research themes were diagnostic and surgical procedures, as well as rehabilitation. Commonly studied medical conditions were pain, stroke, anxiety, depression, fear, cancer, and neurodegenerative disorders. Overall, contributions to the literature were globally distributed with heaviest contributions from the United States and United Kingdom. Studies from more clinically related research areas such as surgery, psychology, neurosciences, and rehabilitation had higher average numbers of citations than studies from computer sciences and engineering.
Conclusions
The conducted bibliometric analysis unequivocally reveals the versatile emerging applications of VR and AR in medicine. With the further maturation of the technology and improved accessibility in countries where VR and AR research is strong, we expect it to have a marked impact on clinical practice and in the life of patients.
... The so-called "plasma razor" is used in medicine to disinfect and control fungi dangerous for humans, such as Candida albicans and Prototheca zopfii [159]. The positive effect has been proven of hazelnut plasma treatment on the reduction of harmful to humans aflatoxins produced by Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus that have been one of the most dangerous contaminants in food products for years [160,161]. Plasma is also helpful in controlling harmful insects, e.g., of the genus Drosophila [162]. ...
Sustainable and organic plant production uses natural products and natural self-regulation processes occurring in the ecosystem. The awareness is growing and the demands of consumers are higher and higher. One solution is to use various methods, as an alternative to pesticides. It is also very important to care for the stored crops after harvesting especially using non-chemical methods. The physical method of plant protection consists in treating the harmful organism with physical factors such as temperature, its same light and radiation, controlled atmosphere, special packaging, pressure, various sounds, ozone, and low-temperature plasma. The availability of effective application techniques opens up new possibilities for the storage of crops in order to maintain their health and quality for a long time. This review focuses on the analysis of physical methods of postharvest protection, especially the latest methods using ozone and low-temperature plasma. As a result, consumers of agricultural crops will be able to consume food free of insects, mycotoxins and pesticide residues.
... Illustrating the potency of the approach, similar bibliometric-based analyses were recently applied successfully and yielded valuable insides in a range of other scientific areas, including monoamine oxidases research [85], biotechnology [86], food toxicology [87], antioxidants research [88][89][90], ethnopharmacology [91], nutraceuticals and functional food research [92,93] and neuropharmacology [94]. In addition, based on the present analysis we evaluated the current trends in development of neurotensin analogs as potential therapeutics or useful diagnostic agents and molecular tools for treatment and diagnosis of cancer, pain, cardiovascular and neurological diseases [95]. ...
The natural tridecapeptide neurotensin has been emerged as a promising therapeutic scaffold for the treatment of neurological diseases and cancer. In this work, we aimed to identify the top 100 most cited original research papers as well as recent key studies related to neurotensins. The Web of Science Core Collection database was searched and the retrieved research articles were analyzed by using the VOSviewer software. The most cited original articles were published between 1973 and 2013. The top-cited article was by Carraway and Leeman reporting the discovery of neurotensin in 1973. The highly cited terms were associated with hypotension and angiotensin-converting-enzyme. The conducted analysis reveals the therapeutic potentials of neurotensin, and further impactful research toward its clinical development is warrantied.
Objective: Medical errors represent a leading cause of patient morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to quantitatively analyze the existing scientific literature on medical errors in order to gain new insights in this important medical research area.
Study Design: Web of Science database was used to identify relevant publications, and bibliometric analysis was performed to quantitatively analyze the identified articles for prevailing research themes, contributing journals, institutions, countries, authors, and citation performance.
Results: In total, 12,415 publications concerning medical errors were identified and quantitatively analyzed. The overall ratio of original research articles to reviews was 8.1:1, and temporal subset analysis revealed that the share of original research articles has been increasing over time. The United States contributed to nearly half (46.4%) of the total publications, and 8 of the top 10 most productive institutions were from the United States, with the remaining 2 located in Canada and the United Kingdom. Prevailing (frequently mentioned) and highly impactful (frequently cited) themes were errors related to drugs/medications, applications related to medicinal information technology, errors related to critical/intensive care units, to children, and mental conditions associated with medical errors (burnout, depression).
Conclusions: The high prevalence of medical errors revealed from the existing literature indicates the high importance of future work invested in preventive approaches. Digital health technology applications are perceived to be of great promise to counteract medical errors, and further effort should be focused to study their optimal implementation in all medical areas, with special emphasis on critical areas such as intensive care and pediatric units.
The pregnane X receptor (PXR) has been established to induce chemoresistance and metabolic diseases. Ochratoxin A (OTA), a mycotoxin, decreases the expression of PXR protein in human primary hepatocytes. OTA is chlorinated and has a methylated lactone ring. Both structures are associated with OTA toxicity. The study was to test the hypothesis that structural modifications differentially impact PXR blocking activity over cytotoxicity. To test this hypothesis, OTA-M and OTA-Cl/M were synthesized. OTA-M lacked the methyl group of the lactone-ring, whereas OTA-Cl/M had neither the methyl group nor the chlorine atom. The blocking activity of PXR activation was determined in a stable cell line, harboring both PXR (coding sequence) and its luciferase element reporter. OTA-Cl/M showed the highest blocking activity, followed by OTA-M and OTA. OTA-Cl/M was 60 times as potent as the common PXR blocker ketoconazole based on calculated IC50 values. OTA-Cl/M decreased by 90% the expression of PXR protein and was the least cytotoxic among the tested compounds. Molecular docking identified that OTA and its derivatives interacted with different sets of residues in PXR, providing a molecular basis for selectivity. Excessive activation of PXR has been implicated in chemoresistance and metabolic diseases. Downregulation of PXR protein expression likely delivers an effective mechanism against structurally diverse PXR agonists.
Although biological and pharmacological effects of dietary natural products have been intensively studied, there has been no bibliometric analysis performed on this research field up to now. The current study has aimed to identify and analyze the manuscripts on dietary natural products and their potential to influence health and disease including studies using animal models. Data, including words from titles and abstracts, publication and citation data, have been extracted from Web of Science database and analyzed by the VOSviewer software. Our search has yielded 1,014 manuscripts. The ratio of original articles to reviews was identified to be 1.5:1. Over half of the manuscripts have been published since 2010. The manuscripts have been contributed by 4,301 authors from 1,445 organizations in 76 countries/territories and published in 499 journals. The results from the current study point out that scientific research focusing on the potential of dietary natural products to affect health and disease status (including animal model studies) is expanding, and suggests an increasing significance of this scientific area. With the progressive development and improvement of animal studies, it should be expected that animal models of different human diseases (especially civilization ones) would be an integral part of the research for the evaluation of pharmaceuticals originated from dietary natural products like plants or plant materials. Moreover, natural products can also be fed to animals to improve the quality of animal products, with numerous resulting functional effects.
Antioxidants are abundant in natural dietary sources and consumption of antioxidants has a lot of potential health benefits. However, there has been no literature analysis on this topic to evaluate its scientific impact in terms of citations. This study aimed to identify and analyse the antioxidant publications in the existing scientific literature. In this context, a literature search was performed with the Web of Science database. Full records and cited references of the 299,602 identified manuscripts were imported into VOSviewer for bibliometric analysis. Most of the manuscripts were published since 1991. The publications were mainly related to the categories Biochemistry / molecular biology, Food science technology and Pharmacology / pharmacy. These topics have been prolific since 1990 and before. Polymer science was prolific before, but its publication share declined in the recent two decades. Brazil, China, India, and South Korea have emerged as upcoming major contributors besides USA. Most prolific journals were Food Chemistry, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Free Radical Biology and Medicine, and PLOS One. Clinical conditions with high citations included Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and Parkinson’s disease. Chemical terms and structures with high citations included alpha-tocopherol, anthocyanin, ascorbate, beta-carotene, carotenoid, curcumin, cysteine, flavonoid, flavonol, hydrogen peroxide, kaempferol, N-acetylcysteine, nitric oxide, phenolic acid, uric acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, and resveratrol. Citation patterns temporal analysis revealed a transition of the scientific interest from research focused on antioxidant vitamins and minerals into stronger attention focus on antioxidant phytochemicals (plant secondary metabolites).
Aflatoxins are fungal metabolites found in feeds and foods. When the ruminants eat feedstuffs containing Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), this toxin is metabolized and Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is excreted in milk. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified AFB1 and AFM1 as human carcinogens belonging to Group 1 and Group 2B, respectively, with the formation of DNA adducts. In the last years, some epidemiological studies were conducted on cancer patients aimed to evaluate the effects of AFB1 and AFM1 exposure on cancer cells in order to verify the correlation between toxin exposure and cancer cell proliferation and invasion. In this review, we summarize the activation pathways of AFB1 and AFM1 and the data already reported in literature about their correlation with cancer development and progression. Moreover, considering that few data are still reported about what genes/proteins/miRNAs can be used as damage markers due to AFB1 and AFM1 exposure, we performed a bioinformatic analysis based on interaction network and miRNA predictions to identify a panel of genes/proteins/miRNAs that can be used as targets in further studies for evaluating the effects of the damages induced by AFB1 and AFM1 and their capacity to induce cancer initiation.
The study evaluated the effect of pig diet supplementation with rapeseed or linseed oil, and vitamin E or selenium, or both vitamin E and selenium on color parameters and myoglobin content of pork Semimembranosus muscle after long-term freezing storage during nine months. The influence of the type of the bioactive compounds added to pig diet on the content of myoglobin or oxymyoglobin, metmyoglobin and deoksymyoglobin in Semimembranosus m. was also assessed. The results indicate that the presence of oils rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in pig diet improves the color of pork meat. Supplementation of dietary plant oils or dietary oils with antioxidants tended to increase significantly the concentration of oxymyoglobin and decrease the concentration of metmyoglobin in meat compared to the control group. The highest content of oxymyoglobin was observed in meat obtained from pigs fed diets with linseed oil. The best color scores (highest a* parameter) was noted for rapeseed oil group (with no addition of antioxidants). In conclusion, the addition of antioxidants to pigs’ forage supplemented with PUFA-rich oils is not recommended in order to improve color of long-term frozen pork.
Background: The research into bioactive natural products of medicinal plants has a long tradition, but ethnopharmacology as a well-defined field of research has a relatively short history, only dating back 50 years.
Aims: With the fast development of this field and its global importance especially in the fast developing economies of Asia it is timely to assess the most influential articles (as measured by citations) and to identify important drivers and research trends in this field.
Methods: Scopus was searched to identify relevant articles which were assessed by all three authors. The 100 most cited articles were identified and analyzed. Bibliometric software (VOSviewer) was utilized to supplement the analysis and to generate a term map that visualized the citation patterns of the 100 articles containing different terms.
Results: Forty-four of the 100 articles are reviews. On average, each of the 100 articles had 632 citations and since publication was cited 43 times annually. The four core journals were Journal of Ethnopharmacology (n = 17), Food Chemistry (n = 7), Life Sciences (n = 5), and Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (n = 4). Anti-oxidant effects appeared to be a recurring and highly cited topic, whereas the links into drug discovery and neuropharmacology seemed to be less strong. Numerous medicinal plants and functional foods were the foci of research, and the foci shifted when comparing pre-2000 and post-2000 publications (with the later involving a broader spectrum of plants and foods and a wider range of biological effects). Contributions largely came from Asia, and also from the Americas, Africa, and Oceania, besides Europe.
Conclusion: We have identified and analyzed the 100 most-cited articles in ethnopharmacology. Within 50 years the field has gained a profile and while conventionally often linked to “traditional knowledge,” drug discovery and some areas of pharmacology, this analysis highlights its emerging importance in the context of disease prevention (food science), but also the development of research driven by the needs and interests of the fast developing economies most notably of Asia.
Meat and meat products are a good source of bioactive compounds with positive effect on human health such as vitamins, minerals, peptides or fatty acids. Growing food consumer awareness and intensified global meat producers competition puts pressure on creating new healthier meat products. In order to meet these expectations, producers use supplements with functional properties for animal diet and as direct additives for meat products. In the presented work seven groups of key functional constituents were chosen: (i) fatty acids; (ii) minerals; (iii) vitamins; (iv) plant antioxidants; (v) dietary fibers; (vi) probiotics and (vii) bioactive peptides. Each of them is discussed in term of their impact on human health as well as some quality attributes of the final products.
Mycotoxins severely threaten the health of humans and animals. For this reason, many countries have enforced regulations and recommendations to reduce the dietary exposure. However, even though regulatory actions must be based on solid scientific knowledge, many aspects of their toxicological activity are still poorly understood. In particular, deepening knowledge on the primal molecular events triggering the toxic stimulus may be relevant to better understand the mechanisms of action of mycotoxins. The present work presents the use of in silico approaches in studying the mycotoxins toxicodynamics, and discusses how they may contribute in widening the background of knowledge. A particular emphasis has been posed on the methods accounting the molecular initiating events of toxic action. In more details, the key concepts and challenges of mycotoxins toxicology have been introduced. Then, topical case studies have been presented and some possible practical implementations of studying mycotoxins toxicodynamics have been discussed.
IntroductionThis was the first bibliometric study to investigate the functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) literature on chemosensory perception to reveal who contributed to these publications, where they were published, what concepts were investigated, and their relative impact in terms of citations. Methods
Web of Science was searched to identify relevant articles. Research areas, authors, contributing countries and territories, journals, and publication years were recorded. The full record and cited references of these articles were used for further bibliometric analyses and network visualization. ResultsThe search yielded 5200 unique authors who had contributed to 1660 articles. The authors in the co-authorship network generally had higher numbers of citations per article than those in the periphery did. The 1660 articles were published in 423 journals, and the distribution did not fulfill Bradford’s law. Articles with contributions from European countries and the USA appeared to have more citations on average relative to those from Asian countries. Conclusions
The contributions came from a diverse spectrum of authors who had published in journals in multiple disciplines. Papers involving the insula, orbitofrontal cortex, and amygdala had accumulated high numbers of total citations. The hedonic aspect of chemosensory perception in particular had received many citations. ImplicationsThe fMRI literature on chemosensory perception provides substantial neurobiological findings from multiple authors, countries, and journals. These results offer a contemporary overview of the literature and facilitate researchers in identifying relevant papers for future references.
Selenium is an essential mineral naturally found in soil, water, and some of the food. As an antioxidant, it is one of the necessary trace elements in human body and has been suggested as a dietary supplement for health benefit. Although the human body only needs a trace amount of selenium every day, plenty of recent studies have revealed that selenium is indispensable for maintaining normal functions of metabolism. In this study, we reviewed the antioxidant role of nutritional supplementation of selenium in the management of major chronic metabolic disorders, including hyperlipidaemia, hyperglycaemia, and hyperphenylalaninemia. Clinical significance of selenium deficiency in chronic metabolic diseases was elaborated, while clinical and experimental observations of dietary supplementation of selenium in treating chronic metabolic diseases, such as diabetes, arteriosclerosis, and phenylketonuria, were summarized. Toxicity and recommended dose of selenium were discussed. The mechanism of action was also proposed via inspecting the interaction of molecular networks and predicting target protein such as xanthine dehydrogenase in various diseases. Future direction in studying the role of selenium in metabolic disorders was also highlighted. In conclusion, highlighting the beneficial role of selenium in this review would advance our knowledge of the dietary management of chronic metabolic diseases.
Over the last years a growing demand for ratite meat, including ostrich, emu, and rhea has been observed in the world. Ratite meat is recognised as a dietetic product because of low level of fat, high share of PUFA, favourable n6/n3 ratio, and higher amounts of iron content in comparison with beef and chicken meat. The abundance of bioactive compounds, e.g. PUFA, makes ratite meat highly susceptible to oxidation processes. Moreover, pH over 6 creates favourable environment for fast microbial growth during storage conditions affecting its shelf life. However, availability of information on ratite meat shelf life among consumers and industry is still limited. Thus, the aim of the present review is to provide current information about the effect of ratite meat packaging type, i.e. air packaging, vacuum packaging with skin pack, modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), on its shelf life quality during storage, including technological and nutritional properties.
Background: It might be difficult for clinicians and scientists to identify comprehensively the major research topics given the large number of publications. A bibliometric report that identifies the most-cited articles within the body of the relevant literature may provide insight and guidance for readers toward scientific topics that are considered important for researchers and all relevant workers of academia. To our knowledge, there is a lack of an overall evaluation of the most-cited articles and hence of a comprehensive review of major research topics in neuroscience. The present study was therefore proposed to analyze and characterize the 100 most-cited articles in neuroscience.
Methods: Based on data provided from Web of Science, the 100 most-cited articles relevant to neuroscience were identified and characterized. Information was extracted for each included article to assess for the publication year, journal published, impact factor, adjusted impact factor, citation count (total, normalized, and adjusted), reference list, authorship and article type.
Results: The total citation count for the 100 most-cited articles ranged from 7,326 to 2,138 (mean 3087.0) and the normalized citation count ranged from 0.163 to 0.007 (mean 0.054). The majority of the 100 articles were research articles (67%) and published from 1996 to 2000 (30%). The author and journal with the largest share of these 100 articles were Stephen M. Smith (n = 6) and Science (n = 13) respectively. Among the 100 most-cited articles, 37 were interlinked via citations of one another, and they could be classified into five major topics, four of which were scientific topics, namely neurological disorders, prefrontal cortex/emotion/reward, brain network, and brain mapping. The remaining topic was methodology. Interestingly 41 out of 63 of the rest, non-interlinked articles could also be categorized under the above five topics. Adjusted journal impact factor among these 100 articles did not appear to be associated with the corresponding adjusted citation count.
Conclusion: The current study compiles a comprehensive list and analysis of the 100 most-cited articles relevant to neuroscience that enables the comprehensive identification and recognition of the most important and relevant research topics concerned.
Background: It is beneficial to evaluate changes in neuroscience research field regarding research directions and topics over a defined period. Such information enables stakeholders to quickly identify the most influential research and incorporate latest evidence into research-informed education. To our knowledge, no study reported changes in neuroscience literature over the last decade. Therefore, the current study determined research terms with highest citation scores, compared publication shares of research areas and contributing countries in this field from 2006 to 2015 and identified the most productive journals.
Methods: Data were extracted from Web of Science and Journal Citation Reports (JCR). Only articles and reviews published in journals classified under the JCR “Neurosciences” category over the period of interest were included. Title and abstract fields of each included publication were extracted and analyzed via VOSviewer to identify recurring terms with high relative citation scores. Two term maps were produced for publications over the study period to illustrate the extent of co-occurrence, and the impact of terms was evaluated based on their relative citation scores. To further describe the recent research priority or “hot spots,” 10 terms with the highest relative citation scores were identified annually. In addition, by applying Bradford's law, we identified 10 journals being the most productive journals per annum over the survey period and evaluated their bilbiometric performances.
Results: From 2006 to 2015, there were 47 terms involved in the annual lists of top 10 terms with highest relative citation scores. The most frequently recurring terms were autism (8), meta-analysis (7), functional connectivity (6), default mode network (4) and neuroimaging (4). Neuroscience research related to psychology and behavioral sciences showed an increase in publication share over the survey period, and China has become one of the major contributors to neuroscience research. Ten journals were frequently identified (≥8 years) as core journals within the survey period.
Discussion: The landscape of neuroscience research has changed recently, and this paper provides contemporary overview for researchers and health care workers interested in this field's research and developments. Brain imaging and brain connectivity terms had high relative citation scores.
Neuroimaging is one of the important medical imaging domains that help diagnose and manage diseases. This study describes the neuroimaging publication outputs sorted by journals, countries, authors and institutions, and evaluates journal performance using metrics based on publication data from 2003 to 2014 indexed in the Web of Science and Journal Citation Reports. There has been a significant growth in the neuroimaging literature with North America and Europe being the main contributors. Magnetic resonance imaging is the most popular imaging modality, and brain connectivity is one of the hotspots. Top journals within the field have improved performances over the study period.
Objective:
To evaluate dietary intake of toxic metals as a source of increased biomarker levels of metals among US Asians.
Methods:
We estimated daily food consumption and dietary intake of arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury by combining 24-hour dietary intake recall data from the 2011-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) with data from the USDA Food Composition Intake Database and FDA Total dietary study. We analyzed associations between dietary metal intake and biomarker levels of the metals using linear regression. Further, estimated food consumption and metal intake levels were compared between Asians and other racial/ethnic groups (white, black, Mexican American, and other Hispanic) and within three Asian subgroups (Chinese, Indian Asian, and other Asians).
Results:
Significant associations (p<0.05) were found between biomarker levels and estimated dietary metal intake for total and inorganic arsenic and mercury among Asians. Asians had the highest daily fish and rice consumption across the racial/ethnic groups. Fish was the major contributor to dietary mercury and total arsenic intake, while rice was the major contributor to inorganic arsenic dietary intake. Fish consumption across the Asian subgroups varied, with Asian Indians having lower fish consumption than the other Asian subgroups. Rice consumption was similar across the Asian subgroups.
Conclusions:
We confirmed that estimated dietary intake of arsenic (total and inorganic) and mercury is significantly associated with their corresponding biomarkers in US Asians, using nationally representative data. In contrast, estimated dietary intake of cadmium and lead were not significantly associated with their corresponding biomarker levels in US Asians.
Man-made cadmium (Cd) emissions can be transported between environmental matrices and the food chain. Food is the primary source of Cd exposure among general population as a consequence of the bio-concentration of Cd from soil. Chronic Cd exposure has been reported to be associated with chronic kidney disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) established the safe level of Cd intake as provisional tolerable monthly intake (PTMI) of 25 μg/kg bw in 2010. The major food groups that contribute to the most Cd exposure are rice and grains, shellfish and sea food, meat including edible offal, and vegetables. A number of studies reported the high Cd contaminated levels in foods from polluted areas in Thailand. The results are of high concern since the contaminations occur in foods that are major Cd contributors. Thus, in this review, the current situations of Cd contaminated foods in polluted areas of Thailand are summarized. In addition, the Cd intakes from selected scenarios are estimated to assess the potential health risk to consumers and the suggestions are also included.
The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of the duration (24 hours, 60 days and 120 days) of frozen storage (-20 °C) on the fatty acid composition of meat from ostriches supplemented with linseed and rapeseed. The study was carried out on muscles of 40 ostriches raised on five dietary groups: control with no supplementation (C), with 4% linseed (L4); 8% linseed (L8); and 5% rapeseed (R5); or 10% rapeseed (R10) in the diet. As the frozen storage period increased, the fatty acid profile of the ostrich meat in all the "enriched" groups changed, especially treatments L4 and L8. There was a decrease in the polyunsaturated fatty acid content (especially from 61 to 120 days of storage) including linolenic, arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acids. However, storage did not influence the fatty acid profile of ostrich meat up to 60 days. These results suggest that freezing is an acceptable method for preserving ostrich meat (up to 60 days), causing only a small decrease in the fatty acids of ostrich meat enriched with n-3 fatty acids. However, further research on prolonged frozen storage is recommended.
Rice, a dietary staple for millions of people around the world, is often contaminated with arsenic, a naturally occurring element in soils that can cause cancer and other health effects.1 Although other foods also contain arsenic, rice is unusually efficient at absorbing this element from soil; it can absorb up to 10 times more arsenic than other crops, such as wheat.2 Moreover, rice flour and syrup are used in many processed foods, including baby foods, so exposures aren’t limited to people eating the grain itself. It’s estimated that 95% of the average arsenic intake among Europeans comes from food, and half of that comes from rice and rice products.3 And in areas with high levels of arsenic in well water, the exposures via water and rice add up to a toxic double whammy.3
Mounting worries over arsenic in rice are now prompting calls for regulation. “We need to set strict standards for rice that will be meaningful in terms of reducing arsenic exposure through the diet,” says Andrew Meharg, a professor of biological sciences at Queens University Belfast in Ireland. “This is imperative to protect people with high rice consumption, including virtually all children, people living in South Asia, and those who eat a lot of rice for health reasons, such as gluten intolerance.”
A regulation that’s too high may not adequately protect health, and a regulation that’s too low could be infeasible for producers to achieve.
But regulating a naturally occurring element in such a widely eaten food is no easy task. Arsenic levels can vary widely in rice from different countries and states, and among different rice cultivars, according to Aaron Barchowski, a professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of Pittsburgh. This raises difficult questions about how a regulated standard could be monitored and enforced.
There are numerous small molecular compounds around us to affect our health, such as drugs, pesticides, food additives, industrial chemicals, and environmental pollutants. Over decades, properties related to absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) have become one of the most important issues to assess the effects or risks of these compounds on human body. Recent high-rate drug withdrawals increase the pressure on regulators and pharmaceutical industry to improve preclinical safety testing. Since in vivo and in vitro evaluations are costly and laborious, in silico techniques have been widely used to estimate these properties. In this review, we would briefly describe the recent advances of in silico ADMET prediction, with emphasis on substructure pattern recognition method that we developed recently. Challenges and limitions in the area of in silico ADMET prediction were further discussed, such as application domain of model, model validation techniques, global versus local models. At last, several new promising research directions were provided, such as computational systems toxicology (toxicogenomics), data-integration and meta-decision making systems, which could be used for systemic in silico ADMET prediction in drug discovery and hazard risk assessment.
The influence of the wood used for the smoking of meat on the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) has been studied. Ten types of wood and charcoal were used for preparation of smoked meat samples. The analytical sample preparation method implied extraction of PAH with cyclohexane, liquid–liquid extraction with N,N-dimethylformamide/water, back extraction with cyclohexane, followed by clean-up on silica solid phase extraction (SPE) column and quantification by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. It was found that the type of wood has a significant influence on the amount of PAH in smoked meat. The samples smoked with apple-tree and alder contained the smallest PAH concentrations. The samples smoked with spruce had the highest concentrations of PAH. The difference in content of benzo[a]pyrene (from 6.04 till 35.07 μg/kg) and total PAH (from 47.94 till 470.91 μg/kg) indicates that choice of wood for smoking is one of the critical parameter to be controlled in order to diminish the contamination of food products.
Although many foods contain toxins as a naturally-occurring constituent or, are formed as the result of handling or processing, the incidence of adverse reactions to food is relatively low. The low incidence of adverse effects is the result of some pragmatic solutions by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulatory agencies through the creative use of specifications, action levels, tolerances, warning labels and prohibitions. Manufacturers have also played a role by setting limits on certain substances and developing mitigation procedures for process-induced toxins. Regardless of measures taken by regulators and food producers to protect consumers from natural food toxins, consumption of small levels of these materials is unavoidable. Although the risk for toxicity due to consumption of food toxins is fairly low, there is always the possibility of toxicity due to contamination, overconsumption, allergy or an unpredictable idiosyncratic response. The purpose of this review is to provide a toxicological and regulatory overview of some of the toxins present in some commonly consumed foods, and where possible, discuss the steps that have been taken to reduce consumer exposure, many of which are possible because of the unique process of food regulation in the United States.
We present VOSviewer, a freely available computer program that we have developed for constructing and viewing bibliometric maps. Unlike most computer programs that are used for bibliometric mapping, VOSviewer pays special attention to the graphical representation of bibliometric maps. The functionality of VOSviewer is especially useful for displaying large bibliometric maps in an easy-to-interpret way. The paper consists of three parts. In the first part, an overview of VOSviewer's functionality for displaying bibliometric maps is provided. In the second part, the technical implementation of specific parts of the program is discussed. Finally, in the third part, VOSviewer's ability to handle large maps is demonstrated by using the program to construct and display a co-citation map of 5,000 major scientific journals.
Aflatoxins are well recognized as a cause of liver cancer, but they have additional important toxic effects. In farm and laboratory animals, chronic exposure to aflatoxins compromises immunity and interferes with protein metabolism and multiple micronutrients that are critical to health. These effects have not been widely studied in humans, but the available information indicates that at least some of the effects observed in animals also occur in humans. The prevalence and level of human exposure to aflatoxins on a global scale have been reviewed, and the resulting conclusion was that approximately 4.5 billion persons living in developing countries are chronically exposed to largely uncontrolled amounts of the toxin. A limited amount of information shows that, at least in those locations where it has been studied, the existing aflatoxin exposure results in changes in nutrition and immunity. The aflatoxin exposure and the toxic affects of aflatoxins on immunity and nutrition combine to negatively affect health factors (including HIV infection) that account for >40% of the burden of disease in developing countries where a short lifespan is prevalent. Food systems and economics render developed-country approaches to the management of aflatoxins impractical in developing-country settings, but the strategy of using food additives to protect farm animals from the toxin may also provide effective and economical new approaches to protecting human populations.
Ever growing numbers of chemicals in food and drinking water make it impossible to address safety by classical approaches in toxicology. In silico chemical methods could be a first-line for hazard characterization, requiring food toxicology to expand the use of approaches currently well applied in medicinal chemistry.
The current study aimed to identify and analyze the 100 most cited papers on the topic of nutraceuticals and functional foods. Scopus database was searched to extract bibliometric data. Two-thirds of the 100 most cited papers were reviews. Papers were mostly published in food science and nutrition journals, and one-third were published in seven journals, namely: British Journal of Nutrition (6), Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition (6), Journal of Food Science (5), Trends in Food Science and Technology (5), American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (4), Food Chemistry (4) and Journal of Nutrition (4). Topics with high citation counts dealt with prebiotics, probiotics, antioxidants and phenolic content. Hot topics with over 1000 citations per paper include bifidobacterium (1147), colon (1032) and lipid metabolism (1013). The United States and Europe were major places of origin. These results can serve as a quick benchmarking reference for researchers or general public members.
Mycotoxins are the toxic compounds produced by fungi of Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Fusarium genera that contaminate food or feedstuffs and contribute to the occurrence of a serious health problem called mycotoxicosis in animals and humans. The most important food mycotoxins are aflatoxin, a liver-damaging toxin; ochratoxin A, associated with kidney damage; fumonisins, causing liver damage, cancer, and developmental defects; moniliformin, causing acute cardiac damage; deoxynivalenol and zearalenone, causing immunotoxicity and gastroenteritis. Thus, mycotoxins can be classified as hepatotoxins, nephrotoxins, neurotoxins, immunotoxins, teratogens, mutagens, carcinogens, allergens, and so forth. Mycotoxins are responsible for severe human and animal diseases, such as Reye's disease, equine leukoencephalomalacia, porcine pulmonary edema, human alimentary toxic aleukia, and Balkan endemic nephropathy. In this chapter we have reviewed the food-borne mycotoxins produced by fungi, their biochemical modes of action, and pathologies associated with them individually, as well as in combination. To support the literature, gross photographs and photomicrographs of mycotoxins, namely, fumonisin B1, ochratoxin A, and moniliformin, have been presented that depict their effects on various body organs. In addition, the public health impact and the economic losses due to mycotoxins are discussed.
A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the interactive effects of cadmium (Cd) and selenium (Se) on their accumulation in three rice cultivars, which remains unclear. The results showed that Se reduced Cd-induced growth inhibition, and increased and decreased Se and Cd concentrations in brown rice, respecially. Cadmium concentrations in all tissues of the hybrid were similar to those in its male parent yet significantly lower than those in its female parent. Selenium reduced Cd accumulation in rice when Cd concentration exceeded 2.0 mg kg-1; however Se accumulation depended on the levels of Cd exposure. Finally, Cd had minimal effect on Se translocation within the three cultivars. We concluded that Cd concentration in brown rice is a heritable trait, making crossbreeding a feasible method for cultivating high-yield, low-Cd rice cultivars. Selenium effectively decreased the toxicity and accumulation of Cd, and Cd affected Se uptake but not translocation.
Citrinin (CIT) is a mycotoxin which causes contamination in the food and is associated with different toxic effects. A web search on CIT has been conducted covering the timespan since 1946. The accumulated data indicate that CIT is produced by several fungal strains belonging to Penicillium, Aspergillus and Monascus genera, and is usually found together with another nephrotoxic mycotoxin, ochratoxin A. Although, it is evident that CIT exposure can exert toxic effects on the heart, liver, kidney, as well as reproductive system, the mechanism of CIT-induced toxicity remains largely elusive. It is still controversial what are the genotoxic and mutagenic effects of CIT. Until now, its toxic effect has been linked to the CIT-mediated oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction in biological systems. However, the toxicity strongly depends on its concentration, route, frequency and time of exposure, as well as from the used test systems. Besides the toxic effects, CIT is also reported to possess a broad spectrum of bioactivities, including antibacterial, antifungal, and potential anticancer and neuro-protective effects in vitro. This systematic review presents the current state of CIT research with emphasis on its bioactivity profile. [Accepted: Oct 03, 2017]
Cereal grains and their processed food products are frequently contaminated with mycotoxins. Among many, five major mycotoxins of aflatoxins, ochratoxins, fumonisins, deoxynivalenol, and zearalenone are of significant public health concern as they can cause adverse effects in human. Being airborne or soilborne, cosmopolitan nature of the mycotoxigenic fungi contribute to the worldwide occurrence of mycotoxins. Based on the global occurrence data reported during the last ten years, the incidences and maximum levels in raw cereal grains were 55% and 1,642 µg/kg for aflatoxins, 29% and 1,164 µg/kg for ochratoxin A, 61% and 71,121 µg/kg for fumonisins, 58% and 41,157 µg/kg, for deoxynivalenol, and 46% and 3,049 µg/kg for zearalenone. The concentrations of mycotoxins tend to be lower in processed food products while the incidences varied depend on the individual mycotoxins possibly due to the varying stability during processing and distribution of mycotoxins. It should be noted that more than one mycotoxin may occur in various combinations in a given sample or food, that are produced by single or several fungal species. Most studies reported additive or synergistic effects, suggesting that these mixtures may pose a significant threat to public health particularly to infants and young children. Therefore, information on co-occurrence of mycotoxins and its interactive toxicity are summarized in this paper.
Bibliometric indicators are used to characterize the research activity of institutions worldwide with production in the period 2003-2013 in journals that are indexed in Scopus's Food Science thematic category. Basic, normalized indicators were used to compare the institutions' performances, together with highly cited papers (top-10% and top-1%). An interactive map was generated, displaying the 645 institutions with at least 100 documents produced during this period. The greatest numbers of those institutions are in the United States, South Korea, Spain, and China. National collaboration networks were detected on the East and West Coasts of the United States, and in Canada, Ireland, France, Spain, Holland, Denmark, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Brazil, India, Argentina, and Nigeria. There was no significant research activity in many developing and food exporting countries located in sub-Saharan Africa, North and East Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and South East Asia. The need to take into account other criteria based on qualitative attributes and the inherent limitations in the bibliometric
indicators are discussed. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0023643815303273
Biotoxin contamination in food and environmental samples has threatened health or life of human and animals. Thus, a rapid lab-independent sensing method for biotoxin determination is urgently required. Microchip sensing system allows a promising rapid and low-cost detection strategy. Herein, the recent development of various microchips, including microfluidic chip and microarray, has discussed to sense various biotoxin in food and environmental samples (i.e. phytotoxin, animal toxin, marine toxin, and mycotoxin). Microchip can be served as both analyte transportation and sensing platform, via either labeling or labeling-free sensing stratigy. Because of its fast sensing time, low sample consumption, ready portability, and high compatibility, it has been extensively employed in biotoxin determination in both academic and industrial circle. With the advances of fabrication strategies and sensing modes, the microchip performance has been dramatically improved, including sensitivity, efficiency, reliability, stability, cost-saving, portability. The potential applications can be found wide spread in biotoxin sensing in the near future, while their practical application in real sample need to be address. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Sunflower, coconut, palm and sesame oils were evaluated for heat induced peroxidation as assessed from malondialdehyde (MDA) generation when heated in iron, copper, stainless steel, aluminium and glass vessels on a controlled flame for 0, 5, 10 and 20 min. The MDA generation on heating was time dependent in all the oils. The extent of heat-induced change was the least in coconut oil followed by sesame oil. The heat induced MDA generation was the maximum in sunflower oil. The change was very less in aluminium and glass vessel but was very high in iron and copper vessels. The results show that aside from the level of anti-oxidants and unsaturation of oils, the transitional element used in cooking vessels also determine the extent of heat-induced peroxidation of oils, the impact of which is discussed in light of the harmful effects of MDA on health.
Contrary to the view that unsaturated oils are better than saturated oils, the present study shows that MDA generation on heating in relatively saturated oil, like coconut oil, is less in comparison to unsaturated oils. So for frying purposes, coconut oil may be better than other unsaturated oils. In spite of high unsaturation level, heat-induced MDA generation in sesame oil was lower in comparison to sunflower oil probably because of the presence of more antioxidants. Sesame oil may be better than sunflower oil for frying purpose. In view of harmful effects of MDA, heating oil for frying of foodstuffs in vessels made up of transitional metal(s) is probably not a good practice. Aluminium or glass vessel may be better for this purpose.
The Institute of Food Technologists has issued this Scientific Status Summary to update readers on the science of fungal toxins.
Duplicate groups of Atlantic salmon were fed one of four practical-type diets from first feeding to harvest after 115 weeks. The four diets were low fish oil (17% w/w, LFO), high fish oil (35% w/w, HFO), low vegetable oil (17%, linseed oil [LO]/rapeseed oil [RO], 1:1 w/w; LVO) and high vegetable oil (35%, linseed oil/rapeseed oil, 1:1 w/w; HVO). Following sample collection (average weight 2.1 kg), all groups were switched to the HFO diet for a further 24 weeks. The dioxin concentration in diets was in order HFO>LFO>LVO>HVO, with values ranging from 0.16 to 1.4 ng TEQ/kg. The dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyl (DL-PCB) concentrations were in the same order with values ranging from 0.62 to 3.68 ng TEQ/kg. Concentrations of dioxins and DL-PCBs in flesh samples were correlated with feed concentrations, but values in flesh were always lower than in feed. Flesh dioxin concentrations ranged from 0.10 to 0.53 ng TEQ/kg and DL-PCBs from 0.58–1.48 ng TEQ/kg. After 24 weeks feeding a fish oil-containing finishing diet (HFO), the flesh dioxin concentrations ranged from 0.20 to 0.54 ng TEQ/kg and the DL-PCBs from 0.66 to 1.07 ng TEQ/kg. Feeding the HVO diet resulted in significant reductions in flesh concentrations of 20:5 n-3 (EPA) and 22:6 n-3 (DHA) to around 25% of the values in fish fed the HFO diet. However, feeding the HFO finishing diet for 24 weeks resulted in restoration of flesh EPA and DHA concentrations to 80% of the values in fish fed the HFO diet throughout. Feeding the finishing diet resulted in significantly increased dioxin levels in flesh of fish previously fed the LFO, LVO and HVO diets, although values were still significantly lower than in fish fed the HFO diet throughout. This study suggests that salmon cultured on diets based on fish meal and oil (HFO) attain flesh dioxin concentrations that are <14% of the current European Commission limit. However, by replacing marine fish oils with vegetable oils for most of the production cycle, dioxin and DL-PCB concentrations can be substantially reduced.
A liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) method for the simultaneous determination of aflatoxins (B(1), B(2), G(1), G(2)), ochratoxin A, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, T-2 and HT-2 toxins in wheat flour, barley flour and crisp bread was developed. Mycotoxin fragmentation patterns obtained by high-energy collision dissociation (HCD) were investigated to obtain quantitative and confirmatory information (two characteristic masses per mycotoxin) using Orbitrap™-based high-resolution mass spectrometry. LC-HRMS (full-scan) detection carried out by HCD allows the monitoring of the pseudo-molecular ion and an additional characteristic fragment (for each mycotoxin) with mass accuracy in the range 0.1-3.9 ppm, meeting current European regulatory requirements for LC-MS confirmatory analysis. A sample preparation procedure based on polymeric solid-phase extraction cartridges was applied, allowing recoveries higher than 74% for nine mycotoxins, with a relative standard deviation lower than 13%. Detection limits in the range 0.5-3.4 µg kg(-1) were obtained for three cereal matrices. A critical comparison between the proposed method and a validated method based on triple quadrupole mass spectrometry showed similar performance in terms of detection limits, recoveries and repeatability, and matrix effects. Based on an efficient sample extraction and clean-up, the LC-HCD-HRMS method reported here represents a reliable and robust alternative tool for mycotoxin analysis in food matrices as compared with well-established triple quadrupole-based approaches.
Arsenic (As) is an environmental and food chain contaminant. Excessive accumulation of As, particularly inorganic arsenic (As(i)), in rice (Oryza sativa) poses a potential health risk to populations with high rice consumption. Rice is efficient at As accumulation owing to flooded paddy cultivation that leads to arsenite mobilization, and the inadvertent yet efficient uptake of arsenite through the silicon transport pathway. Iron, phosphorus, sulfur, and silicon interact strongly with As during its route from soil to plants. Plants take up arsenate through the phosphate transporters, and arsenite and undissociated methylated As species through the nodulin 26-like intrinsic (NIP) aquaporin channels. Arsenate is readily reduced to arsenite in planta, which is detoxified by complexation with thiol-rich peptides such as phytochelatins and/or vacuolar sequestration. A range of mitigation methods, from agronomic measures and plant breeding to genetic modification, may be employed to reduce As uptake by food crops.
The variation in the chemical composition of the essential oil of Salvia officinalis , growing in different habitats, was studied. GC-MS analysis revealed 57 compounds representing 94.68-96.80% of total oils. The major components were alpha-thujone (11.55-19.23%), viridiflorol (9.94-19.46%), 1,8-cineole (8.85-15.60%), camphor (5.08-15.06%), manool (5.52-13.06%), beta-caryophyllene (2.63-9.24%), alpha-humulene (1.93-8.94%), and beta-thujone (5.45-6.17%), showing significant differences between different collection sites. Analysis of some representative polyphenolic compounds and antioxidant activity was performed using postdistilled dry samples. Rosmarinic acid, carnosol, and carnosic acid were the prevalent compounds of S. officinalis methanolic extracts. The results revealed differences in the polyphenolic composition and also exhibited antioxidant and radical-scavenging activities at different magnitudes of potency. However, within the used methods, only the DPPH(*) assay showed significant differences (p < 0.05) in free radical scavenging activity among samples collected in different regions. Plants collected in the coastal regions Soliman and Kelibia accumulate more polyphenolic compounds, known to be responsible for the main antioxidant activity of sage (rosmarinic acid, carnosol, and carnosic acid), than those growing inland at Bou Arada and Sers. Moreover, the former presented a higher radical-scavenging activity. The methanolic extracts of postdistilled S. officinalis might be valuable antioxidant natural sources and seemed to be applicable in both the health medicine and food industries.
Academic departments, institutions, and funding sources are increasingly interested in quantifying the academic's productive output and quality of individual researchers. Since Gross and Gross first published a detailed analysis of a single journal's bibliography in 1927 [1], there has been a progressive increase in the scientific methods of journal citation quantification. The most commonly used databases are Journal Citation Reports (JCR) and the Science Citation Index (SCI) [2] produced by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). Originally introduced in 1961 as a means for retrieving bibliographic data, the SCI has undergone numerous changes, both in its content and methods, as well as how the information from the database is used. The recent expansion of biomedical knowledge and increasingly sophisticated scientific techniques has led to a proliferation of biomedical journals. The JCR is an annual publication by the ISI, which reports the impact factor and other bibliometric data for thousands of journals-the JCR cited 6,164 journals in 2006, compared with just 4,625 in 1995 [3]. In a remarkably prescient article published over 70 years ago, Bradford (4) found that a small percentage of journals accounts for a large percentage of what is published and that an even smaller percentage of journals accounts for what is most often cited. That is, there are diminishing returns in trying to comprehensively cover the world's body of literature. Careful selection thus is an effective way to avoid "documentary chaos," a phrase coined by Samuel C. Bradford referring to the angst felt when trying to keep up to date with the information explosion.
An overview is given on recent trends and applications of rapid immunodiagnostic tests for screening of food and feed for mycotoxins. Different test formats are discussed, and challenges in the development of lateral-flow devices for on-site determination of mycotoxins, with requirements such as being robust, fast, and cost-effective, are briefly elucidated.
Certain marine algae produce potent toxins that impact human health through the consumption of contaminated shellfish and finfish and through water or aerosol exposure. Over the past three decades, the frequency and global distribution of toxic algal incidents appear to have increased, and human intoxications from novel algal sources have occurred. This increase is of particular concern, since it parallels recent evidence of large-scale ecologic disturbances that coincide with trends in global warming. The extent to which human activities have contributed to their increase therefore comes into question. This review summarizes the origins and health effects of marine algal toxins, as well as changes in their current global distribution, and examines possible causes for the recent increase in their occurrence.
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The worldwide contamination of foods and feeds with mycotoxins is a significant problem. Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites of molds that have adverse effects on humans, animals, and crops that result in illnesses and economic losses. Aflatoxins, ochratoxins, trichothecenes, zearelenone, fumonisins, tremorgenic toxins, and ergot alkaloids are the mycotoxins of greatest agro-economic importance. Some molds are capable of producing more than one mycotoxin and some mycotoxins are produced by more than one fungal species. Often more than one mycotoxin is found on a contaminated substrate. Factors influencing the presence of mycotoxins in foods or feeds include environmental conditions related to storage that can be controlled. Other extrinsic factors such as climate or intrinsic factors such as fungal strain specificity, strain variation, and instability of toxigenic properties are more difficult to control. Mycotoxins have various acute and chronic effects on humans and animals (especially monogastrics) depending on species and susceptibility of an animal within a species. Ruminants have, however, generally been more resistant to the adverse effects of mycotoxins. This is because the rumen microbiota is capable of degrading mycotoxins. The economic impact of mycotoxins include loss of human and animal life, increased health care and veterinary care costs, reduced livestock production, disposal of contaminated foods and feeds, and investment in research and applications to reduce severity of the mycotoxin problem. Although efforts have continued internationally to set guidelines to control mycotoxins, practical measures have not been adequately implemented.
Endocrine disruptors (EDs), chemicals capable of disrupting the normal functioning of the endocrine system, may pose a growing threat to human and wildlife health. These compounds can modulate both the endocrine and immune systems resulting in alteration of homeostasis, reproduction, development and behavior. The hypothesis that chemicals in the environment have caused endocrine disruption is discussed along with important issues in the assessment of the risk of such disruption. Emphasis is put on the most significant pathological effects, namely impacts on the male reproductive tract, female gynecological system, human fertility, thyroid function and the central nervous system.
The estimation of the risk associated with dietary intakes of heavy metals and pesticide residues by the consumer is a vital and integral part of regulatory processes. The exposure of the consumer is compared directly to the acceptable daily intake (ADI) for pesticides and to the tolerable daily intake (TDI) for heavy metals. The exposure is obtained using the basic equation: Exposure (mg/kg b.w./day)=Consumption (mg/kg b.w./day) x Residue (mg/kg). The establishment of the ADI and the TDI is based on the results of toxicological studies that involve the determination of the lowest-no-observed-adverse-effect level/10 (SF1) x10 (SF2), where SF corresponds to 'Safety Factor'. SF1 and SF2 account for interspecies and intraspecies variability, respectively. In order to evaluate the risk for the consumer, that is associated to the presence of heavy metals and pesticides in food, a review of the level of contamination in European countries has been made. The exposure of European consumers to lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury is superior to the TDI. For pesticides, the first step is to compare the detected amount of residues of a specific pesticide to the maximum residue level (MRL) authorized in foodstuffs. If the residue level in food exceeds the MRL, the theoretical maximum daily intakes and the ADI have to be taken into account in order to assess the risk for the consumer.
The most frequent toxigenic fungi in Europe are Aspergillus, Penicillium and Fusarium species. They produce aflatoxin B1 transformed into aflatoxin M1 found in the milk, as well as Ochratoxins and Zearalenone, Fumonisin B1, T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin and deoxynivalenol (vomitoxin), which are of increasing concern in human health. These mycotoxins are under continuous survey in Europe, but the regulatory aspects still need to be set up and/or harmonised at European level. They are found in foodstuffs and are not destroyed by normal industrial processing or cooking since they are heat-stable. Some of their metabolites are still toxic and may be involved in human diseases. Their toxic effects (liver, kidney and hematopoetic toxicity, immune toxicity, reproduction toxicity, foetal toxicity and teratogenicity, and mainly carcinogenicity) are mostly known in experimental models, the extrapolation to humans being always inaccurate. The inaccuracy of extrapolation to humans may be explained by the lack of adequate food consumption data, lack of knowledge about relative health risks associated with specifically proposed limits and by the possibility of synergism with other mycotoxins present in the same food commodities. Other pathological causes are viral hepatitis, immune or hormonal deficiencies or organ dysfunction. Even when a specific biomarker of a given mycotoxin is identified in humans, it remains difficult to establish the relation with a given illness, because of genetic polymorphism and the possible beneficial influence of diet, and because other environmental toxicants may well interfere. The acceptable daily intake limits are mostly based on animal data and may be too high, due to the differences in the sensitivity of different animal species. The prevention involves first reduction of mycotoxin levels in foodstuffs and further increasing the intake of diet components such as vitamins, antioxidants and substances known to prevent carcinogenesis.
An exposure model was developed to relate seafood consumption to levels of methylmercury (reported as mercury) in blood and hair in the U.S. population, and two subpopulations defined as children aged 2-5 and women aged 18-45. Seafood consumption was initially modeled using short-term (three-day) U.S.-consumption surveys that recorded the amount of fish eaten per meal. Since longer exposure periods include more eaters with a lower daily mean intake, the consumption distribution was adjusted by broadening the distribution to include more eaters and reducing the distribution mean to keep total population intake constant. The estimate for the total number of eaters was based on long-term purchase diaries. Levels of mercury in canned tuna, swordfish, and shark were based on FDA survey data. The distribution of mercury levels in other species was based on reported mean levels, with the frequency of consumption of each species based on market share. The shape distribution for the given mean was based on the range of variation encountered among shark, tuna, and swordfish. These distributions were integrated with a simulation that estimated average daily intake over a 360-day period, with 10,000 simulated individuals and 1,000 uncertainty iterations. The results of this simulation were then used as an input to a second simulation that modeled levels of mercury in blood and hair. The relationship between dietary intake and blood mercury in a population was modeled from data obtained from a 90-day study with controlled seafood intake. The relationship between blood and hair mercury in a population was modeled from data obtained from several sources. The biomarker simulation employed 2,000 simulated individuals and 1,000 uncertainty iterations. These results were then compared to the recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) that tabulated blood and hair mercury levels in a cross-section of the U.S. population. The output of the model and NHANES results were similar for both children and adult women, with predicted mercury biomarker concentrations within a factor of two or less of NHANES biomarker results. However, the model tended to underpredict blood levels for women and overpredict blood and hair levels for children.
Arsenic toxicity is a global health problem affecting many millions of people. Contamination is caused by arsenic from natural geological sources leaching into aquifers, contaminating drinking water and may also occur from mining and other industrial processes. Arsenic is present as a contaminant in many traditional remedies. Arsenic trioxide is now used to treat acute promyelocytic leukaemia. Absorption occurs predominantly from ingestion from the small intestine, though minimal absorption occurs from skin contact and inhalation. Arsenic exerts its toxicity by inactivating up to 200 enzymes, especially those involved in cellular energy pathways and DNA synthesis and repair. Acute arsenic poisoning is associated initially with nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and severe diarrhoea. Encephalopathy and peripheral neuropathy are reported. Chronic arsenic toxicity results in multisystem disease. Arsenic is a well documented human carcinogen affecting numerous organs. There are no evidence based treatment regimens to treat chronic arsenic poisoning but antioxidants have been advocated, though benefit is not proven. The focus of management is to reduce arsenic ingestion from drinking water and there is increasing emphasis on using alternative supplies of water.
Conjugated mycotoxins, in which the toxin is usually bound to a more polar substance like glucose, are referred to as masked mycotoxins, as these substances escape routine detection methods but can release their toxic precursors after hydrolysis. This is the first report on the natural occurrence of a glucoside of deoxynivalenol (DON) in Fusarium-infected wheat and maize. To obtain appropriate standards, we chemically synthesized deoxynivalenol-3-beta-D-glucopyranoside (DON-3-glucoside) and deoxynivalenol-15-beta-D-glucopyranoside (DON-15-glucoside). The synthesis products were characterized by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The DON-glucosides showed different collision-induced dissociation (CID) fragmentation behaviors and could therefore be distinguished. Wheat plants were either treated with DON (n = 52) or with Fusarium spp. (n = 4) at anthesis, and after harvest, wheat ears were analyzed for DON and DON-glucosides. All 56 treated wheat samples contained DON and a DON-glucoside with the same retention time, molecular mass, and CID fragmentation behavior as the synthetic DON-3-glucoside. Moreover, the DON-glucoside was also found in two out of three analyzed naturally DON-contaminated maize and in five out of five naturally contaminated wheat samples, in a range from 4 to 12% of the DON concentration. To further confirm the identity of the DON-glucoside, the compound was isolated from wheat extracts and characterized as DON-3-glucoside with NMR. The results of this study indicate the importance to consider both DON and DON-3-glucoside with regard to food and feed safety.