Worldwide aflatoxin contamination of agricultural products and foods: From occurrence to control

Aflatoxins represent a global public health and economic concern as they are responsible for significant adverse health and economic issues affecting consumers and farmers worldwide. Produced by fungal species from the Aspergillus genus, aflatoxins are a toxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic group of fungal metabolites that routinely contaminate food and agricultural products. Climate and diet are essential factors in the aflatoxin contamination of food and subsequent human exposure process. Countri es with warmer climates and staple foods that are aflatoxin-susceptible shoulder a substantial portion of the global aflatoxins burden. Enactment of regulations, prevention of pre- and postharvest contamination, decontamination, and detoxification have been used to prevent human dietary exposure to aflatoxin. Exploiting their chemical and structural properties, means are devised to detect and quantify aflatoxin presence in foods. Herein, recent developments in several important aspects impacting aflatoxin contamination of the food supply, including: fungal producers of the toxin, occurrence in food, worldwide regulations, detection methods, preventive strategies, and removal and degradation methods were reviewed and presented. In conclusion, aflatoxin continues to be a major food safety problem, especially in developing countries where regulatory limits do not exist or are not adequately enforced. Finally, knowledge gaps and current challenges in each discussed aspect were identified, and new solutions were proposed.     

AP对HATO热分解影响的机制

为详细了解高氯酸铵(AP)对5,5'-联四唑-1,1'-二氧二羟铵(HATO)热分解影响的机制,采用热重-质谱-傅里叶红外光谱(TG-MS-FTIR)联用技术、差示扫描量热法(DSC)、傅里叶红外光谱(FTIR)方法,对HATO和HATO/AP共混物的热分解特性、气体产物以及凝聚相变化进行了研究。结果表明,HATO具有两个连续热分解阶段,HATO/AP共混物则有3个热分解阶段;HATO、AP共混后,HATO使得AP熔融峰消失,AP可使HATO的热分解初始温度提前,热分解时间延长且不影响分解完全性;HATO热分解气体产物有CO_2、N_2O、HCN、NH_3、NO、N_2、H_2O,而HATO/AP共混物热分解产生气体主要有N_2、CO_2、N_2O、HCN、NH_3、H_2O、HCN、NO、HCl、NOCl;另外,采用等转化率法计算HATO和HATO/AP共混物四唑环基团的活化能分别为53.38 kJ·mol~(-1)和60.69 kJ·mol~(-1);通过对比HATO和HATO/AP共混物热分解特性以及凝聚相特征基团的变化,阐释了AP使HATO热分解温度提前的机理很可能是:AP的铵根离子与HATO之间发生了质子转移;推测AP导致HATO热分解时间延长的原因为:HATO/AP共混物产生的NH_3与热分解中间体1,1'-二羟基-5,5-联四唑(BTO)反应生成5,5'-联四唑-1,1'-二氧铵盐(ABTOX)。     

Microbial Production of Natural and Unnatural Monolignols with Escherichia coli

Phenylpropanoids and phenylpropanoid-derived plant polyphenols find numerous applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries. In recent years, several microbial platform organisms have been engineered towards producing such compounds. However, for the most part, microbial (poly)phenol production is inspired by nature, so naturally occurring compounds have predominantly been produced to date. Here we have taken advantage of the promiscuity of the enzymes involved in phenylpropanoid synthesis and exploited the versatility of an engineered Escherichia coli strain harboring a synthetic monolignol pathway to convert supplemented natural and unnatural phenylpropenoic acids into their corresponding monolignols. The performed biotransformations showed that this strain is able to catalyze the stepwise reduction of chemically interesting unnatural phenylpropenoic acids such as 3,4,5-trimethoxycinnamic acid, 5-bromoferulic acid, 2-nitroferulic acid, and a “bicyclic” p-coumaric acid derivative, in addition to six naturally occurring phenylpropenoic acids.     

The Art of Masonry

Brick masonry is not only a question of building physics, building construction and durability, i.e. sustainability, but has much to do with aesthetics and making sense, which may have been forgotten in modern architecture with its absolute lack of décor. Masonry as an art form has been scarce since the era of brick expressionism. Recently, there have been some exceptions – and thoroughly welcome. The ”Fjordenhus“ in Vejle, Denmark, is an astonishing example.     

M-estimator based Chinese Remainder Theorem with few remainders using a Kroenecker product based mapping vector

The Chinese Remainder Theorem (CRT) explains how to estimate an integer-valued number from the knowledge of the remainders obtained by dividing such unknown integer by co-prime integers. As an algebraic theorem, CRT is the basis for several techniques concerning data processing. For instance, considering a single-tone signal whose frequency value is above the sampling rate, the respective peak in the DFT informs the impinging frequency value modulo the sampling rate. CRT is nevertheless sensitive to errors in the remainders, and many efforts have been developed in order to improve its robustness. In this paper, we propose a technique to estimate real-valued numbers by means of CRT, employing for this goal a Kroenecker based M-Estimation (ME), specially suitable for CRT systems with low number of remainders. Since ME schemes are in general computationally expensive, we propose a mapping vector obtained via Kroenecker products which considerably reduces the computational complexity. Furthermore, our proposed technique enhances the probability of estimating an unknown number accurately even when the errors in the remainders surpass 1/4 of the greatest common divisor of all moduli. We also provide a version of the mapping vectors based on tensorial n-mode products, delivering in the end the same information of the original method. Our approach outperforms the state-of-the-art CRT methods not only in terms of percentage of successful estimations but also in terms of smaller average error.     

锰氧化物活化过硫酸盐降解有机污染物的研究进展

基于硫酸根自由基(SO_4~-·)的高级氧化技术是近年来迅速发展起来的一种水污染控制技术。非均相活化或硫酸盐诱导产生(SO_4~-·)具有高效、无二次污染等优势,其中锰氧化物是一类廉价、高效的过硫酸盐活化材料。综述了四类锰氧化物在活化过硫酸盐降解有机污染物的研究进展。     

Self-consistent kinetic theory with nonlinear wave-particle resonances

We have developed, based on the oscillating-center transformation, a general theoretical approach for self-consistent plasma dynamics including, explicitly, effects of nonlinear(higherorder) wave-particle resonances. A specific example is then given for low-frequency responses of trapped particles in axisymmetric tokamaks. Possible applications to transport as well as nonlinear wave growth/damping are also briefly discussed.     

International Trade

Values of net oil imports(-)/exports for Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, the United States and Australia. Updated on a monthly basis. Number of imports for Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Other EU-15 (EU-15), Norway, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey, and Other Europe (OECD Europe), Canada, Chile, Mexico, and the United States (OECD Western Hemisphere), and Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, (OECD Asia-Pacific), and Total OECED. Current data for Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Other EU-15 (EU-15), Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Turkey, and Other Europe (OECD Europe), Canada, Mexico, and the United States (OECD Western Hemisphere), Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, and New Zealand (OECD Asia-Pacific). Updated on a monthly basis. Current data for principal importers of natural gas and the amount in which they import from United States, Republic of Korea, United Kingdom, France, Japan, Italy, Germany and Spain (Table 19.1). Current data for principal exporters of natural gas and the amount they export to Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Turkmenistan, Qatar, Algeria, Nigeria, Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia (Table 19.2). Updated on a monthly basis.     

Discovery of Ubonodin,an Antimicrobial Lasso Peptide Active against Members of the Burkholderia cepacia Complex

We report the heterologous expression, structure, and antimicrobial activity of a lasso peptide, ubonodin, encoded in the genome of Burkholderia ubonensis. The topology of ubonodin is unprecedented amongst lasso peptides, with 18 of its 28 amino acids found in the mechanically bonded loop segment. Ubonodin inhibits RNA polymerase in vitro and has potent antimicrobial activity against several pathogenic members of the Burkholderia genus, most notably B. cepacia and B. multivorans, causative agents of lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients.