The clean label trend: An ineffective heuristic that disserves both consumers and the food industry?

What started around the late 2000s as the "Clean Label" (CL) trend has now become a meaningful segment of the food market, appealing to consumers who want foods made of a limited number of simple and recognizable ingredients. However, this description and tentative definitions of CL foods are vague, subject to multiple interpretations, and CL remains an informal denomination for foods, making consumers' demands and food manufacturers' offerings hardly compatible. Therefore, rather than attempting an illusory definition of CL foods, this narrative review aims to (1) show how CL appears to be a heuristic used by consumers to attempt to make safe and healthful food choices, (2) discuss how this heuristic overlooks many critical aspect of food safety and healthfulness and is consequently ineffective to guide consumers' choices, and (3) discuss the implications of the CL trend on the food chain's stakeholders and their relationships.

Early Experience With COVID-19 and Solid Organ Transplantation at a US High-volume Transplant Center.

BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)] poses unique challenges for immunosuppressed patients. Solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients comprise a large proportion of this group, yet there is limited knowledge about the presentation, clinical course, and immunosuppression management of this novel infection among heart, lung, liver, pancreas, and kidney transplant recipients. METHODS: We present 21 SOT recipients diagnosed with COVID-19 between January 1, 2020 and April 22, 2020 at a US high-volume transplant center. Diagnostic workup, clinical course, immunosuppression/antiviral management, and immediate outcomes are described. RESULTS: Twenty-one (15.9%) of 132 symptomatic patients tested were positive. Mean age at diagnosis was 54.8 ± 10.9 y. Median time from transplant was 5.58 y (interquartile range 2.25, 7.33). Median follow-up was 18 d (interquartile range 13, 30). Fourteen patients required inpatient management, with 7 (50%) placed in the intensive care unit (ICU). All transplant types were represented. Nearly 43% exhibited GI symptoms. Over half (56.2%) presented with elevated serum creatinine suggestive of acute kidney injury. The majority of patients (5/7) with concomitant infections at baseline required the ICU. Eighty percent received hydroxychloroquine ± azithromycin. Ten received toclizumab and/or ribavirin; 1 received remdesivir. Antimetabolites ± calcineurin inhibitors were held or reduced. Over half of hospitalized patients (8/14) were discharged home. Only 1 mortality (4.8%) to date, in a critically ill heart/kidney patient who had been in the ICU before diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 positive SOT at our institution had favorable short-term outcomes. Those with concomitant infections had more severe illness. More data will be available to evaluate long-term outcomes and disease impact on graft function.

Impact of a phosphate fertilizer plant on the contamination of marine biota by heavy elements.

Due to their toxicity, persistence, and bioaccumulation, metals are important marine environment pollutants, especially in low renewal rate water such as the Mediterranean Sea, receiving a lot of untreated industrial waste. The impact of a phosphate fertilizer plant on the marine biota metal contamination was studied. Several types of organisms: crabs, mussels, patella and fish were collected from two areas of the Lebanese coast, one subjected to the impact of the plant and another away from it; samples were analyzed for Zn, U, Cr, V, Mn, Ni, Co, Cu, As, Cd and Pb by ICP-MS. Higher accumulation was in crabs, patella, and mussels. Fish accumulated principally Zn, Cu, and Cd; a difference was observed between species and tissues. Cytosol metal fractionation using size-exclusion LC-ICP-MS showed principally Pb, As, Co, and Mn in the low molecular weight fraction (<1.8 Da); Cd, Zn, and Cu in the metallothionein fraction (1.8--18 k Da), and Ni in high molecular weight fraction (>20 kDa).