A custom, low-cost, continuous flow chamber built for experimental Sargassum seaweed decomposition and exposure of small rodents to generated gaseous products.

Since 2011, Sargassum events have increased in frequency along the Caribbean and Atlantic coasts. The accumulation and decomposition of large amounts of Sargassum seaweed on beaches pose socio-economic, ecological, and health risks due to the emission of hydrogen sulfide (H2S), methane, and ammonia. However, limited research exists on the emission processes and the health effects of subchronic and chronic exposure to low levels of H2S. Additionally, the absence of emission factor data for Sargassum decomposition on-site makes health risk assessments challenging. This study aimed to create a custom chamber to simulate real-world Sargassum decomposition, exposing experimental animals to the generated gases. Metal content was analyzed, and emission rates were estimated in a controlled environment. The decomposition-exposure system replicated reported environmental gas emissions from the Caribbean region, except for NH3. H2S bursts were observed during the decomposition process at intervals of 2-10 days, with higher frequency associated with larger masses of decomposing Sargassum. The decomposed gas was transferred to the exposure chamber, resulting in an 80-87% reduction in H2S concentration. The maximum H2S emission was 156 ppm, with a concentration ranging from 50.4 to 56.5 ppm. An estimated emission rate of 7-8 g/h for H2S was observed, and significant levels of lead, arsenic, and aluminum were found in beached Sargassum from the northeast coast of Brazil. This study's developed model provides an opportunity to investigate the effects and risks to human health associated with exposure to gases produced during the environmental decomposition of Sargassum seaweed.

Occurrence of Mycotoxins in Foods: Unraveling the Knowledge Gaps on Their Persistence in Food Production Systems.

In this review, the intricate issue about the occurrence levels of mycotoxins in foods is discussed aiming to underline the main knowledge gaps on the persistence of these toxicants in the food production system. Mycotoxins have been a key challenge to the food industry, economic growth, and consumers' health. Despite a breadth of studies over the past decades, the persistence of mycotoxins in foods remain an overlooked concern that urges exploration. Therefore, we aimed to concisely underline the matter and provide possible biochemical and metabolic details that can be relevant to the food sector and overall public health. We also stress the application of computational modeling, high-throughput omics, and high-resolution imaging approaches, which can provide insights into the structural and physicochemical characteristics and the metabolic activities which occur in a stored cereal grain's embryo and endosperm and their relationship with storage fungi and mycotoxins on a cellular level. In addition, there is a need for extensive collaborative network and funding, which will play a key role in finding effective solutions against the persistence of mycotoxins at the genetic and molecular to metabolic levels in the food system.

Algae application in civil construction: A review with focus on the potential uses of the pelagic Sargassum spp. biomass.

Pelagic Sargassum, usually found at the Sargasso Sea and the Western portion of the North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, has been detected in many new locations through the tropical Atlantic. The huge biomass found from the African coast to the Caribbean was called the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt and is responsible for the stranding of tons of algae on coastal regions. Despite the environmental, social, and economic impacts, sargassum is a valuable source for multiple uses at the industry, such as alginates, cosmetics, recycled paper and bioplastics, fertilizers, and as raw material for civil construction. This work presents a systematic literature review on the use of algae at the civil construction sector, with a focus on the valorization of the pelagic Sargassum spp. biomass, by identifying the potential applications related to the use of other algal species. The review considered other genera of marine algae and marine angiosperms, resulting in a total of 31 selected articles. The marine grass Posidonia oceanica was the most used species, found in eight published papers, followed by the red alga Kappaphycus alvarezii with four studies. Two articles were available on the use of pelagic Sargassum spp. (S. fluitans and S.natans) for construction materials (adobe and pavement), with potential good results. The literature presented results from the use of marine algae and sea grasses for particleboards, polymeric and cemented composites, adobe, pavement, facades, and roofs. This article provides a state-of-the-art review of algal application in the civil construction sector and points out the main directions for the potentialities on the insertion of the Sargassum spp. biomass into the production chain of the sector.

Simple method for determination of cocaine and main metabolites in urine by CE coupled to MS.

In this work, a simple method for the simultaneous determination of cocaine (COC) and five COC metabolites (benzoylecgonine, cocaethylene (CET), anhydroecgonine, anhydroecgonine methyl ester and ecgonine methyl ester) in human urine using CE coupled to MS via electrospray ionization (CE-ESI-MS) was developed and validated. Formic acid at 1 mol/L concentration was used as electrolyte whereas formic acid at 0.05 mol/L concentration in 1:1 methanol:water composed the coaxial sheath liquid at the ESI nozzle. The developed method presented good linearity in the dynamic range from 250 ng/mL to 5000 ng/mL (coefficient of determination greater than 0.98 for all compounds). LODs (signal-to-noise ratio of 3) were 100 ng/mL for COC and CET and 250 ng/mL for the other studied metabolites whereas LOQ's (signal-to-noise ratio of 10) were 250 ng/mL for COC and CET and 500 ng/mL for all other compounds. Intra-day precision and recovery tests estimated at three different concentration levels (500, 1500 and 5000 ng/mL) provided RSD lower than 10% (except anhydroecgonine, 18% RSD) and recoveries from 83-109% for all analytes. The method was successfully applied to real cases. For the positive urine samples, the presence of COC and its metabolites was further confirmed by MS/MS experiments.

Method development and validation for isoflavones in soy germ pharmaceutical capsules using micellar electrokinetic chromatography.

The separation of six soy isoflavones (Glycitein, Daidzein, Genistein, Daidzin, Glycitin and Genistin) was approached by a 3(2) factorial design studying MEKC electrolyte components at the following levels: methanol (MeOH; 0-10%) and sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS; 20-70 mmol L(-1)); sodium tetraborate buffer (STB) concentration was kept constant at 10 mmol L(-1). Nine experiments were performed and the apparent mobility of each isoflavone was computed as a function of the electrolyte composition. A novel response function (RF) was formulated based on the production of the mobility differences, mobility of the first and last eluting peaks and the electrolyte conductance. The inspection of the response surface indicated an optimum electrolyte composition as 10 mmol L(-1) STB (pH 9.3) containing 40 mmol L(-1) SDS and 1% MeOH promoting baseline separation of all isoflavones in less than 7.5 min. The proposed method was applied to the determination of total isoflavones in soy germ capsules from four different pharmaceutical laboratories. A 2h extraction procedure with 80% (v/v) MeOH under vortexing at room temperature was employed. Peak assignment of unknown isoflavones in certain samples was assisted by hydrolysis procedures, migration behavior and UV spectra comparison. Three malonyl isoflavone derivatives were tentatively assigned. A few figures of merit for the proposed method include: repeatability (n=6) better than 0.30% CV (migration time) and 1.7% CV (peak area); intermediate precision (n=18) better than 6.2% CV (concentration); recoveries at two concentration levels, 20 and 50 microg mL(-1), varied from 99.1 to 103.6%. Furthermore, the proposed method exhibited linearity in the concentration range of 1.6-50 microg mL(-1) (r(2)>0.9999) with LOQ varying from 0.67 to 1.2 microg mL(-1). The capsules purity varied from 93.3 to 97.6%.

Optimizing the separation of food dyes by capillary electrophoresis.

In this work, the separation of eleven food dyes was evaluated by MEKC in electrolytes composed of tetraborate (TBS), Brij 35, and acetonitrile (ACN) using a factorial design at the following levels: TBS concentration (5 and 10 mmol L(-1)), pH (9.5 and 10.1), Brij concentration (5 and 20 mmol L(-1)), and ACN (5 and 15%). Several response functions were evaluated and indicated 10 mmol L(-1) TBS (pH 10.1), 15% ACN, and 20 mmol L(-1) Brij 35 as best values. However, baseline resolution was not achieved (R(cp) = 0.76) and the method lacked robustness. New conditions were sought by studying the dye mobility versus Brij concentration (5-20 mmol L(-1)). A set of well resolved and more uniformly spaced peaks was obtained with an electrolyte consisting of 7.5 mmol L(-1) TBS (pH 10.1), 10 mmol L(-1) Brij, and 15% ACN. Under these new conditions, complete resolution of the 11 dyes was achieved in less than 9 min. Migration time and peak area repeatabilities were better than 1.6% and 5% CV and the LODs were 0.47 to 2.3 microg mL(-1). The methodology was applied to fruit juice powders, lollipops, and other hard and soft chewable treats.