A comprehensive study of food waste management and processing in the Czech Republic: Potential health risks and consumer behavior.

Food waste is currently a widely discussed phenomenon with significant economic and social consequences. One third of the food produced in the world is wasted at various points along the food supply chain. This article presents a comprehensive study that examines consumer behavior in dealing with food waste and activities in the composting process that enable waste sanitation. The survey conducted as part of this study showed that consumers want to eliminate odors, are concerned about potential infections, and generally sort less food waste. This study suggested that the addition of appropriate additives could be a solution. The results indicated that additives could eliminate negative side effects such as unpleasant odors, the presence of insects and rodents, and act as a prevention of the occurrence of pathogenic organisms. Tea tree oil showed the best positive physical and chemical properties among the additives tested (CaCO3 and citric acid) with a significant effect on inhibiting the growth of bacterial strains such as Salmonella strains and had the strongest antibacterial effect, neutralized unpleasant odors, and stabilized the waste. The use of additives could be a future solution to meet consumer demands, improve the quality of food waste and advance the circular economy to improve the sustainability of agricultural systems.

An APEX-based genotyping microarray for the screening of 168 mutations associated with familial hypercholesterolemia.

OBJECTIVE: Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an inborn disorder of lipid metabolism characterised by elevated plasma concentrations of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and total cholesterol. This imbalance results in accelerated atherosclerosis and premature coronary heart disease. The early identification and treatment of FH patients is extremely important because it leads to significant reduction of both coronary morbidity and mortality. FH is transmitted in an autosomal dominant manner and associated predominantly with mutations in the genes encoding the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) and its ligand apolipoprotein B (APOB). To date, more than 1000 sequence variants have been described in the LDLR gene. In marked contrast to LDLR, only one APOB mutation is prevalent in Europe. METHODS AND RESULTS: The aim of this study was, on the basis of data obtained by the molecular genetic analysis of 1945 Czech FH probands, to propose, generate, and validate a new diagnostic tool, an APEX (Arrayed Primer EXtension)-based genotyping DNA microarray called the FH chip. The FH chip contains the APOB mutation p.Arg3527Gln, all 89 LDLR point mutations and small DNA rearrangements detected in Czech FH patients, and 78 mutations frequent in other European and Asian FH populations. The validation phase revealed the sensitivity and specificity of this platform, 100% and 99.1%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This FH chip is a rapid, reproducible, specific, and cost-effective tool for genotyping, and in combination with MLPA (multiple ligation-dependent probe amplification) represents a reliable molecular genetic protocol for the large-scale screening of FH mutations in the Czech population.