Carboxin and its major metabolites residues in peanuts: Levels, dietary intake and chronic intake risk assessment.

We developed an ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectral method to determine the fungicide carboxin and its metabolites, oxycarboxin and carboxin sulfoxide in peanut samples. The method was used to detect the concentration of the analytes in the samples from fields and markets. The total residue quantities in peanut kernels were used to evaluate the chronic dietary risk of total carboxin upon peanut consumption. The estimated dietary intake of carboxin from peanuts whose seeds had been treated with carboxin at the recommended dose was between 0.020% and 0.344% of acceptable daily intake and the risk was found to be negligible. The chronic dietary risk assessment from markets and commercial field samples for various groups of humans indicated that the group with the greatest degree of exposure was 45 to 75-year-old women who lived in rural areas. However, their acceptable daily intake percentage was 0.006%, meaning that their health risk was extremely small.

Assessment of hematological profiles of adult male athletes from two different air pollutant zones of West Bengal, India.

Health effects from air pollution are severe concern of today's world. The study was undertaken to assess the effects of air pollution on hematological profiles of trained and untrained males of West Bengal. The sample consisted of 60 sprinters, 60 footballers, and 120 untrained males, subdivided into two groups from two zones, namely, Tollygunge and Sonarpur. Suspended particulate matter (SPM), respirable particulate matter (RPM), oxides of sulfur (SOx), and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) of ambient air were monitored for both zones. Height and weight of all the subjects were measured. Venous blood sample was drawn from the cubital vein, and the red blood cell count (TC), packed cell volume (PCV), hemoglobin (Hb) concentration, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were determined by standard methods. Results revealed that SPM, RPM, SOx, and NOx concentrations were significantly higher in the Tollygunge area than Sonarpur. TC, PCV, and Hb concentration of untrained males were significantly higher than footballers in both regions but no significant difference were observed when compared with sprinters, except the Hb concentration in the Tollygunge zone. On the other hand, all hematological parameters of both trained and untrained males were significantly higher in the Sonarpur area than Tollygunge. It was concluded that environmental air pollutants might influence hematological profile adversely both in trained and sedentary males. However, further investigation in this area is needed.

Quantitative determination of S-alk(en)ylcysteine-S-oxides by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography.

A novel method for determination of S-alk(en)ylcysteine-S-oxides by capillary electrophoresis has been developed and validated. The method is based on extraction of these sulfur amino acids by methanol, their derivatization by fluorenylmethyl chloroformate and subsequent separation by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography. Main advantages of the new method are simplicity, sensitivity, high specificity and very low running costs, making it suitable for routine analysis of a large number of samples. Employing this method, the content of S-alk(en)ylcysteine-S-oxides was determined in 12 commonly consumed alliaceous and cruciferous vegetables (e.g. garlic, onion, leek, chive, cabbage, radish, cauliflower and broccoli). The total content of these amino acids in the Allium species evaluated varied between 0.59 and 12.3mg g(-1) fresh weight. Whereas alliin was found only in garlic, isoalliin was the major S-alk(en)ylcysteine-S-oxide in onion, leek, chive and shallot. On the other hand, the cruciferous species analyzed contained only methiin in the range of 0.06-2.45mg g(-1) fresh weight.

Chemical ionization and high resolution electron impact mass spectra of 5,6-dihydro-2-methyl-1,4-oxathiin-3-carboxanilide and three of its metabolites.

The electron impact and the hydrogen and methane chemical ionization mass spectra of 5,6-dihydro-2-methyl-1,4-oxathin-3-carboxanilide, the sulfoxide and sulfone derived therefrom, and 2-(2-hydroxyethylthio)-acetoacetanilide enol have been determined. All four compounds show abundant molecular ions in the electron impact spectra and abundant [MH]+ ions in the methane chemical ionization spectra (along with the expected [M + C2H5]+ and [M + C3H5]+ ions), but relatively low [MH]+ ion signals in the hydrogen chemical ionization spectra. From high resolution mass measurements and metastable transitions determined by metastable ion refocusing, electron impact fragmentation mechanisms have been established. For 5,6-dihydro-2-methyl-1,4-oxathiin-3-carboxanilide, 5,6-dihydro-2-methyl-1,4-oxathiin-3-carboxanilide-4-oxide and 5,6-dihydro-2-methyl-1,4-oxathiin-3-carboxanilide-4,4-dioxide the major fragmentation mode involves loss of the anilino radical from [M]+, followed by loss of C2H4. Fragmentation to form the aniline molecular ion increases in importance with increasing oxidation state of the sulfur. In the chemical ionization of these three compounds fragmentation of [MH]+ proceeds in a similar fashion by loss of neutral aniline and by formation of protonated aniline. The electron impact mass spectrum of 2-(2-hydroxyethylthio)acetoacetanilide is dominated by the molecular ion and the aniline molecular ion. However, in the chemical ionization mass spectra characteristic fragment ions involving loss of water and loss of aniline from [MH]+, as well as protonated aniline, are observed and serve to characterize the compound.