Toxic element profile of ice cream in Bangladesh: a health risk assessment study.

Ice cream is a popular frozen dairy product and a possible source of dietary minerals. However, ice cream may also contain toxic metals, which may cause several health implications. The current study aimed to determine the content of toxic elements in ice cream samples using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and to assess the health risks of consumers based on target cancer risk (TCR), target hazard quotient (THQ), and hazardous index (HI). The determined concentration (median, range) of all studied elements had shown a descending order of Al (9.36, 5.37-14.26) > Zn (5.94, 1.95-10.22) > Cu (1.73, 1.02-3.77) > Ni (0.95, 0.67-1.80) > Fe (0.79, 0.10-1.64) > Cr (0.43, 0.28-0.73) > Mn (0.42, 0.11-1.03) > Pb (0.34, 0.09-0.79) > Cd (0.08, 0.04-0.14) mg/kg (fresh weight). The values of THQ and HI (except 16% for children) were lower than the maximum threshold risk limit (TRL = 1.0), indicating no potential non-carcinogenic health effects might occur. Similarly, the TCR of Cr and Pb for both adults and children was within the permissible limit of 10-4-10-6, which suggested that the consumer would not experience potential lifetime carcinogenic health risks. However, the overall analyses revealed that the consumption of ice cream is almost safe for people, but the combined impact of all metals (HI) in some samples is a matter of health concern. Henceforth, regular monitoring of toxic metals in ice creams should be done to assure food safety and hygiene.

Probabilistic Health Risk Assessment of Iodine Exposure in Bangladesh.

In this study, the concentrations of iodine in household salt samples (n = 690) were determined by following the iodometric titration method, and the health risks of Bangladeshi people were assessed based on the semi-probabilistic approach and the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) deterministic model. After adjusting 20% of cooking losses, the iodine concentration (mean, range) in salt samples of Phultala, Dighalia, Terokhada, Rupsha, Batiaghata, Dumuria, Paikgacha, Koyra, Dacope, and KCC was (29.68 ± 8.67, 14.39-48.26), (31.05 ± 6.68, 15.24-43.18), (26.94 ± 5.57, 16.09-45.72), (24.33 ± 5.61, 12.70-37.26), (26.69 ± 6.73, 10.16-44.87), (27.20 ± 8.44, 9.31-53.34), (27.71 ± 8.09, 8.46-47.42), (28.39 ± 7.80, 11.01-46.57), (28.20 ± 7.97, 3.38-49.10), and (29.21 ± 6.62, 18.62-40.64) mg/kg, respectively. The iodine contents in 97.25% of samples were within the standard fortification level of Bangladesh (15-50 mg/kg), while 2.61% of samples were below this limit. The semi-probabilistic risk assessment studies showed that 80.14% of samples at a low ingestion rate could provide optimal nutrition (150-299 µg/day) to the whole population. Contrarily, at medium, moderate-high, and high consumption rates 34.93%, 65.22%, and 85.94% of samples, respectively, belonged to above the requirements to excessive exposure categories (300-1100 µg/day), which might cause iodine-induced diseases. The target hazard quotient (THQ) values for the adults in most of the samples were within the threshold risk limit (THQ < 1.0), whereas THQ values in 6.82% to 85.97% of samples for the children at low to high ingestion rates, respectively exceeded this limit, which revealed that the adults were almost safe, but the children might face non-carcinogenic health effects. Therefore, regular monitoring of iodine concentration in iodized salts should be done to prevent iodine deficiency or iodine-induced disorders.

Health Risk Assessment and Comparative Studies on Some Fish Species Cultured in Traditional and Biofloc Fish Farms.

The present study aimed at (a) determining the concentration of macro-minerals and toxic metals in fish species collected from biofloc and traditional fish farms; (b) assessing the contribution of macro-minerals to our daily diet; and (c) evaluating the health risks of children and adults based on the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) deterministic model. Significantly higher concentrations of macro-minerals and significantly lower levels of toxic metals (at < 0.05 level) were found in most of the biofloc fish species compared to the market fish samples. The values of the target hazard quotient (THQ) were less than 1.0 for all individual trace metals in all species, which indicated that there were no noncarcinogenic health risks. Furthermore, the value of the hazard index (HI) in three samples of Tilapia from the market exceeded the recommended value of 1.0, while all samples from the biofloc fish tank were within the maximum tolerable limit, which suggested that the daily consumption of Tilapia fishes from the market may result in considerable harmful effects. Target cancer risk (TCR) for Pb in all of the studied samples was within the range of 10-6 and 10-4, hence the adults and children would not experience any kinds of carcinogenic effects. The result obtained from this comparative study revealed that the consumption of fish species from both local market and biofloc fish farms was almost safe, but the value of TCR in Pb was higher in traditional fish samples than that of biofloc tanks, hence fish samples from biofloc farms were more suitable for consumption.

Synthesis of Magnetic Iron Oxide-Incorporated Cellulose Composite Particles: An Investigation on Antioxidant Properties and Drug Delivery Applications.

In recent years, polymer-supported magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (MIO-NPs) have gained a lot of attention in biomedical and healthcare applications due to their unique magnetic properties, low toxicity, cost-effectiveness, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. In this study, waste tissue papers (WTP) and sugarcane bagasse (SCB) were utilized to prepare magnetic iron oxide (MIO)-incorporated WTP/MIO and SCB/MIO nanocomposite particles (NCPs) based on in situ co-precipitation methods, and they were characterized using advanced spectroscopic techniques. In addition, their anti-oxidant and drug-delivery properties were investigated. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses revealed that the shapes of the MIO-NPs, SCB/MIO-NCPs, and WTP/MIO-NCPs were agglomerated and irregularly spherical with a crystallite size of 12.38 nm, 10.85 nm, and 11.47 nm, respectively. Vibrational sample magnetometry (VSM) analysis showed that both the NPs and the NCPs were paramagnetic. The free radical scavenging assay ascertained that the WTP/MIO-NCPs, SCB/MIO-NCPs, and MIO-NPs exhibited almost negligible antioxidant activity in comparison to ascorbic acid. The swelling capacities of the SCB/MIO-NCPs and WTP/MIO-NCPs were 155.0% and 159.5%, respectively, which were much higher than the swelling efficiencies of cellulose-SCB (58.3%) and cellulose-WTP (61.6%). The order of metronidazole drug loading after 3 days was: cellulose-SCB < cellulose-WTP < MIO-NPs < SCB/MIO-NCPs < WTP/MIO-NCPs, whereas the sequence of the drug-releasing rate after 240 min was: WTP/MIO-NCPs < SCB/MIO-NCPs < MIO-NPs < cellulose-WTP < cellulose-SCB. Overall, the results of this study showed that the incorporation of MIO-NPs in the cellulose matrix increased the swelling capacity, drug-loading capacity, and drug-releasing time. Therefore, cellulose/MIO-NCPs obtained from waste materials such as SCB and WTP can be used as a potential vehicle for medical applications, especially in a metronidazole drug delivery system.

Phytochemical-Assisted Synthesis of Fe3O4 Nanoparticles and Evaluation of Their Catalytic Activity.

In this study, magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs) were synthesized using Baccaurea ramiflora leaf extracts and characterized by visual observation, UV-Vis, FTIR, XRD, FESEM, and EDS. The UV-Vis spectrum showed continuous absorption at 300-500 nm, confirming the formation of Fe3O4 NPs. FTIR revealed that compounds containing the O-H group act as reducing agents during Fe3O4 NPs formation. Agglomerated spherical NPs were observed in the FESEM image. The prominent peak at ~6.4 keV in the EDS spectrum ascertained the existence of Fe, while the sharp peak at ~0.53 keV confirmed the presence of elemental oxygen. XRD patterns affirmed the crystalline nature. The size of as-synthesized NPs was observed to be 8.83 nm. The catalytic activity of Fe3O4 NPs for the reduction of methylene blue (MB) dye was monitored by UV-Vis. The maximum absorption peak of MB dye at 664 nm was almost diminished within 20 min, which revealed Fe3O4 NPs could be an excellent catalyst for wastewater treatment.