Occurrence and Exposure Assessment of Nickel in Zhejiang Province, China.

Nickel (Ni) is a silver-white metal with high antioxidative properties, often existing in a bivalent form in the environment. Despite being the fifth most abundant metal on Earth, anthropogenic activities, including industrial processes, have elevated Ni levels in environmental media. This study investigated Ni contamination in various food groups in Zhejiang Province, China, mainly focusing on Ni levels in beans, vegetables, aquatic foods, meat products, cereal products, and fruits. A total of 2628 samples were collected and analyzed. Beans exhibited the highest Ni content in all samples. The overall detection rate of Ni was 86.5%, with variation among food categories. For plant-origin foods, legumes had the highest Ni concentration while for animal-origin foods, shellfish showed the highest median Ni concentration. The results indicate generally acceptable Ni exposure levels among Zhejiang residents, except for children aged 0-6. Beans were identified as the primary contributor to high Ni exposure risk. The paper suggests monitoring Ni contamination in food, especially for vulnerable populations, and provides insights into exposure risks in different age groups.

Harvesting Inertial Energy and Powering Wearable Devices: A Review.

Amidst the swift progression of microelectronics and Internet of Things technology, wearable devices are gradually gaining ground in the domains of human health monitoring. Recently, human bioenergy harvesting has emerged as a plausible alternative to batteries. This paper delves into harvesting human inertial energy that stimulates inertial masses through human motion and then transmutes the motion of the inertial masses into electrical energy. The inertial energy harvester is better suited for low-frequency and irregular human motion. This review first identifies the sources of human motion excitation that are compatible with inertial energy harvesters and then provides a summary of the operating principles and the comparisons of the commonly used energy conversion mechanisms, including electromagnetic, piezoelectric, and triboelectric transducers. The review thoroughly summarizes the latest advancements in human inertial energy-harvesting technology that are categorized and grouped based on their excitation sources and mechanical modulation methods. In addition, the review outlines the applications of inertial energy harvesters in powering wearable devices, medical health monitoring, and as mobile power sources. Finally, the challenges faced by inertial energy-harvesting technologies are discussed, and the review provides a perspective on the potential developments in the field.

An Occurrence and Exposure Assessment of Paralytic Shellfish Toxins from Shellfish in Zhejiang Province, China.

The intake of paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) may adversely affect human health. Therefore, this study aimed to show the prevalence of PSTs from commercially available shellfish in Zhejiang Province, China, during the period of frequent red tides, investigate the factors affecting the distribution of PSTs, and assess the risk of PST intake following the consumption of bivalve shellfish among the Zhejiang population. A total of 546 shellfish samples were collected, 7.0% of which had detectable PSTs at concentrations below the regulatory limit. Temporal, spatial, and interspecific variations in the occurrence of PSTs were observed in some cases. The dietary exposure to PSTs among the general population of consumers only was low. However, young children in the extreme scenario (the 95th percentile of daily shellfish consumption combined with the maximum PST concentration), defined as 89-194% of the recommended acute reference doses, were possibly at risk of exposure. Notably, Arcidae and mussels were the major sources of exposure to toxins. From the public health perspective, PSTs from commercially available shellfish do not pose a serious health risk; however, more attention should be paid to acute health risks, especially for young children, during periods of frequent red tides.

[Occurrence and exposure assessment of fumonisins from grains and grain products in Zhejiang Province in 2018-2019].

OBJECTIVE: To monitor fumonisins(FBs) in grains and grain products in Zhejiang and assess the exposure risks of FBs to local residents. METHODS: Liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry method was used to determine the occurrence of FBs in rice, millet, dried noodles, instant noodles, and maize grains, and food frequency questionnaires were used to collect the food consumption data of Zhejiang population. Then, the simple probability distribution model was used to assess the exposure risk. RESULTS: The levels of FBs in rice, millet, dried noodles and instant noodles were relatively low. The occurrence of FB_1, FB_2 and FB_3 in these foods was 0-23.7%, 0-16.7% and 0-5.4%, respectively, and the mean levels were not detected(ND)-22.36, ND-20.63 and ND-7.19 µg/kg correspondingly. However, the levels of FBs in maize grains were relatively high. The occurrence of FB_1, FB_2, and FB_3 in maize grains was 100%, 93.6% and 90.3%, respectively, and the mean levels were 638.99, 103.54 and 59.69 µg/kg correspondingly. In 12.9% of the maize grain samples, the levels of FBs were higher than the standard reference. The residents were at low exposure risk overall. The mean estimated daily intake(EDI) of FBs was far lower than the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake of 2 µg/(kg·BW·d). However, 0.30% of the residents were at high risk. Among people of different ages, the mean EDI of children, adults, and elderly were 0.43, 0.28 and 0.29 µg/(kg·BW·d) respectively, and children were in the highest exposure levels of FBs. Among the tested five foodstuffs, rice and maize grains were the main sources of FBs exposure. CONCLUSION: Except for maize grains, the levels of FBs in grains and grain products were relatively low, and Zhejiang residents were at low FBs exposure risk generally.

Small wind turbines and their potential for internet of things applications.

Wind energy is crucial for meeting climate and energy sustainability targets. Small wind turbines (SWTs) have gained significant attention due to their size and adaptability. These turbines have potential for Internet of Things (IoT) applications, particularly in powering large areas and low-power devices. This review examines SWTs for IoT applications, providing an extensive overview of their development, including wind energy rectifiers, power generation mechanisms, and IoT applications. The paper summarizes and compares different types of wind energy rectifiers, explores recent advancements and representative work, and discusses applicable generator systems such as electromagnetic, piezoelectric, and triboelectric nanogenerators. In addition, it thoroughly reviews the latest research on IoT application scenarios, including transportation, urban environments, intelligent agriculture, and self-powered wind sensing. Lastly, the paper identifies future research directions and emphasizes the potential of interdisciplinary technologies in driving SWT development.

[Contamination and dietary exposure assessment of 2-chloropropanol esters in vegetable oils available on Zhejiang market during 2016-2020].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the occurrence data for 2-chloropropanol(2-MCPD) ester in edible vegetable oils purchased in Zhejiang Province during 2016-2020, and to estimate dietary exposures of 2-MCPD ester via vegetable oil. METHODS: A total of 404 samples of edible oils were collected from markets, stores, online shopping in Zhejiang Province, the occurrence of 2-MCPD ester was detected by gas chromatography mass spectrometry from 2016-2020. Data of vegetable oils consumption was obtained from the survey result of urban and rural residents in Zhejiang Province in 2008. The exposure levels of 2-chloropropanol ester was calculated for people aged 4-6, 7-10, 11-17, 18-59 and 60 years old and older from the consumption of vegetable oils. RESULTS: The detection rate of 2-MCPD esters in 404 samples was 82.7%(334/404) with the mean level of 0.32 mg/kg. Among them, the mean content of camellia oil was the highest with 1.23 mg/kg, followed by rice oil(0.69 mg/kg); sunflower oil, olive oil and soybean oil have relatively low average values, respectively with 0.11, 0.12 and 0.13 mg/kg. There are significant differences in 2-MCPD ester content in different types of edible oils of the same brand(P<0.05), the content of 2-MCPD ester in different brands of peanut oil was significant(P<0.05), but in different brands of corn oil was not statistically significant. Among the edible vegetable oil consumers, the average exposure of 2-MCPD esters in different age groups ranged from 0.21 to 0.69 µg/(kg·BW·d). CONCLUSION: 2-MCPD esters pollution is widespread in vegetable oils, the severity of pollution was affected by the type and brand of the edible vegetable oil, and the intake of 2-MCPD esters was relatively high among people with high vegetable oil consumption and the general population of 4-10 years old.

Cadmium Exposure in Aquatic Products and Health Risk Classification Assessment in Residents of Zhejiang, China.

Cadmium (Cd) pollution of food safety is a prominent food safety concern worldwide. The concentration of Cd in six aquatic food categories collected from 2018 to 2022 was analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and the Cd exposure levels were calculated by combining the Cd concentration and food consumption data of 18913 urban and rural residents in Zhejiang Province in 2015-2016. The mean Cd concentration was 0.699 mg/kg and the mean Cd exposure of aquatic foods was 0.00951 mg/kg BW/month for the general population. Marine crustaceans were the largest Cd contributor, corresponding to 82.7%. The regional distribution results showed that the average Cd exposure levels of 11 cities did not exceed the provisional tolerable monthly intake (PTMI). According to the subgroups, the Cd mean exposure level of 2-3-year-old children was significantly higher than that of the other age groups but did not exceed the PTMI. Health risk classification assessment demonstrated that the final risk score was six, and the health risk level of Cd exposure in aquatic products in the Zhejiang population was medium. These results demonstrated that the risk of Cd exposure in certain food types or age groups should be given more concern.

Epidemiological characteristics of Vibrio parahaemolyticus outbreaks, Zhejiang, China, 2010-2022.

Background: Vibrio parahaemolyticus is one of the most common foodborne pathogens and poses a significant disease burden. The purpose of the study was to elucidate the epidemiological characteristics of Vibrio parahaemolyticus outbreaks in Zhejiang Province, and provide insights for the targeted prevention and control of foodborne diseases. Methods: Descriptive statistical methods were utilized to analyze the data on Vibrio parahaemolyticus outbreaks reported by all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCs) through Foodborne Disease Outbreaks Surveillance System (FDOSS) in Zhejiang Province from 2010 to 2022. Results: From 2010 to 2022, a total of 383 outbreaks caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus were reported by 90 CDCs in 11 prefectures of Zhejiang Province, resulting in 4,382 illnesses, 326 hospitalizations and 1 death. The main symptoms of the outbreak-related cases were diarrhea (95.18%), abdominal pain (89.23%), nausea (55.64%), vomiting (50.57%), fever (24.21%), etc. The outbreaks occurring between July and September accounted for 77.54% of all outbreaks (297 out of 383). Outbreaks associated with restaurants accounted for the majority (57.96%, 222/383) of all outbreaks, followed by those linked to staff canteens (15.40%, 59/383) and rural banquets (11.23%, 43/383). 31.85% of all outbreaks were associated with the consumption of aquatic products, while ready-to-eat foods such as Chinese cold dishes and cooked meat products accounted for 12.53% of all outbreaks. Serotype O3:K6 (81.94%, 118/144) was the predominant serotype responsible for outbreaks from 2010 to 2020, while serotype O10:K4 (57.89%, 33/57) was the predominant serotype from 2021 to 2022. Conclusion: In-depth and comprehensive analysis of long-term surveillance data on Vibrio parahaemolyticus outbreaks is essential to gain insight into the epidemiological characteristics, identify long-term patterns and recent trends, and enable governments to prioritize interventions and develop targeted policies to mitigate such outbreaks.

EFPN: Effective medical image detection using feature pyramid fusion enhancement.

Feature pyramid networks (FPNs) are widely used in the existing deep detection models to help them utilize multi-scale features. However, there exist two multi-scale feature fusion problems for the FPN-based deep detection models in medical image detection tasks: insufficient multi-scale feature fusion and the same importance for multi-scale features. Therefore, in this work, we propose a new enhanced backbone model, EFPNs, to overcome these problems and help the existing FPN-based detection models to achieve much better medical image detection performances. We first introduce an additional top-down pyramid to help the detection networks fuse deeper multi-scale information; then, a scale enhancement module is developed to use different sizes of kernels to generate more diverse multi-scale features. Finally, we propose a feature fusion attention module to estimate and assign different importance weights to features with different depths and scales. Extensive experiments are conducted on two public lesion detection datasets for different medical image modalities (X-ray and MRI). On the mAP and mR evaluation metrics, EFPN-based Faster R-CNNs improved 1.55% and 4.3% on the PenD (X-ray) dataset, and 2.74% and 3.1% on the BraTs (MRI) dataset, respectively. EFPN-based Faster R-CNNs achieve much better performances than the state-of-the-art baselines in medical image detection tasks. The proposed three improvements are all essential and effective for EFPNs to achieve superior performances; and besides Faster R-CNNs, EFPNs can be easily applied to other deep models to significantly enhance their performances in medical image detection tasks.

A negative-work knee energy harvester based on homo-phase transfer for wearable monitoring devices.

Wearable health monitoring devices can effectively capture human body information and are widely used in health monitoring, but battery life is an important bottleneck in its development. A full negative-work energy harvester based on the homo-phase transfer mechanism by analyzing human motion characteristics was proposed in this paper. The system was designed based on the homo-phase transfer mechanism, including a motion input module, gear acceleration module, energy conversion module, and electric energy storage module. The output performance in three human-level, downhill, and running states was tested, respectively. Finally, we have evaluated the feasibility of an energy harvester powering wearable health monitoring devices, and the harvester can generate 17.40 J/day power, which can satisfy the normal operation of a typical health monitoring device. This study has certain promoting significance for the development of a new generation of human health monitoring.

Epidemiology of foodborne diseases caused by Salmonella in Zhejiang Province, China, between 2010 and 2021.

Objective: Salmonella infection is a common cause of bacterial foodborne diseases (FBDs) globally. In this study, we aimed to explore the epidemiological and etiological characteristics of Salmonella infection from 2012-2021 in Zhejiang Province, China. Methods: Descriptive statistical methods were used to analyze the data reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at all levels in Zhejiang Province through the China National Foodborne Diseases Surveillance Network from 2012-2021. Results: A total of 11,269 Salmonella cases were reported, with an average positive rate of 3.65%, including 1,614 hospitalizations. A significant seasonal trend was observed for Salmonella cases, with the highest rate over the summer period, peaking from May to October, accounting for 77.96%. The results indicated a higher positive rate among respondents aged 0-4 years, especially for the scattered children (P < 0.05). The highest number of Salmonella infections were caused due to contaminated fruit and fruit products. Households (54.69%) had the most common exposure settings. Serotypes analysis revealed that Salmonella typhimurium (36.07%), Salmonella enteritidis (15.17%), and Salmonella london (6.05%) were the dominant strains among the 173 serotypes. Diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, nausea, and vomiting were the main symptoms of these serotypes. Conclusions: FBDs caused by Salmonella are important issues for public health in Zhejiang Province, and there is a need to focus on the epidemiological and etiological characteristics to control Salmonella infections.

Epidemiology of foodborne bongkrekic acid poisoning outbreaks in China, 2010 to 2020.

Foodborne bongkrekic acid (BA) poisoning is a fatal foodborne disease in China. From 2010-2020, a total of 19 BA poisoning outbreaks were reported to the China National Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System. These outbreaks involved 146 illnesses, 139 hospitalizations, and 43 deaths, with a case-fatality rate of 29.5%. Approximately 73.3% of the outbreaks occurred in South and Southwest China. Homemade fermented corn flour products, tremella, and sweet potato flour and corn flour products (jelly) caused more early outbreaks, and novel vehicles (wet rice noodles and Auricularia auricula) were associated with later outbreaks in the study period. Outbreaks most frequently occurred at home (79.0%) and in restaurants (21.0%). The prohibition of traditional processed homemade fermented corn flour products and improvement in bongkrekic acid poisoning case identification and early treatment have resulted in a reduction in the case-fatality rate.

Occurrence and Exposure Assessment of Deoxynivalenol and Its Acetylated Derivatives from Grains and Grain Products in Zhejiang Province, China (2017-2020).

Deoxynivalenol (DON) together with its acetylated derivatives cause detrimental effects on human health, and the purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of DON and its acetylated derivatives from grains and grain products in Zhejiang province, China, and to assess the risk of DON and its acetylated derivatives due to multiple consumptions of grains and grain products among the Zhejiang population. Food samples numbering 713 were collected, and the LC-MS/MS method was used to determine the toxins. The levels of toxins from grains and grain products were relatively low: DON was the toxin at the highest levels. The food frequency questionnaire was used to collect food consumption data. The result of exposure assessments showed that the population was overall at low levels of toxin exposure. The probable mean group daily intake of toxins was 0.21 µg/kg bw/day, which was far from the group provisional maximum tolerable daily intake of 1 µg/kg bw/day, but 0.71% of participants were at high exposure levels. Rice and dried noodles (wheat-based food) were the main sources of toxin exposure, and reducing the consumption of rice and dried noodles while consuming more of other foods with lower levels of toxins is recommended.

An 11-Year Analysis of Bacterial Foodborne Disease Outbreaks in Zhejiang Province, China.

BACKGROUND: Foodborne diseases are a growing public health problem and contribute significantly to the global burden of disease and mortality. Bacteria are the most common foodborne pathogens. We aimed to explore characteristics of bacterial foodborne disease outbreaks (FBDOs) in Zhejiang Province and to provide data support for foodborne disease prevention and control. METHODS: Descriptive statistical methods were used to analyze the data reported by centers for disease control (CDCs) at all levels in Zhejiang Province through Foodborne Disease Outbreaks Surveillance System (FDOSS) during 2010-2020. RESULTS: CDCs in Zhejiang Province reported 517 bacterial FBDOs in 11 years, resulting in 7031 cases, 911 hospitalizations, and 3 deaths. Vibrio parahaemolyticus had the highest number of outbreaks, accounting for 58.41% of the total bacterial outbreaks, followed by Salmonella (18.38%). In all settings, restaurants (37.14%), staff canteens (11.99%), and households (11.80%) were responsible for the large number of outbreaks. Aquatic products (42.08%), meat and meat products (23.56%), cereals (10.81%), and flour products (9.27%) were the most common single foods reported. Further analysis showed that the settings and food vehicles of outbreaks caused by different pathogens were different. CONCLUSIONS: Bacterial outbreaks are the most common type of FBDOs in Zhejiang Province. By analyzing the epidemiological characteristics of common pathogenic bacteria, we can identify the etiology, food, and setting that the government needs to focus on, and issue relevant targeted policies to reduce the number of FBDOs.

Comfrey polysaccharides modulate the gut microbiota and its metabolites SCFAs and affect the production performance of laying hens.

Effects of dietary supplementation of comfrey polysaccharides (CPs) on production performance, egg quality, and microbial composition of cecum in laying hens were evaluated. A total of 240 laying hens were allocated into 4 groups with 6 replicates per group. The laying hens were fed diets containing CPs at levels of 0, 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 %, respectively. The results showed that the egg production rate increased by 5.97 %, the egg mass improved by 6.71 %, and the feed conversion rate reduced by 5.43 % in the 1.0 % supplementation group of CPs compared with those in the control group. The digestibility of ash, crude fat, and phosphorus was notably improved by the addition of CPs at 1.0 % (P < 0.05). The relative abundances of Bacteroidetes at the phylum level, Bacteroidaceae, Rikenellaceae, and Prevotellaceae at the family level were increased by CPs (P < 0.05). The relative abundances of Bacteroides, Megamonas, Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group, [Ruminococcus]_torques_group, Methanobrevibacter, Desulfovibrio, Romboutsia, Alistipes, and Intestinimonas at the genus level were increased by CPs (P < 0.05). Dietary supplementation of CPs could enhance the production performance of laying hens, which might be related to the improvement of nutrient digestibility and microbial community modulations in the cecum. Therefore, CPs have potential application value as prebiotics in laying hens.

A population-based survey of the prevalence of self-reported acute gastrointestinal illness in Zhejiang Province, China.

Acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) is a prevalent public health concern worldwide. This study investigated the magnitude, distribution and burden of self-reported AGI among residents of Zhejiang Province, China. A face-to-face household survey was conducted using a multi-stage stratified random sampling method in 10 counties in Zhejiang Province between July 2018 and June 2019. In total, 12,021 participants were recruited. The prevalence of AGI 28 days after standardization was 1.8% (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.6-2.1), with an incidence rate of 0.24 episodes of AGI per person-year and an estimated 14 million cases of AGI in Zhejiang Province. Univariate and multivariable analyses showed a higher AGI prevalence among people who performed housework and were unemployed in summer and autumn among respondents living in western or northern cities (p < 0.05). More than 50% of AGI cases were attributed to the consumption of contaminated food. The disease burden caused by AGI in Zhejiang Province was approximately 975 million Chinses yuan (CNY). These results indicated that the disease burden of AGI in Zhejiang Province should be addressed and highlights the need for an improved active surveillance system of foodborne diseases to assess the impact of AGI on society and health.

Occurrence and exposure assessment of aflatoxins in Zhejiang province, China.

The purpose of this study was to assess the risk of aflatoxins due to multiple food consumption among the Zhejiang population. Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry method was used to determine aflatoxins in 792 samples. Aflatoxins were detected in 27.1% of the samples at levels between 0.07 and 262.63 µg kg-1, and aflatoxins B1 was the most frequently detected among different types of samples. 0.8% of peanut oil, 3.39% of nut products as well as 1.1% of condiments contaminated with aflatoxins B1 exceeded China national tolerance limits. Peanut oil had the highest incidence of aflatoxin, with a range from 0.17 to 22.50 µg kg-1. Using bags conferred limited advantages in reducing aflatoxin contents. Moreover, peanut and rice were the main contributors to dietary exposure to aflatoxins among Zhejiang residents. Finally, the margin of exposure values obtained by rice consumption were far from the safe margin of 10,000, indicating a potential risk to public health. The results pointed out the need for further prioritization of aflatoxins B1 risk-management actions in Zhejiang.

Epidemiology of Foodborne Disease Outbreaks Caused by Nontyphoidal Salmonella in Zhejiang Province, China, 2010-2019.

Nontyphoidal Salmonella infection is a common cause of bacterial foodborne illness in Zhejiang Province, China. This study aimed to summarize the epidemiological and etiological characteristics of the outbreak of nontyphoidal Salmonella infection in Zhejiang Province. Data collected over a 10-year period (2010-2019) from the China National Foodborne Diseases Surveillance Network (NFDSN) were analyzed. A total of 78 outbreaks due to nontyphoidal Salmonella, causing 1450 illnesses and 353 hospitalizations with no deaths, were reported. The outbreak rate from May to October was about four times as high as that in other months. In addition, 33.3% (25/78) outbreaks occurred in household settings, and 41.8% (606/1450) cases were exposed at bakery product-processing factories (or shops). Moreover, food vehicles were identified in 75.6% (59/78) of Salmonella outbreaks. Of these, 30.5% (35/59) were caused by cooked meat products, followed by cold-processed cakes and sandwiches usually containing meat and/or eggs (28.81%, 17/59). Salmonella Enteritidis (56.9%, 33/78) and Salmonella Typhimurium (17.2%, 10/78) were the dominant strains. Outbreaks were most frequently attributed to cross-contamination (88.1%) and improper storage temperature (61.0%). Outbreaks caused by Salmonella are important targets for public health intervention efforts, and improving the safety and quality of cooked meat products, cold-processed cakes, and sandwiches should be a priority.

[Lead pollution status and exposure level in cereals and related products in Zhejiang Province from 2014 to 2019].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the level of lead in cereals and related products from Zhejiang market, and to provide the preliminary assessment. METHODS: Lead was detected in 4855 samples of cereals and related products during 2014-2019, food consumption data was taken from Zhejiang residents' consumption survey in 2015-2016. RESULTS: The total detection rate of lead in cereals and related products was 59. 03%, and the acceptance rate was 99. 3% when compared to the national food safety standards(GB 2762-2017). The average lead level in cereals and related products was 0. 031 mg/kg, high mean level was found in millet with 0. 049 mg/kg, low mean level was in grain cans with 0. 020 mg/kg. The average dietary exposure to lead via cereals and related products was 0. 16 µg/(kg·d), and 0. 45 µg/(kg·d) for high consumer(P97. 5). CONCLUSION: Lead in cereals and related products are at very low contamination levels, residents' average daily intake of lead from grains and products was low in Zhejiang Province, but measures are still needed to reduce lead in cereal products considering the adverse health effects of lead.