Journal of Chemical Health Risks
Volume:13 Issue: 2, Spring 2023

Fungicides are being extensively used in the field of agriculture to increase production and reduce fungal infection. Strobilurins have emerged as one of the broadly used fungicides worldwide because of their less toxicity and highly efficient fungicidal activity. It is widely used against powdery mildew, white mold, rot, downy mildew, rust, and rice blast diseases in different crops like soybeans, rice, cereals, vegetables, and fruit trees, etc. Humans can get exposed to strobilurins through fruits or vegetables or water and dermal routes during spraying. During the past few years, strobilurin fungicides have been reported to exert an adverse impact on a variety of non-target organisms, including human beings, due to their large-scale use.  To review the experimental and epidemiologic data available showing the association between exposure to strobilurins and health effects. PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar etc. were searched for published studies on various Strobilurin fungicides. Based on the review, it was concluded that Strobilurins exert a toxicological impact on aquatic and terrestrial organisms via immunomodulation, cell apoptosis, endocrine disruption, oxidative stress, genotoxicity, etc. However its toxic effects are least reported on mammalian species, but excessive use of Strobilurins during pre and post-harvesting activities can lead to its accumulation in the natural environment that can cause an adverse impact on mammals as well. Therefore, to find out the toxic effects of Strobilurins, more studies should be conducted.

Staphylococcus aureus is known to be the third leading cause of food poisoning in the world. Traditional ice cream is one of the dairy products in Iran and some countries in the world that should be controlled for Staphylococcus aureus contamination. The purpose of this review and meta-analysis is to determine the contamination of traditional ice cream with Staphylococcus aureus in different regions of Iran. Search terms “Staphylococcus aureus”, “traditional ice Cream”, and “Iran” were used in Science Direct, Pubmed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and SID, Magiran Magazine until 2018 published without time limitation selected. To review the original articles and remove duplicate articles and review titles and abstracts, articles that have the required qualities for this research were studied in this study. Data were analyzed by the random effects model in STATA (version 11) and MedCalc (version 13) software. Publication bias and sensitivity analysis were assessed by funnel and influence plots. According to a sample size of 3811 from 35 articles, the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus is estimated 32% in Iran (95% CI: 25-38%, p<0.001). The heterogeneity in the estimation of the pooled prevalence among the studies demonstrated; Cochran Q test: 1577.39, p< 0.001, I2 = 97.84%. Based on Begg's adjusted rank correlation test, publication bias was statistically significant (p <0.05). Epidemiological data is useful to determine the distribution of Staphylococcus aureus contamination and provide a broad picture of the prevalence of traditional ice cream Iran and can be used as an important indicator in the model of risk assessment of microbiologic.

In general, cotinine is taken into account as one of the stable metabolites of nicotine. The most common application of this biomarker is to measure tobacco exposure. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a health education intervention on salivary cotinine levels among Chabahar guilds.The present investigation was a quasi-experimental study design with one intervention group. The population study has been performed on the guilds of all classes in Chabahar city in 2019. A total of 320 participants were selected by the simple random sampling method. The baseline cotinine contents were determined for 150 participants by the random sampling technique. The intervention was performed in three training sessions using group discussion methods, lectures, imagery, documentation, brainstorming, and social media (WhatsApp). After six months from the intervention, the consumption behaviors were measured in the same 320 participants. Also, the cotinine levels were measured in the same 150 participants. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical tests in SPSS statistical software version 20.In the post-intervention phase, 34.4% of guilds reported that they did not use SLT, and a significant relationship was observed between consumption status before and after the intervention (P 0.001). Also, the mean score of salivary cotinine significantly dropped from 588.02 ± 344.4 m m-1 to 240.19 ± 300.8 m m-1 in the post-intervention stage (P 0.001).The cessation of SLT products in the present study and a significant reduction in cotinine levels in the post-intervention phase were compared to the pre-intervention phase. The results confirmed the effect of a health education intervention on the participants. It is suggested that the researchers measure the levels of cotinine in addition to the self-report questionnaire.

Neonatal jaundice is one of the most common diseases in neonatal medicine. Phototherapy is a safe and secure method and is one of the most common treatments of indirect hyperbilirubinemia. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of home phototherapy in neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in Urmia. The present study is a cross-sectional study by the Cohort method. Two hundred three full-term infants older than 24 hours, who were referred to phototherapy for home phototherapy for two months, were selected as the study population. Neonatal serum bilirubin levels in both groups were measured at the beginning and 24 hours after phototherapy. The collected data were analyzed by using SPSS-20. In this study, the mean neonatal bilirubin level before phototherapy was 14.33 ±2.41 mg/dl before and 8.11 ± 2.29 mg/dl after phototherapy. The reduction rate of bilirubin after home phototherapy was 6.6 mg/dl per day and these differences were statistically significant. During phototherapy at home, phototherapy was successful in 96.6% of the neonates recovered, and only seven neonates (3.4%) had complications. Due to the lower prevalence of complications and low duration of treatment, it can be concluded that home phototherapy can be a good alternative for the treatment of neonatal jaundice. Therefore, this method is recommended for the treatment of neonatal jaundice through proper phototherapy training at home.

Textile is one of the biggest industries and it has an enormous impact on the global economy. However, the textile industry is labelled as the most polluting of all the industries and this is due to its contaminated wastewater. Textile wastewater contains organic hazardous compounds like alkylphenols (APs) such as nonylphenols (NPs), and alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEOs) for example nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEOs), which may come from various detergents, wetting agents, emulsifying agents, etc. used in textile industries.  Literature review revealed that no work was reported on the APs and APEOs in the textile wastewater of Bangladesh. This study reports the status of some APs and some APEOs after assessing wastewater of some textile industries in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Investigations were carried out with the wastewater of seven textile industries located in the Dhaka Division, Bangladesh. Tests were carried out by an Agilent Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer (LC-MS). The results revealed that none of the wastewater samples contained APs, and APEOs other than nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEOs) a form of APEOs. And it might have released from the textile products treating stuff through dissolution process. Among all the seven industries, two industries (28%) contained nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEOs). The mean concentrations of the detected NPEOs were determined as 11.27 ± 0.24 µg L-1 and 14.01 ± 0.09 µg L-1 in the wastewater of the mentioned two industries. The levels of the observed concentrations of NPEOs were much higher than the specified limits for textile wastewater. Findings of the present work will create pressure on the textile industries of home and abroad for treating textile wastewater effectively and not letting APEOs cum NPEOs in the wastewater. And such activities all over will pave the way to save the ecological system.

This paper presents a novel, rapid, and simple method for the determination of sarcosine. The surface of a glass plate was modified with 3-(methacryloxy)propyltrimethoxysilane. Then, a sarcosine-imprinted polymer was grafted on the glass plate by copolymerization of the vinyl end groups with a functional monomer and a cross-linking agent. The synthesized polymers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. In the subsequent step, the determination of sarcosine was conducted using the synthesized kit in optimized conditions. The synthesized grafted plate was able to absorb sarcosine selectively in the presence of other amino acids, showing that the proposed method enabled the rapid determination of sarcosine.

Acute methyl alcohol toxicity can lead to severe ocular morbidity. In the present study, we aimed to observe the ocular outcomes in acute methyl alcohol poisoning and determine the biochemical predictors of the final visual outcome. This was a hospital- based descriptive study conducted on 19 consecutive patients of acute methanol poisoning presenting to the Ophthalmology department of a tertiary care multispecialty hospital in Eastern India. Thorough clinical history was obtained in each case.  A comprehensive ocular examination was done. Details of systemic treatment provided were obtained in all cases. Nineteen patients were included in the study. All patients were males. The average age of patients was 35.84 ± 9.25 years. All patients complained of bilateral blurring of vision. One patient had severe vision loss with visual acuity of hand movements in both eyes. . Colour vision was absent in 7 eyes (18.41%), and impaired in 5 eyes (13.15%). Disc edema was seen in 5 eyes (13.15%). High anion gap metabolic acidosis was seen in 13 (78.9%) cases. Serum bicarbonate level was < 22 mmol L-1 in 13 (68.42%) patients. Eleven (57.89%) patients underwent hemodialysis. The presence of metabolic acidosis, high anion gap, and high base deficit were associated with poor visual acuity and defective color vision both at the initial presentation and final follow-up. Metabolic acidosis, high anion gap, and base deficit at the time of presentation are associated with defective color vision, abnormal pupillary reaction, and poor vision both during initial and final visits. Prompt management of these metabolic abnormalities can decrease ocular morbidity and improve the final visual outcomes.

The essential trace elements were very significant for the life of humans, and the imbalance in blood serum lead to so serious diseases. In this study, zinc (Zn) has been measured in the serum of  2005 samples (1305 male and 700 female) apparently healthy Iraqi persons aged 20-70 years using a flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer (FAAS). The mean concentration of Zn was (0.96 – 1.12 mg ml-1) in males and slightly lower (0.8 – 1.02 mg ml-1) in females. The concentration of Zinc was slightly increased by age, especially in the groups of 31-40 years, and slightly reduced in the group of 51-61 years. The concentration of zinc in all groups of the study seems to be stable. The study showed that there is a deficiency in Zn value (Zn concentration below 0.5 mg ml-1) in the male and females healthy populations by 22.9% and 18.85%, respectively.

Angiogenesis and mortality are associated with breast cancer, one of the most common tumors in women. Tumor angiogenesis is affected by exercise. This study examined the effects of 12 weeks of exercise on HIF-1α, mir-15a, BCL-2, and VEGF gene expression in BALB/c female mice. Forty BALB/c (two week’s age) female mice with a mean weight of 17±0.21g were separated into control and treadmill aerobic training groups. Mice developed malignant after receiving 200μL of MC4-L2 cells subcutaneously. Running at 15-20m min-1 for 10 weeks was the aerobic activity. Afterward, mice were killed and tumor tissue RNA was extracted. HIF-1α, mir-15a, and VEGF gene expression in BALB/c female mice were measured using quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR). After 12 weeks of exercise, miR-15a expression rose 2.6 fold, whereas HIF-1α, Bcl-2, and VEGF gene expression dropped 3.1, 2.6, and 2.4 fold, respectively (p<0.05). Exercise can activate pathways that slow breast cancer progression. More research is needed to confirm these findings and other molecular pathways.

Nicotine is a potent para-sympathomimetic alkaloid, which belongs to the Nightshade family of plants and is abundant in the roots and leaves of these plants.  Here, we investigated the histomorphological effects of oral nicotine exposure on the testes of adult Wistar rats. Sixteen adult male Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups (I, II, III, and IV), with each group containing 4 rats per group. Control group (I) received growers mash with water, group II received 2mg kg-1 day-1 of nicotine, group III received 4 mg kg-1 day-1 of nicotine and group IV received 6 mg kg-1 day-1 of nicotine via the oral route of administration, in addition to food and water for six weeks. At the end of the 7th, 21st, and 42nd days of the administration, animals were euthanized by cervical dislocation, and testes were harvested and processed with standard histological techniques. Euthanizing on these various days was done to assess the time and dose-dependent effect of nicotine on the testes. Findings from histological observation of the testes showed similar histoarchitectural changes on different days between the treated groups and the control group. These changes may be attributed to the drug metabolism of nicotine, administration route of nicotine, and drug dosage adopted in the current study.  However experimental animals administered with nicotine for 42 days, showed normal histology of the testes with the presence of vascular congestion in the lumen of the seminiferous tubules. Within the limitation and design of this study, oral nicotine exposure at a low dose showed no features of testicular toxicity as there were no histoarchitectural distortions in the treated animals. However, our findings suggest that nicotine exposure at a low dose may possess a therapeutic effect in the management of testicular pathologies.

Improving food quality, nutritional value and biodegradability are the reasons for developing edible films. Fine-dispersed starch-based nanobiocomposites were provided by adding nanorod-ZnO as fillers to aqueous starch. In this work, the impact of ZnO nanorod (ZnO-N) filler on the barrier properties and UV transmission of biofilms based on rye starch was studied.The solutions containing nanoadditives were homogenized by ultrasound waves and embedded in rye starch at various levels(1 - 5% w/w dried solid). Starch films were prepared by casting method with nanoparticles and plasticizers. Biofilms containing 5% ZnO-N had 0% UV transmittance. Active films were able to absorb Near Infrared spectra. After applying ZnO-N to the bionanocomposite film no new bond has emerged. Regarding barrier characterization, rye starch film with 5% ZnO-N showed better barrier properties than neat films, mainly by the gravimetric method, starch films containing 5% ZnO-N and control samples were 1.6 ± 0.02 and 1.18± 0.01 g/mPah, respectively.

Bronchial asthma is a prevalent issue with significant medical and economic repercussions. Potassium (K) unbalance is associated with airway hyperreactivity, wheezing, and lung function impairment. Forty patients suffering from bronchial asthma, with regular follow-ups in an asthma clinic of the General Qurna Hospital, were investigated in this study. Each individual was questioned and evaluated clinically. Serum (K+) concentration and asthma severity were measured. The used drugs were documented. The total number of hospitalizations owing to asthma exacerbation was determined for the six months preceding the day of testing serum (K+) level. Nineteen patients (48%) had low K+ levels with a mean of 1.52 ±0.92 mmol L-1, while 21 patients (52%) had normal K levels (4.3±0.21 mmol L-1) (P<0.05). The study found that hypokalemia was common in younger patients (mean aged 22.5±1.3 years) Asthmatics females tend to have a significant of hypokalemia than males (58%) (P<0.05).

In this study, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of planting pattern and different amounts of nitrogen on the quantitative and qualitative yield of maize based on split plot design with randomized complete block design in Salmanabad area, Pishva city, Tehran. The factors included planting pattern as the main factor in single-row and double-row cultivation, and the sub-factors were different amounts of urea fertilizer at four levels (zero), 120, 240, and 360 kg urea per ha. First, the highest plant height, ear height from ground level, leaf area index, grain yield, nitrogen percentage of shoot, seed, and soil after harvest, crude protein percentage were obtained by consuming 360 kg urea per ha. Maximum stem diameter, ear diameter, number of rows per ear, number of seeds per row, ear weight per plant, and shoot nitrogen percentage were observed in the single row cultivation method, while maximum plant height, ear height above ground, leaf area index, and crude fiber percentage was reported in the double-row cultivation. In addition, the single row cultivation under the application of 360 kg urea per ha led to the highest number of grain per row and grain yield (34.6 and 13784.6 kg ha-1, respectively) compared to the control treatment increased by 13.5 and 37.4%, respectively. The increasing levels of urea fertilizer indicated a significant increase in nitrogen percentage of seed, shoot, and soil after harvest. Further, the highest mean percentage of shoot nitrogen (1.89%), seed (2.05%), and post-harvest soil (0.13%) was observed under 360 kg urea per ha treatment. Additionally, maximum digestible dry matter (DMD) was obtained in double row cultivation and the use of 360 kg urea per ha with an average of 53.05%, which was 8.55% more than the control treatment. Furthermore, thee highest amount of crude protein was observed in single row culture (19.27%) and the use of 360 kg urea per ha (20.20%). Based on the results, the regression model was significant and 78.54% of the grain yield variations were justified by stem diameter, leaf area index, ear length, and 1000-seed weight. In general, using the methods of single row for grain production and double row for age production cultivation under 360 kg urea per ha yielded the most favorable results.

A technique for halal food analysis, especially sausage products, can be performed based on the lard content in the products. In this study, we compared both Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR) and Gas chromatography Mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) instruments to detect lard in sausage products. FTIR spectroscopy revealed differences in the vibration of functional groups, while GC-MS detected Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) compositions in sausage products. The difference in data obtained was processed by PCA to distinguish beef sausage. The use of FTIR spectroscopy is simpler in handling samples than GC-MS. However, FTIR spectroscopy can not explain the chemical compositions that distinguish between halal and haram products. Therefore, halal food analysis using GC-MS confirmed and clarified the products adulterated by pork. Discriminant analysis of commercial sausage products using FTIR was performed at wavenumbers 1200 – 1000 cm-1 and all sausage samples did not contain pork. It was also clarified with GC-MS to ensure their halal-ness based on the FAME compositions. The loading plot showed that pork sausage has lauric acid, myristic acid, and palmitoleic acid as fatty acids that distinguish it from beef sausage. Based on these results, FTIR spectroscopy and GC-MS combined with chemometrics can be performed for halal detection in sausage products and classified successfully between pork sausage and beef sausage.

Fish is often more perishable than most other foodstuffs. Microbial progression, enzymatic activity, and non-enzymatic oxidation of fats reduce the quality of fish and its products. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of the nano-gel emulsion and emulsion gel of an alginate coating containing Zataria multiflora essential oil (ZMEO) on the chemical and sensorial quality of rainbow trout fillet (Oncorhynchus mykiss) during 16 days of refrigerated storage (4±1°C). The fish fillets were treated with alginate coating, alginate emulsion with different ZMEO concentrations (E0.25%, E0.5%, and E1%), and nano-emulsion with different ZMEO concentrations (N0.25%, N0.5%, and N1%). Afterwards, the fillets were analyzed for chemical changes (pH, TVB-N, TBARS, PV, FFA, and fatty acid profile) and sensory properties (color, texture, flavor, odor, and overall acceptability) on days zero, four, eight, 12, and 16. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 21 using ANOVA, Bonferroni post-hoc test, and Dunnett T3 test to assess significant differences at P<0.05. The results of chemical analysis showed an increasing trend (pH, TVB-N, TBARS, PV, FFAs, MUFAs, and SFAs) during the storage period (day 16) although the rate was slower in the nano-emulsion treatments. Furthermore, the sensory properties of the samples decreased during the storage period, while using ZMEO in the alginate coating (especially in the nano-emulsion form) showed better results compared to the control. According to the results, the alginate coating containing ZMEO (especially in the nano-emulsion form) could preserve the chemical and sensorial quality of the fresh trout fillets for four days.

Recent research establishes the heart as an endocrine gland capable of lowering blood pressure effectively through the secretion of hormones such as atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP). The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of endurance and speed activity on atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and blood pressure levels in male athlete students in Yazd. The statistical population for the study was male students at Yazd University, from which 90 male athletes with an average age of 23.42 and at least three years of experience in sports were randomly assigned to one of three endurance, speed, or control groups. The endurance group ran 3200 meters for 12 minutes, while the speed group ran 100 meters four times with rest intervals and at a heart rate of one-third of the target heart rate. Ten minutes before and ten minutes after the activity, blood samples were taken to determine plasma ANP. One session of endurance and speed activity significantly increased plasma ANP compared to the pretest stage (p < 0.05); additionally, there was a significant difference in plasma ANP and systolic and diastolic blood pressure between the group with speed activity and the control group as well as the control group with endurance activity (p < 0.05). The results demonstrated that both endurance and speed activity performed during single session increased plasma ANP and decreased systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

In this paper, a new and environmentally friendly approach has been developed to determine the levels of lead in plant samples. To preconcentrate the lead ion, SA-DLLME (surfactant-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid micro-extraction) was used in the study of flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The influence of the following analytical parameters on the quantitative recoveries of lead was studied: pH, type and amount of the extraction solvent, type and amount of the dispersing solvent, type and amount of the surfactant, centrifugation time and rate, amount of (APDC), sample volume and amount of matrix. The approach was validated using vegetable samples. The approach offered a (LOD) of 0.28 μg l-1, (LOQ) of 0.933 μg l-1, (RSD) of 1.2-4.3%, (EF) of 85, PF of 30, and ER% of (100.6-102.1)%.

In many areas, salinization is considered as one of the most serious dangers to environmental resources and human health. Calcium has a crucial role in plant resistance to salinity stress. In order to investigate the impact of calcium supplementation on photosynthetic pigments, compatible osmolytes contents and membrane stability index (MSI) in triticale (x Triticosecale Wittmack) exposed to salinity stress, an experiment as a completely randomized design with 3 replications in greenhouse condition (25 ± 2°C, 35% relative humidity, 16-hour photoperiod) was conducted. The seeds were germinated in soil. One week old triticale seedlings (with two leaves) were imposed by 0, 50, 100 and 150 mmol L-1 NaCl and 0, 6 and 10 mmol L-1 CaCl2 for 5 weeks and assayed for some morpho-physiological parameters including fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW) of shoot, photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll (Chl) a and Chl b, total Chl and carotenoids (Car)) contents, proline and glycine betaine (GB) contents, soluble sugars and starch contents and MSI in leaves. Results showed that with incrementing salinity meaningfully decremented FW and DW of shoot, photosynthetic pigments, starch content and MSI while proline, GB and soluble sugars contents incremented in leaves. Calcium treatment meaningfully incremented FW and DW of shoot, photosynthetic pigments, starch content and MSI but caused a meaningful decline in proline, GB and soluble sugars contents in leaves. It can be concluded that calcium had exerted an ameliorative impact on triticale under salinity stress. Maximum ameliorative impact of calcium was observed in plants exposed to 6 mmol L-1 CaCl2.

In the present study, natural and synthetic adsorbents were used to remove nickel ions through the adsorption process. First, TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared through the sol-gel method. The synthesized samples were then characterized using X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), Fourier transform-infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms (BET). The influences of different operational parameters including adsorbate content, pH, adsorbent concentration, contact time, ionic strength, and stirring speed were also explored. According to the results, the pseudo-second-order kinetic model showed the best performance in evaluating the experimental data when using both adsorbents. The adsorption of nickel cations by the thin film membrane on the surface of TiO2 NPs is a rate-determining step of the removal reaction. The removal rate constants of nickel ions from aqueous solutions by TiO2 NPs and pomegranate peel were evaluated to be 0.013 and 0.018 g mg-1 min-1, respectively. The thermodynamic parameters such as Gibbs free energy, enthalpy, and entropy were also determined. Nickel removal processes in all cases were endothermic and spontaneous. The removal mechanism also followed physical adsorption. Equilibrium data were fitted with Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin–Radushkevich models. The results showed that the adsorption of Ni2+ on TiO2 NPs and pomegranate peel followed Freundlich and Temkin isothermal models, respectively. Based on the calculated removal percentage, TiO2 is a better adsorbent for removing Ni2+ from the aqueous medium as compared to pomegranate peel.

In this study, the biological activities of whole herb extract of a medicinal plant named Smirnovia Iranica were investigated. The extraction was performed using Supercritical CO2 and phytochemical compounds, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), antioxidant, anti-bacterial, and anti-cancer effect were determined in the extract. Based on the results, high TPC concentration (120.36 mg GAE/100 g FW) and TFC (17.41 mg quercetin/100g FW) were obtained in the extract. Besides, the extract showed significant antioxidant activity (IC50=53.97 µg mL-1). Moreover, the extract showed a notable inhibitory effect against Escherichia coli (MIC=15.63 mg mL-1) and Salmonella enterica (MIC=31.25 mg mL-1). On the other hand, this extract showed the cytotoxic effect on glioblastoma cancer cell lines in the MTT assay. This is the first, yet comprehensive, scientific report about the chemical composition and pharmacological properties of the extract of Smirnovia Iranica whole herb. According to current results, the Smirnovia Iranica extract has excellent antioxidant properties for application as bioactive components for various objects such as as food supplements. The experiment confirmed the efficacy of the extracts as natural antimicrobials and suggested the possibility of employing them in drugs for the treatment of infectious diseases caused by the test organisms.