Exposure to pesticides and the associated human health effects

http://academic.oup.com/milmed/article-pdf/146/1/60/24125826/milmed-146-1-60.pdf

Biochemical Tests for Identification of Medical Bacteria

Pesticides are a family of compounds which have brought many benefits to mankind in the agricultural, industrial, and health areas, but their toxicities in both humans and animals have always been a concern. Regardless of acute poisonings which are common for some classes of pesticides like organophosphoruses, the association of chronic and sub-lethal exposure to pesticides with a prevalence of some persistent diseases is going to be a phenomenon to which global attention has been attracted. In this review, incidence of various malignant, neurodegenerative, respiratory, reproductive, developmental, and metabolic diseases in relation to different routes of human exposure to pesticides such as occupational, environmental, residential, parental, maternal, and paternal has been systematically criticized in different categories of pesticide toxicities like carcinogenicity, neurotoxicity, pulmonotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, developmental toxicity, and metabolic toxicity. A huge body of evidence exists on the possible role of pesticide exposures in the elevated incidence of human diseases such as cancers, Alzheimer, Parkinson, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, asthma, bronchitis, infertility, birth defects, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, diabetes, and obesity. Most of the disorders are induced by insecticides and herbicides most notably organophosphorus, organochlorines, phenoxyacetic acids, and triazine compounds.

Pesticides: an update of human exposure and toxicity.

Summary

Production of wheat bran (WB) for human consumption is estimated to be about 90 million tonnes per year. WB is a cheap and abundant source of dietary fibre which has been linked to improved bowel health and possible prevention of some diseases such as colon cancer. It also contains minerals, vitamins and bioactive compounds such as phenolic acids, arabinoxylans, alkylresorcinol and phytosterols. These compounds have been suggested as an aid in prevention of noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease. This article discusses WB extraction, its nutritional properties, potential health benefits, effects on quality and sensory properties of some cereal foods, and its application in some baked products as well as in fried cereal snacks, as an additive for oil reduction and fibre enrichment.

Composition and functionality of wheat bran and its application in some cereal food products

Production of cellulases from Aspergillus niger NS-2 in solid state fermentation on agricultural and kitchen waste residues

Present work describes the rapid isolation and selection of thirteen yeast culture having high resistance to acetaldehyde and benzaldehyde, directly added to the medium at isolation stage. All isolates had 100% similarity with type strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae during molecular characterization. S. cerevisiae APL-2 showed better kinetic parameters and ultimately lead to better production of 1-hydroxy-1-phenyl-2-propanone. This fermentation involved two phases, first phase to attain the suitable level of cell density while second phase is the biotransformation phase. Effect of temperature (15-30°C) was studied during second phase (at the time of acetaldehyde and benzaldehyde dozing). The maximum level of biotransformation was achieved when temperature was maintained at 15-18°C. Addition of benzyl alcohol also enhanced the biotransformation level.

Rapid isolation/selection of best yeast culture and its metabolic control for the biotransformation of benzaldehyde to 1-hydroxy-1-phenyl-2-propanone.

The present study is concerned with the production of glucose oxidase (GOD) from thermophilic Penicillium sp . in 250 mL shake flask. Fourteen different strains of thermophilic Penicillium sp. were isolated from the soil and were screened for glucose oxidase production. IIBP-13 strain gave maximum extra-cellular glucose oxidase production as compared to other isolates. Effect of submerged fermentation in shaking and static conditions, different carbon sources and incubation period on the production of extra-cellular glucose oxidase was studied. Maximum yield (0.325 U/mL) of extra-cellular glucose oxidase was obtained after 72 hrs of incubation at 45 o C using submerged fermentation technique in shaking conditions utilizing sucrose as carbon source.

/pdf/up-streaming-process-for-glucose-oxidase-by-thermophilic-1d96s26apx.pdf

Up-Streaming Process for Glucose Oxidase by Thermophilic Penicillium sp. in Shake Flask

Short non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) perform their cellular functions in ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes, which are also essential for maintaining the stability of the ncRNAs. Depletion of individual protein components of Y ribonucleoprotein (Y RNP) particles by RNA interference (RNAi) in Caenorhabditis elegans produced specific phenotypes. Northern blot also confirmed the depletion of targeted Y RNP protein component. The depletion of specific Y RNP affected expression levels of the Y RNA. Depletion of candidate associated proteins may constitute an alternative strategy when investigating ncRNA-protein interactions and ncRNA functions. Depletion of both the protein components (Ro60 and La) of Y RNP complex indicated that these associated proteins are essential for the stability of the Y RNAs in C. elegans. RNAi technique when employed directly against Y RNA did not produced any phenotype and Northern blot showed no effect on the levels of Y RNA indicating that RNAi is not effective against Y RNA in C. elegans.

DEPLETION OF Y ASSOCIATED PROTEINS BY RNAi DOWN-REGULATES THE Y RNA IN CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS

The present study describes the production of glucose oxidase (GOD) from thermophilic Aspergillus sp. in 250 ml shake flask. Ten different strains of thermophilic Aspergillus sp. were isolated from soil and screened for GOD production. Strain IIBA-4 gave maximum intracellular GOD production as compared to other isolates. Of the two fermentation techniques tested, submerged fermentation gave better production in shaking as compared to static conditions. Five different culture media were analyzed for GOD production. Out of all media, M-I medium containing glucose (8.0%), K2HPO4 (0.125%), KH2PO4 (0.125%), MgSO4.7H2O (0.05%), NaNO3, (0.5%), Yeast extract (0.1%), KCl (0.05%), FeSO4 (0.001%) and CaCO3 (0.3%) gave better yield of intracellular GOD (0.48 U/g) after 72 h of incubation.

Studies on the production of Glucose oxidase from thermophilic Aspergillus sp., in shake flask

The Nilgai or Blue Bull (Boselaphus tragocamelus) is the largest Asian antelope which is endemic to Nepal, Pakistan and Indian regions, where these animals are found in packs. Due to rampant hunting, deforestation and habitat degradation, this vulnerable specie is near threatened in many parts of the world. There is need of conservation efforts both at genomic and geographic level. The present study was designed for genomic characterization of Boselaphus tragocamelus in Pakistan by using phylogenetic analysis. Samples from Boselaphus tragocamelus were collected from different parks, zoos and natural habitats. DNA was extracted by standard inorganic extraction method. Primer3 software was used for primer designing targeting Mitochondrial specie identification markers such as d-loop, cytochrome-b and cytochrome-c. After amplification, PCR product was sequenced. Bioinformatics tools were applied for identification of polymorphic loci. Allelic frequency of each locus was calculated. Multidimensional scaling plot illustrated low level of generic diversity among individuals. Phylogenetic analysis revealed conserved neighbouring pattern among different individuals as they shared common ancestry. This is the first report on genomic characterization of Nilgai from Pakistan. The information of selected species of deer is prerequisite for designing effective strategy in future effective practices for conservation. However further genomic investigations should be carried out at a larger scale.

Muhammad Mohsin Javed

Papers

Rapid isolation/selection of best yeast culture and its metabolic control for the biotransformation of benzaldehyde to 1-hydroxy-1-phenyl-2-propanone.

Up-Streaming Process for Glucose Oxidase by Thermophilic Penicillium sp. in Shake Flask

DEPLETION OF Y ASSOCIATED PROTEINS BY RNAi DOWN-REGULATES THE Y RNA IN CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS

Studies on the production of Glucose oxidase from thermophilic Aspergillus sp., in shake flask

Mitochondrial DNA marker based phylogenetic analysis of Pakistani Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus).