Comparative studies on indoor Aeromycoflora from the laboratories
01 Jan 2014-
TL;DR: Prevalence of diverse group of fungal organisms on cellulosic material in laboratories depends on changing indoor environment.
Abstract: Copyright: © 2014 | Author(s), This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionNon-Commercial No Derivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is noncommercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. Laboratory is the basic need of scientific research provided with several equipments, materials including cellulosic and non-cellulosic substrates. These substrates are degraded by diverse group of fungal microbes in a set of climate, indirectly polluting the indoor environment. In the present study aeromycoflora from various laboratories was reported for a month at an interval of a week. A population of 3368 fungal colonies falls under 19 genera and 28 species have been confined by culture plate exposer method. Ascomycota contributed with more than half of the total colonies recorded while Oomycota had least colonies. Zygomycota and Deuteromycota contributed moderate count of colonies. No member of Basidiomycota did persist. Aspergillus had higher colony count as well as greater species number. The sub-dominant air spora included Cladosporium cladosporoides, Mucor pusillus and Rhizopus stolonifer. The genus Fusarium had 3 species; Penicillium, Curvularia, Alternaria recorded with 2 species and others with single species. Prevalence of diverse group of fungal organisms on cellulosic material in laboratories depends on changing indoor environment. The climate of Lab IV was comparatively more ideal for fungal sporulation during survey
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TL;DR: Results show that at the local level, outdoor air fungi dominate the patterning of indoor air, providing additional support for the growing evidence that dispersal limitation, even on small geographic scales, is a key process in structuring the often-observed distance–decay biogeographic pattern in microbial communities.
Abstract: The indoor microbiome is a complex system that is thought to depend on dispersal from the outdoor biome and the occupants’ microbiome combined with selective pressures imposed by the occupants’ behaviors and the building itself. We set out to determine the pattern of fungal diversity and composition in indoor air on a local scale and to identify processes behind that pattern. We surveyed airborne fungal assemblages within 1-month time periods at two seasons, with high replication, indoors and outdoors, within and across standardized residences at a university housing facility. Fungal assemblages indoors were diverse and strongly determined by dispersal from outdoors, and no fungal taxa were found as indicators of indoor air. There was a seasonal effect on the fungi found in both indoor and outdoor air, and quantitatively more fungal biomass was detected outdoors than indoors. A strong signal of isolation by distance existed in both outdoor and indoor airborne fungal assemblages, despite the small geographic scale in which this study was undertaken (o500m). Moreover, room and occupant behavior had no detectable effect on the fungi found in indoor air. These results show that at the local level, outdoor air fungi dominate the patterning of indoor air. More broadly, they provide additional support for the growing evidence that dispersal limitation, even on small geographic scales, is a key process in structuring the often-observed distance–decay biogeographic pattern in microbial communities. The ISME Journal advance online publication, 21 February 2013; doi:10.1038/ismej.2013.28 Subject Category: Microbial population and community ecology
557 citations
01 Jan 2015
TL;DR: The EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM Panel) assessed the risks to animal and human health and the environment related to the presence of nickel (Ni) in feed as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Following a request from the European Commission, the risks to animal and human health and the environment related to the presence of nickel (Ni) in feed were assessed by the EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM Panel). The presence of Ni in feed can arise from both natural and anthropogenic sources. Additionally, certain feed materials contain metallic Ni, since it is used as a catalyst in their production. Based on the differences observed between the Ni exposure levels estimated for different animal species and identified no observed adverse effect levels (NOAELs) and lowest observed adverse effect levels (LOAELs), the CONTAM Panel concluded that any adverse impact of Ni via feed to cattle, pigs, rabbits, ducks, fish, dogs, chickens, horses, sheep, goats and cats is unlikely. Concerning the assessment of human health risks from the presence of Ni in food of animal origin, the CONTAM Panel concluded that in the average population the current levels of chronic exposure to Ni, considering only foods of animal origin, might be of potential concern in the young population, in particular in ‘Toddlers’. In the highly exposed population (95th percentile), the concern also extends to the age class ‘Other children’. Regarding acute dietary exposure, the CONTAM Panel concluded that Ni-sensitized individuals are also at risk of developing eczematous flare-up skin reactions through the consumption of food of animal origin. The contribution of food of animal origin to human dietary exposure to Ni should therefore not be underestimated, particularly in age classes with high dietary exposure to Ni. Release to the environment from manure, resulting from its presence in animal feed, is not a major contributor of Ni deposited onto agricultural soils or to the environment. © European Food Safety Authority, 2015
111 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: There is no correlation established between the environmental factors like dew point, humidity, sea level pressure, and wind, whereas; temperature significantly correlated negatively and bio load of upwind significantly positively correlated with total viable cultivable fungi of downwind direction showing dental college hospital by itself is not a contributor of airborne fungi.
Abstract: It is supposed that extramural environments are the significant sources of intramural airborne fungal spores. The prevalence of airborne fungal spores are depended upon many biotic and abiotic factors, thus the airborne microorganism of any environment is specific in nature. The aim of this work was to monitor the occurrences and seasonal distribution of the airborne cultivable fungi in the air of a Dental College hospital associated environments at Indore in order to evaluate whether the Dental College hospital are a source of fungi of extramural environment or not. Airborne cultivable fungal spore levels were monitored by using Andersen two-stage viable (microbial) particle sampler. The Spearman correlation coefficients and stepwise linear regressions analysis test was used to analyze the influence of meteorological factors on spore concentration and paired Student’s t-test was used to compare bio load of total viable cultivable fungi of downwind and upwind direction, the percentage frequency and percentage contribution of individual genus were also reported. In both areas, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Alternaria, and yeast were the most abundant fungal types observed. The bioload of fungal spore presented maximum values during the winter and lowest in the season of summer. There is no correlation established between the environmental factors like dew point, humidity, sea level pressure, and wind, whereas; temperature significantly correlated negatively and bio load of upwind significantly positively correlated with total viable cultivable fungi of downwind direction showing dental college hospital by itself is not a contributor of airborne fungi. A regression model with upto 81.9% variance was prepared in order to predict the total viable cultivable fungal bioload for this atmosphere in relation to temperature and bioload of upwind area.
13 citations
"Comparative studies on indoor Aerom..." refers background in this paper
...About 20% of the human population is easily sensitized by normal fungal spore concentrations (up to 106 spores/m3) and all fungal spores in the indoor environment are regarded as potentially allergenic (Pathak, 2012)....
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TL;DR: Evaluating the prevalent species of airborne fungi in the indoor environment of the Shyambazar Metro-Railway Station, Kolkata, India found Aspergillus niger was the most prevalent fungal genera followed by As pergillus flavus and Penicillium sp.
Abstract: Concentrations of fungal spores constitute a significant amount in bioaerosol depending on geographical regions and seasonal variations. Mycotoxin producing spores have adverse effects on humans. The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalent species of airborne fungi in the indoor environment of the Shyambazar Metro-Railway Station, Kolkata, India. This area is below the ground level and fully surrounded, with constant movement of commuters. It is warm and humid with temperature and humidity ranges of 26.8 to 35.9°C and 50 to 88.3% respectively. Air sample was collected for four months within the interval of two weeks by means of gravitational settling method via Petri dishes with Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) culture media. Those fungi colonies that formed after an incubation period of 3 to 5 days at 25 to 28°C were determined on the basis of micro and macro morphological characteristics. In this investigation, among fourteen spore types,Aspergillus niger was the most prevalent fungal genera followed by Aspergillus flavus andPenicillium sp. In addition, five sterile types and one unidentified species were also detected. The variation in the number of fungal colony was observed after every two weeks, in the summer months. The results of this investigation appeared to be quite significant for taking corrective measures.
Key words: Bioaerosol, aeromycoflora, mycotoxin, fungal spore, metro-railway station.
9 citations
"Comparative studies on indoor Aerom..." refers background in this paper
...The higher count of fungal isolates in indoor environment for Deuteromycota were reported from indoor environment of residential area; Chawri bazaar metro-railway station (Ghosh et al., 2011; Nafis and Sharma, 2012 ); rice mill (Lanjewar and Sharma, 2014)....
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...More than 80% micro fungal genera have been associated with respiratory disorders (Ghosh et al., 2011)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a survey of the literature in this area: https://www.referred.org.au/blog/blogging-and-blogging/
Abstract: Introduction Conclusions References
9 citations
"Comparative studies on indoor Aerom..." refers background in this paper
...…Alternariol monmethylether, tenuazoic acid and altertoxins were secreted by Alternaria alternata, can affect respiratory system, skin, and nails in humans (Skjoth, 2012) and also induced reduction in seed germination and seedling emergence with chromosomal abnormalities in plants (Bhajbhuje, 2013)....
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