• Title/Summary/Keyword: Environmental toxins

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Seasonal Variations of Cyanobacterial Toxins (microcystins) in Yeongchun Reservoir (영천호에서 남조류 독소(microcystins)의 계절적 변동)

  • Lee, Kyung-Lak;Jheong, Weon-Hwa;Kim, Jong-Min;Kim, Young-Saeng;Choi, Hee-Jin;Kim, Han-Soon
    • Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.41 no.2
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    • pp.264-274
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    • 2008
  • Seasonal variations of cyanobacterial toxins (microcystins) in Yeongehun reservoir were studied from March to December, 2007. High level of microcystins production was shown during the late autumn and winter seasons. Total microcystins concentration increased sharply when the dominant species changed from Anabaena sp. to Microcystis aeruginosa. Microcystins-RR and -YR were the main components of the microcystins, whereas microcystin-LR was detected in small quantities. Especially, large amounts of microcystin-LR were detected when standing crops of M. aeruginosa increased exponentially. Total microcystins concentration showed a negative correlation with water temperature. However, total microcystins were lowly correlated with other environmental factors except for water temperature. As a result, this study clearly demonstrated that M. aeruginosa was the main producer of microcystins in Yeongchun reservoir.

Dynamics of Cyanobacterial Toxins in the Downstream River of Lake Suwa (Suwa호 하류하천에서의 남조류 독소의 동태)

  • Kim, Bom-Chul;Park, Ho-Dong;Katagami, Yukimi;Hwang, Soon-Jin;Kim, Ho-Sub
    • Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.34 no.1 s.93
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    • pp.45-53
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    • 2001
  • Transport of cyanobacterial toxins (microcystin-LR, -RR, -YR) were assessed from a eutrophic lake, Lake Suwa, through the outflowing river, the Tenryu River, and its irrigation channel branch. Temporal variation of phytoplankton species composition in the river coincided with those of the lake; Microcystis ichthyoblabe dominated from June to July, and M. viridis dominated from August to September. When cyanobacterial bloom occurred, microcystins were continuously detected at the concentration of $0.3{\sim}3.2\;{\mu}g/l$ even at 32 km downstream. The change of the content of three microcystin variants were related both with the total cell density of Microcystis and with the change of Microcystis species composition. When Microcystis ichthyoblabe dominated during July, only microcystin-RR (MC-RR) and -LR (MC-LR) were detected, while when Microcystis viridis dominated between August and October, microcystin-RR,-YR (MC -YR) and -LR were detected. Along 29 km flowing distance (flow time 11 hours) between site 2 and site 5 in the Tenryu River, cyanobacterial density and microcystin concentration were reduced by 73% and 72%, respectively, which is mostly contributed by the dilution effect of tributary waters (61% and 57%, respectively) . In the artificial irrigation channel microcystins and cyanobacterial cells were decreased less than in the natural river. The results indicate that cyanobacterial toxins can be transported far downstream without much removal and give hazards to water usage in downstream of eutrophic lakes with cyanobacterial blooms.

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Environmental Risk Factors for Children and Adolescents Suffering from Depressive Disorder : Clinical Aspects (소아청소년 우울증에서의 환경적 위험 인자들과 임상적 의미)

  • Lee, Moon-Soo
    • Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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    • v.21 no.3
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    • pp.141-146
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    • 2010
  • This summary of literature during the past year reviews published studies relating to risk factors for depressive disorders in children and adolescents. Risk factors include environmental toxins, socio-environmental, and genetic factors. As depression has a complex, multifactorial causal mechanism, it is likely that the accumulation and/ or interaction among multiple risk factors lead to depression. Findings related to the result of toxin exposure have been difficult to interpret given that risk factors tend to interact and that higher mental functions are not easily measurable. However, some findings have been consistent. Clinical research data has also shown that the risk for negative outcomes may be modified both by genetic and environmental factors through a gene environment interplay mechanism.

Alternaria in Food: Ecophysiology, Mycotoxin Production and Toxicology

  • Lee, Hyang Burm;Patriarca, Andrea;Magan, Naresh
    • Mycobiology
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    • v.43 no.2
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    • pp.93-106
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    • 2015
  • Alternaria species are common saprophytes or pathogens of a wide range of plants pre- and post-harvest. This review considers the relative importance of Alternaria species, their ecology, competitiveness, production of mycotoxins and the prevalence of the predominant mycotoxins in different food products. The available toxicity data on these toxins and the potential future impacts of Alternaria species and their toxicity in food products pre- and post-harvest are discussed. The growth of Alternaria species is influenced by interacting abiotic factors, especially water activity ($a_w$), temperature and pH. The boundary conditions which allow growth and toxin production have been identified in relation to different matrices including cereal grain, sorghum, cottonseed, tomato, and soya beans. The competitiveness of Alternaria species is related to their water stress tolerance, hydrolytic enzyme production and ability to produce mycotoxins. The relationship between A. tenuissima and other phyllosphere fungi has been examined and the relative competitiveness determined using both an Index of Dominance ($I_D$) and the Niche Overlap Index (NOI) based on carbon-utilisation patterns. The toxicology of some of the Alternaria mycotoxins have been studied; however, some data are still lacking. The isolation of Alternaria toxins in different food products including processed products is reviewed. The future implications of Alternaria colonization/infection and the role of their mycotoxins in food production chains pre- and post-harvest are discussed.

Novel Macrolide Actin-inhibitors Isolated from Sea Sponges

  • Karaki, Hideaki;Ozaki, Hiroshi
    • Toxicological Research
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    • v.17
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    • pp.105-108
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    • 2001
  • Several marine toxins with macrolide structure have been found to act on actin. One of these toxins is mycalolide B isolated from the genus Mycale. This compound belongs to macrolide antibiotics and consists of tris-oxazole with strong cytotoxic activity ($IC_{50}$: 10-50 nM for growth of L1210 murine leukemia cells). This compound was found to be an actin-depolymerizing agent with the mode of action distinct from that of the known actin inhibitor, cytochalasin D. Tolytoxin, a macrolide isolated from cyano-bacteria with similar chemical structure to mycalolide B, seems to have similar effect. Another macrolide compound, aplyronine A, showed the effects similar to those of mycalolide B. Although bistheonellide A, a dimeric macrolide, did not show a severing effect, it de polymerized F-actin and sequestered G-actin by forming 1 : 2 complex with G-actins. Swinholide A has a structure and effects similar to those of bistheonel-lide A. In conclusion, mycalolide B, tolytoxin, aplyronine A, bistheonellide A and swinholide A are the members of "actin de polymerizing macrolide" the mechanism of which is different from that of cytochalasin D.halasin D.

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Design of In-situ Self-diagnosable Smart Controller for Integrated Algae Monitoring System

  • Lee, Sung Hwa;Mariappan, Vinayagam;Won, Dong Chan;Shin, Jaekwon;Yang, Seungyoun
    • International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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    • v.5 no.1
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    • pp.64-69
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    • 2017
  • The rapid growth of algae occurs can induce the algae bloom when nutrients are supplied from anthropogenic sources such as fertilizer, animal waste or sewage in runoff the water currents or upwelling naturally. The algae blooms creates the human health problem in the environment as well as in the water resource managers including hypoxic dead zones and harmful toxins and pose challenges to water treatment systems. The algal blooms in the source water in water treatment systems affects the drinking water taste & odor while clogging or damaging filtration systems and putting a strain on the systems designed to remove algal toxins from the source water. This paper propose the emerging In-Situ self-diagnosable smart algae sensing device with wireless connectivity for smart remote monitoring and control. In this research, we developed the In-Site Algae diagnosable sensing device with wireless sensor network (WSN) connectivity with Optical Biological Sensor and environmental sensor to monitor the water treatment systems. The proposed system emulated in real-time on the water treatment plant and functional evaluation parameters are presented as part of the conceptual proof to the proposed research.

Human and Animal Disease Biomarkers and Biomonitoring of Deoxynivalenol and Related Fungal Metabolites as Cereal and Feed Contaminants (곡물 및 사료오염 데옥시니발레놀 및 대사체에 의한 인축질환 연계 생체지표 및 바이오모니터링)

  • Moon, Yuseok;Kim, Dongwook
    • Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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    • v.29 no.2
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    • pp.85-91
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    • 2014
  • Deoxynivalenol (DON) and related trichothecene mycotoxins are extensively distributed in the cereal-based food and feed stuffs worldwide. Recent climate changes and global grain trade increased chance of exposure to more DON and related toxic metabolites in poorly managed production systems. Monitoring the biological and environmental exposures to the toxins are crucial in protecting human and animals from toxicities of the hazardous contaminants in food or feeds. Exposure biomarkers including urine DON itself are prone to shift to less harmful metabolites by intestinal microbiota and liver metabolic enzymes. De-epoxyfication of DON by gut microbes such as Eubacterium strain BBSH 797 and Eubacterium sp. DSM 11798 leads to more fecal secretion of DOM-1. By contrast, most of plant-derived DON-glucoside is also easily catabolized to free DON by gut microbes, which produces more burden to body. Phase 2 hepatic metabolism also contributes to the glucuronidation of DON, which can be useful urine biomarkers. However, chemical modification could be very typical depending on the anthropologic or genetic background, luminal bacteria, and hepatic metabolic enzyme susceptibility to the toxins in the diet. After toxin exposure, effect biomarkers are also important in estimating the linkage and mechanisms of foodborne diseases in human and animal population. Most prominent adverse effects are demonstrated in the DON-induced immunological and behavioral disorders. For instance, acutely elevated interleukin-8 from insulted gut exposed to dietaty DON is a dominant clinical biomarker in human and animals. Moreover, subchronic exposure to the toxins is associated with high levels of serum IgA, a biological mediator of IgA nephritis. In particular, anorexia monitoring using mouse models are recently developed to monitor the biological activities of DON-induced feed refusal. It is also mechanistically linked to alteration of serotoin and peptide YY, which are promising biomarkers of neurological disorders by the toxins. As animal-alternative biomonitoring, huamn enterocyte-based assay has been developed and more realistic gut mimetic models would be useful in monitoring the effect biomarkers in resposne to toxic contaminants in the future investigations.

The Study on the Detection of Aflatoxins in the Fermentation Products and Cereals (TLC법에 의한 장류 및 공류중의 Aflatoxin검출에 관한 연구)

  • 한양일;김광호;오영복
    • Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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    • v.5 no.1
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    • pp.46-50
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    • 1978
  • Aflatoxin, a mixture of the at least four toxic and carcinogenic metabolites, is known to be produced by only a few fungi. The toxins were designated aflatoxins because they were produced by the mold Aspergillus flavus(A. flavus). However, at least four other toxins and other species of the genus A. niger, A. parasiticus A. ruber and wentii have been reported to produce aflatoxins. And also the identical compounds may also be produced by molds, the Pencillium. At least four different species of Penicilliurn have been reported to produce aflatoxins (P. citrinurn, P. frequentans, P. puberulurn. and P. variable). So it is now known that the problem of Aflatoxin is not restricted to the single species A. flavus, even though that is a very common mold. Also additional aflatoxins have been discorvered. For sereral years, only four aflatoxins were known: $B_1, B_2, G_1$ and $G_2$, so designated by reason of their fluorescence and chromatographic charateristics. It is now known that there are really two new toxic materials in the milk. During the past year(1966) they were christened aflatoxin $M_1$ and $M_2$, since they were first found in milk. The two other and most recently discorvered aflatoxins were isolated late in 1966 from cultures of A. flavus, and were designated aflatoxin $B_2a$ and aflatoxin $G_2a$. In order to obtain a breaf information about extent of contamination of foodstuffs by aflatoxin which is known to produce eight different mold, aflatoxin detection of cereals and fermented foods on sale, such as polished rice, barley, wheat, wheat flour, lentil, red bean, soy bean, noodle, kochuj ang and Dwenjang (fermented soy bean paste) and chong Kuk, were carried out. The results of this investigation were summarized as follows: The hexane:$CHCl_3$ extracts of polished rice, barley wheat, wheat flour, lentil, red bean, noodle and kochujang yielded fluorescent spots on thin layer plates. However their Rfvalues were different from those of authentic aflatoxins. The fluorescent substances of the extract from soy bean, Dwenjang and chong kuk showed very similar Rf values to those of the standard aflatoxins. By two dimensional thin layer chromatography and comparison of ultra violet absorption spectra, it was found that these fluorescent substances were not aflatoxins. To conclude, aflatoxins themselves were not detected directly in those samples tested.

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Molecular analysis of peptide toxins secreted by various Pseudomonas tolaasii strains (다양한 Pseudomonas tolaasii 균주에 의해 분비되는 펩티드 독소의 분석)

  • Yun, Yeong-Bae;Kim, Young-Kee
    • Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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    • v.63 no.4
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    • pp.387-392
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    • 2020
  • Pseudomonas tolaasii is a pathogen causing brown blotch disease in cultivated mushrooms. In previous study, various strains of P. tolaasii were isolated from the mushrooms with disease symptoms and they were further divided into Ptα, Ptβ, and Ptγ subtypes according to the 16S rRNA gene analysis. To investigate the secretion of peptide toxins, tolaasin and its analog peptides, culture extracts of Pt group strains were analyzed by gel permeation chromatography. Those of Ptα subtype strains contained two chromatographic peaks, band A and B. Meanwhile, those of Ptβ and Ptγ subtype strains contained mainly band A component and a little of band B. Molecular weights of toxic peptides of culture extracts were measured by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. In Ptα subtype strains, the peptide compositions of band A and B were same including tolaasin I (1,987 Da), tolaasin II (1,943 Da), and its two analog peptides, 1,973 Da and 2,005 Da. The strains of Ptβ and Ptγ subtype secreted many components of MW 1,100-1,200 Da, but they did not synthesize any tolaasin-like peptides. These results suggest that the only Ptα subtype strains secrete tolaasin and its analog peptide toxins and the strains of Ptβ and Ptγ subtypes have different pathogenic characters causing brown blotch disease.

Review of Humidifier Lung Cases Caused by Use of Humidifier - Focusing on Probable Environmental Causal Agents - (가습기 폐질환(Humidifier Lung)의 환경적 원인 인자 고찰)

  • Park, Donguk
    • Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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    • v.39 no.2
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    • pp.105-116
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    • 2013
  • Background: In Korea, there is low awareness of the respiratory health problems caused by the use of humidifiers, leading to a lack of governmental measures. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to review cases of varying degrees of humidifier lung and fever in connection with the use of humidifiers and to summarize the probable environmental agents causing these cases. Methods: We searched all articles reporting on humidifier lung, humidifier fever, and humidifier diseases caused by the use of a humidifier both at home and in the workplace. Results: We summarized a number of cases of varying degrees of respiratory diseases resulting from inhalation of water mist of humidifiers containing various species of bacteria and fungi and their toxins. Type of respiratory disease connected with humidifier lung includes interstitial pneumonitis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, fever and several respiratory symptoms. Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), Actinomycetes, endotoxins and contaminated humidifier water were the most commonly suspected probable environmental agents causing humidifier lung. In Korea, the use of humidifier biocide is suspected as a likely cause of fatal lung injury including death and lung transplantation. Conclusion: Governmental policy should be devised and measures including a national surveillance system should be taken to prevent humidifier lung caused by the use of humidifiers.