Suchergebnisse

The authors also thank FCT and the EU for funding through the projects: FishBioSensing—Portable electrochemical (bio)sensing devices for safety and quality assessment of fishery products (02/SAICT/2016, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-023817), PTDC/QUI-QAN/30735/2017—TracAllerSens—Electrochemical sensors for the detection and quantification of trace amounts of allergens in food products (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030735), and PTDC/ASP-PES/29547/2017—CECs(Bio)Sensing—(Bio)sensors for assessment of contaminants of emerging concern in fishery commodities (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029547), supported by national funds by FCT/MCTES and co-supported by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) through COMPETE 2020—Programa Operacional Competitividade e InternacionalizaçãoE. Costa-Rama thanks the Government of Principado de Asturias and Marie Curie-Cofund Actions for the post-doctoral grant "Clarín-Cofund" ACA17-20 (.)

A multi-residue gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method was developed in order to evaluate the presence of 39 pesticides of different chemical families (organophosphorus, triazines, imidazole, organochlorine), as well as some of their transformation products, in surface water samples from Ria de Aveiro. Ria de Aveiro is an estuarine coastal lagoon, located in the northern west region of Portugal, which receives inputs from agriculture, urban and industrial activities. The analytical method was developed and validated according international guidelines and showed good linearity, with correlation coefficients higher than 0.9949 for all compounds, adequate precision and accuracy, and high sensitivity. Pesticides were chosen from the priority pollutants list of the Directive 2008/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (on environmental quality standards in the field of water policy), or were selected due their common use in agricultural practices. Some of these 39 pesticides are, or are suspected to be, endocrine disruptor compounds (EDCs), being capable of altering the endocrine system of wildlife and humans, causing form malfunction and ultimately health problems. Even those pesticides which are not EDCs, are known to be awfully toxic and have a recognised impact in human health. The aquatic environment is particularly susceptible to pollution due to intentional and accidental release of chemicals to water [3]. Pesticide contamination of surface water is a national issue as it is often used as drinking water. This concern is especially important in rural agricultural areas where population uses small private water supplies, regularly without any laboratory surveillance. The study was performed in seven sampling points and the results showed a considerable concern pesticide contamination of all samples.

The cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMO) continues to expand worldwide. Still, many consumers express concerns about the use of GMO in food or feed, and many countries have legislated on labelling systems to indicate the presence of GMO in commercial products. To deal with the increased number of GMO events and to address related regulations, alternative detection methods for GMO inspection are required. In this work, a genosensor based on Surface Plasmon Resonance under continuous flow was developed for the detection and quantification of a genetically modified soybean (event GTS 40-3-2). In a single chip, the simultaneous detection of the event-specific and the taxon-specific samples were achieved, whose detection limits were 20 pM and 16 pM, respectively. The reproducibility was 1.4%, which supports the use of the chip as a reliable and cost-effective alternative to other DNA-based techniques. The results indicate that the proposed method is a versatile tool for GMO quantification in food and feed samples. ; This work received financial support from the European Union (FEDER funds through COMPETE), National Funds (FCT, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) through project UID/QUI/ 50006/2013 and cofinanced by FEDER funds. Alexandra Plácido is grateful for the FCT grant (SFRH/BD/97995/2013) financed by POPH-QREN (subsidized by FSE and MCTES).

This work received financial support from the European Union (FEDER funds through COMPETE), National Funds (FCT, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) through project UID/QUI/50006/2013. A.P. and M.F.B. are grateful to FCT grants SFRH/BD/97995/2013 and SFRH/BPD/78845/2011, financed by POPH–QREN–Tipologia 4.1–Formação Avançada, subsidized by Fundo Social Europeu and Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior. C.P. thanks FCT for the FCT Investigator contract IF/01080/2015.

This work aims to characterize personal exposure of firefighters to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in non-fire work environments (fire stations), and assesses the respective risks. Eighteen PAHs (16 considered by USEPA as priority pollutants, dibenzo[a,l]pyrene and benzo[j]fluoranthene) were monitored in breathing zones of workers at five Portuguese fire stations during a normal shift. The obtained levels of PAHs fulfilled all existent occupational exposure limits as well as air quality guidelines with total concentrations (ΣPAHs) in range of 46.8–155 ng m− 3. Light compounds (2–3 rings) were the most predominant congeners (74–96% of ΣPAHs) whereas PAHs with 5–6 rings accounted 3–9% of ΣPAHs. Fuel and biomass combustions, vehicular traffic emissions, and use of lubricant oils were identified as the main sources of PAHs exposure at the studied fire corporations. Incremental lifetime cancer risks were below the recommend USEPA guideline of 10− 6 and thus negligible for all the studied subjects, but WHO health–based guideline level of 10− 5 was exceeded (9–44 times) at all fire corporations. These results thus show that even during non-fire situations firefighters are exposed to PAHs at levels that may promote some adverse health outcomes; therefore the respective occupational exposures to these compounds should be carefully controlled. ; This work was supported by European Union (FEDER funds through COMPETE) and National Funds (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) through projects UID/QUI/50006/2013, POCI/01/0145/FEDER/007265 and UID/EQU/00511/2013-LEPABE, by the FCT/MEC with national funds and co-funded by FEDER in the scope of the P2020 Partnership Agreement. Additional financial support was provided by Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia through fellowships SFRH/BD/80113/2011 and SFRH/BPD/105100/2014.

Firefighters, one of the most hazardous occupations, are regularly exposed to complex mixtures of pollutants during fire combat. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are distributed between the gaseous and particulate phases of air: they are one of the most health-relevant pollutants released during fires because of their genotoxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic properties [1]. This work aims to assess the impact of firefighting activities on firefighters' total exposure to PAHs. Spot urine samples were collected in healthy and non-smoking firefighters before and after fire combat activities. Six urinary PAH metabolites (1-hydroxynaphthalene (1OHNaph), 1-hydroxyacenaphthene (1OHAce), 2-hydroxyfluorene (2OHFlu), 1-hydroxyphenanthrene (1OHPhen), 1-hydroxypyrene (1OHPy), and 3-hydroxybenzo[a]pyrene (3OHB[a]P)) were quantified by liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection [2-3]. Urinary 1OHNaph and 1OHAce were the predominant biomarkers of exposure in both non-exposed and exposed firefighters, accounting with 63-98% of total levels of PAH biomarkers (ΣOH-PAHs). 2OHFlu, 1OHPhe, and 1OHPy contributed with 1-17%, 1-13%, and 0.3-10% of ΣOH-PAHs, respectively. The PAH biomarker of carcinogenicity (3OHB[a]P) was not detected. Overall exposed firefighters presented levels of ΣOH-PAHs that were 2-35% higher than for non-exposed subjects. Urinary 2OHFlu seems to be the compound with the most pronounced increments in exposed firefighters. Urinary 1OHPy levels were always lower than the benchmark of 0.5 μmol/mol creatinine proposed by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. More studies assessing PAH biomarkers of exposure but also biomarkers of effect and susceptibility are needed to evaluate the impact of fire emissions on the health of firefighters. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

This work aims to characterize personal exposure of firefighters to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in non-fire work environments (fire stations), and assesses the respective risks. Eighteen PAHs (16 considered by USEPA as priority pollutants, dibenzo[a,l] pyrene and benzo[j] fluoranthene) were monitored in breathing zones of workers at five Portuguese fire stations during a normal shift. The obtained levels of PAHs fulfilled all existent occupational exposure limits as well as air quality guidelines with total concentrations (Sigma PAHs) in range of 46.8-155 ng m(-3). Light compounds (2-3 rings) were the most predominant congeners (74-96% of Sigma PAHs) whereas PAHs with 5-6 rings accounted 3-9% of Sigma PAHs. Fuel and biomass combustions, vehicular traffic emissions, and use of lubricant oils were identified as the main sources of PAHs exposure at the studied fire corporations. Incremental lifetime cancer risks were below the recommend USEPA guideline of 10(-6) and thus negligible for all the studied subjects, but WHO health-based guideline level of 10(-5) was exceeded (9-44 times) at all fire corporations. These results thus show that even during non-fire situations firefighters are exposed to PAHs at levels that may promote some adverse health outcomes; therefore the respective occupational exposures to these compounds should be carefully controlled. (C) 2017 ; This work was supported by European Union (FEDER funds through COMPETE) and National Funds (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) through projects UID/QUI/50006/2013, POCI/01/0145/FEDER/007265 and UID/EQU/00511/2013-LEPABE, by the FCT/MECwith national funds and co-funded by FEDER in the scope of the P2020 Partnership Agreement. Additional financial support was provided by Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia through fellowships SFRH/BD/80113/2011 and SFRH/BPD/105100/2014. The authors are thankful to all firefighters involved in the study and to collaborators from Escola Superior de Saúde from Instituto Politécnico de Bragança. ...

This work received financial support from the European Union (FEDER funds through COMPETE), National Funds (FCT, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) through project UID/QUI/50006/2013 and Regional Funds (Principado de Asturias government through Project FC15-GRUPIN14-025), and cofinanced by FEDER funds. A.P. and M.F.B. are grateful to FCT grants SFRH/BD/97995/2013 and SFRH/BPD/78845/2011, financed by POPH–QREN–Tipologia 4.1–Formação Avançada, subsidized by Fundo Social Europeu and Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior. C.P. thanks FCT for the FCT Investigator contract IF/01080/2015.

This work characterizes levels of eighteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the breathing airzone of firefighters during their regular work shift at eight Portuguese fire stations, and the firefighters'total internal dose by six urinary monohydroxyl metabolites (OH-PAHs). Total PAHs ( PAHs) concentra-tions varied widely (46.4–428 ng/m3), mainly due to site specificity (urban/rural) and characteristics (ageand layout) of buildings. Airborne PAHs with 2–3 rings were the most abundant (63.9–95.7% PAHs).Similarly, urinary 1-hydroxynaphthalene and 1-hydroxyacenaphthene were the predominant metabo-lites (66–96% OH-PAHs). Naphthalene contributed the most to carcinogenic PAHs (39.4–78.1%) inmajority of firehouses; benzo[a]pyrene, the marker of carcinogenic PAHs, accounted with 1.5–10%. Statis-tically positive significant correlations (r ≥ 0.733, p ≤ 0.025) were observed between PAHs and urinary OH-PAHs for firefighters of four fire stations suggesting that, at these sites, indoor air was their majorexposure source of PAHs. Firefighter's personal exposure to PAHs at Portuguese fire stations were wellbelow the existent occupational exposure limits. Also, the quantified concentrations of post-shift uri-nary 1-hydroxypyrene in all firefighters were clearly lower than the benchmark level (0.5 mol/mol)recommended by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists.

tThe concentrations of six urinary monohydroxyl metabolites (OH-PAHs) of polycyclic aro-matic hydrocarbons, namely 1-hydroxynaphthalene, 1-hydroxyacenaphthene, 2-hydroxyfluorene,1-hydroxyphenanthrene, 1-hydroxypyrene (1OHPy), and 3-hydroxybenzo[a]pyrene, were assessed inthe post-shift urine of wildland firefighters involved in fire combat activities at six Portuguese firecorporations, and compared with those of non-exposed subjects. Overall, median levels of urinaryindividual and total OH-PAHs ( OH-PAHs) suggest an increased exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydro-carbons during firefighting activities with OH-PAH levels in exposed firefighters 1.7–35 times higherthan in non-exposed ones. Urinary 1-hydroxynaphthalene and/or 1-hydroxyacenapthene were the pre-dominant compounds, representing 63–98% of OH-PAHs, followed by 2-hydroxyfluorene (1–17%),1-hydroxyphenanthrene (1–13%), and 1OHPy (0.3–10%). A similar profile was observed when gen-der discrimination was considered. Participation in fire combat activities promoted an increase of thedistribution percentage of 1-hydroxynaphthalene and 1-hydroxyacenaphthene, while contributions of1-hydroxyphenanthrene and 1OHPy decreased. The detected urinary 1OHPy concentrations (1.73 × 10−2to 0.152 mol/mol creatinine in exposed subjects versus 1.21 × 10−2to 5.44 × 10−2 mol/mol creatininein non-exposed individuals) were lower than the benchmark level (0.5 mol/mol creatinine) proposedby the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. This compound, considered thebiomarker of exposure to PAHs, was the less abundant one from the six analyzed biomarkers. Thusthe inclusion of other metabolites, in addition to 1OHPy, in future studies is suggested to better estimatefirefighters' occupational exposure to PAHs. Moreover, strong to moderate Spearman correlations wereobserved between individual compounds and OH-PAHs corroborating the prevalence of an emissionsource.

The purpose of this study was to compare three different extraction methods (two based on ethanol extraction and one on the Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe (QuEChERs) method) to assess the possible addition of psychopharmaceutical drugs (fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, venlafaxine, paroxetine, trazodone, and diazepam) as adulterants in St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) based plant food supplements (PFS). Methodology: Analysis was performed in a Nexera Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatograph (UHPLC) coupled to a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer (LCMS-8030 Shimadzu) with an electrospray ionization source (ESI), operating in positive ion mode, using a Kinetex C18 fused core column (150 × 2.10 mm i.d.; 1.7 m) (Phenomenex). Multiple reaction monitoring mode (MRM) was selected and pharmaceuticals were quantified by internal standard calibration method. Calibration curves were constructed in the range 10 – 1000 g/L. The three different extraction methods were compared based on the analysis of spiked samples. ; This work received financial support from the European Union (FEDER funds through COMPETE) and National Funds (FCT, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) through project EXPL/DTP-SAP/1438/2013 and Pest- C/EQB/LA0006/2013. To all financing sources the authors are greatly indebted. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

In the last decades, medicinal plants and derived products have become increasingly available on the EU market as components of formulations sold as plant food supplements (PFS). Such products are legally considered as foods under the Directive 2002/46/EC [l] and do not require any kind of authorization to be placed on the market. The legal responsibility for its safety relies on the business operators. Among the several issues that may aíFect the safety of PFS, adulterations including the addition of illegal substances represent an increasing public health concern. In this context, the adulteration by the addition of psychopharmaceuticals should be investigated. Chromatographic methods, especially LC, coupled to various detectors are commonly used for the detection of fraudulent addition of pharmaceuticals in complex mixtures such as PFS. Among them, LC-MS/MS provides accurate and sensitive detectíon ofthe target compounds [2]. The purpose of this study was to assess the presence of psychopharmaceutical adulterants namely, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, venlafaxine, paroxetine, trazodone, and diazepam in St. Johns wort (Hypericum perforatum) based PFS since this plant and/or extracts are traditionally used for its antidepressive properties. Analysis was performed in a Nexera Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatograph coupled to a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer (LCMS-8030 Shimadzu) with an electrospray ionization source (ESI), operating in positive ion mode, using a Kinetex C18 fused core column (150 x 2.10 mm i.d.; 1.7 [im) (Phenomenex). Multiple reaction monitoring mode (MRM) was selected and pharmaceuticals were quantified by internai standard calibration method. Prior to analysis PFS samples were extracted with methanol. The methodology was applied to a set of20 St. Johns wort based PFS commercially available in the Portuguese market. ; This work received financiai support from the European Union (FEDER funds through COMPETE) and National Funds (FCT, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) through project EXPL/DTPSAP/1438/2013 and Pest-C/EQB/LA0006/2013. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of lyophilization and drying in stove on phenolic compounds content and the biological activity of Apis mellifera and Trigona spinipes pollens produced in Brazil. In general, the bee pollen produced by T. spinipes presented highest antioxidant activity in dried and fresh samples assessed either by test of plasma ferric reduction capacity (FRAP) and free radical scavenging assay (DPPH) methods. For A. mellifera bee pollen the antioxidant activity was higher on the fresh samples. Nevertheless, b-carotene bleaching assay (BCB) and linoleic acid content were higher in T. spinipes samples, mainly in the fresh ones. Higher antioxidant activity was owing to higher content in phenolic compounds. Lyophilization method was the best for phenolic compounds' conservation for both species. The bee pollen of both species has a high amount of flavonoids: kaempferol-3-O-glucoside was the most abundant in A. mellifera while for T. spinipes the most prevalent was resorcylic acidþepicatechin. All extracts presented antibacterial activity against Saphylococcus aureus (ATCC 43300)TM, (ESA 83138150), (ESA 32), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 15442)TM, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MRC.4) and (MRC.10). The methods used for storage influenced the biological properties of bee pollen from both species. Regarding the content of phenolic compounds, differences were observed amongst the pollen types: for A. mellifera these were best preserved with lyophilization, while for T. spinipes the three storage methods were equivalent. ; The authors are grateful to the Coordenac¸~ao de Aperfeic¸oamento de Pessoal de N ıvel Superior – CAPES (88881.062167/2014-01 for M.L.M.E.). A. Pascoal would like to thank Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal), Programa Operacional Potencial Humano (POPH), and European Union (EU) for his Postdoctoral grant SFRH/BPD/ 91380/2012. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

This work received financial support from REQUIMTE/LAQV, National Funds (FCT, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) through projects UID/QUI/50006/2019 and Norte-01-0145-FEDER-000011-RL1–QUALIFOOD and European Union through Marie Curie Actions FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IRSES (project no. 612545 entitled "GMOsensor–Monitoring Genetically Modified Organisms in Food and Feed by Innovative Biosensor Approaches"). C. Pereira and M. F. Barroso are grateful to FCT for FCT Investigator contract (IF/01080/ 2015) and post-doctoral grant (SFRH/BPD/78845/2011), respectively, financed by POPH-QREN (subsidized by FSE and MCTES): Tipologia 4.1 – Formação Avançada, subsidized by Fundo Social Europeu and Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior and to REQUIMTE/ LAQV.