Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic protozoan parasite that can cause morbidity and mortality in humans, domestic animals, and terrestrial and aquatic wildlife. The environmentally robust oocyst stage of T. gondii is fundamentally critical to the parasite's success, both in terms of its worldwide distribution as well as the extensive range of infected intermediate hosts. Despite the limited definitive host species (domestic and wild felids), infections have been reported on every continent, and in terrestrial as well as aquatic environments. The remarkable resistance of the oocyst wall enables dissemination of T. gondii through watersheds and ecosystems, and long-term persistence in diverse foods such as shellfish and fresh produce. Here, we review the key attributes of oocyst biophysical properties that confer their ability to disseminate and survive in the environment, as well as the epidemiological dynamics of oocyst sources including domestic and wild felids. This manuscript further provides a comprehensive review of the pathways by which T. gondii oocysts can infect animals and people through the environment, including in contaminated foods, water or soil. We conclude by identifying critical control points for reducing risk of exposure to oocysts as well as opportunities for future synergies and new directions for research aimed at reducing the burden of oocyst-borne toxoplasmosis in humans, domestic animals, and wildlife.

Longitudinal studies have shown significant dose–response associations between dietary share of ultraprocessed foods and the incidence of several noncommunicable diseases and all-cause mortality. Several attributes of ultraprocessed foods are potential mechanisms for their link with health outcomes, including their typically unbalanced nutrient profile, high glycemic loads, high energy intake rate, and the presence of food additives, neoformed substances, and substances released by synthetic packaging materials. However, no studies have assessed the plausibility of reduced water intake as an additional association of diets rich in ultraprocessed foods.To assess the association between ultraprocessed food consumption and total water intake.This cross-sectional secondary analysis used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, cycles 2011 to 2016, in the United States.This study included 24,505 participants aged ≥1 year who completed the first 24-hour dietary recall interview.The main outcome evaluated was the mean of total water intake.Crude and adjusted linear regressions were applied to investigate the association between quintiles of the dietary share of ultraprocessed foods and the total water intake.A significant linear reduction in the daily mean total water intake was observed across ultraprocessed food quintiles, amounting to 706 mL between the lower and the upper quintiles. Important increases across quintiles were observed for the intake of sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened drinks, whereas important reductions occurred for unsweetened drinks, plain water, and water present in solid foods and dishes.Reduced total water intake and an imbalance between sources of water that favors energy-dense and nutrient-poor sources were associated with increased consumption of ultraprocessed food, suggesting that decreased total water consumption might be a negative outcome of diets rich in ultraprocessed foods. This relationship should be further investigated in longitudinal or clinical trials.

To investigate biomarkers representing the physiological and biochemical responses of the brackish-water clam Corbicula japonica, we conducted a full factorial-design experiment to test different water-temperature levels (20 °C and 25 °C), salinity levels (5 and 20 psu), and food-availability levels (0.5 and 2.0 mg suspended solids (SS)·ind⁻¹·d⁻¹). Increase in water temperature significantly decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities and oxyradical-absorbance capacity (ORAC), leading to lipid peroxidation (i.e., oxidative damage). Salinity activated or inhibited these biochemical markers. Food availability supported a detoxification mechanism against oxidative stress. Principal-components and cluster analyses revealed that a total of eight experimental conditions fell into three groups related to water temperature and/or salinity. The shift from Group I (20 °C water temperature) to Group II (25 °C water temperature and 5-psu salinity) demonstrated that the condition index, SOD, CAT, and ORAC had significantly decreased. With the further shift to Group III (25 °C water temperature and 20-psu salinity), we found a prominent increase in ORAC, which led to oxidative damage but no mortality. We conclude that future habitat changes driven by global warming should be closely watched, particularly given that local anthropogenic disturbances further add to natural ones.

The link between metal exposure and toxicity is complicated by numerous factors such as exposure route. Here, we exposed a marine fish (juvenile blackhead seabream Acanthopagrus schlegelii schlegelii) to copper either in a commercial fish diet or in seawater. Copper concentrations in intestine/liver were correlated linearly with influx rate, but appeared to be less influenced by uptake pathway (waterborne or dietary exposure). Influx rate best predicted Cu accumulation in the intestine and liver. However, despite being a good predictor of mortality within each pathway, influx rate was not a good predictor of mortality across both exposure pathways, as waterborne Cu caused considerably higher mortality than dietary Cu at a given influx rate. We show that the use of gill Cu accumulation irrespective of the exposure route as a model for observed fish mortality provided a clear relationship between accumulation and toxicity. Investigation of gill Cu accumulation may shed light on the different accumulation strategies from the two exposure pathways. This correlation offers potential for the use of branchial Cu concentration as an indicator of long-term Cu toxicity, allowing for differences in the relative importance of the uptake pathways in different field situations.

Escherichia coli O157:H7, a Shiga-producing E. coli is a major pathogenic E. coli strain which since the early 1980s has become a crucial food and water-borne pathogen. Several management strategies can be applied to control the spread of infection; however early diagnosis represents the optimum preventive strategy to minimize the infection. Therefore, it is crucial to detect this pathogen in a fast and efficient manner in order to reduce the morbidity and mortality. Currently used gold standard tests rely on culture and pre-enrichment of E. coli O157:H7 from the contaminated source; they are time consuming and laborious. Molecular methods such as polymerase chain reaction are sensitive; however, they require expensive instrumentation. Therefore, there is a requirement for Accurate, Sensitive, Specific, User friendly, Rapid, Equipment free and Deliverable (ASSURED) detection methods for use in the laboratory and in the field. Emerging technologies such as isothermal amplification methods, biosensors, surface enhanced Raman Spectroscopy, paper-based diagnostics and smartphone-based digital methods are recognized as new approaches in the field of E. coli O157:H7 diagnostics and are discussed in this review. Mobile PCR and CRISPR-Cas diagnostic platforms have been identified as new tools in E. coli O157:H7 POC diagnostics with the potential for implementation by industry. This review describes advances and progress in the field of E. coli O157:H7 diagnosis in the context of food and water industry. The focus is on emerging high throughput point-of-care (POC) E. coli O157:H7 diagnostics and the requirement for the transformation to service routine diagnostics in the food and water industry.

Ad libitum (AL) feeding of rats leads to obesity and increased result variability, as well as premature morbidity and mortality. It may also alter metabolism and responses to foreign compounds. Moderate dietary restriction (DR) reduces these untoward effects without compromising the sensitivity of rodent bioassays. The diet board (DB) is a novel method for achieving moderate DR in group housing. Food pellets are firmly attached into grooves in an aspen board, and rats have to gnaw the wood in order to eat. Food is available continuously, but due to the effort involved rats eat less. This study simulated a chronic safety test to assess the long-term effects of DB feeding. A total of 146 male and female outbred Sprague-Dawley rats, nine weeks old at onset, were housed in groups of three and fed either AL or with DBs for two years. Food and water consumption were measured at six time points. The rats were weighed every one to two weeks. Body and tibial lengths and epididymal fat weight were measured at necropsy. Modified body mass index was calculated at five time points after one year of age. DB feeding reduced body weight and fat tissue moderately, more so in males. DB males ate less than AL males, but no differences were seen in the total food consumption in the females. There was no consistent difference in the within-group variations of the measured parameters. DB is a workable DR method, albeit some modification could enhance and standardize its DR effects, especially in female rats.

The optimum growth, food intake, food conversion efficiency, final body composition and mortality of juvenile Cichlasoma urophthalmus (Günther) was studied at different temperatures, ranging from 22.5 to 36.3°C. The results showed that food intake and specific growth rate increase rising to an apparent optimum at about 33.1°C. Multiple regression equations were derived which can be used to predict food intake and specific growth rate when temperature and initial body weight are known.

World hunger, according to the 2012 Global Hunger Index (GHI), has declined somewhat since 1990 but remains “serious.” The global average masks dramatic differences among regions and countries. Regionally, the highest GHI scores are in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. South Asia reduced its GHI score significantly between 1990 and 1996—mainly by reducing the share of underweight children— but could not maintain this rapid progress. Though Sub-Saharan Africa made less progress than South Asia in the 1990s, it has caught up since the turn of the millennium, with its 2012 GHI score falling below that of South Asia. From the 1990 GHI to the 2012 GHI, 15 countries reduced their scores by 50 percent or more. In terms of absolute progress, between the 1990 GHI and the 2012 GHI, Angola, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nicaragua, Niger, and Vietnam saw the largest improvements in their scores. Twenty countries still have levels of hunger that are “extremely alarming” or “alarming.” Most of the countries with alarming GHI scores are in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (the 2012 GHI does not, however, reflect the recent crisis in the Horn of Africa, which intensified in 2011, or the uncertain food situation in the Sahel). Two of the three countries with extremely alarming 2012 GHI scores—Burundi and Eritrea—are in Sub-Saharan Africa; the third country with an extremely alarming score is Haiti. Its GHI score fell by about one quarter from 1990 to 2001, but most of this improvement was reversed in subsequent years. The devastating January 2010 earthquake, although not yet fully captured by the 2012 GHI because of insufficient availability of recent data, pushed Haiti back into the category of “extremely alarming.” In contrast to recent years, the Democratic Republic of Congo is not listed as “extremely alarming,” because insufficient data are available to calculate the country’s GHI score. Current and reliable data are urgently needed to appraise the situation in the country. | Non-PR | IFPRI2; GRP24 | COM; MTID; DGO; EPTD; PHND; WCAO

The kuruma shrimp, Penaeus (Marsupenaeus) japonicus (Bate, 1888), is a valuable aquaculture species in Queensland, Australia. The shrimp is supplied live to the Japanese market and must survive emersed transport for up to 36 h. In-transit mortality after harvest from high water temperatures (> 30 degrees C) has been reported by the industry, and a knowledge of the effects of high water temperature may provide important information for producers on grow-out management, timing of production and farm location. Experiments were conducted to determine the effect of high water temperature on survival, moulting and food consumption in P. japonicus. Replicated groups of 15.6 +/- 0.2 g shrimp were acclimated and exposed to five temperatures, between 28 and 36 degrees C, for up to 28 days. Mortality was highest at 36 degrees C and equally lowest between 28 degrees C and 32 degrees C. Intermoult period was not significantly different for temperatures between 28 and 32 degrees C (19.8-15.5 days) but was significantly greater above 32 degrees C (27.4 days at 34 degrees C and > 104 days at 36 degrees C). There was evidence of moulting synchrony at 28 degrees C. Mean daily food consumption was highest at 32 degrees C at 2.34% of body weight, but decreased to 1.56% at 28 degrees C and 1.33% at 36 degrees C. Over the range of water temperatures examined, survival, moulting rate and food consumption were highest at 32 degrees C.