This research work was carried out to determine the effects of water contamination on the fatty acid (FA) profile of periphyton, zoobenthos, two Chinese carps and a common carp (<i>Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Ctenopharygodon idella</i> and <i>Cyprinus carpio</i>), captured from highly polluted (HP), less polluted (LP), and non-polluted (NP) sites of the Indus river. We found that the concentration of heavy metals in the river water from the polluted locations exceeded the permissible limits suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Fatty acid profiles in periphyton, zoobenthos, <i>H. molitrix</i>, <i>C. idella</i>, and <i>C. carpio</i> in the food web of river ecosystems with different pollution levels were assessed. Lauric acid and arachidic acids were not detected in the biomass of periphyton and zoobenthos from HP and LP sites compared to NP sites. Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosadienoic acid and docosapentaenoic acid were not recorded in the biomass samples of periphyton and zoobenthos in both HP and LP sites. Caprylic acid, lauric acid, and arachidic acid were not found in <i>H. molitrix</i>, <i>C. idella</i>, and <i>C. carpio</i> captured from HP. In this study, 6 and 9 omega series FAs were identified in the muscle samples of <i>H. molitrix</i>, <i>C. idella</i> and <i>C. carpio</i> captured from HP and LP sites compared to NP sites, respectively. Less polyunsaturated fatty acids were observed in the muscle samples of <i>H. molitrix</i>, <i>C. idella</i>, and <i>C. carpio</i> collected from HP than from LP. The heavy metals showed significant negative correlations with the total FAs in periphyton, zoobenthos, and fish samples.

Of all the challenges facing the sustainability of cities, water, food and energy are the most critical. In the context of rapid urbanization, unsustainable human activities have resulted in fundamental changes in the structure and function of land cover and urban water systems, and the degradation of ecosystem services. Taking Beijing - a typical fast-growing mega city - as an example, to establish a food-energy-water impact model, this research studied the temporal-spatial changes in the water system pattern in a mega city, along with the driving forces, especially the nexus to rice production and energy, and the ensuing series of environmental impacts.On the basis of land use data, remote sensing images, and thematic maps from 1993, 2001 and 2007, water system information was extracted and adjusted for Beijing. With the aid of RS and GIS techniques, the water system was classified into four types, and the spatial and temporal dynamic of the landscape patterns of Beijing’s water system systematically was analyzed. The landscape metrics were then calculated using FRAGSTATS 3.3. The results show that the total area of water system in Beijing declined from 63,494 ha to 43,652 ha from 1993 to 2007. The decrease of the linear water surface is more significant than that of the non-linear water surface. In the terms of landscape metrics change, the number of patches has decreased from 5510 to 5396. The density indexes have increased by 40.61%, the average area of patches has decreased by 30.18%, the patch shape has tended to become more regular, and the overall pattern of the water system is becoming more fragmented. Urban sprawl, the shortage of water resources, and the increasing amount of construction land are the major reasons accounting for the changes in the water system in Beijing. Because of these changes, farmland has decreased by 212,428 ha, and especially rice paddy fields, are significantly decreasing from 52,200 ha in 1980 to 199.6 ha in 2015, a decrease of 99.62%. Consequently, rice production is decreasing by 99.61%, more energy is being consumed for food production. Meanwhile, the local water supply rate has decreased from 100% to 78.4% between 2001 to 2016, the underground water level has decreased by 14.24 m from 1994 to 2016. There is more competition for water resources, more urban water flooding disasters, and emerging urban environmental problems such as declining underground water level, posing a serious threat to the sustainability of the city. Therefore, a systematic and smart thinking is needed to analyze the complex land use - water- food – energy relationship.

El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el efecto de la suplementación con xilooligosacáridos en agua (XOS) y su posible efecto sinérgico con la restricción alimenticia sobre los rendimientos productivos y la digestibili-dad de gazapos. Se utilizaron 4 tratamientos estructurados de forma factorial: 2 niveles de XOS (0, y 7,5 g/L) × 2 sistemas de alimentación (ad libitum y restricción desde 32 a 51 d de edad). El grupo restringido recibió una ración que comenzó siendo del 50% respecto al grupo ad libitum el día siguiente del destete y se incrementó linealmente hasta alcanzar el 100% de ingestión de los animales ad libitum el día 51 de edad. Se utilizaron 236 gazapos destetados a los 32 d de edad y no se medicaron. Entre los 39 y 43 d de edad se determinó la digestibilidad fecal (9/tratamiento) y a los 60 d se sacrificaron 10/tratamiento para la evaluar el rendimiento canal. La suplementación con XOS mejoró la digestibilidad de la energía y proteína (P ≤ 0,028), y redujo la ingestión (P = 0,014) en el periodo global de cebo (32-59 d edad). Sin embargo, también fue acompañada de una tendencia a reducirse la velocidad de crecimiento (P = 0,12) y a aumentar la mortalidad (P = 0,12). La restricción de alimento mejoró la digestibilidad de la energía y la proteína (P ≤ 0,013). En gazapos restringidos (71% de media) empeoró un 5% la velocidad de crecimiento, generando gazapos 75 g más ligeros a 59 d de edad (P = 0,037), pero mejoró la eficiencia alimenticia un 12% (P < 0,001), sin modificar el rendimiento canal (57,8% de media). Además, la restricción redujo la mortalidad: 22,5 vs. 4,0% (P < 0,001). No se observaron interacciones entre la suplementación con XOS y la restricción alimenticia.

International audience | Wine aging bouquet is defined as a positive, complex evolution of aromas during bottle aging. The aim of this study was to look for the link between some of the vine status parameters and the development, during wine aging, of volatile compounds such as D

Wine aging bouquet is defined as a positive, complex evolution of aromas during bottle aging. The aim of this study was to look for the link between some of the vine status parameters and the development, during wine aging, of volatile compounds such as D

In this study, a green and simple mechanochemical synthesis was applied for fabricating a cationic silver(i) coordination polymer (silver(i)-CP) as a promising sorbent for extracting two food dyes including Amaranth and Brilliant Blue FCF during dispersive micro-solid phase extraction directly before UV-Vis spectrophotometric detection. Then, the spectra without overlapping were recorded between 400 and 700 nm. In addition, different operating variables which influenced the extraction efficiency of Amaranth and Brilliant Blue FCF such as pH, volume of eluent, and sorbent dosage, along with extraction time were investigated by central composite design (CCD). Based on the results, the calibration graphs were linear in the range of 15–6000 ng mL⁻¹ with LODs of 2.28 and 3.83 ng mL⁻¹ for Brilliant Blue FCF and Amaranth analytes, respectively. Further, the RSDs for five replicate measurements of 50–500 ng mL⁻¹ in Brilliant Blue FCF and Amaranth were 4.2 and 4.7%, respectively. The established method was employed for both preconcentrating and determining trace amounts of dyes in food and water samples with satisfactory analytical results. Finally, the recovery of analytes at 4 spiking levels of 50, 100, 200 and 500 ng mL⁻¹ ranged from 95.4–104.5%.

Governmental and developmental partners invest substantial resources to reduce land and water degradation in order to upgrade agricultural productivity, thus reducing food insecurity and related vulnerability in Sub-Saharan Africa. Understanding the impact of soil and water conservation on food insecurity outcomes would be a significant step toward improving environmental conditions, while ensuring sustainable and increased agricultural production. Therefore, this article analyzes the impact of adopting soil and water conservation on food insecurity and related vulnerability outcomes of farming households using a sample of 408 households selected using a multi-stage stratified sampling procedure from three districts in eastern Ethiopia. Vulnerability as expected poverty (three-step Feasible General Least Squares) is employed to analyze the vulnerability of sample households in the context of food insecurity. In addition, endogenous switching regressions with propensity score matching methods are combined to obtain consistent impact estimates. The study findings reveal that education and sex of household head, use of irrigation and fertilizer, source of information, and cultivated land are the main factors influencing the adoption of soil and water conservation practices. Moreover, the adoption of soil and water conservation not only positively impacts the per capita food consumption expenditure and net crop value, but it also significantly reduces the probability of farmers being food insecure, vulnerable to food insecurity, as well as being transient and chronically food insecure. Therefore, policymakers and development organizations should consider soil and water conservation as a main strategy to reduce land degradation and improve the livelihoods of the rural farm households.

Mercury is a diversely bioaccumulating heavy metal pollutant toxic to all life forms. In this work, an optical biosensor has been developed and calibrated for universal detection and quantification of mercuric ions, in the range 0.1–540 parts per billion, in biological and environmental samples. Chitosan capped gold nanoparticles on bovine serum albumin are proposed as an ultrasensitive plasmonic mercury receptor on U-bend optical fiber platform. The sensor was calibrated and tested with tap water, sewage contaminated water, marine water, long lived sea fish tissue, fossil fuel fly ash contaminated soil and vegetable samples. The sensor performance was validated with real samples inherently containing mercury. Overall standard error of less than 15% and a coefficient of variation less than 12% (n = 3) was found across all samples, indicating good fitness for diverse usage. Experimentally determined limit of detection of mercuric ions was 0.1 parts per billion in tap water (twenty times lesser than the Environment protection agency limit of 2 parts per billion in drinking water) and 0.2 parts per billion in sea fish and vegetable samples with negligible cross sensitivity towards other metal ions.

This paper provides a view of the major facts and figures related to infectious diseases with a focus on food-borne and water-borne diseases and their link with environmental factors and climate change. The global burden of food-borne diseases for 31 selected hazards was estimated by the World Health Organization at 33 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in 2010 with 40% of this burden concentrated among children under 5 years of age. The highest burden per population of food-borne diseases is found in Africa, followed by Southeast Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean sub-regions. Unsafe water used for the cleaning and processing of food is a key risk factors contributing to food-borne diseases. The role of quality and quantity of water to the general burden of infectious diseases deserves attention, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, as its effects go beyond the food chain. Water-related infectious diseases are a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide, and climate change effects will exacerbate the challenges for the public health sector for both food-borne and water-borne diseases. Selected case studies from Africa and Asia show that (i) climate change extreme events, such as floods, may exacerbate the risks for infectious diseases spreading through water systems, and (ii) improvements related to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene could result in a significant reduction of intestinal parasitic infections among school-aged children. There is a need to better anticipate the impacts of climate change on infectious diseases and fostering multi-stakeholder engagement and multi-sectoral collaborations for integrated interventions at schools, community and household levels. The paper calls for giving priority to improving the environmental conditions affecting food-borne and water-borne infectious diseases under climate change.

This study reports a simple, rapid and greener method based on ultrasound assisted-cloud point extraction coupled with inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) for preconcentration and determination of antimony (Sb), tin (Sn) and thallium (Tl) in food and water samples. Factors affecting the preconcentration procedure were optimized using fractional factorial design and response surface methodology based on Box-Behnken design. Under optimum conditions, the calibration graphs were linear over the concentration range of 0.023–700 μg L−1 with correlation coefficients up to 0.9994, the limits of detection ranged from 0.007–0.010 μg L−1, the limits of quantification were from 0.023 to 0.033 μg L−1 and the relative standard deviations (n = 15) were between 1.3% and 4.1%. In addition, the preconcentration factors were found to be 150, 145 and 160 for Sb, Sn and Tl, respectively. Finally, the developed method was successfully applied in various food and water samples as well as certified reference materials for rapid determination of Sb, Sn and Tl.