The high levels of mercury toxicity in humans make it necessary to monitor mercury levels in food, pharmaceuticals, and the environment to minimize human exposure. Between June 2020 and October 2021, researchers collected 240 fish samples from different locations along the Yemeni coast to evaluate mercury contamination. The Direct Mercury Analyzer was used to determine the concentration of mercury in each sample. To ensure method accuracy, a series of triplicate mercury concentration analyses were conducted. The samples ranged from 2 to 100 ng to determine linearity and repeatability i.e., within-day variation. The results showed a high level of precision, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9990 and a repeatability of 1.34 %-5.62 % RSD range. The method was also highly accurate, as the mercury recovery results from the contaminated fish samples ranged from 96.77 % to 105.14 %. The limits of detection and quantitation of mercury were 0.0015 ppm and 0.0049 ppm, respectively. This allowed the method to detect trace amounts of mercury in fish meat. Mercury concentration in the 240 fish samples did not exceed the FDA, but below the 0.5 ppm specified limit of YSMO.

In the Sri Lankan context, the lack of baseline studies to mitigate microplastic emissions through personal care and cosmetic products poses a huge problem. Hence this study serves as the first scientific investigation to analyze and characterize microplastics in selected personal care and cosmetic items available in the Sri Lankan markets. Fifteen brands representing five categories (face wash, facial scrubs, baby creams, shaving creams, and skin creams) of personal care and cosmetic items served as the basis for this investigation. Based on a questionnaire survey, from each category, three highly utilized brands were chosen and triplicates from each brand were used for the analysis. All samples were treated with the Fenton reagent to extract microplastics. Then through Nile red staining suspected microplastic were screened and characterized through FT-IR spectroscopy. The Nile Red analysis revealed seven brands of the fifteen to be stained with Nile Red and demonstrate luminance properties under UV light. However, FT-IR analysis proved only six brands contained actual microplastics. Low-density polyethylene and ethylene-propylene copolymer were the dominant types of microplastic. Most microplastics were irregularly shaped and white in color with sizes ranging from 238.55 ± 50.74 to 450.69 ± 174.9 μm. An emission estimation revealed that products FS-01 and FW-03 contain 3.36 ± 0.20 g and 0.2 ± 0.05 g of isolatable microplastics per product. While the present study provides scientific evidence for the availability of microplastics in products in Sri Lankan markets, it also provides a great opportunity to develop relevant policies and regulations to control them.

Foodborne outbreaks caused by fecal contamination of fresh produce represent a serious concern to public health and the economy. As the consumption of fresh produce increases, public health officials and organizations have pushed for improvements in food safety procedures and environmental assessments to reduce the risk of contamination. Visual inspections and the establishment of \"buffer zones\" between animal feeding operations and producing fields are the current best practices for environmental assessments. However, a generalized distance guideline and visual inspections may not be enough to account for all environmental risk variables. Here, we report a baseline measurement surveying the background Bacteroidales concentration, as a quantitative fecal contamination indicator, in California\'s Salinas Valley. We collected a total of 1632 samples from two romaine lettuce commercial fields at the time of harvesting through two seasons in a year. The quantification of Bacteroidales concentration was performed using qPCR, revealing a notably low concentration (0-2.00 copies/cm2) in the commercial fields. To further enhance the applicability of our findings, we developed a user-friendly method for real-world fecal contamination risk assessment that seamlessly integrates with industry practices. Through the generation of heatmaps that visually illustrate varying risk levels across fields, this approach can identify site-specific risks and offer fresh produce stakeholders a more comprehensive understanding of their land. We anticipate this work can encourage the use of Bacteroidales in the fresh produce industry to monitor fecal contamination and prevent future foodborne outbreaks.

Due to climate change, decreasing ice cover and increasing industrial activities, Arctic marine ecosystems are expected to face higher levels of anthropogenic stress. To sustain healthy and productive ocean ecosystems, it is imperative to build baseline data to assess future climatic and environmental changes. Herein, a natural oil seep site offshore western Svalbard (Prins Karls Forland, PKF, 80-100 m water depth), discovered using satellite radar images, was investigated using an extensive multiscale and multisource geospatial dataset collected by satellite, aerial, floating, and underwater platforms. The investigated PKF seep area covers roughly a seafloor area of 30,000 m2 and discharges oil from Tertiary or younger source rocks. Biomarker analyses confirm that the oil in the slicks on the sea surface and from the seep on the seafloor have the same origin. Uranium/Thorium dating of authigenic carbonate crusts indicated that the seep had emanated since the Late Pleistocene when ice sheet melting unlocked the hydrocarbons trapped beneath the ice. The faunal communities at the PKF seep are a mix of typical high latitude fauna and taxa adapted to reducing environments. Remarkably, the inhospitable oil-impregnated sediments were also colonized by abundant infaunal organisms. Altogether, in situ observations obtained at the site provide essential insights into the characteristics of high-latitude oil seeps and can be used as a natural laboratory for understanding the potential impacts of human oil discharge into the ocean.

This preliminary investigation aimed to detect concentrations of chlorinated pesticides and PCBs in 40 sediment samples from three desert oases located in Kharga, Dakhla and Farafra in western Egypt. The residues of 18 PCBs and 16 chlorinated pesticides were measured by GC-MS/MS (SRM) method. The results showed that PCBs and pesticides were present in all studied samples. The concentrations of individual PCBs ranged from undetected to 3.99 ng/g dw in all these sediment samples. The total residue of pesticides (ng/g, dry weight) in sediment samples also varied from 5.18 to 25.92, 5.41 to 29.49, and 5.93 to 24.19 ng/g dw for the Kharga, Dakhla and Farafra Oases, respectively. The concentrations of PCBs and chlorinated pesticides detected in these oasis sediments were lower than that reported for other worldwide locations. According to the recorded concentrations in this baseline study of PCBs and total DDTs, the results revealed the minimal risks to organisms and people in the studied area according to the Effects Range-Low (ERL) and Effects Range-Median (ERM) guideline values.

The retinal macula is at the center of our visual field, and thus pathological damage in the macula significantly impacts an individual\'s quality of life. The parafoveal vessels form the inner retina provide oxygen perfusion, and the measurement of parafoveal oxygen saturation (sO2) can evaluate macular metabolism and provide pathophysiological insight. In this paper, for the first time, we present a baseline study of microvascular oxygen saturation (sO2) in perifoveal macular region using visible light optical coherence tomography (VIS-OCT) on normal eyes. The arterial and venous sO2 from all eyes was 92.1 ± 7.1 (vol %) and 48.4 ± 5.0 (vol %) (mean ± SD), respectively. Arteriovenous sO2 difference was 43.8 ± 9.5 (vol %). Marginal correlation was found between venous sO2 and intraocular pressure (IOP) among eyes. No significant correlation was found between sO2 and vessel topological features, including length, diameter, and distance to fovea. This baseline study could serve as a benchmark for the future sO2 investigation of retinal macular pathologies.

This study was conducted around the beaches in Indonesia in order to investigate the level of pollution in the marine environment. Thirteen (13) locations in six (6) regions namely: Seribu Island, Banten, South Java, Biawak Islands, West Papua, and East Nusa making up a total length of 12.84 km of the area were studied. This investigation focused on the debris around isolated beaches, tourist attraction centers, fishing zones and marine protected areas (MPA). The method employed in this study was dependent on the international coastal cleanup form. The samples of debris collected and studied varied from the year 2013 to 2018 for a thorough investigation. The beach debris monitoring equipment revealed information about the distribution, abundance, types and, effects of marine debris on the ecosystem. Moreover, the study showed that the mass of debris collected within the areas listed weighted 1113.10 kg for 34,330 collected items. Also, the average density was noted to range between 1.43 and 5.11 items/m2. However, it was observed that plastic products constituted the highest percentage of the pollutants found in almost all the stations, with plastic bags being the most dominant.

Microplastics have been considered as contaminants of emerging concern due to ubiquity in the environment; however, the occurrence of microplastics in river estuaries is scarcely investigated. The Klang River estuary is an important ecosystem that receives various contaminants from urbanised, highly populated areas and the busiest maritime centre in Selangor, Malaysia. This study investigates the abundance and characteristics of microplastics in surface water of the Klang River estuary. The abundance of microplastics ranged from 0.5 to 4.5 particles L-1 with a mean abundance of 2.47 particles L-1. There is no correlation between the abundance of microplastics and physicochemical properties, while there is a strong correlation between salinity and conductivity. The microplastics were characterised with a stereomicroscope and attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to analyse size, shape, colour, and polymer composition. The microplastics in the surface water were predominantly in the 300-1000 μm size class, followed by > 1000 μm and < 300 μm, and were mostly transparent fibres, fragments, and pellets. Polyamide and polyethylene were the main polymer types in the composition of the microplastics, suggesting that the microplastics originated from heavily urbanised and industrial locations such as the port, jetty, and residential areas. The widespread occurrence of microplastics in the environment and subsequent penetration of aquatic food webs may pose a serious threat to organisms. This study provides baseline data and a framework for further investigation of microplastic contamination in estuaries.

Indoor and outdoor ovitraps were placed in 15 randomly selected houses in two rural villages in Chiapas, southern Mexico. In addition, ovitraps were placed in five transects surrounding each village, with three traps per transect, one at the edge, one at 50 m, and another at 100 m from the edge of the village. All traps were inspected weekly. A transect with eight traps along a road between the two villages was also included. Population fluctuations of Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus were examined during 2016-2018 by counting egg numbers. A higher number of Aedes spp. eggs was recorded at Hidalgo village with 257,712 eggs (60.9%), of which 58.1% were present in outdoor ovitraps and 41.9% in indoor ovitraps, compared with 165,623 eggs (39.1%) collected in the village of Río Florido, 49.0% in outdoor and 51.0% in indoor ovitraps. A total of 84,047 eggs was collected from ovitraps placed along transects around Río Florido, compared to 67,542 eggs recorded from transects around Hidalgo. Fluctuations in egg counts were associated with annual variation in precipitation, with 2.3 to 3.2-fold more eggs collected from ovitraps placed in houses and 4.8 to 5.1-fold more eggs in ovitraps from the surrounding transects during the rainy season than in the dry season, respectively. Aedes aegypti was the dominant species during the dry season and at the start of the rainy season in both villages. Aedes albopictus populations were lower for most of the dry season, but increased during the rainy season and predominated at the end of the rainy season in both villages. Aedes albopictus was also the dominant species in the zones surrounding both villages. The numbers of eggs collected from intradomiciliary ovitraps were strongly correlated with the numbers of eggs in peridomiciliary ovitraps in both Río Florido (R2 adj = 0.92) and Hidalgo (R2 adj = 0.94), suggesting that peridomiciliary sampling could provide an accurate estimate of intradomiciliary oviposition by Aedes spp. in future studies in these villages. We conclude that the feasibility of sterile insect technique (SIT)-based program of vector control could be evaluated in the isolated Ae. aegypti populations in the rural villages of our baseline study.

BACKGROUND: The prevention of metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a major public health concern in Japan. The effects of the relationship between eating behavior and nutritional intake on MetS remained unclear. To evaluate nutrition\'s role in preventing or exacerbating MetS, we examined the associations among eating behavior, nutritional intake, and MetS for the baseline study in the cohort subjects undergone health checkups.
METHODS: Four thousand and four hundred forty-seven Japanese men and women were enrolled at the Saku Central Hospital. They received an anthropometric and clinical examination and were assessed for present illness, lifestyle factors such as physical activity, smoking, drinking, and dietary habits at the enrollment. Eating behavior was analyzed by the Sakata\'s Eating Behavior Questionnaire. Dietary assessment was made using a brief self-administered diet history questionnaire. Two thousand and six hundred two men and 1844 women aged more than 20 were analyzed.
RESULTS: The mean age in men and women were 59.2 and 58.4 years old and the mean body mass index (BMI) were 23.7 and 22.3 kg/m2, respectively. The percentages of MetS were 20.6 in men and 6.1 in women. In some nutrients, significantly higher energy-adjusted intakes in subjects without MetS than with Mets appeared both in men and women after age adjustment. After adjusting by age, energy-adjusted intake beverages in men and cereals in women were significantly higher in subjects with MetS than those without MetS. The scores of all the categories in eating behavior were significantly worse in subjects with MetS than those without MetS.
CONCLUSIONS: The differences in dietary intake between subjects with Mets and without Mets were relatively small. The scores of all the categories in eating behavior were worse in subjects with MetS than without MetS. It was suggested that the problem lay in the quality of diet, not in the quantity, caused by bad eating habits. The potential influence of eating behavior and nutritional intake on MetS was presented in men and women.