Pesticide Residues in Vegetables and Fruits from Farmer Markets and Associated Dietary Risks

The use of pesticides leads to an increase in agricultural production but also causes harmful effects on human health when excessively used. For safe consumption, pesticide residues should be below the maximum residual limits (MRLs). In this study, the residual levels of pesticides in vegetables and fruits collected from farmers’ markets in Sharkia Governorate, Egypt were investigated using LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS. A total number of 40 pesticides were detected in the tested vegetable and fruit samples. Insecticides were the highest group in detection frequency with 85% and 69% appearance in vegetables and fruits, respectively. Cucumber and apple samples were found to have the highest number of pesticide residues. The mean residue levels ranged from 7 to 951 µg kg⁻¹ (in vegetable samples) and from 8 to 775 µg kg⁻¹ (in fruit samples). It was found that 35 (40.7%) out of 86 pesticide residues detected in vegetables and 35 (38.9%) out of 90 pesticide residues detected in fruits exceeded MRLs. Results for lambda-cyhalothrin, fipronil, dimothoate, and omethoate in spinach, zucchini, kaki, and strawberry, respectively, can cause acute or chronic risks when consumed at 0.1 and 0.2 kg day⁻¹. Therefore, it is necessary for food safety and security to continuously monitor pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables in markets.     

Topological properties of the multifunction space <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">X</Emphasis>) of cusco maps

A set-valued mapping F from a topological space X to a topological space Y is called a cusco map if F is upper semicontinuous and F(x) is a nonempty, compact and connected subset of Y for each x ∈ X. We denote by L(X), the space of all subsets F of X × ℝ such that F is the graph of a cusco map from the space X to the real line ℝ. In this paper, we study topological properties of L(X) endowed with the Vietoris topology. The second author is supported by the SPM fellowship awarded by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India.     

Nonspecific laryngeal granuloma: A case study of a professional singer

A professional singer with laryngeal granuloma underwent surgery following failed response to conservative treatments. Two primary findings emerged. First, although a sizable lesion was present initially, presurgical voice measures were largely normal or superior. The exception was elevated phonatory effort during singing. Second, postsurgical voice functions were entirely normal or superior (including phonatory effort), despite demanding singing performances a few weeks following surgery. The results add to the limited corpus of quantitative, normative-referenced data on voice in patients with granulomas and are inconsistent with previous reports of voice abnormalities in such patients and poor functional response to surgery.     

Perfusion chromatography: Effect of micropore diffusion on column performance in systems utilizing perfusive adsorbent particles with a bidisperse porous structure

A mathematical model describing single-component and multi-component adsorption in columns with bidisperse perfusive or bidisperse purely diffusive adsorbent particles is constructed and presented. The model is used to study the adsorption of lysozyme onto monocional anti-lysozyme in columns with bidisperse porous adsorbent particles. The influence of the effective pore diffusion coefficient of the adsorbate in the microparticles (microspheres) and the effects of particle size and intraparticle convective flow on column performance are examined. The results for the systems studied indicate that the systems with bidisperse perfusive particles provide a higher dynamic utilization of the adsorptive capacity of the column than the systems having bidisperse purely diffusive particles.     

Speculations on quark observation

Results of non-perturbative calculations in several models of relativistic quantum field theory lead to the concept of a stable particle whose mass is not well defined. Assuming that quarks are such particles, we propose several possible methods of quark observation.     

Evolution of structure in CH5 + and its deuterated analogues

Diffusion Monte Carlo simulations are used to investigate the effects of deuteration on the fluxionality of CH(5)(+) or CD(5)(+), using an ab initio potential surface, developed by Jin, Braams, and Bowman [J. Phys. Chem. 2006, 110, 1569]. We find that partial deuteration quenches the fluxional behavior. The spectral consequences are also investigated. We find that, while CH(5)(+) and CD(5)(+) are nearly spherical tops, partial deuteration breaks the rotational symmetry and the mixed isotopologues are generally better characterized as symmetric tops. In addition, we investigate the effects of deuteration on the low-resolution vibrational spectrum and anticipate that signatures of this delocalization will be observable in the vibrational spectrum.