A meta-analysis of experiments testing the effects of a neonicotinoid insecticide (imidacloprid) on honey bees

Honey bees provide important pollination services to crops and wild plants. The agricultural use of systemic insecticides, such as neonicotinoids, may harm bees through their presence in pollen and nectar, which bees consume. Many studies have tested the effects on honey bees of imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid, but a clear picture of the risk it poses to bees has not previously emerged, because investigations are methodologically varied and inconsistent in outcome. In a meta-analysis of fourteen published studies of the effects of imidacloprid on honey bees under laboratory and semi-field conditions that comprised measurements on 7073 adult individuals and 36 colonies, fitted dose–response relationships estimate that trace dietary imidacloprid at field-realistic levels in nectar will have no lethal effects, but will reduce expected performance in honey bees by between 6 and 20%. Statistical power analysis showed that published field trials that have reported no effects on honey bees from neonicotinoids were incapable of detecting these predicted sublethal effects with conventionally accepted levels of certainty. These findings raise renewed concern about the impact on honey bees of dietary imidacloprid, but because questions remain over the environmental relevance of predominantly laboratory-based results, I identify targets for research and provide procedural recommendations for future studies.     

Intravenous Lipid Emulsion as an Antidote for the Treatment of Acute Poisoning: A Bibliometric Analysis of Human and Animal Studies

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the role of intravenous lipid formulations as potential antidotes in patients with severe cardiotoxicity caused by drug toxicity. The aim of this study was to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of all human and animal studies featuring lipid emulsion as an antidote for the treatment of acute poisoning. The Scopus database search was performed on 5 February 2016 to analyse the research output related to intravenous lipid emulsion as an antidote for the treatment of acute poisoning. Research indicators used for analysis included total number of articles, date (year) of publication, total citations, value of the h‐index, document types, countries of publication, journal names, collaboration patterns and institutions. A total of 594 articles were retrieved from Scopus database for the period of 1955–2015. The percentage share of global intravenous lipid emulsion research output showed that research output was 85.86% in 2006–2015 with yearly average growth in this field of 51 articles per year. The USA, United Kingdom (UK), France, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Australia, China, Turkey and Japan accounted for 449 (75.6%) of all the publications. The total number of citations for all documents was 9,333, with an average of 15.7 citations per document. The h‐index of the retrieved documents for lipid emulsion research as antidote for the treatment of acute poisoning was 49. The USA and the UK achieved the highest h‐indices, 34 and 14, respectively. New Zealand produced the greatest number of documents with international collaboration (51.9%) followed by Australia (50%) and Canada (41.4%) out of the total number of publications for each country. In summary, we found an increase in the number of publications in the field of lipid emulsion after 2006. The results of this study demonstrate that the majority of publications in the field of lipid emulsion were published by high‐income countries. Researchers from institutions in the USA led scientific production on lipid emulsion research. There is an obvious need to promote a deeper engagement through international collaborative research projects and funding mechanisms.     

Global Research Trends in Lithium Toxicity from 1913 to 2015: A Bibliometric Analysis

Lithium salts have been used to treat psychiatric disorders since the 1940s and are currently used in prophylaxis and treatment of depression and bipolar disorder. Therefore, we conducted this study to assess lithium toxicity‐related publications using bibliometric approaches from a health point of view to assess global research trends in the lithium toxicity field to offer guidance to future research in this field. The data were retrieved from the online version of Scopus database on 6 August 2016. All records with the term ‘lithium’ in the title were retrieved, and those related to lithium toxicity were evaluated. There were a total of 1241 publications related to lithium toxicity published from 1913 to 2016. Articles (971 or 78.2%) were the most common type, followed by letters (179 or 14.4%) and reviews (61 or 4.9%). The annual publication of articles increased slightly after 1950 and the total number of publications related to lithium toxicity fluctuated with three peaks occurred in 1978, 1985 and 2014. The USA was the predominant country (25.38%), followed by the UK (7.82%), France (6.85%) and Canada (3.55%). Denmark had the highest productivity of publication after standardization by gross domestic product and population size. The average number of citations per article was 9.24, and the h‐index for all publications in the field of lithium toxicity was 46. The highest h‐index value was achieved by the USA (31) followed by the UK (21) and Canada (13). The Lancet was the highest ranked journal with 27 articles, followed by American Journal of Psychiatry with 23 articles. This study provides a bibliometric analysis on the global research trends in lithium toxicity studies during 1913–2015. There has been a progressive increase in the number of publications related to lithium toxicity published in the last decade, and most of the studies related to lithium toxicity arose from the USA and the UK.     

Direct injection high performance liquid chromatography coupled to data independent acquisition mass spectrometry for the screening of antibiotics in honey

The targeted analysis of veterinary drug residues in honey traditionally involves a series of extraction and purification steps prior to quantification with high performance liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution or tandem mass spectrometry. These steps, designed to separate the target analytes from interferences, are generally time-consuming and costly. In addition, traditional cleanup steps are likely to eliminate other compounds whose analysis could prove decisive in current or future assessment of the honey sample. Alternatively, direct injection without complex sample preparation steps has been introduced for the fast analysis of trace compounds in environmental and food matrices. The aim of this study was to develop a rapid method for the targeted analysis of 7 key veterinary drug residues in honey based on direct injection high performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight, while simultaneously recording data-independent MS/MS (e.g. All Ions MS/MS data) for future re-examination of the data for other purposes. The new method allowed for the detection of the target residues at levels approximately 20–100 times lower than current regulatory limits, for a total analysis time of about 45 min. The recoveries (103–119%), the linearity (R ≥ 0.996) and the repeatability (RSD ≤ 7%) were satisfactory. The method was then applied to 35 honey samples from the Canadian market. Residues of tylosin A, tylosin B, sulfamethazine and sulfadimethoxine were detected in 6, 9, 6 and 23% of the samples respectively, at levels below the regulatory limits in Canada. The possibility of adding a hydrolysis step to study sulfonamides in honey was tested, which provided good results for this family of compounds but lead to degradation of some of the other analytes. Finally, the non-targeted identification of several compounds was demonstrated as a proof of concept of future re-examination of All Ions MS/MS data. This paper illustrates the capacity of this novel method to combine targeted and non-targeted screening of chemical residues in honey.     

Ceratonia siliqua honeys from Morocco: Physicochemical properties,mineral contents,and antioxidant activities

Physicochemical properties, main mineral content, and antioxidant activity were determined for eight floral carob honeys collected from different geographical regions of Morocco. Moroccan honeys showed good chemical and nutritional qualities, fulfilling the criteria described in the standard codex for honey. The percentages obtained for ashes were (0.13–0.69%), electrical conductivity (0.36–1.35 mS/cm), water content (17.30–22.80%), pH (4.17–5.05), free acidity (11.0–42.50 meq/kg), lactone acidity (4.0–16.50 meq/kg), and for total acidity (16.50–59.50 meq/kg). In addition, minerals such as K, Na, Mg, Cu, Zn, and Ca of honey samples were determined and potassium was the major mineral in all samples. The antioxidant activities based on the free radical scavenging, reducing power, and total antioxidant activity were investigated, and the antioxidant capacity of the honey samples was correlated with their biochemical constituents such as total phenol and flavonoids content, and the best antioxidant capacity was confirmed by the honey from Taounate.     

Novel inspection of sugar residue and origin in honey based on the 13C/12C isotopic ratio and protein content

Regarding the honey industry, market prices are strongly affected by the origin and composition of products. In particular, the adulteration of honey can be divided into cases of honey being mixed with artificial syrup, the different origin of the adulteration and the presence of cane sugar residue. Unfortunately, recent studies mentioned that most honey is mixed with artificial syrups. Thus, determining such unnaturally present sugar is necessary to maintain the trust of the consuming populations. To investigate the possibility of syrup augmentation, this study first clarifies two points of great importance. First, long-term feeding of cane sugar to honey bee colonies in winter and the continuous harvest of honey were investigated to evaluate the C₄ sugar ratio in spring through inspection of the ¹³C/¹²C isotopic ratio. As the results indicated, C₄ sugar was detected as “sugar residue” in honey samples when the honey bee colonies were fed with cane sugar in winter and when the honey was collected in the first and second harvests in March. As indicated from the samples of 89 Taiwanese longan honeys, 54 Thai longan honeys, and 20 Taiwanese non-longan honeys for analysis, such “sugar residues” were in 40% (8/20) of the Taiwanese non-longan honeys, 15% (3/20) of 2017 Taiwanese longan honeys and 20% (4/20) of 2017 Thai longan honeys; these samples were classified as adulterated honey (C₄% > 7). Second, as revealed in the honeys' protein contents, statistically significant differences were found between Taiwanese (>1.00 mg/g) and Thai longan honeys (<1.00 mg/g). Apparently, this significant difference could be used to classify the difference in origins of longan honeys. This novel inspection of “sugar residue” and “origin” in honey could represent the first attempt for a protocol to guarantee both the quality and quantity assurance of honey in the marketplace.     

Mead production: Selection and characterization assays of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains

Mead is a traditional drink, which results from the alcoholic fermentation of diluted honey carried out by yeasts. However, when it is produced in a homemade way, mead producers find several problems, namely, the lack of uniformity in the final product, delayed and arrested fermentations, and the production of “off-flavours” by the yeasts. These problems are usually associated with the inability of yeast strains to respond and adapt to unfavourable and stressful growth conditions. The main objectives of this work were to evaluate the capacity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains, isolated from honey of the Trás-os-Montes (Northeast Portugal), to produce mead. Five strains from honey, as well as one laboratory strain and one commercial wine strain, were evaluated in terms of their fermentation performance under ethanol, sulphur dioxide and osmotic stress. All the strains showed similar behaviour in these conditions. Two yeasts strains isolated from honey and the commercial wine strain were further tested for mead production, using two different honeys (a dark and a light honey), enriched with two supplements (one commercial and one developed by the research team), as fermentation media. The results obtained in this work show that S. cerevisiae strains isolated from honey, are appropriate for mead production. However it is of extreme importance to take into account the characteristics of the honey, and supplements used in the fermentation medium formulation, in order to achieve the best results in mead production.     

Optimization of a miniaturized solid-phase microextraction method followed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry for the determination of twenty four volatile and semivolatile compounds in honey from Galicia (NW Spain) and foreign countries

An analytical miniaturized methodology based on solid-phase-microextraction (mini_SPME) followed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) has been developed for the identification of volatile and semivolatile compounds in honey samples. The main influential experimental parameters, such as the type of fibre coating, extraction temperature, solvent addition, extraction mode, ionic strength, and sample dilution were optimized. A design of experiments (DOE) was conducted including twenty-four target compounds. The final extraction conditions comprised the use of 200 mg of honey mixed with 200 μL of water (100%, w/v), employing a DVB/CAR/PDMS fibre in the headspace mode at 100 °C for 30 min. The mini_SPME-GC-MS method was successfully validated in terms of linearity, repeatability, reproducibility and accuracy. Finally, it was applied to a broad range of varieties of real honey samples from Galicia (NW Spain), as well as some foreign honeys, demonstrating suitability.     

A descriptive bibliometric study on bioavailability of pesticides in vegetables,food or wine research (1976–2018)

A bibliometric analysis based on the Web of Science© (WOS) database was performed on bioavailability of pesticides in vegetables, food or wine related studies published from inception to 2018. A total of 1202 articles were subjected to examination. The results reveal that yearly production of scientific articles increased steadily. Journal and institution production, and author's keywords frequencies followed the Lotka’s Law. Khan SU and White JC were the most productive authors. The most productive journals were Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (55), and Journal of Ethnopharmacology (48), and the most common WOS subject category was Pharmacology & Pharmacy (419). USA (h-index of 40) produced 21.7 % of all articles, closely followed by China (20.6 %). Chinese Academy of Sciences (34) was the most productive research institutions. Finally, current and future trends in this area should focus on keywords such as pharmacokinetics, curcumin, in-vitro, nanoparticles, oral (bioavailability) and cell.     

Application of ICP-MS method of determination of 15 elements in honey with chemometric approach for the verification of their authenticity

In this study the mineral content of 140 honey samples, which represent three different types of honey, namely: honeydew, buckwheat and rape honey from 16 areas of Poland, were evaluated. The method is described for determination of 15 elements (Al, B, Ba, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, Sr, and Zn) in honey from Poland using ICP-MS. The data were subjected to chemometric assessment to understand the association between the elements and classify honey samples. Mainly supervised pattern recognition techniques, such as LDA and C&RT were performed for the whole data set in order to discriminate and classify honey samples according to their origin and detect corresponding markers. Analyzes revealed an excellent separation between honey samples according to their type with the efficiency of LDA model as 100%. On the other hand, a variable classification for rape, buckwheat and honeydew honeys in regards to their geographical origin could be achieved.     

养阴清肺丸质量分析

目的通过对养阴清肺丸114批样品进行标准检验及7项探索性研究检验,对该品种的质量及标准状况作出总体分析及评价。方法标准检验依据《中国药典》2005年版增补本,其中包括显微鉴别、TLC及HPLC检验。探索性研究检验采用灰分测定法测定成方制剂中总灰分;建立白芍的显微鉴别方法以监测白芍药材未经去皮、炮制不规范等质量问题;增加了玄参的TLC鉴别;运用GC-MS、GC法进行薄荷等挥发性药材的特征图谱测定;建立HPLC法测定制剂中的芍药苷以研究不同企业所用白芍原料的差异;采用HPLC法测定辅料蜂蜜中的有害成分5-羟甲基糠醛(5-HMF);运用加速试验考察药包材的密闭性。结果 26.5%的样品总灰分严重超标;白芍的显微鉴别结果表明20%的生产企业使用炮制不规范的白芍饮片;玄参的TLC都可以检出,但斑点颜色深浅差别较大;近50%的样品缺失薄荷药材的特征峰;芍药苷质量分数最高值约为最低值的4倍,说明不同企业所用药材原料差异较大;由于没有炼蜜的法定限量标准,导致各生产企业使用炼蜜的质量差别极大,5-HMF严重超标,最高达到6mg/g,是未加工蜂蜜国家限量标准(0.04mg/g)的150倍;加速试验结果表明"塑料球壳"与"铝塑板"这两种包装材料的密封性较好。结论各生产企业养阴清肺丸的质量参差不齐,一些企业在原料、辅料、生产工艺及包装材料方面存在着不同程度的问题。按现行质量标准检验合格率97.4%,依据探索性研究方法检验合格率为45.6%,结果表明探索性研究增加了标准的专属性、可控性及安全性,为进一步修订药品标准、控制药品质量提供参考。     

Organic honey from Trás-Os-Montes region (Portugal): chemical, palynological, microbiological and bioactive compounds characterization

At the present time, the quality, integrity, sanitation and nutritional value of honeys receive attention on an international level due to the increasing content of chemicals in the aforementioned matrix. This work was conducted to evaluate the quality of 75 organic honey samples from the Trás-Os-Montes region (Portugal). Mean values obtained for physico-chemical parameters were: pH 3.7; 15.6% moisture; 0.26mS/cm electrical conductivity; 0.25% ash; 1.1mg/kg HMF; 15.3 Gothe diastase activity; 40.3meq/kg free acidity; 67.8% invert sugars and 2.7% apparent sucrose. All honey samples can be classified as monofloral Erica sp., as showed by pollen features. The amounts of phenols and flavonoids in the samples were also determined. In respect to sanitary quality (fecal coliforms) and safety (sulfite-reducing clostridia and Salmonella), all organic honey samples were negative. Furthermore, yeast and molds were detected in low counts, with mean values obtained of 5.5cfu/g and the value of total aerobic mesophiles obtained from honeys was established in 1.3×10(2)cfu/g±7.5×10(1)cfu/g. The levels of flavonoids had a stronger impact on both mesophiles (p=0.0004) and molds (p=0.0138) than the sucrose concentration (p=0.001 and 0.0278; respectively). The results reported in this study should be introduced in the organic honey label, and may help beekeepers, the industry, researchers and consumers better understand honey properties.     

Toxic compounds in honey

There is a wealth of information about the nutritional and medicinal properties of honey. However, honey may contain compounds that may lead to toxicity. A compound not naturally present in honey, named 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), may be formed during the heating or preservation processes of honey. HMF has gained much interest, as it is commonly detected in honey samples, especially samples that have been stored for a long time. HMF is a compound that may be mutagenic, carcinogenic and cytotoxic. It has also been reported that honey can be contaminated with heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium. Honey produced from the nectar of Rhododendron ponticum contains alkaloids that can be poisonous to humans, while honey collected from Andromeda flowers contains grayanotoxins, which can cause paralysis of limbs in humans and eventually leads to death. In addition, Melicope ternata and Coriaria arborea from New Zealand produce toxic honey that can be fatal. There are reports that honey is not safe to be consumed when it is collected from Datura plants (from Mexico and Hungary), belladonna flowers and Hyoscamus niger plants (from Hungary), Serjania lethalis (from Brazil), Gelsemium sempervirens (from the American Southwest), Kalmia latifolia, Tripetalia paniculata and Ledum palustre. Although the symptoms of poisoning due to honey consumption may differ depending on the source of toxins, most common symptoms generally include dizziness, nausea, vomiting, convulsions, headache, palpitations or even death. It has been suggested that honey should not be considered a completely safe food. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chronic toxicity and biochemical response of Apis cerana cerana (Hymenoptera: Apidae) exposed to acetamiprid and propiconazole alone or combined

Acetamiprid and ergosterol-inhibiting fungicide (EBI) are frequently applied to many flowering plants, while honey bees are pollinating agents or pollinators of the flowers. Hence honey bees are often exposed to these pesticides. But until now, the effects of theses combinations at field-realistic doses on honey bee health have been poorly investigated. In this study, we explore the synergistic mortality and some physiological effects in surviving honey bees after chronic oral exposure to acetamiprid and/or propiconazole in the laboratory. The results indicated that chronic combined exposure to acetamiprid and propiconazole produced a significant synergistic effect on mortality both for newly emerged bees (50% mortality in 7.2 days) and forager bees (50% mortality in 4.8 days). Honey bee weight of newly emerged bees was decreased after feeding food with a field concentration of acetamiprid and propiconazole, alone or combined for 10 days. Combination of acetamiprid and propiconazole also modulated the activities of P450s, GST and CAT in newly emerged bees and forager bees than either alone, but neither pesticide affected the activity of AChE. These results show that chronic combined exposure to pesticides of relatively low toxicity may caused severely physiological disruptions that could be potentially damaging for the honey bees.

     

A survey of the antibacterial activity of some New Zealand honeys.

To assess the variation in antibacterial activity of honey a survey was carried out on 345 samples of unpasteurized honey obtained from commercial apiarists throughout New Zealand. Most of the honeys were considered to be monofloral, from 26 different floral sources. The honeys were tested against Staphylococcus aureus in an agar well diffusion assay, with reference to phenol as a standard. Antibacterial activity was found to range from the equivalent of less than 2% (w/v) phenol to 58% (w/v) phenol, with a median of 13.6 and a standard deviation of 12.5. Neither the age of the honey samples nor whether they had been processed by the apiarist was associated with lower activity. However, the difference between floral sources in the antibacterial activity was very highly significant. Kanuka (Kunzea ericoides (A. Rich.) J. Thompson. Family: Myrtaceae), manuka (Leptospermum scoparium J. R. et G. Forst. Family: Myrtaceae), ling heather (Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull. Family: Ericaceae) and kamahi (Weinmannia racemosa Linn. f. Family: Cunoniaceae) were shown to be sources likely to give honey with high antibacterial activity. When antibacterial activity was assayed with catalase added to remove hydrogen peroxide, most of the honeys showed no detectable antibacterial activity. Only manuka and vipers bugloss (Echium vulgare L. Family: Boraginaceae) honeys showed this type of activity in a significant proportion of the samples. The high antibacterial activity of manuka honey was in many cases due entirely to this non-peroxide component.     

顶空固相微萃取-气质联用技术分析白前及其炮制品挥发性成分

目的:分析并比较白前与蜜炙白前挥发性成分的差异。方法:采用顶空固相微萃取法(HS-SPME)结合气质联用技术(GC-MS)对白前及其炮制品挥发性成分进行分析鉴定,用峰面积归一化法计算各成分的相对百分含量。结果:分别从白前和其蜜炙品挥发性成分中分离鉴定出38,43成分,分别占总挥发性成分的88.39%、84.76%。两者共有成分有12个,分别占总挥发性成分总量的16.24%、25.59%。生品中含量最高的是桉油精(20.64%);蜜炙品中含量最高的是戊酮酸乙酯(8.22%)。结论:白前及蜜炙白前的挥发性成分种类和含量差异较大。本实验为进一步研究开发白前及其蜜炙品的挥发性成分提供参考依据。     

Composition and therapeutic utility of conotoxins from genus Conus. Patent status 1996 - 2000

With an exponentially increasing body of scientific evidence pointing toward the potential of conotoxins for treatment of a wide variety of nervous system and associated neurological disorders, there has been an explosion of activity in this patent area with more than eighty new patents and PCT publications in the past five years. With the emergence of ziconotide (SNX-111, ω-conotoxin MVIIA) as the first clinically used conotoxin for treatment of a neurological disorder, the first part of the new millennium is likely to see many more new filings in this field. The majority of the applications from this period focus on those classes of conopeptides that interact with nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) together with those that block voltage-gated ion channels. This arena has to date been dominated by three research groups: Neurex (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elan, South San Francisco, CA, USA), Xenome and the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), University of Queensland (Melbourne, Australia) and Cognetix (Salt Lake City, UT, USA) together with the University of Utah Research Foundation and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (La Jolla, CA, USA).     

Evaluation of honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos Linn.) gum as sustaining material in tablet dosage forms

In this study, honey locust gum (HLG) obtained from Gleditsia triacanthos (honey locust) beans was investigated as a hydrophilic matrix material in the tablets prepared at different concentrations (5% and 10%) by wet granulation method. Theophylline was chosen as a model drug. The matrix tablets containing hydroxyethylcellulose and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose as sustaining polymers at the same concentrations were prepared and a commercial sustained release (CSR) tablet containing 200 mg theophylline was examined for comparison of HLG performance. Physical analysis on CSR tablet, matrix tablets and their granules before compression were performed. According to the results obtained from dissolution studies in distilled water, pH 1.2 HCl buffer and pH 7.2 phosphate buffer, no significant difference was found between CSR tablet and the matrix tablet containing 10% HLG in each medium (P > 0.05) and these tablets showed zero-order kinetic model in all the mediums.