Occurrence of aflatoxin M1 in raw milk collected from traditional dairies in Morocco

A survey of the presence of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) was carried out on eight traditional dairies belonging to four sectors of Fez city situated in the northern center of Morocco. Raw milk samples were collected between October 2009 and September 2010, and analyzed by LC-fluorescence detection after immunoaffinity purification. AFM1 was detected in 13 out of 48 samples (27%) at concentrations ranged between 10 and 100 ng/l. Within these positive samples, four (∼8% of the total) were above the European legislation limit of 50 ng/l. This study revealed a variation of contamination from one sector to another with a higher incidence in milk samples collected in autumn compared to those collected in other seasons suggesting a link between feeding practices, such as the use of silage and AFM1 contamination. This is the first report on AFM1 contamination in raw milk directly collected from Moroccan traditional dairies. The levels of contamination found justify more detailed and continuous monitoring to assess the public health implication and reduce consumers’ exposure to AFM1.     

Molecular detection and quantification of pertussis and correlation with clinical outcomes in children

Pertussis is an under-recognized serious infection. Conventional cultures are insensitive and of limited utility after antibiotic exposure. We corroborated the utility of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as a diagnostic tool in pertussis and investigated its role as a prognostic tool by evaluating its benefit in the quantification of pertussis bacterial load. All pertussis-positive PCR tests (n = 104) submitted over 5 years were collected for retrospective study. PCR cycle threshold was compared to quantitative culture in 43. Compared to PCR, the sensitivity of culture was 41%. Our PCR assay reliably quantified bacterial load and was quantitatively reproducible. Higher bacterial load correlated with longer duration of hospitalization (P = 0.0003), and multivariate logistic regression models demonstrated this association to be independent. The study confirmed PCR as a superior diagnostic tool in pertussis. PCR quantification of bacterial load at initial diagnosis predicts later clinical disease severity, suggesting a potential benefit of PCR as a prognostic tool in pertussis.     

Comparative study between atorvastatin and losartan on high fat diet‐induced type 2 diabetes mellitus in rats

Obesity is often associated with chronic inflammatory state which contributes to the development of insulin resistance (IR) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This study investigated the effects of single and combined administration of atorvastatin (ATOR, lipid‐lowering drug) and losartan (LOS, angiotensin receptor antagonist) on metabolic disorders and inflammatory status that are implicated in the development of T2DM with the use of pioglitazone (PIO) as a standard antidiabetic drug. T2DM was induced in male rats by high‐fat diet (HFD) feeding for 16 weeks. Oral administrations of ATOR (10 mg/kg), LOS (20 mg/kg), PIO (3 mg/kg), their binary combinations, or vehicle were started in the last 4 weeks. Fasting serum glucose, oral glucose tolerance, fasting serum insulin, IR, serum lipid profile, serum TNF‐α and body composition index were determined. Results showed that all drugs and their combinations had positive impact effect on all measured parameters, and better results were achieved from binary drug combinations than administration of each drug alone. Combination of PIO with either ATOR or LOS provided better improvements on T2DM‐associated metabolic abnormalities and inflammatory status with respect to each drug alone. However, the most pronounced effects of drugs and their combinations regarding the above parameters were attributed to LOS + PIO combination. In conclusion, this study indicates that combination of ATOR + PIO and, in particular, LOS + PIO can be used as promising effective therapies in the management of HFD‐induced T2DM. This concept may be attributed to the combined effects of the respective monotherapies to improve lipid profile, insulin sensitivity, and TNF‐α level.