scholarly journals Mosquito Mapper: a phone application to map urban mosquitoes

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camille S.E. Guilbaud ◽  
Théophile G.D.P.V. Guilbaud

AbstractThis paper presents mosquito mapper: an android phone application created with the goal of giving science-driven citizens the means to monitor mosquito populations in an urban environment. Mosquito mapper allows the recording of mosquito encounters as well as conditions surrounding the encounter. It also features a rudimentary identification tool. The goal of the application is to create a database and construct a map of the encounters free to consult for citizens and scientists. Such database constitutes a necessary first step for the development of useful management strategies addressing potential human health threats induced by mosquitoes. The citizen scientist may voluntarily provide other additional information on the circumstances of the encounter that may contain scientifically useful information. We describe the current features of the application, discuss their strength, limits, potential scientific value and suggest possible future extensions. The original city for which the application was developed is Berlin, Germany, but the application is coded in such a way that it is easily applicable to any urban environment.

2021 ◽  
pp. 118722
Author(s):  
Okeke Emmanuel Sunday ◽  
Ezeorba Timothy Prince Chidike ◽  
Guanghua Mao ◽  
Yao Chen ◽  
Weiwei Feng ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harshad Vijay Kulkarni ◽  
◽  
Michael Vega ◽  
Karen Johannesson ◽  
Robert Taylor ◽  
...  

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 783
Author(s):  
Feifei Chen ◽  
Leihua Yao ◽  
Gang Mei ◽  
Yinsheng Shang ◽  
Fansheng Xiong ◽  
...  

Groundwater is a valuable water source for drinking and irrigation purposes in semiarid regions. Groundwater pollution may affect human health if it is not pretreated and provided for human use. This study investigated the hydrochemical characteristics driving groundwater quality for drinking and irrigation purposes and potential human health risks in the Xinzhou Basin, Shanxi Province, North China. More specifically, we first investigated hydrochemical characteristics using a descriptive statistical analysis method. We then classified the hydrochemical types and analyzed the evolution mechanisms of groundwater using Piper and Gibbs diagrams. Finally, we appraised the groundwater quality for drinking and irrigation purposes using the entropy water quality index (EWQI). We assessed the associated human health risks for different age and sex groups through drinking intake and dermal contact pathways. Overall, we found that (1) Ca-HCO3 and Ca·Mg-HCO3 were the dominant hydrochemical types and were mainly governed by rock weathering and water–rock interactions. (2) Based on the EWQI classifications, 67.74% of the groundwater samples were classified as medium quality and acceptable for drinking purpose. According to the values of sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), residual sodium carbonate (RSC) and soluble sodium percentage (%Na), 90.32% of the samples were suitable for irrigation, while the remaining samples were unfit for irrigation because of the high salinity in the groundwater. (3) Some contaminants in the groundwater, such as NO3−, NO2− and F−, exceeded the standard limits and may cause potential risks to human health. Our work presented in this paper could establish reasonable management strategies for sustainable groundwater quality protection to protect public health.


Toxins ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Dipendra Kumar Mahato ◽  
Sheetal Devi ◽  
Shikha Pandhi ◽  
Bharti Sharma ◽  
Kamlesh Kumar Maurya ◽  
...  

Mycotoxins represent an assorted range of secondary fungal metabolites that extensively occur in numerous food and feed ingredients at any stage during pre- and post-harvest conditions. Zearalenone (ZEN), a mycotoxin categorized as a xenoestrogen poses structural similarity with natural estrogens that enables its binding to the estrogen receptors leading to hormonal misbalance and numerous reproductive diseases. ZEN is mainly found in crops belonging to temperate regions, primarily in maize and other cereal crops that form an important part of various food and feed. Because of the significant adverse effects of ZEN on both human and animal, there is an alarming need for effective detection, mitigation, and management strategies to assure food and feed safety and security. The present review tends to provide an updated overview of the different sources, occurrence and biosynthetic mechanisms of ZEN in various food and feed. It also provides insight to its harmful effects on human health and agriculture along with its effective detection, management, and control strategies.


Author(s):  
PA Ganichev

Introduction: Polymer products have become inexpensive, convenient and widely used in all spheres of everyday life recently. Microplastics are found in seawater, wastewater, fresh water, foodstuffs, and air. Over the past few years, the presence of microplastics in treated tap and bottled water has been reported, raising questions and concerns about their potential human health effects. Objective: To summarize and systematize the results of studying health effects of exposure to microplastics in potable water. Materials and methods: A literature review was done based on ten topical articles and reviews published in 2014–2021 out of 64 sources found in the PubMed and Scopus international databases and the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI). Results and conclusions: Generalization and systematization of the published research data demonstrated the lack of strong evidence to draw conclusions about human health effects of microplastics. Information on toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics of ingested microplastic particles is absent just like the studies of the most common shapes and sizes of plastic particles and health risks from exposure to such particles in drinking water.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tasneem Sarwar ◽  
Sardar Khan ◽  
Said Muhammad ◽  
Javed Nawab ◽  
Shehla Amin ◽  
...  

Abstract Arsenic (As) is one of the toxic metalloids therefore can cause health risk in the consumers through consumption of contaminated food and rice. The current study focused on As speciation in rice, bioavailability, mechanisms and its potential human health risk. For this purpose, rice and soil samples were collected from 16 different districts (non-mining and mining) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan). Soil physicochemical characteristic such as texture, electrical conductivity (EC), organic matter (OM), pH, iron (Fe) and phosphorus (P) were determined. Total arsenic (AsT) concentrations were analyzed using ICP-MS, while the arsenite (As3+), arsenate (As5+), arsenobetine (BAs), dimethylarsenic (DMA) and monomethyl arsenic (MMA) were determined by HPLC–ICP-MS method. Results showed the highest AsT (0.28 mg/kg) was observed in the rice samples of DI Khan District and lowest (0.06 mg/kg) in Shangla District. However, these findings were found within the permissible limits set by various authorities. Furthermore, results showed higher concentrations of inorganic As (Asi) than organic As (Aso) species in rice. The estimated daily intake (EDI) and incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILTCR) were used to evaluate the potential human health risk for As consumption in rice. Results revealed that the rice samples collected from the district having mining activities had higher value of As (0.28 mg/kg of AsT) as compared to non-mining (0.072 mg/kg of AsT). The highest ILTCR value (0.00196) was observed for rice collected from mining districts. This study revealed that mining activities have great influence on the As contamination of soil and grown rice. This study recommends the soil amendment in districts having mining activities to lower As availability in soil and its bioaccumulation in growing rice that will help to keep lower the potential risk.


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