Although most cases of childhood lead poisoning are caused by contaminated paint and dust in older homes, a variety of unusual sources of lead exposure are occasionally found. We report here 2 families whose children were poisoned by lead-contaminated spices that were purchased in foreign countries, brought to the United States, and then used in the preparation of the family's food. Six childre...

Aflatoxins are secondary metabolites of moulds known to be carcinogenic for humans, and therefore should not be ingested in high doses. This study aimed to determine the level of mould and aflatoxin contamination in dehydrated chilli and nutmeg imported from India and Indonesia, respectively, packaged in Italy, and commercialized worldwide. We tested 63 samples of chilli (22 sanitized through h...

Enrichment can increase the complexity of the captive environment and possibly enhance captive animals' well-being by stimulating active behaviors and reducing stereotypical behaviors commonly seen in zoo felids. In this study, three different enrichment items were added to outdoor enclosures of felids at the Montgomery Zoo to test their effects on activity levels and stereotypic pacing. Bones,...

Spices are the most attractive ingredients to confer an authentic taste to food. As they are derived from plants, they harbour allergenic potency and can induce symptoms ranging from mild local to severe systemic reactions. Due to the content of pharmacologically active substances of spices, the diagnosis of allergy and the differentiation from intolerance reactions may be difficult. Associatio...

Ultrasound-assisted micellar extraction of phenolic antioxidants from spices has been developed for the first time. The effect of the surfactant nature and its concentration on the extraction efficiency has been evaluated. Electrogenerated hexacyanoferrate(III) ions have been used as coulometric titrants owing to their selectivity towards phenolic antioxidants. The best recovery of phenolic ant...

The aggregation of amyloid β protein (Aβ) is a key step in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and therefore inhibitory substances for Aβ aggregation may have preventive and/or therapeutic potential for AD. Here we report a novel microliter-scale high-throughput screening system for Aβ aggregation inhibitors based on fluorescence microscopy-imaging technology with quantum-dot Nanoprob...

Indian spices that provide flavor, color, and aroma to food also possess many therapeutic properties. Ancient Indian texts of Ayurveda, an Indian system of medicine, detailed the medicinal properties of these plants and their therapeutic usage. Recent scientific research has established the presence of many active compounds in these spices that are known to possess specific pharmacological prop...

Nine different Indian spices (red chilli, black pepper, turmeric, coriander, cumin, fennel, caraway, fenugreek, and dry ginger) commonly cultivated and highly used in India were analysed for natural occurrence of toxigenic mycoflora and aflatoxins (AFs), ochratoxin A (OTA), and citrinin (CTN) contamination. Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus niger were the most dominant species isolated from al...

In traditional Iranian medicine (TIM), several edible fruits and spices are thought to have protective and healing effects on peptic ulcer (PU). The present study was conducted to verify anti-PU activity of these remedies. For this purpose, edible fruits and spices proposed for the management of PU in TIM were collected from TIM sources, and they were searched in modern medical databases to fin...