ABSTRACT
Insects are commonly eaten by more than two billion people around the world. EFSA's recent approval of Tenebrio molitor larvae as food paves the way for insect consumption in the European Union. The introduction of insects as food in the diet of Western countries could be an environmental- friendly solution to the growing demand for animal proteins over intensive farming. Despite advances in legislation and food safety, there is still a cultural barrier to be overcome, which still considers insects as organisms harmful to agriculture and humans.
ABSTRACT
The pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been responsible for approximately 6.8 million deaths worldwide, threatening more than 753 million individuals. People with severe coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection often exhibit an immunosuppression condition, resulting in greater chances of developing co-infections with bacteria and fungi, including opportunistic yeasts belonging to the Saccharomyces and Candida genera. In the present work, we have reported the case of a 75-year-old woman admitted at a Brazilian university hospital with an arterial ulcer in the left foot, which was being prepared for surgical amputation. The patient presented other underlying diseases and presented positive tests for COVID-19 prior to hospitalization. She received antimicrobial treatment, but her general condition worsened quickly, leading to death by septic shock after 4 days of hospitalization. Blood samples collected on the day she died were positive for yeast-like organisms, which were later identified as Saccharomyces cerevisiae by both biochemical and molecular methods. The fungal strain exhibited low minimal inhibitory concentration values for the antifungal agents tested (amphotericin B, 5-flucytosine, caspofungin, fluconazole and voriconazole), and it was able to produce important virulence factors, such as extracellular bioactive molecules (e.g., aspartic peptidase, phospholipase, esterase, phytase, catalase, hemolysin and siderophore) and biofilm. Despite the activity against planktonic cells, the antifungals were not able to impact the mature biofilm parameters (biomass and viability). Additionally, the S. cerevisiae strain caused the death of Tenebrio molitor larvae, depending on the fungal inoculum, and larvae immunosuppression with corticosteroids increased the larvae mortality rate. In conclusion, the present study highlighted the emergence of S. cerevisiae as an opportunistic fungal pathogen in immunosuppressed patients presenting several severe comorbidities, including COVID-19 infection.
ABSTRACT
The proceedings contain 17 papers. The topics discussed include: associations between food environment and nutritional quality of food purchases in French households: the Mont'Panier cross-sectional study;changes in food purchasing practices of French households during the first COVID-19 lockdown and associated individual and environmental factors;development of insect farming as an option for urban circular bioeconomy: the chemical safety issue;evaluating the impact of a retailer-led pilot at changing consumer behavior;fate of polychlorobiphenyls in the insect Tenebrio molitor: consequences for further use as food and feed;high-school's neighborhood environment in relation with anthropometric indices of girl students living in north-west of Iran;and institutional frameworks for controlled-environment food production systems in urban areas. A comparative analysis of Berlin, London and Nairobi.
ABSTRACT
Many modern human activities rely greatly on plastic foams, whose consumption and production have considerably increased in the past decades. The use of plastic products has had positive impacts on human general welfare;however, the negative effects derived from their inappropriate disposition have become a major concern, especially during the current COVID-19 sanitary emergency, in which the utilization of single-use plastics has rapidly increased. Although some plastic polymers such as polyethylene (PE) and polystyrene (PS) can be recycled, the high demand for energy and technology, the use of potentially toxic substances and the low profitability of the process, make this option non-optimal. In this situation, biological treatment of plastic waste is emerging as a promising alternative and the use of PE and PS-eating organisms, such as mealworms and waxworms, has attracted the attention of researchers around the world. The aim of this review is to synthesize the most recent advances in the field of plastics polymers degradation by insects larvae and an analysis of the current and future trends of this developing research area.