Toxicity of synthetic flavorings, nature identical and artificial, to hematopoietic tissue cells of rodents / Toxicidade de aromatizantes alimentares sintéticos idênticos aos naturais e artificiais a células de tecido hematopoiético de roedores

Abstract The goal of this study was to analyze cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and mutagenicity to bone marrow cells of mice of nature identical synthetic flavorings, passion fruit and strawberry, and artificial synthetic flavorings, vanilla, chocolate, tutti-frutti and cookie, at doses 0.5; 1.0; 2.0; 5.0 and 10.0 mL/kg. The additives were given to the animals by gavage in a single daily application for seven days. Data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by post Tukey's post hoc test, p <0.05. Animals treated with 2.0; 5.0 and 10.0 mL/Kg of flavorings chocolate, strawberry and cookie, and 5.0 and 10.0 mL/Kg of flavorings vanilla and passion fruit died on the fifth and sixth day of the experiment, respectively. The doses 0.5 and 1.0 mL/Kg of the six additives significantly reduced erythropoiesis in the examined tissue. Also, treatments 0.5 and 1.0 mL/Kg of chocolate, and 1.0 mL/Kg of strawberry and biscuit induced the formation of micronuclei in the bone marrow erythrocytes, at a significant frequency. Therefore, under the study conditions, the six microingredients analyzed were cytotoxic and genotoxic, and additives strawberry, chocolate and cookie were also mutagenic in at least one of the evaluated doses.

Resumo Os aromatizantes são essenciais para a indústria na confecção de alimentos industrializados. Porém, pouco se sabe sobre o potencial tóxico desses microingredientes alimentares. Dessa forma, objetivou-se neste trabalho analisar, em células de medula óssea de camundongos, a citotoxicidade, genotoxicidade e mutagenicidade de aromatizantes alimentares sintéticos idênticos ao natural, de maracujá e morango, e artificiais, de baunilha, chocolate, tutti-frutti e biscoito, nas doses 0,5; 1,0; 2,0; 5,0 e 10,0 mL/Kg. Os aditivos foram administrados aos animais via gavagem em aplicação diária única durante sete dias. Os dados obtidos foram submetidos ao procedimento estatístico ANOVA com pós teste de Tukey, com p < 0.05. Os animais tratados com 2,0; 5,0 e 10,0 mL/Kg dos aromatizantes de chocolate, morango e biscoito, e 5,0 e 10,0 mL/Kg dos aromatizantes de baunilha e maracujá vieram a óbito no quinto e sexto dia de experimento, respectivamente. As doses 0,5 e 1,0 mL/Kg dos seis aditivos reduziram significativamente a eritropoiese do tecido analisado. Ainda, os tratamentos 0,5 e 1,0 mL/kg de chocolate, e 1,0 mL/Kg de morango e biscoito induziram a formação de micronúcleos aos eritrócitos de medula em frequência significante. Portanto, nas condições de estudo estabelecidas, os seis microingredientes analisados foram citotóxico e genotóxicos, e os aditivos de morango, chocolate e biscoito também foram mutagênicos em pelo menos uma das doses avaliadas.

On the design of a MEMS piezoelectric accelerometer coupled to the middle ear as an implantable sensor for hearing devices.

The presence of external elements is a major limitation of current hearing aids and cochlear implants, as they lead to discomfort and inconvenience. Totally implantable hearing devices have been proposed as a solution to mitigate these constraints, which has led to challenges in designing implantable sensors. This work presents a feasibility analysis of a MEMS piezoelectric accelerometer coupled to the ossicular chain as an alternative sensor. The main requirements of the sensor include small size, low internal noise, low power consumption, and large bandwidth. Different designs of MEMS piezoelectric accelerometers were modeled using Finite Element (FE) method, as well as optimized for high net charge sensitivity. The best design, a 2 × 2 mm2 annular configuration with a 500 nm thick Aluminum Nitride (AlN) layer was selected for fabrication. The prototype was characterized, and its charge sensitivity and spectral acceleration noise were found to be with good agreement to the FE model predictions. Weak coupling between a middle ear FE model and the prototype was considered, resulting in equivalent input noise (EIN) lower than 60 dB sound pressure level between 600 Hz and 10 kHz. These results are an encouraging proof of concept for the development of MEMS piezoelectric accelerometers as implantable sensors for hearing devices.

Toxicity of synthetic flavorings, nature identical and artificial, to hematopoietic tissue cells of rodents.

The goal of this study was to analyze cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and mutagenicity to bone marrow cells of mice of nature identical synthetic flavorings, passion fruit and strawberry, and artificial synthetic flavorings, vanilla, chocolate, tutti-frutti and cookie, at doses 0.5; 1.0; 2.0; 5.0 and 10.0 mL/kg. The additives were given to the animals by gavage in a single daily application for seven days. Data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by post Tukey's post hoc test, p <0.05. Animals treated with 2.0; 5.0 and 10.0 mL/Kg of flavorings chocolate, strawberry and cookie, and 5.0 and 10.0 mL/Kg of flavorings vanilla and passion fruit died on the fifth and sixth day of the experiment, respectively. The doses 0.5 and 1.0 mL/Kg of the six additives significantly reduced erythropoiesis in the examined tissue. Also, treatments 0.5 and 1.0 mL/Kg of chocolate, and 1.0 mL/Kg of strawberry and biscuit induced the formation of micronuclei in the bone marrow erythrocytes, at a significant frequency. Therefore, under the study conditions, the six microingredients analyzed were cytotoxic and genotoxic, and additives strawberry, chocolate and cookie were also mutagenic in at least one of the evaluated doses.

Comparison of two bioelectrical impedance devices and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry to evaluate body composition in heart failure.

BACKGROUND: The utilisation of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) in heart failure can be affected by many factors and its applicability remains controversial. The present study aimed to verify the adequacy of single-frequency BIA (SF-BIA) and multifrequency BIA (MF-BIA) compared to dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) for evaluating body composition in outpatients with heart failure. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 55 patients with stable heart failure and left ventricle ejection fraction ≤45% were evaluated for fat mass percentage, fat mass and fat-free mass by DEXA and compared with the results obtained by SF-BIA (single frequency of 50 kHz) and MF-BIA (frequencies of 20 and 100 kHz). RESULTS: MF-BIA and DEXA gave similar mean values for fat mass percentage, fat mass and fat-free mass, whereas values from SF-BIA were significantly different from DEXA. Both SF-BIA and MF-BIA measures of body composition correlated strongly with DEXA (r > 0.8; P < 0.001), except for fat mass assessed by SF-BIA, which showed a moderate correlation (r = 0.760; P < 0.001). MF-BIA also showed a better agreement with DEXA by Bland-Altman analysis in all measurements. However, both types of equipment showed wide limits of agreement and a significant relationship between variance and bias (Pitmans's test P > 0.05), except MF-BIA for fat-free mass. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with DEXA, MF-BIA showed better accuracy than SF-BIA, although both types of equipment showed wide limits of agreement. The BIA technique should be used with caution, and regression equations might be useful for correcting the observed variations, mainly in extreme values of body composition.