The Prevalence of Marine Lipophilic Phycotoxins Causes Potential Risks in a Tropical Small Island Developing State.

Tropical small island developing states (SIDS), with their geographical isolation and limited resources, heavily rely on the fisheries industry for food and revenue. The presence of marine lipophilic phycotoxins (MLPs) poses risks to their economy and human health. To understand the contamination status and potential risks, the Republic of Kiribati was selected as the representative tropical SIDS and 55 species of 256 coral reef fish encompassing multiple trophic levels and feeding strategies were collected to analyze 17 typical MLPs. Our results showed that the potential risks of ciguatoxins were the highest and approximately 62% of fish species may pose risks for consumers. Biomagnification of ciguatoxins was observed in the food web with a trophic magnification factor of 2.90. Brevetoxin-3, okadaic acid, and dinophysistoxin-1 and -2 were first reported, but the risks posed by okadaic acid and dinophysistoxins were found to be negligible. The correlation analysis revealed that fish body size and trophic position are unreliable metrics to indicate the associated risks and prevent the consumption of contaminated fish. The potential risks of MLPs in Kiribati are of concern, and our findings can serve as valuable inputs for developing food safety policies and fisheries management strategies specific to tropical SIDS contexts.

The relationship of personality, alexithymia, anxiety symptoms, and odor awareness: a mediation analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Personality, emotions, and olfaction exhibit partial anatomical overlap in the limbic system structure, establishing potential mechanisms between personality, affective disorders, and olfactory-related aspects. Thus, this study aims to investigate the associations among the Big Five personality traits, alexithymia, anxiety symptoms, and odor awareness. METHODS: A total of 863 college participants were recruited for this study. All participants completed the Chinese Big Five Personality Inventory-15, the Odor Awareness Scale (OAS), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener-7. Structural equation modeling was employed to examine the hypothesized mediated model. RESULTS: The findings revealed the majority of significant intercorrelations among the dimensions of the Big Five personality traits, alexithymia, anxiety symptoms, and OAS (|r| = 0.072-0.567, p < 0.05). Alexithymia and anxiety symptoms exhibited a serial mediation effect between neuroticism and OAS (95%CI[0.001, 0.014]), conscientiousness and OAS (95%CI[-0.008, -0.001]), and extraversion and OAS (95%CI[-0.006, -0.001]). Anxiety symptoms mediated the relationship between agreeableness and OAS (95%CI[-0.023, -0.001]) and between openness and OAS (95%CI [0.004, 0.024]). CONCLUSION: The mediating roles of alexithymia and anxiety symptoms between the Big Five personality traits and odor awareness support the idea of a certain level of association among personality, emotions, and olfaction, with the underlying role of the limbic system structure. This enhances our understanding of personality, emotions, and olfaction and provides insights for future intervention measures for affective disorders and olfactory dysfunctions.

Slope on proximal tibiofibular articular surface with 3-D reconstruction by 64-slice computed tomography on human.

OBJECTIVE: Using 64-slice spiral CT to reconstruct virtual knee joints of adults, we measured the gradient of proximal tibia-fibular joint and compared this result with bare joint measurement. We then discuss the accuracy of these measurements using a 64-slice spiral CT. METHODS: Two hundred healthy adults were selected, including 100 males and 100 females, aged from 18 to 90 years. The gradient of the longitudinal axis of the fibula and the articular surface, and the angle of horizon of the proximal tibia-fibular articular surface and the horizontal line were measured by using a 64-slice spiral CT scan. RESULTS: The angle between the longitudinal axis of the fibula and the articular surface (angle A) was 56.80° ± 6.59°, both the left and the right fibula showed no significant difference (t = 0.308, P = 0.758). The angle between horizontal line and the articular surface (angle B) was 32.80° ± 6.49°. The regression or correlation analysis findings showed that there is a negative relationship (r = -0.952, P = 0.000), and there is significant difference (t = 51.87, P < 0.01) between the angle A and the angle B. CONCLUSION: The measurement value of using 64-slice spiral CT to reconstruct the slope of proximal tibia-fibular joints has no difference compared to the measurement value of the slope of bare proximal tibia-fibular joints. It is a precise, convenient method and is easy to apply for clinical study.