Jolocam Mbabazi

Principles and Methods for the Risk Assessment of Chemicals in Food

a joint publication of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization, WHO Press, Geneva, Switzerland, 2009, 689 pp., US

Assessment of cyanobacteria toxins in freshwater fish: A case study of Murchison Bay (Lake Victoria) and Lake Mburo, Uganda

80.00/US

DDT in indoor residual spraying: human health aspects

56.00 in developing ...

Heavy metal contamination in vegetables cultivated on a major urban wetland inlet drainage system of Lake Victoria, Uganda

There is little information on the distribution of microcystins (MCs) in Oreochromis niloticus (ON) and Lates niloticus (LN) obtained from L. Mburo and Murchison Bay of L. Victoria. These fishes are harvested and sold both for local human consumption and for export. The presence of MC-RR, MC-LR and MC-YR in different organs (gut, muscle and liver) was determined using Liquid Chromatography coupled with a Mass Spectrometry Detector (LC/MS/MS). The total MCs in ON gut, muscle and liver were 1312.08, 208.65 and 73.10 ng g(-1) from L. Mburo and 1479.24, 9.65 and 48.07 ng g(-1) from Murchison Bay, respectively, while for LN from Murchison Bay they were 27.78, 1.86 and 3.74 ng g(-1). Generally, in both lakes, MC-RR was the most dominant followed by MC-YR and MC-LR, respectively. Gut showed a high MC content, followed by liver and muscle, in that order. The presence of MCs in muscle indicated possible fish contamination, which implied that it was possible to transfer the toxins to humans who are at the end of the food chain. This poses a risk to them since the MCs are heat stable. The local authorities should warn the public of the risk of possible poisoning by eating the contaminated fish.

Speciation of heavy metals in water from the Uganda side of Lake Victoria

Svjetska zdravstvena organizacija periodično evaluira podatke o diklordifeniltrikloretanu (DDT) u okviru programa Environmental Health Criteria (EHC) ili sastanaka Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR). Publikacija iznosi nove podatke o procjeni rizika za ljudsko zdravlje, s naglaskom na uporabu DDT-a u zatvorenim prostorima za sprečavanje širenja bolesti. Prikazane su nove procjene opasnosti od DDT-a, kao i nove publicirane znanstvene informacije prethodnih procjena WHO-a. Navodi se procjena izloženosti ljudi DDT-u i njegovim metabolitima koja proizlazi iz prethodnih poljoprivrednih aktivnosti i zatim iz raspršivanja u zatvorenim prostorima. Procjena rizika zaokružena je izvještajem stručnjaka Svjetske zdravstvene organizacije o karakterizaciji rizika koji se temelji na procjeni opasnosti i izloženosti. U ovoj publikaciji, u prvom dijelu A prikazan je izvještaj sastanka stručnjaka Svjetske zdravstvene organizacije o karakterizaciji rizika od DDT-a, a u drugom dijelu B prikazane su procjene opasnosti i izloženosti na temelju kojih je karakterizacija rizika od DDT-a određena. Prvi dio A sastoji se od dva poglavlja, uvodnog dijela i dijela u kojem se iznose dogovoreni zaključci. Drugi dio B sadržava dvanaest poglavlja u kojima su izneseni podaci o kemijskoj strukturi DDT-a i njegovih metabolita, izvorima sudjelovali u procjeni opasnosti od DDT-a, procjeni izloženosti ljudi DDT-u, karakterizaciji rizika od DDT-a. U četvrtom dijelu prikazano je računanje konverzijskog faktora za izražavanje serumskih razina DDT-a na serumske lipide. U petom dijelu prikazan je radni primjer generičkog modela Svjetske zdravstvene organizacije za izloženost DDT-u tijekom raspršivanja u zatvorenim prostorima.

Contamination by heavy metals in silver fish (Rastreneobola argentea) caught from Lakes Kyoga and Victoria, Uganda.

The population of the Ugandan capital, Kampala, located close to Lake Victoria, appears to be exposed to risk of ingesting the heavy metals Cadmium (Cd) and Lead (Pb) through vegetables in their diet. Lake Victoria is responsible for frequent torrential polluted runoffs in the city. The Nakivubo channel, the city’s major wetland drainage system, empties directly into the lake. Vegetables are grown on the urban wetland soils. Heavy metal content in vegetables from the wetland cultivation sites was determined by wet acid digestion, with 87–92% recovery. The results showed that although the heavy metal levels of manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) were significantly higher than those in similar food crops from rural control sites, only Cd and Pb exceeded the World Health Organisation (WHO) maximum permissible levels. Cd and Pb pose serious human health risks. Early pollution control measures are advisable.

On the chelation of stannate (IV), antimonate(V) and tellurate(VI) anions with cyclic and acyclic hexols

Different forms of copper Cu, zinc Zn, lead Pb and cadmium Cd in water from the Uganda side of Lake Victoria (25°C, pH 6.75–7.18), the second largest inland freshwater lake in the world, have been studied using ion‐exchange, dialysis and atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The results indicate that heavy metals Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd are present mainly in the cationic form (80–83%). Small quantities of anionic (13–22%), non‐ionic, dialyzable (4–8%), and non‐ionic, non‐dialyzable (< 1.3–4.4%) forms were also detected for all metals except Cd. The corresponding concentrations lay in the ranges: cationic, 0.06–0.99; anionic, < 0.001–0.25; non‐ionic, dialyzable, < 0.001–0.08; non‐ionic, non‐dialyzable, < 0.001–0.06 µg ml−1. The existence of the metals in non‐ionic and non‐dialyzable forms is attributable to metal associations with high relative molecular mass (RMM) organic matters.

Sugar complexes of Sn(IV), Sb(V), and Te(VI) hydroxyanions

Little information exists on heavy metal contamination in silver fish (Rastreneobola argentea) caught from Lake Victoria. A large number of Ugandans consume the species. Sun‐dried silver fish were collected from 10 landing sites on Lake Victoria, and from five control sites along Lake Kyoga. The finely ground fish was digested with analytical reagent grade nitric acid. Analyses were performed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The specimens were found to contain significantly higher levels (p ≤ 0.05) of zinc, Zn (86.1%), copper, Cu (99.1%), cadmium, Cd (99.3%) and lead, Pb (94.6%) compared with those from the control sites. The fish contamination was attributed to discharge into Lake Victoria of untreated industrial and anthropogenic effluent. Although mean Zn, Cu and Pb concentrations were still below, those of Cd were higher than the maximum permissible levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Overconsumption of the silver fish could pose Cd‐related health risks.

Nutrient alterations in Nile perch (Lates niloticus) skins owing to various processing and cooking techniques

Abstract Conductimetric, potentiometric and titrimetric studies of aqueous telluric acid at pH 4.8–11.0 in the presence of acyclic hexols show that whereas only 1 : 1 complexes are formed at low pH, 1 : 3 polyol-tellurates exist only in strongly alkaline media. The 1 : 2 chelates behave as transient intermediates. Cyclohexols exclusively form 1 : 1 complexes with stannate(IV), antimonate(V) and tellurate(VI) oxyanions, even at extreme pH conditions.

Forecasting Forest Futures: A Hybrid Modelling Approach to the Assessment of Sustainability of Forest Ecosystems and Their Values

Composition chimique des complexes obtenus avec de tres nombreux carbohydrates. Mesures de conductivite et de rotation optique