Paprika is susceptible to contamination by naturally occurring mycotoxins and economically motivated adulteration with illegal synthetic dyes, posing potential food safety concerns. This study investigated the occurrence of four aflatoxins (AFs), ochratoxin A (OTA), and 13 unauthorised synthetic dyes in 105 unbranded bulk paprika samples collected from retail spice shops in Türkiye using validated HPLC-FLD and LC-MS/MS methods. AFB1 was the predominant mycotoxin, detected in 70.5% of samples, whereas OTA occurred in 26.7%. Regulatory exceedances for AFB1 were limited, and no sample exceeded the European Union maximum level for OTA. Among the prohibited dyes analysed, Sudan I and Sudan IV were detected in 5.7% and 1% of samples, respectively. Under the upper-bound scenario, deterministic margin of exposure (MOE) values were 38,531 for AFB1 and 1,578,678 for OTA. The probabilistic assessment yielded 5th percentile MOE values of 10,535 and 377,691 for AFB1 and OTA, respectively. All reported MOE values exceeding the reference threshold of 10,000. These findings suggest a low level of public health concern for dietary exposure to AFs and OTA through paprika consumption, while highlighting the need for continued monitoring of mycotoxins and illegal dyes to ensure food safety and product authenticity.
The construction sector in South America is a driver of economic growth, but faces increasing pressure to address resource scarcity and environmental challenges. In response, the circular economy (CE) concept has gained traction as a framework for sustainable transformation. This study investigates the adoption of the CE model among major construction companies operating in South America. A total of 65 sustainability reports from 13 companies were analyzed to identify CE practices and indicators implemented across the building life cycle stages: pre-design and design, manufacturing, construction, operation and use, and end of life. The analysis also tracks impacts over time. Results reveal that companies prioritize the end-of-life stage, followed by pre-design and design, operation and use, and construction; manufacturing is the least addressed stage. Practices include improving the quality of recovered materials, reusing in-situ concrete, advancing circular supply chains, and applying both building information modeling and pre-assembly, prefabrication, and modularization methodologies. Measurement, however, remains a key challenge. Circularity indicators are primarily reported during the pre-design and design, construction, and end-of-life stages. While impacts vary across companies, some reports demonstrate improvements in water efficiency, recycling rates, and waste reuse. Overall, findings suggest a growing adoption of circular practices; nonetheless, the integration of circularity indicators remains incipient and highly heterogeneous across companies. This research contributes to the understanding of circularity in South American construction and provides insights to advance practice.
In light of global efforts to advance a circular economy for plastics, this study examines Latin America’s transition through three core objectives. First, it analyzes secondary data on plastic production and consumption and the generation, mismanagement, and transboundary trade of plastic waste. Second, it scrutinizes government-led initiatives across the region based on official policy documents. Third, it conducts a SWOT analysis, evaluating the initiatives’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to assess the current landscape of circular product design and business models, as well as their potential to mitigate the environmental impacts of the triple planetary crisis. Findings reveal that plastic production, consumption, and waste are steadily increasing in the region, while waste management and sustainable trade remain insufficient. The circular economy for plastics has gained traction through national strategies, roadmaps, and legal instruments. Its adoption has been notable in Chile and Uruguay, but negligent in several countries. Governments are supporting research into recycled materials and polymer innovation, yet policy gaps persist around microplastics and harmful additives in plastic product design. Most initiatives prioritize circular supply chains and resource recovery business models, while giving limited attention to other models and the underlying drivers and barriers. Furthermore, initiatives often address plastic pollution with weak linkages to climate change and biodiversity loss. This research strengthens the understanding and implementation of actions positioning circular design as pivotal to reducing plastic waste at the source, circular business models as catalysts for low-carbon economies, and the fight against the triple planetary crisis as an environmental objective of circular economy initiatives.
BACKGROUND:There is limited evidence regarding the safety and efficacy of advanced hybrid closed-loop (AHCL) systems during the perioperative period. Specific management guidelines for these systems are lacking. OBJECTIVE:To describe glycemic control metrics in patients with AHCL system during the intraoperative and postoperative periods. METHODS:Analytical study based on a prospective cohort of adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) or type 2 diabetes who are treated with AHCL system (MiniMed™780G, Medtronic, USA) and are undergoing surgical procedures. The study compared time in range (%TIR) between 70 and 180 mg/dL, time below range (%TBR) <70 and <54 mg/dL, time above range (%TAR) >180 and >250 mg/dL, and time in normoglycemia range (%TINR) between 70 and 140 mg/dL during the intraoperative, immediate postoperative, and late postoperative periods, with baseline measurements. RESULTS:The analysis included 15 patients (86% T1D; 55.4 ± 16.3 years) and 17 surgical procedures (70% elective; mean duration 65.3 ± 36.3 min). Baseline data obtained 24 h prior to the admission: %TIR 78.4 ± 17.5%, %TINR 58.6 ± 22.9%, and %TBR <70 mg/dL 3.7 ± 4.2%. During the intraoperative period, %TIR increased to 99.6 ± 1.5% (P < 0.001), and %TBR <70 mg/dL decreased to 0 (P < 0.001). %TAR >180 mg/dL decreased from 17.8 ± 16.8% to 0.1 ± 1.5% (P < 0.001). No hypoglycemic events <70 mg/dL or <54 mg/dL were documented in the intraoperative and immediate postoperative periods. No severe adverse events related to device use were recorded. CONCLUSIONS:During the perioperative period, continuing insulin infusion using AHCL system is feasible, maintaining high levels of %TIR and %TINR, without hypoglycemia or serious adverse events. Randomized clinical trials are needed to compare the use of this technology with usual care.
Preclinical evaluations of glycaemic control algorithms often rely on simulators that underestimate real-world metabolic variability, leading to overly optimistic performance assessments. A novel type 1 diabetes (T1D) simulation framework, DT1-UAN v2, was developed to generate physiologically realistic and adaptive scenarios for an improved assessment of insulin therapies. DT1-UAN v2 integrates two disturbances of intrapatient variability: eight stochastically parameterised insulin sensitivity (SI) patterns and sixty data-driven profiles for the rate of blood glucose appearance (Ra). Incorporating these features exposed vulnerabilities in insulin therapies that previously relied on static physiological parameters. In silico trials on virtual T1D subjects, under both openand closed-loop therapies, revealed contrasts between outcomes obtained with DT1-UAN v2 and the earlier DT1UAN v1. One particular test showed that a well-known closed-loop control therapy produced inferior performances (-17.57% in TIR or + 121.78% in TAR) under a set of realistic and altered conditions defined in v2 compared to v1. Control strategies that appeared effective in non-realistic scenarios often produced different results in the enhanced framework, uncovering underestimated risks of post-prandial hypoglycaemia or sustained hyperglycaemia. These findings demonstrate that incorporating realistic SI and Ra variability is essential for rigorous preclinical testing, as simplified models can conceal clinically relevant risks. The proposed framework provides a valuable tool for identifying hidden design flaws and enabling the development of more adaptive, and safer control strategies for people with T1D. This enhanced realism provides a critical foundation for testing and optimising personalised insulin treatments.
