Foodborne mycotoxins are widespread environmental exposures, but their contribution to human kidney disease remains uncertain. This critical narrative review distinguishes food contamination, human internal exposure, experimental nephrotoxicity, and human renal outcomes and proposes an evidence-atlas framework that does not equate geographic overlap with causation. Quantitative examples illustrate the differences between evidence domains: in one Kenyan survey of 200 milled-rice samples, citrinin (CIT) and ochratoxin A (OTA) were detected in 55.5% and 30%, respectively, with reported ranges of 0–9 and 0–110 µg/kg across all samples. Human biomonitoring studies report frequent internal exposure, but exposure detection alone does not establish renal injury. Human renal studies are heterogeneous: one Taiwanese analysis reported an association between 24-h OTA excretion and proteinuria (N = 85; r = 0.303; p = 0.006), whereas a Polish comparison found no significant difference in mean serum OTA between 88 dialysis patients and 16 controls (0.75 versus 0.70 ng/mL). Experimental studies support toxin-specific mechanisms involving impaired antioxidant defense, mitochondrial disturbance, lipid-peroxide injury, and endoplasmic-reticulum stress, but tested doses and durations often differ from usual dietary exposure. Reverse causation, altered renal elimination, co-exposures, assay specificity, and inconsistent endpoints limit causal inference. The proposed atlas separates food-occurrence, biomonitoring, and renal-outcome evidence, while evaluating experimental mechanisms independently. Prospective studies integrating dietary assessment, repeated biomonitoring, and renal outcomes are needed to test temporality and dose–response outcome.
Data relating the plant-available soil fraction of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) to their concentrations in crops are scarce for agricultural land in the industrial regions of Central Asia. This descriptive field survey compares Cd, Pb, Cu, and Zn extracted from the arable horizon with ammonium acetate buffer (pH 4.8) with their concentrations in the roots, stems, leaves, and harvested organs of crops grown on four fields in East Kazakhstan, with a fifth field as a comparison location. Each field carried a different crop and was represented by composite samples, so no between-field difference is attributed to a source. Extractable concentrations were below national hygienic limits for Cd, Pb, Zn, Ni, Cr, and Co, whereas Cu exceeded its limit at three fields by factors of 1.1–1.6. In contrast, Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd exceeded crop- and organ-specific reference ranges in 29, 27, 27, and 24 of 29 tissue samples, respectively, and tissue Cd increased from summer to autumn in all four paired fields (1.6–2.7-fold). Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 vegetation indices followed crop phenology. The results provide a regional baseline and specify the replicated design required for confirmatory sampling.
The widely used phthalimide fungicide captan and its major metabolite tetrahydrop- hthalimide (THPI) are frequently detected in aquatic environments; however, their neurotoxic effects remain unclear. In this study, a multiple-life-stage Danio rerio (zebrafish) model was used to assess the developmental and neurobehavioral toxicity of captan and THPI. Zebrafish embryos were exposed to captan (1, 10, and 100 µg/L) and THPI (100 µg/L); developmental endpoints and spontaneous locomotor activity were subsequently evaluated. Although exposure to concentrations ≤100 µg/L did not significantly affect early development, it significantly inhibited locomotor activity (p < 0.05). Behavioral assays revealed that captan produced a biphasic dose-response effect on anxiety-like behavior and an adaptive response in memory. Captan exposure also significantly altered the expression of neurodevelopment-related genes, including mbpa, shha, and gap43. These findings reveal nonmonotonic dose-response effects of captan on zebrafish and demonstrate that THPI exerts independent neurotoxic effects. This study provides a scientific basis for improving aquatic ecological risk and environmental safety assessments of captan and highlights the need to consider the independent neurotoxicity of its metabolite THPI.
Long-term occupational exposure to multiple metals in mining environments may be associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD), but the associations between mixed metal exposure and CKD remain insufficiently characterized. A nested case–control study was conducted within the Jinchang Cohort, established in 2011 among workers with long-term multi-metal exposure at Jinchuan Group Co., Ltd. Among eligible cohort members, 1000 incident CKD cases identified at the third follow-up were compared with 1000 controls randomly selected from non-diseased cohort members. Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression (BKMR) was used to assess the joint association of mixed metal exposure with CKD, while multivariable logistic regression estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for individual metals. Restricted cubic splines (RCS) were used to evaluate potential nonlinear dose–response relationships. Mixed-metal exposure showed an exposure-dependent pattern, with the estimated association shifting from negative at lower mixture levels to positive at higher exposure levels. Li, Al, Cr, and Ni showed positive associations with CKD, whereas Zn and Se showed inverse associations.
The association between fine particulate matter (PM) exposure and adverse health outcomes is unequivocally established [...]
