August 1998 Volume IV, No.2NEW BOOKS, CHAPTERS, AND REVIEWS The Nova Scotia Institute of Science publishes a LIST OF TOXIC FUNGAL METABOLITES (about 3000), the producing fungi and a reference to the original work. Currently this list covers the period from 1750-1996 and is updated periodically by Dr. A. Taylor. Subject to a small charge by the Institute, the information is available on floppy disks compatible with IBM and MAC platforms. Details have been published in "Proc. N.S. Inst. Sci., 28: 163-170, 1978". Contact: Dr. A. Taylor, 14, Canterbury St., Dartmourh, Nova Scotia, B2Y 1S7, Canada. The special issue of June 1998 Revue de Médecine Vétérinaire, vol. 149, p. 469-715, published the proceedings of the Symposium MYCOTOX 98, MYCOTOXINS IN FOOD CHAIN and is available at a cost of 450 FF. Details on the content have been given separately in this MTNL issue. Send orders to: Mycotox 98, Revue de médecine vétérinaire, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire, 23 Chemin des Cappelles, 31076 Toulouse cedex 3, France. Fax: +33-56-119-3835. The proceedings of the 9th IUPAC International Symposium on Mycotoxins and Phycotoxins (Rome, 1996), edited by M. Miraglia, H.P. van Egmond, C. Brera and J. Gilbert, were published on July 1, 1998, by Alaken, Inc. The volume, entitled MYCOTOXINS AND PHYCOTOXINS: DEVELOPMENTS IN CHEMISTRY, TOXICOLOGY AND FOOD SAFETY, is a 620 page hard cover volume that contains 5 general overviews, 36 chapters on mycotoxins and 20 chapters on phycotoxins, and is available at a cost of 175 USD (+ postage). Send orders to: Alaken, Inc., 305 W. Magnolia St., Suite 196, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. Fax: 970-226-8655, Tel: 970-223-5348. A special issue of MYCOTOXINS, JOURNAL OF THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION OF MYCOTOXICOLOGY (1997, vol. 45, 72 pages) reports several papers presented at the 1997 workshop on "Recent Advances on Nivalenol, a Foodborne Fusarium Mycotoxins". Nivalenol data in relation to scabby wheat intoxication, natural occurrence in foods and effects of food processing, apoptosis, IgA nephropathy and human esophageal cancer are reported. Other papers published in the same issue present data on the occurrence of Fusarium mycotoxins in high-risk area for human esophageal cancer in China, the co-occurrence of aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin in maize in Vietnam, and an analytical method of trichothecin in agricultural products. Contact: Japanese Association of Mycotoxicology, Dept Toxicology and Microbial Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Science University of Tokyo, 12 Funagawaramachi, Ichigaya, Shingiuku-ku, Tokyo 162, Japan. A foodborne disease outbreak has been attributed to the consumption of moldy sorghum and maize containing fumonisin B1 (Bhat et al., Clinical Toxicology, 1997, 35, 249-255). A rapid epidemiological survey was conducted in a few villages of the Deccan plateau in India affected by an outbreak of abdominal pain and diarrhea due to the consumption of unleavened Indian bread prepared from moldy sorghum or moldy maize. The disease outbreak had occurred only in the villages where the crops were harvested and left in the field during unseasonal rains. All samples of rain-damaged maize and sorghum contained fumonisin B1 up to concentrations of 64.7 and 7.8 mg/kg, whereas low levels of the toxin (<0.4 mg/kg) were found in healthy looking samples. This investigation provides epidemiological and circumstantial evidence of the adverse effect of fumonisins in humans on an acute basis. |