Food contamination is a matter of serious concern, as the high concentration of chemicals present in the edibles poses serious health risks. Protecting the public from the degrees of the harmfulness of contaminated foods has become a daunting task. This article highlights the causes, types, and health implications of chemical contamination in food. The food contamination could be due to naturally occurring contaminants in the environment or artificially introduced by the human. The phases of food processing, packaging, transportation, and storage are also significant contributors to food contamination. The implications of these chemical contaminants on human health are grave, ranging from mild gastroenteritis to fatal cases of hepatic, renal, and neurological syndromes. Although, the government regulates such chemicals in the eatables by prescribing minimum limits that are safe for human consumption yet measures still need to be taken to curb food contamination entirely. Therefore, a variety of food needs to be inspected and measured for the presence of chemical contaminants. The preventative measures pertaining about the food contaminants problems are pointed out and discussed.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common, recurrent, chronic inflammatory skin disease that is a cause of considerable economic and social burden. Its prevalence varies substantially among different countries with an incidence rate proclaimed to reach up to 20% of children in developed countries and continues to escalate in developing nations. This increased rate of incidence has changed the focus of research on AD toward epidemiology, prevention, and treatment. The effects of probiotics in the prevention and treatment of AD remain elusive. However, evidence from different research groups show that probiotics could have positive effect on AD treatment, if any, that depend on multiple factors, such as specific probiotic strains, time of administration (onset time), duration of exposure, and dosage. However, till date we still lack strong evidence to advocate the use of probiotics in the treatment of AD, and questions remain to be answered considering its clinical use in future. Based on updated information, the processes that facilitate the development of AD and the topic of the administration of probiotics are addressed in this review.

Dengue is currently the highest and rapidly spreading vector-borne viral disease, which can lead to mortality in its severe form. The globally endemic dengue poses as a public health and economic challenge that has been attempted to suppress though application of various prevention and control techniques. Therefore, broad spectrum techniques, that are efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable, are proposed and practiced in dengue-endemic regions. The development of vaccines and immunotherapies have introduced a new dimension for effective dengue control and prevention. Thus, the present study focuses on the preventive and control strategies that are currently employed to counter dengue. While traditional control strategies bring temporary sustainability alone, implementation of novel biotechnological interventions, such as sterile insect technique, paratransgenesis, and production of genetically modified vectors, has improved the efficacy of the traditional strategies. Although a large-scale vector control strategy can be limited, innovative vaccine candidates have provided evidence for promising dengue prevention measures. The use of tetravalent dengue vaccine (CYD-TDV) has been the most effective so far in treating dengue infections. Nonetheless, challenges and limitation hinder the progress of developing integrated intervention methods and vaccines; while the improvement in the latest techniques and vaccine formulation continues, one can hope for a future without the threat of dengue virus.

The cinereous vulture, Aegypius monachus, is the largest bird of prey and plays a key role in the ecosystem by removing carcasses, thus preventing the spread of diseases. Its feeding habits force it to cope with constant exposure to pathogens, making this species an interesting target for discovering functionally selected genetic variants. Furthermore, the presence of two independently evolved vulture groups, Old World and New World vultures, provides a natural experiment in which to investigate convergent evolution due to obligate scavenging. We sequenced the genome of a cinereous vulture, and mapped it to the bald eagle reference genome, a close relative with a divergence time of 18 million years. By comparing the cinereous vulture to other avian genomes, we find positively selected genetic variations in this species associated with respiration, likely linked to their ability of immune defense responses and gastric acid secretion, consistent with their ability to digest carcasses. Comparisons between the Old World and New World vulture groups suggest convergent gene evolution. We assemble the cinereous vulture blood transcriptome from a second individual, and annotate genes. Finally, we infer the demographic history of the cinereous vulture which shows marked fluctuations in effective population size during the late Pleistocene. We present the first genome and transcriptome analyses of the cinereous vulture compared to other avian genomes and transcriptomes, revealing genetic signatures of dietary and environmental adaptations accompanied by possible convergent evolution between the Old World and New World vultures.

DNA barcoding has been widely used in species identification and biodiversity research. A short fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequence serves as a DNA bio-barcode. We collected DNA barcodes, based on COI sequences from 156 species (529 sequences) of fish, insects, and shellfish. We present results on phylogenetic relationships to assess biodiversity the in the Korean peninsula. Average GC% contents of the 68 fish species (46.9%), the 59 shellfish species (38.0%), and the 29 insect species (33.2%) are reported. Using the Kimura 2 parameter in all possible pairwise comparisons, the average interspecific distances were compared with the average intraspecific distances in fish (3.22 vs. 0.41), insects (2.06 vs. 0.25), and shellfish (3.58 vs. 0.14). Our results confirm that distance-based DNA barcoding provides sufficient information to identify and delineate fish, insect, and shellfish species by means of all possible pairwise comparisons. These results also confirm that the development of an effective molecular barcode identification system is possible. All DNA barcode sequences collected from our study will be useful for the interpretation of species-level identification and community-level patterns in fish, insects, and shellfish in Korea, although at the species level, the rate of correct identification in a diversified environment might be low.

The horse (Equus ferus caballus) is one of the earliest domesticated species and has played an important role in the development of human societies over the past 5,000 years. In this study, we characterized the genome of the Marwari horse, a rare breed with unique phenotypic characteristics, including inwardly turned ear tips. It is thought to have originated from the crossbreeding of local Indian ponies with Arabian horses beginning in the 12th century.