Flavonoids, abundantly present in fruits and vegetables, have been reported to exert various positive health effects based on in vitro bioassays. However, effects detected in in vitro models cannot be directly correlated to human health as most in vitro studies have been performed using flavonoid aglycones at high concentration ignoring extensive m...
Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient for animals and humans. In the food chain, the intake of Se by animals and humans depends largely on Se content in plants, whereas the major source of Se in plants lies in the soil. Therefore, understanding Se bioavailability in soils for plant uptake and its controlling factors and mechanisms is importan...
Title of the PhD thesis: Development of an integrated in vitro model for the prediction of oral bioavailability of nanoparticles The number of food-related products containing nanoparticles (NPs) increases. To understand the safety of such products, the potential uptake of these NPs following consumption needs to be assessed. In normal safety asses...
Improvement of risk assessment by integrating toxicological and epidemiological approaches: the case of isoflavones PhD-thesis Mohammed Ariful Islam This thesis describes the results of a research project that aimed at the improvement of the risk/benefit assessment of soy isoflavones (SIF) by combining toxicological and epidemiological methods. The...
Abstract of the PhD thesis entitled “Chemical and biological rhizosphere interactions in low zinc soils” by Andreas Duffner Soil provides ecosystem services critical for life. The availability of micronutrients, such as zinc (Zn), in soils is an essential factor for normal healthy growth and reproduction of plants. Zinc deficiency is, however, a gl...
Zinc is an essential trace element for all farm animal species. It is commonly included in animal diets as zinc oxide, zinc sulphate or organically bound zinc. Umicore Zinc Chemicals developed zinc oxide products with different mean particle sizes. Umicore Zinc Chemicals requested Wageningen UR Livestock Research to determine the bioavailability of...
Children in sub-Saharan Africa are more likely to have survived the critical first 1000 days of life carrying along unresolved micronutrient deficiencies into the school-age. Iron-deficiency is the most prevalent micronutrient problem affecting school-age children in sub-Saharan Africa and yet the most difficult to resolve. It is necessary to ensur...
Bioavailability of metals in anaerobic granular sludge has been extensively studied, because it can have a major effect on metal limitation and metal toxicity to microorganisms present in the sludge. Bioavailability of metals can be manipulated by bonding to complexing molecules such as ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) or diethylenetriaminepentaa...
A series of highly monodisperse silicon nanoparticles (Si NP) with either positively (amine), neutral (azide) or negatively (carboxylic acid) charged covalently attached organic monolayers were synthesized and investigated for their cytotoxicity. Infrared data confirmed the presence of these covalently attached surface groups. The Si NP were charac...
