Melatonin in Mediterranean diet,a new perspective

The health‐promoting properties of the Mediterranean diet have been attributed, at least in part, to the chemical diversity of plant foods. Among phytochemicals, polyphenols represent the paradigm of the relationship between healthy foods and reduced risk of chronic‐degenerative diseases, although, in the past few years, a new element has enriched this scenario. Melatonin, and possibly other indoleamines recently discovered in some relevant Mediterranean foods, may represent a new factor contributing to the elucidation of the protective effects of diets rich in plant products. Therefore, in synergy with polyphenols and other bioactive phytochemicals (e.g. carotenoids and glucosinolates), melatonin may contribute to maximizing the benefits of healthy dietary styles. This brief survey deals with the occurrence of melatonin in the Mediterranean diet, with an emphasis on grape products, and focuses on the biological significance of dietary melatonin, an emerging and exciting topic in the field of nutritional sciences. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry     

Interaction between Lipopolysaccharide and Gut Microbiota in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) are bacterial surface glycolipids, produced by Gram-negative bacteria. LPS is known to determine acute inflammatory reactions, particularly in the context of sepsis. However, LPS can also trigger chronic inflammation. In this case, the source of LPS is not an external infection, but rather an increase in endogenous production, which is usually sustained by gut microbiota (GM), and LPS contained in food. The first site in which LPS can exert its inflammatory action is the gut: both GM and gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) are influenced by LPS and shift towards an inflammatory pattern. The changes in GM and GALT induced by LPS are quite similar to the ones seen in IBD: GM loses diversity, while GALT T regulatory (Tregs) lymphocytes are reduced in number, with an increase in Th17 and Th1 lymphocytes. Additionally, the innate immune system is triggered, through the activation of toll-like receptor (TLR)-4, while the epithelium is directly damaged, further triggering inflammation. In this review, we will discuss the importance of the crosstalk between LPS, GM, and GALT, and discuss the possible implications.     

Glass-formation and hardness of Cu–Y alloys

Metallic glasses exhibit particularly attractive mechanical properties, like high stresses to fracture and large elastic strain (up to 2%), but they show generally low plasticity. Aim of this work is to investigate the glass forming range in the Cu–Y system, in order to form the ductile CuY phase (CsCl structure) upon crystallization. Cu₅₈Y₄₂, Cu₅₀Y₅₀ and Cu₃₃Y₆₇ alloys have been prepared by rapid solidification and copper mould casting, obtaining ribbons and cylindrical shaped ingots, with diameter of 2 mm. Fully amorphous, partially amorphous and fully crystalline samples have been obtained for different compositions and quenching conditions. In some cases, the X-ray diffraction results, analysed using the Rietveld method, showed CuY nanocrystals embedded in an amorphous matrix. The microstructure was studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and the presence of nanocrystals of the ductile phase CuY has been confirmed. Microhardness results showed a softening of the amorphous phase due to the presence of CuY nanocrystals and a hardening due to the Cu₂Y phase.     

Simulation of Ground-Water Flow in Steep Basin with Shallow Surface Soil

A coupled ground-water∕channel flow distributed model has been developed for continuous simulation in a 123-km2 basin. The aim was to analyze the streamflow generation processes in natural vegetated environments. Finite-difference schemes have been used to solve conservation equations of the 2D saturated subsurface flow and the 1D kinematic surface flow. Because of the high hydraulic conductivity of the surface soil, only the saturation excess mechanism of runoff production has been considered. Parameter sensitivity analysis showed the overriding influence of soil storage capacity and conductivity. A grid discretization >100 m produces a hydraulic conductivity greater than physically meaningful, which considerably increases as the space-grid step increases. Results indicate that the model can satisfactorily simulate the water-flow behavior of the catchment after fitting the three parameters of surface hydraulic conductivity, effective porosity, and evapotranspiration losses. These are done after calculating the conductivity as a function of the height of the water table. The simulation efficiency has varied from 87% in the first 5-year calibration period to 85.8% in the subsequent 5-year validation period.     

An Integrated CAD Methodology for Yield Enhancement of VLSI CMOS Circuits Including Statistical Device Variations

In this paper a novel CAD methodology for yield enhancement of VLSI CMOS circuits including random device variations is presented. The methodology is based on a preliminary characterization of the technological process by means of specific test chips for accurate mismatch modeling. To this purpose, a very accurate position-dependent parameter mismatch model has been formulated and extracted. Finally a CAD tool implementing this model has been developed. The tool is fully integrated in an environment of existing commercial tools and it has been experimented in the STMicroelectronics Flash Memory CAD Group.As an example of application, a bandgap reference circuit has been considered and the results obtained from simulations have been compared with experimental data. Furthermore, the methodology has been applied to the read path of a complex Flash Memory produced by STMicroelectronics, consisting of about 16,000 MOSFETs. Measurements of electrical performances have confirmed the validity of the methodology, and the accuracy of both the mismatch model and the simulation flow.     

Methane steam reforming in a Pd-Ag membrane reformer: An experimental study on reaction pressure influence at middle temperature

In this experimental work, methane steam reforming (MSR) reaction is performed in a dense Pd-Ag membrane reactor and the influence of pressure on methane conversion, CO_x-free hydrogen recovery and CO_x-free hydrogen production is investigated. The reaction is conducted at 450 °C by supplying nitrogen as a sweep gas in co-current flow configuration with respect to the reactants. Three experimental campaigns are realized in the MR packed with Ni-ZrO catalyst, which showed better performances than Ni-Al₂O₃ used in a previous paper dealing with the same MR system. The first one is directed to keep constant the total pressure in both retentate and permeate sides of the membrane reactor. In the second case study, the total retentate pressure is kept constant at 9.0 bar, while the total permeate pressure is varied between 5.0 and 9.0 bar. As the best result of this work, at 450 °C and 4.0 bar of total pressure difference between retentate and permeate sides, around 65% methane conversion and 1.2 l/h of CO_x-free hydrogen are reached, further recovering 80% CO_x-free hydrogen over the total hydrogen produced during the reaction. Moreover, a study on the influence of hydrogen-rich gas mixtures on the hydrogen permeation through the Pd-Ag membrane is also performed and discussed.     

Pillar-assisted epitaxial assembly of toric focal conic domains of smectic-a liquid crystals

SU-8 pillar-assisted epitaxial assembly of toric focal conic domains (TFCDs) arrays of smectic-A liquid crystals is studied. The 3D nature of the pillar array is crucial to confine and direct the formation of TFCDs on the top of each pillar and between neighboring pillars, leading to highly ordered square and hexagonal array TFCDs. Excellent agreement between the experimentally obtained critical pillar diameter and elasticity calculation is found.     

Technique based on LED multispectral imaging and multivariate analysis for monitoring the conservation state of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The aim of this project is the development of a noninvasive technique based on LED multispectral imaging (MSI) for monitoring the conservation state of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) collection. It is well-known that changes in the parchment reflectance drive the transition of the scrolls from legible to illegible. Capitalizing on this fact, we will use spectral imaging to detect changes in the reflectance before they become visible to the human eye. The technique uses multivariate analysis and statistical process control theory. The present study was carried out on a "sample" parchment of calfskin. The monitoring of the surface of a commercial modern parchment aged consecutively for 2 h and 6 h at 80 °C and 50% relative humidity (ASTM) was performed at the Imaging Lab of the Library of Congress (Washington, DC, U.S.A.). MSI is here carried out in the vis-NIR range limited to 1 μm, with a number of bands of 13 and bandwidths that range from about 10 nm in UV to 40 nm in IR. Results showed that we could detect and locate changing pixels, on the basis of reflectance changes, after only a few "hours" of aging.