A Simple and Effective Mass Spectrometric Approach to Identify the Adulteration of the Mediterranean Diet Component Extra-Virgin Olive Oil with Corn Oil

Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) with its nutraceutical characteristics substantially contributes as a major nutrient to the health benefit of the Mediterranean diet. Unfortunately, the adulteration of EVOO with less expensive oils (e.g., peanut and corn oils), has become one of the biggest source of agricultural fraud in the European Union, with important health implications for consumers, mainly due to the introduction of seed oil-derived allergens causing, especially in children, severe food allergy phenomena. In this regard, revealing adulterations of EVOO is of fundamental importance for health care and prevention reasons, especially in children. To this aim, effective analytical methods to assess EVOO purity are necessary. Here, we propose a simple, rapid, robust and very sensitive method for non-specialized mass spectrometric laboratory, based on the matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) coupled to unsupervised hierarchical clustering (UHC), principal component (PCA) and Pearson’s correlation analyses, to reveal corn oil (CO) adulterations in EVOO at very low levels (down to 0.5%).     

From hospital to municipal cogeneration systems: an Italian case study

A mixed integer linear programming model combined with a more traditional design by scenarios is proposed to optimize facilities size and operation mode of a municipal energy system involving significant civil centres and a hospital. Moving from the need of a new heat and power station for the local hospital due to the construction of new pavilions, the opportunity of involving other centres in the neighbourhood in a distributed cogeneration system is analysed, increasing system complexity step by step. Smaller cogeneration units tailored to hospital needs are rewarding ventures with relatively low risks but, in a country whose traditional power generation systems heavily rely on fossil fuels and where energy policy and market conditions can make it profitable to sell surplus power, district heating systems foster the installation of larger cogenerators and lead thereby to higher profits and to better performance as for primary energy savings and greenhouse gases emission reduction. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Waste-to-energy based greenhouse heating: exploring viability conditions through optimisation models

An optimisation approach is proposed in order to assess the technical and economic feasibility of a renewable-energy-based greenhouse in North-Eastern Italy. A floor heating system that can exploit a low-temperature heat flow coming from the condenser of a waste-to-energy plant is chosen for the greenhouse and designed developing a non-linear optimisation model, solved by a genetic algorithm. In order to determine under what conditions the combination of a floor-heating-based greenhouse with a waste-to-energy plant can be profitable, a mixed integer optimisation model is introduced to allow selection of the minimum cost fuel solution as a function of different design variables of the greenhouse, such as indoor temperature settings and floor area. The ranges within which the renewable energy solution can lead to significant savings in comparison to traditional fossil fuel are identified both from the point of view of costs and of environmental impact. Furthermore, the sales prices for waste heat that would make investment in the renewable energy solution attractive for potential entrepreneurs are given.     

Synthesis method for testable electrical networks using 1st order building blocks

This work presents a method for synthesizing testable continuous-time linear time-invariant electrical networks using 1st order blocks for the implementation of analog linear circuits. A functional-structural fault model for the block, and a fault dictionary are proposed together with a simple set of test vectors. The method allows, also, the fault grade evaluation for the modeled faults. The results obtained from the two application examples have shown the suitability of the approach as a design for test method for analog circuits.     

Connexin 43 and Connexin 26 Involvement in the Ponatinib-Induced Cardiomyopathy: Sex-Related Differences in a Murine Model

Cardiac connexins (Cxs) are proteins responsible for proper heart function. They form gap junctions that mediate electrical and chemical signalling throughout the cardiac system, and thus enable a synchronized contraction. Connexins can also individually participate in many signal transduction pathways, interacting with intracellular proteins at various cellular compartments. Altered connexin expression and localization have been described in diseased myocardium and the aim of this study is to assess the involvement of Cx43, Cx26, and some related molecules in ponatinib-induced cardiac toxicity. Ponatinib is a new multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has been successfully used against human malignancies, but its cardiotoxicity remains worrisome. Therefore, understanding its signaling mechanism is important to adopt potential anti cardiac damage strategies. Our experiments were performed on hearts from male and female mice treated with ponatinib and with ponatinib plus siRNA-Notch1 by using immunofluorescence, Western blotting, and proteomic analyses. The altered cardiac function and the change in Cxs expression observed in mice after ponatinib treatment, were results dependent on the Notch1 pathway and sex. Females showed a lower susceptibility to ponatinib than males. The downmodulation of cardiac Cx43, Cx26 and miR-122, high pS368-Cx43 phosphorylation, cell viability and survival activation could represent some of the female adaptative/compensatory reactions to ponatinib cardiotoxicity.     

Rejection of Surface Background in Thermal Detectors

A challenging aspect of the next generation detector for rare events searches (i.e. neutrinoless double beta decay and dark matter searches) is the reduction of the background in the region of interest that can mimic the expected signals. In the field of thermal detectors, which have a leading role in rare events searches thanks to their excellent energy resolution and to the wide choice of absorber materials, the background coming from surface contaminations is frequently dominant. A background surface rejection detector is a scintillation-based approach for tagging this type of background. We discuss the innovative application of this technique in non-scintillating thermal detectors. We will report on the performances of the prototype bolometric detector, realized to prove the feasibility of this new technique.     

ECT benchmark results for 3D defect signatures in industrial applications

This paper is focused on the Eddy Current Testing (ECT) method applied to important industrial applications such as the inspection of tubes in nuclear power plants and the inspection of planar surface from aeronautical industry. Specifically, we consider the prediction of the signatures produced by small defects through two fully three-dimensional numerical models developed for ECT. In particular we consider the responses to small defects described in two experimental benchmarks from nuclear power industry and one experimental benchmark from aeronautical applications. Despite of the small size of the defects that, in some cases, is of the order of few millimetres, the numerical models reproduce correctly the experimental responses provided in the benchmarks, including the challenging case of a defect (in a tube) close to the support plate.     

Foam-based cleaning of surfaces contaminated with mixtures of oil and soot

Liquid foams of intermediate stability have been shown to be very efficient in the cleaning of sensitive surfaces because of the synergy between imbibition and foam decay. While we quantified these mechanisms for contaminations with liquid oils in our previous work, we show here their extension to oils containing soot particles in an effort to simulate increasingly realistic contaminations. Using foams with a wide range of liquid fractions and with different stabilities, we show that the main cleaning mechanisms remain very similar, with the oil entraining the soot particles. However, we find much less efficient soot removal when the liquid channels of the foams are small enough to hinder efficient transport of the soot particles.     

Morphometric analysis of cryofixed muscular tissue for intraoperative consultation

For diagnostic purposes, cryofixation of tissues is a daily routine technique to investigate rapidly about the presence of tumours during a surgical procedure in patients. We performed morphometric analysis of cryofixed muscular tissues according to different techniques. About 1,000 muscle fibers and 1,493 nuclei, were automatically examined. After freezing, ice tissue interfaces shrinkage of the cells were present. Liquid isopentane or liquid nitrogen produced a statistical increase of fractal dimension, D, of the ice‐tissue interfaces, P < 0.001 respect to the formalin‐fixed samples, cryofixation performed inside the cryostat chamber at t = ?20°C produced a D value close to the formalin‐fixed samples. Shrinkage of the muscle fibers was higher in the samples cryofixed inside the cryostat chamber (P < 0.001). Cryofixation inside cryostat or by liquid nitrogen caused decreases of the nuclei dimensions and altered nuclear morphology (P < 0.01), liquid isopentane appeared not affecting the nuclei of the fibers. Cryofixation inside the cryostat chamber produced the highest shrinkage but it was reduced performing cryofixation in liquid nitrogen or isopentane. Freezing damage inside the muscle cells was absent in the samples cryofixed inside the cryostat, it was present after cryofixation by liquid nitrogen or isopentane. Subcellular components like the nuclei were preserved by isopentane. This paper present, for the first time, an objective method able to quantify and characterize the damages produced by cryofixation in biological sample for intraoperative consultation. Microsc. Res. Tech. 79:155–161, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.