The influence of different centralised pre-packaging systems on the shelf-life of fresh pork

The influence of different centralised pre-packaging systems (PVC, modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), 25% CO(2) and 75% O(2), vacuum skin packaging (VSP) and the mother bag concept, 100% CO(2)) on the shelf-life (0, 7, 14 and 21 days at 0°C) of fresh pork was determined using microbiological, colour, odour and acceptability characteristics. All the packaging treatments were equally efficient for the first 4 days of retail display. In the extended shelf-life study (7, 14 and 21 days) the mother bag centralised packaging system gave the most promising shelf-life results (21 days) and was also judged superior in terms of odour. Modified atmosphere packaging (14 days) and VSP (7 days) may be considered as other possible options.     

Operator stress and monitoring practices

This study attempted to identify the major sources of work-related stress among telephone operators, with special emphasis on computer monitoring and telephone surveillance. A cross-sectional random sample of over 700 telephone operators participated in a questionnaire survey (response rate = 88%). The survey included items designed to measure perceived stress, management practices, specific job stressors and monitoring preferences. Call-time pressure items were most strongly linked to job stress by operators, with 70% reporting that difficulty in serving a customer well and still keeping call-time down contributed to their feelings of stress to a large or very large extent. About 55% of operators reported that telephone monitoring contributed to their feelings of job stress. If given the opportunity, 44% of operators stated they would prefer not to be monitored by telephone at all, while 23% stated they would prefer some monitoring; 33% had no preference. The setting of inappropriate individual-call-time objectives, which may be consistently unachievable for some operators and which create conflict between management demands for quantity and quality and also between workers values concerning quality and productivity demands, appears to be the most stress-inducing aspect of the job. In terms of telephone surveillance, the issues of timeliness and specificity of feedback appear to be less important than call-time pressure.     

Deciding bisimilarity is<Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis>-complete

In finite labelled transition systems the problems of deciding strong bisimilarity, observation equivalence and observation congruence areP-complete under many—oneNC-reducibility. As a consequence, algorithms for automated analysis of finite state systems based on bisimulation seem to be inherently sequential in the following sense: the design of anNC algorithm to solve any of these problems will require an algorithmic breakthrough, which is exceedingly hard to achieve.     

Molecular Aspects and Prognostic Significance of Microcalcifications in Human Pathology: A Narrative Review

The presence of calcium deposits in human lesions is largely used as imaging biomarkers of human diseases such as breast cancer. Indeed, the presence of micro- or macrocalcifications is frequently associated with the development of both benign and malignant lesions. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms involved in the formation of these calcium deposits, as well as the prognostic significance of their presence in human tissues, have not been completely elucidated. Therefore, a better characterization of the biological process related to the formation of calcifications in different tissues and organs, as well as the understanding of the prognostic significance of the presence of these calcium deposits into human tissues could significantly improve the management of patients characterized by microcalcifications associated lesions. Starting from these considerations, this narrative review highlights the most recent histopathological and molecular data concerning the formation of calcifications in breast, thyroid, lung, and ovarian diseases. Evidence reported here could deeply change the current point of view concerning the role of ectopic calcifications in the progression of human diseases and also in the patients’ management. In fact, the presence of calcifications can suggest an unfavorable prognosis due to dysregulation of normal tissues homeostasis.     

Qualitative and Quantitative Comparison of Plasma Exosomes from Neonates and Adults

Exosomes are extracellular vesicles that contain nucleic acids, lipids and metabolites, and play a critical role in health and disease as mediators of intercellular communication. The majority of extracellular vesicles in the blood are platelet-derived. Compared to adults, neonatal platelets are hyporeactive and show impaired granule release, associated with defects in Soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion Attachment protein REceptor (SNARE) proteins. Since these proteins participate in biogenesis of exosomes, we investigated the potential differences between newborn and adult plasma-derived exosomes. Plasma-derived exosomes were isolated by ultracentrifugation of umbilical cord blood from full-term neonates or peripheral blood from adults. Exosome characterization included size determination by transmission electron microscopy and quantitative proteomic analysis. Plasma-derived exosomes from neonates were significantly smaller and contained 65% less protein than those from adults. Remarkably, 131 proteins were found to be differentially expressed, 83 overexpressed and 48 underexpressed in neonatal (vs. adult) exosomes. Whereas the upregulated proteins in plasma exosomes from neonates are associated with platelet activation, coagulation and granule secretion, most of the underexpressed proteins are immunoglobulins. This is the first study showing that exosome size and content change with age. Our findings may contribute to elucidating the potential “developmental hemostatic mismatch risk” associated with transfusions containing plasma exosomes from adults.     

Back-to-Basics tutorial: X-ray diffraction of thin films

Electrocaloric (EC) refrigeration, is accepted as an auspicious method to develop eco-friendly cooling devices. Here, the investigations on the EC response and energy storage performance of heterovalent-doped Ba(Sn, Ti)O₃ relaxor ferroelectrics are carried out. Doping of aliovalent Mn or Nb elements into Ti site would regulate both the EC and energy storage behaviors. An enhanced EC temperature change up to 1.31 K, and a maximal recoverable energy storage density of 0.24 J cm^??3 with the efficiency as high as 87.11?%, can be observed under 70 kV cm^??1 in 0.5?% acceptor-doped Ba(Sn, Ti)O₃ ceramics. It is found that the local internal stress, the local charge fluctuation, and the oxygen deficiencies would benefit the electrical behaviors of this system. These results would shed light on the effect of the heterovalent substitution on the electrical properties of lead-free BaTiO₃ system and provide a novel and simple route to further improve the EC response and energy storage performance.

     

Differentiation of Cancer Stem Cells by Using Synthetic Small Molecules: Toward New Therapeutic Strategies against Therapy Resistance

Despite the existing arsenal of anti-cancer drugs, 10 million people die each year worldwide due to cancers; this highlights the need to discover new therapies based on innovative modes of action against these pathologies. Current chemotherapies are based on the use of cytotoxic agents, targeted drugs, monoclonal antibodies or immunotherapies that are able to reduce or stop the proliferation of cancer cells. However, tumor eradication is often hampered by the presence of resistant cells called cancer stem-like cells or cancer stem cells (CSCs). Several strategies have been proposed to specifically target CSCs such as the use of CSC-specific antibodies, small molecules able to target CSC signaling pathways or drugs able to induce CSC differentiation rendering them sensitive to classical chemotherapy. These latter compounds are the focus of the present review, which aims to report recent advances in anticancer-differentiation strategies. This therapeutic approach was shown to be particularly promising for eradicating tumors in which CSCs are the main reason for therapeutic failure. This general view of the chemistry and mechanism of action of compounds inducing the differentiation of CSCs could be particularly useful for a broad range of researchers working in the field of anticancer therapies as the combination of compounds that induce differentiation with classical chemotherapy could represent a successful approach for future therapeutic applications.     

Proliferation to Apoptosis Tumor Cell Ratio as a Biomarker to Improve Clinical Management of Pre-Malignant and Symptomatic Plasma Cell Neoplasms

Proliferation and apoptosis of neoplastic cells are prognostic biomarkers in plasma cell neoplasms (PCNs). The prognostic capacity of proliferation to apoptosis ratio (Ratio-PA) in the era of immunomodulatory treatments is re-evaluated in 316 gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), 57 smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM), and 266 multiple myeloma (MM) patients. Ratio-PA of 0.77 ± 0.12, 1.94 ± 0.52, and 11.2 ± 0.7 (p < 0.0001) were observed in MGUS, SMM, and MM patients. Ten-year overall survival (10y-OS) rates for patients with low/high Ratio-PA were 93.5%/77.3% p < 0.0001) for MGUS, 82.5%/64.7% (p < 0.05) for SMM, and 62.3%/47.0% (p < 0.05) for MM. For patients with low, intermediate, and high risk, 10y-OS for low/high Ratio-PA were 95.5%/72.9% (p < 0.0001), 74.2%/50.4% (p < 0.0001), and 35.3%/20.0% (p = 0.836), respectively. Ratio-PA was an independent prognostic factor for OS (HR = 2.119, p < 0.0001, Harrell-C-statistic = 0.7440 ± 0.0194) when co-analyzed with sex, age, and standard risk. In patients with Ratio-PA^high, only first-line therapy with VRd/VTd, but not PAD/VCD, coupled with ASCT was associated with high 10y-OS (82.7%). Tumor cell Ratio-PA estimated at diagnosis offers a prognostic biomarker that complements standard risk stratification and helps to guide the clinical management of pre-malignant and symptomatic PCNs. Every effort should be made to provide first-line therapies including VTd or VRd associated with ASCT to patients with Ratio-PA^high at higher risk of progression and death.     

Validation of a Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Method for the Measurement of the Redox State Metabolic Ratios Lactate/Pyruvate and β-Hydroxybutyrate/Acetoacetate in Biological Samples

The metabolic ratios lactate/pyruvate and β-hydroxybutyrate/acetoacetate are considered valuable tools to evaluate the in vivo redox cellular state by estimating the free NAD+/NADH in cytoplasm and mitochondria, respectively. The aim of the current study was to validate a gas-chromatography mass spectrometry method for simultaneous determination of the four metabolites in plasma and liver tissue. The procedure included an o-phenylenediamine microwave-assisted derivatization, followed by liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate and silylation with bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide:trimethylchlorosilane 99:1. The calibration curves presented acceptable linearity, with a limit of quantification of 0.001 mM for pyruvate, β-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate and of 0.01 mM for lactate. The intra-day and inter-day accuracy and precision were within the European Medicines Agency’s Guideline specifications. No significant differences were observed in the slope coefficient of three-point standard metabolite-spiked curves in plasma or liver and water, and acceptable recoveries were obtained in the metabolite-spiked samples. Applicability of the method was tested in precision-cut liver rat slices and also in HepG2 cells incubated under different experimental conditions challenging the redox state. In conclusion, the validated method presented good sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility in the quantification of lactate/pyruvate and β-hydroxybutyrate/acetate metabolites and may be useful in the evaluation of in vivo redox states.