Renal involvement in mushroom poisoning: The case of Orellanus syndrome

Although mushroom poisoning is a rare cause of acute renal injury, in some cases it may lead to the development of a severe and irreversible renal failure. Orellanus syndrome is the most important example of organic renal damage related to mushroom consumption. It is caused by the ingestion of orellanine, the main toxin of different types of Cortinarius mushrooms (Cortinarius speciosissimus, C. orellanus, C. orellanoides, etc.), and it is characterized by progressive clinical phases with a predominant kidney involvement, finally requiring renal replacement therapy in about 10% of cases. Renal damage is often late and associated with a histological picture of interstitial nephritis. Diagnosis is essentially clinical and no specific therapy has been shown to be effective in preventing and treating renal damage. Here, we describe the case of a patient with mixed wild mushroom poisoning, presenting the typical clinical signs and course of the Orellanus syndrome. This case offers us the opportunity to review the main clinical features of this severe and little‐known intoxication.     

Is it possible to create an innovative craft durum wheat beer with sourdough yeasts? A case study

Craft beer is often produced as a non‐filtered, unpasteurized and bottle re‐fermented beer, whose production is aimed at maintaining original sensory characteristics. The intention of most micro‐breweries is to meet these requirements in producing a high‐quality beer. In Italy, as well as in Sardinia, the number of micro‐breweries is increasing. In an attempt to make this product more original, new strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were selected. Sourdough yeasts were used as an alternative source of starters for beer production. In this particular work, two wheat beers were compared, one brewed with an autochthonous yeast isolated from sourdough and the other brewed with a commercial yeast normally used in Italian micro‐breweries. The wheat beer fermented with the autochthonous yeast had the highest ethanol content, the lowest pH and the highest content of esters and alcohols. From a sensory point of view the two beers showed significant differences in the triangle test, but were not significantly different in the paired test with preference. Copyright © 2015 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling     

Analysis of pineapple [Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.] fruit proteinases by 2-D zymography and direct identification of the major zymographic spots by mass spectrometry

Cysteine proteinases present in pineapple plants are phytotherapeutical agents with anti-edematous, anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic and fibrinolytic activities. Active components involved have been only partially identified as bromelain, the major proteinase in pineapple fruits.     

Identification of Vegetable Oil or Biodiesel Added to Diesel Using Fluorescence Spectroscopy and Principal Component Analysis

In order to identify possible adulteration of onroad diesel with vegetable oil, fluorescence spectroscopy was used as the analytical technique to differentiate between vegetable oil and biodiesel in diesel blends. Diesel/oil and diesel/biodiesel blends made with different proportions of soy, canola or waste cooking oil were analyzed. The reduced cost of analysis using fluorescence spectroscopy together with the reliability of the results suggest that this technique could be of great use in differentiating between diesel, biodiesel and vegetable oil and could therefore be used for rapid identification or confirmation of adulterated diesel. Furthermore, a compact fluorescence spectrophotometer with an LED excitation source could be used in gas stations or fuel distributors for diesel quality control because of its practicality, low cost and reliability.     

Engineering analysis of uncertainties in the performance evaluation of CHP systems

From January 1, 2011, in all UE countries the combined production of electric (or mechanical) and thermal energy (also called Combined Heat and Power, CHP, or cogeneration) is recognized as a high efficiency technology only when it is able to ensure a minimum value of energy saving with respect to the separate production of the same energy flows. The Directive 8/2004/EC, and a few successive Decisions of the European Commission, introduced a methodology to establish whether any cogeneration plant, existing or new, can be acknowledged as a high-efficiency CHP plant, and can therefore be supported from the UE member states. In the paper, such methodology, based on the evaluation of a standard Primary Energy Saving (PES) index, is briefly described, and then a metrological analysis is presented, in order to evaluate the uncertainties affecting the field evaluation of such index. Three numerical examples are also presented and discussed, referred to natural gas plants, showing that the evaluation of the PES index can be quite critical, especially for values close to the minimum limit fixed by the Directive, and in particular for small and medium scale CHP units, mainly due to the low accuracy that usually affect, in such cases, the measures of the fuel input.     

Biotechnological conversions of biodiesel derived waste glycerol by yeast and fungal species

Fifteen eukaryotic microorganisms were tested for their ability to assimilate biodiesel derived waste glycerol and convert it into value-added metabolic products. For this purpose yeast and Zygomycetes strains were cultivated in nitrogen-limited raw glycerol-based media (initial glycerol concentration 30 g/L). Yeasts tested accumulated restricted lipid quantities (up to ∼22%, wt/wt, in the case of Rhodotorula sp), while differentiations in their fatty acid composition were recorded in relation to the yeast strains employed and the fermentation time. On the contrary, fungi accumulated higher quantities of lipid inside their mycelia (ranging between 18.1 and 42.6%, wt/wt, of dry biomass) that contained in variable amounts the medically important GLA (γ-linolenic acid). Moreover, Yarrowia lipolytica, Pichia membranifaciens and Thamnidium elegans were further studied in media having increased initial glycerol concentrations. In these conditions Y. lipolytica secreted significant amounts of acetic acid (29.2 g/L), as well as mannitol (19.4 g/L) while P. membranifaciens reached 28.4 g/L of biomass at glycerol concentration 90 g/L. T. elegans produced 11.6 g/L of oil, with 71.1%, wt/wt, of fat in biomass, while the maximum concentration of GLA was 371 mg/L. Detailed analysis of T. elegans lipids indicated that the phospholipids fraction was particularly rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids.     

Numerical study of the optimization of the pitch angle of an alternative jet fan in a longitudinal tunnel ventilation system

This paper presents the results of a numerical investigation carried out on an alternative jet fan, noted in literature like Banana Jet Fan, equipped with inlet/outlet silencers inclined at a fixed pitch angle (α) inclined toward the tunnel floor.The aim of this paper is to optimize the pitch angle comparing the different ventilation performances, in terms of reduction of pressure losses and of energy saving, without vehicles and with traffic jam.The average velocity profile variation of the tunnel air jet around the outlet jet fan zone was evaluated with the numerical CFD analysis. This analysis showed that there exists an optimal pitch angle which minimizes the pressure losses, due to the flow attachment by varying the operative conditions (free tunnel and traffic jam).     

Quercetin Protects Human Thyroid Cells against Cadmium Toxicity

Various natural compounds have been successfully tested for preventing or counteracting the toxic effects of exposure to heavy metals. In this study, we analyzed the effects of cadmium chloride (CdCl₂) on immortalized, non-tumorigenic thyroid cells Nthy-ori-3-1. We investigated the molecular mechanism underlying its toxic action as well as the potential protective effect of quercetin against CdCl₂-induced damage. CdCl₂ suppressed cell growth in a dose- and time-dependent manner (IC50 value ~10 μM) associated with a decrease in levels of phospho-ERK. In addition, CdCl₂ elicited an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and lipid peroxidation. A significant increase in GRP78, an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-related protein, was also observed. Supplementation of quercetin counteracted the growth-inhibiting action of CdCl₂ by recovering ERK protein phosphorylation levels, attenuating ROS overproduction, decreasing MDA content and reducing the expression of GRP78 in cells exposed to CdCl₂. Thus, in addition to revealing the molecular effects involved in cadmium-induced toxicity, the present study demonstrated, for the first time, a protective effect of quercetin against cadmium-induced damages to normal thyroid cells.     

Effect of hydrocarbon resin on the morphology and mechanical properties of isotactic polypropylene/clay composites

The article reports an investigation of the effect of a hydrocarbon resin, Necirés TR100, on the structure, morphology, and properties of two isotactic polypropylene/clay composites. The clays are Dellite HPS, a purified montmorillonite, and Dellite 67G, a purified and modified montmorillonite with a high content of quaternary ammonium salt. Necirés TR100 contains hydroxyl and acid groups, which were expected to interact during the melt mixing with the polar surface of the clays to have intercalation with Dellite HPS and/or exfoliation of Dellite 67G, which is already intercalated by the quaternary ammonium salt. The morphological results indicate that the composite isotactic polypropylene/Dellite HPS presents large and coarse clay domains, whereas the composite isotactic polypropylene/Dellite 67G presents a better distribution of the clay clusters, although the presence of some clay domains of a few μm are also detected. Although results from Wide Angle X‐ray Diffraction have indicated that Necirés TR100 has no effect on the layers distance of Dellite HPS and Dellite 67G its addition produces composites with clay particles homogenously distributed in the polyolefin matrix, better tensile properties (higher values of Young's modululs and elongation to break) and decrease of permeability. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011