Uptake of Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae non-O1 and Enterococcus durans by, and depuration of mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis)

The uptakes of Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae non-O1 and Enterococcus durans by mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and the times for depuration were investigated in order to determine the most useful indicator of vibrio contamination. The mussels were maintained in tanks of static seawater contaminated with bacteria at 5 log10 CFU/ml for bioaccumulation. Depuration was carried out by circulating fresh seawater through the tanks. Each organism was presented alone and with others to mussels, at temperatures of 14 and 21 degrees C. In water contaminated with either single or mixed organisms, the bacteria accumulated rapidly in the mussels reaching high concentrations after 1 h. With both single and mixed organisms, the maximum numbers of E. coli in mussels were 6.6 log10 CFU/g at 14 degrees C and 5.4 log10 CFU/g at 21 degrees C. Both V. cholerae non-O1 and E. durans alone or with other organisms reached a number ranging from 6.5 to 7 log10 CFU/g at both temperatures. During depuration the numbers of all the organisms slowly decreased, with E. coli alone, numbers ranged from 2.8 to 2 log10 CFU/g after 72 h at both 14 and 21 degrees C, and the organisms were undetectable after 144 h. With mixed organisms at 14 degrees C E. coli became undetectable after 168 h but at 21 degrees C no E. coli were recovered after 72 h. At 14 degrees C V. cholerae non-O1 alone also was undetectable after 168 h, but at 21 degrees C and with mixed organisms at both temperatures. V. cholerae was recovered after 168 h at numbers about 1 log10 CFU/g. After 168 h numbers of E. durans alone ranged from 2.6 log10 CFU/g at 14 degrees C to 1.5 log10 CFU/g at 21 degrees C, and with mixed organisms the numbers ranged from 2.3 to 2.0 log10 CFU/g at both temperatures. Of the three bacteria of faecal origin, E. durans is quickly acquired by mussels and released more slowly than the others, while E. coli quickly becomes undetectable. The results suggest that, for this kind of seafood, enterococci may be a more appropriate indicator than E. coli of risks to consumers from vibrios.     

Vasculoprotective potential of olive oil components

Epidemiological and clinical studies found that the traditional Mediterranean-style diet is associated with significantly lower mortality from coronary artery disease. Although it is difficult to isolate individual dietary factors, cumulative evidence suggests that olive oil, used as primary source of fat by Mediterranean populations, may play a key role in the observed cardiovascular benefit. Olive oil is a priceless source of vitamins and polyphenolic antioxidants, and has a balanced ratio of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. There are multiple mechanisms by which olive oil might impact the development of atherosclerosis. Olive oil decreases LDL-cholesterol and increases HDL-cholesterol, and also reduces oxidative stress due to polyphenols, which are able to scavenge free radicals and protect LDL from oxidation. In addition, olive oil components may interfere with the inflammatory response within atherosclerotic lesion, by inhibiting endothelial activation involved in monocyte recruitment during early atherogenesis and macrophage production of inflammatory cytokines and matrix degrading enzymes, thus improving vascular stability. Other vasculoprotective mechanisms by olive oil components derive from anti-thrombotic and anti-hypertensive actions. The available data support the need to preserve certain dietary traditions, such as olive oil consumption, to counteract the burden of cardiovascular disease.     

Evaluation of real-time PCR assays for detection and quantification of fraudulent addition of bovine milk to caprine and ovine milk for cheese manufacture

Many typical Italian cheeses made from ovine milk are certified as Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). Because caprine and ovine milk production is limited, the fraudulent addition of cows' milk is widespread. In addition, some compounds in bovine milk have high allergenic potential; therefore, such fraud also has implications for consumer health. In this study, a real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR) test was developed to detect and quantify cow's milk in caprine and ovine cheeses, based on two target genes. The mitochondrial Cytochrome b gene (Cytb) of Bos taurus was used to detect and quantify bovine DNA. The nuclear gene myostatin (Myo), nuclear ribosomal gene 18S, or mitochondrial gene 16S were used alternatively as universal reference markers. Caprine (n = 30) and ovine (n = 51) cheese samples were purchased and analyzed and most were shown to be contaminated by bovine milk. Pairwise analysis of quantification data using a Spearmann Rank Correlation test demonstrated a highly significant correlation between data obtained with the different reference assays.     

Preservation of Strawberries with an Antifungal Edible Coating Using Peony Extracts in Chitosan

Strawberries represent a valuable source of bioactive compounds including vitamin C, E, β-carotene, and phenolic compounds, but they are fruits with an extremely short postharvest life. Therefore, the current study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of an active coating consisting in antifungal microparticles obtained by spray drying of peony extracts (Paeonia rockii (PPR)) dispersed in chitosan (Ch) and subsequent addition to polysaccharide gels to slow the fungal attack of small highly perishable fruits, such as strawberries. The results of the antimicrobial assays indicate that the peony extracts in chitosan are able to counteract effectively the growth of different fungal isolates from deteriorated strawberries. In conclusion, through the treatment with this antifungal coating, it is possible to prolong the shelf life of delicate fruits, such as strawberries, to about 16 days, slowing down the weight loss, affecting the safeguard of important vitamins and antioxidant capacity during storage, without causing any significant alteration of the nutritional and sensorial properties of the product.     

Fatty acid composition of ewe milk as affected by solar radiation and high ambient temperature

Forty lactating Comisana ewes were either exposed to or protected from solar radiation and fed either in the morning or afternoon during summer in a Mediterranean climate. Individual milk samples were taken on days 7, 21 and 42 of the study period to determine fatty acid composition by gas chromatography. Exposure to solar radiation resulted in higher proportions of short-chain and saturated fatty acids in milk, primarily because of increased contents of caproic, capric, lauric, myristic and stearic acids (by 3-18%), and decreased contents of oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids (by 2-9%). As a consequence, the long to short chain and the unsaturated to saturated fatty acid ratios were significantly higher by 4 and 13% respectively in the milk of the protected ewes compared with that of the exposed animals. Provision of shade also led to an increase in the 18:0+18:1 to 16:0 ratio, and to a decrease in the 12:0 + 14:0 + 16:0 fatty acid group, which are regarded as reliable indexes of the nutritional property of dietary fat in reducing cholesterol levels in human plasma. Feeding time had little impact on milk fat. Our findings suggest that high ambient temperature may markedly modify the lipid composition of ewe milk and that provision of shade, but not feeding management, can improve the milk fatty acid profile in dairy sheep raised in hot climates.     

Depressive personality styles, dysphoria, and social comparisons in everyday life.

"Sociotropic" people are supposedly vulnerable to dysphoria after negative interpersonal events, whereas "autonomous" people are supposedly vulnerable to achievement-related failures. The present study examined whether these personality styles are borne out in social comparison processes. For 3 weeks, 27 sociotropic and 35 autonomous undergraduates completed records of their social comparisons. Depressive personality style moderated comparison frequency and the affective consequences of comparisons, especially for dysphoric individuals: Dysphoric respondents were especially likely to make comparisons in domains that were congruent with their personalities, and comparisons in congruent domains were associated with greater mood change than comparisons in other domains, perhaps especially for dysphoric respondents. These results have implications for the literatures on social comparison and on depressive personality styles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A novel approach to the efficient oxygenation of hydrocarbons under mild conditions. Superior oxo transfer selectivity using dioxiranes

The design of efficient and general methods for the selective oxyfunctionalization of unactivated carbon-hydrogen bonds continues to represent a major challenge for the community of chemists, despite the fact that the oxidation of alkanes is a major feature of the chemical economy. A low level of selectivity is characteristic of large-scale oxidation of hydrocarbons performed under customary industrial oxidizing conditions (e.g., the catalytic air oxidation of cycloalkanes); in these processes, selectivity is difficult to control, because they are often impacted by the usual problems associated with free-radical chain reactions. Thus, in the last decades much work has been devoted to the search for general methods of selective oxidation that could be applied to a variety of satured hydrocarbons. In this context, just a few leading methods appear encouraging at the present time. This Account addresses a new approach developed in our laboratory, consisting in the application of isolated dioxiranes, a class of powerful yet selective oxidants. We contend that the method shows promise to contribute resolution of a well-recognized general problem in the existing chemistry of alkanes, that is, to achieve efficient oxyfunctionalizations with high selectivity for simple as well as structurally complex targets.     

A new design paradigm for the development of custom-fit soft sockets for lower limb prostheses

This paper presents a new 3D design paradigm for the development of specific custom-fit products, such as the soft socket of prostheses for lower limb amputees. It is centered on the digital model of the human body and, contrarily to the traditional process almost manually based, it considers the integration of methods and tools coming from different research and application fields: Reverse Engineering, Medical Imaging, Virtual Prototyping, Physics-based Simulation, and Rapid Prototyping. The paper describes the techniques adopted to acquire and create the digital model of the residual limb, the procedure to generate the socket model, the strategy developed for the functional simulation of the socket-stump interaction and, finally, the realization of the physical prototype. Each design step is described with the related problems and the obtained results. Both trans-tibial and trans-femoral amputees have been considered; however, for now the complete process has been validated for trans-tibial prostheses. Major outcomes of the proposed approach stand in a better quality of the final product, in a shorter involvement of the amputee implying a lower psychological impact, in a limited use of physical prototypes, and in a shorter development time. Moreover, the resulting paradigm answers to the Collaborative Engineering guidelines by optimizing the interaction between different domains and enhancing their contributions in a homogeneous development framework.