Polyphenols of Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) Oil Samples and Geographical Differentiation by Principal Component Analysis

The phenolic compounds of Italian and Turkish pistachio oil samples were investigated by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) with the aim of identifying substances also present in very low concentration; 21 compounds were identified by means of the mass spectra of the trimethylsilyl (TMS) derivatives. Benzoic acid derivatives (protocatechuic acid, gallic acid, 4‐hydroxybenzoic acid) were the main components; 14 polyphenols were detected in pistachios for the first time. The concentrations of the compounds found were in the range 0.02–5.64 μg/g of fresh pistachio. No appreciable qualitative differences were found between samples of different origin; a multivariate approach was successfully tried to differentiate the samples according to their geographical origin, using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Finally, Canonical Discriminant Analysis (CDA) was further conducted to classify different pistachio samples.     

A Microfabricated Sandwiching Assay for Nanoliter and High‐Throughput Biomarker Screening

Cells secrete substances that are essential to the understanding of numerous immunological phenomena and are extensively used in clinical diagnoses. Countless techniques for screening of biomarker secretion in living cells have generated valuable information on cell function and physiology, but low volume and real‐time analysis is a bottleneck for a range of approaches. Here, a simple, highly sensitive assay using a high‐throughput micropillar and microwell array chip (MIMIC) platform is presented for monitoring of biomarkers secreted by cancer cells. The sensing element is a micropillar array that uses the enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) mechanism to detect captured biomolecules. When integrated with a microwell array where few cells are localized, interleukin 8 (IL‐8) secretion can be monitored with nanoliter volume using multiple micropillar arrays. The trend of cell secretions measured using MIMICs matches the results from conventional ELISA well while it requires orders of magnitude less cells and volumes. Moreover, the proposed MIMIC is examined to be used as a drug screening platform by delivering drugs using micropillar arrays in combination with a microfluidic system and then detecting biomolecules from cells as exposed to drugs.     

Categorization of Above and Below Spatial Relations by Tufted Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus apella).

Using a matching-to-sample procedure, the researchers investigated tufted capuchins' (Cebus apella) ability to form categorical representations of above and below spatial relations. In Experiment 1, 5 capuchins correctly matched bar-dot stimuli on the basis of the relative above and below location of their constituent elements. The monkeys showed a positive transfer of performance both when the bar-dot distance in the two comparison stimuli differed from that of the sample and when the actual location of the matching stimulus and the nonmatching stimulus on the apparatus was modified. In Experiment 2, the researchers systematically changed the shapes of the located object (the dot) or the reference object (the horizontal bar). These manipulations did not affect the monkeys' performance. Overall, the data suggest that capuchins can form abstract, conceptual-like representations for above and below spatial relations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teaching ethics in French medical schools: evolution or revolution ?

Ethics was introduced as subject matter in French medical schools only recently despite a rich historical context where scientific legitimacy, humanistic exigencies and anglo-saxon influence have all played a role. Ten years after the thesis presented by Bastian in 1986, a survey of French medical schools shows that ethics has become an integral part of the curriculum. Ethics has tended to become a discipline on its own, separate from law and deontology. However, the lack of specific courses on concentration in the first years of the curriculum show that there is much room for growth in the discipline of medical ethics.     

Discrepancies between VEGF ?1154 G>A Polymorphism Analysis Performed in Peripheral Blood Samples and FFPE Tissue

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may be associated with the response or toxicity to different types of treatment. Although SNP analysis is usually performed on DNA from peripheral blood, formalin fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue is often used for retrospective studies. We analyzed VEGF (−2578C>A, −1498C>T, −1154G>A, −634C>G, +936C>T) and eNOS (+894G>T, −786T>C, VNTR (variable number of tandem repeats) 27bp intron 4) polymorphisms by direct sequencing or Real Time PCR in 237 patients with advanced colorectal cancer. Peripheral blood was used for 153 patients, whereas only FFPE tumor tissue was available for 84 patients. All SNP frequencies were in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE), with the exception of VEGF −1154, which was only in HWE in peripheral blood specimens. We therefore analyzed this SNP in DNA extracted from FFPE tumor tissue compared to FFPE healthy tissue and peripheral blood from 20 patients. Numerous heterozygous patients in peripheral blood DNA were homozygous for the A-allele in both tumor and healthy FFPE tissues. Our findings indicate that, although FFPE tissue might be a suitable specimen for genotyping, VEGF −1154 does not give reliable results on this type of material. As other SNPs may also have this limitation, genotype concordance should first be confirmed by comparing results obtained from FFPE and fresh sample analyses.     

Chemical composition and characterisation of seeds from two varieties (pure and hybrid) of Aesculus hippocastanum

Investigations have been conducted on some samples of naturally desiccated horse-chestnuts (Aesculus hippocastanum), representative of the two most common mediterranean varieties: the pure species (AHP, giving white flowers), and a hybrid (AHH, giving pink flowers). Different experimental techniques have been used to gain more information on morphological structure and chemical composition of these complex matrices. Surface analysis by SEM showed no differences in such floured samples (wild type), while thermal behaviour (DSC) outlines some significant differences between them. Chemical composition reveals some differences in residual moisture (AHP = 6.97%; AHH = 6.59%), proteins (AHP = 2.64%; AHH = 1.82%), lipids (AHP = 4.13%; AHH = 5.10%), glucides (AHP = 15.2%; AHH = 14.3%), and ashes (AHP = 2.51%; AHH = 2.19%). Most likely, these characters modulate other undifferentiated chemical parameters, such as cold water solubility (CWS:AHP = 53.9%; AHH = 48.6%), and total inorganic soluble salts (TISS:AHP = 2.18%; AHH = 1.92%). Principal component analysis was applied to differentiate the two horse-chestnuts varieties. In particular, the first principal component effectively distinguish and discriminates AHH and AHP samples in two well-separated categories, giving, at the same time, some information on the influence of the whole set of chemical compositional parameters.     

Evaluation of Ideal Everyday Italian Food and Beer Pairings with Regular Consumers and Food and Beverage Experts

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the sensory characteristics of beer and food that harmonically complement each other respectively from the consumer or the sommelier point of view. With this in view, the most desirable beer and everyday Italian food combinations were explored. Eighteen beer samples, easily available in the off‐premise chain in Italy, and 9 dishes of Italian cuisine, were selected. The level of match of each beer and food combination was determined by a group of 51 consumers and by seven food experts using a 9‐point Likert‐like scale of suitability. Agreements and disagreements between food professionals and consumers were studied and discussed. Generally speaking, most of the dishes were poor complements to the beers selected for this study, for both regular consumers and experts. In particular, seafood salad, spaghetti with tomato sauce and creamed vegetable soup were inappropriate to nearly all of the beer samples overall. However, both consumers and experts found appropriate and interesting beer and food pairing choices, despite usually indicating different ideal beer samples and different levels of match for the same food. This confirmed that certain flavours of food and beer mix together better than others and indicates that consumers may have a different perception of the level of match between beer and food from experts. For regular consumers, the suitability to food was found to positively correlate with the sensory liking of beer. Furthermore the pairing suitability was not equivalent across consumer gender and age class, although these differences had a moderate to weak effect on the level of the final match. Correlations between sensory properties of food and beer samples are reported and discussed.     

Reproducibility of the Italian ISQ method for quality classification of bread wheats: An evaluation by expert assessors

The great variety of different bakery products in Italy has led to the development of a method, the Synthetic Index of Quality (Indice Sintetico di Qualità, ISQ), for the classification of bread wheats in different quality categories. Based on chemical and rheological properties, each wheat sample is assigned to the most suitable class by an expert assessor. In many cases this procedure is not straightforward, making the class assignation uncertain, thus leading to the possibility of controversies during the trading phase. In the present study, in order to have a quantitative estimate of the validity and reliability of this procedure, a panel composed of nine expert assessors was utilised for the repeated evaluation of 100 samples of bread wheats of various qualities. The results suggest that the proposed approach can be used both to monitor the reliability of the single assessors, and to identify samples whose class assignation is reasonably indubitable, e.g. to be used for the development of automated classification methods. Moreover, the analysis of the most uncertain assignation cases can be useful in order to enhance the ISQ classification method itself. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry