Relevance of functional foods in the Mediterranean diet: the role of olive oil,berries and honey in the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular diseases

Abstract

The traditional Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) is a well-known dietary pattern associated with longevity and improvement of life quality as it reduces the risk of the most common chronic pathologies, such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), that represent the principal cause of death worldwide. One of the most characteristic foods of MedDiet is olive oil, a very complex matrix, which constitutes the main source of fats and is used in the preparation of foods, both raw as an ingredient in recipes, and in cooking. Similarly, strawberries and raspberries are tasty and powerful foods which are commonly consumed in the Mediterranean area in fresh and processed forms and have attracted the scientific and consumer attention worldwide for their beneficial properties for human health. Besides olive oil and berries, honey has lately been introduced in the MedDiet thanks to its relevant nutritional, phytochemical and antioxidant profile. It is a sweet substance that has recently been classified as a functional food. The aim of this review is to present and discuss the recent evidence, obtained from in vitro, in vivo and epidemiological studies, on the potential roles exerted by these foods in the prevention and progression of different types of cancer and CVDs.     

Enhanced regression testing technique for agile software development and continuous integration strategies

Software Quality Journal - To survive in competitive marketplaces, most organizations have adopted agile methodologies to facilitate continuous integration and faster application delivery and rely...     

Towards ontology-based multilingual URL filtering: a big data problem

Web content filtering is one among many techniques to limit the exposure of selective content on the Internet. It has gotten trivial with time, yet filtering of multilingual web content is still a difficult task, especially while considering big data landscape. The enormity of data increases the challenge of developing an effective content filtering system that can work in real time. There are several systems which can filter the URLs based on artificial intelligence techniques to identify the site with objectionable content. Most of these systems classify the URLs only in the English language. These systems either fail to respond when multilingual URLs are processed, or over-blocking is experienced. This paper introduces a filtering system that can classify multilingual URLs based on predefined criteria for URL, title, and metadata of a web page. Ontological approaches along with local multilingual dictionaries are used as the knowledge base to facilitate the challenging task of blocking URLs not meeting the filtering criteria. The proposed work shows high accuracy in classifying multilingual URLs into two categories, white and black. Evaluation results conducted on a large dataset show that the proposed system achieves promising accuracy, which is on a par with those achieved in state-of-the-art literature on semantic-based URL filtering.     

Automatic segmentation of liver & lesion detection using H-minima transform and connecting component labeling

Automatic segmentation of the liver and the Lesion detection can be a very challenging task due to its variability in size, shape, position and the presence of other organs with similar intensities. Manual segmentation and detection of a tumor is a time-consuming task and greatly depends upon the expertise and experience of the physician. We proposed a method which consists of automatic segmentation and detection of liver and lesion using CT scan modality. H-minima transform filter, Otsu global thresholds, Morphological opening by reconstruction and modified Connected Component Labeling algorithms are applied for liver segmentation. To keep the technique simple and effective, an appropriate range of threshold values are defined to detect different types of lesions. Performance of the proposed system is evaluated and compared with the state-of-the art algorithms. The results of the comparison show that the proposed approach is robust and efficient due to its simplicity. The dice coefficient score for the hepatic segmentation is 94% while sensitivity and specificity for hepatic lesion are 93% and 87% respectively.

     

Therapeutic Acellular Scaffolds for Limiting Left Ventricular Remodelling-Current Status and Future Directions

Myocardial infarction (MI) is one of the leading causes of heart-related deaths worldwide. Following MI, the hypoxic microenvironment triggers apoptosis, disrupts the extracellular matrix and forms a non-functional scar that leads towards adverse left ventricular (LV) remodelling. If left untreated this eventually leads to heart failure. Besides extensive advancement in medical therapy, complete functional recovery is never accomplished, as the heart possesses limited regenerative ability. In recent decades, the focus has shifted towards tissue engineering and regenerative strategies that provide an attractive option to improve cardiac regeneration, limit adverse LV remodelling and restore function in an infarcted heart. Acellular scaffolds possess attractive features that have made them a promising therapeutic candidate. Their application in infarcted areas has been shown to improve LV remodelling and enhance functional recovery in post-MI hearts. This review will summarise the updates on acellular scaffolds developed and tested in pre-clinical and clinical scenarios in the past five years with a focus on their ability to overcome damage caused by MI. It will also describe how acellular scaffolds alone or in combination with biomolecules have been employed for MI treatment. A better understanding of acellular scaffolds potentialities may guide the development of customised and optimised therapeutic strategies for MI treatment.     

Fabrication and Catalytic Characterization of Laccase-Loaded Calcium-Alginate Beads for Enhanced Degradation of Dye-Contaminated Aqueous Solutions

Catalysis Letters - Engineered laccases represent an eco-friendlier and robust biocatalytic tool for the treatment of dye-harboring textile wastewater. This study investigates the immobilization of...     

Aluminum silicate fibers impregnated acrylonitrile butadiene rubber composites: Ablation,thermal transport/stability,and mechanical inspection

Variant concentrations of ceramic fibers (CerFs) were incorporated into acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) to fabricate elastomeric ablative composites for ultrahigh temperature applications. The CerFs introduction into the polymer matrix has enhanced the ablation resistance up to 59% and successfully reduced the backface temperature of the polymer composite up to 110^oC during the ultrahigh temperature ablation investigation. Thermal decomposition of the polymer composites was diminished up to 10% with increasing fiber concentration in the rubber matrix. Thermal conductivity was reduced equal to 63% while thermal impedance was enhanced up to 84% with the utmost fiber incorporation into the NBR matrix. The CerFs have adversely affected the mechanical properties of NBR matrix due to their brittle/inert nature and weak interface bonding with the host matrix. Scanning electron microscopy along with the energy dispersive x‐ray spectroscopy was used to examine the ablated specimens and the fiber dispersion within the host matrix. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 4392–4400, 2013     

Determining nutritional labeling data for fats and oils by 1H NMR

The nutrition labeling compositional data (NLCD) required for fat‐containing food products consists of the percentages of saturated, cis‐monounsaturated, and cis‐polyunsaturated fat as well as trans content. The capability of ¹H NMR spectroscopy to determine the NLCD components in oils that do not contain significant levels of trans isomers has already been established in the literature, but not its capability to differentiate between cis‐ and trans‐unsaturation. In the present study, the determination of all four NLCD components in fats and oils has been demonstrated for the first time. A preliminary analysis of the intensity‐normalized ¹H NMR spectra of defined mixtures of pure triacylglycerols (TAG) by partial least squares (PLS) regression revealed that the (mono)allylic proton resonances of cis and trans bonds were sufficiently well separated to allow for accurate quantitation of trans content by simple peak integration. This chemometric approach also served to facilitate the identification of optimal integration limits for these cis‐ and trans‐allylic resonances. Fixed integration limits were also set for the other resonances employed in the determination of the four NLCD components, and a standardized spectral preprocessing procedure was established. The ¹H NMR NLCD data obtained for the TAG mixtures by this methodology was a good match to the actual values, calculated from the known molar composition of these gravimetrically prepared mixtures. A procedure for the conversion of the NMR mol% NLCD to units of wt%, previously developed for ¹³C NMR, was adapted for ¹H NMR and shown to be effective in compensating for the overestimation of wt% saturates and underestimation of wt% unsaturates by ¹H NMR if this conversion is not made. The ¹H NMR methodology for NLCD determination was validated by analyzing AOCS Laboratory Proficiency Program GC samples as well as samples taken from a hydrogenator over time and analyzed for trans content by GC and IR spectroscopy. Comparison of the ¹H NMR mol% and wt% NLCD obtained for these validation samples with the data obtained from the reference methods indicated that ¹H NMR can deliver high‐quality, accurate NLCD, much like ¹³C NMR, but in a much shorter time frame. Thus, ¹H NMR provides a more rapid and cost‐effective means of obtaining NLCD than ¹³C NMR and can replace GC as a primary reference method for the calibration of simpler and automatable instrumental methods such as Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy.     

Fine Mapping of qTGW7b,a Minor Effect QTL for Grain Weight in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Grain weight is a key trait that determines rice quality and yield, and it is primarily controlled by quantitative trait loci (QTL). Recently, attention has been paid to minor QTLs. A minor effect QTL qTGW7 that controls grain weight was previously identified in a set of chromosomal fragment substitution lines (CSSLs) derived from Nipponbare (NPB)/93-11. Compared to NPB, the single segment substitution line (SSSL) N83 carrying the qTGW7 introgression exhibited an increase in grain length and width and a 4.5% increase in grain weight. Meanwhile, N83 was backcrossed to NPB to create a separating population, qTGW7b, a QTL distinct from qTGW7, which was detected between markers G31 and G32. Twelve near-isogenic lines (NILs) from the BC₉F₃ population and progeny of five NILs from the BC₉F_3:4 population were genotyped and phenotyped, resulting in the fine mapping of the minor effect QTL qTGW7b to the approximately 86.2-kb region between markers G72 and G32. Further sequence comparisons and expression analysis confirmed that five genes, including Os07g39370, Os07g39430, Os07g39440, Os07g39450, and Os07g39480, were considered as the candidate genes underlying qTGW7b. These results provide a crucial foundation for further cloning of qTGW7b and molecular breeding design in rice.     

Finite difference method for time–space linear and nonlinear fractional diffusion equations

ABSTRACT

In this paper a finite difference method is presented to solve time–space linear and nonlinear fractional diffusion equations. Specifically, the centred difference scheme is used to approximate the Riesz fractional derivative in space. A trapezoidal formula is used to solve a system of Volterra integral equations transformed from spatial discretization. Stability and convergence of the proposed scheme is discussed which shows second-order accuracy both in temporal and spatial directions. Finally, examples are presented to show the accuracy and effectiveness of the schemes.