High-resolution Orbitrap™-based mass spectrometry for rapid detection of peanuts in nuts

Peanut represents one of the most harmful allergenic foods capable of triggering severe and sometimes lethal reactions in allergic consumers upon ingestion of even small amounts. Several proteins capable of inducing allergic reactions that have been recognised by patients’ IgE antibodies have been identified from this nut source. Methods mainly based on ELISA assays have been developed in order to detect peanuts in several food commodities. In addition LC-MS/MS methods based on different mass analysers have also been devised for tracing peanut contamination in different foods achieving low limits of detection. The applicability of a benchtop high-resolution Exactive? mass spectrometer has never been investigated for the rapid screening of peanut contamination in complex food matrices like mixtures of nuts. We report in this paper the design of suitable peanut markers and the development of an high-resolution Orbitrap? mass spectrometer-based method for peanut detection in a mixture of nuts species. With this aim, different types of samples were prepared: (1) nuts-based powder made up of a mixture of hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds and walnuts; and (2) nuts powder fortified with peanuts. Different levels of fortifications were produced and the applicability of the method was tested. Finally, a subset of six peptides fulfilling specific analytical requirements was chosen to check the suitability of the method tailored to the detection of peanuts in nuts-based products, and two of them, peptides VYD and WLG, were selected as quantitative markers. The method proved to be a suitable screening tool to assess the presence of traces of peanuts in other tree nuts with a limit of detection as low as 4 µg of peanuts proteins or 26 µg of peanuts in 1 g of matrix.     

Investigation of the composition of historical and modern Italian papers by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS)

In this work, a study concerning the composition of Italian papers from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries was carried out using energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (EDXRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy coupled to energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS). The analyzed samples consisted of papers employed for drawing, writing, printing, and absorbance. Observations carried out by SEM magnified the typical paper morphology. EDXRF in combination with XRD and SEM-EDS allowed the determination of calcite, gypsum, kaolin, talc, magnesite, and dolomite, used as fillers in the production of the papers studied herein. The inks present in the handwritten and printed papers, investigated by SEM-EDS and μ-EDXRF, were synthetic, Fe based, and iron gall inks.     

Design of renewable poly(amidoamine)/hemicellulose hydrogels for heavy metal adsorption

Renewable poly(amidoamine)/hemicellulose hydrogels were prepared from O‐acetylated galactoglucomannan (AcGGM)‐rich biomass and shown to display a significantly high adsorption capacity for Cu²⁺, Cd²⁺, Pb^2+, Zn²⁺, Ni²⁺, Co²⁺, and . Two different acrylamido end‐capped poly(amidoamine) oligomers (PAA) were prepared and covalently immobilized onto an in situ formed polysaccharide network via water‐based free radical graft copolymerization and cross‐linking. The synthetic approach was shown to be viable when using a highly purified AcGGM or a crude spruce hydrolysate, an AcGGM and lignin containing biomass fraction as a reactant. Homogeneous reaction mixtures were obtained in both cases with polysaccharide contents up to 20% by weight. Oscillatory shear measurements indicated a predominantly solid‐like behavior of the hydrogels with an increase in shear storage modulus with increasing cross‐link density. The mechanical integrity of the PAA/hemicellulose hydrogels showed higher water swelling capacity and less fragility than the parent PAA hydrogels and they retained the heavy metal ion absorption ability of the PAA component, even in the presence of the least purified hemicellulose fraction. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41695.     

Chemical composition, in vitro anti-yeast activity and fruit juice preservation potential of lemon grass oil

The anti-yeast activity of lemon grass oil was evaluated against several food spoiling yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Zygosaccharomyces bailii, Aureobasidium pullulans, Candida diversa, Pichia fermentans, Pichia kluyveri, Pichia anomala and Hansenula polymorpha) through disc diffusion and microbroth dilution method. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) varied from 0.28 to 1.3 mg/ml and 0.56 to 4.5 mg/ml, respectively, where highest MIC (2.25 mg/ml) was shown by A. pullulans and lowest MIC (0.28 mg/ml) was shown by C. diversa and P. anomala. Kill time assay was conducted for selected three yeast strains where S. cerevisiae showed highest reduction (3 log cfu) in viability within 24 h exposure of lemon grass oil at MFC level. Further, the anti-yeast efficacy of lemon grass oil alone and in combination with thermal treatment was evaluated in real food system i.e. mixed fruit juices. Chemical composition analysis of lemon grass oil by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) revealed that the dominant compounds were geranial (40.5%), neral (30.7%), geranyl acetate (5.1%), caryophyllene (2.5%). Present results established the superior performance of integrated (thermal–lemon grass oil) treatment over the individual exposure (lemon grass oil or thermal treatment alone) for fruit juice preservation.     

Rapid Quantification of Soyasaponins I and βg in Italian Lentils by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)–Tandem Mass Spectrometry (MS/MS)

In this work, an innovative and fast analytical method for the quantification of soyasaponins I and βg in lentils has been developed. Samples were extracted using 70 % aqueous ethanol at room temperature and then injected into a high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry system. The correlation coefficients of calibration curves of the analyzed compounds were ≥0.9997. The recoveries obtained by spiking the lentil samples with a standard mixture of soyasaponins I and βg at 50 and 100 mg l^?1 were in the range of 96–101 and 98–103 %, respectively. The validated method was applied to the analysis of 30 lentil samples from central Italy. Soyasaponins I and βg were present in these lentils in concentrations that ranged from 54 to 226 mg kg^?1 and from 436 to 1,272 mg kg^?1, respectively. Our data indicated that lentils cultivated in fields at intermediate altitudes (1,142–1,387 m) showed the highest levels of soyasaponins, a finding confirmed by principal component analysis.     

Non-thermal atmospheric gas plasma device for surface decontamination of shell eggs

A resistive barrier discharge (RBD) prototype able to generate gas plasma at atmospheric conditions was set up. The discharge was electrically characterized and the plasma glow was analysed by optical emission spectroscopy. The decontamination power of the device was assessed on samples of shell eggs experimentally inoculated with Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Typhimurium (5.5–6.5 Log CFU/eggshell) and placed in the treatment chamber. Different decontamination times (10, 20, 30, 45, 60 and 90 min) and relative humidity values (RH) of the gas mixture in the chamber (i.e. 35% and 65%, at 25 °C) were considered. All samples were treated in the plasma after-glow chamber where the measured temperature was not much higher than the room temperature, minimizing the risk of egg quality alterations.     

Quantitative Systems Pharmacology and Biased Agonism at Opioid Receptors: A Potential Avenue for Improved Analgesics

Chronic pain is debilitating and represents a significant burden in terms of personal and socio-economic costs. Although opioid analgesics are widely used in chronic pain treatment, many patients report inadequate pain relief or relevant adverse effects, highlighting the need to develop analgesics with improved efficacy/safety. Multiple evidence suggests that G protein-dependent signaling triggers opioid-induced antinociception, whereas arrestin-mediated pathways are credited with modulating different opioid adverse effects, thus spurring extensive research for G protein-biased opioid agonists as analgesic candidates with improved pharmacology. Despite the increasing expectations of functional selectivity, translating G protein-biased opioid agonists into improved therapeutics is far from being fully achieved, due to the complex, multidimensional pharmacology of opioid receptors. The multifaceted network of signaling events and molecular processes underlying therapeutic and adverse effects induced by opioids is more complex than the mere dichotomy between G protein and arrestin and requires more comprehensive, integrated, network-centric approaches to be fully dissected. Quantitative Systems Pharmacology (QSP) models employing multidimensional assays associated with computational tools able to analyze large datasets may provide an intriguing approach to go beyond the greater complexity of opioid receptor pharmacology and the current limitations entailing the development of biased opioid agonists as improved analgesics.