BITTER TASTE AND PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS IN EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL: AN EMPIRICAL RELATIONSHIP

Bitter taste of extra virgin olive oil is known to be affected by the phenolic composition. However, contribution of each individual phenol to this sensory note has not been clearly defined. The aims of this study were to verify whether there was a relationship between bitter sensation and phenolic compound concentration, to determine which compounds were involved in bitter taste and to evaluate quantitatively this correlation. Results confirmed that a positive correlation did exist between total phenolic amount and bitter intensity. Data processing showed that this correlation was significantly dependent upon a relationship between oleuropein aglycon (3,4‐DHPEA‐EA) and bitter intensity. An empirical exponential model was set up and validated.     

HisTOOLogy: an open‐source tool for quantitative analysis of histological sections

HisTOOLogy is an open‐source software for the quantification of digital colour images of histological sections. The simple graphical user interface enables both expert and non‐expert users to rapidly extract useful information from stained tissue sections. The software's main feature is a generalizable colour separation algorithm based on k‐means clustering which accurately and reproducibly returns the amount of colour per unit area for any stain, thus allowing the quantification of tissue components. Here we describe HisTOOLogy's algorithms and graphical user interface structure, showing how it can be used to separate different dye colours in several classical stains. In addition, to demonstrate how the tool can be employed to obtain quantitative information on biological tissues, the effect of different hepatic tissue decellularization protocols on cell removal and matrix preservation was assessed through image analysis using HisTOOLogy and compared with conventional DNA and total protein content assays. HisTOOLogy's performance was also compared with ImageJ's colour deconvolution plug‐in, demonstrating its advantages in terms of ease of use and speed of colour separation.     

Potential observations with EURECA/VEXUVIO imagingspectrometer

Despite its geological importance, the Earth's volcanic activity has only recently been studied as a global system, with the advent of sophisticated airborne and spaceborne remote sensing systems that safely and economically provide global access at will. Particularly relevant to this approach are global studies of the effects on weather and climate caused by volcanic solid/gaseous products and thermal flux into the environment. To study such time-varying phenomena, observations of volcanic emissions spectral response, acquired simultaneously at a variety of wavelengths from ultra-violet to infra-red, could yield relevant information on the compositions and concentrations of environmentally important components, such as volcanically generated sulphur compounds (e.g., SO₂ H₂SO₄), and on volcanoes thermal behaviour. For this purpose, a multi-band imaging spectrometer, dedicated to volcanological observations (VEXUVIO, Visible EXplorer Ultra Violet Infra-red Observer) has been designed to be flown on-board EURECA (EUropean REtrievable CArrier) spacecraft, to be launched by the European Space Agency on the NASA Space Shuttle in 1996. In order to analyse potential observation scenarios with this sensor, volcanoes active during 1991 were studied using a computer code to simulate VEXUVIO capabilities on-board EURECA. Some parameters, representative of the sensor viewing geometry and of the volcanoes observation conditions, are exploited, and several plots are reported, shown their values during the six-months nominal EURECA mission. Despite the limited science objectives of EURECA program and a tightly constrained operational environment, our simulation demonstrates that a reasonable program of volcanologically interesting time-series observations can be carried out during the planned sixmonths lifetime of the EURECA mission.