The SCD – Stem Cell Differentiation ESA Project: Preparatory Work for the Spaceflight Mission

Due to spaceflight, astronauts experience serious, weightlessness-induced bone loss because of an unbalanced process of bone remodeling that involves bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs), as well as osteoblasts, osteocytes, and osteoclasts. The effects of microgravity on osteo-cells have been extensively studied, but it is only recently that consideration has been given to the role of BMSCs. Previous researches indicated that human BMSCs cultured in simulated microgravity (sim-μg) alter their proliferation and differentiation. The spaceflight opportunities for biomedical experiments are rare and suffer from a number of operative constraints that could bias the validity of the experiment itself, but remain a unique opportunity to confirm and explain the effects due to microgravity, that are only partially activated/detectable in simulated conditions. For this reason, we carefully prepared the SCD – STEM CELLS DIFFERENTIATION experiment, selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) and now on the International Space Station (ISS). Here we present the preparatory studies performed on ground to adapt the project to the spaceflight constraints in terms of culture conditions, fixation and storage of human BMSCs in space aiming at satisfying the biological requirements mandatory to retrieve suitable samples for post-flight analyses. We expect to understand better the molecular mechanisms governing human BMSC growth and differentiation hoping to outline new countermeasures against astronaut bone loss.     

Characterisation of Italian commercial apricot juices by high-performance liquid chromatography analysis and multivariate analysis

The modern fruit juice industry needs their products to be characterized by high-quality attributes to meet consumers’ expectation. In this view, the composition of 26 Italian commercial apricot juices obtained from organic, integrated and conventional agriculture was analysed for carbohydrates, organic acids, amino acids, phenolic compounds and furanic compounds by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The content of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in apricot juices (range 0.1–18 mg/l) was within the regulatory limit of 20 mg/l. The lack of furanic compounds in apricot fresh fruits confirmed their importance as quality markers of heating condition during processing and storage of fruit juices. Univariate analysis disclosed some significant differences among the composition of the apricot juices in terms of glucose, fructose, malic acid, glycine, chlorogenic acid, rutin, and a^∗-parameter (redness). Principal component analysis on chemical composition of apricot juices resulted in two principal components (PCs) that accounted for 66% of the total variance. Organic apricot juices showed some separation from the other juices, whereas a lack of distinction between integrated and conventional juices appeared.     

Relationship Between Chemical Markers and Sensory Score of Traditional Balsamic Vinegars Using a Screening Approach Combined with Rapid Assessment Methods

In this study, 200 samples of traditional balsamic vinegar (TBV) of Reggio-Emilia, a typical Italian “aged dressing” with Protected Denomination of Origin, were analyzed to model the relationship between sensory scores with some pre-selected compounds/parameters, such as Brix value, water activity (a _w), titratable acidity, color, polymeric compounds, and electronic nose signal. Statistical techniques, such as nonlinear regression and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were used to model the relationship among vinegars composition. The sensory score of panelists was mainly correlated with Brix (r?=?0.85) followed by brown color at 445 nm (r?=?0.74) and water activity (a _w) (r?=??0.79), whereas the polymeric compounds content showed a negative correlation with water activity (r?=?–0.73). In particular, the water activity of TBVs at different Brix values followed a nonlinear trend with good fitting (r?=?0.857) with K?=?3.10 that was consistent with the value reported in the literature for fructose and glucose. Electronic nose (enose) data from TBVs and six marker compounds (acetic acid, butyric acid, vanillin, ethyl-phenylacetate, phenylethyl alcohol, and furfural) combined with PCA revealed a pattern related to the ageing of TBVs.     

MOSFET's negative transconductance at room temperature

Negative transconductance is reported for the first time at T=300 K for NMOS transistors fabricated with different technologies and oxide thickness in the 3-20 nm range. The effects of drain bias, channel length, oxide thickness as well as substrate doping and bias on the phenomenon are investigated. The results are interpreted in terms of surface-roughness limited mobility, and parameters for mobility modeling at high effective fields are extracted     

Treatment of Grape Juice by Osmotic Evaporation

ABSTRACT: Osmotic evaporation (OE) was applied to grape juice to increase the sugar content and thus to improve the quality of wine obtained after fermentation. The use of aqueous solutions of glycerol as extractant avoids corrosion and scaling, which are the main problems in OE with brines. Preliminary experiments were performed on lab scale using water or glucose solutions as feed, and NaCl or glycerol as extractant. The runs with NaCl allowed measurement of the membrane transport properties, whereas glycerol was used to quantify the concentration polarization phenomena involved. The extract side concentration polarization severely limited the flux achievable for glycerol concentration above 50% wt, while the extract side concentration was negligible in the OE with NaCl. The feed side concentration polarization played a minor role for glucose content up to 40% wt. Experiments with grape juice were performed on pilot scale equipped with plate and frame modules. The performance were in good agreement with lab results on glucose model solutions, the lower flux observed was due only to the low temperature of operation. The process was tested on 3 types of grape juice (white, rosé, and red). Treated and control juices were fermented, and corresponding wines were analyzed for selected parameters and evaluated by sensory analysis. The OE treatment removed water from grape juice and increased both the total soluble solids and sugar content of juice, thus ethanol content and dry extract in wine always increased. The osmotic evaporation significantly improved sensory quality of red wine that was judged as having a full body, more structure, and persistence.     

Preliminary Study on Glucose Oxidase-Catalase Enzyme System to Control the Browning of Apple and Pear Purées

Oxygen is a key factor in fruit purées browning. The use of a commercial glucose oxidase-catalase enzyme system (GOX) for oxygen removal and browning control of Golden Delicious apple and Kaiser pear purées during storage has been investigated. The effect of ascorbic acid and peroxidase has also been tested and results compared with control (no treatment). Colour change was quantified using the CIE L^*, a^*, b^* system. Heating has been the unique treatment able to control the enzymatic browning of fruit purées, whereas GOX was the most efficient in reducing to low level the dissolved oxygen content in apple and pear purées (99% oxygen removed), and showed an interesting capability to control the nonenzymatic browning during fruit processing and purées storage. However, ascorbic acid decreased the nonenzymatic browning of fruit purées to a larger extent than any other chemical treatment used in this study. The Kaiser pear shows a fast enzymatic browning thus may represent a good ‘standard’ to measure browning kinetics.     

Fermentation of sulphite-free white musts with added lysozyme and oenological tannins: Nitrogen consumption and biogenic amines composition of final wines

The influence on amino acid consumption and biogenic amines composition of white wines obtained by replacing SO₂ during fermentation with lysozyme and tannins was studied. At the same time, the fermentative performance of two low SO₂ producing selected yeasts strains was evaluated. For this purpose, a series of laboratory-scale fermentations of fresh white must and a HPLC-DAD method for the analysis of amino acids, biogenic amines and ammonium ion were undertaken. The presence of SO₂ or lysozyme affected the consumption of nitrogen as a function of the yeast strain, while oenological tannin had no substantial influence. Strain 1042 increased the consumption of total YAN in the presence of SO₂, as a consequence of the enhanced utilization of ammonium ion and a number of amino acids. By contrast, strain 333 tended not to change the total YAN uptake, whatever the juice treatment, and reduced the consumption of aspartic and glutamic acids, GABA and other compounds in the case of samples added with SO₂. When compared with lysozyme addition, for both strains, SO₂ increased the consumption of alanine and glutamine, the latter being a major contributor to the assimilable nitrogen of the must. No influence of must treatments was found on the content of biogenic amines in the final wines.     

The determination of total SO2 in grape juice. A comparison among five methods

The EC official method of total SO₂ analysis in grape juice was modified in 1990. The main improvements concerned the amount and concentration of H₃PO₄ used during the distillation to recover the combined SO₂ and the standardization of the distillation time at 15min. This comparative study evaluated the total SO₂ level of 12 grape juices determined by five methods, including distillation, iodimetric and enzymatic-based methods. Attention was focused on the total SO₂ legal limit of 10mg/l fixed in Europe for grape juice. Analysis of variance disclosed a significant difference among the total SO₂ content in grape juices determined by five methods. Each analytical method showed limits in relation of their ability to release the combined SO₂. In particular, the SO₂ bonded to phenolic compounds is partially released at low pH in the acidified juice leading to higher results.     

Efficient Stochastic Simulation of Biological Systems with Multiple Variable Volumes

The application of concurrent calculi to the formalisation of biological systems constitutes a promising approach to the analysis in silico of biological phenomena. The Gillespie algorithm is one of the main models exploited for their stochastic simulation. While the original algorithm considers only one fixed-volume compartment, the simulation of biological systems often requires multi-compartment semantics. In this paper we present an enhanced formulation of an extended version of the algorithm which handles multiple compartments with varying volumes. The presented algorithm is used as basis for the implementation of an extension of the stochastic π-Calculus, called Sπ@, which allows an intuitive and concise formalisation of such systems. The algorithm is also efficient in presence of a high number of compartments and reactions, therefore Sπ@ represents the starting point for the development of an effective tool for the simulation of biological systems with dynamical structure even in presence of computationally expensive phenomena like diffusion.     

From hypergravity to microgravity: Choosing the suitable simulator

Cardiovascular system functions are impaired in altered gravity conditions. In particular endothelial cells play a major role being responsible for the integrity of the vascular wall. Due to obvious difficulties in performing continuous and exhaustive experiments in space, most of the available data have been obtained so far using various simulators of hypergravity and microgravity (µg) conditions. The consistency of the data resides on the reliability of the simulator, being a critical point in the development of the research. We exposed the cell cultures to 1) hypergravity (launch condition) using MidiCAR at Dutch Experiment Support Center (DESC, NL); 2) simulated µg using the Rotating Wall Vessel (RWV) and the Random Positioning Machine (RPM). We used two different cellular models: human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and human leukocytes (U937). Only few experiments on cells using RPM have been reported. To assess the RPM best operative parameters we considered data from experiments in space on U937 as reference standard. Differently, cultures in modelled µg using RWV have been extensively reported. Our data on HUVEC indicate that the two µg simulators provide analogous results in terms of proliferation and cytoskeletal organization. Finally, to investigate the effects of spaceflight on different human cells, we developed a spaceflight-like protocol consisting of an initial hypergravity phase (launch), followed by a µg simulation (orbital flight). Using this protocol, results show that hypergravity limits in our models the effects on proliferation induced by modelled µg.