Hop leaves: From waste to a valuable source of bioactive compounds - A multidisciplinary approach to investigating potential applications.

After harvesting of cones used for beer production, the remaining hop vegetative biomass requires disposal. The hop plant contains bioactive compounds in all its parts-cones, leaves, and roots-exhibiting interesting antioxidant, antiviral, and antibacterial properties. In this work, extracts obtained from hop leaves, a plant material often neglected in the hop cultivation, have been investigated; the qualitative UHPLC-MS/MS and GC-TOF-MS characterization revealed the presence of bioactive compounds such as polyphenols, α- and β-acids and terpenes are present.

Persistence and evolution of linezolid- and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis ST2 and ST5 clones in an Italian hospital.

Objectives: Staphylococcus epidermidis is a member of the human skin microbiome. However, in recent decades, multidrug-resistant and hospital-adapted S. epidermidis clones are increasingly involved in severe human infections associated with medical devices and in immunocompromised patients.

Inhibition of polymorphic MexXY-OprM efflux system in Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates by Berberine derivatives.

The MexXY-OprM multidrug efflux pump (EP) in aminoglycosides resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the major resistance mechanisms, which is often overexpressed in strains isolated from pulmonary chronic disease such as cystic fibrosis. In this research, we focused on the design of potential efflux pumps inhibitors, targeting MexY, the inner membrane component, in an allosteric site. Berberine has been considered as lead molecule since we previously demonstrated its effectiveness in targeting MexY in laboratory reference strains.

Short mechanical biological treatment of municipal solid waste allows landfill impact reduction saving waste energy content.

The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of full scale MBT process (28 d) in removing inhibition condition for successive biogas (ABP) production in landfill and in reducing total waste impact. For this purpose the organic fraction of MSW was treated in a full-scale MBT plant and successively incubated vs. untreated waste, in simulated landfills for one year.

Mechanical biological treatment of organic fraction of MSW affected dissolved organic matter evolution in simulated landfill.

The aim of this paper was to study the evolution of DOM during 1 year of observation in simulated landfill, of aerobically treated vs. untreated organic fraction of MSW. Results obtained indicated that aerobic treatment of organic fraction of MSW permitted getting good biological stability so that, successive incubation under anaerobic condition in landfill allowed biological process to continue getting a strong reduction of soluble organic matter (DOM) that showed, also, an aromatic character.

The use of the dynamic respiration index to predict the potential MSW-leachate impacts after short term mechanical biological treatment.

The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of short full scale MBT process (28 d) getting a biological stability of DRI < 1000 mg O(2) kg VS(-1) h(-1), on the impact of leachate produced in simulated landfill. As consequence of that, waste was processed by full scale MBT and both untreated and treated waste were successively incubated in simulated landfills for 1 year. Leachates were collected at different incubation times and characterized.

Genome-wide association study identifies eight loci associated with blood pressure.

Elevated blood pressure is a common, heritable cause of cardiovascular disease worldwide. To date, identification of common genetic variants influencing blood pressure has proven challenging. We tested 2.

A field synopsis on low-penetrance variants in DNA repair genes and cancer susceptibility.

Background: Several genes encoding for DNA repair molecules implicated in maintaining genomic integrity have been proposed as cancer-susceptibility genes. Although efforts have been made to create synopses for specific fields that summarize the data from genetic association studies, such an overview is not available for genes involved in DNA repair.

Methods: We have created a regularly updated database of studies addressing associations between DNA repair gene variants (excluding highly penetrant mutations) and different types of cancer.