Fourth-range products are those types of fresh fruit and vegetables that are ready for raw consumption or after cooking, and belong to organic or integrated cultivations. These products are subject to mild post-harvesting processing procedures (selection, sorting, husking, cutting, and washing), and are afterwards packaged in packets or closed food plates, with an average shelf life of 5-10 days. Artichokes are stripped of the leaves, stems and outer bracts, and the remaining heads are washed with acidifying solutions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFand are prokaryotic microalgae commercially marketed as spirulina. The pigments extracted from these algae are widely used for cosmetic and nutraceutical applications. This work aimed to evaluate the influence of three light-emitting lamps (white, orange and blue) on the growth and biomass composition of two strains of (M2 and M2M) and one of .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis a widespread sea urchin species appreciated worldwide for the taste of its fresh gonads. High-pressure processing (HPP) can provide a thermal equivalent to pasteurization, maintaining the organoleptic properties of the raw gonads. This study evaluated HPP technology's effect at 350 MPa and 500 MPa on microbial inactivation and biochemical characteristics of gonads.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSwordfish is the most widespread billfish in the aquatic environment. The industrial processing of swordfish fillets involves salting, drying, and smoking steps. Salting techniques, dry or wet, are the most common method of fish preservation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis work aimed to investigate the bio-distribution and the persistence of fipronil and its primary metabolite fipronil sulfone after oral and dermal administration by simulating natural farming conditions. Fipronil and fipronil sulfone detection and quantification were performed in different poultry matrices using an LC-MS/MS method coupled with modified QuEChERS extraction. After oral administration, fipronil was detected in feathers at each sampling time, in eggs for 28 days, and in the internal organs at the end of the experiment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHoneybees use propolis collected from plants for coating the inner walls of their nest. This substance is also used as a natural antibiotic against microbial pathogens, similarly to many other animals exploiting natural products for self-medication. We carried out chemical analyses and laboratory bioassays to test if honeybees use propolis for social medication against their major ectoparasite: .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVernaccia is a white grape mostly used to produce a distinct wine protected by the controlled designation of origin (DOC) recognition. It is very susceptible to fungal disease, and it is subjected to a defined management protocol in the field. Winemaking could influence pesticide residues through different mechanisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe use of natural substances such as essentials oils against bee pathogens is of great interest as an alternative to traditional methods based on synthetic compounds like antibiotics and fungicides, in order to minimize the risk of having toxic residues in hive products and to prevent the development of resistance phenomena. This study evaluated the inhibitory, fungicidal and sporicidal activity of ten essential oils extracted from aromatic plants against , the etiological agent of chalkbrood, an invasive honey bee mycosis. The most effective essential oils were and , which showed values of minimum fungicidal concentration and minimum sporicidal concentration ranging from 200 to 400 ppm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Low water solubility of pesticide requires formulations with high levels of stabilizers and organic solvents. Moreover, only 0.1% of the applied pesticides formulation reaches the target, while 99.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPesticides are broadly used to improve food safety, although they can lead to adverse health effects on consumers. Various food processing approaches, at the industrial or domestic level, have been found to highly reduce the amount of pesticide residues in most food materials. In this work, samples of raw tomatoes were collected directly from the field and processed at the industrial level to produce purée, triple concentrated paste, fine pulp, and diced tomatoes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBottarga is a high-priced delicacy with high nutritional value, and, in Italy, bottarga from mullets has been recognized to be a traditional food product. The flathead grey mullet and the thinlip grey mullet are the main cultured grey mullets in the Mediterranean Sea. In this study, fresh roe and bottarga from these two species were investigated to evaluate the influence of the technological process and the species on their biochemical composition and health advantages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMussels close their shell as a protective strategy and the quantification of this behavioral marker may represent an alarm signal when they are exposed to environmental stressors. In the present study, we investigated the ability of the Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis to recover and then the resilience or inertia of valve activity after a pulsing exposition to diverse levels of salinity (5, 10, 20, and 35 PSU as reference value). The trial simulated an event of drastic and sudden reduction of seawater salinity thus mimicking an event of flash flood from intense rain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this work, three gastropods Patella vulgata, Osilinus turbinata, and Tahis clavigera, one echinoderm Parancetrotus lividus, one coelenterate Anemonia sulcata, and two seaweed Padina pavonica, and Cystoseira mediterranea were collected from three different marine areas of Sardinia in the Mediterranean sea and studied for heavy metals and metalloid content and accumulation trends. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) was used for the determination of Al, AS, B, Ba, Be, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, Sn, Sr, Te, Ti, V and Zn in the selected samples. The results showed that gastropods were capable of accumulating Al, Ba, Cu, Fe, Sr, and Zn; seaweeds can better concentrate Al, Fe, and Zn than all other species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis a widespread obligate intracellular parasite of the ventriculus of many species of honey bee (), including the Western honey bee , in which it may lead to colony death. It can be controlled in by feeding the antibiotic fumagillin to a colony, though this product is toxic to humans and its use has now been banned in many countries, so in beekeeping, there exists a need for alternative and safe products effective against . Honeybees produce propolis from resinous substances collected from plants and use it to protect their nest from parasites and pathogens; propolis is thought to decrease the microbial load of the hive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwenty-seven strains, and the undefined starter for table olives from which they were isolated, were characterised for their technological properties: tolerance to low temperature, high salt concentration, alkaline pH, and olive leaf extract; acidifying ability; oleuropein degradation; hydrogen peroxide and lactic acid production. Two strains with appropriate technological properties were selected. Then, table olive fermentation in vats, with the original starter, the selected strains, and without starter (spontaneous fermentation) were compared.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: A clinical heterogeneity was reported in patients with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) with the same CFTR genotype and between siblings with CF.
Methods: We investigated all clinical aspects in a cohort of 101 pairs of siblings with CF (including 6 triplets) followed since diagnosis.
Results: Severe lung disease had a 22.
Background: Recurrent (RP) and chronic pancreatitis (CP) may complicate Cystic Fibrosis (CF). It is still unknown if mutations in genes involved in the intrapancreatic activation of trypsin (IPAT) or in the pancreatic secretion pathway (PSP) may enhance the risk for RP/CP in patients with CF.
Methods: We enrolled: 48 patients affected by CF complicated by RP/CP and, as controls 35 patients with CF without pancreatitis and 80 unrelated healthy subjects.
Self-medication plays a major role in the behavioral defense against pathogens and parasites that animals have developed during evolution. The conditions defining this adaptive behavior are: (1) contact with the substance in question must be deliberate; (2) the substance must be detrimental to one or more parasites; (3) the detrimental effect on parasites must lead to increased host fitness. Recent studies have shown that A.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecessive X-linked ichthyosis (XLI), the second most common ichthyosis, is caused by mutations in the STS gene encoding the steroid sulfatase enzyme. A complete deletion of the STS gene is found in 85%-90% of cases. Rarely, larger deletions involving contiguous genes are detected in syndromic patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCopy-number variants (CNVs) are associated with susceptibility to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To detect the presence of CNVs, we conducted an array-comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH) analysis in 133 children with "essential" ASD phenotype. Genetic analyses documented that 12 children had causative CNVs (C-CNVs), 29 children had non-causative CNVs (NC-CNVs) and 92 children without CNVs (W-CNVs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFood Addit Contam Part A Chem Anal Control Expo Risk Assess
December 2017
Trihalomethanes (THMs) - CHCl, CHClBr, CHClBr and CHBr - are drinking water disinfection by-products (DBPs). These compounds can also be absorbed by different types of foods, including ready-to-eat (RTE) fresh vegetables. The potential absorption of THMs during washing of RTE vegetables could pose a potential risk to consumers' health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe prevalence of congenital heart defects (CHD) in Kabuki syndrome ranges from 28% to 80%. Between January 2012 and December 2015, 28 patients had a molecularly proven diagnosis of Kabuki syndrome. Pathogenic variants in KMT2D (MLL2) were detected in 27 patients, and in KDM6A gene in one.
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