Polyphenol-Rich Extracts from Agroindustrial Waste and Byproducts: Results and Perspectives According to the Green Chemistry and Circular Economy.

Polyphenols are natural secondary metabolites found in plants endowed with multiple biological activities (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, cardioprotective, and anticancer). In view of these properties, they find many applications and are used as active ingredients in nutraceutical, food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic formulations. In accordance with green chemistry and circular economy strategies, they can also be recovered from agroindustrial waste and reused in various sectors, promoting sustainable processes.

Highly reproducible and CMOS-compatible VO-based oscillators for brain-inspired computing.

With remarkable electrical and optical switching properties induced at low power and near room temperature (68 °C), vanadium dioxide (VO) has sparked rising interest in unconventional computing among the phase-change materials research community. The scalability and the potential to compute beyond the von Neumann model make VO especially appealing for implementation in oscillating neural networks for artificial intelligence applications, to solve constraint satisfaction problems, and for pattern recognition. Its integration into large networks of oscillators on a Silicon platform still poses challenges associated with the stabilization in the correct oxidation state and the ability to fabricate a structure with predictable electrical behavior showing very low variability.

Flow cytometry: Unravelling the real antimicrobial and antibiofilm efficacy of natural bioactive compounds.

Flow cytometry (FCM) provides unique information on bacterial viability and physiology, allowing a real-time early warning antimicrobial and antibiofilm monitoring system for preventing the spread risk of foodborne disease. The present work used a combined culture-based and FCM approach to assess the in vitro efficacy of essential oils (EOs) from condiment plants commonly used in Mediterranean Europe (i.e.

monolayer enhanced bactericidal action of carvacrol: biofilm inhibition of viable foodborne pathogens and spoilage microorganisms.

The prevalence of biofilm-associated microorganisms and the increasing use of ready-to-eat fresh products represent the current duality the food industry must address. Innovative and eco-friendly antibiofilm solutions and appropriate microbiological food control systems are urgently needed to improve food quality and safety. This study aimed to investigate the combined efficacy of carvacrol with a pre-formed biofilm monolayer of the probiotic DSM 20174.

Phenolic-Rich Extracts from Circular Economy: Chemical Profile and Activity against Filamentous Fungi and Dermatophytes.

Fungal infections represent a relevant issue in agri-food and biomedical fields because they could compromise quality of food and humans' health. Natural extracts represent a safe alternative to synthetic fungicides and in the green chemistry and circular economy scenario, agro-industrial wastes and by-products offer an eco-friendly source of bioactive natural compounds. In this paper, phenolic-rich extracts from L.

Hydroxytyrosol Interference with Inflammaging via Modulation of Inflammation and Autophagy.

Inflammaging refers to a chronic, systemic, low-grade inflammation, driven by immune (mainly macrophages) and non-immune cells stimulated by endogenous/self, misplaced or altered molecules, belonging to physiological aging. This age-related inflammatory status is characterized by increased inflammation and decreased macroautophagy/autophagy (a degradation process that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional cell components). Inflammaging predisposes to age-related diseases, including obesity, type-2 diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disorders, as well as vulnerability to infectious diseases and vaccine failure, representing thus a major target for anti-aging strategies.

Role of Hydroxytyrosol and Oleuropein in the Prevention of Aging and Related Disorders: Focus on Neurodegeneration, Skeletal Muscle Dysfunction and Gut Microbiota.

Aging is a multi-faceted process caused by the accumulation of cellular damage over time, associated with a gradual reduction of physiological activities in cells and organs. This degeneration results in a reduced ability to adapt to homeostasis perturbations and an increased incidence of illnesses such as cognitive decline, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and skeletal muscle pathologies. Key features of aging include a chronic low-grade inflammation state and a decrease of the autophagic process.

Innovative Photonic Sensors for Safety and Security, Part III: Environment, Agriculture and Soil Monitoring.

In order to complete this set of three companion papers, in this last, we focus our attention on environmental monitoring by taking advantage of photonic technologies. After reporting on some configurations useful for high precision agriculture, we explore the problems connected with soil water content measurement and landslide early warning. Then, we concentrate on a new generation of seismic sensors useful in both terrestrial and under water contests.

Innovative Photonic Sensors for Safety and Security, Part I: Fundamentals, Infrastructural and Ground Transportations.

Our group, involving researchers from different universities in Campania, Italy, has been working for the last twenty years in the field of photonic sensors for safety and security in healthcare, industrial and environment applications. This is the first in a series of three companion papers. In this paper, we introduce the main concepts of the technologies employed for the realization of our photonic sensors.

Innovative Photonic Sensors for Safety and Security, Part II: Aerospace and Submarine Applications.

The employability of photonics technology in the modern era's highly demanding and sophisticated domain of aerospace and submarines has been an appealing challenge for the scientific communities. In this paper, we review our main results achieved so far on the use of optical fiber sensors for safety and security in innovative aerospace and submarine applications. In particular, recent results of in-field applications of optical fiber sensors in aircraft monitoring, from a weight and balance analysis to vehicle Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and Landing Gear (LG) monitoring, are presented and discussed.

Brillouin scattering for refractive index sensing in non-adiabatic tapers.

We demonstrate the use of non-adiabatic tapers for refractive index sensing in optical fibers based on Brillouin scattering. By exciting higher order optical modes along the taper, the Brillouin gain spectrum becomes multipeaked, where each peak exhibits a different sensitivity to the refractive index of the surrounding medium. By this method, we demonstrate a sensitivity enhancement of the Brillouin frequency shift to refractive index changes by a factor of ≈ 4, compared to an adiabatic taper with the same waist diameter.

In Vitro Anti-Proliferative and Apoptotic Effects of Hydroxytyrosyl Oleate on SH-SY5Y Human Neuroblastoma Cells.

The antitumor activity of polyphenols derived from extra virgin olive oil and, in particular the biological activity of HTyr, has been studied extensively. However, the use of HTyr as a therapeutic agent for clinical applications is limited by its low bioavailability and rapid excretion in humans. To overcome these limitations, several synthetic strategies have been optimized to prepare lipophenols and new compounds derived from HTyr to increase lipophilicity and bioavailability.

Natural Active Ingredients for Poly (Lactic Acid)-Based Materials: State of the Art and Perspectives.

This review describes the state of the art in the field of poly (lactic acid) (PLA)-based materials activated by natural compounds and extracts (active ingredients, AIs) from plant sources for food and biomedical applications. With a multidisciplinary approach, after a description of the synthesis and properties of PLA, special attention was paid to the chemical properties and unconventional extraction technologies of AIs used for PLA activation. Innovative techniques for the incorporation of AIs into PLA; characterization and the antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of the novel materials were discussed.

antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of an oleuropein-enriched extract obtained from olives leaves on BME-UV1 cells.

In this study, for the first time was evaluated the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect of an Oleuropein-enriched extract (OleE) on bovine mammary epithelial cell line (BME-UV1). OleE was obtained from olives leaves and characterized by HPLC and NMR analysis. Cell viability test indicated that OleE at concentrations of 7.

Planar Optofluidic Integration of Ring Resonator and Microfluidic Channels.

We report an optofluidic hybrid silicon-polymer planar ring resonator with integrated microfluidic channels for efficient liquid delivery. The device features a planar architecture of intersecting liquid-core waveguides and microfluidic channels. A low-loss integration of microfluidic channels is accomplished by exploiting the interference pattern created by the self-imaging effect in the multimode interference-based coupler waveguides.

Polyphenols Extracts from Oil Production Waste Products (OPWPs) Reduce Cell Viability and Exert Anti-Inflammatory Activity via PPARγ Induction in Colorectal Cancer Cells.

Olive oil production is associated with the generation of oil production waste products (OPWPs) rich in water-soluble polyphenols that represent serious environmental problems. Yet OPWPs can offer new opportunities by exploiting their bioactive properties. In this study, we chemically characterized OPWPs polyphenolic extracts and investigated their biological activities in normal and colorectal cancer cells.

An integrated device for fast and sensitive immunosuppressant detection.

The present paper describes a compact point of care (POC) optical device for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). The core of the device is a disposable plastic chip where an immunoassay for the determination of immunosuppressants takes place. The chip is designed in order to have ten parallel microchannels allowing the simultaneous detection of more than one analyte with replicate measurements.

Fruit Wastes as a Valuable Source of Value-Added Compounds: A Collaborative Perspective.

The by-products/wastes from agro-food and in particular the fruit industry represents from one side an issue since they cannot be disposed as such for their impact on the environment but they need to be treated as a waste. However, on the other side, they are a source of bioactive healthy useful compounds which can be recovered and be the starting material for other products in the view of sustainability and a circular economy addressing the global goal of "zero waste" in the environment. An updated view of the state of art of the research on fruit wastes is here given under this perspective.

Natural Polyphenols as Immunomodulators to Rescue Immune Response Homeostasis: Quercetin as a Research Model against Severe COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic is caused by SARS-CoV-2 and is leading to the worst health crisis of this century. It emerged in China during late 2019 and rapidly spread all over the world, producing a broad spectrum of clinical disease severity, ranging from asymptomatic infection to death (4.3 million victims so far).

Tomato Bushy Stunt Virus Nanoparticles as a Platform for Drug Delivery to Shh-Dependent Medulloblastoma.

Medulloblastoma (MB) is a primary central nervous system tumor affecting mainly young children. New strategies of drug delivery are urgent to treat MB and, in particular, the SHH-dependent subtype-the most common in infants-in whom radiotherapy is precluded due to the severe neurological side effects. Plant virus nanoparticles (NPs) represent an innovative solution for this challenge.

Dietary Intake and Chronic Disease Prevention.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are non-infectious chronic pathologies [...

Hydroxytyrosol and Oleuropein-Enriched Extracts Obtained from Olive Oil Wastes and By-Products as Active Antioxidant Ingredients for Poly (Vinyl Alcohol)-Based Films.

Oxidative stability of food is one of the most important parameters affecting integrity and consequently nutritional properties of dietary constituents. Antioxidants are widely used to avoid deterioration during transformation, packaging, and storage of food. In this paper, novel poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-based films were prepared by solvent casting method adding an hydroxytyrosol-enriched extract (HTyrE) or an oleuropein-enriched extract (OleE) in different percentages (5, 10 and 20% /) and a combination of both at 5% /.

Perspectives on spp. () bud extracts as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents.

Hydroalcoholic extracts obtained from buds of , and were characterized by HPLC-DAD-MS analysis and subsequently evaluated for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. ABTS and DPPH assays evidenced that showed the best antioxidant activity in line with its highest total phenolic content. The analysis of the anti-inflammatory activity clearly demonstrated that all extracts suppressed the production of key pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, Il-1β and TNF-α) and HMGB1 inflammatory danger signal.

Sweet chestnut standardized fractions from sustainable circular process and green tea extract: In vitro inhibitory activity against phytopathogenic fungi for innovative applications in green agriculture.

In the present study, the antifungal activities of two commercial tannins-rich dry fractions towards different filamentous fungi of agronomical and food interest were evaluated. In particular, a standardized fraction from sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) wood by-products and a commercial green tea (Camellia sinensis L.