Publications by authors named "Carmela Zacometti"

To comply with a more circular and environmentally friendly European common agricultural policy, while also valorising sunflower by-products, an ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) was tested to optimise ethanol-wash solutes (EWS). Furthermore, the capabilities of DART-HRMS as a rapid and cost-effective tool for determining the biochemical changes after valorisation of these defatted sunflower EWS were investigated. Three batches of EWS were doubly processed into optimised EWS (OEWS) samples, which were analysed via DART-HRMS.

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Raw milk cheeses harbor complex microbial communities. Some of these microorganisms are technologically essential, but undesirable microorganisms can also be present. While most of the microbial dynamics and cross-talking studies involving interaction between food-derived bacteria have been carried out on agar plates in laboratory-controlled conditions, the present study evaluated the modulation of the resident microbiota and the changes of metabolite production directly in ripening raw milk cheese inoculated with strains.

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Untargeted metabolomic profiling, by ambient mass spectrometry and chemometric tools, has made a dramatic impact on human disease detection. In a similar vein, this study attempted the translation of this clinical human disease experience to farmed poultry for precise veterinary diagnosis. As a proof of principle, in this diagnostic/prognostic study, direct analysis in real-time high resolution mass spectrometry (DART-HRMS) was used in an untargeted manner to analyze fresh tissues (abdominal fat, leg skin, liver, and leg muscle) of pigmented and non-pigmented broilers to investigate the causes of lack of pigmentation in an industrial poultry farm.

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Currently, the authentication of ground black pepper is a major concern, creating a need for a rapid, highly sensitive and specific detection tool to prevent the introduction of adulterated batches into the food chain. To this aim, head space gas-chromatography ion mobility spectrometry (HS-GC-IMS), combined with machine learning, is tested in this initial, proof-of-concept study. A broad variety of authentic samples originating from eight countries and three continents were collected and spiked with a range of adulterants, both endogenous sub-products and an assortment of exogenous materials.

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Thermal desorption direct analysis in real-time high-resolution mass spectrometry (TD-DART-HRMS) approaches have gained popularity for fast screening of a variety of samples. With rapid volatilization of the sample at increasing temperatures outside the mass spectrometer, this technique can provide a direct readout of the sample content with no sample preparation. In this study, TD-DART-HRMS's utility for establishing spice authenticity was examined.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study emphasizes the need for fast and accurate analytical methods in cases of suspected animal poisonings, highlighting how traditional methods lack the speed to support timely decision-making in investigations.
  • Utilizing DART-HRMS, researchers investigated a case involving the acute death of sheep and goats, identifying toxic alkaloids and confirming the intoxication caused by ingestion of specific plant materials.
  • This research represents a significant advancement in veterinary toxicology, demonstrating the effectiveness of DART-HRMS for rapid screening, which can guide further confirmatory analyses in forensic investigations.
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The study aimed to assess the seasonal variation in raw milk volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from three indoor feeding systems based on maize silage ( = 31), silages/hay ( = 19) or hay ( = 16). After headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME), VOC profiles were determined by gas chromatography (GC). Chemical and VOC (log transformations of the peak areas) data were submitted to a two-way ANOVA to assess the feeding system (FS) and season (S) effects; an interactive principal component analysis (iPCA) was also performed.

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This study developed and validated a method, based on the coupling of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and machine learning, for the automated serotyping of serogroup 1, serogroups 2-15 as well as their successful discrimination from non-. As presents significant intra- and inter-species heterogeneities, careful data validation strategies were applied to minimize late-stage performance variations of the method across a large microbial population. A total of 244 isolates were analyzed.

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Animal poisoning and dissemination of baits in the environment have public health and ethological implications, which can be followed by criminal sanctions for those responsible. The reference methods for the analysis of suspect baits and autopsy specimens are founded on chromatographic-based techniques. They are extremely robust and sensitive, but also very expensive and laborious.

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