Goji Berry: Quality Assessment and Crop Adaptation of Plants Cultivated in Tuscany (Italy) by Combination of Carotenoid and DNA Analyses.

In this study HPLC analysis for the evaluation of carotenoids and DNA barcoding are reported for three different samples of Lycium cultivated in Tuscany (Italy). These two analytical methods can represent integrative methods for quality control of goji, giving also crucial information on the plant adaptation to different environments. Hence, carotenoids represent the quality markers proposed by the monograph of the European Pharmacopoeia, while DNA barcoding can differentiate between species and populations and is useful for the detection of the homogeneity of the samples.

Molecular surveillance and population structure analysis of methicillin-susceptible and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in high-risk wards.

In this study we report the results of analysis of 253 isolates of Staphylococcus aureus (132 methicillin [meticillin]-resistant S. aureus [MRSA] isolates and 121 methicillin-susceptible S. aureus [MSSA] isolates) from 209 patients admitted to 18 high-risk wards of six hospitals located in Florence, Italy, over an 8-month period during which a program of epidemiological surveillance of hospital-acquired infections was conducted.