Publications by authors named "Francesco Corrias"

Honey, a natural food with a rich history, is produced by honeybees and other species of bees from nectar, other plant fluids, and honeydew of sap-sucking insects. During foraging, these bees may be exposed to plant protection products (PPPs), metals, and metalloids, potentially leading to residues in honey and hive products that could have a negative impact on human safety. Recognizing the lack of an appropriate methodology for pesticide contamination of honey and other hive products, this research aims to support the need for studies on residues in pollen and bee products for human consumption to establish safe maximum residue levels (MRLs) for consumers.

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The winemaking process generates an annual global production of about 10 million tons of waste consisting of stalks, skin, and seeds. The possible reutilization of wine pomace is strictly linked to its chemical composition. In this preliminary study, three different Sardinian white grapes (Malvasia, Vermentino and Nasco) grown in the same area were evaluated through a whole wine production chain.

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Nasco and Bovale grape pomace extracts, alone or in association, were loaded in nanoemulsions tailored for cosmetic application, using KolliphorRH40 (kolliphor) as the synthetic surfactant, Olivem1000 (olivem) as the natural one, and lecithin as the cosurfactant. Pink transparent or milky dispersions, as a function of the used extract and surfactant, were obtained to be used as cosmeceutical serum or milk. The sizes of the nanoemulsion droplets were small (≈77 nm with kolliphor and ≈141 nm with olivem), homogenously dispersed (~0.

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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.

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and 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 .

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is 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.

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Swordfish 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.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study focused on how fipronil and its metabolite fipronil sulfone spread and linger in poultry after being given orally and through the skin under realistic farming conditions.
  • High fipronil levels were found in feathers after both methods of administration, with traces detected in eggs for 28 days post-oral exposure, while dermal exposure showed no fipronil in eggs or internal organs.
  • The results highlight the risks of using unauthorized pesticides in poultry farming and suggest a new monitoring method through analyzing hens' feathers and eggs to enhance animal welfare.
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Vernaccia 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.

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 This paper reports heavy metal and metalloid accumulation in wild brown trout (Salmo trutta L., 1758 complex) raised in freshwater and uncontaminated Sardinia system (Italy). Metals are widespread pollutants of aquatic systems, and their contamination can originate from anthropogenic activities such as industrial waste, agricultural and domestic environments, and geochemical release.

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Background: 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.

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Clethodim is one of the most widely used herbicides in agriculture and, after field application, is metabolised to several metabolites. The potential toxicological negative effects of these compounds are poorly understood. Thus, recently, within the risk assessment framework, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) proposed to include the minor metabolites in the definition of clethodim residue.

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8-methoxypsoralen is the most common drug in psoralen plus ultraviolet light irradiation therapy for the treatment of severe psoriasis. Despite of the efficacy, its classic oral administration leads to several serious adverse effects. However, the topical psoralen application produces a drug skin accumulation lower than that obtained by oral administration, due to the drug low skin permeability.

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Pesticides 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.

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Bottarga 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.

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In 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.

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Black truffle is characterized by a black ascocarp and white veins. This hypogeous fruit body is known for its aroma. Understanding metabolic variation during ripening can shed light on truffle biology.

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Orexin neurons originate in the lateral and dorsomedial hypothalamus and perifornical area and produce two different neuropeptides: orexin A (OxA) and orexin B (OxB), which activate OxR1 and OxR2 receptors. In the lateral hypothalamus (LH) orexin neurons are involved in behavior motivated by natural rewards such as palatable food (sugar, high-fat food) and it has been demonstrated similarly that the orexin signaling in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) is implicated in the intake of high-fat food. The VTA is an important area involved in reward processing.

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The strategy of formulating poorly soluble actives as nanosuspension has been explored by more than a thousand research papers, with some medicinal products for oral and intravenous use having reached the market or advanced clinical trials. Interestingly, there is a limited number of reports of nanosuspensions formulated for dermal and transdermal drug delivery. In the present work, a nanocrystals suspension of the fluorescent, water-insoluble dye Nile Red, is prepared through a media milling technique and exploited to characterize the fate of the nanosuspended drug when applied on the skin.

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Over the past two decades nanosizing technology has become one of the most successful formulation approaches for improving the bioavailability of poorly soluble drugs, which show a low oral absorption due to low dissolution velocity. Nanocrystals are nanoparticles of pure drug, without any matrix material, with an average diameter below 1 µm (typically in the range of 200-500 nm), which can be prepared in both water and non-water media as colloidal nanosuspensions stabilized using surfactants or polymers. The reduction of the drug particle diameter below 1 µm increases the dissolution velocity by increasing the particle surface and decreasing the diffusion layer thickness.

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The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility to prepare fast dissolving films as quercetin nanocrystal delivery systems, using maltodextrins as film forming material and glycerin as plasticizer, with the goal of enhancing quercetin oral bioavailability. Quercetin nanosuspensions were prepared using a high-pressure homogenizer, and then directly used to prepare the films by a casting method. Spectroscopic and calorimetric analysis evidenced that reduction of quercetin size at nanoscale and incorporation in maltodextrin films do not affect the solid state of the active ingredient.

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The aim of this work was to evaluate the capability of lactoferrin- and antitransferrin-modified long circulating liposomes to deliver the hydrophilic peptide senktide, a selective NK3 receptor agonist unable to cross the blood brain barrier, to central nervous system by using an indirect method based on in vivo microdialysis studies to estimate the responsiveness of nucleus accumbens shell dopamine to senktide. To this purpose, senktide was encapsulated in different targeted and not-targeted stealth liposomes prepared using film hydration method. Formulations were characterized in terms of morphology, size distribution, zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency, and antibody presence on the liposome surface.

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Piroxicam (PRX) is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug characterized by a poor water solubility and consequently by a low oral bioavailability. In this work, different nanocrystal orally disintegrating tablets (ODT) were prepared to enhance piroxicam dissolution rate and saturation solubility. PRX nanocrystals were prepared by means of high pressure homogenization technique using poloxamer 188 as stabilizer.

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The aims of this work were to improve cutaneous targeting and photostability of tretinoin by using nanosuspension formulation. Tretinoin is a drug widely used in the topical treatment of various dermatological diseases. The tretinoin nanosuspension was prepared by precipitation method and then characterized by photo correlation spectroscopy for mean size and size distribution, and by transmission electron microscopy for morphological studies.

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