Although the multidisciplinary area of liver tissue engineering is in continuous progress, research in this field is still focused on developing an ideal liver tissue template. Innovative strategies are required to improve membrane stability and bioactivity. In our study, sustainable biomimetic membranes were developed by blending methacrylated chitosan (CSMA) with jellyfish collagen (jCol) for liver tissue engineering applications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThird-generation snacks were developed from a triad of flours made up of chestnut, spelt, and chickpea flour. Optimal snack formulations and processing parameters have been established to ensure acceptable workability of the raw dough while protecting the bioactive components of the raw materials. The parameters examined were mixing time, speed, and temperature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis research has investigated Italian consumers' preferences for and purchasing behaviors of strawberries utilizing the Best-Worst Scaling methodology (BWS). This approach enables the key factors that influence strawberry purchasing decisions to be identified and different choice groups to be characterized. To achieve this goal, a survey was conducted on a sample of 496 respondents living in the metropolitan area of Milan (North Italy).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with lesions suspicious for skin cancer often present to primary care physicians (PCPs), who may have limited training in skin cancer diagnosis.
Objective: To measure the impact of an adjunctive handheld device for PCPs that employs elastic scattering spectroscopy (ESS) on the diagnosis and management of skin cancer.
Methods: Fifty-seven PCPs evaluated 50 clinical images of skin lesions (25 malignant and 25 benign), first without and then with knowledge of the handheld ESS device output, and in each case indicated if a lesion was likely to be benign or malignant.
Background: Lentigo maligna (LM) can mimic benign, flat, pigmented lesions and can be challenging to diagnose.
Objective: To describe a new dermatoscopic feature termed "perifollicular linear projections (PLP)" as a diagnostic criterion for LM on the face.
Methods: Retrospective study on reflectance confocal microscopy and dermatoscopy images of flat facial pigmented lesions originating from 2 databases.
The increased use of bioplastics in the market has led to their presence in municipal solid waste streams alongside traditional fossil-based polymers, particularly low-density polyethylene (LDPE), which bioplastics often end up mixed with. This study aimed to assess the impact of cellulose acetate plasticized with triacetin (CAT) on the mechanical recycling of LDPE. LDPE-CAT blends with varying CAT content (0%, 1%, 5%, 7.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis retrospective comparative study proposes a multi-formula approach by comparing no-history IOL power calculation methods after myopic laser-refractive-surgery (LRS). One-hundred-thirty-two eyes of 132 patients who had myopic-LRS and cataract surgery were examined. ALMA, Barrett True-K (TK), Ferrara, Jin, Kim, Latkany and Shammas methods were evaluated in order to back-calculate refractive prediction error (PE).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study investigates the potential of utilizing three food wastes: cheese whey (CW), beet molasses (BM), and corn steep liquor (CSL) as alternative nutrient sources for the cultivation of the diatom , a promising source of polyunsaturated eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and the carotenoid fucoxanthin. The CW media tested did not significantly impact the growth rate of ; however, CW hydrolysate significantly enhances cell growth. BM in cultivation medium enhances biomass production and fucoxanthin yield.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Facial skin is characterized by high density of follicles. Facial neoplasms may present overlapping clinical and dermoscopic findings. Our goal was to evaluate and compare, via reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM), follicular involvement in facial neoplasms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSince its first introduction into medical practice, reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) has been a valuable non-invasive diagnostic tool for the assessment of benign and malignant neoplasms of the skin. It has also been used as an adjunct for diagnosing equivocal cutaneous neoplasms that lack characteristic clinical or dermoscopic features. The use of RCM has led to a decreased number of biopsies of benign lesions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe use of bio-plastic-based packaging as an alternative to conventional plastic packaging is increasing. Among the plethora of different bio-based plastics, the most relevant ones are those that, at the end of their life, can be treated with the organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Even in these cases, their impact on the waste processing and recycling is not always positive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF(Asteraceae family) is a perennial plant native to Mediterranean regions. This plant represents a source of high-value compounds, such as polyphenols and fatty acids that have several industrial applications. However, in vitro plant cell cultures can represent a valid alternative to in-field cultivation and facilitate the extraction of metabolites of commercial interest.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The timing of a return to sport (RTS) after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) represents a major subject of debate in sports medicine practice. Recently, the Knee Santy Athletic Return to Sport (K-STARTS) composite test was validated. This consists of a battery of physical tests and a psychological evaluation using the anterior cruciate ligament-return to sport after injury scale (ACL-RSI).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMozzarella stretching water (MSW) is a dairy effluent generated from mozzarella cheese production that does not have a real use and is destined to disposal, causing environmental problems and representing a high disposal cost for dairy producers. Spent brewery yeast (SBY) is another promising food waste produced after brewery manufacturing that could be recycled in new biotechnological processes. is an aquatic protist known as producer of bioactive lipids such as omega 3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω3 LC-PUFA), in particular docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) is a noninvasive imaging tool that has the potential to revolutionize dermatology. Extensive research in this area in conjunction with the recent assignment of reimbursement codes has made the clinical use of this technology a practical reality. Though there is awareness and use of this technology at large academic centers, a knowledge gap still remains in interpreting RCM images among the dermatology community.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) presents a non-invasive method to image actinic keratosis (AK) at a cellular level. However, RCM criteria for AK response monitoring vary across studies and a universal, standardized approach is lacking. We aimed to identify reliable AK response criteria and to compare the clinical and RCM evaluation of responses across AK severity grades.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiotechnological production of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) has become a commercial alternative to fish oil in the past twenty years. Compared to PUFA production by fatty fishes, that from microorganisms has increased due to its promising sustainability and high product safety and to increasing awareness in the expanding vegan market. Although autotrophic production by microalgae seems to be more sustainable in the long term, to date most of the microbial production of omega-3 is carried out under heterotrophic conditions using conventional fermentation technologies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Toxicol Environ Health A
March 2021
In the aquatic environment, plastics may release several hazardous substances of severe ecotoxicological concern not covalently bound to the polymers. The aim of this study was to examine the adverse effects of leachates of different virgin polymers, polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), and polystyrene (PS) on marine microalgae . The tests carried out on included: growth inhibition, oxidative stress (DCFH-DA), and DNA damage (COMET assay).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol
November 2020
Background: There is no internationally vetted set of anatomic terms to describe human surface anatomy.
Objective: To establish expert consensus on a standardized set of terms that describe clinically relevant human surface anatomy.
Methods: We conducted a Delphi consensus on surface anatomy terminology between July 2017 and July 2019.