Unveiling diversity in amino acid stable isotope profiles for classifying rice varieties, refining types and cultivation systems.

Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) is a promising tool in organic authentication cases. Premium-priced Italian rice varieties (Carnaroli, Arborio, Baldo) are used in cuisines worldwide for their unique qualitative properties. Organic authentication of rice by morphological assessment is unfeasible, while its market availability at different refining stages (brown, white) further increases the data variability.

From grape to wine: A thorough compound specific isotopic, enantiomeric and quali-quantitative investigation by means of gas chromatographic analysis.

In this study, multiple analytical approaches, including simultaneous enantiomeric and isotopic analysis, were employed to thoroughly investigate the volatile fraction in Moscato giallo grape berries and wines. For the qualitative and quantitative profiling, a fast GC-QqQ/MS approach was successfully utilized. However, prior to isotopic analysis, the extracts underwent an additional concentration step, necessitating an assessment of isotopic fractionation during the concentration process.

Aromatic Characterisation of by GC-MS/MS and Validation of Stable Isotopic Ratio Analysis of the Major Volatile Compounds.

Among the grapes, is a winegrape variety characterised by a high content of free and glycosylated monoterpenoids, which gives wines very intense notes of ripe fruit and flowers. The aromatic bouquet of is strongly influenced by the high concentration of linalool, geraniol, linalool oxides, limonene, α-terpineol, citronellol, hotrienol, diendiols, -8-hydroxy linalool, geranic acid and myrcene, that give citrus, rose, and peach notes. Except for quali-quantitative analysis, no investigations regarding the isotopic values of the target volatile compounds in grapes and wines are documented in the literature.

Isotopic, mycotoxin, and pesticide analysis for organic authentication along the production chain of wheat-derived products.

Wheat-based products are staples in diets worldwide. Organic food frauds continuously threaten consumer trust in the agri-food system. A multi-method approach was conducted for the organic authentication and safety assessment of pasta and bakery products along their production chain.

How to be Helpful? Supportive Behaviors and Personalization for Human-Robot Collaboration.

The field of Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) has seen a considerable amount of progress in recent years. Thanks in part to advances in control and perception algorithms, robots have started to work in increasingly unstructured environments, where they operate side by side with humans to achieve shared tasks. However, little progress has been made toward the development of systems that are truly effective in supporting the human, proactive in their collaboration, and that can autonomously take care of part of the task.

Red flags useful to screen for gastrointestinal and hepatic diseases in patients with shoulder pain: A scoping review.

Introduction: In most patients, shoulder pain has a neuromusculoskeletal cause. However, it might conceal other types of disorders, hiding a non-neuromusculoskeletal condition. The main aim of this scoping review is to map and summarise findings to identify red flags for gastrointestinal and hepatic diseases in the assessment of patients with shoulder pain.

Association between Inguinal Hernia and Arterial Disease: A Preliminary Report.

Background: Inguinal hernia (IH) is a major problem in general surgery and its prevalence is increasing. The presence of hernias has been associated with a wide spectrum of venous diseases, with the involvement of imbalances in collagen and extracellular matrix deposition and metalloproteinases dysfunction. We aimed to evaluate whether the association between IH and vascular diseases is also present with respect to arterial diseases.

Peripersonal Space and Margin of Safety around the Body: Learning Visuo-Tactile Associations in a Humanoid Robot with Artificial Skin.

This paper investigates a biologically motivated model of peripersonal space through its implementation on a humanoid robot. Guided by the present understanding of the neurophysiology of the fronto-parietal system, we developed a computational model inspired by the receptive fields of polymodal neurons identified, for example, in brain areas F4 and VIP. The experiments on the iCub humanoid robot show that the peripersonal space representation i) can be learned efficiently and in real-time via a simple interaction with the robot, ii) can lead to the generation of behaviors like avoidance and reaching, and iii) can contribute to the understanding the biological principle of motor equivalence.

Medication-Induced Nephrotoxicity in Older Patients.

Objective: To summarize current evidence about mechanisms, clinical features, diagnostic issues, and strategies for prevention of medication-induced nephrotoxicity among older people.

Methods: A Pubmed search was performed, and studies concerning age-related changes in kidney structure and function predisposing to nephrotoxicity, pathophysiological mechanisms, kidney drug metabolism enzymes, clinical epidemiology of medication-induced kidney damage, biomarkers for early identification of nephrotoxicity and strategies for prevention of medication-induced nephrotoxicity among older people were selected. Finally, 245 papers were included in the review.

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase activity is necessary for insulin-dependent inhibition of apolipoprotein B secretion by rat hepatocytes and localizes to the endoplasmic reticulum.

Insulin inhibits apolipoprotein B (apoB) secretion by primary rat hepatocytes through activation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI 3-K). Current studies demonstrate that the PI 3-K inhibitor wortmannin inhibits both basal and insulin-stimulated PI 3-K activities. Wortmannin and LY 294002, two structurally distinct PI 3-K inhibitors, prevent insulin-dependent inhibition of apoB secretion in a dose-dependent manner.

Organ procurement: experience from a southern Italian region.

The authors report their experience of organ procurement during the last 5 years to evaluate a program that began in 1988 to improve organ retrieval in Calabria. In this region only two donations were reported up to 1988, one each in 1980 and 1985. Because of the large population on dialysis and the willingness of a group of surgeons and anesthesiologists, this program was undertaken in 1988 under the supervision of C.

[Results of the multicenter study (A.C.O.I. Stapler Study Group) on 420 cases of esophagojejunal and 544 cases of colorectal anastomoses].

The introduction of staplers in general surgery allowed to perform gastrointestinal anastomoses easier and with better results. Because many series report an important incidence of complications even using stapling instruments, the A.C.

Ex vivo versus in situ resection of segmental liver grafts in pigs--a comparison in immediate and four-hour-stored grafts.

This study compared the function of reduced grafts prepared in situ or ex vivo and transplanted immediately or after 4 hr of cold storage. Measurements of acid/base balance, plasma electrolytes, albumin, and urea showed no differences between groups. There was no difference between the increase and decline of plasma AST in recipients of grafts transplanted immediately after either ex vivo or in situ reduction; the increase in plasma AST of recipients of stored grafts was up to 10-fold and persisted until the end of the study at 7 days, with some decline.

Function of kidney grafts from brain-dead donor pigs. The influence of dopamine and triiodothyronine.

There are conflicting reports about the effects of administration of dopamine to brain-dead donors upon posttransplant organ function. This study compared the survival and serum creatinine levels in pigs that received renal grafts from untreated controls, from controls in which either the donor or donor and recipient received dopamine or from animals rendered brain dead for 16 hr by acute elevation of intracranial pressure, and given standard supportive treatment. In two additional groups, brain-dead donors were given dopamine or dopamine with triiodothyronine.

Effects of nonketotic streptozotocin diabetes on apolipoprotein B synthesis and secretion by primary cultures of rat hepatocytes.

The effects of hypoinsulinemic nonketotic streptozotocin diabetes on hepatic apo B synthesis and secretion was studied in primary cultures of rat hepatocytes. Diabetic rats were characterized by their significantly elevated serum glucose, apo B, and triglyceride levels, while serum insulin levels were less than a third of normal. Serum transminase activities of diabetic rats were significantly elevated when compared with control rats, which was attributed to an increase in liver transaminase activity in diabetic rats.

Secretion of high and low molecular weight phosphorylated apolipoprotein B by hepatocytes from control and diabetic rats. Phosphorylation of APO BH and APO BL.

Apolipoprotein B (apo B) phosphorylation was examined in primary cultures of hepatocytes from control and nonketotic streptozotocin diabetic rats. Following a 5-h incubation with ortho[32P]phosphate, media lipoproteins (d less than 1.063 g/ml) were isolated, and delipidated apolipoproteins were separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gradient gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGGE), and gels were heat fixed.

Comparison of combined portal-arterial versus portal perfusion during liver procurement.

PAP of harvested livers is routinely used to minimize parenchymal anoxia during storage. PP is compared with PAP to evaluate the relative reliability of PAP. Sixty female Landrace pigs were used for 30 OLTs.

Normal hepatic insulin receptor autophosphorylation in nonketotic diabetes mellitus.

Insulin receptor autophosphorylation is the earliest recognizable event in insulin action subsequent to insulin binding. To determine if the postbinding hepatic insulin resistance of nonketotic diabetes mellitus could reside in an inability of insulin to stimulate insulin receptor autophosphorylation, we evaluated the ability of insulin to stimulate 32P incorporation into the beta subunit of lectin-purified rat liver plasma membrane insulin receptors. The data indicate that both the absolute plasma membrane insulin receptor autophosphorylation in response to insulin as well as the insulin dose-response relationship for autophosphorylation are normal in diabetic animals when expressed per microgram of protein or per unit of binding activity.