Plant Polyphenols-Biofortified Foods as a Novel Tool for the Prevention of Human Gut Diseases

Plant food biofortification is recently receiving remarkable attention, as it aims to increase the intake of minerals, vitamins, or antioxidants, crucial for their contribution to the general human health status and disease prevention. In this context, the study of the plant’s secondary metabolites, such as polyphenols, plays a pivotal role for the development of a new generation of plant crops, compensating, at least in part, the low nutritional quality of Western diets with a higher quality of dietary sources. Due to the prevalent immunomodulatory activity at the intestinal level, polyphenols represent a nutritionally relevant class of plant secondary metabolites. In this review, we focus on the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of different classes of polyphenols with a specific attention to their potential in the prevention of intestinal pathological processes. We also discuss the latest biotechnology strategies and new advances of genomic techniques as a helpful tool for polyphenols biofortification and the development of novel, healthy dietary alternatives that can contribute to the prevention of inflammatory bowel diseases

Neglected and Underutilized Plant Species (NUS) from the Apulia Region Worthy of Being Rescued and Re-Included in Daily Diet

Neglected and underutilized species (NUS) are cultivated, semi-domesticated, or wild plant species, not included in the group of the major staple crops, since, in most cases, they do not meet the global market requirements. As they often represent resilient species and valuable sources of vitamins, micronutrients, and other phytochemicals, a wider use of NUS would enhance sustainability of agro-systems and a choice of nutritious foods with a strategic role for addressing the nutritional security challenge across Europe. In this review, we focused on some examples of NUS from the Apulia Region (Southern Italy), either cultivated or spontaneously growing species, showing interesting adaptative, nutritional, and economical potential that can be exploited and properly enhanced in future programs

Molecular Mechanisms in Plant Abiotic Stress Response

Improved crop varieties are needed to sustain the food supply, to fight climate changes, water scarcity, temperature increase and a high variability of rainfalls. Variability of drought and increase in soil salinity have negative effects on plant growth and abiotic stresses seriously threaten sustainable agricultural production. To overcome the influence of abiotic stresses, new tolerant plant varieties and breeding techniques using assisted selection are sought. A deep understanding of the mechanisms that respond to stress and sustain stress resistance is required. Here is presented an overview of several mechanisms that interact in the stress response. Localised synthesis of plant hormones, second messengers and local effectors of abiotic stress response and survival, the signaling pathways regulated by plant hormones are today better understood. Metabolic networks in drought stress responses, long distance signaling, cross-talk between plant organs finalised to tissue-specific expression of abiotic stress relieving genes have been at the centre of most recent studies

An integrated approach to energy production and nutrient recovery through anaerobic digestion of Vetiveria zizanoides

This paper reports on experimental results used to verify the applicability of Vetiveria zizanoides (VZ) as a virtuous energetic crop. VZ produces biogas through its anaerobic digestion, and its nutrient content can be recovered through reuse, after digestion, as an agricultural amendment. Biomethanation tests were conducted with fresh and pretreated VZ, and the results of these tests were compared with those from the anaerobic degradation of common garden grass. Specific methane production was found to be around 650 Nm3 per ton of total organic carbon (TOC) for Vetiveria zizanoides, and around 510 Nm3 per ton of TOC for common grass, with no significant improvement after thermal pretreatment. Germination tests conducted with the digested VZ showed that the produced digestate fulfills the requirements of a fertilizer

La generación de valor mediante el uso de data science en la planificación de la demanda de tiendas por departamento

La presente investigación pretende analizar cómo la ciencia de datos genera valor en la planificación de la demanda en tiendas por departamento. La investigación se fundamenta en el modelo de Sales & Operation Planning de Chase (2016), el cual define cuatro dimensiones clave para la nueva generación de la planificación de la demanda: personas, procesos, tecnología y ciencia de datos. Tras la revisión de literatura teórica y empírica, se identificó que es necesario corregir las desviaciones en las tres primeras dimensiones para, así abordar la referente a ciencia de datos mediante el modelo de tipo de análisis de Intel (2015) y el modelo de madurez analítico de Davenport (2018). En este sentido, la tesis plantea un estudio de caso múltiple con un enfoque cualitativo y un alcance exploratorio, utilizando las entrevistas a profundidad para recabar información y el software ATLAS.ti para procesarla, codificar y obtener los puntos clave necesarios para la estructuración de la investigación. De esta manera, la tesis permite contextualizar la situación del proceso de planificación de la demanda en las tiendas por departamento, para lo cual se i) describe la situación del capital y su adopción al cambio organizacional, ii) expone y analiza cómo es el proceso y cómo se mide, iii) examina la infraestructura tecnológica presente en las tiendas y su integración con el proceso y iv) explora el nivel de madurez analítico en las tiendas y analiza el efecto de la ciencia de datos en el proceso. A partir de ello, se pretende proporcionar información valiosa a los tomadores de decisiones de las tiendas por departamento, respecto a los beneficios del uso de ciencia de datos y de las condiciones mínimas necesarias para su implementación, con lo cual se obtendrían resultados óptimos

La generación de valor mediante el uso de data science en la toma de decisiones comerciales de tiendas por departamento

La presente investigación plantea la importancia que ha cobrado el aprovechamiento de los datos en este contexto conocido como la era del big data. La importancia del análisis de dichos datos ha creado la necesidad de que cada vez más organizaciones se alineen a nuevas tecnologías que permiten la recolección, análisis y sintetización de los datos a fin de obtener información relevante para la toma de decisiones organizacionales. La aproximación de la investigación se enfoca en cómo la integración del data science en los procesos de toma de decisiones puede generar valor en el área comercial de las tiendas por departamento, para analizar ello el modelo ensemble es considerado como el más completo y sobre el cual se construye el marco analítico de la presente investigación. Se seleccionó este modelo luego de un estudio de bibliografía especializada en temas referentes al data science, toma de decisiones, gestión del área comercial y contexto de las tiendas por departamento a fin de analizar la situación actual de las tiendas por departamento y observar si verdaderamente existe una necesidad de que se dé mayor importancia en la adaptación del data science en dicho rubro. Posteriormente, se analiza el sector de tiendas por departamento a nivel mundial, latinoamericano y peruano; asimismo, se realiza estudios de caso de diversas organizaciones del rubro tiendas por departamento en el mundo a fin de conocer qué factores fueron determinantes para su implementación que pueden o no ser replicables en otros contextos deLatinoamérica. Finalmente, se indica, como principal conclusión de la investigación, que las empresas que no se adapten a la era del Big Data y no consideren los beneficios del Data Science, se encuentran en una situación de desventaja, además, no podrán tener un crecimiento sostenible en el tiempo, ni un posicionamiento adecuado, por lo tanto, se espera que la tendencia por el uso de la ciencia de datos sea cada vez mayor. En base a ello, se propone que para futuras investigaciones se analice cuantitativamente el valor generado por la aplicación del data science para el caso de una empresa en un sector determinado

Subcellular localisation of Medicago truncatula 9/13-hydroperoxide lyase reveals a new localisation pattern and activation mechanism for CYP74C enzymes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hydroperoxide lyase (HPL) is a key enzyme in plant oxylipin metabolism that catalyses the cleavage of polyunsaturated fatty acid hydroperoxides produced by the action of lipoxygenase (LOX) to volatile aldehydes and oxo acids. The synthesis of these volatile aldehydes is rapidly induced in plant tissues upon mechanical wounding and insect or pathogen attack. Together with their direct defence role towards different pathogens, these compounds are believed to play an important role in signalling within and between plants, and in the molecular cross-talk between plants and other organisms surrounding them. We have recently described the targeting of a seed 9-HPL to microsomes and putative lipid bodies and were interested to compare the localisation patterns of both a 13-HPL and a 9/13-HPL from <it>Medicago truncatula</it>, which were known to be expressed in leaves and roots, respectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To study the subcellular localisation of plant 9/13-HPLs, a set of YFP-tagged chimeric constructs were prepared using two <it>M. truncatula </it>HPL cDNAs and the localisation of the corresponding chimeras were verified by confocal microscopy in tobacco protoplasts and leaves. Results reported here indicated a distribution of <it>M</it>.<it>truncatula </it>9/13-HPL (HPLF) between cytosol and lipid droplets (LD) whereas, as expected, <it>M</it>.<it>truncatula </it>13-HPL (HPLE) was targeted to plastids. Notably, such endocellular localisation has not yet been reported previously for any 9/13-HPL. To verify a possible physiological significance of such association, purified recombinant HPLF was used in activation experiments with purified seed lipid bodies. Our results showed that lipid bodies can fully activate HPLF.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We provide evidence for the first CYP74C enzyme, to be targeted to cytosol and LD. We also showed by sedimentation and kinetic analyses that the association with LD or lipid bodies can result in the protein conformational changes required for full activation of the enzyme. This activation mechanism, which supports previous <it>in vitro </it>work with synthetic detergent micelle, fits well with a mechanism for regulating the rate of release of volatile aldehydes that is observed soon after wounding or tissue disruption.</p

Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of tomato fruits synthesizing different amounts of stilbenes.

Resveratrol, a plant phenolic compound, is found in grapes and red wine, but is not widely distributed in other common food sources. The pathway for resveratrol biosynthesis is well characterized. Metabolic engineering of this compound has been achieved in tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) in order to improve their nutritional value. Tomato plants synthesizing resveratrol were obtained via the heterologous expression of a grape (Vitis vinifera L.) cDNA encoding for the enzyme stilbene synthase (StSy), under the control of the fruit-specific promoter TomLoxB. The resulting LoxS transgenic plants accumulated trans-resveratrol and trans-piceid, in particular in the skin of the mature fruits. Quantitative analyses carried out on LoxS fruits were compared with those of a tomato line constitutively expressing the stsy gene (35SS). The LoxS fruits contained levels of trans-resveratrol that were 20-fold lower than those previously reported for the 35SS line. The total antioxidant capability and ascorbate content in transformed fruits were also evaluated, and a significant increase in both was found in the LoxS and 35SS lines. These results could explain the higher capability of transgenic fruits to counteract the pro-inflammatory effects of phorbol ester in monocyte-macrophages via the inhibition of induced cyclo-oxygenase-2 enzyme

Biomechanical and proteomic analysis of INF- β-treated astrocytes

Astrocytes have a key role in the pathogenesis of several diseases including multiple sclerosis and were proposed as the designed target for immunotherapy. In this study we used atomic force microscopy (AFM) and proteomics methods to analyse and correlate the modifications induced in the viscoleastic properties of astrocytes to the changes induced in protein expression after interferon- beta (IFN-beta) treatment. Our results indicated that IFN-beta treatment resulted in a significant decrease in the Young's modulus, a measure of cell elasticity, in comparison with control cells. The molecular mechanisms that trigger these changes were investigated by 2DE (two-dimensional electrophoresis) and confocal analyses and confirmed by western blotting. Altered proteins were found to be involved in cytoskeleton organization and other important physiological processes

Subthreshold psychiatric psychopathology in Functional gastrointestinal disorders: Can it be the bridge between gastroenterology and psychiatry?

Background and Aims: Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGDs) are multifactorial disorders of the gut-brain interaction. This study investigated the prevalence of Axis I and spectrum disorders in patients with FGD and established the link between FGDs and psychopathological dimensions. Methods: A total of 135 consecutive patients with FGD were enrolled. The symptoms' severity was evaluated using questionnaires, while the psychiatric evaluation by clinical interviews established the presence/absence of mental (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-4th edition, Axis I Diagnosis) or spectrum disorders. Results: Of the 135 patients, 42 (32.3%) had functional dyspepsia, 52 (40.0%) had irritable bowel syndrome, 21 (16.2%) had functional bloating, and 20 (15.4%) had functional constipation. At least one psychiatric disorder was present in 46.9% of the patients, while a suprathreshold panic spectrum was present in 26.2%. Functional constipation was associated with depressive disorders (p < 0.05), while functional dyspepsia was related to the current major depressive episode (p < 0.05). Obsessive-compulsive spectrum was correlated with the presence of functional constipation and irritable bowel syndrome (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The high prevalence of subthreshold psychiatric symptomatology in patients with FGD, which is likely to influence the expression of gastrointestinal symptoms, suggested the usefulness of psychological evaluation in patients with FGDs