Effect of production system and geographic location on milk quality parameters

A main reason for the rapid increase in organic food consumption is the perception that organic foods have a superior nutritional composition and/or convey health benefits. However, there is currently limited scientific knowledge about the effect of production systems on food composition. The study reported here compared fatty acid profiles and levels of fat soluble antioxidants in milk from organic and conventional production systems in 5 geographic regions in Europe (Wales, England, Denmark, Sweden and Italy). Levels of nutritionally desirable mono- and poly-unsaturated fatty acids (vaccenic acid, CLA, α-linolenic acid) and/or a range of fat soluble antioxidants were found to be significantly higher in organic milk

A constitutive model for the mechanical response of the folding of creased paperboard

AbstractPaperboard is a widely used material in industrial processes, in particular for packaging purposes. Packages are obtained through a forming process, in which a flat laminated sheet is converted into the final 3-D solid. In the package forming process, it is common practice to score the paperboard laminate with crease lines, in order to obtain folds with sharp edges and to minimize the initiation and propagation of flaws during the subsequent folding procedures. In this work, a constitutive model for the mechanical response of crease lines is proposed and validated on the basis of experimental tests available in the literature. The model has been implemented in an interface finite element to be placed between adjacent shell elements and is intended for large-scale computations of package forming processes. For this reason, the material model has been developed at the macroscopic scale in terms of generalized variables, aiming at computational effectiveness

M1 AFLATOXIN, TOTAL BACTERIAL COUNT AND SOMATIC CELL COUNT IN ORGANIC AND CONVENTIONAL MILK

Comparative quality evaluation of organic and conventional milk produced in similar environmental condition was performed. Bulk-tank milk was sampled once a week during 30 weeks from 10 organic and 10 conventional dairy farms where aflatoxin M1 level was previous tested during 11 months on bulk-tank milk from tanker at the processing plant. Somatic Cells and Total Microbial Counts did not show differences that can be related to the organic production system, suggesting an effect induced by farm size and technical factors. Higher level of Aflatoxin M1 was found in organic than conventional milk

Chemical and Biochemical Thermodynamics Reunification

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Structural properties of adsorbent phyllosilicates rule the entrapping ability of intercalated iron-phenanthroline complex towards thiols

The interaction of volatile organic sulfur derivatives, such as 1-heptanethiol (C7H16S), with clay minerals treated with a μ-oxo Fe3+-phenanthroline 1:1 complex results strongly affected by crystal chemical properties of pristine mineral phases. In particular, two sepiolite clays with different structural features demonstrated significantly different ability to immobilize the Fe3+-phenanthroline complex at two pH values (pH = 5.4 and pH = 2.3). The most effective binding was obtained with sepiolite with higher structural disorder at pH 5.4. Accordingly, the resulting hybrid material showed also the greatest efficiency in removal of thiol in gas phase. A direct correlation can be established between the adsorption of the Fe3+-phenanthroline complex and the gas binding process at room temperature. In fact, 1-heptanethiol entrapping occurs via redox reactions between Fe3+ and a first thiol molecule to give the reduced Fe2+-phenanthroline complex and disulfide, followed by the binding of further thiols to the reduced metal centre. The extremely high amount of thiol immobilized by the hybrid material also suggests the co-presence of a catalytic mechanism that guarantees the reoxidation of Fe+2 to Fe+3 and the restoration of redox reactions with thiol. Investigation and conclusions were supported by the several experimental techniques: elemental analysis, X-ray powder diffraction analyses, UV–Vis measurements, FT-IR and NMR spectroscopies, thermogravimetric analyses

Hydrogen Peroxide Induces Heme Degradation and Protein Aggregation in Human Neuroglobin: Roles of the Disulfide Bridge and the H-bonding in the Distal Heme Cavity

In this study, human neuroglobin (hNgb) was found to undergo H2O2-induced breakdown of the heme center at a much slower rate than other globins, namely in the timescale of hours against minutes. We studied how the rate of the process is affected by the Cys46/Cys55 disulfide bond and the network of noncovalent interactions in the distal heme side involving Tyr44, Lys67, the His64 heme iron axial ligand and the heme propionate-7. The rate is increased by the Tyr44 to Ala and Phe mutations, however the rate is lowered by Lys67 to Ala swapping. The absence of the disulfide bridge slows down the reaction further. Therefore, the disulfide bond-controlled accessibility of the heme site and the residues at position 44 and 67 affect the activation barrier of the reaction. Wild-type and mutated species form -amyloid aggregates in the presence of H2O2 producing globular structures. Furthermore, the C46A/C55A, Y44A, Y44F and Y44F/C46A/C55A variants yield potentially harmful fibrils. Finally, the nucleation and growth kinetics for the aggregation of the amyloid structures can be successfully described by the Finke-Watzky model

Clinical characteristics, treatment modalities, and potential contributing and prognostic factors in patients with bone metastases from gynecological cancers: A systematic review

The purpose of this study is to review the clinical characteristics, treatment modalities, and potential contributing and prognostic factors of bone metastases from gynecological cancers (GCs). A systematic literature search on PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases was conducted. Thirty-one studies, all retrospective, were included in this review, for a total of 2880 patients with GC bone metastases. Primary tumors leading to bone metastases included endometrial cancer (EC), cervical cancer (CC), ovarian cancer (OC), uterine sarcoma (US) and vulvar cancer (VuC), mainly with an International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) Stage of III and IV. The main bone metastatic lesion site was the vertebral column, followed by the pelvic bone and lower extremity bones. The median survival rate after bone metastases diagnosis ranged from 3.0 to 45 months. The most frequent treatments were palliative and included radiotherapy and chemotherapy, followed by surgery. The findings of this review give a first dataset for a greater understanding of GC bone metastases that could help clinicians move toward a more “personalized” and thus more effective patient management

Discovery of a spirocyclic 3-bromo-4,5-dihydroisoxazole covalent inhibitor of hGAPDH with antiproliferative activity against pancreatic cancer cells

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), a key glycolytic enzyme, plays a crucial role in the energy metabolism of cancer cells and has been proposed as a valuable target for the development of anticancer agents. Among a series of 5-substituted 3-bromo-4,5-dihydroisoxazole (BDHI) derivatives, we identified the spirocyclic compound 11, which is able to covalently inactivate recombinant human GAPDH (hGAPDH) with a faster reactivity than koningic acid, one of the most potent hGAPDH inhibitors known to date. Computational studies confirmed that conformational rigidification is crucial to stabilize the interaction of the inhibitor with the binding site, thus favoring the subsequent covalent bond formation. Investigation of intrinsic warhead reactivity at different pH disclosed the negligible reactivity of 11 with free thiols, highlighting its ability to selectively react with the activated cysteine of hGAPDH with respect to other sulfhydryl groups. Compound 11 strongly reduced cancer cell growth in four different pancreatic cancer cell lines and its antiproliferative activity correlated well with the intracellular inhibition of hGAPDH. Overall, our results qualify 11 as a potent hGAPDH covalent inhibitor with a moderate drug-like reactivity that could be further exploited to develop anticancer agents

Efficacy and Safety of Systemic Treatments for Psoriasis in Elderly Patients

0.12, 0.32, 1.4 and 0.5 per patient-year in the methotrexate, acitretin, cyclosporine and PUVA groups and 0.11, 0.35, 0.19, 0.3 and 0.26 in the etanercept, adalimumab, infliximab, efalizumab and ustekinumab groups. Traditional drugs were less effective than biologics in our e