Editorial to the special issue “lipidomics and neurodegenerative diseases”

The contribution of dysregulation of lipid signaling and metabolism to neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s is the focus of this special issue. Here, the matter of three reviews and one research article is summarized

Bioactive Secoiridoids in Italian Extra-Virgin Olive Oils: Impact of Olive Plant Cultivars, Cultivation Regions and Processing

In the last two decades, phenolic compounds occurring in olive oils known as secoiridoids have attracted a great interest for their bioactivity. Four major olive oil secoiridoids, i.e., oleuropein and ligstroside aglycones, oleacin and oleocanthal, were previously characterized in our laboratory using reversed-phase liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization-Fourier transform-mass spectrometry (RPLC-ESI-FTMS). The same analytical approach, followed by multivariate statistical analysis (i.e., Principal Component Analysis), was applied here to a set of 60 Italian extra-virgin olive oils (EVOO). The aim was to assess the secoiridoid contents as a function of olive cultivars, place of cultivation (i.e., different Italian regions) and olive oil processing, in particular two- vs. three-phase horizontal centrifugation. As expected, higher secoiridoid contents were generally found in olive oils produced by two-phase horizontal centrifugation. Moreover, some region/cultivar-related trends were evidenced, as oleuropein and ligstroside aglycones prevailed in olive oils produced in Apulia (Southern Italy), whereas the contents of oleacin and oleocanthal were relatively higher in EVOO produced in Central Italy (Tuscany, Lazio and Umbria). A lower content of all the four secoiridoids was generally found in EVOO produced in Sicily (Southern Italy) due to the intrinsic low abundance of these bioactive compounds in cultivars typical of that region

Lipidomics of the edible brown alga wakame (Undaria pinnatifida) by liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization and tandem mass spectrometry

The lipidome of a brown seaweed commonly known as wakame (Undaria pinnatifida), which is grown and consumed around the world, including Western countries, as a healthy nutraceutical food or supplement, was here extensively examined. The study was focused on the characterization of phospholipids (PL) and glycolipids (GL) by liquid chromatography (LC), either hydrophilic interaction LC (HILIC) or reversed-phase LC (RPLC), coupled to electrospray ionization (ESI) and mass spectrometry (MS), operated both in high and in low-resolution mode. Through the acquisition of single (MS) and tandem (MS/MS) mass spectra more than 200 PL and GL of U. pinnatifida extracts were characterized in terms of lipid class, fatty acyl (FA) chain composition (length and number of unsaturations), and regiochemistry, namely 16 SQDG, 6 SQMG, 12 DGDG, 5 DGMG, 29 PG, 8 LPG, 19 PI, 14 PA, 19 PE, 8 PE, 38 PC, and 27 LPC. The FA (C16:0) was the most abundant saturated acyl chain, whereas the monounsaturated C18:1 and the polyunsaturated C18:2 and C20:4 chains were the prevailing ones. Odd-numbered acyl chains, i.e., C15:0, C17:0, C19:0, and C19:1, were also recognized. While SQDG exhibited the longest and most unsaturated acyl chains, C18:1, C18:2, and C18:3, in the sn-1 position of glycerol, they were preferentially located in the sn-2 position in the case of PL. The developed analytical approach might pave the way to extend lipidomic investigations also for other edible marine algae, thus emphasizing their potential role as a source of bioactive lipids

Valorization of cigarette butts for synthesis of levulinic acid as top value-added chemicals

Unprecedented in the literature, levulinic acid (LA), one of the top value-added intermediates of chemical industry, is obtained from cigarette butts as cellulose feedstock by means of a one-pot hydrothermal process carried out at 200 °C for 2 h and catalysed by phosphoric acid. The protocol avoids the use of more aggressive and toxic H2SO4 and HCl, that are generally employed on several cellulose sources (e.g. sludge paper), thus minimizing corrosion phenomena of plants. Neither chemical pre-treatment of butts nor specific purification procedure of LA are required. Notably, by simply modifying acid catalyst (e.g. using CH3COOH), another top value-added fine chemical such as 5-hydroxymethylfuraldehyde (HMF) is obtained, thus widening the scope of the method. Being cigarette filters a waste available in quantities of megatonnes per year, they represent an unlimited at no cost source of cellulose, thus enabling the up-scale to an industrial level of LA production

Operational Experience with a LHC Collimator Prototype in the CERN SPS

A full-scale prototype of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) collimator was installed in 2004 in the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) and has been extensively used for beam tests, for control tests and also LHC simulation benchmarking during four years of operation. This operational experience has been extremely valuable in view of the final LHC implementation as well as for estimating the LHC operational scenarios, most notably to establish procedures for the beam-based alignment of the collimators with respect to the circulating beam. These studies were made possible by installing in the SPS a first prototype of the LHC beam loss monitoring system. The operational experience gained at the SPS and the lessons learnt for the LHC operation are presented

Plans for a Superconducting H−^{-} LINAC (SPL) at CERN

As part of the upgrade of the LHC injector complex at CERN, the construction of a 4 GeV Superconducting Proton Linac (the SPL, in fact an H- accelerator) is planned to begin in 2012. Depending upon physics requests, it should be upgradeable to 5 GeV and multi-MW beam power at a later stage. The construction of Linac4, its low energy front end, has started at the beginning of 2008. A full project proposal with a cost estimate for the low power version of the SPL aimed at improving LHC performance has to be ready for mid-2011. As a first step towards that goal, essential machine parameters like RF frequency, cooling temperature and accelerating gradient have recently been revisited and plans have been drawn for designing and testing critical components

Assessment of the basic parameters of the CERN Superconducting Proton Linac

The construction of a 4GeV Superconducting Proton Linac (the SPL) is now part of the Long Term Plan of CERN, and the construction of Linac4, its low-energy front end, has begun. For mid-2011 the existing conceptual design of the SPL has to be refined and transformed into a project proposal. As a first step, basic parameters like RF frequency, accelerating gradient and operating temperature of the superconducting cavities have been re-assessed, taking into account the experience accumulated in the world during the recent years, especially for the SNS and the ILC projects. The conclusions confirm the validity of the initial choices, namely the RF frequency of 704.4MHz and the cooling temperature of ~ 2K. However the assumed gradients are estimated as optimistic: additional tests are necessary during the coming years to properly define the values to be used in the SPL design. This analysis is documented and its results are explained in this report