Development of a rapid and eco-friendly UHPLC analytical method for the detection of histamine in fish products

We developed, validated, and confirmed with proficiency tests a fast ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (UHPLC-DAD) method to determine histamine in fish and fishery products. The proposed method consists of two successive solid–liquid extractions: one with a dilute solution of perchloric acid (6%) and the second only with water. The instrumental analysis with UHPLC provides a very fast run time (only 6 min) with a retention time of approximately 4 min, a limit of quantification (LOQ) of 7.2 mg kg−1, a limit of detection (LOD) of 2.2 mg kg−1, a recovery around 100%, a relative standard deviation (RSD%) between 0.5 and 1.4, and an r2 of calibration curve equal to 0.9995. The method detected optimal values of the validation parameters and required a limited number of reagents in comparison to other methods reported in the literature. Furthermore, the method could detect histamine in a very short time compared with other methods. This method, in addition to being validated, precise, specific, and accurate, avoids wasting time, money, and resources, and limits the use of organic solvents

The role of vitamin deficiency in liver disease: To supplement or not supplement?

Over the past few years, growing interest has been shown for the impact of dietary requirements and nutritional factors on chronic diseases. As a result, nutritional programs have been reinforced by public health policies. The precise role of micronutrients in chronic liver disease is currently receiving particular attention since abnormalities in vitamin levels are often detected. At present, treatment programs are focused on correcting vitamin deficiencies, which are frequently correlated to higher rates of comorbidities with poor outcomes. The literature reviewed here indicates that liver diseases are often related to vitamin disorders, due to both liver impairment and abnormal intake. More specific knowledge about the role of vitamins in liver disease is currently emerging from various results and recent evidence. The most significant benefits in this area may be observed when improved vitamin intake is combined with a pharmacological treatment that may also affect the progression of the liver disease, especially in the case of liver tumors. However, further studies are needed

Effects of diclofenac on the gametes and embryonic development of Arbacia lixula

Diclofenac (DCF), a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), is among the main pollutants of aquatic environments. Nevertheless, even if several authors evaluated its effects on marine organisms, no work has ever analysed its impact on the sea urchin Arbacia lixula. The purpose of this study was to analyse, for the first time, the impact of DCF at different concentrations (50 mg/l, 5 mg/l, 0.5 mg/l, 0.05 mg/l) on A. lixula embryos and gametes to indicate possible safe minimum levels of release of this drug in marine environments. Our results showed significant concentration-dependent effects on embryonic development (decrease in the number of developed embryos and increase in the quantity of degenerated eggs) and significant levels of bioaccumulation at DCF concentrations of 50 mg/l in both gametes and embryos. DCF showed a significant impact on the fertilisation of A. lixula due to its effects on gametes, confirming the possibility of environmental risk and highlighting the need to improve wastewater treatment and drug disposal processes

Trace elements in stomach oil of Scopoli's shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) from Linosa's colony

Calonectris diomedea is a colonial Procellariiform breeding on Mediterranean islands. The stomach oil produced during chick rearing is a peculiar trait of this species. The composition of the stomach oil is likely to reflect the composition of the prey ingested and might reveal the contaminants uptake with prey becoming a possible tool for the marine pollution monitoring. We examined the concentration of 15 trace elements by ICP-MS and direct mercury analyser. The principal component analysis revealed a heterogeneous pattern of metal concentration, showing a significant separation between samples collected 20 and 70 days after hatching. The data obtained in this work give preliminary information on the feeding habits and breeding ecology of Linosa's colony of Scopoli's shearwater. The trace metals variability found suggest that the stomach oil may have a role as trophic markers to understand predator-prey relationships and to have evidence on the accumulation of pollutants in the latter

Use of a comprehensive diagnostic algorithm for Anisakis allergy in a high seroprevalence Mediterranean setting

Background. Diagnosis of anisakis allergy (AA) is based on the skin prick test (SPT) and specific IgE (sIgE) determination. Anyway, false positivity cases are due to cross reactivity with numerous allergens. The aim of the study was to evaluate the reliability of a comprehensive diagnostic algorithm for the AA. Methods. An observational study was conducted on a sample of consecutive subjects accessing the allergology outpatient ambulatories of two hospitals located in Western Sicily. All the recruited outpatients were tested by Skin Prick Test performed using anisakis extracts by ALK-Abello (Madrid, Spain). Specific IgE dosage for anisakis extracts was then performed by using ImmunoCAP250 (Immunodiagnostics Uppsala, Sweden). Consequently, outpatients who tested positive to first line tests underwent sIgE testing for ascaris and tropomyosin. Lastly, outpatients positive to the first line were invited to be further tested by basophil activation test (BAT) by using Flow CAST kit and anisakis commercial extract (Buhlmann Laboratories AG, Schonenbuch, Switzerland), as confirmatory analysis. Results. One hundred and eleven outpatients with an anamnesis suggestive of sensitization to anisakis (AS) and 466 subjects with chronic urticaria (CU) were recruited in the study. Of these, 22 with AS and 41 with CU showed a sensitization to anisakis allergens. The diagnostic algorithm revealed that 8.8% of outpatients who tested positive to sIgE determination were affected by CU, while 82.5% of all the sIgE positivity was related to cross-reactivity. Overall, a genuine anisakis seroprevalence of 2.3% was documented. Within a sub-sample of 15 subjects with clinical symptoms related to AA, n. 8 showed a real positivity after BAT. A greater response to A. pegreffii allergens as compared to A. simplex was reported. Conclusions. Our preliminary findings support the high clinical specificity of BAT for AA diagnosis, suggesting implementing this method in a comprehensive diagnostic algorithm

QUBIC: The Q&U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology - A novel way to look at the polarized Cosmic Microwave Background

In this paper we describe QUBIC, an experiment that takes up the challenge posed by the detection of primordial gravitational waves with a novel approach, that combines the sensitivity of state-of-the art bolometric detectors with the systematic effects control typical of interferometers. The so-called "self-calibration" is a technique deeply rooted in the interferometric nature of the instrument and allows us to clean the measured data from instrumental effects. The first module of QUBIC is a dual band instrument (150 GHz and 220 GHz) that will be deployed in Argentina during the Fall 2018.Fil: Mennella, Aniello. University of Milan; ItaliaFil: Ade, P. A. R.. Cardiff University; Reino UnidoFil: Aumont, J.. Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale; FranciaFil: Banfie, S.. Istituto Nazionale Di Fisica Nucleare; ItaliaFil: Battaglia, P.. Università degli Studi di Trieste; ItaliaFil: Battistelli, E. S.. Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"; ItaliaFil: Baùe, F.. Istituto Nazionale Di Fisica Nucleare; ItaliaFil: Buzi, D.. Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"; ItaliaFil: Columbro, F.. Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"; ItaliaFil: Bélie, B.. Institute of Fundamental Electronics; FranciaFil: Bennett, D.. Maynooth University; IrlandaFil: Bergé, L.. Centre de Sciences Nucléaires et de Sciences de la Matière; FranciaFil: Bernard, J. Ph.. Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie; FranciaFil: Bersanelli, M.. University of Milan; ItaliaFil: Bigot Sazy, M. A.. APC; FranciaFil: Bleurvacq, N.. APC; FranciaFil: Bordier, G.. APC; FranciaFil: Brossard, J.. APC; FranciaFil: Bunn, E. F.. Richmond University; Estados UnidosFil: Burke, D. P.. Maynooth University; IrlandaFil: Buzi, D.. Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"; ItaliaFil: Buzzelli, A.. Universita Tor Vergata; ItaliaFil: Cammilleri, D.. APC; FranciaFil: Cavaliere, F.. University of Milan; ItaliaFil: Chanial, P.. APC; FranciaFil: Etchegoyen, Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Tecnología en Detección y Astropartículas. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Instituto de Tecnología en Detección y Astropartículas. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Tecnología en Detección y Astropartículas; ArgentinaFil: Harari, Diego Dario. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Medina, Maria Clementina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; ArgentinaFil: Romero, Gustavo Esteban. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; ArgentinaFil: Suarez, Federico. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Tecnología en Detección y Astropartículas. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Instituto de Tecnología en Detección y Astropartículas. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Tecnología en Detección y Astropartículas; ArgentinaThe European Physical Society Conference on High Energy PhysicsVeneciaItaliaEuropean Physical Societ

Strong and weak constraint variational assimilations for reduced order fluid flow modeling

International audienceIn this work we propose and evaluate two variational data assimilation techniques for the estimation of low order surrogate experimental dynamical models for fluid flows. Both methods are built from optimal control recipes and rely on proper orthogonal decomposition and a Galerkin projection of the Navier Stokes equation. The techniques proposed di er in the control variables they involve. The first one introduces a weak dynamical model defined only up to an additional uncertainty time-dependent function whereas the second one, handles a strong dynamical constraint in which the dynamical system's coe cients constitute the control variables. Both choices correspond to di erent approximations of the relation between the reduced basis on which is expressed the motion field and the basis components that have been neglected in the reduced order model construction. The techniques have been assessed on numerical data and for real experimental conditions with noisy Image Velocimetry data

QUBIC: A Fizeau Interferometer Targeting Primordial B-Modes

Q and U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology (QUBIC) is a Fizeau interferometer sensitive to linear polarisation, to be deployed at the Antarctic station of Dome C. This experiment in its final configuration will be operated at 97, 150 and 220 GHz and is intended to target CMB primordial B-modes in a multipole window 20<ℓ<150. A sensitivity of r=0.05 (95 % CL) can be reached by the first module alone, after 2 years of operation. Here we review in particular its working principles, and we show how the QUBIC interferometric configuration can be considered equivalent to a pupil-plane filtered imaging system. In this context, we show how our instrument can be self-calibrated. Finally, we conclude by showing an overview of the first dual-band module (150/220 GHz), which will serve also as a demonstrator for the subsequent units, and review the technological choices we made for each subsystem, with particular emphasis on the detection system