Reduction of colonic inflammation in HLA-B27 transgenic rats by feeding Marie Ménard apples, rich in polyphenols

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are immunomediated ailments affecting millions of individuals. Although diet is regarded as an important factor influencing IBD, there are no accepted dietary recommendations presently available. We administered 7.6 % lyophilised apples obtained from two cultivars (Golden Delicious and Marie Ménard, low and high in polyphenols, respectively) to HLA-B27 transgenic rats which develop spontaneous IBD. After 3 months feeding, rats fed Marie Ménard apples had reduced myeloperoxidase activity (3.6 (sem 0.3) v. 2.2 (sem 0.2) U/g tissue; P <0.05) and reduced cyclo-oxygenase-2 (P <0.05) and inducible NO synthase gene expression (P <0.01) in the colon mucosa and significantly less diarrhoea (P <0.05), compared with control rats. Cell proliferation in the colon mucosa was reduced significantly by feeding Golden Delicious apples, with a borderline effect of Marie Ménard apples. Gene expression profiling of the colon mucosa, analysed using the Whole Rat Genome 4 x 44 K Agilent Arrays, revealed a down-regulation of the pathways of PG synthesis, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling and TNFalpha-NF-kappaB in Marie Ménard-fed rats. In the stools of the animals of this group we also measured a significant reduction of bacteria of the Bacteriodes fragilis group. In conclusion, the administration of Marie Ménard apples, rich in polyphenols and used at present only in the manufacturing of cider, ameliorates colon inflammation in transgenic rats developing spontaneous intestinal inflammation, suggesting the possible use of these and other apple varieties to control inflammation in IBD patient

Effect of production process and high-pressure processing on viability of Salmonella spp. in traditional Italian dry-cured coppa

The aim of the study was to investigate the combined effect of the manufacturing process followed by HPP treatment on the inactivation of Salmonella spp. in artificially contaminated coppa samples, in order to verify the ability of the combined processes to achieve the objective of a 5-log reduction of Salmonella spp. needed for exportation to the U.S. Fresh anatomical cuts intended for coppa production were supplied by four different delicatessen factories located in Northern Italy. Raw meat underwent experimental contamination with Salmonella spp. using a mixture of 3 strains. Surface contamination of the fresh anatomical cuts was carried out by immersion into inoculum containing Salmonella spp. The conditions of the HPP treatment were: pressure 593 MPa, time 290 seconds, water treatment temperature 14\ub0C. Surface and deep samples were performed post contamination (T0), end of the cold phase (T1), end of process (Tend), and after HPP treatment (postHPP) and Salmonella spp. Enumerated. The results of this study show a significant reduction of Salmonella spp. all through the production process (P&lt;0.01) for all companies, followed by an additional reduction of bacterial counts due to HPP treatment (P&lt;0.01), both in superficial and deep contaminations (P&lt;0.01). The superficial overall reduction resulted of 1.58 to 5.04 log CFU/g during the production process. HPP treatment resulted in a significant (P&lt;0.01) superficial and deep decrease in Salmonella spp. enumeration varying from 0.61 to 4.01 log and from 1.49 to 4.13 log. According to the data presented in this study, only the combined approach of coppa manufacturing process followed by HPP treatment always led to a 5-log reduction of Salmonella spp. required by USDA/FSIS guidelines

Effect of production process and high-pressure processing on viability of Listeria innocua in traditional Italian dry-cured coppa

In this study the effect of the application of High Pressure Treatment (HPP) combined with four different manufacturing processes on the inactivation of Listeria innocua, used as a surrogate for L. monocytogenes, in artificially contaminated coppa samples was evaluated in order to verify the most suitable strategy to meet the Listeria inactivation requirements needed for the exportation of dry-cured meat in the U.S. Fresh anatomical cuts intended for coppa production were supplied by four different delicatessen factories located in Northern Italy. Raw meat underwent experimental contamination with Listeria innocua using a mixture of 5 strains. Surface contamination of the fresh anatomical cuts was carried out by immersion into inoculum containing Listeria spp. The conditions of the HPP treatment were: pressure 593 MPa, time 290 seconds, water treatment temperature 14\ub0C. Listeria innocua was enumerated on surface and deep samples post contamination, resting, ripening and HPP treatment. The results of this study show how the reduction of the microbial load on coppa during the production process did not vary among three companies (P&gt;0.05) ranging from 3.73 to 4.30 log CFU/g, while it was significantly different (P&lt;0.01) for the fourth company (0.92 log CFU/g). HPP treatment resulted in a significant (P&lt;0.01) deep decrease of L. innocua count with values ranging between 1.63-3.54 log CFU/g with no significant differences between companies. Regarding superficial contamination, HPP treatment resulted significant (P&lt;0.01) only in Coppa produced by two companies. The results highlight that there were processes less effective to inhibit the pathogen; in particular for company D an increase of L. innocua count was shown during processing and HPP alone cannot be able to in reaching the Listeria inactivation requirements needed for exportation of dry-cured meat in the U.S. According to the data reported in this paper, HPP treatment increases the ability of the manufacturing process of coppa in reducing Listeria count with the objective of a lethality treatment

Microencapsulación de compuestos bioactivos

En la presente investigación se estudió la microencapsulación de un extracto de antocianinas obtenido a partir de una extracción sólido-liquido de restos sólidos de piel de arándanos los cuales son un subproducto de la elaboración de jugo de arándanos. La encapsulación se realizó mediante liofilización utilizando como material de pared maltodextrina, almidón modificado y proteína de suero lácteo. Mediante un ensayo de mezcla se realizó una optimización de la eficiencia de encapsulación, la productividad de microcápsulas y la higroscopicidad del producto de manera tal de maximizar los dos primeros factores y minimizar el último en función del material encapsulante utilizado. Las propiedades de las microcápsulas se evaluaron tanto desde el punto de vista físico y químico como funcional. Los resultados indicaron que la mejor formulación para proteger las antocianinas es utilizar una mezcla 70:30 de proteína de suero lácteo y maltodextrina. Desde el punto de vista de la funcionalidad, el ensayo de digestión in vitro permitió determinar que según el tipo de material elegido para recubrir las microcápsulas, se puede dirigir la liberación de las antocianinas, ya sea hacia la fase de digestión estomacal o hacia la intestinal

Estudio de emulsiones Pickering para la microencapsulación de aceites esenciales cítricos y su estabilización por liofilización

El proyecto consistió en estudiar las propiedades físicas de emulsiones Pickering preparadas a partir de almidón de arroz químicamente modificado y aceite esencial de mandarina verde. Para realizar este estudio primero se obtuvieron los materiales y se caracterizaron. Se utilizó almidón de arroz de dos variedades, YERUA y GURI, que fue químicamente modificado con anhídrido octenil succínico. Se caracterizó tanto el almidón nativo como el almidón modificado para evaluar las diferencias entre las variedades. Se determinó la estabilidad de las emulsiones preparadas con diferentes concentraciones de almidón (50, 100, 150, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 mg/mL de aceite) para la misma relación de fases dispersa:continua (1:2). Las emulsiones que presentaron mejor estabilidad fueron las preparadas con el almidón modificado YERUA, desde 400 mg/mL. Luego del tratamiento térmico la emulsión de 600 mg/mL de esta misma variedad fue la única que se mantuvo estable durante el ciclo de congelación-descongelación, por lo que fue seleccionada para el ensayo de liofilización. A pesar de la estabilidad que presentó la emulsión, el porcentaje de recuperación de aceite fue muy bajo y pudo deberse a que la matriz encapsulante no encierra efectivamente al aceite esencial, el cual se volatiliza durante el proceso de liofilización

Thermodynamics of SU(N) Yang-Mills theories in 2+1 dimensions II - The deconfined phase

We present a non-perturbative study of the equation of state in the deconfined phase of Yang-Mills theories in D=2+1 dimensions. We introduce a holographic model, based on the improved holographic QCD model, from which we derive a non-trivial relation between the order of the deconfinement phase transition and the behavior of the trace of the energy-momentum tensor as a function of the temperature T. We compare the theoretical predictions of this holographic model with a new set of high-precision numerical results from lattice simulations of SU(N) theories with N=2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 colors. The latter reveal that, similarly to the D=3+1 case, the bulk equilibrium thermodynamic quantities (pressure, trace of the energy-momentum tensor, energy density and entropy density) exhibit nearly perfect proportionality to the number of gluons, and can be successfully compared with the holographic predictions in a broad range of temperatures. Finally, we also show that, again similarly to the D=3+1 case, the trace of the energy-momentum tensor appears to be proportional to T^2 in a wide temperature range, starting from approximately 1.2 T_c, where T_c denotes the critical deconfinement temperature.Comment: 2+36 pages, 10 figures; v2: comments added, curves showing the holographic predictions included in the plots of the pressure and energy and entropy densities, typos corrected: version published in JHE

Notulae to the Italian alien vascular flora: 9

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions, and status changes for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Furthermore, three new combinations are proposed. Nomenclatural and distribution updates published elsewhere are provided as Suppl. material 1