Outcomes of self-control plans on acrylamide levels in processed food

In 2002, researchers from Stockholm University discovered the presence of acrylamide (AA) in processed foods. This substance has been classified as “probably carcinogenic to humans” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. In response to the alarming finding, the European Commission issued recommendations (2004/394/EC, 2010/307/EU, and 2013/647/EU), guiding food business operators, raising awareness, and promoting good manufacturing practices to minimize AA formation. These efforts laid the foundation for the comprehensive measures in Regulation (EU) 2017/2158. The Regulation implemented specific measures during production to reduce the amount of AA in food. This study monitored the AA levels in 15,674 samples from 12 processed food commodities. Potato-based products and coffee were found to be the main sources of AA exposure. The “baby foods” and “soft bread” food categories had the lowest contamination levels. The data were then compared to the information previously published by the European Food Safety Authority to assess the trend over time and the effectiveness of the mitigation measures. The results showed a decrease in AA contamination levels for most food categories, particularly for baby foods

Molecular Evolution and Phylogeography of Co-circulating IHNV and VHSV in Italy

Infectious haematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) and viral haemorrhagic septicaemia virus (VHSV) are the most important viral pathogens impacting rainbow trout farming. These viruses are persistent in Italy, where they are responsible for severe disease outbreaks (epizootics) that affect the profitability of the trout industry. Despite the importance of IHNV and VHSV, little is known about their evolution at a local scale, although this is likely to be important for virus eradication and control. To address this issue we performed a detailed molecular evolutionary and epidemiological analysis of IHNV and VHSV in trout farms from northern Italy. Full-length glycoprotein gene sequences of a selection of VHSV (n=108) and IHNV (n=89) strains were obtained. This revealed that Italian VHSV strains belong to sublineages Ia1 and Ia2 of genotype Ia and are distributed into 7 genetic clusters. In contrast, all Italian IHNV isolates fell within genogroup E, for which only a single genetic cluster was identified. More striking was that IHNV has evolved more rapidly than VHSV (mean rates of 11 and 7.3 × 10-4 nucleotide substitutions per site, per year, respectively), indicating that these viruses exhibit fundamentally different evolutionary dynamics. The time to the most recent common ancestor of both IHNV and VHSV was consistent with the first reports of these pathogens in Italy. By combining sequence data with epidemiological information it was possible to identify different patterns of virus spread among trout farms, in which adjacent facilities can be infected by either genetically similar or different viruses, and farms located in different water catchments can be infected by identical strains. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of combining molecular and epidemiological information to identify the determinants of IHN and VHS spread, and to provide data that is central to future surveillance strategies and possibly control

Environmentally sustainable : how are the practices in the organic food tourist route?

This study analyzes Environmentally Sustainable Practices (ESPs) in the Organic Food Tourist Route (OFTR) in South Brazil. Data collection included interviews with open and closed questions about ESPs and the Barometer of Tourism Sustainability (BTS) tool. Eight owners or managers of OFTR’s enterprises answered questions online or personally. Content analysis and descriptive statistics were used. Results indicated that tourism enterprises adopt ESPs according to each reality since some are dedicated to producing and commercializing organic products, while others are dedicated to lodging and guided tours. Managers realize the importance of adopting ESPs, enabling a decrease in expenses and the supply of organic products. Since tourists are concerned and careful with the environment nowadays, sustainability must be considered, becoming a differential. The enterprises develop ESPs, which makes the route potentially sustainable, following the standards established by the BTS. In order to achieve the “sustainable” level, the enterprises on the route need to improve their performance in many items whose results were less sustainable. From a theoretical perspective, this study contributed to understanding how ESPs were developed in enterprises and how they contribute to tourism development. The understanding of tourist routes expanded with an emphasis on sustainability, the environmental dimension, the ESPs, and organic agriculture. The BTS enabled the assessment of the sustainability of OFTR’s enterprises

The Italian National Beekeeping Registry (BDNA) as a Tool to Identify Areas Suitable for Controlled Mating of Honey Bees in Italy

Honey bee mating is difficult to control as it occurs in flight, several kilometers away from the hive of origin of both queens and drones. In recent years, there has been an increase in the introduction into Italy of queen bees and swarms originating from interracial crossings (especially those known as "Buckfast"), or belonging to non-native subspecies. Consequently, there is a strong need to establish areas suitable for controlled mating. The Italian national beekeeping registry (BDNA) has been recently set up to monitor the position of apiaries and movement of hives, with the purpose of economic and sanitary protection and improvement of bee heritage and food safety. The BDNA was, thus, deemed a suitable tool to explore the availability of areas that could be used as mating stations. Specific criteria, such as not be classified as wetlands, altitude below 1500 m a.s.l., distance of at least 6000 m from an apiary, and distance of at least 1500 m from the national terrestrial border, were selected for defining the mating stations. Furthermore, all the remaining Italian national territory was considered suitable for settlement of mating stations, including towns, industrial settlements, and roads. Based on these criteria, the following methodological framework was applied: (1) collection of the required data (i.e., apiaries coordinates, geospatial data on soil classification, geospatial data on terrain altitude, Italian boundary geospatial data); (2) calculation for the excluded areas according with the criteria listed above; (3) calculation of the mating areas by means of the difference between the entire Italian territory and the excluded areas. The database of BDNA was used to identify them. Appropriate databases and software were used to exclude the areas of the Italian national territory that did not fulfill the established criteria. In this paper, we report the procedure applied to identify on maps the areas suitable for controlled mating of queen bees in the Italian national territory based on data currently available in the BDNA

Interactions between dihydropyridine receptors and ryanodine receptors in striated muscle

Excitation-contraction coupling in both skeletal and cardiac muscle depends on structural and functional interactions between the voltage-sensing dihydropyridine receptor L-type Ca2+ channels in the surface/transverse tubular membrane and ryanodine receptor Ca2+ release channels in the sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane. The channels are targeted to either side of a narrow junctional gap that separates the external and internal membrane systems and are arranged so that bi-directional structural and functional coupling can occur between the proteins. There is strong evidence for a physical interaction between the two types of channel protein in skeletal muscle. This evidence is derived from studies of excitation-contraction coupling in intact myocytes and from experiments in isolated systems where fragments of the dihydropyridine receptor can bind to the ryanodine receptors in sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles or in lipid bilayers and alter channel activity. Although micro-regions that participate in the functional interactions have been identified in each protein, the role of these regions and the molecular nature of the protein-protein interaction remain unknown. The trigger for Ca2+ release through ryanodine receptors in cardiac muscle is a Ca2+ influx through the L-type Ca2+ channel. The Ca2+ entering through the surface membrane Ca2+ channels flows directly onto underlying ryanodine receptors and activates the channels. This was thought to be a relatively simple system compared with that in skeletal muscle. However, complexities are emerging and evidence has now been obtained for a bi-directional physical coupling between the proteins in cardiac as well as skeletal muscle. The molecular nature of this coupling remains to be elucidated

The random-coil 'C' fragment of the dihydropyridine receptor II-III loop can activate or inhibit native skeletal ryanodine receptors.

The actions of peptide C, corresponding to (724)Glu-Pro(760) of the II-III loop of the skeletal dihydropyridine receptor, on ryanodine receptor (RyR) channels incorporated into lipid bilayers with the native sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane show that the peptide is a high-affinity activator of native skeletal RyRs at cytoplasmic concentrations of 100 nM-10 microM. In addition, we found that peptide C inhibits RyRs in a voltage-independent manner when added for longer times or at higher concentrations (up to 150 microM). Peptide C had a random-coil structure indicating that it briefly assumes a variety of structures, some of which might activate and others which might inhibit RyRs. The results suggest that RyR activation and inhibition by peptide C arise from independent stochastic processes. A rate constant of 7.5 x 10(5) s(-1).M(-1) was obtained for activation and a lower estimate for the rate constant for inhibition of 5.9 x 10(3) s(-1).M(-1). The combined actions of peptide C and peptide A (II-III loop sequence (671)Thr-Leu(690)) showed that peptide C prevented activation but not blockage of RyRs by peptide A. We suggest that the effects of peptide C indicate functional interactions between a part of the dihydropyridine receptor and the RyR. These interactions could reflect either dynamic changes that occur during excitation-contraction coupling or interactions between the proteins at rest