Is Buying Local Food a Sustainable Practice? A Scoping Review of Consumers’ Preference for Local Food

Access to healthy food and the introduction of sustainable nutrition practices are two important issues today. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges to food security but it has also provided opportunities for local food production. The discussion on local food has been gaining attention in recent years, but there is still a lack of clear understanding of the term ‘local food’ in the literature. The relationship between local food and sustainability issues is still unclear and has various connotations. This discordance leads to further discussions on whether buying local food should be considered a sustainable behavior and whether consumer preference for local food can be perceived as a sustainable practice. A scoping literature review was conducted in order to fill this gap and to shed light on the main tendencies of the scientific literature regarding this topic. The outcomes of the research revealed three dimensions of ‘local food’ definitions in the literature: geographical, geopolitical, and organic; while the problem of a unified local food definition remains open. The studied literature did not show any sound evidence for sustainability attributes in the definition of local food and consumer perception of local food

The willingness to pay in the food sector. Testing the hypothesis of consumer preferences for some made in Italy products

Previous publications have shown that Italian consumers are willing to pay a premium price for certain categories of Made in Italy products. The premium price has proven to be higher in the food sector. This study provides an extensive literature review on the topic and aims to test a hypothesis regarding consumer preferences towards some Made in Italy food products of mass consumption (olive oil, meat and fish), with specific reference to the value systems that influence the purchase. This paper studies the correlation between the potential willingness to pay a premium price for the mentioned products and the characteristics of consumers' sample. The results obtained confirm the willingness to pay for Made in Italy products and correlate the willingness to pay a premium price with the level of education of the respondents to the questionnaire. Thus, these findings show that consumers with a higher educational level tend to make more sustainable food choices and by doing so lean toward a sustainable lifestyle

Filiera della canapa industriale (Cannabis sativa L.): sfide e nuove opportunità

La Cannabis Sativa è una pianta utilizzata in maniera sempre maggiore in diverse filiere del mercato: agro- alimentare, tessile, edile, cosmetico e della chimica verde, sostituendo prodotti "classici" con nuovi prodotti più performanti dal punto di vista ambientale e tecnologico. La "canapa industriale" ha un contenuto in tetraidriocannabinolo (THC) inferiore allo 0,2%, che ne permette la coltivazione e la commercializzazione in Europa (Reg. CE n.1673/2000 e Reg. CE n.73/2009). Ampiamente coltivata in Italia e nel mondo fino alla metà del secolo scorso, principalmente per ottenerne prodotti da impiegare nell'industria tessile, motivazioni economiche e politiche (Legge 22/12/1975 n.685) ne hanno segnato il declino. Oggi comunque questa coltura sta conoscendo un nuovo periodo di espansione per le caratteristiche e i molteplici usi che la rendono particolarmente vicina ai principi della green economy. In Europa la superficie coltivata ha raggiunto il valore di circa 25.000 ha nel 2016, in crescita del 37% rispetto al 2014. Il ritorno della canapicoltura sta avvenendo su basi completamente diverse rispetto al passato, quando l'unico prodotto vendibile era la fibra lunga, per la creazione di tessuti e cordami, ottenuta attraverso procedimenti che richiedevano enormi impieghi di manodopera. Oggi, dal punto di vista delle possibilità d'impiego, la canapa presenta caratteristiche di versatilità che rendono questa materia prima utilizzabile in molti settori per le sue proprietà: produzione di carta (la canapa ha una resa in polpa per ettaro 4 volte superiore rispetto al legno, oltre a richiedere 1/7 del quantitativo di solventi chimici), industria chimica, industria alimentare (attraverso l'impiego di olio e farine ricavate dai semi della canapa) e produzione di energia pulita. Inoltre è importante ricordare la capacità fitodepuratrice della canapa (già sfruttata nel nostro Paese per il recupero dell'area industriale di Porto Marghera nel Veneziano). Le radici fittonanti riescono a raggiungere profondità maggiori rispetto ad altre piante a rapido accrescimento, inoltre gli inquinanti vengono accumulati in foglie e semi, permettendo un utilizzo sicuro della fibra. Dunque la canapa, pur essendo una coltura tradizionale, ben si presta a molteplici utilizzazioni innovative, che la identificano come una delle colture erbacee più promettenti nello scenario agricolo internazionale. Il presente lavoro ha l'obiettivo di analizzare il mercato e le potenzialità di crescita della canapa nei differenti settori, tenendo in considerazione anche le iniziative finalizzate a promuovere e sostenere, sul territorio, un modello di sviluppo diffuso fondato sulla valorizzazione delle risorse presenti a livello locale e, quindi, sull'integrazione delle diverse attività economiche potenzialmente interessate all'impiego della canapa

Past and future of plant stress detection: an overview from remote sensing to Positron Emission Tomography

Plant stress detection is considered one of the most critical areas for the improvement of crop yield in the compelling worldwide scenario, dictated by both the climate change and the geopolitical consequences of the Covid-19 epidemics. A complicated interconnection of biotic and abiotic stressors affect plant growth, including water, salt, temperature, light exposure, nutrients availability, agrochemicals, air and soil pollutants, pests and diseases. In facing this extended panorama, the technology choice is manifold. On the one hand, quantitative methods, such as metabolomics, provide very sensitive indicators of most of the stressors, with the drawback of a disruptive approach, which prevents follow up and dynamical studies. On the other hand qualitative methods, such as fluorescence, thermography and VIS/NIR reflectance, provide a non-disruptive view of the action of the stressors in plants, even across large fields, with the drawback of a poor accuracy. When looking at the spatial scale, the effect of stress may imply modifications from DNA level (nanometers) up to cell (micrometers), full plant (millimeters to meters) and entire field (kilometers). While quantitative techniques are sensitive to the smallest scales, only qualitative approaches can be used for the larger ones. Emerging technologies from nuclear and medical physics, such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography, are expected to bridge the gap of quantitative non disruptive morphologic and functional measurements at larger scale. In this review we analyze the landscape of the different technologies nowadays available, showing the benefits of each approach in plant stress detection, with a particular focus on the gaps, which will be filled in the nearby future by the emerging nuclear physics approaches to agriculture

Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3: Ion Channels, Plasticity, and Diseases

Glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3) is a multifaceted serine/threonine (S/T) kinase expressed in all eukaryotic cells. GSK3β is highly enriched in neurons in the central nervous system where it acts as a central hub for intracellular signaling downstream of receptors critical for neuronal function. Unlike other kinases, GSK3β is constitutively active, and its modulation mainly involves inhibition via upstream regulatory pathways rather than increased activation. Through an intricate converging signaling system, a fine-tuned balance of active and inactive GSK3β acts as a central point for the phosphorylation of numerous primed and unprimed substrates. Although the full range of molecular targets is still unknown, recent results show that voltage-gated ion channels are among the downstream targets of GSK3β. Here, we discuss the direct and indirect mechanisms by which GSK3β phosphorylates voltage-gated Na+ channels (Nav 1.2 and Nav 1.6) and voltage-gated K+ channels (Kv 4 and Kv 7) and their physiological effects on intrinsic excitability, neuronal plasticity, and behavior. We also present evidence for how unbalanced GSK3β activity can lead to maladaptive plasticity that ultimately renders neuronal circuitry more vulnerable, increasing the risk for developing neuropsy-chiatric disorders. In conclusion, GSK3β-dependent modulation of voltage-gated ion channels may serve as an important pharmacological target for neurotherapeutic development

PICKING THE BEST NOVEL ORAL ANTICOAGULANT FOR ATRIAL FIBRILLATION: EVIDENCE FROM A WARFARIN-CONTROLLED NETWORK META-ANALYSIS

Warfarin is a mainstay atrial ibrillation (AF) treatment, yet it has a narrow therapeutic window. Novel agents have been successfully tested against warfarin, yet no direct comparison among them is available. We thus performed a pair-wise and warfarin-adjusted network metaanalyses of novel oral anticoagulants for AF

Does the inflow velocity profile influence physiologically relevant flow patterns in computational hemodynamic models of left anterior descending coronary artery?

Patient-specific computational fluid dynamics is a powerful tool for investigating the hemodynamic risk in coronary arteries. Proper setting of flow boundary conditions in computational hemodynamic models of coronary arteries is one of the sources of uncertainty weakening the findings of in silico experiments, in consequence of the challenging task of obtaining in vivo 3D flow measurements within the clinical framework. Accordingly, in this study we evaluated the influence of assumptions on inflow velocity profile shape on coronary artery hemodynamics. To do that, (1) ten left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) geometries were reconstructed from clinical angiography, and (2) eleven velocity profiles with realistic 3D features such as eccentricity and differently shaped (single- and double-vortex) secondary flows were generated analytically and imposed as inflow boundary conditions. Wall shear stress and helicity-based descriptors obtained prescribing the commonly used parabolic velocity profile were compared with those obtained with the other velocity profiles. Our findings indicated that the imposition of idealized velocity profiles as inflow boundary condition is acceptable as long the results of the proximal vessel segment are not considered, in LAD coronary arteries. As a pragmatic rule of thumb, a conservative estimation of the length of influence of the shape of the inflow velocity profile on LAD local hemodynamics can be given by the theoretical entrance length for cylindrical conduits in laminar flow conditions