3,872 research outputs found
Tomato ionomic approach for food fortification and safety.
Food fortification is an issue of paramount of importance for people living both in developed
and in developing countries. Among substances listed as "nutriceuticals", essential minerals have
been recognised for their involvement in several healthy issues, involving all ages. In this frame,
food plants are playing a pivotal role since their capability to compartmentalise ions and proteinmetal
complexes in edible organs. Conversely, the accumulation of high metal levels in those
organs may lead to safety problems. In the recent years, thanks to the availability of new and
improved analytical apparatus in both ionic and genomic/transcrittomics areas, it is became feasible
to couple data coming from plant physiology and genetics. Ionomics is the discipline that studies
the cross-analysis of both data sets. Our group, in the frame of GenoPom project granted by MiUR,
is interested to study the ionomics of tomatoes cultivars derived by breeding programmes in which
wild relatives have been used to transfer several useful traits, such as resistance to biotic or abiotic
stresses, fruit composition and textiture, etc. The introgression of the wild genome into the
cultivated one produces new gene combinations. They might lead to the expression of some traits,
such as increased or reduced adsorption of some metals and their exclusion or loading into edible
organs, thus strongly involving the nutritional food value. Our final goal is to put together data
coming from ions homeostasis and gene expression analyses, thus obtaining an ionomic tomato
map related to ions absorption, translocation and accumulation in various plant organs, fruits
included. To follow our hypothesis, we are studying the ionome of Solanum lycopersicum cv. M82
along with 76 Introgression Lines (ILs) produced by interspecific crosses between this cultivar and
the wild species S. pennellii. These ILs are homozygous for small portions of the wild species
genome introgressed into the domesticated M82 one. They are used as a useful tool for mapping
QTL associated with many traits of interest. It is worthy to note that, until now, little information is
available on QTL for ions accumulation in tomato. Moreover, as our knowledge, effects of new
gene combinations in introgressed lines on ions uptake related to food safety have not been
extensively studied. In this presentation we show results coming from the ionome analysis, carried
out on S . lycopersicum M82 and several ILs. Plants were grown in pots in a greenhouse and
watered with deionised water Thirty day-old plants were left to grow for 15 days in the presence of
non-toxic concentration of Cd, Pb, As, Cr and Zn given combined. Leaves of all plants were then
harvested and stored at -80°C for ionome and gene expression analyses. Preliminary results of
ionome analysis of S. lycopersicum M82 and several ILs, carried out using an ICP-MS, showed that
traits correlated to toxic metals and micronutrients accumulation in apical leaves were significantly
modified in response to specific genetic backgrounds. Those results are perhaps due to the
introgression of traits linked to uptake, translocation and accumulation of useful and/or toxic metal
into plant apical leaves and to interactions of the wild type introgressed genomic regions with the
cultivated genome. Also, data are shown on the identification and isolation of Solanum gene
sequences related to ions uptake, translocation and accumulation, useful for further real-time gene
expression evaluation in both cultivated and ILs during the treatments with the above-mentioned
metals
Geometrical bounds on irreversibility in open quantum systems
Clausius inequality has deep implications for reversibility and the arrow of
time. Quantum theory is able to extend this result for closed systems by
inspecting the trajectory of the density matrix on its manifold. Here we show
that this approach can provide an upper and lower bound to the irreversible
entropy production for open quantum systems as well. These provide insights on
the thermodynamics of the information erasure. Limits of the applicability of
our bounds are discussed, and demonstrated in a quantum photonic simulator
Bridging thermodynamics and metrology in non-equilibrium Quantum Thermometry
Single-qubit thermometry presents the simplest tool to measure the
temperature of thermal baths with reduced invasivity. At thermal equilibrium,
the temperature uncertainty is linked to the heat capacity of the qubit,
however the best precision is achieved outside equilibrium condition. Here, we
discuss a way to generalize this relation in a non-equilibrium regime, taking
into account purely quantum effects such as coherence. We support our findings
with an experimental photonic simulation.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Nutritional and functional advantages of the use of fermented black chickpea flour for semolina-pasta fortification
Pasta represents a dominant portion of the diet worldwide and its functionalization with high nutritional value ingredients, such as legumes, is the most ideal solution to shape consumers behavior towards healthier food choices. Aiming at improving the nutritional quality of semolina pasta, semi-liquid dough of a Mediterranean black chickpea flour, fermented with Lactiplantibacillus plantarum T0A10, was used at a substitution level of 15% to manufacture fortified pasta. Fermentation with the selected starter enabled the release of 20% of bound phenolic compounds, and the conversion of free compounds into more active forms (dihydrocaffeic and phloretic acid) in the dough. Fermented dough also had higher resistant starch (up to 60% compared to the control) and total free amino acids (almost 3 g/kg) contents, whereas antinutritional factors (raffinose, condensed tannins, trypsin inhibitors and saponins) significantly decreased. The impact of black chickpea addition on pasta nutritional, technological and sensory features, was also assessed. Compared to traditional (semolina) pasta, fortified pasta had lower starch hydrolysis rate (ca. 18%) and higher in vitro protein digestibility (up to 38%). Moreover, fortified cooked pasta, showing scavenging activity against DPPH and ABTS radicals and intense inhibition of linoleic acid peroxidation, was appreciated for its peculiar organoleptic profile. Therefore, fermentation technology appears to be a promising tool to enhance the quality of pasta and promote the use of local chickpea cultivars while preventing their genetic erosion
Pediatric adrenocortical neoplasms: Immunohistochemical expression of p57 identifies loss of heterozygosity and abnormal imprinting of the 11p15.5
Overall time evolution in phase-ordering kinetics
The phenomenology from the time of the quench to the asymptotic behavior in
the phase-ordering kinetics of a system with conserved order parameter is
investigated in the Bray-Humayun model and in the Cahn-Hilliard-Cook model.
From the comparison of the structure factor in the two models the generic
pattern of the overall time evolution, based on the sequence ``early linear -
intermediate mean field - late asymptotic regime'' is extracted. It is found
that the time duration of each of these regimes is strongly dependent on the
wave vector and on the parameters of the quench, such as the amplitude of the
initial fluctuations and the final equilibrium temperature. The rich and
complex crossover phenomenology arising as these parameters are varied can be
accounted for in a simple way through the structure of the solution of the
Bray-Humayun model.Comment: RevTeX, 14 pages, 18 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Total hip replacement infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis complicated by Addison disease and psoas muscle abscess: a case report
Abstract Introduction Prosthetic joint infection due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis is occasionally encountered in clinical practice. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a prosthetic joint infection due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis complicated by psoas abscesses and secondary Addison disease. Case presentation A 67-year-old immunocompetent Caucasian woman underwent total left hip arthroplasty because of osteoarthritis. After 18 months, she underwent arthroplasty revision for a possible prosthetic infection. Periprosthetic tissue specimens for bacteria were negative, and empirical antibiotic therapy was unsuccessful. She was then admitted to our department because of complications arising 22 months after arthroplasty. A physical examination revealed a sinus tract overlying her left hip and skin and mucosal pigmentation. Her levels of C-reactive protein, basal cortisol, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and sodium were out of normal range. Results of the tuberculin skin test and QuantiFERON-TB Gold test were positive. Computed tomography revealed a periprosthetic abscess and the inclusion of the left psoas muscle. Results of microbiological tests were negative, but polymerase chain reaction of a specimen taken from the hip fistula was positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Our patient's condition was diagnosed as prosthetic joint infection and muscle psoas abscess due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis and secondary Addison disease. She underwent standard treatment with rifampicin, ethambutol, isoniazid, and pyrazinamide associated with hydrocortisone and fludrocortisone. At 15 months from the beginning of therapy, she was in good clinical condition and free of symptoms. Conclusions Prosthetic joint infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis is uncommon. A differential diagnosis of tuberculosis should be considered when dealing with prosthetic joint infection, especially when repeated smears and histology examination from infected joints are negative. Clinical outcomes of prosthetic joint infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis are unpredictable, especially given the limited literature in this field and the uncertainty of whether medical treatment alone can eradicate the infection without prosthesis removal. Furthermore, this case report raises interesting issues such as the necessity of a follow-up evaluation after treatment based on clinical conditions, the utility of a more standardized length of treatment for periprosthetic tuberculous infection, and the importance of a high diffusion capacity of anti-mycobacterial agents in order to eradicate the infection.</p
Fronts dynamics in the presence of spatio-temporal structured noises
Front dynamics modeled by a reaction-diffusion equation are studied under the
influence of spatio-temporal structured noises. An effective deterministic
model is analytical derived where the noise parameters, intensity, correlation
time and correlation length appear explicitely. The different effects of these
parameters are discussed for the Ginzburg-Landau and Schl\"ogl models. We
obtain an analytical expression for the front velocity as a function of the
noise parameters. Numerical simulations results are in a good agreement with
the theoretical predictions.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures; REVTEX; to be published in Phys.Rev.E, july 200
Entanglement and correlation functions following a local quench: a conformal field theory approach
We show that the dynamics resulting from preparing a one-dimensional quantum
system in the ground state of two decoupled parts, then joined together and
left to evolve unitarily with a translational invariant Hamiltonian (a local
quench), can be described by means of quantum field theory. In the case when
the corresponding theory is conformal, we study the evolution of the
entanglement entropy for different bi-partitions of the line. We also consider
the behavior of one- and two-point correlation functions. All our findings may
be explained in terms of a picture, that we believe to be valid more generally,
whereby quasiparticles emitted from the joining point at the initial time
propagate semiclassically through the system.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, v2 typos corrected and refs adde
Symptomatic carotid atherosclerotic plaques are associated with increased infiltration of natural killer (NK) cells and higher serum levels of NK activating receptor ligands
A wide array of immune cells, including lymphocytes, is known to be present and to play a pathogenetic role in atherosclerotic lesions. However, limited information is currently available regarding the presence of Natural Killer (NF cell subsets within vessel plaque, and more in general, regarding their role in human atherosclerosis. We evaluated the distribution of NK cells in human carotid atherosclerotic plaques, dissecting asymptomatic and symptomatic patients (identified as affected by stroke, transient ischemic attack, or amaurosis fugax within 6 months) with the aim of shedding light on the putative contribution of NK cells to the pathogenic process that leads to plaque instability and subsequent clinical complications. We observed that carotid plaques were consistently infiltrated by NK cells and, among them, CD56(bright)perforin(low) NK cells were abundantly present and displayed different markers of tissue residency (i.e., CD103 CD69 and CD49a). Interestingly, carotid atherosclerotic plaques of symptomatic patients showed a higher content of NK cells and an increased ratio between CD56(bright)perforin(low) NK cells and their CD56(dim)perforin(high)counterpart. NK cells isolated from plaques of symptomatic patients were also stronger producers of IFN-gamma. Analysis of the expression of NK activating receptor ligands (including MICA/B, ULBP-3, and B7-H6) in atherosclerotic carotid plaques revealed that they were abundantly expressed by a HLA-DR(+)CD11c(+) myeloid cell population resident in the plaques. Remarkably, sera of symptomatic patients contained significant higher levels of soluble ligands for NK activating receptors. Our observations indicate that CD56(bright)( )NK cells accumulate within human atherosclerotic lesions and suggest a possible contribution of NK cells to the process determining plaque instability
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