Meat quality of Kuruma prawn (Marsupenaeus japonicus): preliminary evaluation

Among the peneids, Marsupenaeus japonicus, a cold-temperate species, carnivorous, is the mostly cultured prawn in Italy and in the Mediterranean Sea basin, thanks to the good adaptability to the temperature and salinity variations, to the good resistance to the manipulations (better resistance out of water), to its appreciate nourishing qualities and to the good growth rate (Lumare, 1998).Whereas the literature on cultured fish fillet is rich (Gjedrem, 1997; Lanari et al., 1999; Parisi et al., 2003), few are the information about the shrimp meat quality traits.Therefore, the present work aimed at typifying the variations of the meat quality characteristics in shrimps from semi-intensive (supplemented with an artificial diet) or extensive rearing systems

Use of sweet lupin (Lupinus albus L.) as alternative protein source in diets for podolian young bulls

AbstractThe Podolian bovine represents an important example of Italian rustic breed, since it is able to live under difficult environmental conditions and it takes advantage of sources that could not be otherwise used, producing meat and secondarily milk. The "Podolica" breed is diffused in the marginal areas of the south of Italy and it is especially reared in Lucania and also Apulia. It could be improved by means of a rearing management set up in agreement with the traditional systems, using the pastures and feeding schemes aimed to increase meat productions.This trial was carried out on sixteen podolian young bulls of about 9 months of age that were transferred from the pasture to the box and after that divided into two homogeneous groups of 8 subjects each. Then the young bulls had been fed ad libitum for about 180 days on straw and a complete feed containing either extruded soybean meal s.e. (group Soybean, S) or sweet lupine (Lupinus albus L., var. Multitalia) (group Lupine, L).The two different pel..

Immunotoxicity and Sensitizing Capacity of Metal Compounds Depend on Speciation

Immunotoxicity of metal compounds is an issue of great importance due to the recent industrial application of metals with unknown toxicity on the immune system and the discovery of metal intermediary compounds not sufficiently studied yet. In this report we show results of our study on the immunotoxicity of the following metals: the Platinum group elements (Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium), Titanium and Arsenic. We applied functional and non functional assays and investigated both innate and adaptive immune systems, in particular, cell proliferation, cytokine production by PBMCs and O−2 production by neutrophils. We obtained the following results: only some Ti compounds (Titanocene, Ti ascorbate and Ti oxalate) show immunotoxicity. Trivalent As compounds (Sodium arsenite and tetraphenyl arsonium chloride) are more immunotoxic than the other investigated As compounds. Genotoxicity of Pt group compounds is in the following order: Pt < Rh < Pd. Immunotoxicity of Pt group compounds is in the following order: Pd < Pt < Rh. Lymphocytes and macrophages show a different reaction of neutrophils to metal toxicity. We can conclude that these studies show that metal immunotoxicity depends on speciation. In general speciation provides additional and often essential information in evaluating metal toxicity. However, there are many difficulties in applying speciation in investigating toxico-kinetic aspects to many metals, mainly due to the lack of information about the existence and significance of species and to the lack of analytical methods for measuring species in biological samples

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

Notulae to the Italian alien vascular flora: 7

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, and status changes for Italy or for Italian administrative regions of taxa in the genera Abies, Actinidia, Alooe, Amaryllis, Anredera, Arctotheca, Bidens, Cardiospermum, Celosia, Commelina, Cotoneaster, Cyclamen, Eclipta, Euphorbia, Grevillea, Hedera, Hibiscus, Impatiens, Juglans, Kalanchoe, Koelreuteria, Lindernia, Melinis, Myriophyllum, Nandina, Nicotiana, Oenothera, Oxalis, Parthenocissus, Phoenix, Phyllanthus, Physalis, Plumbago, Pteris, Quercus, Setaria, Symphytum, Tagetes, and Washingtonia. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere are provided as Suppl. material 1

Risk of hospitalization for heart failure in patients with type 2 diabetes newly treated with DPP-4 inhibitors or other oral glucose-lowering medications: A retrospective registry study on 127,555 patients from the Nationwide OsMed Health-DB Database

Aims Oral glucose-lowering medications are associated with excess risk of heart failure (HF). Given the absence of comparative data among drug classes, we performed a retrospective study in 32 Health Services of 16 Italian regions accounting for a population of 18 million individuals, to assess the association between HF risk and use of sulphonylureas, DPP-4i, and glitazones. Methods and results We extracted data on patients with type 2 diabetes who initiated treatment with DPP-4i, thiazolidinediones, or sulphonylureas alone or in combination with metformin during an accrual time of 2 years. The endpoint was hospitalization for HF (HHF) occurring after the first 6 months of therapy, and the observation was extended for up to 4 years. A total of 127 555 patients were included, of whom 14.3% were on DPP-4i, 72.5% on sulphonylurea, 13.2% on thiazolidinediones, with average 70.7% being on metformin as combination therapy. Patients in the three groups differed significantly for baseline characteristics: age, sex, Charlson index, concurrent medications, and previous cardiovascular events. During an average 2.6-year follow-up, after adjusting for measured confounders, use of DPP-4i was associated with a reduced risk of HHF compared with sulphonylureas [hazard ratio (HR) 0.78; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.62-0.97; P = 0.026]. After propensity matching, the analysis was restricted to 39 465 patients, and the use of DPP-4i was still associated with a lower risk of HHF (HR 0.70; 95% CI 0.52-0.94; P = 0.018). Conclusion In a very large observational study, the use of DPP-4i was associated with a reduced risk of HHF when compared with sulphonylureas