Official food safety audits in large scale retail trades in the time of COVID: system control experiences supported by an innovative approach

This work describes a new methodology used in large scale retail trades in official food safety auditing processes developed during COVID19 emergency. The aim is to evaluate Food Business Operators’ (FBOs) Food Safety Management System and its dynamic implementation and to understand the FBO’s level of cultural maturity about food safety according to EU Regulation 2021/382. The innovation mainly consists of: a) a pre-audit phase when auditors analyse food business operator’s (FBO) selfchecked plan and further documents to identify “markers” and useful evidences (that would be collected in on-site inspections) to evaluate the application of plan by FBO’s workers; b) an audit phase consisted of both a check of the company procedures and documents performed by the auditors via web conference and of contextually onsite inspections in a sample of company’s supermarkets performed by inspectors teams. The audit methodology here described may be useful, even though it is expensive in terms of time and energy used, for both Competent Authority (CA) and FBOs, regardless of the period of the COVID emergency. The so-structured official control allows the auditors to collect both documentary and on-site evidence at the same time, reaching a broader vision of auditees (not limited to single supermarkets) and a compliant with reality FBOs risk classification. The new approach may give advantages to both audit actors, CA as well as FBO, who may collect “markers” and evidence of the self-checked plan useful to improve FBO’s food safety system on the basis of the critical aspects detected during auditing process

Revisiting [PtCl2(cis-1,4-DACH)]: an underestimated antitumor drug with potential application to the treatment of oxaliplatin-refractory colorectal cancer

Although the encouraging antitumor activity of [PtCl2(cis-1,4-DACH)] (1; DACH = diaminocyclohexane) was shown in early studies almost 20 years ago, the compound has remained nearly neglected. In contrast, oxaliplatin, containing isomeric 1R,2R-DACH carrier ligand, enjoys worldwide clinic application as a most important therapeutic agent in the treatment of colorectal cancer. By extending the investigation to human chemo-resistant cancer cells, we have demonstrated the real effectiveness of 1 in circumventing cisplatin and oxaliplatin resistance in LoVo colon cancer cells. The uptake of compound 1 by the latter cells was similar to that of sensitive LoVo cells. This is not the case for all other compounds considered in this investigation. Interaction with ds-DNA, investigated by a biosensor assay and by QM/MM geometry optimization of the 1,2-GG intrastrand cross-link, does not show significant differences between 1 and oxaliplatin. However, the DNA adducts of 1 are removed from repair systems with lower efficiency and are more effective in inhibiting DNA and RNA polymerase

A Curved Graphene Nanoribbon with Multi-Edge Structure and High Intrinsic Charge Carrier Mobility

Structurally well-defined graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) have emerged as highly promising materials for the next-generation nanoelectronics. The electronic properties of GNRs critically depend on their edge topologies. Here, we demonstrate the efficient synthesis of a curved GNR (cGNR) with a combined cove, zigzag, and armchair edge structure, through bottom-up synthesis. The curvature of the cGNR is elucidated by the corresponding model compounds tetrabenzo[a,cd,j,lm]perylene (1) and diphenanthrene-fused tetrabenzo[a,cd,j,lm]perylene (2), the structures of which are unambiguously confirmed by the X-ray single-crystal analysis. The resultant multi-edged cGNR exhibits a well-resolved absorption at the near-infrared (NIR) region with a maximum peak at 850 nm, corresponding to a narrow optical energy gap of ∼1.22 eV. Employing THz spectroscopy, we disclose a long scattering time of ∼60 fs, corresponding to a record intrinsic charge carrier mobility of ∼600 cm2 V–1 s–1 for photogenerated charge carriers in cGNR

Revisiting [PtCl₂(<i>cis</i>-1,4-DACH)]: An Underestimated Antitumor Drug with Potential Application to the Treatment of Oxaliplatin-Refractory Colorectal Cancer

Although the encouraging antitumor activity of [PtCl₂(<i>cis</i>-1,4-DACH)] (<b>1</b>; DACH = diaminocyclohexane) was shown in early studies almost 20 years ago, the compound has remained nearly neglected. In contrast, oxaliplatin, containing the isomeric 1­(<i>R</i>),2­(<i>R</i>)-DACH carrier ligand, enjoys worldwide clinic application as a most important therapeutic agent in the treatment of colorectal cancer. By extending the investigation to human chemotherapy-resistant cancer cells, we have demonstrated the real effectiveness of <b>1</b> in circumventing cisplatin and oxaliplatin resistance in LoVo colon cancer cells. The uptake of compound <b>1</b> by the latter cells was similar to that of sensitive LoVo cells. This is not the case for all other compounds considered in this investigation. Interaction with double-stranded DNA, investigated by a biosensor assay and by quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical geometry optimization of the 1,2-GG intrastrand cross-link, does not show significant differences between <b>1</b> and oxaliplatin. However, the DNA adducts of <b>1</b> are removed from repair systems with lower efficiency and are more effective in inhibiting DNA and RNA polymerase

Coffee consumption habits and the risk of mild cognitive impairment: The Italian longitudinal study on aging

Coffee, tea, or caffeine consumption may be protective against cognitive impairment and dementia. We estimated the association between change or constant habits in coffee consumption and the incidence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We evaluated 1,445 individuals recruited from 5,632 subjects, aged 65-84 year old, from the Italian Longitudinal Study on Aging, a population-based sample from eight Italian municipalities with a 3.5-year median follow-up. Cognitively normal older individuals who habitually consumed moderate amount of coffee (from 1 to 2 cups of coffee/day) had a lower rate of the incidence of MCI than those who never or rarely consumed coffee [1 cup/day: hazard ratio (HR): 0.47, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.211 to 1.02 or 1-2 cups/day: HR: 0.31 95% CI: 0.13 to 0.75]. For cognitively normal older subjects who changed their coffee consumption habits, those increasing coffee consumption (>1 cup of coffee/day) had higher rate of the incidence of MCI compared to those with constant habits (up to \ub11 cup of coffee/day) (HR: 1.80, 95% CI: 1.11 to 2.92) or those with reduced consumption (2 cups of coffee/day) and the incidence of MCI in comparison with those who never or rarely consumed coffee (HR: 0.26, 95% CI: 0.03 to 2.11). In conclusion, cognitively normal older individuals who increased their coffee consumption had a higher rate of developing MCI, while a constant in time moderate coffee consumption was associated to a reduced rate of the incidence of MCI