The attitudes of Italian consumers towards jellyfish as novel food

Abstract The globalization of food markets and the recent upgrade of the European regulation on novel foods open up new possibilities for the introduction of edible jellyfish in the diet of Europeans. In spite of no tradition of eating jellyfish in Italy and, more generally, in Western countries, several Mediterranean jellyfish species have biological and nutritional features with a large potential as innovative, sustainable novel food and source of bioactive compounds. To evaluate the Italians' attitude of considering jellyfish as food source, a survey has been carried out on a group of 1445 individuals. A questionnaire was designed to assess the jellyfish consumption attitude (JCA) of respondents and explore the effect of their individual traits (socio-demography, personality, behavior habits, neophobia, disgust sensitivity) on JCA. Gender, age, and travelling habits differently affected JCA. Possible culinary uses and food pairing of jellyfish were also significantly influenced by JCA. Individuals with the highest propensity to accept jellyfish as food are young people, familiar with the sea environment, with high education level or students, and frequent travelers. Food neophobia and sensitivity to disgust are confirmed as personality traits able to strongly impair the acceptability of a novel food. Finally, this work provides insights into the acceptance and rejection variables that should be taken into account when an unfamiliar new food product, such as jellyfish, is planned to be introduced in a new dietary culture and new markets

Visual field loss and vision-related quality of life in the Italian Primary Open Angle Glaucoma Study.

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between visual field (VF) loss, vision-related quality of life (QoL) and glaucoma-related symptoms in a large cohort of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) patients. POAG patients with or without VF defects or "glaucoma suspect" patients were considered eligible. QoL was assessed using the validated versions of the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25) and glaucoma-related symptoms were assessed using the Glaucoma Symptom Scale (GSS). Patients were classified as having VF damage in one eye (VFD-1), both eyes (VFD-2), or neither eye (VFD-0). 3227 patients were enrolled and 2940 were eligible for the analysis. 13.4% of patients were classified in the VFD-0, 23.7% in the VFD-1, and 62.9% in the VFD-2 group. GSS visual symptoms domain (Func-4) and GSS non-visual symptoms domain (Symp-6) scores were similar for the VFD-0 and VFD-1 groups (p = 0.133 and p = 0.834 for Func-4 and Symp-6, respectively). VFD-0 group had higher scores than VFD-2 both in Func-4 (p < 0.001) and Symp-6 domains (p = 0.035). Regarding the NEI-VFQ-25, our data demonstrated that bilateral VF defects are associated with vision-related QoL deterioration, irrespective of visual acuity

Viability Criteria during Liver Ex-Situ Normothermic and Hypothermic Perfusion

With the increased use of extended-criteria donors, machine perfusion became a beneficial alternative to cold storage in preservation strategy for donor livers with the intent to expand donor pool. Both normothermic and hypothermic approach achieved good results in terms of mid- and long-term outcome in liver transplantation. Many markers and molecules have been proposed for the assessment of liver, but no definitive criteria for graft viability have been validated in large clinical trials and key parameters during perfusion still require optimization.In this review, we address the current literature of viability criteria during normothermic and hypothermic machine perfusion and discuss about future steps and evolution of these technologies

Author Correction: Visual field loss and vision-related quality of life in the Italian Primary Open Angle Glaucoma Study.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper

A Contribution to UHS – Overview of Different Approaches on Well Assessment in Depleted Reservoirs

Hydrogen is a carbon-free energy carrier, and it will become one of the main energy carriers in the future sustainable energy system. In an energy system based on renewable energy resources hydrogen will be the energy carrier that can be cost-efficiently transported and stored to deliver renewable energy from remote resource areas, at the right time and place to the energy demand. Regarding the production of hydrogen from renewable energy sources, the problem of hydrogen storage arises. Underground hydrogen storage in salt caverns, deep aquifers, and depleted reservoirs for strategic or seasonal purposes is being considered today. H2 storage in depleted reservoirs is surely the solution that maximizes the environmental and economic benefits, as it would allow the reuse of existing wells and infrastructures after their exploitation lifetime, minimizing emissions and investment/operating costs. In this type of storage, well integrity plays a significant role. The wells must be able to withstand extreme conditions and various loads during the entire service life. Considering the small size of the molecule of H2 and its strong diffusion, the impact of hydrogen on steel materials, elastomers, and cement shall be deeply evaluated, to avoid corrosion phenomena or stresses led by a combination of H2 at different temperatures and pressures.The paper aims to assess the hydrogen impact on the different materials of wells (metals, elastomers, and cement), with a particular focus on finding technical gaps in materials installed in already existing wells. This scope of work will be carried out through the analysis of data available in the literature and technical discussions with some of the Oil & Gas main Service Contractors. At present, API steel alloys normally deployed in Underground Gas Storage facilities are not tested specifically for the storage of hydrogen or hydrogen-enriched natural gas mixtures.As per literature analysis, streams with H2 concentration less than 0.5% look not to be critical for standard well equipment. On the other hand, when percentages of hydrogen get higher than 10%, only a few studies are available and it looks that the H2 effect cannot be considered negligible, leading to the consideration that well components in direct contact with the fluid shall be hydrogen resistant. However, due to the lack of available data, ad hoc tests are recommended

Increased CNV-Region Deletions in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer\u27s Disease (AD) Subjects in the ADNI Sample

We investigated the genome-wide distribution of CNVs in the Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) Neuroimaging Initia- tive (ADNI) sample (146 with AD, 313 with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and 181 controls). Comparison of single CNVs between cases (MCI and AD) and controls shows overrepresentation of large hetero- zygous deletions in cases (p-value b 0.0001). The analysis of CNV-Regions identifies 44 copy number variable loci of heterozygous deletions, with more CNV-Regions among affected than controls (p = 0.005). Seven of the 44 CNV-Regions are nominally significant for association with cognitive impairment. We validated and con- firmed our main findings with genome re-sequencing of selected patients and controls. The functional pathway analysis of the genes putatively affected by deletions of CNV-Regions reveals enrichment of genes implicated in axonal guidance, cell–cell adhesion, neuronal morphogenesis and differentiation. Our findings support the role of CNVs in AD, and suggest an association between large deletions and the development of cognitive impairment