A gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-based metabolomic approach for the characterization of goat milk compared with cow milk

In this work, the polar metabolite pool of commercial caprine milk was studied by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and multivariate statistical data analysis. Experimental data were compared with those of cow milk and the discriminant analysis correctly classified milk. By the same means, differences due to heat treatments (UHT or pasteurization) on milk samples were also investigated. Results of the 2 discriminant analyses were combined, with the aim of finding the discriminant metabolites unique for each class and shared by 2 classes. Valine and glycine were specific to goat milk, talose and malic acid to cow milk, and hydroxyglutaric acid to pasteurized samples. Glucose and fructose were shared by cow milk and UHT-treated samples, whereas ribose was shared by pasteurized and goat milk. Other discriminant variables were not attributed to specific metabolites. Furthermore, with the aim to reduce food fraud, the issue of adulteration of caprine milk by addition of cheaper bovine milk has been also addressed. To this goal, mixtures of goat and cow milk were prepared by adding the latter in a range from 0 to 100% (vol/vol) and studied by multivariate regression analysis. The error in the level of cow milk detectable was approximately 5%. These overall results demonstrated that, through the combined approach of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and multivariate statistical data analysis, we were able to discriminate between milk typologies on the basis of their polar metabolite profiles and to propose a new analytical method to easily discover food fraud and to protect goat milk uniqueness. The use of appropriate visualization tools improved the interpretation of multivariate model results

Antioxidant and anti-cholinesterase activity of Globularia meridionalis extracts and isolated constituents.

The antioxidant and anti-cholinesterase properties of Globularia meridional (Podp.) O. Schwarz (Globulariaceae) were investigated. G. meridionalis aerial parts and roots were extracted with methanol, and the total extract successively partitioned with n-hexane. The methanol fraction of the roots showed the highest antioxidant activity with IC50 values of 8.0 and 2.1 μg/mL in the DPPH and β-carotene bleaching tests, respectively. From this fraction, three flavonoids, namely pectolinarigenin 7- O-β-glucoside, apigenin 7- O-β-glucoside and luteolin, and two phenylethanoids, namely acteoside and isoacteoside, were isolated. Potential anti-cholinesterase effects were assessed through the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) enzymes inhibition assay. The n-hexane fraction of the roots exhibited the highest activity against both AChE and BChE with IC50 values of 65.5 and 70.4 μg/mL, respectively

Clinical features and outcomes of elderly hospitalised patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure or both

Background and objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart failure (HF) mutually increase the risk of being present in the same patient, especially if older. Whether or not this coexistence may be associated with a worse prognosis is debated. Therefore, employing data derived from the REPOSI register, we evaluated the clinical features and outcomes in a population of elderly patients admitted to internal medicine wards and having COPD, HF or COPD + HF. Methods: We measured socio-demographic and anthropometric characteristics, severity and prevalence of comorbidities, clinical and laboratory features during hospitalization, mood disorders, functional independence, drug prescriptions and discharge destination. The primary study outcome was the risk of death. Results: We considered 2,343 elderly hospitalized patients (median age 81 years), of whom 1,154 (49%) had COPD, 813 (35%) HF, and 376 (16%) COPD + HF. Patients with COPD + HF had different characteristics than those with COPD or HF, such as a higher prevalence of previous hospitalizations, comorbidities (especially chronic kidney disease), higher respiratory rate at admission and number of prescribed drugs. Patients with COPD + HF (hazard ratio HR 1.74, 95% confidence intervals CI 1.16-2.61) and patients with dementia (HR 1.75, 95% CI 1.06-2.90) had a higher risk of death at one year. The Kaplan-Meier curves showed a higher mortality risk in the group of patients with COPD + HF for all causes (p = 0.010), respiratory causes (p = 0.006), cardiovascular causes (p = 0.046) and respiratory plus cardiovascular causes (p = 0.009). Conclusion: In this real-life cohort of hospitalized elderly patients, the coexistence of COPD and HF significantly worsened prognosis at one year. This finding may help to better define the care needs of this population

Simplified multiresidue method for the determination of organophosphorus insecticides in olive oil

A simple and rapid method for the determination of 13 organophosphorus insecticides and their metabolites in olive oil by GC is described. The pesticide was extracted from oil with acetonitrile and no cleanup was needed. GC-nitrogen-phosphorus detection response factors of pesticides were affected by solvents and coextractive substances. Pesticides in hexane showed on average higher response factors. Standards were prepared in the residue-free oil extract solubilized in hexane to handle effects of matrix and solvent. The low amount of coextractive substances does not decrease the column efficiency, even after a few hundred analyses. Recovery at three fortification levels (ca. 0.1, 1.0 and 3.0 mg/kg) ranged from 74 to 118%, With coefficients of variation ranging from 1 to 16

PERSISTENCE AND FATE OF FENTHION IN OLIVES AND OLIVE PRODUCTS

Two field experiments were carried out-with three and five treatments, respectively-to study the persistence and metabolism of fenthion in olives. Fenthion showed a low degradation rate, with a half-life of ca. 38 days. This accounts for a noteworthy effect of the number of treatments on the residue amounts at harvest time. Besides the active ingredient, five metabolites were detected in olives; among these, fenthion sulfoxide and fenoxon sulfoxide were quantitatively the most important. Olives were also processed into oil, and the partitioning of fenthion among oil, cake, and vegetation water was evaluated. Fenthion residues in oil were ca. 3 times higher than in olives, while its metabolites showed analogous residues in olives and oil or were totally absent

Photolysis of pesticides: influence of epicuticular waxes from Persica laevis DC on the photodegradation in the solid phase of aminocarb, methiocarb and fenthion

Pesticides with N,N-dimethyl and thiomethyl moieties (aminocarb, methiocarb and fenthion) were irradiated under artificial light (lambda > 290 nm) in an amorphous wax phase from Persica laevis DC. The effect of the presence of the wax on the photolysis rate differed in the three pesticides, increasing it in aminocarb, having little effect in methiocarb and slowing it down in fenthion. The presence of the wax affected the qualitative photodegradation behaviour of all the pesticides. The data obtained were compared with those for pirimicarb, which had been studied earlie