Phenolic wastes valorization through bioenergy and bioactive compounds production

The agricultural and industrial processing activities produce large amounts of waste that are only partially valorised at different value-added levels (spread on land, animal feed, composting), whereas the main volumes are managed as waste of environmental worry. These by-products are rich sources of bioactive compounds, including phenolic compounds with high antioxidant activity

Aglianico and Fiano wines obtained with an autochthonous non-Saccharomyces yeast

Non-Saccharomyces yeasts are microorganisms that play a prominent role in the fermentation dynamics, composition and flavour of wine. The principal aromatic compounds responsible for varietal aroma in wine are terpenes; of these, the monoterpenes represent the oenologically most important group in terms of volatility and odour, if they are present in a free form. The glycosidically bound forms can be converted into compounds with free odours by hydrolysis with the glycosidases produced by yeasts. We performed a screening of non-Saccharomyces yeasts present in the grapes and must of Aglianico and Fiano cultivars typical of South Italy (Irpinia), which have a high extra-cellular glycosidase activity. Among the species analysed was a strain belonging to Rhodotorula spp. that showed the highest glycosidase activity, an increased free terpene fraction and, simultaneously, little modification of the bouquet. The isolated yeast was subsequently utilized for experimental winemaking processes of Aglianico and Fiano wines. The results demonstrated that the obtained wines had a more intense floral aroma and some sweet and ripened fruit notes

Olive mill wastewater anaerobically digested : phenolic compounds with antiradical activity

The recovery of phenolic compounds, present in the olive fruits and its by-products, has been intensively studied by the antioxidant properties. Olive mill wastewater (OMW) is a phenolic-rich industrial effluent that can be advantageously valorized by the anaerobic digestion to the methane and agricultural fertilizer productions. The objective of this work was to evaluate the antiradical activity of OMW after anaerobic digestion in order to maximize the valorization of this type of effluents. The digested flow was obtained from an anaerobic hybrid reactor treating OMW at different organic loading rates (OLR), from 3.3 to 7.1 kg COD m3 d-1. OLR rise was applied by increasing progressively the OMW volume fraction from 8 % to 83 % in the feed mixture. The input and output streams, obtained at different OMW volume fractions, were characterized in terms of antiradical activity and phenolic compounds identification and quantification. Despite of the fraction decrease on total phenolic compounds provided by OMW anaerobic digestion, the antiradical activity is still significantly high (EC50 = 3.24) in the digested effluent. Oleuropein was the main phenolic compound present in the substrate before and after anaerobic digestion (about 15 % of the initial value). Others phenolic compounds present are: gallic acid, hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol, and quercetin. These data confirmed that, after the OMW anaerobic treatment to produce biomethane, the remaining flow yet contain useful compounds with antiradical activity

Quantifying the Sensitivity and Unclonability of Optical Physical Unclonable Functions

Due to their unmatched entropy, complexity, and security level, optical physical unclonable functions (PUFs) currently receive a lot of interest in the literature.Despite the large body of existing works, herein, one of their core features in detail is studied, namely, their physical unclonability. This article tackles this fundamental and yet largely unaddressed issue. In simulations and/or experiments, the sensitivity of diffraction-based optical responses is investigated with respect to various small alterations such as variation in position, size, and number of the scatterers, as well as perturbations in the spatial alignment between the PUF and the measurement apparatus. The analysis focuses on 2Doptical PUFs because of their relevance in integrated applications and the need to reply to security concerns that can be raised when the physical structure of the geometry is accessible. Among the results of this study, the sensitivity analysis shows that a positional perturbation of scatterers on the order of 30 nm, that is,far below the wavelength of the probing laser light of 632 nm wavelength, is sufficient to invalidate the PUF response and thus detect forgery attempt. These results support and quantify the high adversarial efforts required to clone optical PUFs, even for 2D layouts

Multiseptate gallbladder in a child

Multiseptate gallbladder (MSG) is a rare congenital anomaly. MSG may be accompanied with other abnormalities of the biliary tree. MSG can be asymptomatic and most cases are detected incidentally. Nevertheless, some patients present with biliary pain or colicky abdominal pain due to biliary stasis and calculi. We report a case of MSG in a girl who presented with recurrent abdominal pain and normal laboratory work-up recovered after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. A pediatric literature review of this rare anomaly is also performed

Chronic pain and spinal cord stimulation.

Chronic pain can have a devastating impact and lead to patient isolation. Many people with chronic pain are predisposed to anxiety-depressant symptoms, due to a lower quality life. The aim of the study is to demonstrate how neuromodulation methods, can encourage the reduction of chronic pain and an improvement in the quality of life, therefore advancing the restoration of psychological well-being.We involved 50 patients with a diagnosis of pain that not respond to traditional pharmacological therapies. Interventions: All subject had depression and anxiety symptoms and a low-quality life. We used the spinal cord stimulation treatment and a psychological evaluation for assessment of depression-anxiety symptomatology and the level of quality life.We observed a significant difference in physical functioning, role limitations due to physical health, general health perceptions, vitality, social functioning, role limitations due to emotional problems and mental health.Our study affirms that the perception of chronic pain has a great impact on the perception of psychological well-being, quality of life, and the performance of normal daily social and professional activities

The Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey: Survey Description and Data Reduction

We present the Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey (BGPS), a 1.1 mm continuum survey at 33" effective resolution of 170 square degrees of the Galactic Plane visible from the northern hemisphere. The survey is contiguous over the range -10.5 < l < 90.5, |b| < 0.5 and encompasses 133 square degrees, including some extended regions |b| < 1.5. In addition to the contiguous region, four targeted regions in the outer Galaxy were observed: IC1396, a region towards the Perseus Arm, W3/4/5, and Gem OB1. The BGPS has detected approximately 8400 clumps over the entire area to a limiting non-uniform 1-sigma noise level in the range 11 to 53 mJy/beam in the inner Galaxy. The BGPS source catalog is presented in a companion paper (Rosolowsky et al. 2010). This paper details the survey observations and data reduction methods for the images. We discuss in detail the determination of astrometric and flux density calibration uncertainties and compare our results to the literature. Data processing algorithms that separate astronomical signals from time-variable atmospheric fluctuations in the data time-stream are presented. These algorithms reproduce the structure of the astronomical sky over a limited range of angular scales and produce artifacts in the vicinity of bright sources. Based on simulations, we find that extended emission on scales larger than about 5.9' is nearly completely attenuated (> 90%) and the linear scale at which the attenuation reaches 50% is 3.8'. Comparison with other millimeter-wave data sets implies a possible systematic offset in flux calibration, for which no cause has been discovered. This presentation serves as a companion and guide to the public data release through NASA's Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) Infrared Science Archive (IRSA). New data releases will be provided through IPAC IRSA with any future improvements in the reduction.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Supplemen