Food waste materials appear efficient and low-cost adsorbents for the removal of organic and inorganic pollutants from wastewater

In recent studies, the adsorption capacity of several food waste materials has been assessed by performing adsorption experiments in heterogeneous operating conditions. In a latest study, the efficiency of such food waste materials for the removal of metals and metalloids from complex multi-element solutions was evaluated in homogeneous experimental conditions, which allowed comparing the adsorption capacities of the individual adsorbents. Considering the high efficiency of the examined low-cost adsorbents for the removal of inorganic pollutants, preliminary studies were conducted in our lab for assessing the potential of the investigated food waste materials to adsorb volatile organic compounds from a real polluted matrix of leachate. Some recent studies have shown the efficiency of low cost materials for the removal of industrial organic dyes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and phenolic compounds. However, the food waste adsorbents’ efficiency for the removal of volatile organic compounds was not investigated. Our preliminary studies showed good adsorption capacities of the examined food waste materials for aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. Therefore, it is worth to carry out further studies about volatile organic compounds’ removal by food waste adsorbents

Oral Complications of HIV Disease

Oral lesions are among the early signs of HIV infection and can predict its progression to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). A better understanding of the oral manifestations of AIDS in both adults and children has implications for all health care professionals. The knowledge of such alterations would allow for early recognition of HIV-infected patients. The present paper reviews epidemiology, relevant aspects of HIV infection related to the mouth in both adults and children, as well as current trends in antiretroviral therapy and its connection with orofacial manifestations related to AIDS

Oral complications of HIV disease

Oral lesions are among the early signs of HIV infection and can predict its progression to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). A better understanding of the oral manifestations of AIDS in both adults and children has implications for all health care professionals. The knowledge of such alterations would allow for early recognition of HIV-infected patients. The present paper reviews epidemiology, relevant aspects of HIV infection related to the mouth in both adults and children, as well as current trends in antiretroviral therapy and its connection with orofacial manifestations related to AIDS

Effects of PM deposition on vegetation in urban environment: chemical characterization and oxidative potential assays on Quercus ilex L. leaves

Particulate matter (PM) pollution is a serious global problem especially in urban and industrialized areas (Xu et al., 2019), threatening both human health and vegetation. Urban and peri-urban forests as well as street trees are natural receptors of PM and they have been widely applied as a passive sampler for monitoring air quality (Kardel et al., 2018). However, PM can affect functionality of vegetation by impairing its capacity to provide regulating ecosystem services. This work aims to evaluate the oxidative potential of PM on Quercus ilex L. (hoak olm) leaves to investigate potential negative impacts of PM on plant functionality. Q. ilex was selected as a target species for its widespread use in the urban green of Mediterranean regions (Fusaro et al., 2015). Leaves of Q. ilex were sampled in eight sites of the metropolitan area of Rome (Italy), characterized by different exposure to vehicular traffic, by considering different Green Infrastructure elements and by including control sites. The leaves were collected and then extracted in water. Thus, dithiothreitol (OPDTT), ascorbic acid (OPAA) and 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescin (OPDCFH) oxidative potential assays were immediately performed on aqueous extracts to provide a proxy of the oxidative capability of PM (Simonetti et al., 2018a, 2018b). Then, the same samples were chemically analyzed by using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) to identify the contribution of the main anthropogenic emission sources to PM deposition. OPAA values were strongly correlated (R 2 > 0.8) with tracers of brake dust abrasion (Cu, Mo, Sb, Sn), confirming the high sensitivity of the AA assay towards non-emissive traffic contribution (Simonetti et al., 2018a). Conversely, OPDTT and OPDCFH showed lower correlation with the analyzed elements, probably because of the prominent role of organic compounds on OP values obtained by these assays. Even though the study still needs further investigations, the results suggest that the use of tree leaves as passive PM samplers may be a valid and cheap alternative for the evaluation of OP in urban environment

Comparison of the genomic profile of cancer stem cells and their non-stem counterpart: The case of ovarian cancer

The classical cancer stem cell (CSC) model places CSCs at the apex of a hierarchical scale, suggesting different genetic alterations in non-CSCs compared to CSCs, since an ill-defined number of cell generations and time intervals separate CSCs from the more differentiated cancer cells that form the bulk of the tumor. Another model, however, poses that CSCs should be considered a functional state of tumor cells, hence sharing the same genetic alterations. Here, we review the existing literature on the genetic landscape of CSCs in various tumor types and as a case study investigate the genomic complexity of DNA obtained from matched CSCs and non-CSCs from five ovarian cancer patients, using a genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) microarray

Effetti del lockdown sulla composizione e sulle sorgenti del PM10 nell'area di Roma attraverso source apportionment basato sul frazionamento chimico degli elementi

Durante il lockdown del 2020, sono stati raccolti campioni giornalieri di PM10 in tre siti nell'area di Roma, due siti urbani da traffico (Sapienza e Via Saredo) e uno peri-urbano fortemente impattato da riscaldamento domestico a biomasse (Montelibretti). Il PM10 è stato campionato anche nei periodi precedenti e successivi al lockdown ed è stato analizzato per i macro-elementi, ioni inorganici, EC, OC, levoglucosano ed elementi in traccia. Questi ultimi sono stati frazionati chimicamente per aumentarne la selettività come traccianti di sorgente. I data-set ottenuti sono stati analizzati tramite PMF e sono state identificate sorgenti remote (due diversi contributi di polveri minerali, spray marino fresco, combustione di oli pesanti) e sorgenti locali (traffico veicolare e combustione di biomasse) che sono state fortemente abbattute durante il lockdown. Ciò ha permesso di descrivere chiaramente i profili delle sorgenti remote e di quantificare la riduzione dell'impatto delle fonti antropiche, consentendo di valutare l'efficacia delle misure di mitigazione generalmente adottate per controllare la concentrazione di massa del PM10

Molecular dynamics simulations and kinetic measurements provide insights into the structural requirements of substrate size-dependent specificity of oligogalacturonide oxidase 1 (OGOX1)

Oligogalacturonides (OGs) are pectin fragments released from the breakdown of the homogalacturonan during pathogenesis that act as Damage-Associated Molecular Patterns. OG-oxidase 1 (OGOX1) is an Arabidopsis berberine bridge enzyme-like (BBE-l) oligosaccharide oxidase that oxidizes OGs, impairing their elicitor activity and concomitantly releasing H2O2. The OG-oxidizing activity of OGOX1 is markedly pH-dependent, with optimum pH around 10, and is higher towards OGs with a degree of polymerization higher than two. Here, the molecular determinants of OGOX1 responsible for the binding of OGs with different lengths have been investigated through molecular dynamics simulations and enzyme kinetics studies. OGOX1 was simulated in complex with OGs with different degree of polymerization such as di-, tri-, tetra- and penta-galacturonide, in water solution at alkaline pH. Our simulations revealed that, among the four OGOX1/OG combinations, the pentagalacturonide (OG5) showed the best conformation in the active site to be efficiently oxidized by OGOX1. The optimal conformation can be stabilized by salt-bridges formed between the carboxyl groups of OG5 and five positively charged amino acids of OGOX1, highly conserved in all OGOX paralogs. Our results suggest that these interactions limit the mobility of OG5 as well as longer OGs, contributing to maintain the terminal monomer of OGs in the optimal orientation in order to be oxidized by the enzyme. In accordance with these results, the enzyme efficiency (K-cat/K-M) of OGOX1 on OG5 (40.04) was found to be significantly higher than that on OG4 (13.05) and OG3 (0.6)