Macro- And micro-nutrient composition and antioxidant activity of Chickpea and Pea Accessions

Epidemiological studies reported an inverse association between the consumption of legumes and the incidence of age-related diseases. This trend could be attributed to the presence of antioxidant compounds, especially phenolic and flavonoid compounds. In this paper, five pea (Pisum sativum L.) and twelve chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) accessions, having different characteristics and geographical origin, were characterised in terms of antioxidant activity, as well as macro- and micro-nutrient composition. The antioxidant activity has been evaluated using both DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydra-zyl) and ABTS (2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical scavenging capacity assays. Chickpea and pea accessions showed a different behaviour in the presence of these different radicals. Chickpea accessions were characterised by significantly higher DPPH• scavenging activity, while peas showed a significantly higher value of antioxidant activity evaluated using the ABTS assay. Pea accessions had the highest content of total phenolic compounds, Zn, and Cu. A positive correlation was found between some minerals, such as Zn, Cu and P, and the ABTS•+ scavenging activity. Black and brown chickpea accessions showed significantly higher contents of anthocyanins, Mn, Mg, and Ca, which were positively correlated with the antioxidant activity assessed with the DPPH assay. Despite the dataset investigated in our study included a limited number of accessions, it was possible to highlight the influence of the chemical composition on the antioxidant activity due to the high phenotypic diversity found between the accessions, emphasising the importance of selecting the antioxidant activity assay according to the matrix to be evaluated

On the energy functional on Finsler manifolds and applications to stationary spacetimes

In this paper we first study some global properties of the energy functional on a non-reversible Finsler manifold. In particular we present a fully detailed proof of the Palais--Smale condition under the completeness of the Finsler metric. Moreover we define a Finsler metric of Randers type, which we call Fermat metric, associated to a conformally standard stationary spacetime. We shall study the influence of the Fermat metric on the causal properties of the spacetime, mainly the global hyperbolicity. Moreover we study the relations between the energy functional of the Fermat metric and the Fermat principle for the light rays in the spacetime. This allows us to obtain existence and multiplicity results for light rays, using the Finsler theory. Finally the case of timelike geodesics with fixed energy is considered.Comment: 23 pages, AMSLaTeX. v4 matches the published versio

Computational analysis of TP53 mutational landscape unveils key prognostic signatures and distinct pathobiological pathways in head and neck squamous cell cancer

Background: Mutations of the tumour-suppressor gene TP53 are the most frequent somatic genomic alterations in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). However, it is not yet clear whether specific TP53 mutations bear distinct clinical and pathophysiological significance in different HNSCC subgroups. Methods: A systematic bioinformatics appraisal of TP53 mutations was performed on 415 HNSCC cases available on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The following features were analysed and correlated with known clinicopathological variables: mutational profile of TP53, location (within secondary structure and predicted domains of p53 protein) and well-known hotspot mutations. Interactome–genome–transcriptome network analysis highlighted different gene networks. An algorithm was generated to develop a new prognostic classification system based on patients’ overall survival. Results: TP53 mutations in HNSCCs exhibited distinct differences in different anatomical sites. The mutational profile of TP53 was an independent prognostic factor in HNSCC. High risk of death mutations, identified by our novel classification algorithm, was an independent prognostic factor in TCGA HNSCC database. Finally, network analysis suggested that distinct p53 molecular pathways exist in a site- and mutation-specific manner. Conclusions: The mutational profile of TP53 may serve as an independent prognostic factor in HNSCC patients, and is associated with distinctive site-specific biological networks

Bioactive potential of minor italian olive genotypes from apulia, sardinia and abruzzo

This research focuses on the exploration, recovery and valorization of some minor Italian olive cultivars, about which little information is currently available. Autochthonous and unexplored germplasm has the potential to face unforeseen changes and thus to improve the sustainability of the whole olive system. A pattern of nine minor genotypes cultivated in three Italian regions has been molecularly fingerprinted with 12 nuclear microsatellites (SSRs), that were able to unequivocally identify all genotypes. Moreover, some of the principal phenolic compounds were determined and quantified in monovarietal oils and the expression levels of related genes were also investigated at different fruit developmental stages. Genotypes differed to the greatest extent in the content of oleacein (3,4-DHPEA-EDA) and total phenols. Thereby, minor local genotypes, characterized by stable production and resilience in a low-input agro-system, can provide a remarkable contribution to the improvement of the Italian olive production chain and can become very profitable from a socio-economic point of view

Convex regions of stationary spacetimes and Randers spaces. Applications to lensing and asymptotic flatness

By using Stationary-to-Randers correspondence (SRC), a characterization of light and time-convexity of the boundary of a region of a standard stationary (n+1)-spacetime is obtained, in terms of the convexity of the boundary of a domain in a Finsler n or (n+1)-space of Randers type. The latter convexity is analyzed in depth and, as a consequence, the causal simplicity and the existence of causal geodesics confined in the region and connecting a point to a stationary line are characterized. Applications to asymptotically flat spacetimes include the light-convexity of stationary hypersurfaces which project in a spacelike section of an end onto a sphere of large radius, as well as the characterization of their time-convexity with natural physical interpretations. The lens effect of both light rays and freely falling massive particles with a finite lifetime, (i.e. the multiplicity of such connecting curves) is characterized in terms of the focalization of the geodesics in the underlying Randers manifolds.Comment: AMSLaTex, 41 pages. v2 is a major revision: new discussions on physical applicability of the results, especially to asymptotically flat spacetimes; references adde

Predictive value of CDKN2A/p16INK4a expression in the malignant transformation of oral potentially malignant disorders: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Management of oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) is still challenging. Despite the diagnostic ascertainment by bioptic examination, this method is poorly informative of the prognosis and subsequent malignant transformation. Prognosis is based on histological findings by grading of dysplasia. Immunohistochemical expression of p16INK4a has been investigated in different studies, with controversial results. In this scenario, we systematically revised the current evidence about p16INK4a immunohistochemical expression and the risk of malignization of OPMDs. Material and methods After a proper set of keywords combination, 5 databases were accessed and screened to select eligible studies. The protocol was previously registered on PROSPERO (Protocol ID: CRD42022355931). Data were obtained directly from the primary studies as a measure to determine the relationship between CDKN2A/P16INK4a expression and the malignant transformation of OPMDs. Heterogeneity and publication bias were investigated by different tools, such as Cochran's Q test, Galbraith plot and Egger and Begg Mazumdar’s rank tests. Results Meta-analysis revealed a twofold increased risk to malignant development (RR = 2.01, 95% CI = 1.36–2.96 - I2 = 0%). Subgroup analysis did not highlight any relevant heterogeneity. Galbraith plot showed that no individual study could be considered as an important outlier. Conclusion Pooled analysis showed that p16INK4a assessment may arise adjunct tool to dysplasia grading, leading to an optimized determination of the potential progression to cancer of OPMDs. The p16INK4a overexpression analysis by immunohistochemistry techniques has a multitude of virtues that may facilitate its incorporation in the day-to-day prognostic study of OPMDsS

Italian politics in an era of recession : the end of bipolarism?

Italian politics have undergone momentous change in the 2007–2017 decade under the impact of the eurozone crisis, whose peak in 2011–2013 could be equated to the earlier watershed years of 1992–1994. The lasting impact of the upheaval in Italian politics in the early 1990s could still be felt in the decade of economic recession, but there were also new challenges prompted by a crisis that had its roots in international financial contagion and which unravelled under the shadow of both recession and austerity. The changes were of an economic, social, cultural, institutional, policy-oriented and political nature. If one central quintessentially political theme stands out by the end of this decade it is the apparent exhaustion of the quest for bipolarisation that was initiated in the early 1990s

On the definition and examples of cones and finsler spacetimes

The authors warmly acknowledge Professor Daniel Azagra (Universidad Complutense, Madrid) his advise on approximation of convex functions as well as Profs. Kostelecky (Indiana University), Fuster (University of Technology, Eindhoven), Stavrinos (University of Athens), Pfeifer (University of Tartu), Perlick (University of Bremen) and Makhmali (Institute of Mathematics, Warsaw) their comments on a preliminary version of the article. The careful revision by the referee is also acknowledged. This work is a result of the activity developed within the framework of the Programme in Support of Excellence Groups of the Region de Murcia, Spain, by Fundacion Seneca, Science and Technology Agency of the Region de Murcia. MAJ was partially supported by MINECO/FEDER project reference MTM2015-65430-P and Fundacion Seneca project reference 19901/GERM/15, Spain and MS by Spanish MINECO/ERDF project reference MTM2016-78807-C2-1-P.A systematic study of (smooth, strong) cone structures C and Lorentz–Finsler metrics L is carried out. As a link between both notions, cone triples (Ω,T,F), where Ω (resp. T) is a 1-form (resp. vector field) with Ω(T)≡1 and F, a Finsler metric on ker(Ω), are introduced. Explicit descriptions of all the Finsler spacetimes are given, paying special attention to stationary and static ones, as well as to issues related to differentiability. In particular, cone structures C are bijectively associated with classes of anisotropically conformal metrics L, and the notion of cone geodesic is introduced consistently with both structures. As a non-relativistic application, the time-dependent Zermelo navigation problem is posed rigorously, and its general solution is provided.MINECO/FEDER project, Spain MTM2015-65430-PFundacion Seneca 19901/GERM/15Spanish MINECO/ERDF project MTM2016-78807-C2-1-