Antioxidant activity and cytotoxicity on tumor cells of the essential oil from Cedronella canariensis var. canariensis (L.) Webb & Berthel. (Lamiaceae)

Cedronella canariensis is a lemon-scented species of the family Lamiaceae endemic to the Canary Islands where it is used in the traditional medicine to prepare infusions or inhalations for anti-catarrhal, tonic, diuretic, hypoglycaemiant, hypotensive, antiinflammatory and decongestant of the respiratory tract. In this work we investigated for the first time the antioxidant activity of the essential oil and its inhibitory effects on tumour cells (A375, MDA-MB-231, HCT 116) proliferation by DPPH, ABTS, FRAP and MTT assays, respectively. The oil, analysed by GC-ionisation flame detector and GC–MS, was characterised by pinocarvone (58.0%) and b-pinene (10.8%) as the major constituents, being typical of the chemotype ‘canariensis’. Noteworthy was the cytotoxic activity of the oil against the tumour cells examined, with IC50 values of 4.3, 7.3 and 11.4 µg/mL on A375, MDA-MB-231 and HCT 116 tumour cells, respectively, as well as the scavenging activity against the ABTS radical (IC50 of 10.5 µg/mL)

Pasta consumption and connected dietary habits: Associations with glucose control, adiposity measures, and cardiovascular risk factors in people with type 2 diabetes—TOSCA.IT study

Background: Pasta is a refined carbohydrate with a low glycemic index. Whether pasta shares the metabolic advantages of other low glycemic index foods has not really been investigated. The aim of this study is to document, in people with type-2 diabetes, the consumption of pasta, the connected dietary habits, and the association with glucose control, measures of adiposity, and major cardiovascular risk factors. Methods: We studied 2562 participants. The dietary habits were assessed with the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) questionnaire. Sex-specific quartiles of pasta consumption were created in order to explore the study aims. Results: A higher pasta consumption was associated with a lower intake of proteins, total and saturated fat, cholesterol, added sugar, and fiber. Glucose control, body mass index, prevalence of obesity, and visceral obesity were not significantly different across the quartiles of pasta intake. No relation was found with LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, but there was an inverse relation with HDL-cholesterol. Systolic blood pressure increased with pasta consumption; but this relation was not confirmed after correction for confounders. Conclusions: In people with type-2 diabetes, the consumption of pasta, within the limits recommended for total carbohydrates intake, is not associated with worsening of glucose control, measures of adiposity, and major cardiovascular risk factors

A short-term comparison of wheat straw and poplar wood chips used as litter in tiestalls on hygiene, milk, and behavior of lactating dairy cows

A short-term study was conducted to compare the effect of using poplar wood chips (PWC) instead of wheat straw (WS) litter in dairy cows. A total of 38 lactating Holstein cows (204 ± 119 days in milk, 26.9 ± 6.5 kg of milk yield [MY]) were housed in a tiestall farm for a 10-d trial including 5 d of adaptation followed by 5 sampling days (from d 5 to 10). Cows were divided into 2 homogeneous groups: one group was bedded with WS, and the second with PWC. Both litter materials were provided in the amount of 7 kg/stall per d. Each group was composed of 3 subgroups of 6 or 7 cows; the subgroups were physically separated along the feeding line by wooden boards. During the sampling days, fecal composition, used litter composition, and bacterial count (Clostridium spp., Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli, Lactobacillus, and total bacterial count) were analyzed by subgroup twice a day. On d 1 and from d 5 to 10, udder hygiene score and cow cleanliness score were also evaluated individually twice a day. Meanwhile MY, milk hygiene (total bacterial count [TBC], coliform bacterial count [CBC], and spore-forming unit [SFU]) and quality were measured and analyzed from 9 animals per group. Moreover, individual animal behavior (body position and behavioral traits) and subgroup dry matter intake were measured on d 9 and 10. Fecal dry matter did not differ between groups, PWC had the lowest used litter moisture and N content favoring the highest clean cow frequency, but also gave rise to the greatest used litter microbial contamination. The MY, milk quality, TBC, SFU, and CBC were similar. The lying behavior frequency was similar between groups. However, the PWC group showed the lowest sleeping frequency, the highest frequency of other behaviors (including discomfort signs), and the lowest dry matter intake. However, despite this apparent reduction in cow comfort, no biologically important differences were observed in this short-term study between cows on PWC and WS in milk production or hygiene

New distributional data for the Mediterranean medicinal leech Hirudo verbana Carena, 1820 (Hirudinea, Hirudinidae) in Italy, with a note on its feeding on amphibians

Scarce data are currently available about the distribution of the Mediterranean medicinal leech Hirudo verbana in Italy, and most of the known occurrence localities are based on records collected in the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century, which were not confirmed in the last decades, mostly due to a lack of surveys. Accordingly, the available knowledge on the distribution of the species is far from being updated and representative, although a significant negative trend of H. verbana throughout the country is supposed. The lack of sound distribution data is a significant shortfall, which hinders the implementation of the monitoring of the species as required by the Article 17 of the “Habitats Directive” on the species of Union concern. To provide recent, validated distributional data for the Mediterranean medicinal leech in Italy to be used as baseline data for further surveys and monitoring, we present herein a set of unpublished observations collected in the last decades in peninsular Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia. Moreover, we report observation of H. verbana feeding on amphibians, a feeding habit to date poorly documented for the Mediterranean medicinal leech. Based on both published and novel data, H. verbana is characterised by a large but fragmented distribution in Italy. Therefore, dedicated monitoring programs and the collection of validated occasional observations are highly desirable to get a clearer picture of the real distribution of the species

Multiple Traits for People Identification

Present biometric systems mostly rely on a single physical or behavioral feature for either identification or verification. However, day to day use of single biometries in massive or uncontrolled scenarios still has several shortcomings. These can be due to complex or unstable hardware settings, to changing environmental conditions or even to immature software procedures: some classification problems are intrinsically hard to solve. Possible spoofing of single biometric features is an additional issue. Last but not least, some features may occasionally lack the requisite of universality. As a consequence, biometric systems based on a single feature often have poor reliability, especially in applications where high security is needed. Multimodal systems, i.e., systems that concurrently exploit multiple features, are a possible way to achieve improved effectiveness and reliability. There are several issues that must be addressed when designing such a system, including the choice of the set of biometric features, the normalization method, the integration schema and the fusion process, and the use of a measure of reliability for each subsystem on a single response basis. This chapter describes the state of the art regarding such issues and sketches some suggestions for future work

Polyphenol intake and cardiovascular risk factors in a population with\ua0type 2 diabetes: The TOSCA.IT study.

Summary Background The role of polyphenol intake on cardiovascular risk factors is little explored, particularly in people with diabetes. Aim: To evaluate the association between the intake of total polyphenols and polyphenol classes with the major cardiovascular risk factors in a population with type 2 diabetes. Methods Dietary habits were investigated in 2573 males and females participants of the TOSCA.IT study. The European Prospective Investigation on Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) questionnaire was used to assess dietary habits. In all participants, among others, we assessed anthropometry, plasma lipids, blood pressure, C-reactive protein and HbA1c following a standard protocol. The USDA and Phenol-Explorer databases were used to estimate the polyphenol content of the habitual diet. Results Average intake of polyphenols was 683.3 \ub1 5.8 mg/day. Flavonoids and phenolic acids were the predominant classes (47.5% and 47.4%, respectively). After adjusting for potential confounders, people with the highest intake of energy-adjusted polyphenols (upper tertile) had a more favorable cardiovascular risk factors profile as compared to people with the lowest intake (lower tertile) (BMI was 30.7 vs 29.9 kg/m2, HDL-cholesterol was 45.1 vs 46.9 mg/dl, LDL-cholesterol was 103.2 vs 102.1 mg/dl, triglycerides were 153.4 vs 148.0 mg/dl, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were respectively 135.3 vs 134.3 and 80.5 vs 79.6 mm/Hg, HbA1c was 7.70 vs 7.67%, and C-reactive Protein was 1.29 vs 1.25 mg/dl, p < .001 for all). The findings were very similar when the analysis was conducted separately for flavonoids or phenolic acids, the two main classes of polyphenols consumed in this population. Conclusions Polyphenol intake is associated with a more favorable cardiovascular risk factors profile, independent of major confounders. These findings support the consumption of foods and beverages rich in different classes of polyphenols particularly in people with diabetes. Clinical trial http://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Study ID number: NCT00700856

The Virgo data acquisition system

International audienc

The gravitational wave detector VIRGO

International audienc

Search for non-Gaussian events in the data of the VIRGO E4 engineering run

International audienc