THE BREED TRACEABILITY OF SHEEP MEAT BY USING MOLECULAR GENETICS METHODS: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Safety and quality foods of animal origin are extremely important for consumers. The aim of this work was to evaluate the feasibility of a method to track the breed origin of sheep meat all along the production chain using molecular genetics tools. A total of 800 samples evenly distributed among seven Italian sheep breeds have been typed at 19 STR markers, together with 90 samples from both imported sheep animals and local crossbred animals withdrawn at slaughterhouses. A maximum likelihood assignment test was adopted to evaluate STR ability to allocate samples to their true breed of origin. Sarda animals were all correctly allocated, as well as more than 98% of samples from the other breeds. Only slightly worst allocation performances were observed for imported and crossbred animals. Preliminary results seem quite promising, though further analyses will be needed in order to better understand the statistical power of such an assignment test before implementation in the sheep meat production chain

Quantized algebras of functions on homogeneous spaces with Poisson stabilizers

Let G be a simply connected semisimple compact Lie group with standard Poisson structure, K a closed Poisson-Lie subgroup, 0<q<1. We study a quantization C(G_q/K_q) of the algebra of continuous functions on G/K. Using results of Soibelman and Dijkhuizen-Stokman we classify the irreducible representations of C(G_q/K_q) and obtain a composition series for C(G_q/K_q). We describe closures of the symplectic leaves of G/K refining the well-known description in the case of flag manifolds in terms of the Bruhat order. We then show that the same rules describe the topology on the spectrum of C(G_q/K_q). Next we show that the family of C*-algebras C(G_q/K_q), 0<q\le1, has a canonical structure of a continuous field of C*-algebras and provides a strict deformation quantization of the Poisson algebra \C[G/K]. Finally, extending a result of Nagy, we show that C(G_q/K_q) is canonically KK-equivalent to C(G/K).Comment: 23 pages; minor changes, typos correcte

Temporal evolution of solar energetic particle spectra

During solar flares and coronal mass ejections, solar energetic par- ticles (SEPs) may be released into the interplanetary medium and near-Earth locations. The energy spectra of SEP events at 1 AU are typically averaged over the entire event or studied in a few snapshots. In this paper we analyze the time evolution of the energy spectra of four large selected SEP events using a large number of snapshots. We use a multi-spacecraft and multi-instrument approach for the observations, obtained over a wide SEP energy range. We find large differences in the spectra at the beginning of the events as measured by different instruments. We show that over time, a wave-like structure is observed traveling through the spectra from the highest energies to the lowest energies, creating an “arch” shape which then straightens into a power law later in the event, after times of the order of 10 hours. We discuss the processes that determine SEP intensities and their role in shaping the spectral time evolution

THE BREED TRACEABILITY OF SHEEP MEAT BY USING MOLECULAR GENETICS METHODS: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Safety and quality foods of animal origin are extremely important for consumers. The aim of this work was to evaluate the feasibility of a method to track the breed origin of sheep meat all along the production chain using molecular genetics tools. A total of 800 samples evenly distributed among seven Italian sheep breeds have been typed at 19 STR markers, together with 90 samples from both imported sheep animals and local crossbred animals withdrawn at slaughterhouses. A maximum likelihood assignment test was adopted to evaluate STR ability to allocate samples to their true breed of origin. Sarda animals were all correctly allocated, as well as more than 98% of samples from the other breeds. Only slightly worst allocation performances were observed for imported and crossbred animals. Preliminary results seem quite promising, though further analyses will be needed in order to better understand the statistical power of such an assignment test before implementation in the sheep meat production chain

THE BREED TRACEABILITY OF SHEEP MEAT BY USING MOLECULAR GENETICS METHODS: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Safety and quality foods of animal origin are extremely important for consumers. The aim of this work was to evaluate the feasibility of a method to track the breed origin of sheep meat all along the production chain using molecular genetics tools. A total of 800 samples evenly distributed among seven Italian sheep breeds have been typed at 19 STR markers, together with 90 samples from both imported sheep animals and local crossbred animals withdrawn at slaughterhouses. A maximum likelihood assignment test was adopted to evaluate STR ability to allocate samples to their true breed of origin. Sarda animals were all correctly allocated, as well as more than 98% of samples from the other breeds. Only slightly worst allocation performances were observed for imported and crossbred animals. Preliminary results seem quite promising, though further analyses will be needed in order to better understand the statistical power of such an assignment test before implementation in the sheep meat production chain

An Apolipoprotein A-I mimetic peptide improves reverse cholesterol transport during inflammation and unmasks Apo A-I anti-inflammatory activity in vivo.

The acute phase protein Haptoglobin (Hpt) binds ApoA-I and impairs its stimulation of Lecithin-Cholesterol Acyl-Transferase (LCAT), an enzyme playing a key role in an anti-atherosclerotic process called reverse cholesterol transport (RCT). LCAT converts cholesterol (C) into cholesteryl esters (CE) for HDL-mediated transport. Beyond the key role in RCT, the anti-inflammatory activity of ApoA-I is largely recognized. We previously reported that an ApoA-I mimetic peptide, P2a displaces Hpt from ApoA-I and restores the LCAT activity in vitro. Our aim was to study if P2a displaces Hpt from ApoA-I in vivo in inflamed mice and if this event is linked to an anti-inflammatory activity. Inflammation was induced by carrageenan injection. Cholesterol esterification significantly decreased in inflamed mice during oedema development and negatively correlated with Hpt/ApoA-I ratio. The administration of the peptide P2a significantly restored the C esterification. Also, P2a displays an anti-inflammatory effect on the late phase of oedema with a reduction in COX-2 expression coupled to an inhibition of PGE2, implying that, in presence of P2a, CE/C ratio rescue and oedema inhibition are related. We conclude that P2a, by virtue of its ability to bind Hpt, makes ApoA-I available to stimulate LCAT and to play its anti-inflammatory role. These data suggest that peptides able to displace Hpt might be useful in the treatment of inflammatory cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis

Decentralized Model Predictive Control for Networks of Linear Systems with Coupling Delay

This paper presents a new dissipativity-based decentralized model predictive control strategy for networks of linear systems suffering from a bounded coupling delay. The notion of delay-robust dissipativity is introduced and applied to the development of interconnection stability conditions. The dissipation inequality of system trajectories is converted into a prognostic stability constraint for the optimization problem of model predictive control to guarantee the system stability. A recursive feasibility condition is derived for the constrained optimization problem, which is formulated in a semi-definite program. A numerical example of an interconnected three-unit process system is provided for illustrations. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York