Edible Insects an Alternative Nutritional Source of Bioactive Compounds: A Review

Edible insects have the potential to become one of the major future foods. In fact, they can be considered cheap, highly nutritious, and healthy food sources. International agencies, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), have focused their attention on the consumption of edible insects, in particular, regarding their nutritional value and possible biological, toxicological, and allergenic risks, wishing the development of analytical methods to verify the authenticity, quality, and safety of insect-based products. Edible insects are rich in proteins, fats, fiber, vitamins, and minerals but also seem to contain large amounts of polyphenols able to have a key role in specific bioactivities. Therefore, this review is an overview of the potential of edible insects as a source of bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, that can be a function of diet but also related to insect chemical defense. Currently, insect phenolic compounds have mostly been assayed for their antioxidant bioactivity; however, they also exert other activities, such as anti-inflammatory and anticancer activity, antityrosinase, antigenotoxic, and pancreatic lipase inhibitory activitie

Description of “Ovino Belmontese”, a new semisoft sheep's milk cheese processed using “Italico” cheese technology

The objective of this study was to create a new semisoft sheep’s milk cheese called “Ovino Belmontese” cheese (OBCh) by applying the “Italico” cheese-making technology. The cheese production took place under industrial conditions, with the addition of a commercial starter formulation containing Streptococcus thermophilus. The microbiological, physicochemical, and sensory characteristics of OBCh were assessed and compared to those of a commercially available cow’s Italico cheese (CICh). Streptococcus thermophilus dominated the microbial community during the cheese-making process, reaching levels of approximately 9.0 Log CFU/g in both OBCh and CICh. Among physical characteristics, no statistically significant difference (p ≥ 0.05) was registered in terms of lightness, redness, yellowness, and hardness between the two cheeses. OBCh exhibited a twofold higher short-chain fatty acid content compared to CICh. Both cheeses displayed similar classes of volatile organic compounds, although their relative percentages differed. The application of Italico cheese technology to process sheep’s milk did not negatively affect sensory attributes. This study highlighted that utilizing a cheese-making technology not commonly used for processing sheep’s milk represents a promising strategy to diversify Sicilian dairy productions

Addition of fruit purees to enhance quality characteristics of sheep yogurt with selected strains

The aim of this research was to assess the effects of fruit purees of banana, kiwi, mango, red berry, and strawberry on the microbiological, physicochemical, antioxidant, and sensory properties of sheep yogurt. The fruit purees were characterized for their microbiological profile before yogurt production, and no spoilage or pathogenic microorganisms were detected in any of the purees analyzed. Yogurt productions were carried out under industrial conditions using pasteurized sheep’s milk and selected starter cultures of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. Five experimental yogurt productions (EYP) were made by adding 10 % (w/w) of each fruit puree, while the control yogurt production (CYP) was puree-free. Plate counts revealed that levels of viable Lb. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus exceeded 8.0 log cfu/g in all CYP and EYP samples after 3 d of refrigerated storage. The addition of fruit purees reduced fat percentage until to 7 % and increased of antioxidant activity, especially with red berry puree. Except for banana, the addition of fruit purees resulted in a statistically significant increase (p < 0.0001) in the total terpene VOC profiles of EYP. Notably, the terpene content in mango-flavored yogurt was eightfold greater than that observed in the control trial. Sensory evaluation revealed a reduction in unpleasant odor and off-flavor, and an increase of about 50 % in overall acceptance for all EYP in comparison to CYP. Therefore, adding fruit purees to sheep yogurt is a promising strategy for the valorization of Sicilian sheep’s milk

Citrus wastewater as a source of value‐added products: Quali‐quantitative analysis and in vitro screening on breast cancer cell lines

Citrus wastewater from industries is a source of bioactive compounds whose recovery could be a useful approach to convert processing waste into potential resources to be exploited in food, pharmaceutical, and chemical companies. Citrus wastewater, obtained from the industrial processing of Citrus sinensis, was freezedried and qualitative/quantitative evaluated using HPLC/MS Q‐TOF analysis. Antiproliferative activity was investigated on MDA‐MB‐231 (triple‐negative breast cancer cell line), MCF‐7 (breast cancer cell line), and its multidrug‐resistant variant MCF‐7R. Fraction 8 emerged for its cytotoxicity toward MCF‐7R cells. Its main component, the polymethoxylated flavone nobiletin (80%), is likely involved in increasing the number of G1‐phase MCF‐7R cells without inducing cell death. Notably, fraction 8 sensitizes MCF7‐R cells to the antiproliferative effects of doxorubicin, thus contributing to overcoming MCF7‐R multidrug resistance. Our studies highlighted the possibility of applying a sustainable strategy for citrus wastewater recycling to recover functional compounds as useful adjuvants for the prevention and treatment of malignancies

Comprehensive analysis of Moringa oleifera leaves’ antioxidant properties in ovine cheese

This study aimed to enhance “Pecorino” type ovine cheese by adding Moringa oleifera leaves powder (MOLP). Cheese-making trials, conducted at industrial level, used raw ewes’ milk and two selected Lactococcus lactis strains. The experimental plan included a control production (CTR), and two experimental productions with 1% or 2% MOLP addition (1-MOLP and 2-MOLP, respectively). MOLP did not hinder starters development, which reached about 8.0 Log CFU/g in 2-month ripened cheeses. Illumina results highlighted lactococci dominance in all trials [45.98%–62.48% of relative abundance (RA)]. Physicochemical analysis showed that MOLP-enriched cheeses had higher protein content and lower secondary lipid oxidation. The addition of MOLP increased total phenolic compounds in cheese, reaching 3.64 mg GAE/g in the 2-MOLP sample. MOLP-enriched cheeses showed significantly higher radical scavenging activity than CTR production (p < 0.0001). Ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS) revealed increased levels of chlorogenic acid, protocatechuic acid, caffeic acid, and ferulic acid due to MOLP enrichment. In the presence of MOLP, cheese volatile organic compounds were affected by compounds like 2-octanone, 3-hexen-2-one, heptane, nonanol, and linalool. 1-MOLP cheese was comparable to CTR production in overall satisfaction (sensory evaluation). Including MOLP in cheese production offers exciting opportunities for functional Sicilian ewes’ milk products

Stellar metallicity from optical and UV spectral indices: Test case for WEAVE-StePS

Context. The upcoming generation of optical spectrographs on four meter-class telescopes, with their huge multiplexing capabilities, excellent spectral resolution, and unprecedented wavelength coverage, will provide high-quality spectra for thousands of galaxies. These data will allow us to examine of the stellar population properties at intermediate redshift, an epoch that remains unexplored by large and deep surveys. Aims. We assess our capability to retrieve the mean stellar metallicity in galaxies at different redshifts and signal-to-noise ratios (S/N), while simultaneously exploiting the ultraviolet (UV) and optical rest-frame wavelength coverage. Methods. The work is based on a comprehensive library of spectral templates of stellar populations, covering a wide range of age and metallicity values and built assuming various star formation histories, to cover an observable parameter space with diverse chemical enrichment histories and dust attenuation. We took into account possible observational errors, simulating realistic observations of a large sample of galaxies carried out with WEAVE at the William Herschel Telescope at different redshifts and S/N values. We measured all the available and reliable indices on the simulated spectra and on the comparison library. We then adopted a Bayesian approach to compare the two sets of measurements in order to obtain the probability distribution of stellar metallicity with an accurate estimate of the uncertainties. Results. The analysis of the spectral indices has shown how some mid-UV indices, such as BL3580 and Fe3619, can provide reliable constraints on stellar metallicity, along with optical indicators. The analysis of the mock observations has shown that even at S/N = 10, the metallicity can be derived within 0.3 dex, in particular, for stellar populations older than 2 Gyr. The S/N value plays a crucial role in the uncertainty of the estimated metallicity and so, the differences between S/N = 10 and S/N = 30 are quite large, with uncertainties of ~0.15 dex in the latter case. On the contrary, moving from S/N = 30 to S/N = 50, the improvement on the uncertainty of the metallicity measurements is almost negligible. Our results are in good agreement with other theoretical and observational works in the literature and show how the UV indicators, coupled with classic optical ones, can be advantageous in constraining metallicities. Conclusions. We demonstrate that a good accuracy can be reached on the spectroscopic measurements of the stellar metallicity of galaxies at intermediate redshift, even at low S/N, when a large number of indices can be employed, including some UV indices. This is very promising for the upcoming surveys carried out with new, highly multiplexed, large-field spectrographs, such as StePS at the WEAVE and 4MOST, which will provide spectra of thousands of galaxies covering large spectral ranges (between 3600 and 9000 Å in the observed frame) at relatively high S/N (>10 Å -1)F.R.D., A.I., M.L, S.Z., A.G., F.L.B. acknowledge financial support from grant 1.05.01.86.16 – Mainstream 2020. A.F.M. acknowledges support from RYC2021-031099-I and PID2021-123313NAI00 of MICIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER,UE. L.C. acknowledges financial support from Comunidad de Madrid under Atraccion de Talento grant 2018-T2/TIC-11612 and Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 through grant PGC2018-093499-BI00. R.G.B. acknowledges financial support from the grants CEX2021-001131-S funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and to PID2019-109067-GB100. A.V. acknowledges support from grant PID2019-107427GB-C32 and PID2021-123313NA-I00 from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities MCIU. This work has also been supported through the IAC project TRACES, which is partially supported through the state budget and the regional budget of the Consejería de Economía, Industria, Comercio y Conocimiento of the Canary Islands Autonomous Community. A.V. also acknowledges support from the ACIISI, Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento y Empleo del Gobierno de Canarias and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under grant with reference ProID202101007

The wide-field, multiplexed, spectroscopic facility WEAVE : survey design, overview, and simulated implementation

Funding for the WEAVE facility has been provided by UKRI STFC, the University of Oxford, NOVA, NWO, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), the Isaac Newton Group partners (STFC, NWO, and Spain, led by the IAC), INAF, CNRS-INSU, the Observatoire de Paris, Région Île-de-France, CONCYT through INAOE, Konkoly Observatory (CSFK), Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA Heidelberg), Lund University, the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), the Swedish Research Council, the European Commission, and the University of Pennsylvania.WEAVE, the new wide-field, massively multiplexed spectroscopic survey facility for the William Herschel Telescope, will see first light in late 2022. WEAVE comprises a new 2-degree field-of-view prime-focus corrector system, a nearly 1000-multiplex fibre positioner, 20 individually deployable 'mini' integral field units (IFUs), and a single large IFU. These fibre systems feed a dual-beam spectrograph covering the wavelength range 366-959 nm at R ∼ 5000, or two shorter ranges at R ∼ 20,000. After summarising the design and implementation of WEAVE and its data systems, we present the organisation, science drivers and design of a five- to seven-year programme of eight individual surveys to: (i) study our Galaxy's origins by completing Gaia's phase-space information, providing metallicities to its limiting magnitude for ∼ 3 million stars and detailed abundances for ∼ 1.5 million brighter field and open-cluster stars; (ii) survey ∼ 0.4 million Galactic-plane OBA stars, young stellar objects and nearby gas to understand the evolution of young stars and their environments; (iii) perform an extensive spectral survey of white dwarfs; (iv) survey  ∼ 400 neutral-hydrogen-selected galaxies with the IFUs; (v) study properties and kinematics of stellar populations and ionised gas in z 1 million spectra of LOFAR-selected radio sources; (viii) trace structures using intergalactic/circumgalactic gas at z > 2. Finally, we describe the WEAVE Operational Rehearsals using the WEAVE Simulator.PostprintPeer reviewe

The wide-field, multiplexed, spectroscopic facility WEAVE: Survey design, overview, and simulated implementation

WEAVE, the new wide-field, massively multiplexed spectroscopic survey facility for the William Herschel Telescope, will see first light in late 2022. WEAVE comprises a new 2-degree field-of-view prime-focus corrector system, a nearly 1000-multiplex fibre positioner, 20 individually deployable 'mini' integral field units (IFUs), and a single large IFU. These fibre systems feed a dual-beam spectrograph covering the wavelength range 366$-$959\,nm at $R\sim5000$, or two shorter ranges at $R\sim20\,000$. After summarising the design and implementation of WEAVE and its data systems, we present the organisation, science drivers and design of a five- to seven-year programme of eight individual surveys to: (i) study our Galaxy's origins by completing Gaia's phase-space information, providing metallicities to its limiting magnitude for $\sim$3 million stars and detailed abundances for $\sim1.5$ million brighter field and open-cluster stars; (ii) survey $\sim0.4$ million Galactic-plane OBA stars, young stellar objects and nearby gas to understand the evolution of young stars and their environments; (iii) perform an extensive spectral survey of white dwarfs; (iv) survey $\sim400$ neutral-hydrogen-selected galaxies with the IFUs; (v) study properties and kinematics of stellar populations and ionised gas in $z<0.5$ cluster galaxies; (vi) survey stellar populations and kinematics in $\sim25\,000$ field galaxies at $0.3\lesssim z \lesssim 0.7$; (vii) study the cosmic evolution of accretion and star formation using $>1$ million spectra of LOFAR-selected radio sources; (viii) trace structures using intergalactic/circumgalactic gas at $z>2$. Finally, we describe the WEAVE Operational Rehearsals using the WEAVE Simulator.Comment: 41 pages, 27 figures, accepted for publication by MNRA

The wide-field, multiplexed, spectroscopic facility WEAVE: Survey design, overview, and simulated implementation

WEAVE, the new wide-field, massively multiplexed spectroscopic survey facility for the William Herschel Telescope, will see first light in late 2022. WEAVE comprises a new 2-degree field-of-view prime-focus corrector system, a nearly 1000-multiplex fibre positioner, 20 individually deployable 'mini' integral field units (IFUs), and a single large IFU. These fibre systems feed a dual-beam spectrograph covering the wavelength range 366−959\,nm at R∼5000, or two shorter ranges at R∼20000. After summarising the design and implementation of WEAVE and its data systems, we present the organisation, science drivers and design of a five- to seven-year programme of eight individual surveys to: (i) study our Galaxy's origins by completing Gaia's phase-space information, providing metallicities to its limiting magnitude for ∼3 million stars and detailed abundances for ∼1.5 million brighter field and open-cluster stars; (ii) survey ∼0.4 million Galactic-plane OBA stars, young stellar objects and nearby gas to understand the evolution of young stars and their environments; (iii) perform an extensive spectral survey of white dwarfs; (iv) survey ∼400 neutral-hydrogen-selected galaxies with the IFUs; (v) study properties and kinematics of stellar populations and ionised gas in z1 million spectra of LOFAR-selected radio sources; (viii) trace structures using intergalactic/circumgalactic gas at z>2. Finally, we describe the WEAVE Operational Rehearsals using the WEAVE Simulator