Chapter An analysis of the transaction towards sustainable food consumption practises during the Italian lockdown for SARS-CoV-2: the experience of the Lombardy region

This paper intends to investigate the behaviours adopted during this lockdown period due to SARS-CoV-2, in which most individuals have found themselves forced to carry out their daily lives within domestic boundaries, and compare them with previously practiced food-related habits. The aim is to understand whether strategies of buying, preparing and consuming food have changed with respect to established habits of 'ordinary' periods, and how these choices are linked to the psychological and emotional wellbeing/feeling experienced by individuals, to the physiological well-being of individuals and to social, environmental and economic sustainability. The analysis is based on the survey carried out by the Department of Psychology in collaboration with the interdepartmental center BEST4Food of Milano-Bicocca university

Investigation on microbiology of olive oil extraction process

Several batches of approx. 200 kg olives from Frantoio and Moraiolo cultivars were processed in an oil mill at two dates of harvesting. Samples were collected in several steps of extraction process for sensory, chemical and microbial analyses.All extracted olive oil from the second olive harvesting date was affected by sensory defects and hence classified as being “non-extra virgin”. A distinction between extra virgin olive oil and nonextra virgin olive oil obtained from both harvesting dates was explained by the volatile compounds content of olive oil samples and by yeast and mould counts collected at different processing steps

Land value 2009

The research aim to test the information collected through the Italian FADN survey to analyze the characteristics of Italian land market and was referred to accounting year 2009. The value of land is estimated according to the criterion of the most probable market value and is related to an administrative area and a quality culture. Given the similarity of information obtained, the results have been compared with data of  the INEA survey on Land Market published on the website Institute. The data recorded by the FADN are therefore suitable for the analysis of the characteristics of the Italian agricultural land market and the good quality of the information collected, regardless of the checks carried out, is also an evidence of the rigor with which FADN data collections are performed

Label-free toxicology screening of primary human mesenchymal cells and iPS-derived neurons

The high-throughput, label-free Corning Epic assay has applications in drug discovery, pharmacogenomics, cell receptor signaling, cell migration, and viral titration. The utility of Epic technology for biocompatibility testing has not been well established. In manufacturing of medical devices, in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility assessments are mandatory, according to ISO 10993. The new medical device regulation MDR 745/2017 specifies that ex vivo assays that can closely recapitulate in vivo scenarios are needed to better evaluate biomedical devices. We propose herein that Epic technology\u2014which enables detection of variations in cell mass distribution\u2014is suitable for biocompatibility screening of compounds. In this study, we challenged primary human osteoblasts, endothelial cells, and neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells with specific concentrations of methyl methacrylate (MMA). Polymeric MMA has long been applied in cranioplasty, where it makes contact with multiple cell types. Application of Epic technology yielded real-time cytotoxicity profiles for all considered cell types. The results were compared with those from microscopic observation of the same culture plate used in the Epic analyses. The Epic assay should be further examined for its utility for cell biology, genomics, and proteomics companion assays. Our results suggest that Epic technology can be applied to biocompatibility evaluation of human cells in medical device development

A Machine Learning Approach for Mortality Prediction in COVID-19 Pneumonia: Development and Evaluation of the Piacenza Score

Background: Several models have been developed to predict mortality in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, but only a few have demonstrated enough discriminatory capacity. Machine learning algorithms represent a novel approach for the data-driven prediction of clinical outcomes with advantages over statistical modeling.Objective: We aimed to develop a machine learning-based score-the Piacenza score-for 30-day mortality prediction in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.Methods: The study comprised 852 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, admitted to the Guglielmo da Saliceto Hospital in Italy from February to November 2020. Patients' medical history, demographics, and clinical data were collected using an electronic health record. The overall patient data set was randomly split into derivation and test cohorts. The score was obtained through the naive Bayes classifier and externally validated on 86 patients admitted to Centro Cardiologico Monzino (Italy) in February 2020. Using a forward-search algorithm, 6 features were identified: age, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, PaO2/FiO(2) ratio, temperature, previous stroke, and gender. The Brier index was used to evaluate the ability of the machine learning model to stratify and predict the observed outcomes. A user-friendly website was designed and developed to enable fast and easy use of the tool by physicians. Regarding the customization properties of the Piacenza score, we added a tailored version of the algorithm to the website, which enables an optimized computation of the mortality risk score for a patient when some of the variables used by the Piacenza score are not available. In this case, the naive Bayes classifier is retrained over the same derivation cohort but using a different set of patient characteristics. We also compared the Piacenza score with the 4C score and with a naive Bayes algorithm with 14 features chosen a priori.Results: The Piacenza score exhibited an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.78 (95% CI 0.74-0.84, Brier score=0.19) in the internal validation cohort and 0.79 (95% CI 0.68-0.89, Brier score=0.16) in the external validation cohort, showing a comparable accuracy with respect to the 4C score and to the naive Bayes model with a priori chosen features; this achieved an AUC of 0.78 (95% CI 0.73-0.83, Brier score=0.26) and 0.80 (95% CI 0.75-0.86, Brier score=0.17), respectively.Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated that a customizable machine learning-based score with a purely data-driven selection of features is feasible and effective for the prediction of mortality among patients with COVID-19 pneumonia

HDV can constrain HBV genetic evolution in hbsag: Implications for the identification of innovative pharmacological targets

Chronic HBV + HDV infection is associated with greater risk of liver fibrosis, earlier hepatic decompensation, and liver cirrhosis hepatocellular carcinoma compared to HBV mono-infection. However, to-date no direct anti-HDV drugs are available in clinical practice. Here, we identified conserved and variable regions in HBsAg and HDAg domains in HBV + HDV infection, a critical finding for the design of innovative therapeutic agents. The extent of amino-acid variability was measured by Shannon-Entropy (Sn) in HBsAg genotype-D sequences from 31 HBV + HDV infected and 62 HBV mono-infected patients (comparable for demographics and virological-parameters), and in 47 HDAg genotype-1 sequences. Positions with Sn = 0 were defined as conserved. The percentage of conserved HBsAg-positions was significantly higher in HBV + HDV infection than HBV mono-infection (p = 0.001). Results were confirmed after stratification for HBeAg-status and patients’ age. A Sn = 0 at specific positions in the C-terminus HBsAg were correlated with higher HDV-RNA, suggesting that conservation of these positions can preserve HDV-fitness. Conversely, HDAg was characterized by a lower percentage of conserved-residues than HBsAg (p < 0.001), indicating higher functional plasticity. Furthermore, specific HDAg-mutations were significantly correlated with higher HDV-RNA, suggesting a role in conferring HDV replicative-advantage. Among HDAg-domains, only the virus-assembly signal exhibited a high genetic conservation (75% of conserved-residues). In conclusion, HDV can constrain HBsAg genetic evolution to preserve its fitness. The identification of conserved regions in HDAg poses the basis for designing innovative targets against HDV-infection

CX3CR1+ Cell–Mediated Salmonella Exclusion Protects the Intestinal Mucosa during the Initial Stage of Infection

During Salmonella Typhimurium infection, intestinal CX3CR1(+) cells can either extend transepithelial cellular processes to sample luminal bacteria or, very early after infection, migrate into the intestinal lumen to capture bacteria. However, until now, the biological relevance of the intraluminal migration of CX3CR1(+) cells remained to be determined. We addressed this by using a combination of mouse strains differing in their ability to carry out CX3CR1-mediated sampling and intraluminal migration. We observed that the number of S. Typhimurium traversing the epithelium did not differ between sampling-competent/migration-competent C57BL/6 and sampling-deficient/migration-competent BALB/c mice. In contrast, in sampling-deficient/migration-deficient CX3CR1(-/-) mice the numbers of S. Typhimurium penetrating the epithelium were significantly higher. However, in these mice the number of invading S. Typhimurium was significantly reduced after the adoptive transfer of CX3CR1(+) cells directly into the intestinal lumen, consistent with intraluminal CX3CR1(+) cells preventing S. Typhimurium from infecting the host. This interpretation was also supported by a higher bacterial fecal load in CX3CR1(+/gfp) compared with CX3CR1(gfp/gfp) mice following oral infection. Furthermore, by using real-time in vivo imaging we observed that CX3CR1(+) cells migrated into the lumen moving through paracellular channels within the epithelium. Also, we reported that the absence of CX3CR1-mediated sampling did not affect Ab responses to a noninvasive S. Typhimurium strain that specifically targeted the CX3CR1-mediated entry route. These data showed that the rapidly deployed CX3CR1(+) cell-based mechanism of immune exclusion is a defense mechanism against pathogens that complements the mucous and secretory IgA Ab-mediated system in the protection of intestinal mucosal surface