The Effect of Ginger (Zingiber officinalis) and Artichoke (Cynara cardunculus) Extract Supplementation on Functional Dyspepsia: A Randomised, Double-Blind, and Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial

Objective. Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a frequent clinical finding in western world. The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy of a ginger and artichoke supplementation versus placebo in the treatment of FD. Methods. A prospective multicentre, double blind, randomized, placebo controlled, parallel-group comparison of the supplement and placebo over a period of 4 weeks was performed. Two capsules/day were supplied (before lunch and dinner) to 126 FD patients (supplementation/placebo: 65/61). Results. After 14 days of treatment, only supplementation group (SG) showed a significant amelioration (SG: S = +1.195 MCA score units (u), = 0.017; placebo: P = +0.347 u, = 0.513). The intercept ( ) resulted to be significantly higher in SG than in placebo ( S − P = +0.848 u, < 0.001). At the end of the study, the advantage of SG versus placebo persists without variation ( S − P = +0.077 u, = 0.542). In SG, a significant advantage is observed for nausea ( S − P = −0.398 u, < 0.001), epigastric fullness ( S − P = −0.241, < 0.001), epigastric pain ( S − P = −0.173 u, = 0.002), and bloating ( S − P = −0.167 u, = 0.017). Conclusions. The association between ginger and artichoke leaf extracts appears safe and efficacious in the treatment of FD and could represent a promising treatment for this disease

Sol-gel derived mesoporous Pt and Cr-doped WO(3) thin films: the role played by mesoporosity and metal doping in enhancing the gas sensing properties

Mesoporous Cr or Pt-doped WO(3) thin films to be employed as ammonia gas sensors were prepared by a fast one-step sol-gel procedure, based on the use of triblock copolymer as templating agent. The obtained films were constituted by aggregates of interconnected WO(3) nanocrystals (20-50 nm) separated by mesopores with dimensions ranging between 2 and 15 nm. The doping metals, Pt and Cr, resulted differently hosted in the WO(3) mesoporous matrix. Chromium is homogeneously dispersed in the oxide matrix, mainly as Cr(III) and Cr(V) centers, as revealed by EPR spectroscopy; instead platinum segregated as Pt (0) nanoparticles (4 nm) mainly included inside the WO(3) nanocrystals. The semiconductor layers containing Pt nanoclusters revealed, upon exposure to NH(3), remarkable electrical responses, much higher than Cr-doped and undoped layers, particularly at low ammonia concentration (6.2 ppm). This behavior was attributed to the presence of Pt nanoparticles segregated inside the semiconductor matrix, which act as catalysts of the N-H bond cleavage, decreasing the activation barrier in the ammonia dissociation. The role of the mesoporous structure in influencing the chemisorption and the gas diffusion in the WO(3) matrix appeared less decisive than the electronic differences between the two examined doping metals. The overall results suggest that a careful combination between mesoporous architecture and metal doping can really promote the electrical response of WO(3) toward ammonia

Il diritto alla salute: tubercolosi e popolazione immigrata in Italia. Indagine nell'Unità Operativa Malattie Infettive di Legnano (ASL Provincia di Milano 1)

La facilità di trasmissione della tubercolosi e il crescente numero di individui contagiati in tutto il mondo ha portato l’Oms a dichiarare la malattia “un’emergenza globale”. Anche in Italia il numero dei soggetti colpito dal Mycobacterium tuberculosis è in costante aumento soprattutto fra gli immigrati. Obiettivo della ricerca è analizzare l’epidemiologia della malattia in una specifica area milanese: Legnano. I soggetti che giungono all’Unità Operativa di Malattie Infettive dell’Ospedale di Legnano con il sospetto o la diagnosi di tubercolosi sono soprattutto immigrati che vivono una forte marginalità sociale. Il batterio, spesso latente dopo un’infezione contratta in età giovanile nei Paesi di origine, si riattiva quando le difese immunitarie diventano fragili a causa delle gravi condizioni di disagio alimentare e abitativo in cui si vengono a trovare i soggetti immigrati. Queste premesse sono indispensabili per meglio comprendere l’estrema “urgenza” del trattamento, sia per prevenire l’aggravarsi e il complicarsi della malattia, sia per limitare la diffusione del contagio. La strategia messa in atto dalla U.O. di Malattie Infettive di Legnano si fonda su alcuni punti essenziali: accoglienza immediata dei malati e dei sospetti, diagnostica rapida e accurata con metodiche specifiche e sensibili, trattamento immediato con controllo della somministrazione dei farmaci, monitoraggio costante degli effetti collaterali, identificazione screening ed eventuale profilassi o terapia dei “contatti”. Fondamentale è il “lavoro in rete” con strutture pubbliche (altri ospedali e centri di ricerca di riferimento) e del privato sociale con elasticità di presa in carico, nel rispetto delle normative giuridiche esistenti

Grape Seeds Proanthocyanidins: Advanced Technological Preparation and Analytical Characterization

A “green” solvent-free industrial process (patent pending) is here described for a grape seed extract (GSE) preparation (Ecovitis™) obtained from selected seeds of Veneto region wineries, in the northeast of Italy, by water and selective tangential flow filtration at different porosity. Since a comprehensive, non-ambiguous characterization of GSE is still a difficult task, we resorted to using an integrated combination of gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and electrospray ionization high resolution mass spectrometry (ESI-HRMS). By calibration of retention time and spectroscopic quantification of catechin as chromophore, we succeeded in quantifying GPC polymers up to traces at n = 30. The MS analysis carried out by the ESI-HRMS method by direct-infusion allows the detection of more than 70 species, at different polymerization and galloylation, up to n = 13. This sensitivity took advantage of the nanoscale shotgun approach, although paying the limit of missed separation of stereoisomers. GPC and MS approaches were remarkably well cross-validated by overlapping results. This simple integrated analytical approach has been used for quality control of the production of Ecovitis™. The emerging feature of Ecovitis™ vs. a popular benchmark in the market, produced by a different technology, is the much lower content of species at low n and the corresponding increase of species at high n