Development of a tomato pomace biorefinery based on a CO2-supercritical extraction process for the production of a high value lycopene product, bioenergy and digestate

Tomato peels and seeds (TP) are the most abundant canning industry waste actually used to produce biogas. TP is rich in lycopene (lyc) and represent a more sustainable feedstock than tomato fruits actually employed. It was therefore chosen as feedstock together with supercritical CO2 extraction (SFE-CO2) technology to develop a TP-SFE-CO2 biorefinery, topic scarcely investigated. Two TP were tested and although TP-SFE-CO2 parameters were the same, lyc recoveries depended by peel structure changes occurred during pre -SFE-CO2 drying step. Higher moisture (102.7 g kg-1 wet weight) permitted 97 % lyc recovery and gave a water-in-oil emulsion as extract. Mass balance confirmed that lyc isomerisation did not cause lyc losses. After a significant oil extraction, exhaust TP showed a biodegradability 64% higher than the raw one, attributable to fibre structure disruption. The biorefinery proposed (SFE_CO2+anaerobic digestion) determined positive economic revenue (+787.9 \u20ac t-1 TP) on the contrary of the actual TP management

Isothiocyanates and Glucosinolates from Sisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop. (“the Singers’ Plant”): Isolation and in Vitro Assays on the Somatosensory and Pain Receptor TRPA1 Channel

Sisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop. is a wild common plant of the Brassicaceae family. It is known as \u201cthe singers\u2019 plant\u201d for its traditional use in treating aphonia and vocal disability. Despite its wide use in herbal preparations, the molecular mechanism of action of S. officinale extracts is not known. The plant is rich in glucosinolates and isothiocyanates, which are supposed to be its active compounds. Some members of this family, in particular allylisothiocyanate, are strong agonists of the transient receptor potential ankyrine 1 (TRPA1) channel, which is involved in the somatosensory perception of pungency as well as in the nociception pathway of inflammatory pain. This study aims to isolate the glucosinolates and isothiocianates from fresh S. officinale to identify the major components and test their activity in in vitro assays with a cloned TRPA1 channel. Samples of cultivated S. officinale have been extracted and the active compounds isolated by column chromatography, HPLC and PTLC. The main components glucoputranjivin, isopropylisothiocyanate and 2-buthylisothiocianate have been tested on TRPA1. The glucosinolates glucoputranjivin and sinigrin turned out to be inactive, while isopropylisothiocyanate and 2-buthylisothiocyanate are potent agonists of TRPA1, with an EC50 in the range of the high potency natural agonists identified so far for this somatosensory channel

Continuous Flooding or Alternate Wetting and Drying Differently Affect the Accumulation of Health-Promoting Phytochemicals and Minerals in Rice Brown Grain

Climate changes impose adoption of water-saving techniques to improve the sustainability of irrigated rice systems. This study was aimed, by a two-years side-by-side comparison, at verifying the hypothesis whether \u201cAlternate Wetting and Drying\u201d (AWD) affects the concentrations of health-related compounds and minerals in brown grains of three japonica rice (Oryza sativa L.) cvs (\u2018Baldo\u2019, \u2018Gladio\u2019, and \u2018Loto\u2019) usually grown in temperate areas in continuous flooding (CF). Due to the rotational turns in water distribution imposed by local authorities and to the weather behavior, different AWD timing and severity occurred in the two years of the study. AWD induced in both seasons yield losses in \u2018Baldo\u2019 and \u2018Gladio\u2019 but not in \u2018Loto\u2019. In the brown grains of \u2018Loto\u2019, AWD increased the concentrations of total tocols, \u3b3-oryzanol, flavonoids, and the antioxidant activity. AWD affected the concentrations of minerals, particularly increasing copper, cadmium and nickel, and decreasing manganese, arsenic and zinc. In the sensitive cultivars, \u2018Baldo\u2019 and \u2018Gladio\u2019, AWD seems to affect plant yield, rather than for severity of the dry period, for prolonged absence of ponded water that exposes plants to cooler temperatures. The selection of suitable cultivars, like \u2018Loto\u2019, tolerant to AWD-related stresses, could combine environmental, yield-related, and nutritional benefits improving the product quality

Assessment of tryptophan, tryptophan ethylester, and melatonin derivatives in red wine by SPE-HPLC-FL and SPE-HPLC-MS methods

Melatonin (MEL) is an indoleamine produced mainly by the pineal gland in vertebrates. It plays a significant role in the regulation of circadian rhythms, mitigation of sleeping disorders, and jet lag. This compound is synthetized from tryptophan (TRP) and it has been found in seeds, fruits, and fermented beverages, including wine. Wine is also a source of other tryptophan derivatives, the tryptophan ethylester (TEE) and MEL isomers (MISs), for which the biological properties need to be elucidated. An analytical method for the simultaneous quantification of TRP, TEE, and MEL was developed by a Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) of a preconcentration of wine followed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis either with fluorescence or mass spectrometer detectors. The analytical method showed a relative standard deviation (RSD) lower than 8%, except for TRP (RSD 10.5% in wine). The recovery was higher than 76%. The versatility of SPE preconcentrations allowed for the adequate preconcentration of wine sample as well as detection of low concentrations, an important aspect especially for MEL (detection limit 0.0023 \ub5g/L). The proposed method proved to be suitable for assessing the investigated compounds in some red wine samples, where 74.4-256.2 \ub5g/L and 0.038-0.063 \ub5g/L of TEE and MEL were detected, respectively. Five MISs were also found in wine samples in concentrations up to 1.97 \ub5g/L

ZnO-based scintillating bolometers: New prospects to study double beta decay of 64^{64}Zn

The first detailed study on the performance of a ZnO-based cryogenic scintillating bolometer as a detector to search for rare processes in zinc isotopes was performed. A 7.2 g ZnO low-temperature detector, containing more than 80\% of zinc in its mass, exhibits good energy resolution of baseline noise 1.0--2.7 keV FWHM at various working temperatures resulting in a low-energy threshold for the experiment, 2.0--6.0 keV. The light yield for $\beta$/$\gamma$ events was measured as 1.5(3) keV/MeV, while it varies for $\alpha$ particles in the range of 0.2--3.0 keV/MeV. The detector demonstrate an effective identification of the $\beta$/$\gamma$ events from $\alpha$ events using time-properties of only heat signals. %(namely, Rise time parameter). The radiopurity of the ZnO crystal was evaluated using the Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry, an ultra-low-background High Purity Ge $\gamma$-spectrometer, and bolometric measurements. Only limits were set at the level of $\mathcal{O}$(1--100) mBq/kg on activities of \Nuc{K}{40}, \Nuc{Cs}{137} and daughter nuclides from the U/Th natural decay chains. The total internal $\alpha$-activity was calculated to be 22(2) mBq/kg, with a major contribution caused by 6(1) mBq/kg of \Nuc{Th}{232} and 12(2) mBq/kg of \Nuc{U}{234}. Limits on double beta decay (DBD) processes in \Nuc{Zn}{64} and \Nuc{Zn}{70} isotopes were set on the level of $\mathcal{O}(10^{17}$--$10^{18})$ yr for various decay modes profiting from 271 h of acquired background data in the above-ground lab. This study shows a good potential for ZnO-based scintillating bolometers to search for DBD processes of Zn isotopes, especially in \Nuc{Zn}{64}, with the most prominent spectral features at $\sim$10--20 keV, like the two neutrino double electron capture. A 10 kg-scale experiment can reach the experimental sensitivity at the level of $\mathcal{O}(10^{24})$ yr.Comment: Prepared for submission to JINST; 27 pages, 9 figures, and 7 table

Complete results for five years of GNO solar neutrino observations

We report the complete GNO solar neutrino results for the measuring periods GNO III, GNO II, and GNO I. The result for GNO III (last 15 solar runs) is [54.3 + 9.9 - 9.3 (stat.)+- 2.3 (syst.)] SNU (1 sigma) or [54.3 + 10.2 - 9.6 (incl. syst.)] SNU (1 sigma) with errors combined. The GNO experiment is now terminated after altogether 58 solar exposure runs that were performed between May 20, 1998 and April 9, 2003. The combined result for GNO (I+II+III) is [62.9 + 5.5 - 5.3 (stat.) +- 2.5 (syst.)] SNU (1 sigma) or [62.9 + 6.0 - 5.9] SNU (1 sigma) with errors combined in quadrature. Overall, gallium based solar observations at LNGS (first in GALLEX, later in GNO) lasted from May 14, 1991 through April 9, 2003. The joint result from 123 runs in GNO and GALLEX is [69.3 +- 5.5 (incl. syst.)] SNU (1 sigma). The distribution of the individual run results is consistent with the hypothesis of a neutrino flux that is constant in time. Implications from the data in particle- and astrophysics are reiterated.Comment: 22 pages incl. 9 Figures and 8 Tables. to appear in: Physics Letters B (accepted April 13, 2005) PACS: 26.65.+t ; 14.60.P

The Borexino detector at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso

Borexino, a large volume detector for low energy neutrino spectroscopy, is currently running underground at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy. The main goal of the experiment is the real-time measurement of sub MeV solar neutrinos, and particularly of the mono energetic (862 keV) Be7 electron capture neutrinos, via neutrino-electron scattering in an ultra-pure liquid scintillator. This paper is mostly devoted to the description of the detector structure, the photomultipliers, the electronics, and the trigger and calibration systems. The real performance of the detector, which always meets, and sometimes exceeds, design expectations, is also shown. Some important aspects of the Borexino project, i.e. the fluid handling plants, the purification techniques and the filling procedures, are not covered in this paper and are, or will be, published elsewhere (see Introduction and Bibliography).Comment: 37 pages, 43 figures, to be submitted to NI

Search for 14.4 keV solar axions from M1 transition of Fe-57 with CUORE crystals

We report the results of a search for axions from the 14.4 keV M1 transition from Fe-57 in the core of the sun using the axio-electric effect in TeO2 bolometers. The detectors are 5x5x5 cm3 crystals operated at about 10 mK in a facility used to test bolometers for the CUORE experiment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. An analysis of 43.65 kg d of data was made using a newly developed low energy trigger which was optimized to reduce the detectors energy threshold. An upper limit of 0.63 c kg-1 d-1 was established at 95% C.L.. From this value, a lower bound at 95% C.L. was placed on the Peccei-Quinn energy scale of fa >= 0.76 10**6 GeV for a value of S=0.55 for the flavor-singlet axial vector matrix element. Bounds are given for the interval 0.15 < S < 0.55.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, submitted to JCA

CUORE and beyond: bolometric techniques to explore inverted neutrino mass hierarchy

The CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events) experiment will search for neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{130}$Te. With 741 kg of TeO$_2$ crystals and an excellent energy resolution of 5 keV (0.2%) at the region of interest, CUORE will be one of the most competitive neutrinoless double beta decay experiments on the horizon. With five years of live time, CUORE projected neutrinoless double beta decay half-life sensitivity is $1.6\times 10^{26}$ y at $1\sigma$ ($9.5\times10^{25}$ y at the 90% confidence level), which corresponds to an upper limit on the effective Majorana mass in the range 40--100 meV (50--130 meV). Further background rejection with auxiliary light detector can significantly improve the search sensitivity and competitiveness of bolometric detectors to fully explore the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy with $^{130}$Te and possibly other double beta decay candidate nuclei.Comment: Submitted to the Proceedings of TAUP 2013 Conferenc