Revision of Oxalis section Palmatifoliae DC. (Oxalidaceae)

A taxonomic revision of Oxalis section Palmatifoliae and cluster analyses to clarify the limits of the species are provided. This monophyletic section includes five species endemic from Southern Argentina and Chile. A key for the species together with description, illustration, synonymy, and geographical distribution for each species are given. Five lectotypifications and two new synonymies are proposed.Fil: Lopez, Alicia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion; ArgentinaFil: Panseri, Andrea Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Nordeste. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste (i); ArgentinaFil: Urtubey, Estrella. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion; Argentin

Preliminary studies on environmental pollutants in chamois and wild boar from Eastern Piedmont, Italy.

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are synthetic chlorinated compounds classified as POPs whereas only the penta e tetra-brominated polybromodiphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are so defined by the Stockolm Convention (Stockholm Convention, 2005) in order to elimitate or restrict the use of POPs. Organophosphorus insecticides (OCPs) represent important environmental and food contamination sources, widely used in agriculture. Among polyciclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), benzo[a]pirene is classified by IARC in Group 1, as cancerogen  and Benzo[a]fluoranthene as a Group 2B, as possible cancerogen (IARC, 2012; IARC, 2010).  EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) has released a scientific opinion on the risks to public health related to the presence of brominated flame retardants in food (EFSA, 2011) and in 2014 European commission has asked Member States to monitor the presence of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in food over the next two years (EC, 2014). Due to their heir n-octanol/water partition coefficient (log Kow), they accumulate in fat tissue, bioconcentrate and biomagnify in the animals at the higher trophic levels, possibly causing, through chronic exposure, endocrine disruption and cancer (Wania et al., 1995; Vallack et al., 1998). The aim of this study is to evaluate the presence of OCPs, PCBs, PBDEs and PAHs in chamois and wild boar from Eastern Piedmont, Italy. A total of 20 chamois and 20 wild boar muscle samples were collected during the hunting season 2017, from Verbania Cusio Ossola (VCO) (Fig 1). The chemical analysis for the detection of OCPs, PCBs, PBDEs, and PAHs   was performed by GC-MS/MS on muscle samples purified and extracted using a QuEChERS technique, validated according to SANTE 2017 (SANTE/11183/2017). These preliminary results show the ubiquitary presence of the studied contaminants. PCBs have been found more in chamois (45%) than in wild boar (35%). No PBDEs were detected in wild boar but in chamois were found with a prevalence of 35%  and  concentration 0.25-1.52 ng g-1. About OCPs, phorate and demeton were found in wild boar (55%-15%) and chamois (32%- 35%) with range concentrations 0.21-20.1 ng g-1. No PAHs were detected, expect antharacene for one samples in wild boar (0.53 ng g-1). Further studies are in progress in order to correlate environmental contamination and game animals

Validation study on new isothermal container for hot ready to eat food in catering establishments: Preliminary results

The production methods, in particular the cook-serve method, applied in high production catering establishments, even if inserted in a correct spatial design, it is affected by time-temperature flows characterized by inadequate designed moments during which critical points can be observed. The aim of this study was to evaluate, at a preliminary stage, how the new technologies can support the supply chain and production processes in catering establishments. To this end, a specific passive and active heat storage system was tested: "Polibox Smart Heater (R)" (PX SH), which makes an isothermal expanded polypropylene container an advanced maintainer for ready to eat food. The experimental design was divided into four different experiments, during which the functionality of the isothermal containers was evaluated, and thermal-tightness tests were carried out. The results showed that the PX SH containers, containing a heat accumulator, are temperature maintainers, which guarantee thermal stability (>65 degrees C), according to the current standard (UNI EN 12571:1999). In conclusion, the production chain of catering establishments should use innovative technologies such as PX SH, in order to benefit from performance consistent with the safety, hygiene and sensory criteria

Damascus Steel in Legend and in Reality

Anyone who follows the ancient and glorious history of arms, whether as a collector or as a student, has surely in his reading often run across the term damascened steel or Damascus steel, or simply damascus, applied (not always in correct or pertinent fashion) to the constituent materials of edged weapons or of the barrels of firearms.No disponibl

Detection of seven β2-agonists in teeth by LC-MS/MS: preliminary results.

β2-agonists are powerful tocolytic (the only use permitted in cattle) and bronchodilator agents, butmay also be administered as growth promoters to improve the production of lean meat increasing alsothe lipolytic activity. Although the European Union (EU), China and other Asian countries have bannedthe use of β2-agonists for growth promoting purposes (European Union, 2003), the United States ofAmerica (USA) authorised ractopamine as a feed additive for swine, cattle and turkey. These veterinarydrugs, generally show high clearance rates in the conventional biological matrices, as well as urine, liverand muscle, making difficult their detection (Wu, 2014). For this reason, we suggested bovine teeth asa new unconventional matrix of accumulation in a more long-time window, for the detection ofcimaterol, clenbuterol, isoxsuprine, mabuterol, ractopamine, salbutamol and terbutaline. In literature,the few studies on teeth are limited to human (Andra, 2015) and are absent for veterinary medicine.The samples extracted by a simple liquid extraction step with ethyl acetate:tert-butyl methyl ether (4:1,v/v) after washing and pulverization of teeth, through a ball mill, were analysed using a liquidchromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) confirmatory method validated according tothe Commission Decision 2002/657/EC criteria (European Union, 2002). Teeth from 8 veal calves,administered per os with 80 mg day-1 oral ractopamine for 32 days, and from seven random bovinesfrom the food chain were collected at the slaughterhouse to test the suitability of this matrix. Theresults demonstrated ractopamine presence in teeth from the treated animals (average concentration8.90 ng g-1). Isoxsuprine was found in a control sample (13.67 ng g-1), demonstrating the effectivenessof this matrix as a powerful tool to ensure illegal treatment

Preliminary study about the detection of perfluoroalkyl substances in eel samples of Lake Garda by liquid chromatography tandem mass high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS).

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a large class of fluorinated aliphatic chemical of anthropogenic origin with high chemical stability even at high temperatures and in presence of alkalis, strong acids or oxidizing agents (Lau et al. 2004). All these characteristics make them no biodegradable and very persistent in the environment, associated with adverse health risks (Eriksen et al. 2010). Food, especially fish and other seafood, is considered the main source of exposure to PFASs (EFSA 2012). In this preliminary study we developed and validated a sensitive, selective and specific method by LC-HRMS Orbitrap to monitor the presence of 16 PFASs in eel (Anguilla Anguilla) samples. The clean-up of the lyophilized samples consisted of a previous extraction step with acetonitrile to precipitate also proteins, followed by a purification step through Oasis® WAX SPE (Weak Anionic Exchange Solid Phase Extraction) cartridges. The method applied to 45 farmed eel samples from Lake Garda showed the presence of several PFASs, up to 10 in the same eel, in the order of ng/g (Fig.1). The results provided a representative situation of the  PFASs contamination level of the lake, lower than those of others European countries (Hoff et al. 2005, Kwadijk et al. 2010)

Metals in mussels from Italian mollusc culture plants

The beneficial effects on human health of seafood are well known. However, seafood is a major source of exposition for consumers of most of the contaminants due to human activities such as breeding, industries, mining and agriculture: the overall level in biota, therefore seafood and particularly molluscs, dramatically increased over this last two centuries. This study evaluates the presence of Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Arsenic, Nickel and Chromium in mussels from the Italian mussel culture plants, and estimate the risk that Italian consumer undergoes eating these molluscs. Mussels where collected at the wholesale fish market of Milan, the most important wholesale Italian fish market. The molluscs belonged to the   37 FAO marine area (corresponding to Mediterranean Sea), particularly from FAO 37.2.1 Ligury, 37.2.2. North Adriatic, middle Adriatic, Puglia, 37.2.3 Lazio and Sardinia, and were collected from July 2016 to February 2017. (FIG1). Analyses were carried out through inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 3050B method. The sample concentrations were below the Maximum Levels (ML) given by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006 for Cadmium, Lead and Mercury, except one sample from south Adriatic sea, that showed Mercury concentration of 0.528 mg kg-1. Arsenic, Nickel and Chromium ML are not stated by EU. Arsenic concentration ranged from 2.05 to 13.35 mg kg-1, with the highest values found in Italian molluscs, Nickel concentration ranged from 0.00 to 3.98 mg kg-1. Chromium was found only in 5 of 30 sample analysed with a maximum concentration of 0.590 g kg-1. The tolerable intakes recommended by EFSA and on EU maximum levels, indicate that Italian mussels do not pose a risk consumers

Evaluation d'un alignement automatique sur la parole dysarthrique

International audiencePhonetico-acoustic analysis of pathological speech requires a reliable phonetic alignment. Since manual labeling is highly time-consuming, automatic alignment may be necessary for analyzing large databases. This paper evaluates the reliability of automatic alignment for dysarthric speech. Results on read speech samples of 4 dysarthric speakers compared to 2 normophonic speakers show that alignment performance depends on the severity of dysarthria. Specific patterns for different phonetic classes and directions for filtering reliable parts are discussed.L'analyse acoustico-phonétique de la parole pathologique demande un alignement phonétique du signal de parole. L'alignement manuel étant très coûteux en temps, il semble nécessaire de fournir des alignements automatique. Cette étude évalue la fiabilité d'un alignement automatique pour la parole dysarthrique. Le résultats sur des échantillons de parole lue (4 locuteurs dysarthriques et 2 locuteurs contrôles) montrent que la performance de l'aligneur dépend de la sévérité de la dysarthrie. La spécificité des classes phonétiques est par ailleurs discutées dans le papier

Analyses of organochlorine pesticides residues in eels (Anguilla anguilla) from Lake Garda using Gas chromatography coupled with Tandem Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS/MS).

Lake Garda is located in Insubria region, that is known for being the most populated and industrialized area of Italy (Camusso et al., 2001). Therefore, the Lake water, and also the fish species present, could be affected by environmental contamination.  European eel (Anguilla anguilla) are considered as suitable matrix for biomonitoring environmental contaminants in European water (Belpaire et al., 2007), being widespread in many European waters and highly contaminated by lipophilic compounds, due to the high lipid content (up to 40%) (Larsson et al., 1991). Moreover, eel is an edible species (its farming currently supplies approximately 45,000 tons/year) (Nielsen et al., 2008), so it also represents a public health issue. Based on these considerations, the aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of fourteen organochlorine pesticides (OCs) in forty-five eels (Anguilla anguilla) from Lake Garda, using Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE) procedure for the analytes extraction and Gas chromatography coupled with Tandem Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) for the analysis of OCs. GC-MS/MS analysis was developed and validated according to the SANTE/11945/2015 guidelines.  Uncontaminated eel sample (previously checked for the presence of OCs and considered blank with a concentration of compounds < Limit of Detection) were used for all procedure's optimization steps. For all the OCs analysed, satisfactory results were achieved. Regarding eel samples, several pesticides were detected, but DDTs (DDT and its metabolites) were found with the highest prevalence (92 %). The concentration rage was from not detected (n.d.) to 19000 ng g-1. Although DDTs levels in the environment are declining (Albaiges et al., 2011), they continue to bioaccumulate in tissues of human and animal and biomagnify in food chains

Detection of boldenone, its sulfate and glucuronate forms, androstadienedione, cortisol, cortisone, prednisolone, prednisone and dexamethasone in bovine bile and urine by LC-MS/MS: preliminary results.

The European Union regulations ban or regulate the use of substances with hormonal action. There are, however, some detectable steroids in biological matrices from cattle to which no administration were made. These are the so called “grey-zone” or “pseudoendogenous” substances (endogenously produced under certain circumstances). The administration of boldenone and androstadienedione to cattle is forbidden both for therapeutic or growth promotion purposes, while therapeutic use of prednisolone is permitted. The control of the use of these substances is hampered by their pseudoendogenous nature. We made a comparison between analyses performed on the classical matrix urine with bile (a novel matrix) from the same animals, with the aim to determine the better matrix for the above mentioned steroids. We tested the synthetic corticosteroid dexamethasone, too. The preliminary results do not show any difference between the two matrices, as concern the pseudoendogenous substances. The data about dexamethasone were instead very promising about the use of bile. The detection frequency and concentration levels were, in fact, higher in bile than in urine from the same animals