Le acque sotterranee del Gargano: risorse idriche integrative e di emergenza

II presente lavoro intende caratterizzare ii rapporto tra alimentazione della falda idrica sotterranea del Gargano e ii prelievo dai pozzi, gli efflussi dalle sorgenti e l’esistenza di risorse idriche sotterranee ulteriormente utilizzabili. L’area, di circa 2.000 km2, è stata discretizzata in un reticolo a maglie quadrate di 4 km2, per ciascuna delle quali è stata stimata la litologia affiorante prevalente, la quota e la pendenza media. Caratterizzato nel dettaglio ii regime termopluviometrico vigente nel Gargano, si è proceduto, per ogni celia, al calcolo delle grandezze termopluviometriche e alla definizione del bilancio idrologico. Sono state raccolte tutte le informazioni disponibili relative alle portate sorgive e ai pozzi al fine di una stima, ad oggi possibile soltanto in difetto, degli efflussi sorgivi e degli emungimenti. Al fine di meglio quantificare le portate sorgive, è stato definito un bilancio idrologico semplificato del lago di Varano. Ii metodo utilizzato è stato positivamente validato su un piccolo acquifero campione del Gargano, l’acquifero carbonatico e superficiale di Vico-Ischitella. In termini medi, dei circa 37 m3/s di precipitazioni meteoriche si stima che non meno di 8,12 m3/s finiscano per alimentare l’unità idrogeologica del Gargano. Si è stimato che non meno di 3,4 m3/s alimentino sorgenti, pan al 42 % dell’infiltrazione, mentre almeno 0,53 m3/s, pan al 7%, viene prelevato dai pozzi. Ii 50 % dell’alimentazione del Gargano dà vita ad una risorsa idrica sotterranea ii cui recapito finale non è ad oggi noto. Trattasi di non meno di 4 m3/s che si versa- no a mare senza che si abbiano notizie certe sull’ubicazione e la reale portata, anche approssimata, di tali sorgenti. La notevole entità delle portate in gioco e la buona qualità delle acque sotterranee del Gargano impongono di considerare tale acquifero profondo come una fonte per l’utilizzazione razionale e sostenibile di risorse idriche integrative e di emergenza

Gluten-free diet and gut microbiome

As the only effective therapy against diagnosed celiac disease (CD), the gluten-free diet (GFD) has inevitable repercussion on the gut microbiome composition and functionality. Being the cause or the consequence of the disease, an altered homeostasis of the gut microbiome usually affects CD patients at diagnosis. After describing the main features of this altered physiological condition, this review defines the main nutritional aspects of the GFD and elucidates how this diet regimen does not fully restore the optimal gut microbiome composition and functionality. Unbalanced ratios between beneficial and potentially harmful bacteria are frequently present in fecal materials, biopsy specimens and saliva, used as ecological model systems to observe CD. Metabolome analyses also show how an altered microbiome synthesize different metabolite with respect to healthy conditions. The review concludes illustrating the current supplementations (biotics family), which fortify the GFD with the aim of restoring the homeostasis of the gut microbiome

In vitro faecal fermentation of Tritordeum breads and its effect on the human gut health

Spontaneous fermentation of Tritordeum flour enhances the nutritional potential of this hybrid cereal. However, the effect of consumption of Tritordeum sourdough bread (SDB) on gut health remains to be elucidated. This study investigated the effect of in vitro digestion and faecal fermentation of SDB compared to that of traditional baker's yeast (BYB) Tritordeum bread. After 24-h anaerobic faecal fermentation, both SDB and BYB (1% w/v) induced an increase in the relative abundances of Bifidobacterium, Megasphaera, Mitsuokella, and Phascolarctobacterium genera compared to baseline, while concentrations of acetate and butyrate were significantly higher at 24 h for SDB compared to those for BYB. Integrity of intestinal epithelium, as assessed through in vitro trans-epithelial electrical resistance (TEER) assay, was slightly increased after incubation with SDB fermentation supernatants, but not after incubation with BYB fermentation supernatants. The SDB stimulated in vitro mucosal immune response by inducing early secretion of inflammatory cytokines, IL-6 and TNF-α, followed by downregulation of the inflammatory trigger through induction of anti-inflammatory IL-10 expression. Overall, our findings suggest that Tritordeum sourdough can modulate gut microbiota fermentation activity and positively impact the gut health

Plant-derived food waste management, valorization, and recycling through sourdough fermentation

Background: The food industry generates a vast amount of food waste. Nevertheless, several types of food waste, i.e. those deriving from fruits, vegetables, grains, and other plant-based food production and processing chains, still contain valuable nutritional and bioactive compounds thus having the potential to be converted into value-added products. Several approaches have been investigated as pre-treatment of food waste to improve the nutritional, functional, and technological properties before to re-inclusion in food production. Sourdough fermentation, either spontaneous or through selected microbial strains, appears to be a suitable and sustainable tool for upcycling plant-derived food waste. Scope and approach: This review reveals the latest insights into the potential of sourdough fermentation to recycle milling by-products, brewers' spent grain, wasted bread, and miscellaneous plant wastes. Key findings and conclusions: Sourdough biotechnology is suitable for improving the sustainability of several food chains. Nevertheless, due to the significant effect of the presence, growth, and metabolic activity of specific microorganisms on the quality of the final products, an accurate set-up and optimization of tailored fermentation processes is highly suggested

Lactic acid fermentation as a tool to enhance the antioxidant properties of Myrtus communis berries

Background: Myrtle (Myrtus communis L.) is a medicinal and aromatic plant belonging to Myrtaceae family, which is largely diffused in the Mediterranean areas and mainly cultivated in Tunisia and Italy. To the best of our knowledge, no studies have already considered the use of the lactic acid fermentation to enhance the functional features of M. communis. This study aimed at using a selected lactic acid bacterium for increasing the antioxidant features of myrtle berries, with the perspective of producing a functional ingredient, dietary supplement or pharmaceutical preparation. The antioxidant activity was preliminarily evaluated through in vitro assays, further confirmed through ex vivo analysis on murine fibroblasts, and the profile of phenol compounds was characterized. Results: Myrtle berries homogenate, containing yeast extract (0.4%, wt/vol), was fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum C2, previously selected from plant matrix. Chemically acidified homogenate, without bacterial inoculum and incubated under the same conditions, was used as the control. Compared to the control, fermented myrtle homogenate exhibited a marked antioxidant activity in vitro. The radical scavenging activity towards DPPH increased by 30%, and the inhibition of linoleic acid peroxidation was twice. The increased antioxidant activity was confirmed using Balb 3 T3 mouse fibroblasts, after inducing oxidative stress, and determining cell viability and radical scavenging activity through MTT and DCFH-DA assays, respectively. The lactic acid fermentation allowed increased concentrations of total phenols, flavonoids and anthocyanins, which were 5–10 times higher than those found for the non-fermented and chemically acidified control. As shown by HPLC analysis, the main increases were found for gallic and ellagic acids, and flavonols (myricetin and quercetin). The release of these antioxidant compounds would be strictly related to the esterase activities of L. plantarum. Conclusions: The lactic acid fermentation of myrtle berries is a suitable tool for novel applications as functional food dietary supplements or pharmaceutical preparations

Shifting the Focus from Dissolution to Permeation: Introducing the Meso-fluidic Chip for Permeability Assessment (MCPA)

: In response to the growing ethical and environmental concerns associated with animal testing, numerous in vitro tools of varying complexity and biorelevance have been developed and adopted in pharmaceutical research and development. In this work, we present one of these tools, i.e., the Meso-fluidic Chip for Permeability Assessment (MCPA), for the first time. The MCPA combines an artificial barrier (PermeaPad®) with an organ-on-chip device (MIVO®) and real-time automated concentration measurements, to yield a sustainable, yet effortless method for permeation testing. The system offers three major physiological aspects, i.e., a biomimetic membrane, an optimal membrane interfacial area-to-donor-volume-ratio (A/V) and a physiological flow on the acceptor/basolateral side, which makes the MPCA an ideal candidate for mechanistic studies and excellent in vivo bioavailability predictions. We validated the method with a handful of assorted drug compounds in unstirred and stirred donor conditions, before exploring its applicability as a tool for dissolution/permeation testing on a BCS class III/I drug (pyrazinamide) crystalline adducts and BCS class II/IV (hydrocortisone) amorphous solid dispersions. The results were highly reproducible and clearly displayed the method's potential for evaluating the performance of enabling formulations, and possibly even predicting in vivo performance. We believe that, upon further development, the MCPA will serve as a useful in vitro tool that could push sustainability into pharmaceutics by refining, reducing and replacing animal testing in early-stage drug development