Antifungal activity of essential oils on yeast isolates from filling creams [Attività anti fungina di oli essenziali su isolati di lievito da creme di farcitura]

SUMMARY Yeasts can be responsible for the alteration of a wide range of foods due to their physiological and metabolic characteristics. In recent times, the demand for products without traditional preservatives has increased, thus leading to difficulties in guaranteeing the necessary microbiological stability. In this study the effectiveness of essential oils of lime, ginger, lemongrass, mandarin, cinnamon, orange and lemon on 21 cultures of Zygosaccharomyces bailii isolated from filling creams was evaluated. The results showed a significantly greater effectiveness of the essential oil of cinnamon. Although significantly less effective than cinnamon oil, citronella essential oil has also shown good activity. It is noteworthy that 100% of the isolates have shown not susceptibility to both the essential oils of ginger and mandarin. Although the results are encouraging, the sensory impact that could limit the applicability of tested oils in the food field remains to be verified. SOMMARIO I lieviti possono essere responsabili dell’alterazione di una vasta gamma di alimenti per via delle loro caratteristiche fisiologiche e metaboliche. In tempi recenti, è aumentata la richiesta di prodotti privi dei tradizionali conservanti, con conseguenti difficoltà da parte dei produttori nel garantire la necessaria stabilità microbiologica. Nel presente studio è stata valutata l’efficacia degli oli essenziali di lime, zenzero, citronella, mandarino, cannella, arancio e limone su 21 colture di Zygosaccharomyces bailii isolate da creme di farcitura. I risultati hanno mostrato una significativa maggiore efficacia dell’olio essenziale di cannella. Sebbene di significativa minore efficacia rispetto all’olio di cannella, anche l’olio essenziale di citronella ha mostrato una discreta attività. Appare inoltre importante sottolineare che il 100% degli isolati ha mostrato di non essere sensibile agli oli essenziali di zenzero e mandarino. Sebbene i risultati siano incoraggianti, rimane ancora da verificare l’impatto sensoriale che potrebbe limitare l’applicabilità degli oli testati in campo alimentare

The prognostic role of anatomo-pathological factors in colorectal cancer: an univariate analysis

An univariate analysis of pathologic data of 987 patients with primary colorectal carcinoma treated over a period of 22 years was performed. Six variables such as tumor site, histologic type, depth of invasion, nodal involvement, distant metastases, histologic grade and tumor stage were tested for their prognostic value. 5-year survival rate was investigated. Patients with tumors in the left colon and rectum have shown a better prognosis than patients with tumors in the right colon (53-51% vs. 38% p = 0.0007). As regard histologic type non significant differences between mucinous and non-mucinous carcinoma was observed (44% vs 48% respectively p = 0.4). The depth of tumor invasion was an important prognostic factor; according to tumor infiltration patients can be divided in four groups (T1, T2, T3, T4) with 5-year survival rates of 80%, 74%, 39% and 16% respectively (p = 0.0000). Highly significant decrements in survival occurred when lymph node metastases were demonstrable (20% vs. 67% p = 0.0000). Prognosis was still strongly related to histologic grade, with significant difference in survival rates between G1 and G2-G3 tumors (71% vs. 48%-42% p = 0.0000). Finally prognosis was closely related to the stage of spread at the time of diagnosis