Approaches for reducing wastes in the agricultural sector. An analysis of Millennials’ willingness to buy food with upcycled ingredients

Upcycled ingredients are one of the most significant current trends in the food industry aimed to tackle the challenge of solid food loss reduction. This study investigates the potential market among Millennial consumers for products enriched with upcycled ingredients in Italy. We surveyed a sample of 317 Italian Millennial consumers, using a web-based survey. 62% of respondents declared to be informed about the existence of food made from upcycled ingredients and 53% declared to be willing to buy this novel food. Also, 69% of respondents think that food enriched with upcycled ingredients can bring environmental benefits, while only 40% believe that it can bring health benefits. Using a logit model to analyse consumer preferences, we found that food neophobia and food technology neophobia negatively impact on the likelihood of being willing to buy food produced with upcycled ingredients. Also, consumers who give high importance to food certification are less likely to be willing to buy upcycled foods. Contrariwise, reading labels and believing that upcycled foods are healthier or more environmentally friendly positively impacts on the willingness of Millennial consumers to buy these foods. Results for the sample analysed eventually suggest that giving right information to consumers about the environmental and health characteristics of the products, through clear labelling, could increase their market uptake thus helping to reduce food loss and contributing to reaching circular economy objectives in the agricultural sector

Saccharomyces cerevisiae-Based Probiotics as Novel Antimicrobial Agents to Prevent and Treat Vaginal Infections

Vaginal infections affect 70% of women during their lifetimes and account for millions of annual doctors' visits. These infections are predominantly represented by vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) and bacterial vaginosis (BV). Although standard antimicrobial agents remain the major strategy for the prevention and treatment of vaginal infections, both VVC and BV are difficult to treat due to high rates of resistance and recurrence, high probability of complications, and negative effects on the vaginal microbiota. This review focuses on a new approach of yeast-based probiotics for the prevention and/or treatment of these common vaginal infections

A Bacillus subtilis cell fraction (BCF) inducing calcium carbonate precipitation: biotechnological perspectives for monumental stone reinforcement

Abstract Monumental stone decay is a consequence of the weathering action of physical, chemical and biological factors, which induce a progressive increase in porosity. To cope this degradation, bacterial calcium carbonate mineralization has been proposed as a tool for the conservation of monumental calcareous stones. The advantage of this kind of treatment is to obtain a mineral product similar to the stone substrate, mimicking the natural process responsible for stone formation. In this work, the possibility to induce CaCO3 mineralization by a bacteria-mediated system in absence of viable cells was investigated and tested on stone. Our results showed that Bacillus subtilis dead cells as wells as its bacterial cell wall fraction (BCF) can act as calcite crystallization nuclei in solution. BCF consolidating capability was further tested in laboratory on slab stones, and in situ on the Angera Church, a valuable 6th century monumental site. New crystals formation was observed inside pores and significant decrease in water absorption (up to 16.7%) in BCF treated samples. A little cohesion increase was observed in the treated area of the Angera Church, showing the potential of this application, even though further improvements are needed

In vivo induction of neutrophils chemotaxis by secretory aspartyl proteinases of Candida albicans

Secretory aspartyl proteinases (Saps) of Candida albicans are key virulence traits which cause inflammasome-dependent, aseptic inflammation in a mouse model of vaginitis. In this paper, neutrophil migration in response to Sap2, Sap6 and chemo-attractive products released from Sap-treated vaginal epithelium was measured in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo. Our results show that Sap2 and Sap6 induce neutrophil migration and production of potent chemoattractive chemokines such as IL-8 and MIP-2 by vaginal epithelial cells. Our data suggest that at least part of MIP-2 production depends upon IL-1β activity. The vaginal fluid of Candida-infected mice contained a heat-labile inhibitor of neutrophil candidacidal activity that was absent from the vaginal fluid of Sap-treated mice. Overall, our data provide additional information on the capacity of C. albicans Saps to cause aseptic vaginal inflammation and highlight the potential role of some chemokines released from vaginal epithelial cells in this phenomenon

Induction of caspase-11 by aspartyl proteinases of Candida albicans and implication in promoting inflammatory response

We recently demonstrated that the secreted aspartyl proteinases (Saps), Sap2 and Sap6, of Candida albicans have the potential to induce the canonical activation of NLRP3-inflammasome leading to the secretion of IL-1β and IL-18 via caspase-1 activation. We also observed that the activation of caspase-1 is partially independent from the NLRP3 activation pathway. In this study, we examined whether Sap2 and Sap6 are also able to activate the noncanonical inflammasome pathway in murine macrophages. Our data show that both, Sap2 and Sap6, can activate caspase-11 through type I IFN production. Caspase-11 concurs to activate caspase-1 with subsequent increase of IL-1β secretion. Endocytosis and internalization of Saps are required for the induction of type I IFN production, that is essential for induction of noncanonical inflammasome activation. Our study indicates a sophisticated interplay between caspase-1 and caspase-11 that connects canonical and noncanonical pathways of inflammasome activation in response to C. albicans Saps

A Purified Capsular Polysaccharide Markedly Inhibits Inflammatory Response during Endotoxic Shock

Capsular material of the opportunistic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans is mainly composed of a polysaccharide named glucuronoxylomannan (GXM). In this study, the effects of GXM were analyzed in an in vivo experimental system of LPS-induced shock. Endotoxic shock was induced in mice by a single intraperitoneal injection of LPS from Escherichia coli. GXM treatment reduced the mortality of mice at early stages. Mice treated with LPS alone showed markedly increased plasma levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6, whereas mice treated with GXM too showed significantly lower plasma levels of these cytokines. This effect was related to a marked suppression of Akt and IkBα activation. Importantly, the inhibitory effect of GXM on pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion was reproduced by treatment with Wortmannin, an inhibitor of the Akt transcription pathway. Our results indicate that GXM has a beneficial effect on endotoxic shock, resulting in a significant increase in rate of survival by dampening the hyper-inflammatory response

Saccharomyces cerevisiae CNCM I-3856 as a New Therapeutic Agent Against Oropharyngeal Candidiasis

Oropharyngeal candidiasis is a common opportunistic mucosal infection of the oral cavity, mainly caused by an overgrowth of Candida albicans. This infection can inhibit nutritional intakes and strongly affect quality of life. To date, standard therapeutic strategies involving the administration of antifungal drugs can bring several side effects, not least the emergence of drug-resistant strains. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of Saccharomyces cerevisiae CNCM I-3856 (live or inactivated cells) against oropharyngeal candidiasis. Our results show that administration of S. cerevisiae CNCM I-3856 (live or inactivated cells) in the oral cavity of C57BL/6J mice resulted in a protective effect against oropharyngeal candidiasis. The strongest effect was obtained with live S. cerevisiae CNCM I-3856. This was related to: (1) a decrease in C. albicans load in the oral cavity, esophagus, stomach, and duodenum; (2) an early resolution of inflammatory process in the tongue; (3) a marked reduction in C. albicans virulence factors; and (4) a consistent increase in neutrophil antimicrobial capacity. These findings suggest that S. cerevisiae products are potentially beneficial in the treatment of oropharyngeal candidiasis

Immunity of honeybee guards reflects their transition from house bees to foragers

Eusocial insect colonies represent some of the most extreme examples of specialized division of labor. Ageing in workers is often associated with a temporal polyethism in the tasks performed both inside and outside the colony. Such behavioral transition is sometimes linked to a gradual reduction in individual immunity. Here, we studied the immune ability of Apis mellifera guard bees, which represent an intermediate stage between house bees working inside the nest and foragers collecting resources outside, to assess if their specific task is associated with an immune specialization. Through immune challenge with Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, we compared the guards ability to clear bacterial cells from their haemolymph with respect to house bees and foragers. Our findings demonstrate that guards do not show an immune specialization linked to their task but seem to represent a transition also in terms of immunity, since their anti-bacterial response appears intermediate between house bees and foragers

Formalizing Data Deletion in the Context of the Right to be Forgotten

The right of an individual to request the deletion of their personal data by an entity that might be storing it -- referred to as the right to be forgotten -- has been explicitly recognized, legislated, and exercised in several jurisdictions across the world, including the European Union, Argentina, and California. However, much of the discussion surrounding this right offers only an intuitive notion of what it means for it to be fulfilled -- of what it means for such personal data to be deleted. In this work, we provide a formal definitional framework for the right to be forgotten using tools and paradigms from cryptography. In particular, we provide a precise definition of what could be (or should be) expected from an entity that collects individuals' data when a request is made of it to delete some of this data. Our framework captures several, though not all, relevant aspects of typical systems involved in data processing. While it cannot be viewed as expressing the statements of current laws (especially since these are rather vague in this respect), our work offers technically precise definitions that represent possibilities for what the law could reasonably expect, and alternatives for what future versions of the law could explicitly require. Finally, with the goal of demonstrating the applicability of our framework and definitions, we consider various natural and simple scenarios where the right to be forgotten comes up. For each of these scenarios, we highlight the pitfalls that arise even in genuine attempts at implementing systems offering deletion guarantees, and also describe technological solutions that provably satisfy our definitions. These solutions bring together techniques built by various communities