Shelf-life and enzymatic oxidation in fresh cut escarole

[SPA] Modified atmospheres, saturated in N2 and Ar, have been studied for their effect on the final quality of six cultivars of fresh-cut escarole. The study has observed that the fresh-like properties and consumer acceptability, relative to browning and, therefore, to shelf-life was good up to 14 days, especially in modified atmospheres, in which PPO reduces the oxidation of polyphenols. [ENG] Se ha estudiado el efecto de la atmósfera modificada, saturada de N2 y Ar en la calidad final de seis tipos diferentes de escarola recién cortadas. De dicha investigación, se ha observado que las propiedades de la frescura y la aceptación por parte de los consumidores, relativos al escurecimiento del producto, y, como consecuencia, la conservación en las estanterías frigorífico llegaba a 14 días, y especialmente, las muestras sometidas a la atmósfera modificada, llegando a la conclusión de que, en dichas condiciones, el ppo reduce la acción del oxígeno sobre los polifenoles.This work was supported by MIUR, PON 2000-2006, Project n. 12839 Agroindustry

Partial characterization of Vitis vinifera grapes var. Ancellotta

Abstract Freezing point depression and some physical characteristics of Vitis vinifera grapes var. Ancellotta were investigated after two different post-harvest treatments of samples (slow air-freezing at −18°C and storage at 2°C in N 2 atmosphere). The measured acinus mean weight and diameter, relative weight composition of a cluster and total soluble solids content differed slightly from those of fresh grapes. The observed freezing point depression values for treated grapes and grape juice were smaller than the respective calculated data. The differences were characterized by alteration in soluble solids composition due to the treatments, which decreased solute-solvent interactions

Oxidases activities and antioxidant capacity of minimally processed baby romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. cv. duende) cultivated under different salinity conditions

[SPA] El pardeamiento enzimático es uno de los principales problemas implicados en el procesamiento mínimo y en la siguiente conservación de hortalizas de hoja, reduciendo la vida comercial del producto. Se han evaluado las variaciones de las dos principales oxidasas, polifenol oxidasa (PPO) y peroxidasa (POD), así como del contenido en fenoles, del color y de la capacidad antioxidante (metodo ORAC) durante 10 días de conservación a 4 °C de lechuga Baby Romaine (Lactuca sativa L. cv. Duende) mínimamente procesada, cultivada bajo 3 distintas condiciones de salinidad (2,8, 3,8, 4,8 dS/m), para determinar la condición más apta al siguiente procesamiento. Niveles crecientes de salinidad redujeron las dos actividades enzimáticas durante 7 días de conservación. En las muestras cultivadas en condición de elevada salinidad se observó también la menor variación de color, expresada como ΔE* [(ΔL*2+Δa*2+Δb*2)1/2], y la menor reducción de contenido en fenoles y de capacidad antioxidante en el día 3. [ENG] Enzymatic browning is a main problem involved in minimal processing and further storage of leafy vegetables, leading to shorter shelf-life of the product. Changes in the two oxidative activities, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD), as well as in total phenolic content, colour parameters and antioxidant capacity (assayed with ORAC method), were monitored during 10 days of storage at 4 °C of minimally processed Baby Romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. cv. Duende) cultivated under 3 different salinity conditions (2,8, 3,8, 4,8 dS/m), in order to determine the most suitable condition for further processing. Increasing levels of salinity reduced both oxidases activities immediately after cutting and throughout 7 days of storage. Samples cultivated under high salinity had also the lowest change in colour, expressed as ΔE* [(ΔL*2+Δa*2+Δb*2)1/2], and showed the lowest reduction in total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity after 3 days of storage

Tecnologie alimentari: problemi svolti di operazioni unitarie

Le Operazioni Unitarie (OU) costituiscono gli elementi base del flow-sheet di un processo produttivo. Le OU fondamentali comuni a più processi si basano sugli stessi principi, relativi a fenomeni chimico-fisici e biologici, e quindi su tecnologie simili, anche se naturalmente le apparecchiature, i materiali di costruzione e le condizioni operative devono essere adattate. Questa scomposizione logica, permette di realizzare un qualsiasi processo mediante una sequenza ottimale di OU (Biardi G., ed. Città Studi, 2009), in cui occorre che lo studente acquisisca le medesime conoscenze e competenze. Per tale motivo le OU, vengono impartite in un insegnamento a parte, con un metodo “unitario”, che prescindendo dai specifici processi e prodotti alimentari ne semplifica lo studio e ne permette il controllo, l’ottimizzazione e il dimensionamento nelle realtà aziendali. A tal fine lo studio delle OU, impartito nei corsi di studio di Scienze e Tecnologie Alimentari (L/26 e LM/70) e in altri (di chimica, ingegneria, tecnologie farmaceutiche, etc.), si avvale della modellazione, in particolare di quella matematica, per simulare fenomeni reali e prevederne gli effetti; l’acquisizione pertanto di conoscenze di base di tipo fisico-matematico diventa indispensabile

Il "Modello Friuli" di ricostruzione

Il Modello Friuli rappresenta l’unico processo di ricostruzione, di ampia scala, attuato con successo in Italia. Tramite il contributo di alcuni esperti che hanno partecipato, da protagonisti, alla ricostruzione dopo il terremoto del 1976, il volume cerca di definire cosa sia stato e i motivi per cui risulti difficilmente replicabile nonostante l’indubbio successo e il generale apprezzamento che ancora lo circonda. Esso è, innanzitutto, un modello autocentrato di ricostruzione territoriale. Oggi, pertanto, può apparire ‘inattuale’ non tanto perché obsoleto o troppo legato ad uno specifico contesto spazio-temporale, quanto perché poco compatibile con il ritorno di riorganizzazioni spaziali gerarchiche e di politiche neo-centralistiche: esso si ispira infatti ad una autonomia e ad una firmitas territoriale che va oltre l’attuale ‘liquidità’ dei poteri locali. Il Modello Friuli, quindi, nei suoi principi di fondo, attende di essere ripreso e rilanciato non solo come risposta ai recenti eventi sismici, ma anche come “grammatica” del governo del territorio tout court poiché ha anticipato efficacemente relazioni spaziali e tra i poteri fondate sulla missione ultima di ogni territorio che voglia sopravvivere nel tempo nonostante crisi o catastrofi: costruire solide alleanze tra comunità locali, conoscenza (anche tecnica) e politica

Debito e dono

The analysis of the concept of the gift implies the analysis of the concept of debt. In the context of our post-global age, an age in which the grands récits which Jean François Lyotard spoke about in the ‘70’s are anything but extinct and now simply hidden or inscribed in the language and order of our society, they work intensely to reify social relations, and it is debt that has taken on a primary role in the construction of the world

Acute Delta Hepatitis in Italy spanning three decades (1991–2019): Evidence for the effectiveness of the hepatitis B vaccination campaign

Updated incidence data of acute Delta virus hepatitis (HDV) are lacking worldwide. Our aim was to evaluate incidence of and risk factors for acute HDV in Italy after the introduction of the compulsory vaccination against hepatitis B virus (HBV) in 1991. Data were obtained from the National Surveillance System of acute viral hepatitis (SEIEVA). Independent predictors of HDV were assessed by logistic-regression analysis. The incidence of acute HDV per 1-million population declined from 3.2 cases in 1987 to 0.04 in 2019, parallel to that of acute HBV per 100,000 from 10.0 to 0.39 cases during the same period. The median age of cases increased from 27 years in the decade 1991-1999 to 44 years in the decade 2010-2019 (p < .001). Over the same period, the male/female ratio decreased from 3.8 to 2.1, the proportion of coinfections increased from 55% to 75% (p = .003) and that of HBsAg positive acute hepatitis tested for by IgM anti-HDV linearly decreased from 50.1% to 34.1% (p < .001). People born abroad accounted for 24.6% of cases in 2004-2010 and 32.1% in 2011-2019. In the period 2010-2019, risky sexual behaviour (O.R. 4.2; 95%CI: 1.4-12.8) was the sole independent predictor of acute HDV; conversely intravenous drug use was no longer associated (O.R. 1.25; 95%CI: 0.15-10.22) with this. In conclusion, HBV vaccination was an effective measure to control acute HDV. Intravenous drug use is no longer an efficient mode of HDV spread. Testing for IgM-anti HDV is a grey area requiring alert. Acute HDV in foreigners should be monitored in the years to come

Gaia Early Data Release 3: Structure and properties of the Magellanic Clouds

We compare the Gaia DR2 and Gaia EDR3 performances in the study of the Magellanic Clouds and show the clear improvements in precision and accuracy in the new release. We also show that the systematics still present in the data make the determination of the 3D geometry of the LMC a difficult endeavour; this is at the very limit of the usefulness of the Gaia EDR3 astrometry, but it may become feasible with the use of additional external data. We derive radial and tangential velocity maps and global profiles for the LMC for the several subsamples we defined. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the two planar components of the ordered and random motions are derived for multiple stellar evolutionary phases in a galactic disc outside the Milky Way, showing the differences between younger and older phases. We also analyse the spatial structure and motions in the central region, the bar, and the disc, providing new insights into features and kinematics. Finally, we show that the Gaia EDR3 data allows clearly resolving the Magellanic Bridge, and we trace the density and velocity flow of the stars from the SMC towards the LMC not only globally, but also separately for young and evolved populations. This allows us to confirm an evolved population in the Bridge that is slightly shift from the younger population. Additionally, we were able to study the outskirts of both Magellanic Clouds, in which we detected some well-known features and indications of new ones

Ideologia come forma di incremento consumistico. Analisi dei processi di evoluzione, omologazione e trasformazione dei valori sociali attraverso lo strumento pubblicitario e le strategie di marketing = Ideology as a form of consumerist growth. Analysis of evolution, standardization and transformation processes of social values through the advertising medium and marketing strategies

This paper proposes a study that contributes to decline advertising in ideological terms, facing and conceptualizing old and new strategies, that allow to analyze advertising as an ideology. Introducing the scope of this work briefly, it will provide a first screening of the advertising phenomenon, then move on to examine the possible power aspects exercised on consumers, its persuasive force and related theories. The cultural comparison will provide further food for analysis, which will highlight both the values transformation brought by advertising that effects on behavior, on the needs and social relations. The last part will analyze the communications/advertising report, with examples of commercials that will introduce a short explanatory reference to marketing industry studies. The conclusions summarize their goals, focused on the mentioned spot

Fantozzi: un volto umano tra il tragicomico ed il nichilismo = Fantozzi: a human face between tragicomics and nihilism

This essay’s construction would start with a brief analysis of Rag. Ugo Fantozzi’s character, and the socio-media impact that his figure, since the mid-seventies, has brought on society, focusing on two points of reflection. The first, the best known and "popular", perhaps, concerns the language that is born and spreads from the films of the saga. Terms such as "Megaditta" or "Megagalattico", or the conjunctive conjunctions, such as "Vadi" and "Dichi", have entered in the common language use even today, bringing a structural change in the communication that, hypothetically, would become an all-Italian slang integration, which is alienated, this time, from contaminating elements of extraterritorial importation. The second point of reflection concerns Fantozzi worker image, the average employee who reflects his daily life in the historical and social context in which the character lives, the existential drama of those who suffer, those who doesn’t know / cannot to react, of those who have neither the abilities nor the will to emulate the powerful, enduring with resignation a mobbing without way out, under penalty of an identity dissolution that is now totally annihilated. The example comes from the Fantozziana mask which, if, on the hand, shows profound hatred for years of servility and exploitation, on the other hand is unable to do without it because his life would no longer make sense without the Megaditta. This situation could be compared between Fantozzi and today's precarious worker, albeit taking into account the professional gap between the two figures, trying to bring possible common points between the two parties, first, then go into a generalized view of a similar reality in which we cannot finally affirm that we are all Fantozzi a little, with a bitter smile