Accumulation of anthocyanins and characteristics of fruits of blood oranges during cold storage

Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar o conteúdo de antocianinas no suco e as características físicas e químicas dos frutos de oito variedades de laranjas sanguíneas e de laranja Valência, e, também, verificar os efeitos do armazenamento dos frutos a 10ºC, durante um período de até 60 dias, nos parâmetros avaliados. Os teores de antocianina foram determinados utilizando-se de um método espectrofotométrico, assim como dez características físicas e químicas dos frutos e dos sucos foram avaliadas antes e durante o armazenamento. Todas as variedades de laranja avaliadas apresentaram naturalmente baixos teores ou nenhum teor de antocianina no suco. O armazenamento durante um período de até 60 dias, em baixa temperatura, possibilitou acúmulo significativo de antocianina no suco, porém de maneira desigual nas variedades de laranjas sanguíneas testadas. As variedades Moro foram as que apresentaram suco contendo os maiores teores de antocianina no final do armazenamento. À exceção de duas variedades, Sanguinelli (Marrocos e Polidari), as demais variedades sanguíneas avaliadas podem ser consideradas como semelhantes entre si e adequadas ao consumo. O armazenamento dos frutos a 10ºC, durante o período máximo de 60 dias, alterou significativamente somente as variáveis: largura de frutos, teor de SS, acidez e o rendimento de suco.The aim of this study was to assess the content of anthocyanins in the juice and the physical and chemical characteristics of the fruit of eight blood orange varieties and of orange Valencia, and also verify the effects of storage of fruits at 10ºC, for a period of up to 60 days, in the same parameters. The anthocyanin content was determined using a spectrofotometric method and ten physical and chemical characteristics of the fruits and juice were also evaluated before and during the storage. Under natural conditions all varieties showed fruits with low anthocyanin content in the juice. Cold storage during a period of up to 60 days enables a significant accumulation of anthocyanin in the juice, but in a different level in the evaluated blood orange varieties. Moro is the variety that showed the highest anthocyanin content in the end of the storage period. Except for two Sanguinelli varieties (Morocco and Polidari), the other varieties can be considered as similar as others and suitable for consumption. The storage of fruits to 10ºC during the maximum period of 60 days significantly modifies only fruit width, juice content in fruits, soluble solids content and acidity of the juice

Identification of species belonging to the Bifidobacterium genus by PCR-RFLP analysis of a hsp60 gene fragment

Abstract BACKGROUND: Bifidobacterium represents one of the largest genus within the Actinobacteria, and includes at present 32 species. These species share a high sequence homology of 16S rDNA and several molecular techniques already applied to discriminate among them give ambiguous results.The slightly higher variability of the hsp60 gene sequences with respect to the 16S rRNA sequences offers better opportunities to design or develop molecular assays, allowing identification and differentiation of closely related species. hsp60 can be considered an excellent additional marker for inferring the taxonomy of the members of Bifidobacterium genus. RESULTS: This work illustrates a simple and cheap molecular tool for the identification of Bifidobacterium species. The hsp60 universal primers were used in a simple PCR procedure for the direct amplification of 590 bp of the hsp60 sequence. The in silico restriction analysis of bifidobacterial hsp60 partial sequences allowed the identification of a single endonuclease (HaeIII) able to provide different PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns in the Bifidobacterium spp. type strains evaluated. The electrophoretic analyses allowed to confirm the different RFLP patterns. CONCLUSIONS: The developed PCR-RFLP technique resulted in efficient discrimination of the tested species and subspecies and allowed the construction of a dichotomous key in order to differentiate the most widely distributed Bifidobacterium species as well as the subspecies belonging to B. pseudolongum and B. animalis

The rapid spread of SARS-COV-2 Omicron variant in Italy reflected early through wastewater surveillance

The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant emerged in South Africa in November 2021, and has later been identified worldwide, raising serious concerns. A real-time RT-PCR assay was designed for the rapid screening of the Omicron variant, targeting characteristic mutations of the spike gene. The assay was used to test 737 sewage samples collected throughout Italy (19/21 Regions) between 11 November and 25 December 2021, with the aim of assessing the spread of the Omicron variant in the country. Positive samples were also tested with a real-time RT-PCR developed by the European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), and through nested RT-PCR followed by Sanger sequencing. Overall, 115 samples tested positive for Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant. The first occurrence was detected on 7 December, in Veneto, North Italy. Later on, the variant spread extremely fast in three weeks, with prevalence of positive wastewater samples rising from 1.0% (1/104 samples) in the week 5–11 December, to 17.5% (25/143 samples) in the week 12–18, to 65.9% (89/135 samples) in the week 19–25, in line with the increase in cases of infection with the Omicron variant observed during December in Italy. Similarly, the number of Regions/Autonomous Provinces in which the variant was detected increased fromone in the first week, to 11 in the second, and to 17 in the last one. The presence of the Omicron variant was confirmed by the JRC real-time RT-PCR in 79.1% (91/115) of the positive samples, and by Sanger sequencing in 66% (64/97) of PCR amplicons

The rapid spread of SARS-COV-2 Omicron variant in Italy reflected early through wastewater surveillance

The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant emerged in South Africa in November 2021, and has later been identified worldwide, raising serious concerns. A real-time RT-PCR assay was designed for the rapid screening of the Omicron variant, targeting characteristic mutations of the spike gene. The assay was used to test 737 sewage samples collected throughout Italy (19/21 Regions) between 11 November and 25 December 2021, with the aim of assessing the spread of the Omicron variant in the country. Positive samples were also tested with a real-time RT-PCR developed by the European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), and through nested RT-PCR followed by Sanger sequencing. Overall, 115 samples tested positive for Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant. The first occurrence was detected on 7 December, in Veneto, North Italy. Later on, the variant spread extremely fast in three weeks, with prevalence of positive wastewater samples rising from 1.0% (1/104 samples) in the week 5-11 December, to 17.5% (25/143 samples) in the week 12-18, to 65.9% (89/135 samples) in the week 19-25, in line with the increase in cases of infection with the Omicron variant observed during December in Italy. Similarly, the number of Regions/Autonomous Provinces in which the variant was detected increased from one in the first week, to 11 in the second, and to 17 in the last one. The presence of the Omicron variant was confirmed by the JRC real-time RT-PCR in 79.1% (91/115) of the positive samples, and by Sanger sequencing in 66% (64/97) of PCR amplicons. In conclusion, we designed an RT-qPCR assay capable to detect the Omicron variant, which can be successfully used for the purpose of wastewater-based epidemiology. We also described the history of the introduction and diffusion of the Omicron variant in the Italian population and territory, confirming the effectiveness of sewage monitoring as a powerful surveillance tool

"Se potessi cominciare a dire noi..."

La Psicoanalisi e la Gruppoanalisi hanno messo in evidenza come l\u2019apparato psichico del bambino si costruisca essenzialmente in relazione all\u2019ambiente sociale e familiare. Il default di tale processo porta alla costruzione di una identit\ue0 fragile e di conseguenza a una relazione dove l\u2019Altro pu\uf2 rappresentare una incognita potenzialmente minacciosa e la dimensione della \u2018tolleranza\u2019 ne risulta pesantemente coartata. Attraverso alcune vignette cliniche si evidenzia come il piccolo gruppo terapeutico favorisca il raggiungimento di una identit\ue0 pi\uf9 consapevole e nel contempo pi\uf9 solidale e tollerante

Probiotici e prebiotici nell\u2019alimentazione animale

L\u2019incidenza delle malattie trasmesse da alimenti di origine animale \ue8 in costante ascesa in tutti i Paesi industrializzati; si crea, perci\uf2, la necessit\ue0 di attuare misure di controllo sempre pi\uf9 restrittive negli allevamenti, soprattutto a seguito del divieto sull\u2019uso degli antibiotici come promotori della crescita a scopo sub-terapeutico. I principali patogeni che si ritrovano nei prodotti di origine animale, a volte veicolati nel tratto gastrointestinale degli animali in maniera asintomatica, sono: Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium perfringens, E. coli 0157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus. \uc8 necessario trovare, velocemente, soluzioni alternative per controllare e prevenire la diffusione dei patogeni enterici, al fine di ridurre la loro presenza nel prodotto finito e limitare la minaccia per la salute dell\u2019uomo. La modulazione del tratto gastrointestinale, attraverso l\u2019utilizzo di additivi alimentari come probiotici e prebiotici, offre una valida soluzione per mantenere gli animali in salute, ridurre il rischio di contrarre malattie gastrointestinali e migliorare la qualit\ue0 delle carni destinate al consumo umano. In questo articolo verranno discusse le pi\uf9 recenti applicazioni di probiotici e prebiotici in campo animale, volte alla riduzione della presenza di microrganismi patogeni, potenziali cause di intossicazioni alimentari, nelle carni

Identification of Bifidobacterium spp. using hsp60 PCR-RFLP analysis: An update

A PCR-RFLP technique has been applied on 13 species of Bifidobacterium in order to update a previous study carried out by Baffoni et al. [1]. This method is based on the restriction endonuclease activity of HaeIII on the PCR-amplified hsp60 partial gene sequence, and allows a rapid and efficient identification of Bifidobacterium spp. strains at species and subspecies level

I percorsi assistenziali del malato oncologico terminale: uno studio retrospettivo

Sono stati studiati retrospettivamente i percorsi assistenziali territoriali e residenziali degli ultimi 3 mesi di vita dei deceduti per cancro nel distretto della Vallagarina (TN) nel 2008. Obiettivo. Descrivere i percorsi degli ultimi 90 giorni di vita, di tutti i deceduti per cancro. Metodi. Sono state utilizzate più fonti: schede di dimissione ospedaliera, sistemi informativi aziendali, banca dati del servizio di cure palliative (CP), documentazione cartacea dei servizi di CP e domiciliari e intervistati i familiari dei pazienti seguiti dai medici di medicina generale (MMG). Risultati. Sono stati individuati 4 percorsi: Persone assistite prevalentemente dal MMG, in Residenze Sanitarie Assistenziali (RSA), in RSA a sede Ospedaliera o in Lungodegenza, dalle CP. L’incidenza delle ospedalizzazioni varia in base al tipo di percorso (25.5% delle potenziali giornate di assistenza per il percorso MMG, 1.3% il percorso CP) come anche durata media dei ricoveri ospedalieri (18.7 giorni nel percorso MMG, 5.6 giorni nel percorso CP). In pochi casi il MMG attiva forme di assistenza domiciliare a intensità intermedia quali l’Assistenza Domiciliare Integrata (10.8% delle persone) o l’Assistenza Domiciliare Programmata (12.7% delle persone). I caregiver delle persone del percorso MMG vorrebbero avere maggiori informazioni sul quadro clinico e sulle varie possibilità di assistenza domiciliare, per partecipare alle scelte. Solo pochi affermano che non avrebbero avuto la possibilità di un’assistenza domiciliare. Conclusioni. I pazienti assistiti dal MMG e quelli assistiti dalle CP hanno percorsi molto diversi. La carenza di informazioni ricevute dai caregiver sembra giocare un ruolo importante nel condizionare i diversi percorsi

Lo strumento dell'intervista narrativa e i casi

Il contributo ha come oggetto la metodologia di ricerca e le tecniche di indagine attraverso cui sono state somministrate interviste qualitative narrative che hanno permesso di raccogliere una serie di racconti di vita relativi ad eventi avversi in sanità fra i quali sono stati selezionati alcuni fra i più significativi, al fine di esemplificare i vissuti degli operatori assieme ai meccanismi con i quali il servizio sanitario ha risposto sia all’evento in sé che all’operatore coinvolto