Semi-continuous Chlorella vulgaris Cultivation Using Anaerobic Digestate Liquid Fraction Pre-treated by Ultrasonic Cavitation to Improve Carbon Dioxide Solubilization

Nutrients-enriched effluents such as digestate can represent a suitable and economically appealing substrate for microalgae growth since they combine the effluent treatment with biomass production. Then, microalgae biomass can be exploited to produce several bio-based compounds. However, the use of digestate for microalgae cultivation can be challenging due to its high levels of ammonia nitrogen and its low C/N ratio. For this reason, an ultrasonic cavitation (UC) process combined with carbon dioxide (CO2) insufflation was tested on digestate, in order to obtain a faster solubilization of the CO2 in the medium and thus an increase in the C/N ratio. The test was carried out growing Chlorella vulgaris on both digestate (mixotrophic condition) and BG-11 medium (autotrophic condition) in 1 L photobioreactors. For the first 14 days of the experiment the reactors were maintained in batch conditions to acclimatize microalgae. Then, they were switched to semi-continuous for 32 days. The reactors were fed three times a week, with an HRT (Hydraulic Retention Time) of 10.5 d as weekly average. Regarding the test on digestate, both UC pre-treated and untreated conditions reached the highest biomass production at the end of the batch (4.8 and 4.1 g L-1 respectively) and a complete ammonium (NH4+) removal after 9 days. The switch to semi-continuous caused an increase in NH4+ concentration and a consistent decrease in biomass concentration. Biomass production reached the steady-state, with a concentration of 1.9 and 1.2 g L-1 for the UC pre-treated and untreated digestate, respectively (+55.6 % biomass production obtained with UC pre-treated digestate). Moreover, an NH4+ removal of 93.5 % and 92.3 % was reached for UC pre-treated and untreated conditions, respectively

Antioxidant Activity of Supercritical CO2 Extracts of Helichrysum italicum

The antioxidant activity of supercritical CO2 extracts of H. italicum dried flower heads derived from the commercial drug and from plants grown in different areas of north-east Italy with different culturing conditions was determined. In particular, the characterization of the antioxidant activity was made by the DPPH and b-carotene bleaching test methods. The four kind of H. italicum extracts were also tested for their ability to scavenger superoxide radicals. All extracts showed, although with different importance, an antioxidant activity with all the methods performed. The supercritical extracts obtained from commercial dried H. italicum flower heads and from dried flower heads belonging to wild plants exhibited the highest activity. These results established H. italicum supercritical extracts as important antioxidant solvent-free matrices in alimentary (i.e., dietary, nutraceutical, flavouring) and cosmetic fields, as well as the value of coastal Mediterranean areas to serve as an exploitable source of important plant matrices

Circulating progenitor cells are reduced in patients with severe lung disease

Patients with chronic severe lung disease are prone to develop pulmonary vascular remodeling, possibly through pulmonary endothelial dysfunction. Circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are involved in maintenance of endothelial homeostasis. The aim of this study was to assess whether obstructive and restrictive lung diseases are associated with modification of EPC number in peripheral blood. The study was cross-sectional and involved patients with obstructive (n = 15) and restrictive (n = 15) lung disease on oxygen therapy and 15 control subjects. Circulating EPCs were defined by the surface expression of CD34, CD133, and kinase-insert domain receptor. Results from spirometric tests, blood gas analyses, and blood cell counts have been related to EPC numbers. Patients with chronic hypoxia and severe lung disease showed lower levels of all progenitors than do control subjects. A consensual further reduction of EPC was found in restrictive patients in comparison with obstructive patients. Among restrictive patients, EPC reduction was related to reduced lung volumes and impaired alveolo-arterial diffusion, whereas progenitor cell levels were directly related to erythrocyte number. Considering obstructive patients, significant correlations were found between progenitor cell levels and bronchial obstruction and between progenitor cell levels and arterial oxygen tension. These findings demonstrate a reduction of EPCs in patients with chronic lung disease and long-lasting hypoxia. This alteration was more evident in restrictive patients and correlated to disease severity. Depletion of circulating EPCs may be involved in altered endothelial homeostasis of pulmonary circulation in these disorders

Effets d'aliments truie transition et d'aliments porcelets sous la mère enrichis en fibres alimentaires sur la santé digestive de porcelets infectés par Escherichia coli entérotoxigène (ETEC)

Feeding strategies in early life have been shown to modulate piglet gut health, but effects on disease susceptibility have yet to be explained. We aimed to study effects of dietary-fibre-enriched diets fed to sows around farrowing (transition diet) and to suckling piglets (creep feed) on post-weaning gut health of piglets challenged with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC)

Organic Food \u201cYes\u201d, Organic Food \u201cNo\u201d A Discussion between Specialists with the Italian Parliament in the Fray

The SETA group (Agricultural Science and Technology) sent a letter to the Italian Parliament advising them not to adopt a legislative measure that favors organic and biodynamic agriculture compared to the conventional one. Another group of scientists thinks instead that the Italian government should favor organic and biodynamic agriculture and explains its reasons. The current article lists the SETA letter and the point of view of other Italian and international ecologists, economists, pedologists, ecologists, writers and artists, which are tendentially \u201cprotectors of nature\u201d but not idealists. Nor are they so much in agreement with each other. Judge for yourself in scrolling through the Discussion chapter. The divergence leads to the \u201cwhy\u201d it is necessary to switch to organic farming not on the \u201cneed\u201d to do so. There are also disappointments about the use of GMOs or the costs of highly technological agriculture. The situation is such on planet Earth that it is necessary to involve the whole society to get out of it. In addition, politicians are also needed to structure the collective action that only if conceived by the whole society and not by individuals or by non-coordinated organizations can save our species. We are convinced that agriculture and soil are among the fundamental levers of this action