Analysis of peach fruit slices osmotically dehydrated with sorbitol and hot-air-dried over a 55-day conservation period

PosterPeach is a subtropical fruit with a fleshy pulp and a delicate aroma. It’s the third more commercialized fruit around the globe; though, it is perishable having a short shelf life. Different strategies are currently used to preserve its nutraceutical properties. Osmotic dehydration (OD) previous heat drying is an emergent procedure which prevents browning and the bioactive compound loss due to prolonged heating. While different sugars such sucrose can be used during OD, sorbitol is a healthier alternative. Sorbitol is naturally occurring in peach fruit and it has a reduced calorie value and a very low glycemic index, which make it ideal for diabetic persons and for consumers that are looking for a snack reduced in sugars. Previously, we showed that sorbitol can be used as osmolyte in the OD processing of peach fruit slices, rendering a healthy product. In the current work, we studied the stability over a 55-day period of dried peach slices which were osmotically dehydrated with sorbitol previous to heat drying. Flordarking peaches from San Pedro, Buenos Aires, were harvested at commercial maturity, disinfected, cut in slices and immersed in CaCl2 and ascorbic acid solutions. Then, the slices were incubated at 40°C in a 47° Brix sorbitol solution during 3 hours under stirring. Subsequent, they were dried at 58°C during 4 h until 8.3±1.0 % relative water content (RWC ). Slices were stored in a closed glass container with a supersaturated solution of sodium bromide to generate a 50 % relative humidity atmosphere. The vessel was placed in a dark chamber at 25 ˚C during 55 days. Color, fresh, and dry weights, sensory texture, antioxidant activity and total protein, glucose, sucrose, sorbitol, ascorbic acid, total phenolics compounds, carotenoids and flavonoids contents were measured at 0, 15, 33, 41, 49 and 55 days after storage. RWC of the stored slices was 27.6±1.3 %, due to humidity equilibration with that of the chamber. Slight changes in slice color were observed during storage, with 55-days stored slices being reddish and less yellow than samples collected at 0. This data agrees with a 75 % decrease in the carotenoid content in samples analyzed at day 55. Conversely, antioxidant activity, total protein, glucose, sucrose, sorbitol, ascorbic acid, total phenolic compounds, and flavonoids contents, and manual fracture, texture and cohesiveness were constant over time . After 15 days, firmness and crunchy perception was increased and accompanied with a decrease in oral breakdown. Taking together, osmotic dehydration with sorbitol before heat drying is a plausible option to dehydrate peaches slices and to generate a healthy snack for diabetic consumers that maintains its nutritional properties and bioactive compounds over at least 55 days after processing.EEA San Pedro, INTAFil: Gabilondo, Julieta. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Pedro; ArgentinaFil: Salvañal, Lara. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Centro de Estudios Fotosintéticos y Bioquímicos; ArgentinaFil: Salvañal, Lara. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Estudios Fotosintéticos y Bioquímicos; ArgentinaFil: Fracesconi, Rafaela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Estudios Fotosintéticos y Bioquímicos; ArgentinaFil: Budde, Claudio Olaf. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Pedro; ArgentinaFil: Pieroni, Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Pieroni, Victoria. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la provincia de Buenos Aires. Instituto Superior Experimental de Tecnología Alimentaria (CIC-ISETA). Departamento de Evaluación Sensorial de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Gugole Ottaviano, María Fernanda. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la provincia de Buenos Aires. Instituto Superior Experimental de Tecnología Alimentaria (CIC-ISETA). Departamento de Evaluación Sensorial de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Sosa, Miriam. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la provincia de Buenos Aires. Instituto Superior Experimental de Tecnología Alimentaria (CIC-ISETA); ArgentinaFil: Sosa, Miriam. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Andres, Silvina C. Comisión Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos (CIDCA), CONICET-CICPBA-Fac.Cs.Exactas.UNLP; ArgentinaFil: Andres, Silvina C. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos (CIDCA). CONICET-CICPBA- Fac. Cs. Exactas UNLP, La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Garitta, Lorena. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la provincia de Buenos Aires. Instituto Superior Experimental de Tecnología Alimentaria (CIC-ISETA); ArgentinaFil: Garitta, Lorena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Lara, María Valeria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Estudios Fotosintéticos y Bioquímicos; ArgentinaFil: Corbino, Graciela Beatriz. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Pedro; Argentin

The "Defibrillation Testing, Why Not?" survey. Testing of subcutaneous and transvenous defibrillators in the Italian clinical practice

Background: Defibrillation testing (DT) can be omitted in patients undergoing transvenous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (T-ICD) implantation, but it is still recommended for patients at risk for a high defibrillation threshold and for ICD generator changes. Moreover, DT is still recommended on implantation of subcutaneous ICD (S-ICD). The aim of the present survey was to analyze the current practice of DT during T-ICD and S-ICD implantations.Methods: In March 2021, an ad hoc questionnaire on the current performance of DT and the standard practice adopted during testing was completed at 72 Italian centers implanting S-ICD and T-ICD.Results: 48 (67%) operators reported never performing DT during de-novo T-ICD implantations, while no operators perform it systematically. The remaining respondents perform it for patients at risk for a high defibrillation threshold. DT is never performed at T-ICD generator change. At the time of de-novo S-ICD implantation, DT is never performed by 9 (13%) operators and performed systematically by 48 (66%). The remaining operators frequently omit DT in patients with more severe systolic dysfunction. DT is not performed at S-ICD generator change by 92% of operators. DT is conducted by delivering a first shock energy of 65 J by 60% of operators, while the remaining 40% test lower energy values.Conclusions: In current clinical practice, most operators omit DT at T-ICD implantation, even when still recommended in the guidelines. DT is also frequently omitted at S-ICD implantation, and a wide variability exists among operators in the procedures followed during DT

Rethinking the Gains from Immigration: Theory and Evidence from the U.S.

Recent influential empirical work has emphasized the negative impact immigrants have on the wages of U.S.-born workers, arguing that immigration harms less educated American workers in particular and all U.S.-born workers in general. Because U.S. and foreign born workers belong to different skill groups that are imperfectly substitutable, one needs to articulate a production function that aggregates different types of labor (and accounts for complementarity and substitution effects) in order to calculate the various effects of immigrant labor on U.S.-born labor. We introduce such a production function, making the crucial assumption that U.S. and foreign-born workers with similar education and experience levels may nevertheless be imperfectly substitutable, and allowing for endogenous capital accumulation. This function successfully accounts for the negative impact of the relative skill levels of immigrants on the relative wages of U.S. workers. However, contrary to the findings of previous literature, overall immigration generates a large positive effect on the average wages of U.S.-born workers. We show evidence of this positive effect by estimating the impact of immigration on both average wages and housing values across U.S. metropolitan areas (1970-2000). We also reproduce this positive effect by simulating the behavior of average wages and housing prices in an open city-economy, with optimizing U.S.-born agents who respond to an inflow of foreign-born workers of the size and composition comparable to the immigration of the 1990s

Dupilumab in the treatment of severe uncontrolled chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP): A multicentric observational Phase IV real-life study (DUPIREAL)

Background Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is associated with significant morbidity and reduced health-related quality of life. Findings from clinical trials have demonstrated the effectiveness of dupilumab in CRSwNP, although real-world evidence is still limited. Methods This Phase IV real-life, observational, multicenter study assessed the effectiveness and safety of dupilumab in patients with severe uncontrolled CRSwNP (n = 648) over the first year of treatment. We collected data at baseline and after 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of follow-up. We focused on nasal polyps score (NPS), symptoms, and olfactory function. We stratified outcomes by comorbidities, previous surgery, and adherence to intranasal corticosteroids, and examined the success rates based on current guidelines, as well as potential predictors of response at each timepoint. Results We observed a significant decrease in NPS from a median value of 6 (IQR 5–6) at baseline to 1.0 (IQR 0.0–2.0) at 12 months (p < .001), and a significant decrease in Sino-Nasal Outcomes Test-22 (SNOT-22) from a median score of 58 (IQR 49–70) at baseline to 11 (IQR 6–21; p < .001) at 12 months. Sniffin' Sticks scores showed a significant increase over 12 months (p < .001) compared to baseline. The results were unaffected by concomitant diseases, number of previous surgeries, and adherence to topical steroids, except for minor differences in rapidity of action. An excellent-moderate response was observed in 96.9% of patients at 12 months based on EPOS 2020 criteria. Conclusions Our findings from this large-scale real-life study support the effectiveness of dupilumab as an add-on therapy in patients with severe uncontrolled CRSwNP in reducing polyp size and improving the quality of life, severity of symptoms, nasal congestion, and smell

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

Impact of Cultural Tourism Upon Urban Economies: An Econometric Exercise

In recent years, interest in tourism has spread rapidly throughout many small and medium European cities, which previously have not necessarily considered themselves as tourist destinations. Tourism is increasingly seen as a potential lever towards high economic growth, measured both in terms of income and employment. In the present Working Paper we report the analysis on the economic impact undertaken in the framework of the PICTURE Project, showing the results of a novel econometric exercise to statistically assess the impacts of cultural tourism upon European municipalities. More precisely the analysis aims at estimating the effects of tourism specialisation on local income and prices. The Working Paper is built as follows. Section 1 presents and discusses secondary data about tourism facts and figures, including the economic impact of tourism upon European economies, with a focus on cultural tourism. An extensive review of literature, which identifies the main categories of impacts and the currently available methodologies to assess them, is undertaken. Section 2 focuses on the state of the art. Section 3 describes the database built for the analysis, sources and variables. In order to visually represent the spatial variability of the main parameters, a series of thematic maps at NUTS 3 level(Maps of European tourism), using GIS (Geographical Information System) are also included in the Working Paper. Section 4 shows the results of the econometric analysis of European panel data for the estimation of the effects of tourism specialisation on both local incomes and prices. Section 5 concludes

Research Paper - A RESTROSPECTIVE STUDY OF ACUTE SYSTEMIC POISONING OF PARAPHENYLENEDIAMINE (OCCIDENTAL TAKAWT) IN MOROCCO

Paraphenylenediamine (PPD) is commonly used in several industries (dyeing furs, photochemical processes, tyre vulcanisation industries, oxidisable hair dye, etc.). Its allergic effect is well established and many studies are devoted to the subject, but PPD systemic poisoning is not understood. Several acute PPD poisoning cases (accidental or intentional) had been reported, in particular, from Africa and Asia where it is traditionally used mixed with Henna to colour palms of hands and soles of feet and to dye hair. We examine here an eleven-year (1992-2002) retrospective of PPD poisoning reported to the Poison Control Centre of Morocco. It revealed 374 cases with a female predominance (77%). The majority of poisoning was intentional (78.1%) and the group most prone to PPD poisoning were the young population (15.1-25 and 25.1-35 years-old-age groups) accounting for 54.3% and 15.2%, respectively. 21.1% of poisoning cases were fatal, and the source/route of poisoning was by ingestion in the largest number of cases (93%). 50% of poisoning were from the south of Morocco, where phytotherapy knowledge is very developed. The largest number of cases was recorded in 2001 (20.1%). The prevention and treatment of PPD poisoning by public enlightenment is mandatory in the effort to reduce poisoning by this agent

A restrospective study of acute systemic poisoning of paraphenylenediamine (occidental takawt) in Morocco

Paraphenylenediamine (PPD) is commonly used in several industries (dyeing furs, photochemical processes, tyre vulcanisation industries, oxidisable hair dye, etc.). Its allergic effect is well established and many studies are devoted to the subject, but PPD systemic poisoning is not understood. Several acute PPD poisoning cases (accidental or intentional) had been reported, in particular, from Africa and Asia where it is traditionally used mixed with Henna to colour palms of hands and soles of feet and to dye hair. We examine here an eleven-year (1992-2002) retrospective of PPD poisoning reported to the Poison Control Centre of Morocco. It revealed 374 cases with a female predominance (77%). The majority of poisoning was intentional (78.1%) and the group most prone to PPD poisoning were the young population (15.1-25 and 25.1-35 years-old-age groups) accounting for 54.3% and 15.2%, respectively. 21.1% of poisoning cases were fatal, and the source/route of poisoning was by ingestion in the largest number of cases (93%). 50% of poisoning were from the south of Morocco, where phytotherapy knowledge is very developed. The largest number of cases was recorded in 2001 (20.1%). The prevention and treatment of PPD poisoning by public enlightenment is mandatory in the effort to reduce poisoning by this agent.Keywords: paraphenylenediamine, acute poisoning, takawt, Tamarix aphyla, Morocco African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines Vol. 3(1) 2006: 142-14

Pentacene grown on self-assembled monolayer: Adsorption energy, interface dipole, and electronic properties

The energetic, the morphology, the interface dipole formation, and the electronic states of pentacene grown on a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of benzenethiolate on the Cu(100) surface are investigated by complementary structural and spectroscopic techniques. The growth morphology of the heterostructure has been investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM), low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), and photoemission spectroscopy, inferring tightly packed arrangement of grains constituted of pentacene molecules with nearly perpendicular orientation, when a single-layer is deposited on top of the benzenethiolate-SAM. The adsorption energy of the pentacene single layer on the benzenethiolate buffer layer (E-a = 1.16 eV 112 kJ/mol) is found much weaker than for pentacene on the copper surface, as estimated by thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS). The evolution of the spectral density of electronic states in the valence band, obtained by high-resolution ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (HR-UPS), confirms the weak interaction of the pentacene molecules with the benzenethiolate-SAM and the formation of a semiconducting heterostructure, with a hole injection barrier reduced to 0.95 eV with respect to the pentacene/Cu interface