Ceruloplasmin Interferes with the Assessment of Blood Lipid Hydroperoxide Content in Small Ruminants

Simple and inexpensive analytical methods for assessing redox balance in biological matrixes are widely used in animal and human diagnostics. Two of them, reactive oxygen metabolites (ROMs) and total oxidant status (TOS), evaluate the lipid hydroperoxide (LOOH) content of the sample and are based on iron-mediated mechanisms. However, these tests provide uncorrelated results. In this study, we compared these two tests in the blood serum of goat kids and lambs, together with an evaluation of ceruloplasmin (CP) oxidase activity. No significant correlation was found between ROMs and TOS, or between TOS and CP oxidase activity, in either species. Conversely, ROMs and CP oxidase activity were highly correlated in both kid and lamb samples (p < 0.001). A significant progressive reduction in the analytical signal in the ROMs assay was observed when sodium azide, an effective CP inhibitor, was added to the samples before the assay (p < 0.001). This decrease was related to sodium azide concentration (p < 0.01) and was not found when sodium azide was added at the same concentrations in the TOS assay. These findings suggest that ROMs, unlike TOS, may be affected by CP, which interferes with LOOH detection in blood samples

Prediction of service life of polymeric sealant compositions for fuel tanks in aerospace structures from measurements of viscoelastic properties Annual report

Prediction of service life of polymeric sealers for fuel tanks from viscoelastic measurement

Non-kirchhoff vertices and nonlinear schrodinger ground states on graphs

We review some recent results and announce some new ones on the problem of the existence of ground states for the Nonlinear Schrodinger Equation on graphs endowed with vertices where the matching condition, instead of being free (or Kirchhoff's), is non-trivially interacting. This category includes Dirac's delta conditions, delta prime, Fulop-Tsutsui, and others

Investors’ aspirations toward social impact: A portfolio-based analysis

In the last ten years, we have witnessed a proliferation of investors claiming blended value strategies, i.e., pursuing both economic and social returns in their investments. Aside from this rush for self-selecting in a blended value finance context, we still do not know to what extent the investors’ claims actually reflect investment decisions. Evidence suggests that, in some cases, such investors tend to maximize the social performance over the financial performance; in some others, the effect is reverted, but literature currently lacks studies aligning the analysis of the investment decisions with the investment portfolios. Yet, it is still unclear whether blended value investment decisions are enacted as a result of investors’ deliberate strategies and what influences this relationship. In this paper we tackle this issue, analyzing the extent to which investors’ finance firms pursuing goals aligned with their strategic aspirations. Specifically, adopting a Fractional Logistic Regression model, we test the effect of investors’ aspirations toward social impact on the extent to which their investees (i.e., the portfolio of firms in which they invest) pursue social returns. Results suggest the existence of a positive and significant investor–portfolio alignment effect (i.e., the higher the investors’ aspirations toward social impact, the higher the number of investees with higher social aspirations). Yet, this effect is influenced by contingencies at both investor and portfolio levels. Investors with strong aspirations toward social impact that: (i) invest in countries with high levels of social inequality, and (ii) are located in countries that support social progress and maximize, in their portfolios, the presence of businesses pursuing social impact. We discuss implications for future researchers, policymakers and practitioners

Electrophysiology and Fluorescence Spectroscopy Approaches for Evaluating Gamete and Embryo Functionality in Animals and Humans

This review has examined two of the techniques most used by our research group for evaluating gamete and embryo functionality in animal species, ranging from marine invertebrates to humans. Electrophysiology has given access to fundamental information on some mechanisms underpinning the biology of reproduction. This technique demonstrates the involvement of ion channels in multiple physiological mechanisms, the achievement of homeostasis conditions, and the triggering of profound metabolic modifications, often functioning as amplification signals of cellular communication. Fluorescence spectrometry using fluorescent probes to mark specific cell structures allows detailed information to be obtained on the functional characteristics of the cell populations examined. The simple and rapid execution of this methodology allowed us to establish a panel helpful in elucidating functional features in living cells in a simultaneous and multi-parameter way in order to acquire overall drafting of gamete and embryo functionality

Study of the performance of disinfection with sodium hypochlorite on a full-scale sewage treatment plant

A full-scale sewage treatment plant was investigated to assess the performance of the disinfection stage. Sodium hypochlorite was used as a disinfectant agent and the process efficiency was evaluated by E.coli removal. The research took place over a period of two years in order to evaluate the effect of retention time (t) and residual chlorine (Cr) under different seasonal conditions. The effectiveness of E.coli removal with sodium hypochlorite proved to be strictly dependent on the factor CR t (product of residual chlorine with the contact time). The regression line of the experimental points was, on the whole, well comparable with the model proposed by Collins, especially in the field of CRt lower than 30 mg L-1 min

Effect of ultrasonic post-treatment on anaerobic digestion of lignocellulosic waste

This paper evaluates the effects of ultrasonication (US) applied, individually or in combination with a mechanical treatment, to the effluent of anaerobic digestion (AD) of lignocellulosic waste, on methane (CH4) production. US of the substrate downstream of AD is a relatively novel concept aimed at improving the degradation of recalcitrant components in order to enhance the overall energy efficiency of the process. US tests were carried out on real digestate samples at different energies (500−50,000 kJ/kg total solids (TS), corresponding to sonication densities of 0.08−0.45 W/ml). AD tests were performed on mixtures of sonicated (Sus) and untreated (S) substrate at two different Sus: S ratios (25:75 and 75:25 w/w), simulating post-sonicated material recycling to the biological process. The US effect was estimated through the solubilization degree of organic matter, as well as the CH4 production yield and kinetics, which were all found to be enhanced by the treatment. At Sus: S = 75:25 and Es ≥ 20,000 kJ/kg TS (0.25 W/ml), CH4 production improved by 20% and the values of the kinetic parameters increased by 64–82%