Elimination of Salmonella cross-contamination on eggs using antimicrobial coating

Gastro-intestinal infections caused by Salmonella strains, together with Campylobacter, are among the most common food-borne diseases in Italy (EFSA journal 2016). Therefore, it is important to avoid the spreading of bacterial colonization on different type of foods. A common vector of Salmonella are eggs, which can be contaminated by the laying hen (vertical or horizontal infection) or by contact with contaminated eggs of food (cross-contamination). At the moment, the Italian prevention practices to control Salmonella spreading are bacterial controls on laying hens and their environment and eggs brushing before packaging. Other countries allow eggs washing, but this process decreases the shelf-life of the product. This study investigates the efficiency of an antimicrobial coating to avoid Salmonella cross-contamination on eggs. Coating the eggs with a pectin-alginate polymer drastically improves their food safety and reduces the recovery of Salmonella colonies from the egg surface. Therefore, the occurrence of cross-contamination would be highly reduced as well. The positive effect of the coating itself showed to be highly effective even without the addition of antibacterial agents such as LAE. This active packaging could guarantee higher safety for eggs and opens the possibility to test this procedure on other food matrices common carriers of potentially pathogenic bacteria

Sperm quality improvement after natural anti-oxidant treatment of asthenoteratospermic men with leukocytospermia

Aim: To study the immune-modulating and anti-oxidant effects of beta-glucan, papaya, lactoferrin, and vitamins C and E on sperm characteristics of patients with asthenoteratozoospermia associated with leucocytosis. Methods: Fifty-one patients referred to our Sterility Center for semen analysis were selected. Sperm parameters were assessed before and after patient's treatment with beta-glucan, lactoferrin, papaya, and vitamins C and E. DNA damage was assessed by the acridine orange test and sperm structural characteristics were evaluated by transmission electron microscopy. Results: After 90 days of treatment, an increase in the percentage of morphologically normal sperm (17.0 ± 5.2 vs. 29.8 ± 6.5) and total progressive motility (19.0 ± 7.8 vs. 34.8 ± 6.8) were detected. Structural sperm characteristics as well as chromatin integrity were also improved after treatment. In terms of leukocyte concentration in seminal fluid, a significant reduction was recorded (2.2 ± 0.9 vs. 0.9 ± 0.2). Conclusion: The treatment of an inflammatory process by the synergic action of immune modulators and anti-oxidants could protect sperm during maturation and migration, leading to improved sperm function

Management at the service of research: ReOmicS, a quality management system for omics sciences

AbstractManagement and research represent a binomial almost unknown, whose potentialities and requirements have not yet been fully exploited even if, recently, the scientific and social communities have felt the burden of producing results and data requiring at the same time reproducibility, reliability, safety and efficacy of the discoveries, as well as a profitable use of resources. A Quality Management System (QMS) could represent a valid tool for these purposes, improving the quality of the research. The research community could ask whether and how it is possible to apply this approach in a research laboratory without hindering their creativity, and what the possible benefits might be. On the other hand, an international standard for a quality management system appropriate for a research laboratory is yet to come. The choice, the design and the application of a QMS, inspired by the Good Laboratory Practices, in a research laboratory specialized on "omics" sciences, is fully described in this paper. Its application has already shown good outcomes as testified by specific metric of efficiency and effectiveness. The approach is innovative as there is no obvious requirement for research laboratories to develop and define quality objectives. The paper highlights how the QMS approach enhances the relationship with public and private sectors by increasing customer confidence and loyalty, as well as improving the overall performance of the laboratory in terms of throughput and value of research. These results encourage proposing it as a QMS model providing a new and scalable operational strategy to be applied in a research environment with the same target and even in a generic research laboratory

Bloch surface waves-controlled fluorescence emission: coupling into nanometer-sized polymeric waveguides

The lateral confinement of Bloch surface waves on a patterned multilayer is investigated by means of leakage radiation microscopy (LRM). Arrays of nanometric polymeric waveguides are fabricated on a proper silicon-nitride/silicon-oxide multilayer grown on a standard glass coverslip. By exploiting the functional properties of the polymer, fluorescent proteins are grafted onto the waveguides. A fluorescence LRM analysis of both the direct and the Fourier image plane reveals that a substantial amount of emitted radiation couples into a guided mode and then propagates into the nanometric waveguide. The observations of the mode are supported by numerical simulations

Flock together with CReATIVE-B: A roadmap of global research data infrastructures supporting biodiversity and ecosystem science

Biodiversity research infrastructures are providing the integrated data sets and support for studying scenarios of biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics. The CReATIVE-B project - Coordination of Research e-Infrastructures Activities Toward an International Virtual Environment for Biodiversity – explored how cooperation and interoperability of large-scale Research Infrastructures across the globe could support the challenges of biodiversity and ecosystem research. A key outcome of the project is that the research infrastructures agreed to continue cooperation after the end of the project to advance scientific progress in understanding and predicting the complexity of natural systems. By working together in implementing the recommendations in this Roadmap, the data and capabilities of the cooperating research infrastructures are better served to address the grand challenges for biodiversity and ecosystem scientists

Cognitive Outcomes and Relationships with Phenylalanine in Phenylketonuria: A Comparison between Italian and English Adult Samples

We aimed to assess if the same cognitive batteries can be used cross-nationally to monitor the effect of Phenylketonuria (PKU). We assessed whether a battery, previously used with English adults with PKU (AwPKU), was also sensitive to impairments in Italian AwPKU. From our original battery, we selected a number of tasks that comprehensively assessed visual attention, visuo-motor coordination, executive functions (particularly, reasoning, planning, and monitoring), sustained attention, and verbal and visual memory and learning. When verbal stimuli/or responses were involved, stimuli were closely matched between the two languages for psycholinguistic variables. We administered the tasks to 19 Italian AwPKU and 19 Italian matched controls and compared results from with 19 English AwPKU and 19 English matched controls selected from a previously tested cohort. Participant election was blind to cognitive performance and metabolic control, but participants were closely matched for age and education. The Italian AwPKU group had slightly worse metabolic control but showed levels of performance and patterns of impairment similar to the English AwPKU group. The Italian results also showed extensive correlations between adult cognitive measures and metabolic measures across the life span, both in terms of Phenylalanine (Phe) levels and Phe fluctuations, replicating previous results in English. These results suggest that batteries with the same and/or matched tasks can be used to assess cognitive outcomes across countries allowing results to be compared and accrued. Future studies should explore potential differences in metabolic control across countries to understand what variables make metabolic control easier to achieve

Role of S128R polymorphism of E-selectin in colon metastasis formation

The extravasation of cancer cells is a key step of the metastatic cascade. Polymorphisms in genes encoding adhesion molecules can facilitate metastasis by increasing the strength of interaction between tumor and endothelial cells as well as impacting other properties of cancer cells. We investigated the Ser128Arg (a561c at the nucleotide level) polymorphism in the E-selectin gene in patients with metastatic colon cancer and its functional significance. Genotyping for a561c polymorphism was performed on 172 cancer patients and on an age-matched control population. The colon cancer group was divided into groups with (M(+)) and without observable metastasis (M(-)). For in vitro functional assays, Huvec transfected cells expressing wild-type (WT) or the S128R variant of E-selectin were established to study in vitro binding ability and signal transduction processes of T84 colon cancer cell line. Our results demonstrated that the Arginine(128) allele was more prevalent in the M(+) group than in the M(-) group or normal controls (p < 0.005; odds ratio, 1.56; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.16-1.92; p < 0.001, odds ratio = 1.65; CI = 1.24-1.99, respectively). In vitro, S128R E-selectin transfected Huvec cells, supported increased adhesion as well as increased cellular signaling of T84 cancer cells compared to WT E-selectin and mock-transfected Huvec cells. These findings suggest that the E-selectin S128R polymorphism can functionally affect tumor-endothelial interactions as well as motility and signaling properties of neoplastic cells that may modulate the metastatic phenotype

Audiogenic epileptic DBA/2 mice strain as a model of genetic reflex seizures and SUDEP

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disease characterized by abnormal brain activity, which results in repeated spontaneous seizures. Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is the leading cause of seizure-related premature death, particularly in drug-resistant epilepsy patients. The etiology of SUDEP is a structural injury to the brain that is not fully understood, but it is frequently associated with poorly controlled and repeated generalized tonic–clonic seizures (GTCSs) that cause cardiorespiratory and autonomic dysfunctions, indicating the involvement of the brainstem. Both respiratory and cardiac abnormalities have been observed in SUDEP, but not much progress has been made in their prevention. Owing to the complexity of SUDEP, experimental animal models have been used to investigate cardiac and/or respiratory dysregulation due to or associated with epileptic seizures that may contribute to death in humans. Numerous rodent models, especially mouse models, have been developed to better understand epilepsy and SUDEP physiopathology. This review synthesizes the current knowledge about dilute brown agouti coat color (DBA/2) mice as a possible SUDEP model because respiratory arrest (RA) and sudden death induced by audiogenic generalized seizures (AGSs) have been observed in these animals. Respiratory/cardiac dysfunction, brainstem arousal system dysfunction, and alteration of the neurotransmitter systems, which are observed in human SUDEP, have also been observed in these mice. In particular, serotonin (5-HT) alteration and adenosine neurotransmission appear to contribute to not only the pathophysiological mechanisms of medication but also seizure-related respiratory dysfunctions in this animal model. These neurotransmitter systems could be the relevant targets for medication development for chronic epilepsy and SUDEP prevention. We reviewed data on AGSs in DBA/2 mice and the relevance of this model of generalized tonic–clonic epilepsy to human SUDEP. Furthermore, the advantages of using this strain prone to AGSs for the identification of possible new therapeutic targets and treatment options have also been assessed