Micotossine: prevenire è molto, molto meglio che curare

Food contamination with fungal secondary metabolites has been a major limit for population wellness and development in the past. Although today social protection against this plague has been established in most countries, there are still many areas in the world where mycotoxin contamination causes illness and even death, due to the lack of healthy conditions for the storage of commodities. Information and knowledge are the main weapons available to contrast the danger of food contamination by mycotoxins. In several instances, information about the severity of the issue alone would have been effective in preventing cases of acute intoxications. Prevention is the winning strategy not only at the level of the end consumer, but also as far as the production is concerned. Thanks to the advances in the understanding of fungal epidemiology and mycotoxin synthesis, strategies for the prevention or at least for the limitation of mycotoxin contaminations have been developed in recent years. As far as cereal production in Italy is concerned, proper storage conditions are now widely adopted, and protocols for good practice in cultivation are being followed by an increasing number of producers. In addition, rapid methods for the early detection of contaminants and quality assessment have been developed and, when introduced in the routine field operation, may lead to substantial improvements of product quality

DNA origami nanorobot fiber optic genosensor to TMV

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Light-Up Split Broccoli Aptamer as a Versatile Tool for RNA Assembly Monitoring in Cell-Free TX-TL Systems, Hybrid RNA/DNA Origami Tagging and DNA Biosensing

Binary light-up aptamers are intriguing and emerging tools with potential in different fields. Herein, we demonstrate the versatility of a split Broccoli aptamer system able to turn on the fluorescence signal only in the presence of a complementary sequence. First, an RNA three-way junction harbouring the split system is assembled in an E. coli-based cell-free TX-TL system where the folding of the functional aptamer is demonstrated. Then, the same strategy is introduced into a ‘bio-orthogonal’ hybrid RNA/DNA rectangle origami characterized by atomic force microscopy: the activation of the split system through the origami self-assembly is demonstrated. Finally, our system is successfully used to detect the femtomoles of a Campylobacter spp. DNA target sequence. Potential applications of our system include the real-time monitoring of the self-assembly of nucleic-acid-based devices in vivo and of the intracellular delivery of therapeutic nanostructures, as well as the in vitro and in vivo detection of different DNA/RNA targets

Electronic nose predicts high and low fumonisin contamination in maize cultures

The ability of an electronic nose, based on a 6 metal oxide semiconductor chemical sensors array, to diagnose fungal contamination, to detect high fumonisin content and to predict fumonisin concentration was evaluated in vitro. Maize cultures were inoculated with Fusarium verticillioides, F. proliferatum, F. oxysporum, F. semitectum, F. solani and F. subglutinans. Sterilised maize cultures were used as reference. Fungal colonies and fumonisin content of the maize samples were used as covariates for statistical analyses and for electronic nose training. Univariate and multivariate exploratory data analysis showed that the electronic nose discriminated the inoculated maize culture samples according to their fumonisin content. Partial Least Square was also implemented to build a multivariate regression model based on EN signals for quantitative fumonisin prediction. The EN could correctly recognize high and low fumonisin content of maize cultures and provide a fair quantitative estimation. The validity of EN technology to perform a rapid screening of maize cultures in order to identify levels of fumonisin contamination below the acceptability threshold was established. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Non-Pathogenic Aspergillus oryzae Acute Exogenous Endophthalmitis after Penetrating Keratoplasty: The First Case Report in the Literature

The authors report a singular case of post-operative exogenous fungal endophthalmitis caused by a non-pathogenic fungal agent: Aspergillus oryzae. A 75-year-old Caucasian woman with post-penetrating keratoplasty fungal endophthalmitis due to a nonpathogenic A. oryzae, resistant to the current azoles anti-fungal agents, was treated with subtotal vitrectomy, intravitreal injection, and systemic voriconazole therapy. Complete resolution of the endophthalmitis occurred after two subsequent intravitreal injections and a 2-month-long systemic delivery of voriconazole. The quick identification of the fungal agent allowed immediate and targeted therapy. In the article, the safety and efficacy of both systemic and intravitreal voriconazole treatments are discussed

Micotossine: prevenire è molto, molto meglio che curare

Food contamination with fungal secondary metabolites has been a major limit for population wellness and development in the past. Although today social protection against this plague has been established in most countries, there are still many areas in the world where mycotoxin contamination causes illness and even death, due to the lack of healthy conditions for the storage of commodities. Information and knowledge are the main weapons available to contrast the danger of food contamination by mycotoxins. In several instances, information about the severity of the issue alone would have been effective in preventing cases of acute intoxications. Prevention is the winning strategy not only at the level of the end consumer, but also as far as the production is concerned. Thanks to the advances in the understanding of fungal epidemiology and mycotoxin synthesis, strategies for the prevention or at least for the limitation of mycotoxin contaminations have been developed in recent years. As far as cereal production in Italy is concerned, proper storage conditions are now widely adopted, and protocols for good practice in cultivation are being followed by an increasing number of producers. In addition, rapid methods for the early detection of contaminants and quality assessment have been developed and, when introduced in the routine field operation, may lead to substantial improvements of product quality

Ochratoxin A-producing strains of Penicillium spp. isolated from grapes used for the production of “passito” wines

The post-harvest mycobiota of dried grapes, used in Friuli Venezia Giulia (Northern-East Italy) for the production of '' passito '' dessert wines, was investigated in order to detect potential ochratoxin A (OTA)-producers. Five grape cultivars were analysed and only isolates belonging to the genera Aspergillus and Penicillium were evaluated. No Aspergillus spp. was found while 379 strains of Penicillium spp. were isolated. Four strains produced UV fluorescent metabolites on grape juice agar and synthetic liquid media as observed by thin-layer chromatography (TLC). Three of these resulted OTA producers when analyzed by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), following immunoaffinity column purification. According to the results of morphological examinations and ribosomal DNA sequencing, the OTA producer strains did not belong to the species P. verrucosum or P. nordicum. The corresponding passito wines did not contain OTA

Chemiluminescent optical fibre genosensor for porcine meat detection

An easy, rapid and sensitive method for the detection of meat species is important to identify adulterationor fraudulent substitution in raw meats with undeclared species. We report herein the development ofan optical fibre genosensor able to detect low level of pork (Sus Scrofa) meat in mixtures of minced meatobtained by an optimized and faster DNA extraction protocol. Our approach uses highly specific andsensitive DNA capture and secondary probes designed out of the mitochondrion genome of Sus Scrofa.Once DNA capture probes were immobilized on optical fibres, we demonstrate their putative applicationas genosensors in detecting Sus Scrofa DNA in purified samples obtained first using a commercial DNAextraction kit and thereafter using our improved extraction method. Furthermore, analysis of beef (Bostaurus) minced meat samples also show that the assay can determine 1% (w/w) of Sus Scrofa DNA. Thesensitivity obtained by the optical fibre and the short time required for the results (about 2.5 h) indicatethe usefulness of the system. We envision that this genosensor may serve as a diagnostic tool for foodsample screening using a technology that is accurate, simple to perform and has the potential to be usedin portable format

Age Dependent Modification of the Metabolic Profile of the Tibialis Anterior Muscle Fibers in C57BL/6J Mice

Skeletal muscle aging is accompanied by mass reduction and functional decline, as a result of multiple factors, such as protein expression, morphology of organelles, metabolic equilibria, and neural communication. Skeletal muscles are formed by multiple fibers that express different Myosin Heavy Chains (MyHCs) and have different metabolic properties and different blood supply, with the purpose to adapt their contraction to the functional need. The fine interplay between the different fibers composing a muscle and its architectural organization determine its functional properties. Immunohistochemical and histochemical analyses of the skeletal muscle tissue, besides evidencing morphological characteristics, allow for the precise determination of protein expression and metabolic properties, providing essential information at the single-fiber level. Aiming to gain further knowledge on the influence of aging on skeletal muscles, we investigated the expression of the MyHCs, the Succinate Dehydrogenase (SDH) activity, and the presence of capillaries and Tubular Aggregates (TAs) in the tibialis anterior muscles of physiologically aging C57BL/6J mice aged 8 (adult), 18 (middle aged), and 24 months (old). We observed an increase of type-IIB fast-contracting fibers, an increase of the oxidative capacity of type-IIX and -IIA fibers, a general decrease of the capillarization, and the onset of TAs in type-IIB fibers. These data suggest that aging entails a selective modification of the muscle fiber profiles