Custom Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization: the Importance of DNA Quality, an Expert Eye, and Variant Validation.

The presence of false positive and false negative results in the Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization (aCGH) design is poorly addressed in literature reports. We took advantage of a custom aCGH recently carried out to analyze its design performance, the use of several Agilent aberrations detection algorithms, and the presence of false results. Our study provides a confirmation that the high density design does not generate more noise than standard designs and, might reach a good resolution. We noticed a not negligible presence of false negative and false positive results in the imbalances call performed by the Agilent software. The Aberration Detection Method 2 (ADM-2) algorithm with a threshold of 6 performed quite well, and the array design proved to be reliable, provided that some additional filters are applied, such as considering only intervals with average absolute log2ratio above 0.3. We also propose an additional filter that takes into account the proportion of probes with log2ratio exceeding suggestive values for gain or loss. In addition, the quality of samples was confirmed to be a crucial parameter. Finally, this work raises the importance of evaluating the samples profiles by eye and the necessity of validating the imbalances detected

Evolution of Yeast Populations during Different Biodynamic Winemaking Processes

This work was performed to evaluate the evolution of indigenous yeasts during wine productions carriedout following the principles of biodynamic agriculture. Five trials were designed with different technologicalinterventions consisting of the addition of nitrogen (in the form of ammonium salt), thiamine salt, oxygen,and pied de cuvée at varying concentrations. Yeasts were estimated by haemocytometer chamber and platecounts and identified by sequencing of the D1/D2 domain of the 26S rRNA gene. The isolates identified asSaccharomyces cerevisiae were found to dominate must fermentations and were genetically differentiatedby interdelta sequence analysis (ISA). Several non-Saccharomyces species, in particular Hanseniasporaspp. and Candida spp., were found at subdominant levels during must fermentation. The trial added withboth nitrogen and thiamine (NTV) showed the highest fermentation rate and microbial richness. Theinternal surfaces of the cellar equipment were characterised by a certain yeast biodiversity and hosted thespecies found during winemaking; the wooden surfaces represented the primary source of inoculation of astrain of S. cerevisiae found dominant in all winemaking trials

New insights into the quality characteristics of milk from Modenese breed compared with Italian Friesian

This study examined the milk quality of the autochthonous cattle breed Modenese (MO) in comparison with Italian Friesian (IF), at peak and mid lactation, with the aim to support the interest in sustainability of the local cattle breeds in Europe. Forty-eight individual milk samples were collected from 11 MO and 14 IF pluriparous cows, housed in a free stall barn under similar conditions of feeding and management, at 8 and 21 weeks post-calving; daily milk yield (MY) and body condition score (BCS) were individually recorded. Breed differences were observed, being MY lower in MO cows, but BCS, titratable acidity, freezing point, casein (MC), total calcium (Ca), total phosphorus (P) and colloidal P contents were higher compared to IF cows. Time affected BCS, MY, milk protein (MP), MC, urea, casein P and the micellar content of colloidal Ca and colloidal inorganic P. A factorial analysis was performed and four common factors were obtained with a cumulative explained variance of 77.7% of the total original. MO milk showed a nutritionally interesting mineral profile and processing properties suitable for the production of typical cheese that could be interesting for improving the interest in the conservation of animal genetic resources

Unveiling the actual progress of Digital Building Permit: Getting awareness through a critical state of the art review

Growing interest is awarded to the digitalization of the building permitting use case and many works are developed about the topic. However, the subject is very complex and many aspects are usually tackled separately, making it very hard for traditional literature reviews to grasp the actual progress in the overall topic. This paper unveils the detailed state of the art in Digital Building Permitting (DBP) by critically analysing the literature by means of a set of coding tags (research progress, implementation, affected DBP workflow steps, ambitions addressed) assigned by a multidisciplinary team. The executed research shows that the mainly addressed aspects of the digitalization of building permit process are the technologies to check the compliance of design proposals against regulations, followed by the digitalization of regulations. Improvable aspects identified in the entire building permit system are instead e.g. the involvement of officers, scalability of solutions and interoperability of data, intended both as data validation and as integration of geospatial data with building models. © 2022 The Author

A Wide Range of Strategies to Cope with Healthcare Workers’ Vaccine Hesitancy in A North-Eastern Italian Region: Are They Enough?

The recent pandemic reminded the world of the high risk of healthcare workers (HCWs) and patient contagiousness along with the healthcare services disruption related to nosocomial outbreaks. This study aims at describing vaccination campaigns within healthcare institutions of a North-Italian Region and comparing their effectiveness in term of vaccination coverage. In December 2019, we surveyed all healthcare institutions of Friuli Venezia Giulia Region throughout an email questionnaire with 15 questions investigating strategies adopted for the vaccination of HCWs against influenza and other vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs), along with actions put in place in case of a VPD exposure. We found a strong heterogeneity in VPDs prevention and control policy and practice for HCWs, along with responsibility attribution ranging among different stakeholders. Strategies adopted to promote vaccination included a wide range of methods, but HCWs’ influenza vaccination coverage still ranged from 17.0 to 33.3%. Contact tracing after a VPD exposure did not always include medical residents and students and visitors/caregivers/extra personnel as possible contacts. Even if knowledge and complacency gaps among HCWs could be faced with education activities, more efforts should be done in identifying and implementing effective vaccination strategies, and mandatory vaccination for HCWs could be introduced to achieve host, herd, and healthcare immunity preventing possible hospital outbreaks

Seasonal Variations of the Protein Fractions and the Mineral Contents of the Cheese Whey in the Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese Manufacture

The milk whey remaining at the end of the cheese-making process is the main by-product of the dairy industries and it is currently used as a source of high added-value compounds by the food and pharmaceutical industries. The aim of this research was to study the effects of the season on the residual whey characteristics in the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese-making process. Over two years, a total of 288 cheese-making trials of Parmigiano Reggiano PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) cheese were performed in three commercial cheese factories and, in each trial, a sample of the vat milk (V-milk) and of the residual whey (C-whey) were collected. The C-whey values of dry matter and non-fat matter were higher in winter and autumn than in spring and summer. Moreover, the C-whey fat and crude protein contents were also higher in autumn (0.52 and 0.89 g/100 g, respectively) and lower in spring (0.44 and 0.83 g/100 g, respectively) and summer (0.46 and 0.84 g/100 g, respectively). Furthermore, crude whey protein resulted to be the major fraction of crude protein (97.96%). Crude whey protein and true whey protein were higher in autumn and lower in spring and summer and their values mainly depended on milk whey protein. Finally, the C-whey average contents of phosphorus and magnesium were higher in autumn and winter than in summer

Study of the in vivo and in vitro variations of the enzymatic activity of bovine rumen fluid inocula

Aim of the present work was to quantify the enzymatic activities (EAs) of rumen fluids (RFs) collected as inoculum in “in vitro” digestibility tests, in the attempt to assess the possible variations of RFs degradative capacity. A further objective was to evaluate the effects of the incubation of RFs on a standard substrate on enzyme expression by rumen microbes. In a first trial the activities of cellulase (C), amilase (A) and xylanase (X) were tested on 7 rumen fluid pools collected from two cows fed a hay-forage based diet in the interval June-September 2015. The EAs were tested using the radial enzyme diffusion method (RED) using substrate concentrations of 0.5%, 0.5% and 0.1% for C, A and X respectively. Wide variations of rumen fluid EA were observed with values (area of the halo surface; mm2 ) ranging from 295.75 to 621.70 for C, from 310.26 to 495.40 for A and from 95.00 to 723.17 for X. The differences observed between the rumen fluids examined were significant for all the enzymes (p<.001) The EAs decreased in August, probably in relationship to heat/dietary stress. In a second trial, 3 different pools of (RFs), collected from cows fed no (NC), medium (MC) or high concentrate (HC) diets, were incubated in triplicate “in vitro” on a standard substrate (lactating cows total mixed ration). The relative EA were tested at different intervals (h: 1, 2, 4, 8, 24 and 48) to evaluate the dynamic of C, A and X enzymes expression pattern by ruminal microbiota, and to individuate the interval at which the different inoculums showed similar and/or maximum EAs. Initial EA were NC ¼ 226.12; MC ¼ 198.49 and HC ¼ 282.93 mm2 for A activity; NC ¼ 250.32, MC ¼ 365.67 and HC ¼ 578.79 mm2 for C; NC ¼ 227.83; MC ¼ 95.00; HC ¼ 124.10 mm2 for X. An increase of EA was observed for A from 4 to 8 hours, with maximum values of 321.71 for NC, 270.99 for MC and 304.27 mm2 for HC. EA peaks were observed for C at 2 and 8 h. X activity showed a maximum value at 8 h for HC (208.67 mm2 ) and after 48 h for NC (343.5 mm2 ) and MC (288.07 mm2 ). Similar values of EA in the 3 pools (NC, MC and HC) were observed at 24 h for C and at 4 h for X. Concerning A, two (MC and HC) out of 3 pools showed similar EA values at 24 h. The RFs EA can vary widely across inoculums from the same animals. Incubations affects EA, generally inducing an increase in RFs coming from NC diet, and a decrease in RFs derived from HC diet, with similar values at variable intervals depending on the enzyme