The effect of UV irradiation on vitamin D2 content and antioxidant and antiglycation activities of mushrooms

Mushroom irradiation has been considered a sustainable process to generate high amounts of vitamin D2 due to the role of this vitamin for human health and of the global concerns regarding its deficient or inadequate intake. Mushrooms are also receiving increasing interest due to their nutritional and medicinal properties. However, there is still a knowledge gap regarding the effect of UV irradiation on mushroom bioactive compounds. In this study, two of the most cultivated mushroom species worldwide, Agaricus bisporus and Pleurotus ostreatus, were irradiated with UV-B, and the effect of processing was investigated on the contents of vitamin D2 as well as on antioxidant and antiglycation activities. UV irradiation increased vitamin D2 up to 57 \ub5g/g d.w, which is an adequate level for the fortification of a number of target foods. UV irradiation decreased the antioxidant activity when measured by the Folin\u2013Ciocalteu reagent, the 2,2-diphenyl-1-(2,4,6 trinitrophenyl) hydrazyl radical assay and the ferric ion-reducing antioxidant power assay, but did not decrease the mushroom\u2019s ability to inhibit glycation of a target protein. These results open up a new area of investigation aimed at selecting mushroom species with high nutraceutical benefits for irradiation in order to maintain their potential properties to inhibit oxidative and glycation processes responsible for human diseases

Annotation Schema Oriented Validation for Dependency Parsing Evaluation

Proceedings of the Ninth International Workshop on Treebanks and Linguistic Theories. Editors: Markus Dickinson, Kaili Müürisep and Marco Passarotti. NEALT Proceedings Series, Vol. 9 (2010), 19-30. © 2010 The editors and contributors. Published by Northern European Association for Language Technology (NEALT) http://omilia.uio.no/nealt . Electronically published at Tartu University Library (Estonia) http://hdl.handle.net/10062/15891

Parental engagement and early interactions with preterm infants during the stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: protocol of a mixed-method and longitudinal study

Introduction: The preterm infants\u2019 developmental outcomes depend on both biological and environmental risk factors. The environmental factors include prolonged parental separation, less exposure to early mother/father-infant interactions and the parents\u2019 ability to respond to the trauma of premature birth. In the case of premature birth, the father\u2019s ability to take an active part in the care of the infant from the start is essential. The parents\u2019 emotional closeness to the preterm infant hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) \u2013through touch, affectionate talk, visual contact and facial affect\u2013may be crucial to the well-being of the newborn, the development of mutual regulation, the establishment of a functioning parent-infant affective relationship, and the parents\u2019 confidence in their ability to provide care for their baby. Methods and analysis: This is a mixed-method, observational and longitudinal study. The methodological strategy will include: (1) ethnographic observation in a level III NICU located in Northern Italy for a duration of 18 months; (2) 3+3 min video recordings of mother-infant and father-infant interaction in the NICU; (3) a semi-structured interview with fathers during the infants\u2019 hospital stay; (4) 3+3 min video recordings of mother-infant and father-infant face-to-face interaction in the laboratory at 4 months of corrected age; (5) a self-report questionnaire for parents on depression and a questionnaire on the quality of the couple relationship at the approximate times of the video recording sessions. Ethics and dissemination: The study protocol was approved by the Ethical Committee for Clinical Trials of the Verona and Rovigo Provinces. Results aim to be published in international peer-reviewed journals, and presented at relevant national and international conferences. This research project will develop research relevant to (A) the quality and modalities of maternal and paternal communication with the preterm infant in the NICU; (B) the influence of maternal/paternal social stimulation on the infant behavioral states; (C) the quality and modalities of paternal support to the partner, and possible influences on the mother-infant relationship. Strengths and limitations of this study: - This is one of a small number of studies focused on maternal/paternal communicative behaviors addressed spontaneously to the preterm infant hospitalized in the NICU, and their effects on the infant\u2019s behavioral states. - Results from this project will increase the very scant knowledge about the presence of early interactive contingencies between mother/father and the preterm infant in the NICU, and their possible predictive role of positive outcomes in mother-infant and father-infant relationship. - Findings will be limited to the experiences of Italian parents

Requirements for Information Extraction for Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management (KM) systems inherently suffer from the knowledge acquisition bottleneck - the difficulty of modeling and formalizing knowledge relevant for specific domains. A potential solution to this problem is Information Extraction (IE) technology. However, IE was originally developed for database population and there is a mismatch between what is required to successfully perform KM and what current IE technology provides. In this paper we begin to address this issue by outlining requirements for IE based KM

Use of grape pomace phenolics to counteract endogenous and exogenous formation of advanced glycation end-products

The increase in consumption of \u201cultra-processed\u201d foods has raised attention because of the possible adverse effects deriving from the Maillard reaction leading to the formation of toxic advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) during food processing. Additionally, the increasing trend and consumption of sugar-added foods and sweetened beverages is related to the endogenous formation of the same toxic compounds. However, ultra-processing in the context of food technology can bring challenges as well as a wealth of opportunities. Indeed, re-processing of grape pomace, a by-product of winemaking, can yield phenolic-rich fractions that efficiently counteract the effects of AGEs. In this review, the process of endogenous and exogenous AGE formation is illustrated. Then, the ability of grape phenolics to act as inhibitors of AGE formation is presented, including the efficacy ranking of various individual compounds measured in vitro and the outcome of in vivo double-blinded randomized crossover trials designed to prove the efficacy of grape phenolics as inhibitors of protein carbonylation. Finally, a survey of model functional foods added with grape phenolics, either to lower the dietary load of AGEs or to deliver antiglycation agents in vivo is listed in order to highlight the opportunity to develop safe and tailor-made \u201canti-AGEs\u201d food applications

Home Language Activities and Expressive Vocabulary of Toddlers from Low-SES Monolingual Families and Bilingual Immigrant Families

Children from low-SES (socioeconomic status) and minority language immigrant families are at risk of vocabulary difficulties due to the less varied and complex language in the home environment. Children are less likely to be involved in home language activities (HLA) in interaction with adults in low-SES than in higher-SES families. However, few studies have investigated the HLA variability among low-SES, minority language bilingual immigrant families. This longitudinal study analyzes the frequency and duration of HLA and their predictive roles for expressive vocabulary acquisition in 70 equivalent low-SES monolingual and bilingual toddlers from minority contexts. HLA and vocabulary were assessed at 24 and 30 months in the majority language (Italian) and in total (majority+minority language) using parent and teacher reports. The frequency and duration of HLA in interaction with adults in total, but not in the majority language, at 24 months were similar for the two groups. These activities uniquely accounted for expressive vocabulary at 30 months, after accounting for total vocabulary at 24 months, in both groups. In conclusion, a minority-majority language context is not an additional risk factor for vocabulary acquisition if HLA is considered in interaction with adults in both languages. HLA are proximal environmental protective factors for vocabulary acquisition