In Vivo Administration of Replication-Deficient Mutant HSV-1 Targets Professional APCs and Induces Efficient CD4+ T Helper Responses

Both neutralizing antibodies and cytotoxic T cells are necessary to control a viral infection. However, vigorous T helper responses are essential for their elicitation and maintenance. These findings have critical implications in the design of vaccination strategies aimed at triggering and sustaining antigen specific CD4+ in addition to CD8+ effector immune responses. Here we show that a recombinant replication-deficient HSV-1 vector encoding the HIV-1 matrix protein p17 (T0-p17) is capable to infect professional APCs in vitro and in vivo without interfering with the endogenous MHC class II processing of the transgene encoded antigen. Moreover, we show that injection of T0-p17 in the mouse dermis generates a strong p17specific CD4+ T helper response preceding both cytotoxic and humoral responses. Importantly, T0-p17 infected peritoneal macrophages were capable to trigger a longlasting expansion of p17-specific CD4+ T cells in vitro. Because of their capability to infect professional APCs without interfering with their biological functions, replication-deficient HSV vectors are appealing candidates for the development of vaccines able to trigger strong T helper responses. from 2005 International Meeting of The Institute of Human Virology Baltimore, USA, 29 August – 2 September 200

Breadsticks Flavoured with Olives and Onions: One-Year Shelf Life

In this work, we compared breadsticks (known as Treccine) flavoured with onions and olives and prepared with olive pomace oil (OPO) or with extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). The effect on one-year shelf life was also studied. The following physical, chemical and sensory analyses were conducted on the breadsticks: water activity, moisture content, colour, texture and sensory analysis (appearance, colour, flavour, taste, texture and overall acceptability). For the oil extracted from the Treccine, we determined acidity, peroxide value, spectrophotometric parameters, ABTS and DPPH assay on the hydrolitic fraction, DPPH on the lipid fraction, and fatty acids. We detected a progressive deterioration in the quality of breadsticks with a decrease in shelf life after 4–6 months in relation to each studied parameter. In the analysed breadsticks, water activity was 0.342 (OPO recipe) and 0.387 (EVOO recipe) after one-year storage; in the same storage period, the moisture content was 6.34 times (OPO) and 5.32 times (EVOO) greater. Appearance and colour were the only two sensory parameters which, after 12 months, remained above or equal to five stated as the minimum quality value. In the extracted oil, Free acidity increased from 0.35 to 0.56% (OPO) and from 0.71 to 0.98% (EVOO); Peroxide value ranged between 6.10 and 102.89 meq/kg oil (OPO) and between 4.41 and 20.91 meq/kg oil (EVOO). K232 was highest in OPO (2.43–3.70) and lowest in EVOO (1.76–2.92), K268 was 1.32–1.580 (OPO recipe) and 0.570–0.640 (EVOO recipe). Treccine prepared with extra virgin olive oil showed better biological properties and longer shelf life

Effects of Shortening Replacement with Extra Virgin Olive Oil on the Physical–Chemical–Sensory Properties of Italian Cantuccini Biscuits

Olive oil is recognised for its beneficial effects on human health, mainly due to it containing oleic acid (a monounsaturated fatty acid), whereas fats of animal origin or margarine, which are often used in recipes for biscuit production, contain mainly saturated fatty acids. The aim of this study was to evaluate the shelf-life and physicochemical properties of biscuits and of the fats contained in original recipe Italian Cantuccini biscuits (50% cow’s butter and 50% margarine). Additionally, the sensory properties of the biscuits were evaluated, including their colour, appearance, taste, flavour, texture and overall acceptability. At the same time, the fat composition of the original recipe was also modified to contain 30% cow’s butter and 70% extra virgin olive oil, in order to replace an aliquot of the saturated fatty acid content with unsaturated fatty acids, in particular with one monounsaturated fatty acid, oleic acid. Colour (CIELab), water activity, relative humidity, hardness and fracturability analyses were conducted on Cantuccini biscuits. Colour (CIELab), free acidity, spectrophotometric characteristics, DPPH assay and fatty acid methyl ester (FAMEs) analyses were conducted on the fat extracted from Cantuccini biscuits prepared from both the original and modified recipes

Increased cerebellar gray matter volume in head chefs.

OBJECTIVE:Chefs exert expert motor and cognitive performances on a daily basis. Neuroimaging has clearly shown that that long-term skill learning (i.e., athletes, musicians, chess player or sommeliers) induces plastic changes in the brain thus enabling tasks to be performed faster and more accurately. How a chef's expertise is embodied in a specific neural network has never been investigated. METHODS:Eleven Italian head chefs with long-term brigade management expertise and 11 demographically-/ psychologically- matched non-experts underwent morphological evaluations. RESULTS:Voxel-based analysis performed with SUIT, as well as, automated volumetric measurement assessed with Freesurfer, revealed increased gray matter volume in the cerebellum in chefs compared to non-experts. The most significant changes were detected in the anterior vermis and the posterior cerebellar lobule. The magnitude of the brigade staff and the higher performance in the Tower of London test correlated with these specific gray matter increases, respectively. CONCLUSIONS:We found that chefs are characterized by an anatomical variability involving the cerebellum. This confirms the role of this region in the development of similar expert brains characterized by learning dexterous skills, such as pianists, rock climbers and basketball players. However, the nature of the cellular events underlying the detected morphological differences remains an open question

Neurological manifestations in COVID-19: how relevant is this association?

INTRODUCTION: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first reported in December 2019 in an outbreak occurring in Wuhan, China and has spread rapidly all over the word causing a global pandemic with approximately 129 million confirmed cases and more than 2.8 million deaths worldwide as of April 2nd, 2021. With the increasing number of people affected by this disease, it has become early apparent that SARS-CoV-2 may also affect the nervous system. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A great number of case reports, case series and review, often incomplete and not-peer- reviewed, about the observation of neurological symptoms in coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) have been published to date. In this review, we have tried to summarize the most recent evidences about the main neurological syndrome as- sociated to the infection: delirium/confusion, encephalitis, Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) and ischemic stroke. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: From the huge amount of literature published in the last year, it appears that the neurological involvement of nervous system in COVID-19 is a relatively rare event as compared to the lung damage, but it is one of the most frequent extra-pulmonary complications. A supposed direct invasion of the nervous system, a para-infectious or post-infectious immune-mediated disease, or simply post-systemic effects of the viral infection, have been proposed as the main mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS: Encephalopathy and stroke are the most serious and common syndromes associated with COVID-19, mostly related to the inflammatory and hypercoagulable status, whereas available data suggest a post-infectious immune mediated mechanism for SARS-CoV-2 related GBS. However, more extensive epidemiological and histopathological studies are warranted to confirm the casualty of this latter associatio

Sample color-coded automated brain segmentation results.

<p>A 3D surface image (created with 3D Slicer v 4.6, <a href="http://www.slicer.org" target="_blank">www.slicer.org</a>) showing typical automated subcortical segmentation of the cerebellum performed by FreeSurfer (v 5.3). Scatter plot of the mean normalized volumes of the left and right cerebellar cortex for each single subject has been plotted. Advanced neuroimaging analysis reveals bilateral cerebellar volumetric increase in the chef group with respect to non-expert individuals.</p

Voxel-based differences between Chefs and non-expert individuals.

<p>Statistical maps displaying corrected clusters (FWE < 0.05) of significant gray matter increasing in the anterior cerebellar vermis and the left posterior cerebellar lobule These neural patterns were also significantly associated with specific variables. (A) The increased gray matter density in the anterior vermis was correlated with the magnitude of the brigade staff: more people to synchronize higher neuronal density. (B) A similar linear correlation was detected in the posterior cerebellar lobule where high performance in the TOL test was associated with increased gray matter volume. Statistical maps related to significant effects within the cerebellum have been plotted on the SUIT space. To improve anatomical identification, labeling based on the probabilistic SUIT atlas and Schmahmann’s MRI atlas [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0171457#pone.0171457.ref063" target="_blank">63</a>] was showed. The color bar represents <i>t</i> statistics. Images are displayed in neurological convention. TOL: Tower of London test.</p

Demographic and cognitive characteristics.

<p>Demographic and cognitive characteristics.</p