The research investigates the potential use of maize cobs (or corncobs) from five genotypes, including the B73 inbred line and four locally cultivated landraces from Northern Italy, as substrate for ...implementing Solid State fermentation processes with four Medicinal Mushrooms (MMs). The corncobs were characterized based on their proximate composition, lignin, phenolics content (both free and bound), and total antioxidant capacity. Among the MMs tested, Pleurotus ostreatus and Ganoderma annularis demonstrated the most robust performance. Their growth was parametrized using Image Analysis technique, and chemical composition of culture samples was characterized compared to that of corncobs alone. In all culture samples, the growth of MMs led to a significant reduction (averaging 40%) in the total phenolics contents compared to that measured in corncobs alone. However, the high content of free phenolics in the cobs negatively impacted the growth of P. ostreatus. The final MM-corncob matrix exhibited reduced levels of free sugars and starch (≤ 2.2% DW, as a sum) and increased levels of proteins (up to 5.9% DW) and soluble dietary fiber (up to 5.0% DW), with a notable trend toward higher levels of β-glucan compared to corncobs alone. This research paves the way for the use of this matrix as an active ingredient to enhance the nutritional value of food preparations.
The main objective of this study was to compare the protective effect of daidzein and genistein against induced oxidative damage in Jurkat T-cell line and in peripheral blood lymphocytes of healthy ...subjects. After supplementation of cells with isoflavones (from 2.5 to 20
μmol/L in Jurkat T-cell and from 0.01 to 2.5
μmol/L in primary lymphocytes, 24
h), we determined DNA damage induced by hydrogen peroxide using the comet assay and lipid peroxidation evaluating malondialdehyde (MDA) production after ferrous ion treatment. Supplementation of Jurkat cells and primary lymphocytes with both isoflavones significantly increased DNA protection from oxidative damage at concentrations between 0.1 and 5
μmol/L (
P
<
0.05), and with just daidzein, at concentrations higher than 2.5
μmol/L, there was a decrease in the production of MDA (
P
<
0.05). Our results seem to support that daidzein is just as effective as genistein in protecting cells against oxidative damage especially with respect to DNA. Moreover, since the protective effect was found at concentrations reachable in plasma after soy consumption (less than 2
μmol/L), it can be assumed that the antioxidant activity of isoflavones could really contribute to the healthy properties of soy.
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and its evolutions are nowadays the most affordable and widespread data communication infrastructure available almost world wide. Moreover the always ...growing cellular phone market is pushing the development of new devices with higher performances and lower power consumption. All these characteristics make UMTS really useful for the implementation of an "easy to deploy" temporary real-time seismic station. Despite these remarkable features, there are many drawbacks that must be properly taken in account to effectively transmit the seismic data: Internet security, signal and service availability, power consumption. – Internet security: exposing seismological data services and seismic stations to the Internet is dangerous, attack prone and can lead to downtimes in the services, so we setup a dedicated Virtual Private Network (VPN) service to protect all the connected devices. – Signal and service availability: while for temporary experiment a carefull planning and an accurate site selection can minimize the problem, this is not always the case with rapid response networks. Moreover, as with any other leased line, the availability of the UMTS service during a seismic crisis is basically unpredictable. Nowadays in Italy during a major national emergency a Committee of the Italian Civil Defense ensures unified management and coordination of emergency activities. Inside it the telecom companies are committed to give support to the crisis management improving the standards in their communication networks. – Power consumption: it is at least of the order of that of the seismic station and, being related to data flow and signal quality is largely unpredictable. While the most secure option consists in adding a second independent solar power supply to the seismic station, this is not always a very convenient solution since it doubles the cost and doubles the equipment on site. We found that an acceptable trade-off is to add an inexpensive Low Voltage Disconnect (LVD) circuit to the UMTS router power supply that switches off the data transmission when the power is low. This greatly reduces the probability of data loss but lowers the real-time data availabilty. This approach guarantees on the average a satisfactory data acquistion rate, only in very few cases and when the real-time data is extremely important for a particular site we needed to double the power supply on the site. Overall the UMTS data transmission has been used in most temporary seismic experiments and in all seismic emergencies happened in Italy since 2010 and has proved to be a very cost effective approach with real-time data acquisition rates usually greater than 97 % and all the benefits that result from the fast integration of the temporary data in the National Network monitoring system and in the EIDA data bank.
We investigated the relation between membrane lipid peroxidation, as evaluated by malondialdehyde (MDA), and oxidative stimuli in the Jurkat T-cell line and designed a cellular model to assess the ...antioxidant potential of compounds.
Jurkat T cells were subjected to different concentrations of Fe
2+ ions (from 25 to 150 μmol/L) or H
2O
2 (from 0.1 to 5 mmol/L), and MDA was determined after separation in high-performance liquid chromatography of the adduct with thiobarbituric acid. MDA production also was investigated in cells supplemented with epigallocatechin gallate and genistein and subjected to Fe
2+ oxidative treatment.
MDA production increased with the concentration of Fe
2+, whereas H
2O
2 had no effect at any concentration. Oxidative stress for 15 min or 2 h produced similar MDA levels. The supplementation of epigallocatechin gallate partly prevented MDA production (about 40%,
P < 0.05), whereas genistein exerted no preventive effect on lipid peroxidation.
We propose this cellular model, consisting of Jurkat T cells subjected to 100 μmol/L of Fe
2+ for 15 min, to study the protective effect of antioxidant supplementation against membrane lipid peroxidation.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the protective effect of black tea (BT) extract against induced oxidative damage in Jurkat T-cell line. Cells supplemented with 10 or 25
mg/L BT were ...subjected to oxidation with ferrous ions. Malondialdehyde (MDA) production as marker of lipid peroxidation, DNA single strand breaks as marker of DNA damage, and modification of the antioxidant enzyme activity, glutathione peroxidase (GPX) were measured. Results show the efficacy of BT polyphenols to decrease DNA oxidative damage and to affect GPX activity (
P<0.05), while no effect was shown on MDA production. The succeeding investigation of the activity of caffeine and epigallocatechin gallate demonstrated their antioxidant potential with respect to the cellular markers evaluated. In conclusion, this study supports the protective effect of BT against ferrous ions induced oxidative damage to DNA and the ability of BT to affect the enzyme antioxidant system of Jurkat cells.
Rapid-response seismic networks are an important element in the response to seismic crises. They temporarily improve the detection performance of permanent monitoring systems during seismic ...sequences. The improvement in earthquake detection and location capabilities can be important for decision makers to assess the current situation, and can provide invaluable data for scientific studies related to hazard, tectonics and earthquake physics. Aftershocks and the clustering of the locations of seismic events help to characterize the dimensions of the causative fault. Knowing the number, size and timing of the aftershocks or the clustering seismic events can help in the foreseeing of the characteristics of future seismic sequences in the same tectonic environment. Instrumental rapid response requires a high degree of preparedness. A mission in response to a magnitude (Ml) 6 event with a rupture length of a few tens of kilometers might involve the deployment within hours to days of 30-50 seismic stations in the middle of a disaster area of some hundreds of square kilometers, and the installation of an operational center to help in the logistics and communications. When an earthquake strikes in a populated area, which is almost always the case in Italy, driving the relevant seismic response is more difficult. …
Abstract
We report on observations acquired by the Interferometric Bidimensional Spectropolarimeter (IBIS) during SOL2014-10-22T14:02, an X1.6 flare that occurred in active region NOAA 12192, taken ...in the Fe
i
617.30 nm and Ca
ii
854.2 nm line profiles. We analyze polarization signatures in the Stokes profiles of the two lines across one of the flare ribbons. Focusing our attention on the chromospheric signals and using the weak-field approximation (WFA), we study the temporal variation of the line-of-sight (LOS) magnetic field. We find variations of the magnetic field or the opacity along the flare ribbon, in most cases within the first 3 minutes of the observation just after the flare peak, during the tail of the flare impulsive phase. This result was validated by the STiC inversion of the pixels used for the WFA analysis. The analysis of the photospheric magnetic field shows that in this layer, the LOS magnetic field does not show the same changes observed in the chromosphere in the selected pixels, nor clear evidence of changes along the polarity inversion line around a magnetic polarity intrusion. In this respect, we also find that the temporal observing window is not suitable for assessing the presence of stepwise changes. The nonlinear force-free field extrapolations, together with the analysis of the ribbons’ isophotes obtained from Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph data, suggest that the region corresponding to the magnetic intrusion observed by IBIS is characterized by a complex magnetic connectivity and is almost cospatial with the area affected by the initial energy release.
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