Depuis les années 70, les préparations enzymatiques sont des auxiliaires technologiques d'origine biologique de plus en plus appréciées pour l'aide qu'elles apportent dans les différentes étapes de ...la vinification (Débourbage, pressurage, macération, filtration et stabilisation microbiologique). Les activités utilisables en œnologie sont décrites par le règlement européen 1493/1999 et les résolutions œnologiques 11–18/2004 de l'OIV. A ce jour, les protéases ne font pas partie des activités enzymatiques autorisées car jugées inefficaces dans le milieu hostile qu'est le vin. Plus récemment, il a été démontré que l'utilisation d'une aspergillopepsines couplée de la flash pasteurisation permettait l'hydrolyse complète des protéines thermo-instables des vins blancs à l'échelle pilote et industrielle.
L'objectif de ce travail est d'explorer de nouvelles applications œnologiques à l'utilisation de protéases. Pour cela, 4 protéases industrielles ont été testées sur l'amélioration de la filtrabilité des vins et l'élevage sur lies d'un vin rouge et un vin blanc. Ce travail a permis de mettre en évidence que l'utilisation de protéase pouvait améliorer sensiblement la filtrabilité des vins. L'amélioration observée est plus importante avec un test de filtrabilité (Vmax sur membrane 0.45 μm) qu'en filtration tangentielle (membrane céramique 0.2 μm). Enfin, en l'absence de flash pasteurisation les protéases ne semblent pas avoir d'effet sur la filtrabilité ou l'élevage sur lies des vins.
Mots clés :
Enzyme, Protéase, filtrabilité, filtration tangentielle, vin.
Since the 1970s, enzymatic preparations have been used as technological aids of biological origin. They are increasingly appreciated for the help they provide in the different stages of winemaking (settling, pressing, skin contact, filtration and microbiological stabilization). The enzymatic activities that can be used in oenology are described by the European regulation 1493/1999 and oenological resolutions 11–18/2004 of the OIV. To date, proteases are not part of the enzymatic activities authorized because they are considered inefficient in the hostile environment that is wine. More recently, it has been shown that the use of flash pasteurization coupled with aspergillopepsins allows the complete hydrolysis of the thermo-unstable proteins of white wines at pilot and industrial scale.
The goal of this work is to explore new oenological applications for the use of proteases. For this, 4 industrial proteases were tested on the improvement of the filterability and the aging on the lees of a red wine and a white wine. This work highlight that the use of protease could significantly improve the filterability of the wines. The improvement observed is greater with a filterability test (Vmax on membrane 0.45 μm) than with cross flow filtration (ceramic membrane 0.2 μm). Finally, in the absence of flash pasteurization proteases do not seem to have any effect on the filterability or aging on lees of wines.
Key words:
Enzyme, Protease, filtrability, Crossflow filtration, wine.
In olive (Olea europaea L.) traditional methods of genetic improvement have up to now produced limited results. Intensification of olive growing requires appropriate new cultivars for fully ...mechanized groves, but among the large number of the traditional varieties very few are suitable. High-density and super high-density hedge row orchards require genotypes with reduced size, reduced apical dominance, a semi-erect growth habit, easy to propagate, resistant to abiotic and biotic stresses, with reliably high productivity and quality of both fruits and oil. Innovative strategies supported by molecular and biotechnological techniques are required to speed up novel hybridisation methods. Among traditional approaches the Gene Pool Method seems a reasonable option, but it requires availability of widely diverse germplasm from both cultivated and wild genotypes, supported by a detailed knowledge of their genetic relationships. The practice of "gene therapy" for the most important existing cultivars, combined with conventional methods, could accelerate achievement of the main goals, but efforts to overcome some technical and ideological obstacles are needed. The present review describes the benefits that olive and its products may obtain from genetic improvement using state of the art of conventional and unconventional methods, and includes progress made in the field of in vitro techniques. The uses of both traditional and modern technologies are discussed with recommendations.
The use of living organisms or natural substances to counteract the damage caused by harmful organisms to economically and/or ecologically important species has provided significant benefits to the ...global community. The Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol, a supplementary agreement to it, regulate access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable distribution of benefits arising out of their utilization. Despite the good intentions pursued by the international regime—mainly, the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity—, non-strategic national measures adopted pursuant to the Convention and the Protocol may create obstacles or even impede access to, and use of biological control genetic resources. In view of that, this paper recommends different pathways the scientists and practitioners working in the field of biological control may consider in order to enhance access to these resources.
We present a novel and highly reproducible process to fabricate transferable porous PDMS membranes for PDMS-based Organs-on-Chips (OOCs) using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication ...technologies. Porous PDMS membranes with pore sizes down to 2.0 μm in diameter and a wide porosity range (2-65%) can be fabricated. To overcome issues normally faced when using replica moulding and extend the applicability to most OOCs and improve their scalability and reproducibility, the process includes a sacrificial layer to easily transfer the membranes from a silicon carrier to any PDMS-based OOC. The highly reliable fabrication and transfer method does not need of manual handling to define the pore features (size, distribution), allowing very thin (<10 μm) functional membranes to be transferred at chip level with a high success rate (85%). The viability of cell culturing on the porous membranes was assessed by culturing two different cell types on transferred membranes in two different OOCs. Human umbilical endothelial cells (HUVEC) and MDA-MB-231 (MDA) cells were successfully cultured confirming the viability of cell culturing and the biocompatibility of the membranes. The results demonstrate the potential of controlling the porous membrane features to study cell mechanisms such as transmigrations, monolayer formation, and barrier function. The high control over the membrane characteristics might consequently allow to intentionally trigger or prevent certain cellular responses or mechanisms when studying human physiology and pathology using OOCs.
Frequency combs have become a prominent research area in optics. Of particular interest as integrated comb technology are chip-scale sources, such as semiconductor lasers and microresonators, which ...consist of resonators embedding a nonlinear medium either with or without population inversion. Such active and passive cavities were so far treated distinctly. Here we propose a formal unification by introducing a general equation that describes both types of cavities. The equation also captures the physics of a hybrid device-a semiconductor ring laser with an external optical drive-in which we show the existence of temporal solitons, previously identified only in microresonators, thanks to symmetry breaking and self-localization phenomena typical of spatially extended dissipative systems.
Kidney organoids derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have proven to be a valuable tool to study kidney development and disease. However, the lack of vascularization of these ...organoids often leads to insufficient oxygen and nutrient supply. Vascularization has previously been achieved by implantation into animal models, however, the vasculature arises largely from animal host tissue. Our aim is to transition from an in vivo implantation model towards an in vitro model that fulfils the advantages of vascularization whilst being fully human-cell derived. Our chip system supported culturing of kidney organoids, which presented nephron structures. We also showed that organoids cultured on chip showed increased maturation of endothelial populations based on a colocalization analysis of endothelial markers. Moreover, we observed migration and proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) cultured in the channels of the chip inside the organoid tissue, where these HUVECs interconnected with endogenous endothelial cells and formed structures presenting an open lumen resembling vessels. Our results establish for the first-time vascularization of kidney organoids in HUVEC co-culture conditions using a microfluidic organ-on-chip. Our model therefore provides a useful insight into kidney organoid vascularization in vitro and presents a tool for further studies of kidney development and drug testing, both for research purposes and pre-clinical applications.
Loggerhead sea turtle (
C. caretta
) is the official European bioindicator of marine litter in the Mediterranean Sea. In 2019, 8 sea turtles, out of 28 specimens loggerhead on the Adriatic coast of ...Molise, were subjected to necropsy. The intestinal contents were collected and the microplastics until 0.45 μm were extracted. Qualitative and quantitative assessments were performed by stereomicroscope observation and spectroscopic analyses (attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ATR-FTIR and Raman microspectroscopy, RMS). Moreover, the analytical quantification of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polycarbonate (PC), para phthalic acid (PTA) and bisphenol A (BPA) in fat and liver tissues was performed by LC-MS/MS. Microparticles ranging from 0.45 μm to 1 mm were found in all turtles, for a total of 623, while plastic litter greater than 1 mm were found only in 4 specimens (ranging from 0.03 to 0.11 g). Nineteen different polymers and 10 pigments, including polyester (100% of animals), high-density polyethylene (50%) and polypropylene (50%) were identified. BPA, PTA and PET were detected in fat and liver tissues of all animals, while PC was found only in 50%. A major prevalence was registered in the abdominal fat tissue, although only PC compounds were significantly higher in abdominal tissue (
p
< 0.05), except for free PTA with liver tissue being the most contaminated (
p
< 0.05). Microplastics and additives surely impact the health status of turtles that showed gastrointestinal impairment and an important level of contamination in tissues.
Graphical abstract
The third objective of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of genetic resources was further developed when the Nagoya Protocol on ...Access and Benefit Sharing came into effect in 2014. Interpretation of how this agreement is being implemented is wide-ranging and there are implications for biological control. A survey of biological control workers indicated that while some countries have facilitated access to biological control genetic resources, requirements in other countries have impeded biological control implementation. There was consensus that benefits to provider countries should be in the form of supporting local research communities. There was also agreement that the free use and exchange of biological control genetic resources has provided benefits to the global community, including to both providers and recipients of the agents. It is recommended that consideration of the free use and exchange principal should be a key element of Access and Benefit Sharing measures for the future.
Introduction
In the first months of 2020 the COVID-19 epidemic spread in Italy, and the Italian government implemented a general lockdown. These events are at high risk for psychiatric symptoms in ...the general population, including anxiety/depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS).
Objectives
To characterize the psychopathological correlates of the spread of COVID-19 and lockdown in a sample of subjects from the Italian population, with a before-after follow-up.
Methods
Six weeks after the lockdown, 671 subjects aged 18-60 years completed the Brief Symptom Inventory and Impact of Event Scale-Revised, for the evaluation of psychopathology and PTSS respectively. Environmental factors and subjectively-perceived deteriorations related to COVID-19 were also investigated. Pre-COVID-19 data on psychopathology, collected in December 2019/January 2020, were available for 130 subjects and were used for longitudinal analyses.
Results
With respect to males, female subjects more frequently reported deteriorations of relations (21.5% vs 10.9%), household arguments (26.0% vs 12.6%), sleep quality (47.6% vs 26.6%), episodes of overeating (22.5% vs 12.5%), worries for oneself (19% vs 8.9%) and for loved ones (55.7% vs 36.5%). These changes were associated with increased psychopathology, PTSS, and numerous environmental conditions, including significant economic damage from COVID-19/lockdown. Longitudinal analyses showed an increase in phobic anxiety in the whole sample, and in depression for female subjects only, following the spread of COVID-19. Pre-existing psychopathology was a significant predictor of PTSS.
Conclusions
COVID-19 epidemic and lockdown have a high impact on psychopathology and PTSS. Female subjects and those with pre-existing psychopathology were found to be more vulnerable and may need additional support.
Disclosure
No significant relationships.