The growing interest in producing healthier animal products with a higher ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids, is associated with an increase in lipoperoxidation. For this reason, it is ...essential to attenuate oxidative deterioration in the derived products. Natural antioxidants such as polyphenols represent a good candidate in this respect. The first part of the review highlights the occurrence, bioavailability, and the role of polyphenols in food-producing animals that, especially in intensive systems, are exposed to stressful situations in which oxidation plays a crucial role. The second part offers an overview of the effects of polyphenols either supplemented to the diet of monogastric and ruminants or added directly to meat and dairy products on the physicochemical and sensorial properties of the product. From this review emerges that polyphenols play an important, though not always clear, role in the quality of meat and meat products, milk and dairy products. It cannot be ruled out that different compounds or amounts of polyphenols may lead to different results. However, the inclusion of agro-industrial by-products rich in polyphenols, in animal feed, represents an innovative and alternative source of antioxidants as well as being useful in reducing environmental and economic impact.
Taxonomy is the science of defining and naming groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics and, more recently, on evolutionary relationships. With the birth of novel ...genomics/bioinformatics techniques and the increasing interest in microbiome studies, a further advance of taxonomic discipline appears not only possible but highly desirable. The present work proposes a new approach to modern taxonomy, consisting in the inclusion of novel descriptors in the organism characterization: (1) the presence of associated microorganisms (e.g.: symbionts, microbiome), (2) the mitochondrial genome of the host, (3) the symbiont genome. This approach aims to provide a deeper comprehension of the evolutionary/ecological dimensions of organisms since their very first description. Particularly interesting, are those complexes formed by the host plus associated microorganisms, that in the present study we refer to as "holobionts". We illustrate this approach through the description of the ciliate Euplotes vanleeuwenhoeki sp. nov. and its bacterial endosymbiont "Candidatus Pinguicoccus supinus" gen. nov., sp. nov. The endosymbiont possesses an extremely reduced genome (~ 163 kbp); intriguingly, this suggests a high integration between host and symbiont.
Building envelopes can play a crucial role in building improvement efficiency, and the adoption of Phase Change Materials (PCMs), coupled with transparent elements, may: (i) allow a better control of ...the heat flows from/to the outdoor environment, (ii) increase the exploitation of solar energy at a building scale and (iii) modulate light transmission in order to prevent glare effects. Starting from a literature review, focused on experimental works, this research identifies the main possible integrations of PCMs in transparent/translucent building envelope components (in glazing, in shutters and in multilayer façade system) in order to draw a global picture of the potential and limitations of these technologies. Transparent envelopes with PCMs have been classified from the simplest “zero” technology, which integrates the PCM in a double glass unit (DGU), to more complex solutions-with a different number of glass cavities (triple glazed unit TGU), different positions of the PCM layer (internal/external shutter), and in combination with other materials (TIM, aerogel, prismatic solar reflector, PCM curtain controlled by an electric pump). The results of the analysis have been summarised in a Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis table to underline the strengths and weaknesses of transparent building envelope components with PCMs, and to indicate opportunities and threats for future research and building applications.
From the second half of the 17th century onwards, Sardinia has fascinated many German-speaking travelers and writers, whose works have given rise to a particular literary tradition, based on a ...prismatic image of this island. Through a large and often unexplored corpus, consisting of travelogues, diaries, novels, short stories, and poetry, a specific literary discourse of the island has been constructed over the centuries, and Sardinia has acquired the distorted image of either a waste land, an exile, and prison, or an uncorrupted paradise, where human beings can still retrieve a deep relationship with the Earth. This paper aims to give an account of this discourse to highlight, from a diachronic perspective, the construction of the image of an island more or less influenced by a Eurocentric perspective. Using a geopoetic approach, several texts are analysed in a hermeneutic process which outlines not only the island's colonial past, but also the construction of a recent neocolonial project made up of uncontrolled urbanization, industrialization, mass tourism, and (nuclear) pollution.
Overexpression of the Cytokine BAFF and Autoimmunity Risk Steri, Maristella; Orrù, Valeria; Idda, M. Laura ...
New England journal of medicine/The New England journal of medicine,
04/2017, Volume:
376, Issue:
17
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Genetic analysis revealed a gene variant in the Sardinian population that was associated with autoimmune disease. In the variant gene, a deletion yielded a shorter transcript that escaped inhibition ...by microRNA, leading to overexpression of BAFF.
Multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are autoimmune diseases caused by largely unknown environmental factors acting in genetically susceptible persons. Genomewide association studies have provided statistical support for more than 110 independent signals for multiple sclerosis and 43 for SLE.
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Although several signals are near genes involved in immunologic processes, the effector mechanisms for most associations remain unknown.
A useful approach to explore disease mechanisms is to search for genetic variants that affect both the risk of autoimmune disease and quantitative immune variables such as circulating levels of immune-cell populations, immunoglobulins, and cytokines.
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This approach can reveal . . .
The use of cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells is common in biological research. It is widely accepted that primary cells are rendered unusable by several freezing cycles, although this ...practice might be very helpful when the biological material is valuable and its re-collection is impractical. To determine the extent to which primary cells undergoing repeated freezing cycles are comparable to one another and to fresh samples, we evaluated overall lymphocyte viability, their proliferation and cytokine production capabilities, as well as the levels of 27 cell subtypes in ten human peripheral blood mononuclear cells frozen for five years and repeatedly thawed. As expected, we observed a progressive increase in cell death percentages on three rounds of thawing, but the frequency of the main lymphocyte subsets was stable across the three thawings. Nevertheless, we observed a significant reduction of B cell frequency in frozen samples compared to fresh ones. On repeated thawings and subsequent conventional stimulation, lymphocyte proliferation significantly decreased, and IL-10, IL-6, GM-CSF, IFN-gamma, and IL-8 showed a trend to lower values.
The order Rickettsiales (Alphaproteobacteria) encompasses multiple diverse lineages of host-associated bacteria, including pathogens, reproductive manipulators, and mutualists. Here, in order to ...understand how intracellularity and host association originated in this order, and whether they are ancestral or convergently evolved characteristics, we built a large and phylogenetically-balanced dataset that includes de novo sequenced genomes and a selection of published genomic and metagenomic assemblies. We perform detailed functional reconstructions that clearly indicates "late" and parallel evolution of obligate host-association in different Rickettsiales lineages. According to the depicted scenario, multiple independent horizontal acquisitions of transporters led to the progressive loss of biosynthesis of nucleotides, amino acids and other metabolites, producing distinct conditions of host-dependence. Each clade experienced a different pattern of evolution of the ancestral arsenal of interaction apparatuses, including development of specialised effectors involved in the lineage-specific mechanisms of host cell adhesion and/or invasion.
Radiation Control Coatings (RCC) are commonly recognised as paints, in which the long-wave radiation emissivity can be dramatically reduced from 0.9 to below 0.25 due to the dispersion of aluminium ...flakes inside the base paint. The low emissivity (Low-E) feature makes these materials particularly suitable for reducing the radiative heat exchange in building components and worthy of being used in roof attics, pipes, heat storage tank, etc. However, in the last few years, the application to the indoor surfaces of the building envelope has become quite popular, because the reflective properties can be exploited to increase the thermal comfort and reduce the winter heat losses. Except for aluminium based paint, that, for their strong metallized effect, suffer from some aesthetical limitation, the claimed performance of most of the other commercially available reflective paints are not universally recognized and in most of the cases their properties are misled, referring to visible and short wave infrared reflectivity. In this paper, a new methodology for assessing the long-wave thermal emissivity by using a heat flow meter apparatus is proposed. Moreover, the thermal emissivity of different paint mixtures with reduced metallised effect is assessed. The results allow for affirming that paints with acceptable aesthetic value (limited metallized effect) can reach an emissivity of ~0.60 instead of a typical emissivity of paint between 0.85–0.90. Furthermore, the partition wall of a double climatic chamber apparatus was painted with different low-E paints to evaluate whether an increase of the indoor operative temperature would have been observed. A slight, but not negligible, increase was shown of up to 0.3 °C and 0.6 °C for paint with an emissivity of ~0.6 and ~0.4, respectively.
During the past decades, livestock production has increased significantly, which has led to the degradation of rangelands due to overgrazing. The lack of water in several arid areas has led to a ...decline in crop and animal husbandry. As a consequence, the demand for drought-resistant crops has increased significantly so as to keep crop and animal husbandry systems viable and sustainable. Cactaceae have adaptive characteristics that ensure their development progress under drought conditions. The present review provides information on the nutritive value of Opuntia in animal fodder production, its effects on animal performance, and the quality of the animal-derived products. In conclusion, the use of Opuntia as innovative alternative feed would render animal production systems more sustainable.
The complex network of specialized cells and molecules in the immune system has evolved to defend against pathogens, but inadvertent immune system attacks on “self” result in autoimmune disease. Both ...genetic regulation of immune cell levels and their relationships with autoimmunity are largely undetermined. Here, we report genetic contributions to quantitative levels of 95 cell types encompassing 272 immune traits, in a cohort of 1,629 individuals from four clustered Sardinian villages. We first estimated trait heritability, showing that it can be substantial, accounting for up to 87% of the variance (mean 41%). Next, by assessing ∼8.2 million variants that we identified and confirmed in an extended set of 2,870 individuals, 23 independent variants at 13 loci associated with at least one trait. Notably, variants at three loci (HLA, IL2RA, and SH2B3/ATXN2) overlap with known autoimmune disease associations. These results connect specific cellular phenotypes to specific genetic variants, helping to explicate their involvement in disease.
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•Immune system analysis of 95 distinct cell types using flow cytometry and GWAS•An unexpectedly large genetic component drives variation in immune cell numbers•Sequencing-based GWAS reveals new immune cell trait-associated SNPs•Immune trait-disease overlapping associations point to specific cells as risk factors
To analyze the role of genetics in immunity regulation and immune cell numbers, a combination of flow cytometry and GWA analyses profiles 95 cell types of the innate and adaptive immune system to connect specific cellular phenotypes to immune-related diseases predisposition.
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