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Bee pollen as a functional ingredient in gluten-free bread: a physical-chemical, technological and sensory approach
No full textThe aim of this study was to explore the use of multifloral bee pollen (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5%) as a natural and functional ingredient in gluten-free (GF) breadmaking and to evaluate its impact on the physical-chemical, technological and sensory properties of the obtained loaves. The properties of the dough during the mixing and leavening phases as well as the characteristics of breads just after baking and during storage were investigated. The addition of pollen appears not to have any influence on rheological characteristics of the enriched doughs when compared to the control. Increasing levels of pollen supplementation mirrored significant improvement of the resulting breads in the technological features such as volume, textural properties of crumb, crust and crumb color, crumb cell uniformity and crumb grain structure. The fortified breads were softer and showed a slower firming kinetic when compared to the control bread. Furthermore, the overall acceptability of GF breads fortified with bee pollen between 3% and 5% was higher than for the control. However, at the highest level of pollen supplementation, some detrimental effects (especially in terms of crumb texture and staling kinetic) were observed
Fondi d'investimento universitari. Modello long-value per le università italiane
Full text linkI present an investment model designed to provide a self-financing scheme to Italian universities, which are experiencing deep cuts in public funding. The model is presented as a heuristic because psychologists have shown that in an environment with limited knowledge and limited capacity to process information, agents tend to resort to efficient algorithms to make decisions. Using a heuristic prevents cognitive biases by specifying the algorithm for the process in advance. The described procedure takes inspiration from the US endowment model which is an approach to investing popularized by Yale University that emphasizes diversification and active management of equity-oriented, illiquid assets. The research will provide a shortlist of British and American endowments. The investment heuristic will be presented as a long-value model. It will also be connected to the Value Investing discipline as first introduced by Benjamin Graham and championed by the like of Warren Buffett. The discussion will move into a criticism of the modern portfolio theory and the efficient market hypothesis. I believe that, while theoretical models of efficient markets prove useful as illustrations of an ideal world, we cannot accept their pure form as accurate descriptors of real markets. We have to distance ourselves from the idea that price changes always reflect legitimate information and that financial markets always work well. Standing these conditions, the institutional CIO of a proposed Italian endowment fund will dispose of a model on which to base his investment decisions
Influence of pathogens and pollution on Mugilidae health: first evidence of mycobacteriosis and intersex condition in extensively reared mullets from Sardinian lagoons
Full text linkThe multifactorial nature of fish health and diseases are generally linked to an imbalance of pathogen, resistance of the fish and environmental stress. Pollution is considered an anthropogenic factor that can affect fish life leading to immunosuppression that increases fish susceptibility to pathogens affecting their survival and growth rates.
Coastal waters and lagoons are typical environments devoted to extensive aquaculture. In Italy, which annual production of extensive reared fish is nearly 5.250 tons, mullets represent the most important cultured species with an average production of about 3.000 tons per year. The coastal environments in which they grow are constantly exposed to high levels of urbanization and, consequently, to the action of increasing amounts of contaminants discharged in waters. This fact can play a central role in some emerging issues like mycobacteriosis and gonadal abnormalities in cultured mullets, representing a real concern for fish health and reproduction.
The term “mycobacteriosis” or “fish tuberculosis” decribes a chronic systemic and progressive disease caused by mycobacteria belonging to the genus Mycobacterium. In particular, Mycobacterium marinum is a slow-growing non-tuberculous mycobacterium and it is considered the most common etiologic agent of mycobacteriosis in wild and cultured fish. This disease is considered a real risk for fishermen and aquarists that manipulate infected fish. The diagnosis of mycobacteriosis is principally made by histology when positive Ziehl-Neelsen stain granulomas are detected. The aim of the first part of this study was to investigate the occurrence of mycobacteriosis in extensively cultured Mugilidae (Chelon labrosus, Liza aurata, Liza ramada and Mugil cephalus) of four lagoons from Sardinia by the use of histology, microbiology, PCR and DNA sequencing. Twenty-five out of 495 mullets (148 specimens from Cabras, 120 from Calich, 89 from Marceddì, and 138 from San Teodoro), collected during summer and autumn of the years 2013, 2014 and 2015, were suspected of being infected with mycobacteriosis revealing granulomas containing acid-fast bacilli at histopathological examination. In particular, 10 out of 25 mullets were certainly affected by mycobacteriosis and Mycobacterium marinum was identified in 6 out of 10 as the primary cause, and the concordance obtained by histology, cultural evaluation and sequence analysis of the hsp65 gene was 100%. In the remaining 4 specimens, Mycobacterium spp. were detected and the concordance obtained by histology and molecular method showed 100% of positivity. In the remaining 15 specimens, granulomas with acid-fast bacilli were detected although culture confirmed the positivity for Mycobacterium spp. only in 6 cases, with an accordance of 43% with histology. In all of these cases, PCR-hsp65 and sequencing failed to identify atypical mycobacteria. Mullets affected by mycobacteriosis were mainly sampled in the Calich (10%) and San Teodoro (8%) lagoons. Only 2 subjects were positive for mycobacteriosis and no cases were observed in Cabras and Marceddì lagoons, respectively. This study confirms that histopathological examination is a very important diagnostic screening tool for the detection of mycobacteriosis in fish and PCR-hsp65 is a valid and easy method to identify atypical mycobacteria, expecially for M. marinum. Our finding are worthy of attention because mycobacteriosis in mullets has been evidenced for the first time in Sardinia, suggesting that this disease may be underestimated also in other cultured fish species. These results confirm our expectation that mullets living in San Teodoro and Calich lagoons, both characterized by critical environmental conditions, could play a central role in understanding the occurrence of fish mycobacteriosis which, if not properly monitored, could represent a serious concern for public health.
Fish are among the most studied organisms for the effects of chemical contaminants on the development and reproductive processes. In coastal and estuarine ecosystems, euryhaline fish living in polluted waters like Mugilidae can frequently show sexual anomalies like intersex. This term describes alterations in gonadal development with the simultaneous presence of male and female reproductive stages in the same gonad of a gonochoristic species. In the second part of this study, adult specimens of three species of euryhaline mullets (Chelon labrosus, Liza aurata, and Mugil cephalus), from two Sardinian lagoons (Marceddì and San Teodoro) devoted to extensive aquacultural practices, were analyzed in order to identify putative alterations in gonads and in gamete development. Overall, 13 of the 158 mullets examined (8.2%) were affected by gonadal disorders: four subjects (one C. labrosus, two L. aurata and one M. cephalus) exhibiting an intersex condition were found in the Marceddì lagoon and the other nine (five C. labrosus, two L. aurata and two M. cephalus) in the San Teodoro lagoon. Twelve of these gonads were classified as testis-ova (TOs) and one, belonging to a C. labrosus specimen, was a mixed gonadal tissue (MGT). Intersex condition was evaluated using an intersex index and all the recorded values showed a mild ovotestis severity index (OSI). However, our findings suggest that fish gonadal disorders may be underestimated in extensive reared fish species, particularly in coastal brackish environments polluted by intensive agriculture and animal husbandry activities. In conclusion, further research on emerging fish disorders and diseases in Sardinian coastal lagoons could confirm the hypothesis that species like mullets have to be considered as biological sentinels to detect the degree of pollution in extensive aquaculture systems, with the purpose of reducing risks to animal and human health
Archeologia urbana e informatica: il case study di Alghero
Full text linkArchaeological research in cities is problematic due to irregular and discontinuous availability of data, caused by different conditions of excavation and recording. Furthermore, it is common to include also other sources, such as archival documents and historical maps.
Knowledge management in urban archaeological contexts through computing is the main theme of this project. An information system was created for this specific purpose.
A preliminary study followed by requirements analysis and a design stage, led to the conceptual model underlying the system main components.
From an architectural point of view, the system core is an object-relational database conceived to handle and link together different types of information. A sophisticated web interface allows final users to easily create, update and analyze collected data.
The system was tested on the case study of Alghero, a city located in the north-west coast of Sardinia. It was founded in the Middle Ages and after the Catalan-Aragonese conquest (1354) received municipal status, causing development of settlement in later periods. Since 1996 excavations were focused on old town, that was enclosed by fortified walls until the end of the 19th century
I Modelli organizzativi e gestionali nella prospettiva del giuslavorista: verso una cultura di condivisione del sistema organizzativo
No full textThe model of organization and management of the work safety, covered by
the D.Lgs. n. 231/2001, represents the first legislative procedurilazation of the
leading position. Its enforcement, becomes a primary protective resource, enough to
award its effective application with the exemption from the managemental
responsability covered by the D. Lgs n.231/2001. This research, through a
multidisciplinary approach, wants to prove that the organization of the safety can
represent the unitarian foundation on the development of the whole system of a
business. Starting from that point, is then possible to assign a jurisdictional
collocation in the typed forms of the powers and duties between the parts of the
agreement, allowing to find, in respect of the principles and the criminal law, the
centers of individual and collective responsability; all following the path drew by the
T.U. legislator, which, decoding the principle of effectiveness, broke the mold of the
prebuilt statutory rules, saving room to factuality. In an historical moment
charachterised by a new focus of the business, which questions the actuality of the
Labor Law, the organizative tool inspired by the requirement of care, whose ratio
origins in the frailty of the freedom and dignity right of every human being compared
to the market’s interests, can definitely candidate itself to be an elective ground
where is possible to build a profitable cooperation between position historically in
antithesis
Cork oaks in the rural landscape of Sardinia
No full textThe study has outlined the features of Sardinian rural areas, where agriculture and pastoralism are the main activities linked to a traditional culture still in use, and where the cork oak landscape has a unique multifunctional character with
high biocultural diversity. The methodological framework of the rural landscape classification of Sardinia, employing landscape units and types, and focussing on cork oak systems, has been illustrated with the first outcomes
Differenze di genere in un modello di auto-somministratione di una bevanda al gusto di cioccolato: evidenze comportamentali e neurochimiche
Full text linkGender differences in food-related disorders have repeatedly been described, with females appearing to be more vulnerable than males. The present study investigated gender differences in neurochemical (dopamine activity in the nucleus accumbens by intracerebral microdialysis) and behavioral (acquisition and maintenance) features in a rat model of operant self-administration of a chocolate-flavored beverage (CFB), the latter possessing strong reinforcing properties and being avidly consumed by rats.
Comparison of male and female rats revealed a similar behavioral profile of CFB self-administration; microdialysis showed an increase – of comparable magnitude in male and female rats – in extracellular dopamine mainly during the appetitive phase of CFB self-administration. However, CFB self-administration profile in female rats changed across the estrus cycle, reaching its nadir during the estrus phase. Accordingly, microdialysis showed lower dopaminergic outputs during proestrus/estrus than diestrus/metestrus phases. No change was recorded in ovariectomized rats. These results suggest that CFB self-administration in female rats is influenced by sexual hormones, possibly interfering with mesolimbic dopamine. This study confirms the importance of (i) gender as a factor to be carefully considered in animal models of drug and food self-administration, and (ii) estrus cycle hormonal changes as a source of variability between males and females
A Genomic map of positive selection in Sardinia
Full text linkThe recent production of population-scale genomic data offers an unprecedented opportunity to understand how natural selection has shaped human phenotypic variation within populations. To identify signatures of recent positive selection in Sardinia, we used 23 million single nucleotide polymorphisms from low-coverage whole genomes of 3,514 Sardinians along with data from the 1000 Genomes project. Using single-population (iHS, nSL) and cross-population (Fst, PBS, XP-EHH) based statistics, we found many genetic regions showing evidence of positive selection.
We found that selection statistics computed for outlier variants cannot be explained by neutral forces alone. By intersecting genome-wide association study data for hundreds of traits measured in Sardinians with publicy available functional genomic databases, we found that autoimmunity-related genes are enriched for these putatively adaptive variants.
Taken together, these results illustrate the importance of characterizing the phenotypic variation within a population, and especially the utility of whole-genome-sequence data, when proposing and interpreting genetic signatures of positive selection
Partiti etnoregionalisti e processo di integrazione europea: identità e struttura delle opportunità politiche
Full text linkEthno-regionalist parties are present in almost every country in the EU and – as we have seen in Scotland (UK) and Catalonia (Spain) – they have recently showed the strength (and the appeal) of their political proposal in regional governments. These parties’ position towards the process of European integration can help to identify some possible future scenarios for the EU. In fact, as the hope for a ‘Europe of the Regions’ has faded away and nation states’ role is still strong, it remains to explain what these parties expect from Europe. Whereas scholars agree that ethno-regionalist parties are generally in favour of the European integration, there is no consensus on why this happens. Our research hypothesis is that their support towards the EU depends more on short-term benefits in terms of political opportunities: visibility, funds, offices, networks, policies (a ‘tactical Europeanism’), rather than a wider functional ‘strategic Europeanism’, and so far from a principled and genuine 'identity Europeanism'. To test the hypothesis, we use a qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews with members of both Europhile and the few Eurosceptical ethno-regionalist parties, EU Commission’s officers and staff working closely at regional and parliamentary level with those parties. Crossing and comparing their answers we are able to recognize the kind of party support for EU and this way to understand whether their attitude can favourite or obstruct the European integration
Caratterizzazione molecolare di <i>Listeria monocytogenes</i> isolata nella Salsiccia Sarda Stagionata e negli impianti di trasformazione
No full textListeria monocytogenes is a bacteria pathogenic for humans and animals that can cause meningitis, septicemia, abortion and prenatal infection in high risk categories of people. The aim of this study was to characterize L. monocytogenes (Lm) isolates and to determine antimicrobial susceptibility in Lm and L. innocua (Li). 76 isolates collected from different sausage processing plants in food and environmental samples, were analyzed. The overall prevalence with phenotyping tests was 54% and 46% respectively for Lm and other species. With molecular method (PCR), 47% were confirmed as Lm, while 29% and 24% resulted Li and L. welshimeri repectively. Serotyping showed that 44.4% of Lm isolates belonged to serotype 1/2c, followed by 1/2a (39%) and 4b (17%). The prevalence of virulence genes by multiplex PCR was: inlA 86.1%, inlB 100%, iap 100%, rrn 97.2%, hlyA 98%, prfA 98%, plcA 97.2%, plcB 97.2%, mpl 100%, actA 30.5%. Lm isolates subtyped by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis were grouped into 4 cluster and 28 pulsotypes were identified, revealing a high genetic diversity. The results of the antimicrobial susceptibility showed that Lm isolates were sensitive to antimicrobials used for listeriosis treatment of choice (97.2% ampicillin and 72.2% gentamicin) but resistant to vancomycin (63.8%) and eritromicin (55.5%). This study contribute to know the virulence of Lm isolated from Sardinian sausage and processing plants and the antimicrobial susceptibility of Lm and Li isolates