1,629 research outputs found
Carne “coltivata”: problemi, dubbi e possibili prospettive
No full textLo scenario del nuovo millennio ha riportato l’attenzione sulla “food security”. È previsto un aumento della popolazione mondiale che dovrebbe raggiungere circa 9,7 miliardi di persone entro il 2050 ed un continuo aumento della domanda di beni alimentari, compresa la carne, come conseguenza della crescita della popolazione. Nell’ambito delle produzioni animali, i riflettori sono accesi su benessere animale, ambiente, sostenibilità, salubrità e qualità delle produzioni animali e aspetti etici in un approccio One Health. In questo scenario, la “carne coltivata” può rappresentare una valida alternativa per i consumatori che vogliono essere più responsabili, ma non desiderano modificare la loro dieta? Che cos’è la “carne coltivata”? La “carne coltivata” è veramente carne? La “carne coltivata“ è sicura, sana, gustosa ed etica? La “carne coltivata” è sostenibile? Qual è l’impatto ambientale della “carne coltivata”? Quali sono le questioni normative? Faremo il punto sullo stato dell’arte della ricerca per poter dare risposte a queste domande, sottolineando che abbiamo bisogno di una valutazione olistica, multicriterio e indipendente
Carne coltivata: una nuova frontiera della ricerca
No full textIl dibattito sulla carne coltivata ed altri alimenti di origine cellulare è molto ampio e tante sono le domande che richiedono risposte chiare e scientificamente supportate. In questo scenario la parola chiave è ricerca. Fare ricerca con un rigoroso approccio e con una valutazione olistica, multicriterio e indipendente. Fare ricerca per valutare i potenziali vantaggi e i potenziali svantaggi, per delineare i limiti ed i punti critici ancora da definire nella consapevolezza delle attuali criticità
Ecological Validity of the Inventory of Problems-29 (IOP-29): an Italian Study of Court-Ordered, Psychological Injury Evaluations Using the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS) as Criterion Variable
No full textThe Inventory of Problems-29 (IOP-29; Viglione, Giromini, & Landis, Journal of Personality Assessment, 99(5), 534–544, 2017) is a 29-item, recently published, self-administered test aimed at assessing the credibility of various symptom presentations. Although available research strongly supports the use of this symptom validity test in malingering-related contexts, to date, only few studies have analyzed data from real-life forensic evaluations. To fill this gap and explore ecological and convergent validity, the current study analyzed data from 74 court-ordered evaluations aimed at establishing the possible presence of psychological injury. Such evaluations are high-stakes situations in which exaggeration or malingering occur relatively often. We used a research-supported and popular symptom validity test, i.e., the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS; Smith & Burger, Journal of the American Academy on Psychiatry and Law, 25:180–183, 1997), as our criterion variable. The IOP-29 produced excellent area under the curve (AUC) values of.98 with a recommended SIMS total score cutoff (≥ 17) and.99 when eliminating too-close-to-classify cases (Rogers & Bender, 2018) and very large Cohen’s d effect sizes of 2.98 and 3.59, respectively. Crucially, when implementing established cut scores from previous research, the IOP-29 yielded very high specificity and sensitivity rates, and the predictions from the two tests were strikingly similar. Taken together, these findings support the strong convergent validity of the IOP-29 and its utility in applied clinical and forensic settings
HEALTH-PROMOTING COMPOUNDS IN FOOD AND FEED: AN IN VITRO APPROACH TO STUDY DIETARY BIOACTIVES
No full textThe main aim of this thesis was to study the functional properties of health-promoting compounds in vitro with an emphasis on milk proteins, vitamin E and micronutrients.
The health-promoting effects of intact whey and casein proteins were evaluated after in vitro SGD. Permeate (absorbed fraction) and retentate (intestinal fraction) were obtained and used to study their health-effects in vitro. Soya protein was include as non-animal protein in all the experiments performed. Following SGD, the milk proteins exhibited antioxidant activity, ACE-inhibitory activity and tropho-functional properties at the intestinal cell level. The whey protein permeate exhibited a higher ACE-inhibitory activity compared with the casein and soya protein permeate. SGD increased the ACE-inhibitory activity of whey protein and the antioxidant activity of all the protein tested. At specific concentrations, casein, whey and soya proteins were able to modulate intestinal cell viability and the production of intestinal mucus. Moreover, the proliferation of Lactobacillus casei was increased by specific concentrations of whey and casein proteins. Modulations of mucus production and probiotic bacteria growth were observed, and casein was the primary protein that was able to stimulate MUC5AC gene expression and promote Lactobacillus casei growth. Altogether, the analyses of goblet cell proliferation and prebiotic bacterial growth may represent complementary approaches to study the bioactivities and the functions of food proteins in the gut. Additionally, the comparison of the effect of the two major intact milk proteins performed in this thesis could provide valuable information regarding which is more efficacious in improving health.
α-tocopherol has been demonstrated to play an important role in reducing oxidative stress at cellular level, in different in vitro models. Food toxicants, as OTA, have been found to be able of disrupting the cell monolayer and damaging DNA, which leads to cell death. OTA reduced tight junctions protein localization in cell membranes and influenced cell-cell interactions. The immunofluorescence analyses revealed changes in the patterns of occludin and Zo1 proteins in the presence of OTA, compared with control cells. OTA cytotoxic effects were counteracted by the presence of α-tocopherol. The pre-treatment with α-tocopherol blocked the loss of occludin protein in the tight junctions of kidney cells treated with OTA. α-tocopherol supplementation has demonstrated to counteract short-term OTA toxicity at different cellular levels, supporting the defensive role of this compound in the cell membrane.
Finally, the in vitro roles of different micronutrients, specifically choline/methionine and different Zn formulations, were determined. Due to their physiological health-promoting effects, both choline/methionine and Zn are commonly used in animal nutrition. The results of this thesis confirmed that under condition of stress, choline and methionine have important roles in enhancing cell viability and counteracting oxidative stress. Specific concentrations of different Zn sources maintained the viability of human and swine intestinal cells, which underlines the beneficial role of Zn in human and swine intestinal epithelia.
Overall, these results contribute to the identification of the roles of different dietary health-promoting compounds in human and animal target tissues by making in vitro models an essential tool. However, further in vivo experiments are necessary to extend these in vitro results and to clarify the contributions of health-promoting components in animal feed and human formulations. The improved knowledge related to milk protein bioactives, antioxidants and micronutrients represents a crucial subject for future systematic efforts to improve food and feed quality
Meat in the Diet: Differentiating the Benefits and Risks of Different Types of Meat
No full textThe present Special Issue features three broad areas related to meat: meat and human health, the effects of animals’ diets on the nutritional characteristics of meat, and consumers’ attitudes about buying and consuming cell-based meat [...
Benefits and risks associated with meat consumption during key life processes and in relation to the risk of chronic diseases
No full textRed meat has been an important part of the diet throughout human evolution. Overall, when included as part of a healthy and varied diet, red meat can provide a rich source of bioavailable essential nutrients and high biological value protein. The present paper discusses the dietary role/impact of red and processed meat, with some reference to the relative effect of white meat, in a range of chronic conditions including iron-deficiency anaemia, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), cancer and dementia. The role of red meat in relation to key physiological conditions such as maintaining skeletal muscle and bone health and during pregnancy is also discussed. The inclusion of lean red meat in a healthy, varied diet may be beneficial during these critical conditions. There is however increasing evidence that red meat and especially processed meat are associated with increased risks of CVD, cancer and dementia whereas white meat is neutral or associated with a lower risk. There now seems little doubt that processed and unprocessed meat should have separate public dietary guidance
Anaemia in India and Its Prevalence and Multifactorial Aetiology: A Narrative Review
No full textThe prevalence of anaemia in India remains high in children, especially those in rural areas, and in women of childbearing age, and its impairment of neurological development can have serious lifelong effects. It is concerning that the most recent official data (2019-21) indicate an increased prevalence compared with 2015-16. There is also considerable variability in childhood anaemia between Indian states with socioeconomic factors, such as wealth and education contributing to the risk of anaemia among adolescent women and their children. Dietary iron deficiency is often regarded as the main contributor to anaemia but increasing evidence accumulated from the authors' ongoing literature database coupled with recent literature research suggests that it has a multifactorial aetiology, some of which is not related to nutrition. This narrative review focused on these multifactorial issues, notably the contribution of vitamin B12/folate deficiency, which also has a high prevalence in India. It was also noted that the dietary intake of bioavailable iron remains an important contributor for reducing anaemia, and the role of millets as an improved iron source compared to traditional staple cereals is briefly discussed. The overall conclusion is that anaemia has a multifactorial aetiology requiring multifactorial assessment that must include assessment of vitamin B12 status
Seeds for delivery of edible vaccine
No full textThe oral delivery of plant-made vaccines is particularly attractive since the low costs, the heat stability, the avoidance of the injections and for the production of specific antibodies in the mucosa, where the major pathogens gain access to the body. In pig industry novel strategies are required to control enteric infections, in particular caused by verocytotoxic Escherichia coli (VTEC) strains and Salmonella thyphimurium, the two most important bacterial pathogens in the weaning period.
The general aim of this study was to produce three different lines of transgenic tobacco plants expressing in the seeds the F18 fimbriae adhesive, the VT2e-B toxin (both from O138 VTEC strain) and the flgK flagellin (from Salmonella thyphimurium) respectively, as a model of edible vaccine. We also preliminary evaluated the immunogenic properties of transformed tobacco seeds in animal model.
Tobacco leaf disks were transformed via Agrobacterium tumefaciens EHA105 with chimeric constructs containing structural parts of the major subunit FedA of the F18 adhesive fimbriae, VT2e B-subunit and flgK flagellin genes under control of a seed specific GLOB promoter: pBIpGLOB-F18, pBIpGLOB-VT2eB, pBIpGLOB-flgK. The GLOB promoter is the soybean basic 7S globulin promoter (DDBJ no. AX006477) and was used for the seed-specific protein expression.
We showed that the foreign genes were stably accumulated and expressed in storage tissue by the immunostaining method. Obtained data showed the inheritance of transgenes in the R0, R1, R2 generations and the stable integration of VT2e-B, F18 and flgK genes into tobacco genome. Balb-C mice receiving transgenic tobacco seeds via the oral route showed a significant increase in IgA-positive plasma cell presence in tunica propria when compared to the control group with no observed adverse effects. Moreover oral administration of recombinant tobacco seeds expressing the antigenic proteins against VTEC strains can induce a protective effect against challenger strain in piglets
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