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Background: 60% of patients diagnosed with lung cancer are older than 65 years and are at risk for substandard treatment due to a reluctance to recommend surgery. Pneumonectomy remains a high risk procedure especially in elderly patients. Nevertheless, the impact of age and neoadjuvant treatment on outcomes after pneumonectomy is still not well described. Methods: We performed a multicentric retrospective study, analyzing outcomes of patients older than 70 years who underwent pneumonectomy for central primary lung malignancy between January 2009 and June 2019 in 7 thoracic surgery departments: Lucerne and Bern (Switzerland), Hamilton (Canada), Alicante (Spain), Monza (Italy), London (UK), Leuven (Belgium). Survival was estimated with Kaplan-Meier, and differences in survival were determined by log-rank analysis. We investigated pre-and post-operative prognostic factors using Cox proportional hazards regression model; multivariable analysis was performed only with variables, which were statistically significant at the invariable analysis. Results: A total of 136 patients were included in the study. Mean age was 73.8 years (SD 3.6). 24 patients (17.6%) had an induction treatment (chemotherapy alone in 15 patients and chemo-radiation in 9). Mean length of stay (LOS) was 12.6 days (SD 10.39) and 74 patients (54.4%) had experienced a post-operative complication: 29 (21.3%) had a pulmonary complication, 33 (24.3%) had a cardiac complication and in 12 cases (8.8%) patients experienced both cardiac and pulmonary complications. 16 patients were readmitted [median LOS 13.7 days (range, 2-39 days)] and of those 14 (10.3%) required redo surgery. Median overall survival (OS) of the entire cohort was 38 months (95% CI: 29.9-46.1 months); in-hospital mortality was 1.5%, 30-day mortality rate was 3.7%, while 90-day mortality was 8.8% accounting for 5 and 12 patients respectively. Patients receiving neo-adjuvant therapy did not experience a higher incidence of postoperative complications (P=0.633), did not have a longer postoperative course (P=0.588), nor did they have an increased mortality rate (P=0.863). Conclusions: Age should not be considered an absolute contraindication for pneumonectomy in elderly patients even after neoadjuvant treatment. It has become apparent that especially in these patients, a patient tailored approach with a careful selection should be used to define the risk-benefit balance.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a worldwide occurring mycotoxin produced by Penicillium and Aspergillus fungi especially during unfavorable storage of cereals, with nephrotoxic, immunotoxic, teratogenic and reprotoxic activity. Although it has been shown that monogastric animals have high sensitivity to OTA, no data are available on natural exposure of Martina Franca jennies and their foals to this mycotoxin during late pregnancy and after delivery. Feed and blood samples were collected from January to September 2018, every 15 days from 7 jennies and their foals two months before and three months after delivery. Feed samples were comminuted/homogenized and analyzed by the AOAC Official method No. 2000.03 (Entwisle et al, 2000) for the determination of OTA in barley based on immunoaffinity column clean up of extracts and HPLC/FLD detection, with minor modifications. The quantification limit was 0.3 ng/g. The OTA extraction and determination of blood samples followed the protocol provided by the trademark of ELISA kit, with a detection limit of 50 ng/L. Out of 53 tested feed samples, 68% showed OTA levels lower than the quantification limit, 26% had levels ranging from 0.3 to 0.7 ng/g and 6% ranging from 1.4 to 2.7 ng/g. The analysis of each cereal component present in the feed showed similar low OTA levels (0.15-0.18) in bran, corn flake and soy, whereas barley and oat resulted uncontaminated (detection limit of 0.1 ng/g). Toxin concentrations were far below the guidance values of OTA in feed materials reported by the Commission Recommendation 2016/1319. Total blood samples collected from jennies and foals were 67 and 34, respectively. In jennies, the OTA incidence rate of positive (with OTA levels higher than the detection limit) blood samples was 7.3%, with median value of 114 ng/L and range from 51 to 6,000 ng/L. No significant differences of OTA serum levels were found among jennies, but a season-effect on the levels of OTA in the blood was found with significant increases from 10 to 60 times in 75% of the positive samples collected from May to September. Concerning foals, the number of positive blood samples were 17 with the incidence rate of 50%. Median value of OTA in positive samples was 134 ng/L, ranging from 79 to 4040 ng/L. No placental transfer of OTA was observed in all tested jennies and no influence on pregnancy length and health of foals was observed.

Whole wheat foods are significant source of compounds exhibiting health-promoting properties. One of the most abundant class of phytochemicals in the wheat grain is represented by phenolic acids that are typically localized in the bran and germ portions. The objective of this study was to estimate the extent of genetic variation for phenolic acids in durum wheat (T. turgidum L. ssp. durum). In addition, this study aimed at evaluating the anti-inflammatory activity of phenolic acids contained in whole-meal flour extracts. Phenolic acids were recovered from the whole meal flours of 65 durum cultivars and subsequently identified and quantified by HPLC-DAD analysis. Then, the anti-inflammatory activity of phenolic acids extracts was evaluated on LPS-stimulated HT-29 human colon cells by measuring the levels of interleukin 8 (IL-8) and transforming growth factor ?1 (TGF- ?1). A large variation for the content of phenolic acids was observed among genotypes and, on average, it accounted for 830 ?g/g dry weight. Whole meal flour extract significantly inhibited the secretion of the pro-inflammatory IL-8 mediator at 66 µg/mL of phenolic acids. Conversely, the secretion of the anti-inflammatory mediator TGF-?1 was not modified by addition of phenolic acids to HT-29 cells. Results showed that durum cultivars have different contents of phenolic acids, suggesting that a number of elite varieties could be used for breeding purposes. Moreover, results provide further insight into the health-related benefits of durum wheat foods as depending on the anti-inflammatory activity of phenolic acids.

The structure and stability of the dominant lactic acid bacterium population were assessed during wheat flour sourdough type I propagation by using singly nine strains of Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis. Under back-slopping propagation with wheat flour type 0 F114, cell numbers of presumptive lactic acid bacteria varied slightly between and within starters. As determined by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA-PCR and restriction endonuclease analysis–pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analyses, only three (LS8, LS14, and LS44) starters dominated throughout 10 days of propagation. The others progressively decreased to less than 3 log CFU g_1. Partial sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA and recA genes and PCR-denaturating gradient gel electrophoresis analysis using the rpoB gene allowed identification of Weissella confusa, Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus rossiae, Lactobacillus brevis, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, Pediococcus pentosaceus, and Lactobacillus spp. as the dominant species of the raw wheat flour. At the end of propagation, one autochthonous strain of L. sanfranciscensis was found in all the sourdoughs. Except for L. brevis, strains of the above species were variously found in the mature sourdoughs. Persistent starters were found in association with other biotypes of L. sanfranciscensis and with W. confusa or L. plantarum. Sourdoughs were characterized for acidification, quotient of fermentation, free amino acids, and community-level catabolic profiles by USING Biolog 96-well Eco microplates. In particular, catabolic profiles of sourdoughs containing persistent starters behaved similarly and were clearly differentiated from the others. The three persistent starters were further used for the production of sourdoughs and propagated by using another wheat flour whose lactic acid bacterium population in part differed from the previous one. Also, in this case all three starter strains persisted during propagation.

Artichoke (Cynara cardunculus L. subsp. scolymus Hayek) is an important component of the Mediterranean diet and a good source of health-promoting compounds well-known antioxidant and anti-inflammatory molecules, such as polyphenols(1). Recent evidences indicated that probiotic strains play an important role in modulating activities in the gut-associated lymphoid tissue. In this study the beneficial effects of artichoke was modulated by adding probiotic cells during in vitro digestion process. The artichoke intestinal digesta (containing a range from 0.033 to 67.13 ppm of total polyphenols), in presence or absence of the probiotic Lactobacillus paracasei strain LMG P-22043, was evaluated for antioxidant activity on human intestinal cell line (HT-29) using DCF-DA probe. Although the recovered bioaccessibility of total polyphenols did not change in the presence of L. paracasei (71± 17.6 % with respect to 66 ± 14.4%), the antioxidant effect was significantly (p

Purificazione delle frazioni polifenoliche delle Acque di Vegetazione mediante sistema di filtrazione a membrana e valutazione dell'attività antiossidante; Digestione gastrointestinale in vitro

Valutazione della stabilità e attività biologica (assorbimento), delle frazioni polifenoliche purificate per un loro possibile utilizzo come integratori alimentari

Verbascoside (VB), a bioactive polyphenol from olive mill wastewater with known antioxidant activity, was shown to act as a pro-oxidant molecule, by impairing energy/redox status and embryo developmental competence of prepubertal ovine oocytes when added at micromolar concentrations in a continuative 24-h in vitro maturation (IVM) exposure protocol (1). The aim of the present study was to determine whether a lower (nanomolar) VB concentration and a shorter exposure time (2 v. 24h) during IVM may improve the maturation rates of prepubertal ovine oocytes and their subsequent embryonic development in vitro. Cumulus-oocyte complexes derived from the ovaries of slaughtered 1-mo-old prepubertal sheep oocytes underwent IVM in TCM 199 with 10% oestrus sheep serum, 0.1IUmL(-1) of FSH/LH, and 100M cysteamine, in 5% CO2 in air at 38.5°C for 24h. Based on our previous results (Dell'Aquila et al. 2014 Biomed. Res. Int. 2014, 878062), VB was added in the IVM medium at 1.03nM, and 2 incubation times (24 and 2h) were tested. In the 2-h exposure group, after 2h of exposure to VB, oocytes were washed and cultured up to 24h without VB. A group of oocytes were cultured in absence of VB, as controls. Matured oocytes were fertilized with frozen-thawed ram semen in SOF medium for 22h and zygotes were cultured in vitro for 8 days. Metaphase II (MII) cleavage and blastocyst rates were analysed by Chi-squared test. Embryo quality was evaluated by staining and total cell count of the blastocyst and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied. Differences were considered to be significant when P0.05). However, this treatment allowed to obtain significantly higher rates of cleaved embryos/MII oocytes (156/196, 80% v. 165/226, 73%; respectively; P

Objectives. The aim of this work was to assess how chemical modification of verbascoside (VB) from olive mill waste water occurring during incubation at pH values mimicking gastric and intestinal conditions may impact antioxidant activity in two human intestinal cells lines. Quali-quantitative approaches were performed in order to evaluate the specific interactions between VB and its derivative. Methodology. VB was incubated at pH 3 and 7,for 24 h and at 37°C as Temperature. HPLC analysis was performed according to Cardinali et al. (2012) protocol, in order to determine possible modifications of VB concentration and/or possible transformation into derivative products. The antioxidant activity of mixture (composed by VB, IsoVB and oxidized products) and pure compounds, such as VB and IsoVB, was assessed on two human intestinal cell lines (HT-29 and Caco-2) using DCFH-DA probe. The characterization study of interactions was performed using a graphical (Tallarida, 1989) and mathematical approaches (Berenbaum, 1989). Results and conclusion. Verbascoside was found to be stable at pH 3 with a recovery of ~100% after 24 hrs. IN contrast, at pH 7 (approximating intestinal conditions), VB was observed to be unstable with a loss of 62.4% observed and isoVB forming as main auto-oxidative product of VB along with other oxidative products. On the two cell lines, the mixture of oxidative VB products resulted less activity (EC50 ranging from 2.7 to 3.4 ppm) compared to VB (EC50 ranging from 0.24 to 0.29 ppm), IsoVB (EC50 ranging from 0.85 to 1.4 ppm) and VB+IsoVB (EC50 ranging from 0.12 to 0.21 ppm). Cellular uptake also differed between cell lines with higher uptake by Caco-2 relative to HT-29. Both graphical and mathematical methods identified different interactions between VB and IsoVB on two cell lines. In conclusion the antioxidant activity of polyphenols such as VB could be modified in relation to the conditions present in intestinal environment.

Valutazione della bioaccessibilità dei principali carotenoidi presenti negli estratti di zucca dopo un processo di digestione in vitro.