Search results for "Italy"
showing 10 items of 2893 documents
Monitoring neonatal fungal infection with metabolomics
2014
Abstract The objective of our study was to evaluate the capability of the metabolomics approach to identify the variations of urine metabolites over time related to the neonatal fungal septic condition. The study population included a clinical case of a preterm neonate with invasive fungal infection and 13 healthy preterm controls. This study showed a unique urine metabolic profile of the patient affected by fungal sepsis compared to urine of controls and it was also possible to evaluate the efficacy of therapy in improving patient health.
Funnel plots and choropleth maps in cancer risk communication: a comparison of tools for disseminating population-based incidence data to stakeholders
2017
Background Population-based cancer registries provide epidemiological cancer information, but the indicators are often too complex to be interpreted by local authorities and communities, due to numeracy and literacy limitations. The aim of this paper is to compare the commonly used visual formats to funnel plots to enable local public health authorities and communities to access valid and understandable cancer incidence data obtained at the municipal level. Methods A funnel plot representation of standardised incidence ratio (SIR) was generated for the 82 municipalities of the Palermo Province with the 2003–2011 data from the Palermo Province Cancer Registry (Sicily, Italy). The properties …
Biosynthesis of beauvericin and enniatins in vitro by wheat Fusarium species and natural grain contamination in an area of central Italy
2015
Contamination of wheat grain by beauvericin (BEA) and enniatins (ENs) is a global emerging mycotoxicological food problem. In this study, strains of Fusarium avenaceum (FA), Fusarium poae (FP), Fusarium equiseti and Fusarium sporotrichioides, all potential BEA and EN producers, isolated from 162 grain samples of durum and soft wheat harvested in 2009 and 2010 collected in an area of central Italy, were preliminarily screened for the presence of the esyn1 gene, encoding the multifunctional enzyme enniatin-synthetase for the detection of potential hexadepsipeptide-producing isolates. All positive isolates were tested for their ability to biosynthesize BEA and ENs in vitro. In addition, all wh…
Natural co-occurrence of mycotoxins in wheat grains from Italy and Syria
2014
This article describes the application of an analytical method for the detection of 25 mycotoxins in wheat grain based on simultaneous extraction using matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) followed by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry, a hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometer (QTrapÒ). Information Dependent Acquisition (IDA), an extra confirmation tool for samples that contain the target mycotoxins, was used. The analysis of 40 Syrian and 46 Italian wheat grain sam- ples interestingly showed that Syrian samples were mainly contaminated with ochratoxin A and aflatox- ins, whereas Italian samples with deoxynivalenol and 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol. Emer…
Phylogenetic analyses of Fusarium graminearum strains from cereals in Italy, and characterisation of their molecular and chemical chemotypes
2014
The Fusarium graminearum species complex (FGSC) is a pathogen of durum wheat and other cereals worldwide. The complex consists of at least 15 species that can produce various mycotoxins, including trichothecenes, associated with human and animals toxicoses. In particular, deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol (NIV) and their different acetylated derivatives can be produced by the different chemotypes of the complex. In this study, 90 strains, isolated mainly from wheat in Italy and belonging to the FGSC, were assessed for their phylogeny and their chemotype and trichothecene genotype. Almost all strains of the FGSC belonged to F. graminearum sensu stricto, whereas two strains were F. cortaderiae…
Fusarium species, chemotype characterisation and trichothecene contamination of durum and soft wheat in an area of central Italy
2015
BACKGROUND Fusarium head blight (FHB) of wheat is an important disease causing yield losses and mycotoxin contamination. The aim of the work was to detect and characterise trichothecene producing Fusarium species in durum and soft wheat cultivated in an area of central Italy in 2009 and 2010 and to determine trichothecene contamination by LC-MS/MS in the grain. RESULTS F. graminearum s. str. was the most frequent species. In 2009, the occurrence of F. avenaceum and F. poae was higher than in 2010. Among F. graminearum strains, the 15-acetyl deoxynivalenol (15-ADON) chemotype could be found more frequently, followed by nivalenol (NIV) and 3-ADON chemotypes, while all F. culmorum isolates bel…
Occurrence of Fusarium mycotoxins in Italian cereal and cereal products from organic farming.
2013
In the present study, the occurrence of eighteen mycotoxins, nine trichothecenes (deoxynivalenol, 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol, 15-acetyl-deoxynivalenol, nivalenol, neosolaniol, diacetoxyscirpenol, fusarenon-X, T-2 toxin and HT-2 toxin), three zearalenones (zearalenone, α-zearalenol and β-zearalenol), and six emergent mycotoxins, beauvericin and five enniatins (A, A1, B, B1 and B4), was monitored in different Italian organic cereals and cereal products by using a liquid chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole mass spectrometry method. A total of 93 organic cereal samples (wheat, barley, rye and oat) were collected from Italy. Limits of quantification ranged from 5 to 15 μg/kg. 80% of analyze…
Structural changes in Italian Late Pliocene - Pleistocene large Mammal assemblages
2001
A schematic range-chart of the late Pliocene - Pleistocene large mammal genera is presented. The main faunal events recognizable within this time span are discussed. The first faunal event occurs around the Gauss/Matuyama transition with the beginning of the middle Villafranchian characterized by the arrival of Mammuthus (Archidiskodon) and Equus (the so-called "elephant-Equus event"). The following faunal event occurs at the Plio-Pleistocene transition (the so-called "wolf event"). The latter is marked by a strong contraction in the diversity of the ruminants and by a renewal in the carnivore diversity with the arrival of social carnivores. The low diversity in ruminant assemblage persist …
A comparative assay of epidemiological markers for Acinetobacter strains isolated in a hospital.
1989
Summary A comparative assay for epidemiological evaluation of three different Acinetobacter typing procedures, i.e. biotyping, phagetyping, and the analysis of the bacterial envelope protein profiles, was carried out using sixty-four multiresistant Acinetobacter strains isolated from clinical specimens. The antibiotic susceptibility of the strains was also considered. After genospecies identification, biotyping allowed the recognition of a relatively large and long-lasting presence, at an Intenive Therapy Unit, of two A. baumannii biotypes. Phage-typing and the analysis of the susceptibility to antibiotics allowed for the differentiation of strains belonging to different genospecies and bio…
Linguistic, geographic and genetic isolation: a collaborative study of Italian populations
2014
Summary - The animal and plant biodiversity of the Italian territory is known to be one of the richest in the Mediterranean basin and Europe as a whole, but does the genetic diversity of extant human populations show a comparable pattern? According to a number of studies, the genetic structure of Italian populations retains the signatures of complex peopling processes which took place from the Paleolithic to modern era. Although the observed patterns highlight a remarkable degree of genetic heterogeneity, they do not, however, take into account an important source of variation. In fact, Italy is home to numerous ethnolinguistic minorities which have yet to be studied systematically. Due to …