Search results for "mediterranean"
showing 10 items of 3196 documents
Effect of freezing/thawing process in different sizes of blue fish in the Mediterranean through lysosomal enzymatic tests
2014
The assessment of freshness of different sizes of blue fish (Engraulis encrasicolus 12 cm, Sardina pilchardus 15 cm, Trachurus trachurus 40 cm, Scomber japonicus colias 60 cm) was carried out using non-conventional enzymatic methods. The activities of the three lysosomal enzymes (α-glucosidase (AG), β-galactosidase (B-GAL) and β-N-acetylglucosamidase (B-NA)) in extracts of blue fish muscle were measured over a period of 21 days of storage. A significant increase (p < 0.05) of AG activity was observed in all species, with a large increase seen after only one day of storage. B-NA activity increased slightly in sardines, horse mackerels and chub mackerel during frozen/thawed storage. Finally, …
Lemon Juice, Sesame Paste, and Autoclaving Influence Iron Bioavailability of Hummus: Assessment by an In Vitro Digestion/Caco-2 Cell Model
2020
Hummus, an iron-containing plant-based dish mainly made from chickpea puré
Forage mixture productivity and silage quality from a grass/legume intercrop in a semiarid Mediterranean environment
2023
In semiarid environments of the Mediterranean region, intercropping is a sustainable agricultural system of long standing. In this area, the pea (Pisum sativum L.) is one of the most commonly grown legume crops. Little information is available on the quality of silages to be obtained from forage mixtures of pea intercropped with cereals or annual grasses. In this study, two experiments were conducted over the course of two growing seasons in Sicily (Italy) with the aim to determine the biomass production of forage crop mixtures and assess, only in the second experiment, the silage quality of grass and legumes. Four cereals and one annual grass species were grown in pure stand and in mixture…
Ten Years of Paleoceanographic Studies at ODP Site 963 (Central Mediterranean Sea)
2014
The geographical location, the shape and the circulation pattern makes the Mediterranean Sea an ideal laboratory to study the interplay between different climatic systems, abrupt climate changes and the response of marine ecosystems. The Ocean Drilling Program Site 963 was drilled in the Northwestern part of the Sicily Channel, the sill that divides the western from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Numerous papers have been published on Site 963 sediments in the last decade, investigating Mediterranean paleoceanographic themes. Here we offer a synthetic framework of these investigations carried out by sub-centennial resolution. We present the whole sequence of suborbital climatic oscillations…
Sea Surface Temperatures and Paleoenvironmental Variability in the Central Mediterranean During Historical Times Reconstructed Using Planktonic Foram…
2019
The ongoing anthropogenic‐induced warming assessment requires a robust background from regional sea surface temperature (SST) reconstructions. Planktonic foraminifera have yielded valuable insights into late Quaternary SST dynamics, but the techniques to estimate SST from fossil assemblages have only rarely been used in very recent sedimentary records (the last 2,000 years). Here we use two transfer function methods, modern analog technique and artificial neural networks, to reconstruct SST variability in two cores from the Central Mediterranean Sea that span the last five centuries. Both cores show similar and considerable changes in the planktonic foraminifera assemblages. However, the in…
The role of traditional Erica arborea L. management practices in maintaining northeastern Sicily’s cultural landscape
2007
The tree heath (Erica arborea L.), a small evergreen tree found in the Mediterranean region and parts of Eastern and Central Africa, produces lignotubers that are highly valued for making smoking pipes. The Peloritani Mountains of northeastern Sicily are historically one of the most important areas in Italy for the production of these high quality lignotubers, known as briar root wood. In the past, tree heath shrublands were also an important source of charcoal. Erica arborea utilisation has declined dramatically during the past century, mostly due to the decreasing demand for smoking pipes, as well as the increasing frequency of wildfires and large-scale afforestation activities in this re…
Bi- and three-dimensional fractal analysis of the brown seaweed Gongolaria montagnei and their relationship with gastropod molluscs assemblage
2022
Habitat complexity is one of the main influences on biodiversity in marine environments, particularly in coastal areas where foundation seaweeds provide substrate for highly diverse communities. We studied the 2D and 3D fractal dimensions of Gongolaria montagnei (Fucales) over the vegetative season and examine their relationship with the abundance, species richness and morpho-functional groups of the gastropod associated. Overall, the 3D fractal analysis method used here better describes seaweeds structural complexity compared to the traditional 2D fractal analysis, as highlighted by the higher relationship with gastropod assemblage associated to the alga in terms of abundance, number of sp…
L’inventario dei giogali del cavaliere Fra’ Alessio di Ferro (1700-80): alcune considerazioni sull’oreficeria tra Sicilia e Malta
2019
The article deals with the inventory, in part unpublished, of 1763 of the jewels owned by the knight of Saint John Fra 'Alessio di Ferro, which is located in the State Archives in Trapani. He was an illustrious exponent of one of the most prominent families in the centuries of the city of Trapani linked to the island of Malta. The inventory offers the opportunity to reflect on typologies, materials and styles most in vogue between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the Mediterranean jewellery and, consequently, the inspiration for some transversal reflections concerning the history of the male jewelry, still little explored, among Sicily and Malta.
The “manna” extracted from the ash trees still cultivated in Sicily from mythical food to pharmaceutical and nutraceutical resource
2022
“Manna” is the product obtained from the solidification of the elaborate sap that comes out of the incisions made during the summer season on the stem and on the main branches of some species of the genus Fraxinus (Oleaceae). The cultivation of manna ash trees dates back to ancient times in Sicily and elsewhere ash trees – known as sacred trees, a symbol of abundance and therefore auspicious – was increasingly widespread until the middle of the last century. Subsequently, however, the crop underwent a progressive decline, remaining relegated to restricted areas of Sicily, in particular in the Madonie district (Palermo, Italy). In this brief review, the essential characteristics of the manna…
Chemical-physical and nutritional characteristics of mature-green and mature-ripe ‘Kensington Pride’ mango fruit cultivated in Mediterranean area dur…
2017
Introduction - Mango is a very short postharvest life climacteric fruit. Mangoes are usually harvested firm and green because they are often assigned to long transportation before reaching the market, or they are collected after color break for local markets. In both cases, temperature control is the most critical factor in fruit ripening management. The aim of this study was to investigate the quality evolution of mature-green and mature-ripe mango fruit submitted to 8°C and 90 ± 5% of relative humidity to assess the possibility to prolong its postharvest life. Materials and methods - The fruit of mango (Mangifera indica L. cv. Kensington Pride) grown in a Mediterranean environment was s…