Liviana Leita

The HRMAS-NMR tool in foodstuff characterisation.

High resolution magic angle spinning, that is, HRMAS, is a quite novel tool in NMR spectroscopy; it offers the almost unique opportunity of measuring intact tissues disguised as suspended or swollen in a deuterated solvent. The feasibility of 1H–HRMAS–NMR in foodstuff characterisation has been exploited, but in spite of this, its applications are still limited. Metabolic profiling and biopolymer composition and aggregation are the topics investigated until now for raw vegetables, meat and processed foodstuff. Almost all known studies are reported in the next pages. Copyright

Traceability of Italian garlic (Allium sativum L.) by means of HRMAS-NMR spectroscopy and multivariate data analysis.

(1)H High Resolution Magic Angle Spinning-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (HRMAS-NMR) spectroscopy was used to analyse garlic (Allium sativum L.) belonging to red and white varieties and collected in different Italian regions, in order to address the traceability issue. 1D and 2D NMR spectra, performed directly on untreated small pieces of garlic, so without any sample manipulation, allowed the assignment of several compounds: organic acids, sugars, fatty acids, amino acids and the nutritionally important fructo-oligosaccharides and allyl-organosulphur compounds. Application of Partial Least Squares projections to latent structures-Discrimination Analysis provided an excellent model for the discrimination of both the variety and, most important, the place origin, allowing the identification of the metabolites contributing to such classifications. The presence of organosulphurs, allicin and some allyl-organosulphurs found by HRMAS-NMR, was confirmed also by SPME-GC-MS; 11 molecules were identified, containing from one up to three sulphur atoms and with and without allyl moieties.

Organic polyanions act as complexants of prion protein in soil

The persistence of prions, the causative agents of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, in soil constitutes an environmental concern and substantial challenge. Experiments and theoretical modeling indicate that a particular class of natural polyanions diffused in soils and waters, generally referred to as humic substances (HSs), can participate in the adsorption of prions in soil in a non-specific way, mostly driven by electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bond networks among humic acid molecules and exposed polar protein residues. Adsorption of HSs on clay surface strongly raises the adsorption capacity vs proteins suggesting new experiments in order to verify if this raises or lowers the prion infectivity.

Heavy Metal Content in Xylem Sap (Vitis Vinifera) from Mining and Smelting Areas

AbstractNo data are available on the content of heavy metals in the xylem sap of grapevines growing in contaminated areas. The aim of this work was to obtain data on the concentration of Pb, Zn, Cd and Cu in the xylem sap of grapevine (Vitis vinifera) cultivar Monica (ungrafted), growing near contaminated sites: a smelter, an abandoned and an active mine, and to investigate relationships between xylem sap mineral composition and the heavy metal content of the soil. The concentrations of Pb, Zn, Cd and Cu in the sap were enhanced compared to that of the soil, ranging from 4.3 to 611.4 µg Pb

Enhanced soil toxic metal fixation in iron (hydr)oxides by redox cycles

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Interactions of prion proteins with soil

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Evaluation of Extracted Organic Carbon and Microbial Biomass as Stability Parameters in Ligno-Cellulosic Waste Composts

, 801 to 6176 µg Zn