Vito Michele Paradiso

Endovascular stent-graft treatment for diseases of the descending thoracic aorta

OBJECTIVE Assessment of endovascular stent-graft treatment for diseases of the descending thoracic aorta as a valid and effective alternative to surgery. METHODS From March 1999 to August 2000, a total of 16 patients underwent deployment of endovascular stent-grafts in the descending thoracic aorta. Patients were divided into three groups according to the type of lesion. Group A (n=8) included five patients with atherosclerotic aneurysm and three with chronic post-traumatic pseudoaneurysm. Patients with acute post-traumatic pseudoaneurysm (n=3) and type B aortic dissection (n=5) were included in Groups B and C, respectively. All patients underwent 5-mm chest spiral angio-computerized tomography (CT) scan and angiography as preoperative assessment. The deployed stent-graft systems were Talent-Medtronic and Excluder-Gore. RESULTS A total of 20 stent-grafts were placed. Two patients required deployment of two grafts, while three grafts were juxtaposed in a third patient in order to treat larger lesions. There was no mortality related to the procedure, although one patient (6.2%) died because of multiorgan failure 24h post-operatively. The placement of the graft was successful in all cases except one affected with type B dissection and characterized by a very large intimal flap, which was eventually fenestrated by graft guidewire. Therefore, an optimal sealing of the grafts was achieved in 15 patients. However, in one patient the descending aorta had to be surgically replaced because of the calcified pseudoaneurysm still compressing the trachea and left bronchus. Two patients required a left carotid-subclavian by-pass in order to achieve a sufficient neck for the proximal placement of the graft. No spinal cord injuries were observed. At the follow-up, performed with chest spiral angio-CT scan within 72 h and scheduled at 6 and 12 months and once a year, no stent-graft related complications have been detected. CONCLUSIONS Endoluminal stent-graft treatment may represent a valid option in well-selected cases of descending thoracic aorta diseases. A longer follow-up in a larger series of patients is desirable to confirm these initial positive results.

Production and characterization of functional biscuits obtained from purple wheat.

Purple wheat contains higher levels of anthocyanins than conventional wheat cultivars. The aim of this work was to produce anthocyanin-rich biscuits from purple wheat, and to characterize the final product. Control biscuits, having the same formulation but obtained from a non-pigmented wheat cultivar, were used for comparisons. Purple biscuits showed a level of total anthocyanins of 13.86 mg/kg cyanidin 3-O-glucoside and exhibited higher antioxidant activity than control. The volatile compounds profile of purple biscuits showed lower levels of lipid-derived carboxylic acids and higher levels of alcohols and aldehydes than control biscuits, indicating a lower oxidative degradation of the lipid fraction. In particular, the ratio (lipid-derived alcohols+aldehydes)/acids accounted for 5.9 in purple and 3.0 in control biscuits. The sensory score for friability and the spread ratio of purple biscuits accounted for 2.6 and 6.0, respectively.

Towards green analysis of virgin olive oil phenolic compounds: Extraction by a natural deep eutectic solvent and direct spectrophotometric detection.

The determination of phenolic compounds in extra virgin olive oils (EVOO) by means of rapid, low-cost, environment-free methods would be a desirable achievement. A natural deep eutectic solvent (DES) based on glucose and lactic acid was considered as extraction solvent for phenolic compounds in EVOO. DESs are green solvents characterized by high availability, biodegradability, safety, and low cost. The spectrophotometric characteristics of DES extracts of 65 EVOO samples were related to the total phenolic content of the oils, assessed by methanol-water extraction coupled to the Folin-Ciocalteu assay. A regression model (ncalibration=45, nvalidation=20), including the absorbance at two wavelengths (257, 324nm), was obtained, with an adjusted R(2)=0.762. Therefore the DES could provide a promising and viable approach for a green screening method of phenolic compounds in EVOO, by means of simple spectrophotometric measurements of extracts, even for on-field analysis (for example in olive mills).

Vacuum-packed ripened sausages: evolution of oxidative and hydrolytic degradation of lipid fraction during long-term storage and influence on the sensory properties.

An experimental investigation was carried out with the aim to understand the oxidative and hydrolytic phenomena involving the lipid fraction of vacuum-packed sausages during long-term storage (5 months) and to verify their influence on the sensory characteristics. The data obtained pointed out that the oxidation was more pronounced in the initial stages of storage than in the further period, while the hydrolysis of lipid fraction significantly advanced during the whole storage time, supported by the high moisture level of the product. Both these phenomena resulted to be correlated with the sensory decay of the product. In particular, in the first stage of vacuum storage overall acceptability was found to be negatively correlated (p<0.05) with rancid taste, acid value, and oxidized triacylglycerols. In the further stage the oxidative processes slowed down and affected in a lesser extent the sensory properties, which were more distinctly characterized by the onset of pungent perception attributed to compounds arising from multiple origins such as carbohydrate fermentation. This investigation confirmed the unreliability of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances test and the usefulness of high performance size exclusion chromatography analysis of the polar compounds of the lipid fraction to correctly determine the levels of the oxidative and hydrolytic degradation of the lipid fraction of vacuum-packed ripened sausages during long-term storage.

Gluten-Free Bread Making Trials from Cassava (Manihot Esculenta Crantz) Flour and Sensory Evaluation of the Final Product

The aim of this work was to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of cassava flour in bread making, and the sensory acceptability of the final product. Different baking trials were carried out by using egg white and extra-virgin olive oil, in consideration of their high nutritional value with respect to other food additives (i.e., hydrocolloids). Significant (p < 0.05) improvements of loaf specific volume (from 2.24 to 3.93 mL/g) and crumb firmness (from 9.14 to 4.67 N) were achieved by contemporarily including egg white and extra-virgin olive oil in the formulation. Cassava breads containing both these ingredients obtained the best scores from panelists for all the test breads examined and resulted attractive as the wheat bread prepared as reference.

Evaluation of the Technological Characteristics and Bread-Making Quality of Alternative Wheat Cereals in Comparison with Common and Durum Wheat

The growing sensibility toward those foods that are characterized by natural and healthy features has raised the interest toward alternative wheat cereals. This research was carried out to compare the technological characteristics and the bread-making quality of Khorasan wheat, type Kamut and spelt (cv. Forenza), to those of common (cv. Rio) and durum wheat (cv. Norba). The results obtained show that both Forenza and Kamut gave an acceptable bread-making performance. A certain variability affected flour characteristics (protein content, carotenoid pigments and alveograph indices) over the 2 years of experimentation, due to environmental effects. This reflected on the corresponding breads but the statistical analysis indicated that, on the whole, Kamut bread was characterized by a high content of carotenoid pigments. Regarding sensory properties (profiled by means of 11 descriptors of visual appearance, texture, odor and flavor) and loaf volumes, breads from Forenza and Kamut appeared different from each other but similar to those obtained from Rio and Norba grown in the same environment, respectively.

Lactic acid fermentation as a tool to enhance the functional features of Echinacea spp

BackgroundExtracts and products (roots and/or aerial parts) from Echinacea ssp. represent a profitable market sector for herbal medicines thanks to different functional features. Alkamides and polyacetylenes, phenols like caffeic acid and its derivatives, polysaccharides and glycoproteins are the main bioactive compounds of Echinacea spp. This study aimed at investigating the capacity of selected lactic acid bacteria to enhance the antimicrobial, antioxidant and immune-modulatory features of E. purpurea with the prospect of its application as functional food, dietary supplement or pharmaceutical preparation.ResultsEchinacea purpurea suspension (5%, wt/vol) in distilled water, containing 0.4% (wt/vol) yeast extract, was fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum POM1, 1MR20 or C2, previously selected from plant materials. Chemically acidified suspension, without bacterial inoculum, was used as the control to investigate functional features. Echinacea suspension fermented with Lb. plantarum C2 exhibited a marked antimicrobial activity towards Gram-positive and -negative bacteria. Compared to control, the water-soluble extract from Echinacea suspension fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum 1MR20 showed twice time higher radical scavenging activity on DPPH. Almost the same was found for the inhibition of oleic acid peroxidation. The methanol extract from Echinacea suspension had inherent antioxidant features but the activity of extract from the sample fermented with strain 1MR20 was the highest. The antioxidant activities were confirmed on Balb 3T3 mouse fibroblasts. Lactobacillus plantarum C2 and 1MR20 were used in association to ferment Echinacea suspension, and the water-soluble extract was subjected to ultra-filtration and purification through RP-FPLC. The antioxidant activity was distributed in a large number of fractions and proportional to the peptide concentration. The antimicrobial activity was detected only in one fraction, further subjected to nano-LC-ESI-MS/MS. A mixture of eight peptides was identified, corresponding to fragments of plantaricins PlnH or PlnG. Treatments with fermented Echinacea suspension exerted immune-modulatory effects on Caco-2 cells. The fermentation with Lb. plantarum 1MR20 or with the association between strains C2 and 1MR20 had the highest effect on the expression of TNF-α gene.ConclusionsE. purpurea subjected to lactic acid fermentation could be suitable for novel applications as functional food dietary supplements or pharmaceutical preparations.

Effect of Olive Oil Phenolic Compounds and Maltodextrins on the Physical Properties and Oxidative Stability of Olive Oil O/W Emulsions

The aim of this work was to study the physical properties and oxidative stability of model olive oil-in-water (o/w) emulsions stabilised by β-lactoglobulin (BLG), enriched with olive phenolic compounds, namely oleuropein, tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol, and added with maltodextrins (MD 7.5–9.9) in different concentrations to modify the viscosity of the continuous water phase. Emulsions were characterized for their viscosity, droplet size distribution, microstructure and interfacial protein coverage. The oxidative stability was monitored by means of hydroperoxides, hexanal and nonanal contents as indices of primary and secondary oxidation products, respectively. At high concentrations, MD increased significantly the viscosity of the emulsions; conversely, the addition of olive phenolic compounds did not show any significant effect on it. Both MD and phenolic compounds resulted to affect both the droplet size and the bigger to smaller particles ratio, with phenolic compounds generally improving the dispersion degree. A delay in the decomposition of hydroperoxides was observed as a consequence of MD addition, which also resulted to affect the efficiency of the phenolic compounds among the different systems. However, the highest protection towards oxidations was obtained when hydroxytyrosol was added. MD effect was related not only to the higher viscosity of the emulsions but also to complex interactions that occurred among the different components of the system.

Influence of the Thermal Stabilization Process on the Volatile Profile of Canned Tomato-Based Food

The literature contains several papers dealing with the volatile constituents contributing to the aroma of fresh and processed tomatoes. Along with the traditional tomato-based products, tomato-based pâtés, characterized by complex ingredient formulations, are commonly consumed as a seasoning for pasta, and as a dressing for meats, salads, and sandwiches. To the best of our knowledge, no investigations have been published on the influence of thermal stabilization treatments on the composition of volatile compounds in tomato-based pâtés. To this aim, thermally stabilized and not stabilized tomato-based pâtés were subjected to the analysis of volatile compounds. The results obtained highlighted the influence of the thermal stabilization process on the evolution of volatile composition tomato-based pâtés. In particular, the terpenic compounds showed significant decreases after the thermal stabilization process treatment, due to their degradation and oxidation favored by high temperatures. The thermal stabilization caused, moreover, an increase in volatile compounds deriving from lipid oxidation and Maillard reaction, characterized by low-sensory thresholds, and from the thermal degradation of carotenoids and fresh tomato-derived compounds.

Diacylglycerol isomers in extra virgin olive oil: Effect of different storage conditions

An experimental investigation was carried out with the aim to investigate on the isomerisation of 1,2-diacylglycerols to 1,3-diacylglycerols as a function of the storage conditions, as well as to identify indices useful to evaluate the freshness of the oils. Two oils derived from two different cultivars (Coratina and Ogliarola barese) were stored for two years as follows: in bottles at dark; in clear glass bottles at light; in green glass bottles at light; in bottles at dark, the latter subjected to repeated opening and samplings to simulate domestic use. The obtained results evinced that during the storage period a significant increase in the 1,3-isomers was observed due to an isomerisation from the 1,2 to the 1,3 isomeric form, consequently the 1,3/1,2 ratio increased in both oils. The covariance analysis of the data showed that the isomerisation of diacylglycerols, taking place during time, was affected by the type of oil, probably due to the different initial hydrolysis level, but was not affected by the storage conditions. Among the parameters considered, the total diacylglycerols/1,3-diacylglycerols ratio could be used as freshness index of extra virgin olive oil, since it is not affected by either oil or storage conditions.