High prevalence of F4<Superscript>+</Superscript> and F18<Superscript>+</Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis> in Cuban piggeries as determined by serological survey

Little information is available on the prevalence of swine enteropathogens in Cuba where diarrheic diseases are responsible for 31% and 37% of the total mortality during the neonatal and postweaning periods. F4⁺ and F18⁺ enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and F18⁺ verotoxigenic E. coli induce diarrhea and edematous disease in pigs, but their distribution has never been thoroughly studied in the Cuban swine population. Therefore, the present study estimated the prevalence of F4- and F18-specific antibodies in sera of 1,044 6-month-old gilts distributed in 34 piggeries spread over the Cuban territory. For the data analysis, which included the optical density of individual samples tested by ELISA, random-effects models and a mixture model in R (package “mixAK”; Komárek, Computational Statistics and Data Analysis 53:3932–3947, 2009) were fitted. Low, moderate, and high levels of F4-specific antibodies were found in 67.6%, 26.8%, and 5.6% of the gilts, while 66.4% and 33.6% of gilts showed low and high levels of F18-specific antibodies. Hereby, we show that F4⁺ and F18⁺ E. coli are highly prevalent as potential enteropathogens in Cuban piggeries.     

Soil function assessment in high-mountain environments: Testing the SEPP tool in a ski resort in the Italian Alps

Soil function assessment (SFA) plays an important role in evaluating the impact of management practices, land-use changes and construction work. The Soil Evaluation for Planning Procedures (SEPP) tool is one of the few existing SFA tools that allow automated SFA. It was originally developed to address land-use planning issues, which traditionally play a minor role in high-mountain areas. Hence, the SEPP tool has not yet been applied to such environments. In this study, we tested the SEPP performance on high-mountain soils previously altered by construction work and land-use changes. Specifically, we evaluated soil data from 16 ski runs and 16 paired control sites in the Italian Alps, aiming to reflect land-use-driven differences in soil properties in the SFA results. The study revealed options to adapt SEPP assessment methods if high-mountain soils with special characteristics (e.g. shallowness or high coarse fragment content) are investigated. The main adaptation options are the consideration of further soil parameters and the adjustment of thresholds of function fulfilment levels. However, the assessment results of the current SEPP version already reflect the most relevant impacts of ski run construction on the soils in the study area: fulfilment of some of the soil functions was impaired and that of others improved, while most remained at a comparable level. We conclude that SFA with the SEPP tool provides valuable support for the evaluation of construction projects and land-use change in high-mountain environments. However, the significance of SFA can be improved by considering the intrinsic properties of high-mountain soils.     

Accumulation and erosion of Mars' south polar layered deposits

Mars' polar regions are covered with ice-rich layered deposits that potentially contain a record of climate variations. The sounding radar SHARAD on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mapped detailed subsurface stratigraphy in the Promethei Lingula region of the south polar plateau, Planum Australe. Radar reflections interpreted as layers are correlated across adjacent orbits and are continuous for up to 150 kilometers along spacecraft orbital tracks. The reflectors are often separated into discrete reflector sequences, and strong echoes are seen as deep as 1 kilometer. In some cases, the sequences are dipping with respect to each other, suggesting an interdepositional period of erosion. In Australe Sulci, layers are exhumed, indicating recent erosion.     

Protein quality and antinutritional factors in wild and cultivated species ofVigna spp

The nutritional quality of wild and cultivated species ofVigna has been evaluated. Wild species showed significantly higher protein content (P<0.01), antitryptic activity (P<0.005) and tannin content (P<0.025) and significantly lower protein digestibility (P<0.005). No significant differences were found with regard to protein quality, measured as chemical score corrected by the digestibility; sulphur amino acids turned out to be limiting in both groups. In addition no correlations were found between sulphur amino acids and protein levels, or between sulphur amino acid and trypsin inhibitor levels.Selected lines showed an improvement from the nutritional point of view linked to lower antitryptic factors and tannin content, which may give rise to a decreased resistance to pests. For all the properties considered, whether physical or biochemical, wild samples presented wider variations and the types considered most primitive were those that differed most from the cultivated ones, whose properties were altogether more consistent. In vitro protein digestibility turned out to be a useful parameter in evaluating wild and improved samples.IITA (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture) fellowship recipients.     

Rheological properties and sugar composition of locust bean gum from different carob varieties (Ceratonia siliqua L.)

The seeds of the main Italian carob varieties, Latinissima and Tantillo, and those of two selected accessions of Latinissima were evaluated in terms of yield, rheological properties, and sugar composition of the endosperm (LBG). The separation of the seed components in Latinissima and its seedlings yielded meanly 52.2% gum, 17.4% germ, and 30.5% tegument, whereas Tantillo furnished a lower gum yield (38.5%) and a higher yield of tegument (45.8%). The viscosity of 1% LBG aqueous solutions was measured at different shear rates (3-60 rpm), pH values (3.0-6.0), and temperatures (10-60 degrees C). The best results were shown by Latinissima, whereas Tantillo provided always the poorest thickening capacity. The content of free simple sugars and sucrose in the raw flours, the total monosaccharide residues after acidic hydrolysis, the mannose/galactose ratio, and the distribution of polysaccharides by size exclusion chromatography accounted for the observed viscosities. The seeds of Latinissima showed the highest technological potential.     

Selective recovery of anthocyanins and hydroxycinnamates from a byproduct of citrus processing

The adsorption-desorption performances of commercial resins (two polystyrene-divinylbenzene copolymers and one methacrylic) were tested in column studies for the selective recovery of anthocyanins and hydroxycinnamates from pigmented pulp wash (PW), a byproduct of blood orange juice processing. Methanol, ethanol, and their mixtures with different percentages of water as eluents were tested in order to investigate the selective desorption of these natural antioxidants with the goal of minimizing the presence of other compounds, mostly flavanones and limonoids, in the concentrated eluates. The results indicated that polystyrene-divinylbenzene resins were able to adsorb a major amount of anthocyanins and hydroxycinnamates and to desorb them in more-concentrated fractions. No selectivity was observed using pure methanol and ethanol which resulted in concentrates with no further separation of components from the starting raw PW. The ethanol/water concentrates showed higher yields than the fractions attained using methanol/water; however, a lower selectivity toward anthocyanin pigments was observed. The best performing resin, EXA-118, together with the mixture methanol/water 50:50 (v/v) as best eluent, appears to be the most suitable system to obtain highly concentrated extracts. Thus, it was chosen to perform a larger experiment, to analyze the selectivity of the removal upon an increase in elution volume.     

Phenolic compounds and saponins in quinoa samples (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) grown under different saline and nonsaline irrigation regimens

Quinoa is a pseudocereal from South America that has received increased interest around the world because it is a good source of different nutrients and rich in antioxidant compounds. Thus, this study has focused on the effects of different agronomic variables, such as irrigation and salinity, on the phenolic and saponin profiles of quinoa. It was observed that irrigation with 25% of full water restitution, with and without the addition of salt, was associated with increases in free phenolic compounds of 23.16 and 26.27%, respectively. In contrast, bound phenolic compounds were not affected by environmental stresses. Saponins decreased if samples were exposed to drought and saline regimens. In situations of severe water deficit, the saponins content decreased 45%, and 50% when a salt stress was added. The results suggest that irrigation and salinity may regulate the production of bioactive compounds in quinoa, influencing its nutritional and industrial values.     

Evaluation of the Influence of Multiple Environmental Factors on the Biodegradation of Dibenzofuran, Phenanthrene, and Pyrene by a Bacterial Consortium Using an Orthogonal Experimental Design

For a bioremediation process to be effective, we suggest to perform preliminary studies in laboratory to describe and characterize physicochemical and biological parameters (type and concentration of nutrients, type and number of microorganisms, temperature) of the environment concerned. We consider that these studies should be done by taking into account the simultaneous interaction between different factors. By knowing the response capacity to pollutants, it is possible to select and modify the right treatment conditions to enhance bioremediation.