Bioactivity of humic substances and water extracts from compost made by ligno-cellulose wastes from biorefinery

The ligno-cellulose residues from biorefinery production of bio-ethanol were used as woody structuring material within an on-farm composting system, with the aim to obtain bioactive water soluble and humic fractions from composted materials. The molecular characterization of initial biomasses and final products revealed a transformation towards more stable compounds during composting and showed the selective incorporation of specific phenolic derivatives of ligno-cellulose in both bulk samples and corresponding extracts. While the use of the stable bulk composts as organic fertilizer resulted in a decrease of nitrogen and phosphorous assimilation in maize tissues, a bio-stimulation was shown by water soluble organic compounds and humic substances in germination tests and pot experiments, respectively. The differential responses obtained in maize seedlings and plants were related to the molecular composition and concentration of the applied water extracts and humic substances, thus suggesting a role of phenols and lignin derivatives in the stimulation of maize roots and shoots and the enhancement of P uptake. The results confirm that ligno-cellulose residues may be effectively recycled as composting additives in order to enrich mature compost in aromatic and lignin compounds. A preliminary knowledge on the molecular characteristics and biological properties of composted materials is an essential requirement to select the most suitable derivatives from composted ligno-cellulose wastes in sustainable agricultural practices.

Protective effect of Rumenic acid rich cow's milk against colitis is associated with the activation of Nrf2 pathway in a murine model

Dietary supplementation with pure cis9, trans11 isomer of Conjugated Linoleic Acid -known as Rumenic Acid (RA)- improves cytoprotective defenses downstream through the activation of nuclear factor-E2-related factor-2(Nrf2). This capability, when Rumenic Acid is consumed in the form of foods, is still unknown. The ability of standard (St) or cow milk naturally-enriched in RA (En) to activate Nrf2 pathway and its impact on dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis was comparatively evaluated. Activity of Nrf2 pathway was investigated in colonic tissue of BALB/c mice, receiving 4-week supplement with skimmed milk (SK), St or St reinforced with pure RA (RSt) providing increasing RA dose (0, 124 or 404mg RA/kg^-1 b.w, respectively). Next, the anti-oxidant/ anti-inflammatory effect produced by St or En treatment (383mg RA/kg^-1 b.w.) was explored. Finally, macroscopic and histomorphologic features of colitis were evaluated in animals challenged with 5% (w/v) DSS, at the end of St or En treatment. Significant activation of Nrf2 pathway is associated with RSt and En intake (P<0.05), but not with SK or En treatment. En pre-treatment offers better protection, in comparison with St, against pro-oxidant, pro-inflammatory signs (P<0.01) and macroscopic signs triggered by DSS. It can be concluded that Nrf2 activation by higher RA amount contained in En is, at least in part, responsible for the improved protection associated with En intake against DSS-induced colitis.

Plant tolerance to mercury in a contaminated soil is enhanced by the combined effects of humic matter addition and inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

In a greenhouse pot experiment, lettuce plants (Lactuca sativa L.) were grown in a Hg-contaminated sandy soil with and without inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) (a commercial inoculum containing infective propagules of Rhizophagus irregularis and Funneliformis mosseae) amended with different rates of a humic acid (0, 1, and 2 g kg(-1) of soil), with the objective of verifying the synergistic effects of the two soil treatments on the Hg tolerance of lettuce plants. Our results indicated that the plant biomass was significantly increased by the combined effect of AMF and humic acid treatments. Addition of humic matter to soil boosted the AMF effect on improving the nutritional plant status, enhancing the pigment content in plant leaves, and inhibiting both Hg uptake and Hg translocation from the roots to the shoots. This was attributed not only to the Hg immobilization by stable complexes with HA and with extraradical mycorrhizal mycelium in soil and root surfaces but also to an improved mineral nutrition promoted by AMF. This work indicates that the combined use of AMF and humic acids may become a useful practice in Hg-contaminated soils to reduce Hg toxicity to crops.

Effect of inorganic and organic ligands on the sorption/desorption of arsenate on/from Al-Mg and Fe-Mg layered double hydroxides

This paper describes the sorption of arsenate on Al-Mg and Fe-Mg layered double hydroxides as affected by pH and varying concentrations of inorganic and organic ligands, and the effect of residence time on the desorption of arsenate by ligands. The capacity of ligands to inhibit the fixation of arsenate followed the sequence: nitrate<nitrite<sulphate<selenite<tartrate<oxalate≪phosphate on Al-Mg-LDH and nitrate<sulphate≈nitrite<tartrate<oxalate<selenite≪ phosphate on Fe-Mg-LDH. The inhibition of arsenate sorption increased by increasing the initial ligand concentration and was greater on Al-Mg-LDH than on Fe-Mg-LDH. The longer the arsenate residence time on the LDH surfaces the less effective the competing ligands were in desorbing arsenate from sorbents. A greater percentage of arsenate was removed by phosphate from Al-Mg-LDH than from Fe-Mg-LDH, due to the higher affinity of arsenate for iron than aluminum.

Portal vein thrombosis after radiofrequency ablation of HCC

The authors describe an unusual complication after radiofrequency ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). An 84-year old man, already operated of right hepatectomy for HCC, underwent radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of a new focal hepatic lesion in IV segment, under ultrasound (US) and computed tomography (CT) guidance. The procedure was carried out without any special difficulties or complications. Seven days later, the patient suddenly complained epigastric pain, progressive jaundice and sleepiness and an increase in cholestasis sierological parameters. A CT scan revealed thrombosis of the left side branch of the portal vein, with moderate bile ducts distension. The case described demonstrates how RFA may cause thermally mediated damage of the surrounding structures, due to unpredictable radio-frequency propagation. The interest of this case report is due to the fact that portal vein thrombosis did not occur immediately after the procedure, it happened without direct vessel injury by the needle and involved a vessel greater than 3 mm.

Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) effects on mandibular kinetics: kinesiographic study

AIM

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) on mandibular kinematics in TMD patients.

METHODS

The study was conduced on 28 children with non-specific TMD symptoms, limited mouth opening, history of trauma (delivery trauma, accident trauma). Patients were randomly divided into two groups: an OMT group (study group) and a no-intervention group (control group). All subjects underwent a first kinesiographic recording to evaluate the amplitude and velocity of maximal opening-closing movements. Study group patients underwent a second kinesiographic recording 2 months after OMT. Control group patients were submitted to a control kinesiographic recording six months after the first one. Kinesiographic tracings were acquired using the K7I system.

RESULTS/STATISTICS

The kinesiographic data of the study group showed a moderate statistically significant difference (p<.07) of maximal mouth opening (MO) parameter and a high statistically significant difference (p<.03) of maximal mouth opening velocity (MOV) parameter. No statistically significative difference (null hypothesis confirmed) of kinesiographic parameters in the control group was observed.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study suggest that OMT can induce changes in the stomatognathic dynamics, offering a valid support in the clinical approach to TMD. Multifactorial genesis of chronic disorders is also confirmed.

Sixty-four-section CT cerebral perfusion evaluation in patients with carotid artery stenosis before and after stenting with a cerebral protection device

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Brain tissue viability depends on cerebral blood flow (CBF) that has to be kept within a narrow range to avoid the risk of developing ischemia. The aim of the study was to evaluate by 64-section CT (VCT) the cerebral perfusion modifications in patients with severe carotid stenosis before and after undergoing carotid artery stent placement (CAS) with a cerebral protection system.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Fifteen patients with unilateral internal carotid stenosis (>or=70%) underwent brain perfusional VCT (PVCT) 5 days before and 1 week after the stent-placement procedure. CBF and mean transit time (MTT) values were measured.

RESULTS

Decreased CBF and increased MTT values were observed in the cerebral areas supplied by the stenotic artery as compared with the areas supplied by the contralateral patent artery (P < .001). A significant normalization of the perfusion parameters was observed after the stent-placement procedure (mean pretreatment MTT value, 5.3 +/- 0.2; mean posttreatment MTT value, 4.3 +/- 0.18, P < .001; mean pretreatment CBF value, 41.2 mL/s +/- 2.1; mean posttreatment CBF value, 47.9 mL/s +/- 2.9, P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

PVCT is a useful technique for the assessment of the hemodynamic modifications in patients with severe carotid stenosis. The quantitative evaluation of cerebral perfusion makes it a reliable tool for the follow-up of patients who undergo CAS.

Multiparameter characterisation of vertebral osteoporosis with 3-T MR

PURPOSE

This study was undertaken to evaluate the diagnostic capabilities of 3-Tesla (T) magnetic resonance (MR) in vertebral osteoporosis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Thirty subjects (ten healthy controls, ten with osteoporosis but no fracture, ten with osteoporotic vertebral fractures) underwent MR of the lumbar spine. Turbo spin echo (TSE) T1-, T2- and T2- spectral selection attenuated inversion recovery (SPAIR) weighted imaging and spectroscopy for the selective evaluation of water and fat content were performed. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) was calculated, and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed to create a map of the spatial arrangement of the tissue structures.

RESULTS

Morphological imaging detected recent vertebral fractures. In osteoporotic patients, spectroscopic imaging demonstrated an increase in the saturated fats and a decrease in the ADC, whereas the data provided by DTI demonstrated a bone structure with medium-degree anisotropy.

DISCUSSION

Osteoporosis is characterised by trabecular thinning, with an increase in the intertrabecular spaces, which are filled with fats. The anisotropic study and the subsequent assessment of colour and vector maps can provide a noninvasive tool for assessing the risk of fracture due to osteoporosis.

The potential of Lolium perenne for revegetation of contaminated soil from a metallurgical site

A greenhouse study was carried out to determine the possibility of using Lolium perenne for revegetation of soil from a former ferrous metallurgical plant (Naples, South Italy) contaminated by Cu, Pb and Zn at levels above current Italian regulatory limits. Surface soil samples (0-40 cm) from the facility area where raw minerals were disposed (RM1 and RM2), from a nearby unpolluted cultivated soil (C) as control and a 1:3 mixture of the control with the polluted ones (RM1+C and RM2+C) were utilized for the experiment. Revegetation trials were conducted in the greenhouse. At 90 days from seeding, shoot length, chlorophyll content, biomass yield, plant metal uptake and changes of organic carbon content and metal distribution among soil extractable phases defined by sequential extraction were determined. In the mixed substrates (RM1+C and RM2+C) concentrations of Cu, Pb and Zn were still two to three times higher than the Italian regulatory limits. Plants were healthy with 100% survival in all substrates, with no macroscopic symptoms of metal toxicity. The high pH of the soil could be one of the most important parameters responsible for the limited plant availability of the metals. On RM1, RM2 and mixed media, plants experienced retarded growth, reduced shoot length and biomass yield and higher total chlorophyll content compared to those cropped on the control soil, without any evident phytotoxic symptoms. In RM1 and RM2, the plant contents of Cu (19.3 and 12.6 mg kg(-1)), Pb (0.98 and 0.67 mg kg(-1)) and Zn (99 and 88 mg kg(-1)) were higher than that of plants grown on non-contaminated soil (Cu 10.1, Pb < 0.2, Zn 79 mg kg(-1)), but still in the range of physiologically acceptable levels. The distribution of metals in soil was slightly affected by Lolium growth with changes only regarding the organic-bound Cu and Zn pool, with reduction up to 24%. Results indicated that an acceptable healthy vegetative cover can be achieved on the contaminated soil by the proposed revegetation approach and that metals will remain stable over the study period with slight variation of the more available metal forms.