Optical Absorption and Scattering Phenomena in 'Jubileum' Plums in Relation to Their Colour Properties

Absorption and scattering of laser light pulse passing through the fruit determine among others, the optical properties of the product. Efforts have been made in the recent past to utilize innovative techniques such as time-resolved reflectance spectroscopy (TRS) to study the quality aspects of different fruit such as nectarines. These optical properties have been well related to firmness, sugars, acids and other quality attributes. TRS measurements were performed on ‘Jubileum’ plums at two different wavelengths: 670 nm and 758 nm. The fruit were harvested in Norway and brought to Italy under protected conditions. After sorting the fruit by size, TRS measurements were made and the fruit were randomized for different examinations of quality aspects. It was observed that the absorption coefficient (µa) increased for both wavelengths as ripening progressed towards the melting stage of the fruit. The µa values at 670 nm were higher than those at 758 nm. The higher rate in the µa was distinguishable from the third day onwards as the fruit ripened. Similarly, it was interesting to note that the internal colour measured after destructing the fruit related well with the TRS absorption coefficient (µa), i.e., a decrease in the CIE L* (towards darker region) and b* (towards blue) value along with an increase in a* (towards red) from third day of storag

TRS-measurements as a nondestructive method assessing stage of maturity and ripening in plum (Prunus domestica L.)

n plum fruit with dark red or blue blush colour covering the whole fruit, the change in ground colour from green to yellow during maturation and ripening is masked. Hence, the maturity stage is difficult to judge. Time-resolved reflectance spectroscopy (TRS) has been used as a nondestructive method to assess changes in important internal quality factors in ‘Jubileum’ plums (Prunus domestica L.). Absorption coefficients (µa) and scattering coefficients (µs) were measured at both 670 and 758 nm during 5 days of storage. The changes in soluble solids content, titratable acidity and firmness were as expected. No change in soluble solids content was observed, while the plums became less acid and softer during storage. The TRS-measurements of plums indicated that TRS could give interesting information on internal quality factors in plums as the absorption at 670 nm was closely related to firmness, TA and TSS at the time of picking. Absorption at 758 nm was more closely related to the quality parameters after storage. The study did not indicate that scattering could be used in assessing maturity stage in plum

Studies on classification models to discriminate ‘Braeburn’ apples affected by internal browning using the optical properties measured by time-resolved reflectance spectroscopy

This work aimed at studying the feasibility of time-resolved reflectance spectroscopy (TRS) to nondestructively detect internal browning (IB) in ‘Braeburn’ apples through the development of classification models based on absorption (ua) and scattering (us') properties of the pulp.This research was carried out in two seasons: in 2009, apples were measured by TRS at 670 nm and inthe 740–1040 nm spectral range on four equidistant points around the equator, whereas in 2010 appleswere measured by TRS at 670 nm and at 780 nm on eight equidistant points. The values of the absorption coefficients measured in the 670–940 nm range increased with IB devel-opment. On the contrary, us'780 was higher in healthy fruit than in IB ones. The ua780 also significantlyincreased with IB severity, showing high values when IB affected the pulp tissues compared to the coreones. Also ua670 changed with IB development, but it was not able to clearly discriminate healthy fruitfrom IB ones because its value was also affected by the chlorophyll content of the pulp. The absorption and scattering coefficients were used as explanatory variables in the linear discriminant analysis in order to classify each apple tissue as healthy or IB; then the models obtained were used forfruit classification. The best classification performance was obtained in 2010 using ua780 and us'780and considering the IB position within the fruit: 90% of healthy fruit and 71% of IB fruit were correctly classified. By using all the ua measured in the 670–1040 nm range plus the us'780, IB fruit classification was slightly better while healthy fruit classification was worse. The better result of 2010 was due tothe increased number of TRS measurement points that allowed better exploration of the fruit tissues. However, the asymmetric nature of this disorder makes detection difficult, especially when the disorderis localized in the inner part of the fruit (core) or when it occurs in spots. A different TRS set-up (position and distance of fibers, time resolution) should be studied in order to reach the deeper tissue within the fruit in order to improve browning detection

Characterizing the tissue of apple air-dried and osmo-air-dried rings by X-CT and OCT and relationship with ring crispness and fruit maturity at harvest measured by TRS

Air-dried apple rings were prepared from ‘Golden Delicious’ apples selected at harvest as less mature and more mature according to the absorption coefficient measured at 670 nm by time-resolved reflectance spectroscopy (TRS), stored in air for 5 months, and subjected to air-drying with (OSMO) and without (noOSMO) osmodehydration pre-treatment (60% sucrose syrup). Selected rings were submitted to microstructural analysis by X-ray computed tomography (X-CT), to subsurface structure analysis by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and to texture and sound emission analysis by bending–snapping test. Higher crispness index, higher number of sound events and higher average sound pressure level (SPL) characterized the OSMO rings. Total porosity was related to SPLav 60, pore fragmentation index to fracturability and specific surface area to the work required to snap the ring. A differentiation of the drying treatments, as well as of the products according to the TRS maturity class at harvest was obtained analyzing by principal component analysis (PCA) microstructure parameters and texture and acoustic parameters. The differences in mechanical and acoustic characteristics between OSMO and noOSMO rings were due to the different subsurface structure as found with OCT analysis

Is Cardiorespiratory Fitness Related to Cardiometabolic Health and All-Cause Mortality Risk in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease? A CARE CR Study

Background: Higher cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is associated with lower morbidity and mortality in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). The mechanisms for this are not fully understood. A more favourable cardiometabolic risk factor profile may be responsible, however few studies have comprehensively evaluated cardiometabolic risk factors in relation to CRF, among patients with CHD. Objective: To explore differences in cardiometabolic risk and 5-year all-cause mortality risk in patients with CHD who have low, moderate, and high levels of CRF. Methods: Patients with CHD underwent maximal cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), echocardiogram, carotid intima-media thickness measurement, spirometry, and dual X-ray absorptiometry assessment. Full blood count, biochemical lipid pro-files, high sensitivity (hs)- C-reactive protein and NT-proBNP were analysed. Pa-tients were defined as having low, moderate, or high CRF based on established prognostic thresholds. Results: 70 patients with CHD (age 63.1 ± 10.0 years, 86% male) were recruited. Patients with low CRF had a lower ventilatory anaerobic threshold, peak oxygen pulse, post-exercise heart rate recovery and poor ventilatory efficiency. The low CRF group also had higher NT pro-BNP, hs-CRP, non-fasting glucose concentrations and lower haemoglobin and haematocrit. Five-year mortality risk (CALIBER risk score) was also greatest in the lowest CRF group (14.9%). Conclusion: Practitioners should interpret low CRF as an important clinical risk factor associated with adverse cardiometabolic health and poor prognosis. Study registry; researchregistry.com (researchregistry3548). Key Words: Coronary Heart Disease, Cardiac Rehabilitation, Cardiometabolic Health, Exercise Training, Atherosclerosis, VO2peak, Maximal Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing, Caliber 5-year ris

Factors affecting adherence to guidelines for antithrombotic therapy in elderly patients with atrial fibrillation admitted to internal medicine wards

Current guidelines for ischemic stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation or flutter (AFF) recommend Vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) for patients at high-intermediate risk and aspirin for those at intermediate-low risk. The cost-effectiveness of these treatments was demonstrated also in elderly patients. However, there are several reports that emphasize the underuse of pharmacological prophylaxis of cardio-embolism in patients with AFF in different health care settings. AIMS: To evaluate the adherence to current guidelines on cardio-embolic prophylaxis in elderly (> 65 years old) patients admitted with an established diagnosis of AFF to the Italian internal medicine wards participating in REPOSI registry, a project on polypathologies/polytherapies stemming from the collaboration between the Italian Society of Internal Medicine and the Mario Negri Institute of Pharmacological Research; to investigate whether or not hospitalization had an impact on guidelines adherence; to test the role of possible modifiers of VKAs prescription. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed registry data collected from January to December 2008 and assessed the prevalence of patients with AFF at admission and the prevalence of risk factors for cardio-embolism. After stratifying the patients according to their CHADS(2) score the percentage of appropriateness of antithrombotic therapy prescription was evaluated both at admission and at discharge. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression models were employed to verify whether or not socio-demographic (age >80years, living alone) and clinical features (previous or recent bleeding, cranio-facial trauma, cancer, dementia) modified the frequency and modalities of antithrombotic drugs prescription at admission and discharge. RESULTS: Among the 1332 REPOSI patients, 247 were admitted with AFF. At admission, CHADS(2) score was ≥ 2 in 68.4% of patients, at discharge in 75.9%. Among patients with AFF 26.5% at admission and 32.8% at discharge were not on any antithrombotic therapy, and 43.7% at admission and 40.9% at discharge were not taking an appropriate therapy according to the CHADS(2) score. The higher the level of cardio-embolic risk the higher was the percentage of antiplatelet- but not of VKAs-treated patients. At admission or at discharge, both at univariable and at multivariable logistic regression, only an age >80 years and a diagnosis of cancer, previous or active, had a statistically significant negative effect on VKAs prescription. Moreover, only a positive history of bleeding events (past or present) was independently associated to no VKA prescription at discharge in patients who were on VKA therapy at admission. If heparin was considered as an appropriate therapy for patients with indication for VKAs, the percentage of patients admitted or discharged on appropriate therapy became respectively 43.7% and 53.4%. CONCLUSION: Among elderly patients admitted with a diagnosis of AFF to internal medicine wards, an appropriate antithrombotic prophylaxis was taken by less than 50%, with an underuse of VKAs prescription independently of the level of cardio-embolic risk. Hospitalization did not improve the adherence to guideline

Insights into the Effect of Lithium Doping on the Deep Eutectic Solvent Choline Chloride: Urea

Choline-based deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are potential candidates to replace flammable organic solvent electrolytes in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The effect of the addition of a lithium salt on the structure and dynamics of the material needs to be clarified before it enters the battery. Here, the archetypical DES choline chloride:urea at 1:2 mole fraction has been added with lithium chloride at two different concentrations and the effect of the additional cation has been evaluated with respect to the non-doped system via multinuclear NMR techniques. 1H and 7Li spin-lattice relaxation times and diffusion coefficients have been measured between 298 K and 373 K and revealed a decrease in both rotational and translational mobility of the species after LiCl doping at a given temperature. Temperature dependent 35Cl linewidths reflect the viscosity increase upon LiCl addition, yet keep track of the lithium complexation. Quantitative indicators such as correlation times and activation energies give indirect insights into the intermolecular interactions of the mixtures, while lithium single-jump distance and transference number shed light into the lithium transport, being then of help in the design of future DES electrolytes

Neuroendocrine neoplasms of the esophagus and stomach.

Esophageal neuroendocrine neoplasms (E-NENs) are much rarer than other gastro-entero-pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms, the majority showing aggressive behavior with early dissemination and poor prognosis. Among E-NENs, exceptionally rare well differentiated neuroendocrine tumors (E-NET) and more frequent esophageal poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas (E-NEC) and mixed neuroendocrine-non neuroendocrine neoplasms (MiNEN) can be recognized. E-NECs usually exhibit a small cell morphology or mixed small and large cells. Esophageal MiNEN are composed of NEC component admixed with adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma. Gastric (G) NENs encompass a wide spectrum of entities ranging from indolent G-NETs to highly aggressive G-NECs and MiNENs. Among G-NETs, ECL-cell NETs are the most common and, although composed of histamine-producing cells, are a heterogeneous group of neoplastic proliferations showing different clinical and prognostic features depending on the patient's clinico-pathological background including the morphology of the peri-tumoral mucosa, gastrin serum levels, presence or absence of antral G-cell hyperplasia, and presence or absence of MEN1 syndrome. In general, NET associated with hypergastrinemia show a better outcome than NET not associated with hypergastrinemia. G-NECs and MiNENs are aggressive neoplasms more frequently observed in males and associated with a dismal prognosis