Ricerc@Sapienza

In recent times, the feasibility of sourcing the bioactivity and health-promoting activity of anthocyanins, flavanols, stilbenes and phenolic acids from viticulture and winery by-products was explored. In particular, pomace, wine lees, and pruning stalks attracted a great deal of interest among scientists, technologists, and businesses. Traditional solid-liquid extraction methods employ hazardous solvents, such as hydrocarbons, alcohols and chloro-alkanes.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of first premolar extraction on third molar angulation during fixed orthodontic treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS The sample of this study included pre-treatment and post-treatment orthopantomographs (OPG) of 40 patients, 17 males and 23 women (106 third molars), treated by fixed orthodontic appliances at the Department of Orthodontics, Sapienza University, Rome. All individuals had both first and second mandibular molars present at all stages and initial malocclusion.

BACKGROUND: Microalgae are a promising resource to produce carotenoids for food/feed applications. However, energy-intensive pre-treatments such as drying and cell destruction can hinder the sustainability of the process. Direct extraction from wet biomass may reduce energy consumption, but the residual water can reduce the effectiveness of the organic solvents used for the extraction. In this work, the extraction of lutein and β-carotene from wet untreated microalgal biomass is investigated. The process includes a sequence of successive extraction stages with methanol.

The toxicity of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) is well known, and for this reason studying and monitoring these chemicals is fundamental. Activated carbon fibers (ACFs) are made of an adsorbent material widely used in the industrial field for the removal of micropollutants. The first step in this work was to perform a physico-chemical characterization of the adsorbent, focused on the analytical use of it.

Mounting evidence from clinical and epidemiological studies suggests that lycopene, the most abundant carotenoid in tomatoes, may be beneficial in the prevention or treatment of some important diseases. Ripe tomato peels are the richest source of lycopene, but the use of conventional solvent extraction methods without pretreatment of the plant material results in very poor recovery. The reason lies in the localization of lycopene in the plant tissue and the low permeability of the latter to solvent molecules.

Background: Many studies have shown the benefits deriving from plants secondary metabolites to human health also for the prevention of several diseases associated to oxidative stress including cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus. Nowadays there is a high attention on plant secondary metabolites and analytical techniques related to their identification and characterization. Conclusion: This review aims to report analytical procedures, instrumental configurations, and extraction approaches devoted to secondary metabolites analyses.

A variety of extraction methodologies were applied to chinotto (Citrus myrtifolia) fruits from Sicily, along with sensory and chemical analyses. By gas chromatographic techniques, either in monodimensional (GC-FID, GC–MS) or in multidimensional (MDGC) fashion, it was established how the isolation procedure affected the volatile fingerprint of such fruit. In general, limonene, linalyl acetate, myrcene, β-pinene, α-pinene, (E)-β-ocimene, linalool and geranyl acetate resulted to be the predominant volatiles.