Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca per gli Alimenti e la Nutrizione

This chapter examines how environmental sustainability is taught in primary classrooms, using Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2023 data. While previous chapters focused on environmental knowledge, this chapter extends the discussion to students’ environmental attitudes and behaviors. It explores how teaching activities shape these outcomes across different education systems, with a specific focus on Italy and the Netherlands. How frequently teachers incorporate environmental sustainability, the activities they implement, and their perceptions of its importance, are analyzed. While most teachers support sustainability education, there is significant variation in its implementation. Italian teachers report more frequent engagement in environmental sustainability education activities than their Dutch colleagues, reflecting curricular differences. Findings reveal weak associations between teaching practices and students’ environmental attitudes and behaviors. These results raise questions about the effectiveness of current pedagogical approaches and whether TIMSS sufficiently captures the complexity of sustainability education in science curricula. The chapter discusses the shift from promoting specific environmental behaviors toward fostering action competence—students’ ability and willingness to address sustainability challenges through informed, voluntary action. Future TIMSS iterations should refine measurement tools to better assess action-oriented sustainability education, enhancing insights into how science teaching empowers students to contribute to a sustainable future.

The integration of 3D printers into food production represents an unprecedented innovation, envisaging applications from the industry to missions in space to home cooking, with no geographical or sectoral limits. Extrusion food 3D printers are designed to use ‘food inks’ that must be produced from raw materials possessing a range of suitable characteristics (viscosity, elasticity, and others) that make them printable. Not all food matrices possess such characteristics, and additives are often needed to formulate food inks, which must also adapt to the complexity of the 3D model to be printed. Initially, mainly food matrices such as potatoes, chocolate, cereal, and legume flours and soluble-fiber-rich additives were tested with this new technology, with promising results. In recent years, alternative food matrices (e.g., based on insects, algae, cultured meat, and food waste) have begun to be experimented with, as 3D printing appears to be a suitable way to exploit their potential. This review aims to highlight recent studies that have investigated the development of innovative food ink formulations and trace a picture of the new food raw materials that are being tested for 3D food printing, the opportunities they represent, their nutritional properties, safety, and technological challenges. This review considered a total of 46 papers, selected from 330 papers published in the last 8 years (2018–2025) on the generic subject of 3D food printing.

Achieving high response rates in international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) is crucial for ensuring data validity and cross-national comparability. The first part of this article reviewed the literature on response rates in low-stakes assessments and showed that efforts to increase student motivation are central. In the second part, we described the strategies and practices developed by the Italian national center to enhance participation among schools, students, teachers, and parents in IEA surveys. A multi-dimensional approach was adopted, focusing on communication, training, logistical coordination, and data management. Early and clear engagement with school leaders and coordinators fostered commitment, while online seminars prepared staff and emphasized the importance of participation in international studies. A centralized platform streamlined communication and reduced the burden on schools, facilitating accurate sample tracking and data exchange. Teachers are encouraged to explain the significance of these studies to colleagues and students and to schedule assessment days thoughtfully to minimize absenteeism. When necessary, follow-up actions such as make-up sessions and personalized support for schools are provided. Special attention is dedicated to including students with special educational needs (SEN), emphasizing that certifications should not automatically lead to exclusion and that accommodations should be made whenever feasible. Customized communication strategies, logistical support, and privacy safeguards—particularly in handling parent questionnaires—are essential for securing engagement and trust. Overall, the Italian experience highlighted the importance of combining strong institutional support with thoughtful, flexible implementation strategies to maintain high levels of participation across all respondent groups.

Nutritional intervention is worldwide recognized as a first step treatment for subjects with increased cardiovascular risk and it is of utmost importance especially for children and adolescents. Currently scientific evidence supports the role of dietary patterns instead of simple single nutrients or foods in cardiovascular risk prevention. Indeed, the American Heart Association dietary guidelines have expanded beyond nutrients to dietary pattern, that comprise not only single food items but also behavioral or cultural habits of specific populations. The aim of our narrative review is to analyze the most frequently adopted dietary patterns in children and adolescents and to evaluate their effect on cardiovascular risk factors and in cardiovascular risk prevention. Literature review showed that children cannot be considered as little adults: nutritional intervention must always grant adequate growth and neurodevelopment before reaching the proposed goals, therefore dietary patterns considered heart-healthy for adult subjects might not be suitable for pediatric patients. Mediterranean diet, DASH diet, Nordic diet and some plant-based diets seem to be the most promising dietary patterns in terms of cardiovascular health in the developmental age, even if further studies are needed to better standardize and analyze their effect on growing up individuals.

BackgroundSubclinical intramammary infection (IMI) represents a significant problem in maintaining dairy cows’ health. Disease severity and extent depend on the interaction between the causative agent, environment, and host. To investigate the molecular mechanisms behind the host immune response, we used RNA-Seq for the milk somatic cells (SC) transcriptome profiling in healthy cows (n = 9), and cows naturally affected by subclinical IMI from Prototheca spp. (n = 11) and Streptococcus agalactiae (S. agalactiae; n = 11). Data Integration Analysis for Biomarker discovery using Latent Components (DIABLO) was used to integrate transcriptomic data and host phenotypic traits related to milk composition, SC composition, and udder health to identify hub variables for subclinical IMI detection.ResultsA total of 1,682 and 2,427 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified when comparing Prototheca spp. and S. agalactiae to healthy animals, respectively. Pathogen-specific pathway analyses evidenced that Prototheca’s infection upregulated antigen processing and lymphocyte proliferation pathways while S. agalactiae induced a reduction of energy-related pathways like the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. The integrative analysis of commonly shared DEGs between the two pathogens (n = 681) referred to the core-mastitis response genes, and phenotypic data evidenced a strong covariation between those genes and the flow cytometry immune cells (r2 = 0.72), followed by the udder health (r2 = 0.64) and milk quality parameters (r2 = 0.64). Variables with r ≥ 0.90 were used to build a network in which the top 20 hub variables were identified with the Cytoscape cytohubba plug-in. The genes in common between DIABLO and cytohubba (n = 10) were submitted to a ROC analysis which showed they had excellent predictive performances in terms of discriminating healthy and mastitis-affected animals (sensitivity > 0.89, specificity > 0.81, accuracy > 0.87, and precision > 0.69). Among these genes, CIITA could play a key role in regulating the animals’ response to subclinical IMI.ConclusionsDespite some differences in the enriched pathways, the two mastitis-causing pathogens seemed to induce a shared host immune-transcriptomic response. The hub variables identified with the integrative approach might be included in screening and diagnostic tools for subclinical IMI detection.

<abstract> <p>The increasing consumer demands for healthier and more sustainable foods has pushed the food industry in the constant research of new foods, new functional ingredients and bioactive compounds, whose production can be considered as far as sustainable. In this sense, application of the edible mushrooms has attracted the attention of industries because of their good nutritional quality, simple and economically affordable growth, taste, flavor, and textural properties, as well as the presence of bioactive compounds with positive effects on human health. Among edible mushrooms, <italic>Pleurotus</italic> spp. are considered among the most popular all over the world. Their cultivation is very simple and sustainable, because <italic>Pleurotus</italic> spp. efficiently grow on several substrates and can degrade various lignocellulosic waste materials. This means that <italic>Pleurotus</italic> mushrooms can be cultivable all over the world. From the inclusion in food products as extracts to the incorporation as fresh or into powder form, several works have been published in the literature concerning the use of mushrooms as functional ingredients. However, mushroom addiction can modify functional and physicochemical properties of the supplemented foods, hence the main challenge to overcome is to not negatively affect the sensory properties. Although many scientific works have been published on the matter, further research is needed to better understand the role of mushrooms as functional ingredients, due to the different results reported. This review aims for providing the more recent information about <italic>Pleurotus</italic> incorporation into foods, with a critical vision looking forward to the future, without forgetting an overview of the more recent literature about <italic>Pleurotus</italic> spp. nutritional value and their healthy promoting compounds.</p> </abstract>

Il carico di glicogeno e la supercompensazione sono pratiche dietetiche finalizzate a massimizzare la prestazione atletica e a ridurre l’acqua nel compartimento extracellulare al fine di migliorare rapidamente e visibilmente la definizione muscolare. La Rassegna tratta sinteticamente il ruolo che ricoprono gli ormoni e l’esercizio fisico nel condizionare le fisiologiche riserve di glicogeno muscolare e le strategie dietetiche per incrementarle. Analizza, inoltre, il bilancio idro-elettrolitico degli atleti durante la preparazione di una gara di bodybuilding.

Estimation of small area totals makes use of auxiliary variables to borrow strength from related areas through a model. Precision of final small area estimates depends on the validity of such a model. To protect against possible model failures, benchmarking procedures make the sum of small area estimates match a design consistent estimate of the total of a larger area. This is also particularly important for national institutes of statistics to ensure coherence between small area estimates and direct estimates produced at higher level planned domains. In this paper we propose a self-benchmarked estimator of small area totals which is based on a unit level logistic mixed model for a binary response. In particular, we use a plug-in approach and add a constraint to the maximum penalized quasi-likelihood (PQL) procedure considered in Saei and Chambers (Working paper M03/15, Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute. University of Southampton, 2003) to accommodate benchmarking. An analytic estimator for the mean squared error of the final small area estimator is also proposed following the ad-hoc procedure proposed by Gonzalez-Manteiga et al. (Comput Stat Data Anal 51:2720–2733, 2007). We then compare the performance of the proposed benchmarked estimator with several competing estimators through a set of simulation studies.