Molteni Farmaceutici (Italy)

This study investigates the potential of 1H NMR spectroscopy for predicting key chemical and sensory attributes in olive oil. By integrating NMR data with traditional chemical analyses and sensory evaluation, we developed multivariate models to evaluate the predictive power of NMR spectra coupled with machine learning algorithms for 50 distinct olive oil quality parameters, including physicochemical properties, fatty acid composition, total polyphenols, tocopherols, and sensory attributes. We applied Random Forest regression models to correlate NMR spectra with these parameters, achieving promising results, particularly for predicting major fatty acids, total polyphenols, and tocopherols. We have also found the collected data to be highly effective in classifying olive cultivars and the years of harvest. Our findings highlight the potential of NMR spectroscopy as a rapid, non-destructive, and environmentally friendly tool for olive oil quality assessment. This study introduces a novel approach that combines machine learning with 1H NMR spectral analysis to correlate analytical data for predicting essential qualitative parameters in olive oil. By leveraging 1H NMR spectra as predictive proxies, this methodology offers a promising alternative to traditional assessment techniques, enabling rapid determination of several parameters related to chemical composition, sensory attributes, and geographical origin of olive oil samples.

Opioids are broad spectrum analgesics that are an integral part of the therapeutic armamentarium to combat pain in the clinical practice. Unfortunately, together with analgesia, a number of adverse effects can occur such as nausea, vomiting, constipation, gastrointestinal alterations and cognitive impairments. Naltrexone is a competitive antagonist of opioid receptors commonly used to treat opioid addiction; its oral use against agonists side effects is limited by the decrease of opioids-therapeutic efficacy and own adverse effects. The intranasal delivery of naltrexone could offer a quick and effective achievement of CNS based on extracellular mechanisms including perineural and perivascular transport. The aim of the study was to test the efficacy of intranasal low-dose naltrexone in reducing intraperitoneal morphine and oxycodone side effects in rodents. In mice, 1 μg naltrexone intranasally administered 30 min before opioids reduced cognitive impairments and motor alteration induced by 10 mg kg−1 morphine and 60 mg kg−1 oxycodone in the Passive avoidance and Rota rod tests, respectively. Moreover, naltrexone rebalanced opioid-induced reduction of the intestinal transit and latency of feces expulsion as well as food intake inhibition. Importantly, 1 μg naltrexone instillation did not block analgesia as demonstrated by the Hot plate test. In rats, intranasal naltrexone counteracted the opioid-induced pica phenomenon related to emesis and increased water and palatable food intake. The effects were comparable to that achieved by metoclopramide used as reference drug. Treatments did not influence body weight. Lastly, the safety of the intranasal delivery has been checked by hematoxylin–eosin staining that did not show histological alterations of the nasal cavity. In conclusion, intranasal low-dose naltrexone counteracted morphine and oxycodone induced gastrointestinal and CNS side effects without impairing opioid analgesia. It is a candidate to be a valid clinical strategy deserving deep analysis.

ABSTRACTBackground: A commercial preparation of recombinant human chorionic gonadotrophin (r-hCG, Ovitrelle) was launched in 2001. Generally, hCG is available in two formats: human chorionic gonadotrophin (u-hCG), derived from the urine of pregnant females, and r-hCG produced by DNA based biotechnology.* Ovitrelle is a trade name of Serono International SA, Geneva, SwitzerlandMethod: The analytical characteristics of a highly purified u-hCG (Gonasi HP) were assessed and compared, for the first time, with the recombinant derived r-hCG (Ovitrelle). Gonasi HP is produced by extracting and purifying hCG from urine to obtain a specific bioactivity of 5000 IU/mg protein. Ovitrelle is produced via a recombinant derived mammalian cell line and purified to obtain a specific activity of 26 000 IU/mg.† Gonasi HP is a trade name of IBSA, Lugano, SwitzerlandResults and conclusion: It has been documented that commercially available u-hCG preparations can contain a number of urine derived protein contaminants as well as hCG related metabolites. This is also the case for Gonasi HP, where hCG related molecules and other proteins were found to be present, including epidermal growth factor (EGF) and eosinophil derived neurotoxin (EDN). It was also demonstrated that this preparation contained high levels of oxidised hCG. r-hCG was confirmed to be essentially intact hCG, free from contaminant proteins and with very low levels of oxidised hCG.

The effect of serum albumins (as Fetal Calf Serum) on in vitro photosensing efficacy against C.albicans of three cationic Zn ( II ) phthalocyanine derivatives was evaluated. A clearly structure-dependent reduction in the antifungine activity was observed. For this reason the binding of the photosensitizers with albumins (as bovine serum albumin, BSA) at pH 7.4 was studied. Because of aggregation phenomena, the phthalocyanine derivatives showed little fluorescence in aqueous solutions and fluorescence intensity increased as a function of protein concentration. Titration plots were built and binding constant were determined. The obtained binding parameters and the hydrolipophilic properties of the studied molecules (octanol/water partition coefficient PO / W, number of cationic charges, amphipilicity) were correlated with the observed biological effect.