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Biomedical subjects

E Turchetto

Publications and source records attributed to E Turchetto.

67 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of chemically defined formula diets on pancreatic mass in the rat.

To establish the effect of chemically defined formula diets on pancreatic mass, 58 male Wistar rats, weighing approximately 200 g, were fed orally one of the following diets for 20 days: standard diet; partially hydrolyzed diet; elemental diet. The diets were isocaloric and provided 73 cal/day per rat. At the end of the experiment, the rats were killed and pancreas removed to assess wet weight and DNA and RNA content. Compared to the controls, the elemental diet caused a reduction in pancreatic wet weight (p less than 0.005), pancreatic DNA (p less than 0.001), and RNA content (p less than 0.001). In the group fed partially hydrolyzed diet, only pancreatic DNA content showed an highly significant reduction when compared with the reference group (p less than 0.001), whereas the value of RNA failed to reach the statistical significance. We found an increase of the ratio mg RNA/mg DNA in the partially hydrolyzed and elemental diet groups. These results suggest that long-term nutrition with the partially hydrolyzed diet, and more strongly with the elemental diet, may induce pancreatic hypoplasia.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Essential fatty acids: the effects of dietary supplementation among children with recurrent respiratory infections.

The impact of dietary supplementation with essential fatty acids (EFA) on recurrent respiratory infections (RRI) in children was evaluated by means of a randomized cross-over double-blind study. Linoleic acid (596 mg/day) and alpha-linolenic acid [855 mg/day] as a commercial preparation or placebo (olive oil) were administered for two consecutive winter seasons (November to February, T0-T120) to 20 children affected by RRI, aged between 36 and 49 months. Plasma levels of n-3 and n-6 metabolites increased after the administration of EFA. The number of infective episodes, days' fever and days' absence from school were reduced significantly during the observation period (extended from T120 to T180) in children receiving EFA supplementation. Our results suggest that n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids may play a favourable role in the defence mechanism of these subjects.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Oxisterol determination in selected coffees.

The main aim of green-coffee processing techniques, such as decaffeination and roasting, is always to maintain a very high level of quality in taste and flavor, the beverage's most important characteristics to consumers. Oxidative alterations of coffee lipids, which can occur in roasting, exert a very marked influence on these quality traits. Determining the extent of oxidation thus can provide an indication of the product's potential shelf-life and reveal traces of any newly-formed oxidative products that might prove nutritionally unsafe. Yet, while much attention has recently been focused on certain by-products induced by cholesterol oxidation and their proven toxicity as risk factors in atherosclerosis and cancer, oxidated phytosterols have largely gone unnoticed, being considered along with beta-sitosterol as not very dangerous in that neither is absorbed by the intestinal tract. The present study investigates the substances derived from phytosterol oxidation (oxisterols) in samples of regular and decaffeinated commercial coffees. The findings show that oxisterols were absent in some samples and that the traces of oxidate phytosterols detected in others were well below the threshold considered as toxicologically active.

Coffee↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of exogenous phospholipids on protein synthesis in confluent heart cell cultures.

Preincubation for 23 hr of confluent chick embryo heart cell cultures with increasing doses of a phospholipidic complex produces a progressive increase of [14C] leucine uptake and of its incorporation into proteins when compared to control cultures maintained with 0.5% foetal calf serum. Conversely, a longer time of exposure (47 and 71 hr) to the same doses of phospholipids exhibits a negative effect on both parameters. The changes in protein specific activity appear to be due to a real different capability of the cells in utilizing the amino acid taken up rather than to the changes in is endogenous availability.

Animals↗