Gastric Adenocarcinomas and Signet-Ring Cell Carcinoma: Unraveling Gastric Cancer Complexity through Microbiome Analysis—Deepening Heterogeneity for a Personalized Therapy

Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most prevalent cancer worldwide and the third leading cause of global cancer mortality. With the advances of the omic studies, a heterogeneous GC landscape has been revealed, with significant molecular diversity. Given the multifaceted nature of GC, identification of different patient subsets with prognostic and/or predictive outcomes is a key aspect to allow tailoring of specific treatments. Recently, the involvement of the microbiota in gastric carcinogenesis has been described. To deepen this aspect, we compared microbiota composition in signet-ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) and adenocarcinoma (ADC), two distinct GC subtypes. To this purpose, 10 ADC and 10 SRCC and their paired non-tumor (PNT) counterparts were evaluated for microbiota composition through 16S rRNA analysis. Weighted and unweighted UniFrac and Bray–Curtis dissimilarity showed significant community-level separation between ADC and SRCC. Through the LEfSe (linear discriminant analysis coupled with effect size) tool, we identified potential microbial biomarkers associated with GC subtypes. In particular, SRCCs were significantly enriched in the phyla Fusobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Patescibacteria, whereas in the ADC type, Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria phyla were found. Overall, our data add new insights into GC heterogeneity and may contribute to deepening the GC classification.     

Bioaccessibility and antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds in cooked pulses

The aim of this study was to evaluate the bioaccessibility of polyphenols and antioxidant activity in cooked pulses and to study the effect of cooking on their total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant capacity. Cooked faba beans showed the highest TPC, followed by soybeans and lentils or peas. TPC ranged from 10.4 ± 0.2 to 52.9 ± 0.3 mg/100 g and was positively correlated with antioxidant activity. Cooking resulted in increased TPC and antioxidant activity of the methanolic extracts, caused by cell disruption and improved extraction of polyphenols. Although polyphenols were lost in the cooking water, boiled legumes had more polyphenols than those resulting cooking broths. In vitro gastrointestinal digestion resulted in increased TPC and antioxidant capacity of the extracts. Soybeans showed the highest amount of bioaccessible polyphenols. The release of phenolics from cooked legumes was mainly achieved during the intestinal phase. Literature data may underestimate the TPC and antioxidant capacity of pulses.     

Influence of oil droplet size on the oxidative stability of the free and encapsulated fractions of freeze-dried microencapsulated sunflower oil

The effect of oil droplet size (ODS) on the oxidative stability (OS) of dried microencapsulated oils has been scarcely studied, and results are contradictory. A few studies have shown increased OS when the ODS was reduced and this was attributed to a decrease in the surface oil content (SOC). Yet, in such studies, only the total oil fraction was evaluated. In the present work, the free (FO) and encapsulated oil (EO) fractions of freeze-dried microencapsulated sunflower oil were analysed to study the effect of changes in the ODS by using different homogenisation pressure (15 or 70 MPa) in the emulsification step. The OS of both the free and encapsulated fractions increased when the ODS was significantly reduced in two samples with different encapsulation matrix, namely caseinate/lactose and maltodextrin/sucrose/gelatine. A reduction in the SOC would explain the increased stability of the FO, but not that of the EO. An additional protective role of the interfacial film could have been involved. In conclusion, if the encapsulation matrix and the interfacial region are effective as oxygen barriers, a reduction in the ODS of the parent emulsion by an increase in the homogenisation pressure will result in capsules more stable against lipid oxidation.     

Evaluations of the TiO2/simulated solar UV degradations of XAD fractions of natural organic matter from a bog lake using size-exclusion chromatography

This work reports on the changes in compositions of humic acids (HAs) and fulvic acids (FAs) during photocatalytic degradation. The HAs and FAs were obtained from the XAD-resin fractionation of natural-organic matter (NOM) from a bog lake (Lake Hohloh, Black Forest, Germany). Degussa P-25 titanium dioxide (TiO₂) in a suspension and a solar UV simulator (batch reactor) were used in the experiments. The photocatalytic degradation of the HAs and FAs were monitored using size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) equipped with dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and ultraviolet (UV₂₅₄) detection (SEC-DOC and SEC-UV₂₅₄) and UV–Vis spectrophotometry. The evolutions of the photocatalytic degradations of the HA and FA fractions were selective. The photocatalytic degradation started with the degradations of high molecular weight compounds with relatively high UV₂₅₄ absorbances in the HA and FA fractions to yield low molecular weight compounds showing less specific UV₂₅₄ absorbances. Observance of the same tendency for the original NOM from Lake Hohloh indicates that these XAD-fractions still having complex compound mixtures. However, the larger molecular weight fractions of the FAs showed higher preferential adsorptions onto TiO₂, which caused their faster degradation rates. Furthermore, FAs showed a greater reduction of the total THM formation potential (TTHMFP) and the organic halogen compounds adsorbable on activated carbon formation potential (AOXFP), in comparison with the HAs.     

Cuticular Extracts from Acromis sparsa (Coleoptera: Cassidinae) Mediate Arrestment Behavior of the Commensal Canestriniid Mite Grandiella rugosita

Astigmatid mites in the family Canestriniidae are often closely associated with tortoise leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae). For example, the survival of the commensal canestriniid mite Grandiella rugosita depends on dispersal to the cassidine beetle Acromis sparsa. Here, we tested whether the beetle cuticle provides chemical cues for host recognition for G. rugosita. In two-choice assays with cuticular extracts from A. sparsa and the co-occurring, non-host cassidine Chelymorpha alternans offered simultaneously, mites clearly preferred the area treated with extract from their host. In no-choice assays, G. rugosita spent three times longer and moved three times slower on host cuticular extracts compared to non-host extracts and the solvent control. Analyses of the chemical composition of cuticular extracts from males and females of A. sparsa and C. alternans revealed complex mixtures of mainly methyl branched hydrocarbons, which clearly separated both species in a principal component analysis. We found no qualitative difference between males and females of either species, but in C. alternans quantitative differences between males and females were detected. Our results demonstrate that G. rugosita is able to discriminate between cuticular extracts from its host A. sparsa and the non-host C. alternans. The components eliciting the observed arrestment behavior remain to be determined.     

Contrasting initial events of localized corrosion on surfaces of 2219-T42 and 6061-T6 aluminum alloys exposed in Caribbean seawater

Aluminum alloy samples, 6061-T6 and 2219-T42, were exposed to Caribbean seawater for 90 d. The fluctuations of open circuit potential, considered as electrochemical noise (EN), were used to characterize and compare initial pitting events, which appeared on their surfaces. EN analysis was carried out using the power spectral density (PSD) vs frequency. The decrease of the β exponent in PSD graphs indicated a release of spontaneous energy with the progress of pit formation in seawater. The fluctuations were associated with the breakdown and formation of new corrosion layers. The values of β exponent in PSD graphs suggest that corrosion process of AA2219-T42 alloy occurs as a persistent non-stationary process, the dynamics of which is controlled by fractional Brownian motion (fBm), while on AA6061-T6 alloy the corrosion process was dominated by stationary and weakly persistent features, with the contribution of fractional Gaussian noise (fGn). After the exposure in seawater, SEM-EDX analysis revealed insoluble intermetallic particles on the alloys, rich in Cu or Fe and irregularly distributed. The preferential dissolution of Mg and Al occurs from the S-phase (Al₂CuMg) of AA2219-T42 alloy.