The development is described of a rapid, simply and accurate analytical method aimed at evaluating both the presence of cow milk in either raw ewe and water buffalo milk samples employed in industrial processes and the addition of powdered milk to samples of fresh raw milk, using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS). The presence of adulteration is defined by evaluating the protein patterns coming from the most abundant whey proteins, alpha-lactalbumin and beta-lactoglobulin, used as molecular markers. As no pretreatment of the milk samples is required and owing to the speed and ease of use of MALDI-MS the proposed analytical protocol can be used as a routine strategy for the identification of possible adulteration of the raw fresh milk samples that the dairy industry receives from producers every day.

A rapid and accurate method to identify bovine and ewe milk adulteration of fresh water buffalo mozzarella cheese by using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS) is described. The differentiation among mozzarella made from water buffalo milk and from mixtures of less expensive bovine and, more recently, ewe milk with water buffalo milk is achieved using whey proteins, alpha-lactalbumin and beta-lactoglobulins as molecular markers. It is worth noting that the method proposed here is, to our knowledge, the first strategy able to characterize possible fraudulent additions of ewe milk in samples of water buffalo milk devoted to the production of water buffalo mozzarella cheese. In addition, a linear relationship was found between the relative response of the molecular ion and the abundance of the analysed whey proteins. This demonstrates that this approach can be used to determine the amount of bovine or ovine milk added to water buffalo milk employed for mozzarella cheese production. Furthermore, this method also appears suitable for the analysis of ewe cheese. Hence these findings open the way to a new field for mass spectrometry in the evaluation of possible fraudulence in dairy industry production.

Their antibacterial and cytotoxic activities are evaluated, and the results of a prescreen for antitumor effects are reported.Recent studies have revealed that avarol [1] and avarone [2], previously isolated from the marine sponge Dysidea avara Schmidt (Dictyoceratida) (1,2),

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a group of neurodevelopmental disorders which have a severe life-long effect on behavior and social functioning, and which are associated with metabolic abnormalities. Their diagnosis is on the basis of behavioral and developmental signs usually detected before three years of age, and there is no reliable biological marker. The objective of this study was to establish the volatile urinary metabolomic profiles of 24 autistic children and 21 healthy children (control group) to investigate volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as potential biomarkers for ASDs. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) using DVB/CAR/PDMS sorbent coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to obtain the metabolomic information patterns. Urine samples were analyzed under both acid and alkaline pH, to profile a range of urinary components with different physicochemical properties. Multivariate statistics techniques were applied to bioanalytical data to visualize clusters of cases and to detect the VOCs able to differentiate autistic patients from healthy children. In particular, orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) achieved very good separation between autistic and control groups under both acidic and alkaline pH, identifying discriminating metabolites. Among these, 3-methyl-cyclopentanone, 3-methyl-butanal, 2-methyl-butanal, and hexane under acid conditions, and 2-methyl-pyrazine, 2,3-dimethyl-pyrazine, and isoxazolo under alkaline pH had statistically higher levels in urine samples from autistic children than from the control group. Further investigation with a higher number of patients should be performed to outline the metabolic origins of these variables, define a possible association with ASDs, and verify the usefulness of these variables for early-stage diagnosis.

Triacylglycerols (TAG) are the most important group of compounds present in vegetable oils. These biomolecules, determining the physical, chemical and nutritional properties of the oils, are considered to be good fingerprints for quality and authenticity control. Therefore, TAGs characterization is a very important task in edible oil field, which has been undertaken by different analytical methods. The analysis of vegetable oils is still dominated by classic determinations, which are however laborious and time-consuming and cannot be used routinely. More recently, advances in MS instrumentations coupled with online separation techniques and data processing have contributed to great expansion of MS in oil study, allowing the development of innovative analytical approaches that exhibit higher sensitivity, accuracy and rapidity in vegetable oils investigations. In the present contribution, a review of the most relevant applications of novel mass spectrometric techniques, such as ESI and MALDI, both alone and hyphenated with HPLC, used for analysis of the complex TAGs mixture of edible oils is illustrated.

Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) of molecular weight (M w ) 40 000 and 160 000 and polydispersity of 1.8± 2.2 was shown to yield matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectra with the correct molar mass distribution of the polymer. This is a unique behavior among widely polydisperse samples and was ascribed to the capacity of PVP to complex the MALDI matrix. This result prompted us to test a new sample preparation technique consisting of flash-freezing followed by freeze-drying of the solution of the polymer with the matrix. In this paper we describe our preliminary results on MALDI-MS of polydisperse polymers obtained by this technique. This sample preparation method allowed us to obtain, for the first time, spectra yielding the true molecular weight distribution of polydisperse samples such as dextran, lichenan, nigeran, and poly(ethylene oxide).

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Production of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) represents an important element for the economy of Southern Italy. Therefore, EVOO is recognized as a food with noticeable biological effects. Our study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity exhibited by the polyphenolic extracts of EVOOs, obtained from three varieties of Olea europea L. (Ruvea antica, Ravece, and Ogliarola) cultivated in the village of Montella, Avellino, Southern Italy. The study evaluated the inhibiting effect of the extracts against some Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Statistical analysis, used to relate values of antimicrobial activity to total polyphenols and phenolic composition, revealed a different behavior among the three EVOO polyphenol extracts. The method applied could be useful to predict the influence of singular metabolites on the antimicrobial activity.