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The lack of information on biological risks in workplaces arises from the difficulty to measure bioaerosol. This study aimed to develop and improve the bioaerosol monitoring technique that uses proper biomarkers as a tool. Muramic and dipicolinic acids, and ergosterol were used as tracers for bacteria cells, bacterial spores, and fungal spores, respectively. Furthermore, 12- and 13-methyltetradecanoic acids (iso- and anteiso- C15:0) were used to study the presence of airborne bacteria and 3-hydroxy fatty acids were used to determine the concentration of peptidoglycan. Airborne particulate matter was sampled in a municipal indoor waste composting facility by multistage impactor samplers, during three main stages of composting process. The microorganism content, in airborne particles with aerodynamic diameter minor then 1 μm and between 1 and 10 μm, was determined starting from the aforementioned biomarker concentrations. For iso- and anteiso- C15:0, a conversion factor to transform its concentration into bacterial content was tentatively proposed. The results show that the chemical method covers some gaps in the information about bioaerosol presence in polluted atmospheres. Differences up to two orders of magnitude are observed, by comparing the results obtained by biomarkers and by cultivation-dependent methods. The microbial content, expressed as a percentage by mass on respect the PM, ranged from 4 to 28% with higher percentages during shredding and mixing stages and lower values during biocell opening operations. Bacterial spores, bacterial cells, and fungal spores detected were high in number, compared with the findings in similar studies elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report a simple method for the determination of quercetin, a typical antioxidant compound ubiquitously present in vegetable food products including grapes and wine. To this aim, 12 Italian wines were analyzed and the amount of quercetin was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detector. To reduce the interferences, a minimal sample preparation was performed on solid phase cartridge, then the samples were eluted through a narrow bore C18 column under gradient elution in less than 25 min. Nine wines were red and three white. The amount of quercetin ranged from 0.5 to 4.3 mg L−1. The method was evaluated in terms of reproducibility, linearity, recovery, and limits of detection and quantification, and it resulted relatively fast, economical, and suitable for those laboratories involved in routine analysis. In addition, the possibility to determine the content of quercetin derivates, as free quercetin, after acidic hydrolysis was investigated. Despite the limited number of analyzed samples, the results from this explorative study are in agreement to those from other surveys. Moreover, due to the problems arising from hydrolysis, further research are needed for determining each single quercetin derivate in wine, in order to better characterize its active compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teicoplanin, 200-400 mg (3-6 mg/kg) daily iv or im, was used to treat 71 episodes of infection. The average duration of treatment was 22 days. The 64 evaluable episodes comprised 24 skin/soft tissue, 20 osteoarticular, ten urinary tract and one ventriculo-atrial shunt infections; one case of primary bacteraemia, three of endocarditis, two of pneumonia and three of pleural empyema. Fifty-five episodes were treated with teicoplanin monotherapy and nine with teicoplanin in association to other antibiotics. Overall 61% (39/64) of the evaluable infections were cured, 25% (16/64) improved and 14% (9/64) failed. Staphylococcus aureus was the most frequent pathogen, with 46 isolates. Infections by both methicillin-sensitive and resistant Staph. aureus strains showed favourable clinical and microbiological responses to teicoplanin. Side effects were observed in eight of the 64 episodes (12.5%). Bronchospasm was observed in two other cases at the beginning of therapy and the antibiotic administration was discontinued. Teicoplanin is an effective and well tolerated antibiotic for infections by Gram-positive bacteria, and it is effective against methicillin-resistant staphylococci. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]