Integrating new and traditional approaches for the estimate of slip-rates of active faults: examples from the Mw 6.3, 2009 L’Aquila earthquake area, Central Italy

This thesis is based on the integration of traditional and innovative approaches aimed at improving the normal faults seimogenic identification and characterization, focusing mainly on slip-rate estimate as a measure of the fault activity. The L’Aquila Mw 6.3 April 6, 2009 earthquake causative fault, namely the Paganica - San Demetrio fault system (PSDFS), was used as a test site. We developed a multidisciplinary and scale‐based strategy consisting of paleoseismological investigations, detailed geomorphological and geological field studies, as well as shallow geophysical imaging and an innovative application of physical properties measurements. We produced a detailed geomorphological and geological map of the PSDFS, defining its tectonic style, arrangement, kinematics, extent, geometry and internal complexities. The PSDFS is a 19 km-long tectonic structure, characterized by a complex structural setting and arranged in two main sectors: the Paganica sector to the NW, characterized by a narrow deformation zone, and the San Demetrio sector to SE, where the strain is accommodated by several tectonic structures, exhuming and dissecting a wide Quaternary basin, suggesting the occurrence of strain migration through time. The integration of all the fault displacement data and age constraints (radiocarbon dating, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and tephrochronology) helped in calculating an average Quaternary slip-rate representative for the PSDFS of 0.27 - 0.48 mm/yr. On the basis of its length (ca. 20 km) and slip per event (up to 0.8 m) we also estimated a max expected Magnitude of 6.3-6.8 for this fault. All these topics have a significant implication in terms of surface faulting hazard in the area and may contribute also to the understanding of the PSDFS seismic behavior and of the local seismic hazard.

Development of instrumental and sensory analytical methods of food obtained by traditional and emerging technologies

The consumer demand for natural, minimally processed, fresh like and functional food has lead to an increasing interest in emerging technologies. The aim of this PhD project was to study three innovative food processing technologies currently used in the food sector. Ultrasound-assisted freezing, vacuum impregnation and pulsed electric field have been investigated through laboratory scale systems and semi-industrial pilot plants. Furthermore, analytical and sensory techniques have been developed to evaluate the quality of food and vegetable matrix obtained by traditional and emerging processes. Ultrasound was found to be a valuable technique to improve the freezing process of potatoes, anticipating the beginning of the nucleation process, mainly when applied during the supercooling phase. A study of the effects of pulsed electric fields on phenol and enzymatic profile of melon juice has been realized and the statistical treatment of data was carried out through a response surface method. Next, flavour enrichment of apple sticks has been realized applying different techniques, as atmospheric, vacuum, ultrasound technologies and their combinations. The second section of the thesis deals with the development of analytical methods for the discrimination and quantification of phenol compounds in vegetable matrix, as chestnut bark extracts and olive mill waste water. The management of waste disposal in mill sector has been approached with the aim of reducing the amount of waste, and at the same time recovering valuable by-products, to be used in different industrial sectors. Finally, the sensory analysis of boiled potatoes has been carried out through the development of a quantitative descriptive procedure for the study of Italian and Mexican potato varieties. An update on flavour development in fresh and cooked potatoes has been realized and a sensory glossary, including general and specific definitions related to organic products, used in the European project Ecropolis, has been drafted.

Insights on epidemiology and control of Marek’s disease through traditional and novel molecular tools

Marek's disease (MD) is a contagious, lymphoproliferative and neuropathic disease of poultry caused by a ubiquitous lymphotropic and oncogenic virus, Gallid alphaherpesvirus 2 (GaHV-2). MD has been reported in all poultry-rearing countries and is among the viral diseases with the highest economic impact in the poultry industry worldwide, including Italy. MD has been also recognized as one of the leading causes of mortality in backyard poultry. The present doctoral thesis aimed at exploring Marek's disease virus molecular epidemiology in Italian commercial and backyard chicken flocks and, for the first time, in commercial turkeys affected by clinical MD. Molecular biology techniques targeting the full-length meq gene, the major GaHV-2 oncogene, were used to detect and characterize the circulating GaHV-2 strains searching for genetic markers of virulence. A final study focused on the development of rapid, sensitive, and species-specific loop-mediated isothermal amplification assays coupled with a lateral flow device readout for the detection of conventional and recombinant HVT-based vaccines is included in the thesis. HVT vaccines, currently used to protect chickens from MD, are referred to as "leaky", as they do not impede the infection, replication, and shedding of field GaHV-2: vaccinal and field viruses can coexist in the vaccinated host and molecular tests able to discriminate between GaHV-2 and HVT are required. These new simple, fast, and accurate tests for the monitoring of MD vaccination success in the field could be greatly beneficial for field veterinarians, small laboratories, and more broadly for resource-limited settings.

Traditional risk factors and lifetime risk of acute coronary events

Objective: To investigate the association between the four traditional coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors (hypertension, smoking, hypercholesterolemia, and diabetes) and outcomes of first ACS. Methods: Data were drawn from the ISACS Archives. The study participants consisted of 70953 patients with first ACS, but without prior CHD. Primary outcomes were patient’ age at hospital presentation and 30-day all-cause mortality. The risk ratios for mortality among subgroups were calculated using a balancing strategy by inverse probability weighting. Trends were evaluated by Pearson's correlation coefficient (r). Results: For fatal ACS (n=6097), exposure to at least one traditional CHD-risk factor ranged from 77.6% in women to 74.5% in men. The presence of all four CHD-risk factors significantly decreased the age at time of ACS event and death by nearly half a decade compared with the absence of any traditional risk factors in both women (from 67.1±12.0 to 61.9±10.3 years; r=-0.089, P<0.001) and men (from 62.8±12.2 to 58.9±9.9 years; r=-0.096, P<0.001). By contrast, there was an inverse association between the number of traditional CHD-risk factors and 30-day mortality. The mortality rates in women ranged from 7.7% with four traditional CHD-risk factors to 16.3% with no traditional risk factors (r=0.073, P<0.001). The corresponding rates in men were 4.8% and 11.5% (r=0.078, P<0.001), respectively. The risk ratios among individuals with at least one CHD-risk factors vs. those with no traditional risk factors were 0.72 (95%CI:0.65-0.79) in women and 0.64 (95%CI:0.59-0.70) in men. This association was consistent among patient subgroups managed with guideline-recommended therapeutic options. Conclusions: The vast majority of patients who die for ACS have traditional CHD-risk factor exposure. Patients with CHD-risk factors die much earlier in life, but they have a lower relative risk of 30-day mortality than those with no traditional CHD-risk factors, even in the context of equitable evidence‐based treatments after hospital admission.

Toward wellbeing: investigation of traditional, classical and innovative approaches to improve population and environmental health

As the word population continues to grow and global resources are limited, the WHO definition of health is difficult to achieve for a large part of the population. Humanity is facing the need to improve both environmental and human wellbeing. This can be done through careful planning and management of natural resources, ensuring food safety and reducing and converting wastes. This work aims to contribute to the improvement of population and environmental health exploring different research fields: urban park ecosystem services, food chemical risk assessment and agri-food by-product valorization. To highlight the importance of urban parks and their ecosystem services, an ethnobotanical study was carried out in the Ausa urban park in Rimini, using a citizen science approach. The results showed that Ausa Park is an important focal point for plant gatherers in Rimini, as it allows for plant foraging and contributes to preserve the knowledge of the use of plants. Two food safety studies were carried out, looking at the exposure of Poles to bisphenol A through the consumption of soft drinks and to cadmium through the consumption of chocolate bars. The results, compared with EFSA’s scientific opinion, show that the exposure of the Polish population to BPA is of health concern, while cadmium is not. In the agri-food by-product valorization, a green extraction method was optimized to recover valuable phenolic compounds from red-fleshed apple pomace; moreover, the possibility of recovering pectin from the residue was evaluated. Furthermore, valuable compounds in four different types of wheat milling by-products, considered as an alternative source of bioactive compounds with potential human health benefits, were investigated. In conclusion, this work produced usable data in urban green area management and planning, in food chemical risk assessment and in business production decisions, thus contributing to improving environmental and people wellbeing.