Moringa oleifera L. leaf powder as ingredient in gluten-free biscuits: nutritional and physicochemical characteristics

Dried powder from Moringa oleifera L. leaves (MOLP) could be considered a promising naturally gluten-free (GF) ingredient to be added in the formulation of GF food products aiming to improve the overall nutritional characteristics. In this work, GF biscuits were formulated by replacing a commercial GF flour mix with 0, 5, 10, and 15 g/100 g of MOLP. Chemical composition, physical and textural characteristics, starch pasting properties, and the in vitro starch digestibility were considered. Adding MOLP increased the amount of protein and total dietary fibre. Even at the lowest MOLP-substitution level, the biscuits had a total dietary fibre content > 6 g/100 g dry matter. Differences in the chemical composition might account for differences in starch properties in terms of pasting behaviour and in vitro digestibility. Using MOLP decreased the in vitro starch hydrolysis index of biscuits, the lowest value (69.3) obtained at the greatest MOLP inclusion level. In addition, an increase in the resistant starch content was reported, passing from 1.1 to 2.7 g/100 g dry matter for GF biscuits containing 0 to 15 g/100 g of MOLP. Colour, spread ratio, and hardness were affected by MOLP inclusion. Biscuits containing 15 g/100 g of MOLP were characterized by the highest hardness value (41.9 N). Substitution level of 10 g/100 g should be considered the threshold level for obtaining a product with similar spread ratio than the control

Diversidade genética de bovinos de corte por meio de marcadores microssatélites.

Uma alternativa para atender a demanda do mercado por carne de qualidade é a utilização de cruzamentos entre raças zebuínas e taurinas adaptadas. Assim, as raças Bonsmara, Caracu e Senepol (taurinas adaptadas), Angus (taurina não-adaptada) e Nelore (zebuína) foram analisadas utilizando cinco marcadores microssatélites para avaliar a diversidade genética existente dentro e entre as raças e orientar a sua utilização em cruzamentos. Foram analisados 127 touros Bonsmara, Caracu, Senepol, Angus e Nelore e as frequências alélicas foram utilizadas para estimar diversidade gênica, conteúdo de polimorfismo informativo, probabilidade de exclusão e uma matriz de distância genética Euc1ideana. Considerando a média das distâncias Euclideanas, calculadas individualmente para cada marcador, a maior distância genética foi observada entre as raças Angus e Nelore (0,62) e as menores entre Caracu e as demais raças taurinas adaptadas (0,41 e 0,35 para Bonsmara e Senepol, respectivamente). Entre as taurinas adaptadas, a Bonsmara foi a que apresentou a menor distância em relação ao Angus (0,50) e a maior em relação ao Nelore (0,59). A raça Caracu apresentou distância intermediária para Angus (0,53) e Nelore (0,55). As raças Bonsmara e Caracu apresentaram distância genética, em média, 8,3% maior que a raça Senepol para matrizes Angus X Nelore, proporcionando uma expectativa de maior heterose quando cruzadas com estas matrizes

Psoriatic arthritis: epidemiological and clinical aspects in a cohort of 1.306 italian patients

Because there is the impression that psoriatic arthritis is a composite disorder with mild forms close to more severe and aggressive ones, we conducted a multicenter study with the aim of characterizing disease expression in a large cohort of Italian patients. One-thousand-three-hundred-six patients fulfilled inclusion criteria and were analyzed in this study. Psoriasis antedated the onset of arthritis in the majority of the cases (67.7%). More rare was inverse or simultaneous onset which occurred in 17.3% and 15.0% of the cases, respectively. Peripheral articular involvement (mono-oligo or polyarthritis) was recorded in 88.7% of the cases while spondylitis occurred in 11.3%. Peripheral enthesopathies were found in 28.1% of the cases with a marked occurrence in patients with axial involvement (64.5% vs 35.5% in oligo or polyarthritis). Abnormal levels of ESR and CRP respectively occurred in 52.2% and in 52.6% of the cases, while rheumatoid factor was detected in 5.0% of the cases. On the basis of distribution of joint involvement, symmetry and presence of peripheral enthesopathies we recognized three clusters of arthritis. Patients included in Cluster 1 and Cluster 2 showed a severe form of polyarthritis in most of the cases (82.9%), with increased serum levels of inflammatory indices in more than 85% of the cases. Almost all the hospitalized patients (97.1%) were included in this two clusters. They markedly assumed steroids and methotrexate or another DMARD. About half of the patients (51.1%) included in Cluster 3 showed mono-oligo articular involvement. Serum inflammatory indices were increased in 20.8% of the cases while hospitalization occurred only in 2.9% of the cases and NSAIDs were the treatment of choice. The evidence in our country of a large prevalence of severe forms of arthritis needing specific and aggressive approach outlines the requirement of an intense educational action aimed at increasing the awareness of this condition

Mechanisms of goethite dissolution in the presence of desferrioxamine B and Suwannee River fulvic acid at pH 6.5

Siderophores are Fe3+ specific low MW chelating ligands secreted by microorganisms in response to Fe stress. Low MW organic acids such as oxalate have been shown to enhance siderophore mediated dissolution of Fe3+ oxides. However, the effect of fulvic acid presence on siderophore function remains unknown. We used batch dissolution experiments to investigate Fe release from goethite in the goethite-fulvic acid desferrioxamine B (goethite-SRFA-DFOB) ternary system. Experiments were conducted at pH 6.5 while varying reagent addition sequence. FTIR and UV-Vis spectroscopy were employed to characterise the Fe-DFOB, Fe-SRFA and DFOB–SRFA complexes. Iron released from goethite in the presence of SRFA alone was below detection limit. In the presence of both SRFA and DFOB, dissolved Fe increased with reaction time, presence of the DFOB-SRFA complex, and where SRFA was introduced prior to DFOB. FTIR data show that in the ternary system, Fe3+ is complexed primarily to oxygen of the DFOB hydroxamate group, whilst the carboxylate C=O of SRFA forms an electrostatic association with the terminal NH3+ of DFOB. We propose that SRFA sorbed to goethite lowers the net positive charge of the oxide surface, thus facilitating adsorption of cationic DFOB and subsequent Fe3+ chelation and release. Furthermore, the sorbed SRFA weakens Fe-O bonds at the goethite surface, increasing the population of kinetically labile Fe. This work demonstrates the positive, though indirect role of SRFA in increasing the bioavailability of Fe3+

Assessment of agricultural practices by Ethiopian women farmers: existence of gender disparities in access to mycotoxins training

Ethiopia is one of the countries with the lowest gender-equality performance in sub-Saharan Africa being ranked 121/134 in terms of the magnitude and scope of gender disparities by the United Nations Women’s Organisation. Within the farming communities, women represent 70% of the labour force, but they are neglected from accessing training events run by Ethiopian Universities (e.g. Haramaya University). A survey to assess the existence of gender disparities among Ethiopian women farmers with respect to agricultural labour and mycotoxins knowledge was conducted on three hundred and forty-nine women from the Oromia and Amhara regions. A higher illiteracy rate was found in women compared to men from both Oromia and Amhara regions. Women played a key role in agricultural activities while having limited access to modern technologies compared to their male counterparts. Women were mainly responsible for sorting spoiled crops. Especially in Amhara, these were intended for home consumption, representing a serious health risk for local people. Overall, women from Amhara were more aware than women from Oromia about what mycotoxins are (e.g. aflatoxins), their impact and risk of occurrence in crops. Women in Amhara were also more intended to act towards mycotoxins in the future compared to women from Oromia. Only 0.24% of women have previously attended a training on mycotoxins. The radio seemed to be the most efficient way to deliver training to Ethiopian women farmers from these regions. Mycotoxins trainings were the second option of choice by all women surveyed. Such findings clearly stated the existence of gender inequality in the two Ethiopian regions considered. Empower women’s knowledge about mycotoxins will not only benefit agricultural income and the national economy, but it will also provide women the recognition they equally deserve alongside their male counterparts in future agricultural training programs and interventions.This research was supported by a Global Challenges Research Fund Quality-Research (QR-GCRF) to Cranfield University

Low cost and renewable sulfur-polymers by inverse vulcanisation, and their potential for mercury capture

Sulfur is not only a highly abundant element, but also produced as a by-product of the petrochemicals industry. However, it has not been conventionally used to produce functional materials because polymeric sulfur is unstable, and decomposes back to its monomer. Recently, inverse vulcanisation has been used to produce stable polymeric materials with elemental sulfur as a major component. Here we report a series of alternative crosslinkers for inverse vulcanisation that are either low-cost industrial byproducts, or bio-derived renewables. These are shown to produce stable polymers with superior properties to previously reported materials. When made porous by the action of supercritical carbon dioxide or salt templating, these high sulfur polymers show excellent potential for mercury capture and filtration

Effect of desferrioxamine B and Suwannee River fulvic acid on Fe(III) release and Cr(III) desorption from goethite

Siderophores are biogenic chelating ligands that facilitate the solubilization of Fe(III) and form stable complexes with a range of contaminant metals and therefore may significantly affect their biogeochemical cycling. Desferrioxamine B (DFOB) is a trihydroxamate siderophore that acts synergistically with fulvic acid and low molecular weight organic ligands to release Fe from Fe(III) oxides. We report the results of batch dissolution experiments in which we determine the rates of Cr(III) desorption and Fe(III) release from Cr(III)-treated synthetic goethite as influenced by DFOB, by fulvic acid, and by the two compounds in combination. We observed that adsorbed Cr(III) at 3% surface coverage significantly reduced Fe(III) release from goethite for all combinations of DFOB and fulvic acid. When DFOB (270 µM) was the only ligand present, dissolved Fe(III) and Cr(III) increased approximately 1000-fold and 16-fold, respectively, as compared to the ligand-free system, a difference we attribute to the slow rate of water exchange of Cr(III). Suwannee River fuvic acid (SRFA) acts synergistically with DFOB by (i) reducing the goethite surface charge leading to increased HDFOB+ surface excess and by (ii) forming aqueous Fe(III)-SRFA species whose Fe(III) is subsequently removed by DFOB to yield aqueous Fe(III)-DFOB complexes. These observations shed new light on the synergistic relationship between DFOB and fulvic acid and reveal the mechanisms of Fe(III) acquisition available to plants and micro-organisms in Cr(III) contaminated environments