Evaluation of cardiovascular protective effect of different apple varieties - Correlation of response with composition

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Food Chemistry. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Food Chemistry, Vol. 135, Issue 4, 2012. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.07.067"Epidemiological evidence supports the concept that diets rich in fruits and vegetables promote health and attenuate or delay the onset of cardiovascular disease (CVD). In particular, a reduced risk of CVD has been associated with apple consumption, probably due to the cholesterol-lowering effect of the main bioactive compounds, namely fiber and polyphenols. In this work, the effect of diet supplementation with 20% of three Portuguese apple cultivars (Bravo de Esmolfe, Malápio Serra and Golden), containing distinct phenolic and fiber concentrations, on serum lipid profile and oxLDL of male Wistar rats fed a cholesterol-enriched diet (2%) was evaluated. After 30 days, only Bravo de Esmolfe apple was able to decrease significantly serum levels of triglycerides, total and LDL cholesterol concentrations (reductions of 27.2%, 21.0% and 20.4%, respectively, in relation to the cholesterol-enriched diet group, p<0.05) . The levels of oxLDL were also significantly improved with the consumption of this apple variety (reductions of 20.0% and 11.9%, in relation to the cholesterol-enriched diet group and control group, respectively, p>0.05) as well as with Malapio da Serra apple (reductions of 9.8% in relation to the cholesterol-enriched diet group, p<0.05). Correlation of the bioactive response with chemical composition showed that catechin, epicatechin, procyanidin B1 and -carotene are the major phytocompounds responsible for the cholesterol lowering ability of apples. The antioxidant potential may have also contributed to this beneficial effect.

Pharmacotherapy of normobaric and hyperbaric oxygen

O oxigénio é considerado como um fármaco, que pode ser facilmente administrado em condições normobáricas, mas quando é utilizado em condições de pressão superiores à atmosférica requer compressão.Objectivo: Descrever estas duas modalidades terapêuticas – oxigenoterapia normobárica e oxigenoterapia hiperbárica.Fontes de dados: EBSCO, Pubmed, Elsevier, Science Direct, Springer link e Scielo. Métodos de Revisão: Artigos disponíveis desde 1980.Resultados: Foram incluídos artigos integrais de revisão e experimentais, que reportam a aplicação de oxigenoterapia normobárica e/ou hiperbárica em humanos e em modelo animal.Conclusões: As duas modalidades terapêuticas, oxigenoterapia normobárica e hiperbárica, têm normas específicas que devem ser minuciosamente seguidas de modo a ter um baixo risco de complicações.Oxygen is considered a drug that can be easily administered at normobaric conditions, but when is submitted to pressures higher than the atmospheric, it requires compression.Objective: To describe these two treatment modalities – normobaric oxygen therapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.Data base: EBSCO, Pubmed, Elsevier, Science Direct, Springer link and Scielo. Review Methods: Articles available since 1980.Results: were included review and experimental articles that explored the application of normobaric and hyperbaric oxygen therapy in human or in animals.Conclusions: The normobaric and hyperbaric oxygen therapy have specific rules that must be followed carefully in order to have a low risk of complications

Development of Exon Skipping Therapies for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: A Critical Review and a Perspective on the Outstanding Issues

Functional Genomics of Muscle, Nerve and Brain Disorder

Enzyme Immobilization and Co-Immobilization: Main Framework, Advances and Some Applications

Enzymes are outstanding (bio)catalysts, not solely on account of their ability to increase reaction rates by up to several orders of magnitude but also for the high degree of substrate specificity, regiospecificity and stereospecificity. The use and development of enzymes as robust biocatalysts is one of the main challenges in biotechnology. However, despite the high specificities and turnover of enzymes, there are also drawbacks. At the industrial level, these drawbacks are typically overcome by resorting to immobilized enzymes to enhance stability. Immobilization of biocatalysts allows their reuse, increases stability, facilitates process control, eases product recovery, and enhances product yield and quality. This is especially important for expensive enzymes, for those obtained in low fermentation yield and with relatively low activity. This review provides an integrated perspective on (multi)enzyme immobilization that abridges a critical evaluation of immobilization methods and carriers, biocatalyst metrics, impact of key carrier features on biocatalyst performance, trends towards miniaturization and detailed illustrative examples that are representative of biocatalytic applications promoting sustainability.</jats:p