Rastreabilidade de azeites virgens provenientes das cultivares cordovil de Serpa e galega vulgar na região do Alentejo

Tese de doutoramento, Ciências Biotecnológicas, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2015O aumento da procura de azeites virgem extra de elevada qualidade levou ao surgimento no mercado de produtos com características específicas, com origem em determinadas regiões ou que incluem na sua composição azeitonas de uma ou várias cultivares. Além disso o recente Regulamento de Execução (EU) nº 29/2012 da Comissão, relativo às normas de comercialização do azeite, afirma a necessidade de estabelecer, a nível da União Europeia, um regime obrigatório de designação de origem, limitado ao azeite virgem extra e azeite virgem, que obedeça a condições precisas. O principal objetivo deste trabalho, dividido em dois ensaios, é contribuir para a rastreabilidade dos azeites virgens provenientes de cultivares tradicionais do Alentejo, analisando a influência da cultivar, da maturação, da região e do modo de produção nas características finais dos azeites obtidos. Conseguiu-se separar os azeites extraídos da cultivar Galega vulgar de outras cultivares e por região de proveniência com base no perfil de ácidos gordos, confirmando-se ser a origem geográfica o fator com mais peso na diferenciação da composição em ácidos gordos de um azeite. Em relação ao modo de produção, verificou-se que este fator tem poder discriminativo em azeites elementares provenientes da mesma cultivar e região. O azeite biológico proveniente da cultivar Cordovil de Serpa apresentou um índice global de qualidade inferior ao azeite convencional mas um teor de compostos fenólicos superior. Verificou-se haver uma relação entre a composição mineral do solo e a composição mineral e química dos azeites virgens

Plan campañas de comunicación interna y externa ENAP Ecuador

Communication is the basis of social construction, of the evolution of human beings and of interaction in everyday life and therefore is the basis of an organization. Organizational communication is the instrument that helps manage the exchange of information in an appropriate manner with channels and strategic tools to meet objectives in a company...La comunicación es la base de la construcción social, de la evolución del ser humano y de la interacción en la vida cotidiana, por tanto, es la base de una organización. La comunicación organizacional es el instrumento que ayuda a gestionar el intercambio de información de manera adecuada con canales y herramientas estratégicas para cumplir objetivos en una empresa..

Educação ambiental no IPBeja - exemplos de eco-atividades desenvolvidas com os estudantes

O programa Eco-escolas tem vindo a ser reconhecido pelo potencial que as eco-escolas representam no caminho para uma educação ambiental orientada para a sustentabilidade. Temos verificado que a adesão tem vindo a aumentar, bem como o número de atividades incluídas no programa. Espera-se que, iniciando-se na sala de aula, as actividades se expandam a toda a escola e possam vir a promover a mudança na comunidade em geral. Na Escola Superior Agrária do Instituto Politécnico de Beja (ESA/IPBEJA) as atividades têm sido desenvolvidas nos diferentes eixos que o programa contempla, sendo a conservação da Biodiversidade e o esforço para a Diminuição da utilização dos plásticos dois temas desenvolvidos no âmbito de duas unidades curriculares das formações em Agronomia e em Tecnologia dos alimentos. Relativamente à Biodiversidade, vamos dar continuidade a alguns trabalhos que temos vindo a desenvolver em sala de aula, acreditando ser possível divulgar e envolver toda a comunidade no sentido de (i) avaliar o estado dos espaços verdes do Campus do IPBeja, com base em bioindicadores e (ii) monitorizar a fauna auxiliar das culturas do Centro Hortofrutícola. Pretende-se promover a conservação dessas espécies e divulgar todo o seu contributo para a limitação natural das pragas existentes nestas culturas. Com relação à Diminuição da utilização dos plásticos no âmbito da Tecnologia dos alimentos, procura-se o desenvolvimento de trabalhos pelos alunos que visam a criação de novas embalagens biodegradáveis (bioplásticos e comestíveis) que substituam as plásticas existentes no mercado. Para além do trabalho dos conteúdos das Unidades Curriculares, estas atividades permitem sensibilizar para as problemáticas ambientais que integram o programa Eco-escolas beneficiando a comunidade local e a sociedade em geral. Assim, elas são antes de mais, atividades de Educação Ambiental

Capacity program of teachers in professional pedagogy for student-centred teaching and learning and strengthening links between polytechnic higher education and companies: Working group report

This document reports the objectives, contents, activities, methods, and recommendations related to Task 3.4 of the InovEAP project, entitled "Capacity Program for Teachers in Professional Pedagogy for Student-Centred Teaching and Learning and Strengthening Links Between Polytechnic Higher Education and Project Companies". As later detailed, the presented activities occurred between March 2022 and September 2023. The report briefly contextualises this project task and its objectives, reflecting on the training needs of Polytechnic University of Beja (IPBeja) teachers concerning skills in the scope of active and innovative methodologies. JAMK, the University of Applied Sciences, in Jyväskylä, Finland, was the reference institution that provided the IPBeja teachers participating in this project task with training in the areas above. This report gives an account of the teachers' journey regarding contents and methods studied and applied in the capacity program of the project, along with three workshops on IPBeja premises and the observed practices at the JAMK. The report also emphasises the significant impact of the concrete recommendations for IPBeja as a higher education institution and the potential to improve relationships with local, national, and international stakeholders. Finally, the report includes a program for disseminating these practices and proposals in IPBeja as an additional step to involve all IPBeja communities in these dynamics. As the first edition was already conducted, a brief report is also presented

Surface Generated Acoustic Wave Biosensors for the Detection of Pathogens: A Review

This review presents a deep insight into the Surface Generated Acoustic Wave (SGAW) technology for biosensing applications, based on more than 40 years of technological and scientific developments. In the last 20 years, SGAWs have been attracting the attention of the biochemical scientific community, due to the fact that some of these devices - Shear Horizontal Surface Acoustic Wave (SH-SAW), Surface Transverse Wave (STW), Love Wave (LW), Flexural Plate Wave (FPW), Shear Horizontal Acoustic Plate Mode (SH-APM) and Layered Guided Acoustic Plate Mode (LG-APM) - have demonstrated a high sensitivity in the detection of biorelevant molecules in liquid media. In addition, complementary efforts to improve the sensing films have been done during these years. All these developments have been made with the aim of achieving, in a future, a highly sensitive, low cost, small size, multi-channel, portable, reliable and commercially established SGAW biosensor. A setup with these features could significantly contribute to future developments in the health, food and environmental industries. The second purpose of this work is to describe the state-of-the-art of SGAW biosensors for the detection of pathogens, being this topic an issue of extremely importance for the human health. Finally, the review discuses the commercial availability, trends and future challenges of the SGAW biosensors for such applications

Identification of novel risk loci, causal insights, and heritable risk for Parkinson's disease: a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies

Background Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in Parkinson's disease have increased the scope of biological knowledge about the disease over the past decade. We aimed to use the largest aggregate of GWAS data to identify novel risk loci and gain further insight into the causes of Parkinson's disease. Methods We did a meta-analysis of 17 datasets from Parkinson's disease GWAS available from European ancestry samples to nominate novel loci for disease risk. These datasets incorporated all available data. We then used these data to estimate heritable risk and develop predictive models of this heritability. We also used large gene expression and methylation resources to examine possible functional consequences as well as tissue, cell type, and biological pathway enrichments for the identified risk factors. Additionally, we examined shared genetic risk between Parkinson's disease and other phenotypes of interest via genetic correlations followed by Mendelian randomisation. Findings Between Oct 1, 2017, and Aug 9, 2018, we analysed 7·8 million single nucleotide polymorphisms in 37 688 cases, 18 618 UK Biobank proxy-cases (ie, individuals who do not have Parkinson's disease but have a first degree relative that does), and 1·4 million controls. We identified 90 independent genome-wide significant risk signals across 78 genomic regions, including 38 novel independent risk signals in 37 loci. These 90 variants explained 16–36% of the heritable risk of Parkinson's disease depending on prevalence. Integrating methylation and expression data within a Mendelian randomisation framework identified putatively associated genes at 70 risk signals underlying GWAS loci for follow-up functional studies. Tissue-specific expression enrichment analyses suggested Parkinson's disease loci were heavily brain-enriched, with specific neuronal cell types being implicated from single cell data. We found significant genetic correlations with brain volumes (false discovery rate-adjusted p=0·0035 for intracranial volume, p=0·024 for putamen volume), smoking status (p=0·024), and educational attainment (p=0·038). Mendelian randomisation between cognitive performance and Parkinson's disease risk showed a robust association (p=8·00 × 10−7). Interpretation These data provide the most comprehensive survey of genetic risk within Parkinson's disease to date, to the best of our knowledge, by revealing many additional Parkinson's disease risk loci, providing a biological context for these risk factors, and showing that a considerable genetic component of this disease remains unidentified. These associations derived from European ancestry datasets will need to be followed-up with more diverse data. Funding The National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health (USA), The Michael J Fox Foundation, and The Parkinson's Foundation (see appendix for full list of funding sources)

Marejadas rurales y luchas por la vida, vol. iv: permanencias, resistencias y luchas por la vida

Volumen 4. Permanencias, resistencias y luchas por la vida, coordinado por: Elisabeth A. Mager Hois, Miguel Ángel Paz Frayre y Carla Zamora Lomelí, integra 15 capítulos y está dividido en tres secciones, la primera denominada Permanencia, contiene 5 capítulos que intentan establecer como eje común la lucha continua en las comunidades campesinas para continuar con la vida rural. La segunda, Identidad y resistencia, está compuesta por 4 capítulos que reflexionan sobre varios procesos de resistencia de la vida rural ante los cambios globales e internos en su propio proceso de vida, otros trabajos intentan encontrar aquellos elementos que generan y mantienen alguna forma de identidad, y la tercera sección, Lucha por la vida, contiene 6 trabajos que demuestran todas aquellas posibilidades que existen en el medio rural para sostenerse y mantenerse, generando diferentes formas y estrategias que los une en la continua lucha por vivir con pocas pretensiones y con difíciles perspectivas pero siempre encontrando alternativas.ASOCIACIÓN MEXICANA DE ESTUDIOS RURALES, INSTITUTO DE CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y RURALES (ICAR), UNIVERSIDAD DE GUADALAJARA, FACULTAD DE ESTUDIOS SUPERIORES ACATLÁN-UNAM, ECOSUR, CUCOSTA SUR GRANA, EL COLEGIO DE MICHOACÁN A.C., UNIVERSIDAD MICHOACANA DE SAN NICOLAS HIDALG

Identification of candidate Parkinson disease genes by integrating genome-wide association study, expression, and epigenetic data sets

Importance Substantial genome-wide association study (GWAS) work in Parkinson disease (PD) has led to the discovery of an increasing number of loci shown reliably to be associated with increased risk of disease. Improved understanding of the underlying genes and mechanisms at these loci will be key to understanding the pathogenesis of PD. Objective To investigate what genes and genomic processes underlie the risk of sporadic PD. Design and Setting This genetic association study used the bioinformatic tools Coloc and transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) to integrate PD case-control GWAS data published in 2017 with expression data (from Braineac, the Genotype-Tissue Expression [GTEx], and CommonMind) and methylation data (derived from UK Parkinson brain samples) to uncover putative gene expression and splicing mechanisms associated with PD GWAS signals. Candidate genes were further characterized using cell-type specificity, weighted gene coexpression networks, and weighted protein-protein interaction networks. Main Outcomes and Measures It was hypothesized a priori that some genes underlying PD loci would alter PD risk through changes to expression, splicing, or methylation. Candidate genes are presented whose change in expression, splicing, or methylation are associated with risk of PD as well as the functional pathways and cell types in which these genes have an important role. Results Gene-level analysis of expression revealed 5 genes (WDR6 [OMIM 606031], CD38 [OMIM 107270], GPNMB [OMIM 604368], RAB29 [OMIM 603949], and TMEM163 [OMIM 618978]) that replicated using both Coloc and TWAS analyses in both the GTEx and Braineac expression data sets. A further 6 genes (ZRANB3 [OMIM 615655], PCGF3 [OMIM 617543], NEK1 [OMIM 604588], NUPL2 [NCBI 11097], GALC [OMIM 606890], and CTSB [OMIM 116810]) showed evidence of disease-associated splicing effects. Cell-type specificity analysis revealed that gene expression was overall more prevalent in glial cell types compared with neurons. The weighted gene coexpression performed on the GTEx data set showed that NUPL2 is a key gene in 3 modules implicated in catabolic processes associated with protein ubiquitination and in the ubiquitin-dependent protein catabolic process in the nucleus accumbens, caudate, and putamen. TMEM163 and ZRANB3 were both important in modules in the frontal cortex and caudate, respectively, indicating regulation of signaling and cell communication. Protein interactor analysis and simulations using random networks demonstrated that the candidate genes interact significantly more with known mendelian PD and parkinsonism proteins than would be expected by chance. Conclusions and Relevance Together, these results suggest that several candidate genes and pathways are associated with the findings observed in PD GWAS studies