C6-alcohols as varietal markers for assessment of wine origin

A significant part of the compounds present in wines having six carbon atoms, the C6-compounds, derive from grape polyunsaturated fatty acids (primarily originated from membrane lipids), namely linoleic and α-linolenic acids, through a cascade of enzymatic reactions. This biochemical pathway yield C6-aldehydes, which are subsequently reduced to C6-alcohols, which can, in turn, be esterified to produce esters. As the C6- compounds derive from varietal precursors, they could hypothetically contribute to judge wine origin and affiliation. In this way, two C6-alcohols, (E)-3-hexenol and (Z)-3-hexenol, have been referred as the most important because its ratio can act as an indicator of the variety of origin. This study presents the results, concerning the concentration of the three main C6-alcohols, 1-hexanol, (E)-3-hexenol and (Z)-3-hexenol, as well as ratios between them, for 43 monovarietal wines from Vinhos Verdes demarcated region, belonging to six white – Alvarinho (8), Arinto (1), Avesso (9), Azal (1), Loureiro (17) and Trajadura (4) – and three red – Amaral (1), Borra¸cal (1) and Vinh˜ao (1) – grape varieties. Wines were produced at experimental scale using slightly different winemaking practices and representing various terroirs and vintages, being analyzed after different conservation periods. The results showed that (E)-3-hexenol/(Z)-3-hexenol ratio clearly discriminates Loureiro wines from those of Alvarinho, Avesso and Trajadura. Moreover, 1-hexanol/(E)-3-hexenol and 1-hexanol/(Z)-3-hexenol ratios may also be able to discriminate Vinhos Verdes monovarietal wines, and can act on a second level differentiation. The remaining monovarietal wines produced results which may be observed as indicative, since only one sample of each was analysed.Comissão de Viticultura da Região dos Vinhos Verdes—EVAG, the Direcção Regional de Agricultura de Entre Douro e Minho—DVF, the Solar de Serrade and the Casa da Tapada Sociedade Agrícola Lda. PO AGRO

Oscillatory flow reactor: A solution for continuous bioprocessing

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Multimodal emotion evaluation: a physiological model for cost-effective emotion classification

Emotional responses are associated with distinct body alterations and are crucial to foster adaptive responses, well-being, and survival. Emotion identification may improve peoples' emotion regulation strategies and interaction with multiple life contexts. Several studies have investigated emotion classification systems, but most of them are based on the analysis of only one, a few, or isolated physiological signals. Understanding how informative the individual signals are and how their combination works would allow to develop more cost-effective, informative, and objective systems for emotion detection, processing, and interpretation. In the present work, electrocardiogram, electromyogram, and electrodermal activity were processed in order to find a physiological model of emotions. Both a unimodal and a multimodal approach were used to analyze what signal, or combination of signals, may better describe an emotional response, using a sample of 55 healthy subjects. The method was divided in: (1) signal preprocessing; (2) feature extraction; (3) classification using random forest and neural networks. Results suggest that the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is the most effective for emotion classification. Yet, the combination of all signals provides the best emotion identification performance, with all signals providing crucial information for the system. This physiological model of emotions has important research and clinical implications, by providing valuable information about the value and weight of physiological signals for emotional classification, which can critically drive effective evaluation, monitoring and intervention, regarding emotional processing and regulation, considering multiple contexts.publishe

Leccinum vulpinum Watling induces DNA damage, decreases cell proliferation and induces apoptosis on the human MCF-7 breast cancer cell line

The current work aimed to study the antitumour activity of a phenolic extract of the edible mushroom Leccinum vulpinum Watling, rich essentially in hydroxybenzoic acids. In a first approach, the mushroom extract was tested against cancer cell growth by using four human tumour cell lines. Given the positive results obtained in these initial screening experiments and the evidence of some studies for an inverse relationship between mushroom consumption and breast cancer risk, a detailed study of the bioactivity of the extract was carried out on MCF-7 cells. Once the selected cell line to precede the work was the breast adenocarcinoma cell line, the human breast non-malignant cell line MCF-10A was used as control. Overall, the extract decreased cellular proliferation and induced apoptosis. Furthermore, the results also suggest that the extract causes cellular DNA damage. Data obtained highlight the potential of mushrooms as a source of biologically active compounds, particularly with antitumour activity.IPATIMUP integrates the i3S Research Unit, which is partially supported by FCT, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. This work is funded by FEDER funds through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors-COMPETE and National Funds through the FCT-Foundation for Science and Technology, under the projects "PEst-C/SAU/LA0003/2013", NORTE-07-0162-FEDER-00018 - Contributos para o reforço da capacidade do IPATIMUP enquanto actor do sistema regional de inovação" and NORTE-07-0162-FEDER-000067 - Reforço e consolidação da capacidade infraestrutural do IPATIMUP para o sistema regional de inovação", both supported by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2 – O Novo Norte), through FEDER funds under the Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional (QREN). Authors also thank COMPETE/QREN/EU for the financial support to CIMO (strategic project PEst-OE/AGR/UI0690/2014) and L. Barros. The authors also thank QREN for the grant of F.S. Reis (NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000023) and FCT for the grant of D. Sousa (SFRH/BD/98054/2013), Dr. Maria João Sousa for helping in the harvesting of samples

Author Correction: Escherichia coli and Salmonella Enteritidis dual-species biofilms: interspecies interactions and antibiofilm efficacy of phages

Correction to: Scientifc Reports https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-54847-y, published online 03 December 2019(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Analysis and diagnosis of a hand tools production system

All rights reserved. Engineers must have a set of professional competences, which includes sound technical knowledge and the ability to solve engineering problems, integrated with a set of transversal competences, which must mobilized for managing projects, working in teams and communicate with the others effectively. The development of these sets of competences can be supported by projects in interaction with companies. This article reports the work developed by a group of students on the Integrated Project of the 4 th year of Industrial Engineering and Management of the University of Minho. The main objective of this work is to describe the type of project that a group of students can develop in interaction with an industrial company, and reflect about the main results that this project have for the development of their competences and for the company. This is a descriptive paper based upon on reports and the experience of the students. The target of the project was the diagnosis and analysis of a production system in an industrial environment. The company chosen to develop this project is a multinational and pioneer company on the manufacturing of hand tools. The content of this article will mainly cover the internal supplier of materials (Mizusumashi), namely the standardization of the Mizusumashi route and the improvement of the components` warehouse (materials organization and visual management). The suggested modifications can result in a 30% decrease of the time wasted in the warehouse, a 20% decrease of the time it takes the Mizusumashi to complete a full route, reaching the 45 minutes the company requested. The students were able to fulfil the project milestones and integrate the company culture in their weekly visits, during the 15 weeks of the project. Furthermore, the company showed to be very satisfied with their behaviour and performance.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Can Suillus granulatus (L.) Roussel be classified as a functional food?

The present work outlines a detailed chemical characterization of Suillus granulatus species, besides the antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of their methanolic extracts. The study was carried out with samples drawn from Portugal and Serbia in order to prove that though mushrooms are strongly influenced by the environment in which they develop, they have a specific chemical profile that can be typical of their genus/species. The studied species proved to be healthy foods, low in fat and rich in protein and carbohydrates, with mannitol and trehalose being the main free sugars detected. They also proved to be a source of organic and phenolic acids, as well as mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids and tocopherols. The Serbian samples revealed higher antioxidant and antimicrobial potential. Accordingly, we find that the S. granulatus species is likely to be considered a functional food, since it is a source of nutraceutical and biologically active compounds.The authors are grateful to Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and COMPETE/QREN/EU for the financial support of the CIMO strategic project PEst-OE/AGR/UI0690/2011 and of the contract of L. Barros. The authors also thank to the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development for financial support (grant number 173032). The authors thank Dr. Maria João Sousa for the harvest of the Portuguese samples

A case study on surplus mushrooms production: extraction and recovery of vitamin D

The presented case study illustrates the possibility of adding value to the biological surplus remaining from the mushroom cultivation industry. In essence, the unused mushroom parts were submitted to UV-C irradiation, with the purpose of increasing the vitamin D2 content and validat-ing its extraction. Vitamin D2 concentration in three different mushroom species (Agaricus bisporus, A. bisporus Portobello, and Pleurotus ostreatus) was obtained by high-performance liquid chromatogra-phy (HPLC), by means of an ultraviolet (UV) detector. The method was validated using an A. bisporus Portobello sample, and its reproducibility and accuracy were confirmed. Independently of the UV-C irradiation dose, the effect on vitamin D2 concentration was significant, allowing it to increase from less than 4 µg/g dry weight (dw) to more than 100 µg/g dw in all mushroom species. These results are good indicators of the feasibility of industrial surplus mushrooms as sustainable vitamin D2 food sources, besides contributing to strengthen the circularity principals associated to the mushroom production chain.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Lisboa, Portugal) for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020), and R.V.C.C.’s PhD grant (SFRH/BD/137436/2018). The authors are also grateful to “Ponto Agricola” for providing the mushroom materials. A.F., J.C.M.B. and L.B. also thank the national funding by FCT, P.I. through the institutional scientific employment program contract. This work is funded by the ERDF through the Regional Operational Program North 2020, within the scope of Project Mobilizador Norte-01-0247-FEDER-024479: ValorNatural®.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effect of plant biostimulants on nutritional and chemical profiles of almond and hazelnut

The increasing interest in natural foods with functional effects demands progressively higher production levels. Nonetheless, there is an orientation towards practicing more sustainable agriculture, free from environmentally harmful pesticides and fertilizers. Plant biostimulants, a class of bio-based agriculture products designed to improve crop development, represent a feasible alternative to chemical fertilizers, or, at least, an effective way of reducing the employed quantities. Herein, different types of plant biostimulants compatible with organic farming (Phytoalgae, Foliar B, Amino Acids, Soil B, Fitoalgas Green® and Sprint Plus®) were tested in two of the most important nut products worldwide: almonds and hazelnuts, which were tested for nutritional parameters, fatty acids profiles and tocopherols contents. Overall, the most notorious effects in almond samples were obtained with phytoalgae (seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum extracts), particularly reflected in the upraising around 10% of -tocopherol and -tocopherol contents. Likewise, hazelnuts treated with NPK + phytoalgae were also characterized by an increase of almost 18% in tocopherols levels, while treatment with NPK alone induced 15.1% higher percentage of linoleic acid.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support through national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020); to the national funding by FCT, P.I., through the institutional scientific employment program-contract for L. Barros and individual scientific employment program-contract (CEECIND/04479/2017). Further acknowledgments are due to the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Regional Operational Program North 2020, within the scope of Project Mobilizador Norte-01-0247- FEDER-024479: ValorNatural®, whom the author F.S. Reis thanks for her contract. This work was also funded by FEDER-Interreg España-Portugal programme through the project TRANSCo- LAB 0612_TRANS_CO_LAB_2_P, and integrated in the activities of the Operational Group EGIS– Estratégias de Gestão Integrada do Solo e da Água em Espécies Produtoras de Frutos Secos, funded by PT2020 and EAFRD (European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio