The role of polymorphism at αs1-casein locus on milk fatty acid composition in Girgentana goat

Sixteen lactating Girgentana goats were used to evaluate the effect of polymorphism at αs1-casein locus on milk fatty acids composition. Animals, homogeneous for milk production, days of lactation and body weight, were divided into two groups: eight homozygous for strong allele (AA group) and eight homozygous for weak allele (FF group). The experimental diet, identical for the two groups, consisted of alfalfa hay (1.5 kg), whole barley, whole maize, pelleted sunflower and whole faba bean (0.5 kg each). In spite of identical selected diets, also in terms of fatty acids, milk fatty acid composition resulted different between the two groups. In particular, except for C8:0, short and medium chain fatty acids and odd chain fatty acids resulted in higher percentage in the AA group. Taking in account that the difference reported in our experiment concerns above all de novo synthesized fatty acids, our results seem to confirm the hypothesis that polymorphism at αs1-casein locus can influence milk fatty acid composition in goats

Propuesta de mejora de procesos en un almacén de productos congelados para el uso eficiente de espacios de almacenaje en una empresa retail

Demuestra que las mejoras de procesos y el diseño de nuevas ubicaciones aumentaran la eficiencia de ocupación del almacén congelados del centro logístico de la empresa en estudio. Se empleó la investigación aplicada con un diseño no experimental transversal, el tamaño de la población fue de 2006, el tamaño de la muestra fue de 42 la cual fue elegida por conveniencia, para obtener los datos se realizaron mediciones volumétricas y de tiempo, se realizó la observación de las ubicaciones del almacén, los procesos operativos y los tipos de productos que se almacenan, con esto se evidenció que se tenía una subutilización de algunas ubicaciones del almacén. Se propuso estandarizar los envases y diseñar nuevas ubicaciones, para probar la efectividad de las propuestas se realizaron proyecciones de almacenaje con los datos de los meses junio y julio evidenciando un aumento en la eficiencia de uso de ubicaciones de un 23.4%, una reducción de la ocupación del almacén de un 6%, un VAN de S/. 112597.62, una TIR de 129%, un indicador de Beneficio/Costo de 2.59 y un periodo de retorno de inversión 10 meses y 28 días, con esto se concluyó que la mejora en los procesos de almacenaje permite aumentar la eficiencia del almacén de congelados de la empresa en estudio

Measurements of Protein Content in Aqueous and Alkaline Extracts from Brewer's Spent Grains (bsg): Insights Into the Extraction Kinetics and Energy Consumption

The brewers’ spent grain (BSG) is a rich biomass matrix containing several compounds of interest that require urgent and suitable valorisation strategies, due to its high production volume in the brewing industry. Among the most widespread approaches is the preparation of extracts, targeting particular compounds or soluble and/or insoluble fractions, after operating pre-treatment processes. In the present study, extraction experiments are carried out with fresh untreated BSG, under very gentle extraction conditions (room temperature and moderate agitation, in the 0-5 h interval), and using different solvents: deionized water, 0.1 M NaOH and 0.5 M NaOH in a 1:5 m/v solid-to-solvent ratio. The extraction dynamics were followed by monitoring the dry matter (DM) content obtained in the extracts after a centrifugation step. The protein content is estimated in each case by means of two different methods: direct measurements of absorbance at 280 nm (using bovine serum albumin, BSA, and commercial whey protein isolate as standards) as well as using the Bradford colorimetric method and BSA standard; the consistency of these measurements is contrasted against the DM values. The apparent extraction kinetics were studied, using a saturation model; the coefficients and their range of uncertainty were obtained. Extraction efficiencies in the range 14.24%-53.60% gDM ext/gDM BSG are achieved, which correspond to extraction yields of 38.88-150.09 gDM ext/kg fresh BSG. In addition, the energy footprint of the process is estimated at laboratory scale

Repurposing Tempeh Fermentation: a Promising Protein Source Using Food Residues and Edible Filamentous Fungi

Brewers' spent grains (BSG) are the main by-product of the brewery industry, accounting for more than 80 % of total produced by-products. Although this matrix is primarily composed of hemicellulose, cellulose, protein and lignin, the current end-of-life scenario for BSG is as livestock feed. In the present study, a valorisation approach for BSG that uses an edible fungus (Rhizopus oligosporus) in solid state fermentations (SSF) is proposed. First, a microbiological characterization is performed, to shed light on the indigenous microorganisms that are present in the BSG matrix. Then, an appropriate technology approach is used for the SSF that can be conducted both at laboratory and household levels. In the SSF experiments, different temperature (30-35 °C), mass of BSG substrate, inoculum ratio (10 and 15 % v/m) and drilling patters for the aeration of the systems are investigated. The fermentation products were characterized by preparing homogenized samples; it was registered an increase in protein content (5-64%), a slight acidification (ΔpH=0.1-1.2), a decrease of °Brix and the loss of organic matter (and water). The formation of the tempeh cakes was variable, and the differences are analyzed in terms of the operational parameters of each studied batch

Effect of the αs1-casein genotype and its interaction with diet degradability on milk production, milk quality, metabolic and endocrinal response of Girgentana goats

We studied interaction between diet degradability and genotype at CSN1S1 locus in lactating goats.•We evaluated productive, metabolic and hormonal response of goats at different αs1-casein genotype.•Little effect of diet degradability and interaction with genotype on production and quality.•Higher milk yield, casein percentage and lower urea in goats with strong alleles at CSN1S1 locus.•Higher tyroid hormones in goats with strong alleles

Tumor size, stage and grade alterations of urinary peptidome in RCC

Background: Several promising biomarkers have been found for RCC, but none of them has been used in clinical practice for predicting tumour progression. The most widely used features for predicting tumour aggressiveness still remain the cancer stage, size and grade. Therefore, the aim of our study is to investigate the urinary peptidome to search and identify peptides whose concentrations in urine are linked to tumour growth measure and clinical data. Methods: A proteomic approach applied to ccRCC urinary peptidome (n = 117) based on prefractionation with activated magnetic beads followed by MALDI-TOF profiling was used. A systematic correlation study was performed on urinary peptide profiles obtained from MS analysis. Peptide identity was obtained by LC-ESI-MS/MS. Results: Fifteen, twenty-six and five peptides showed a statistically significant alteration of their urinary concentration according to tumour size, pT and grade, respectively. Furthermore, 15 and 9 signals were observed to have urinary levels statistically modified in patients at different pT or grade values, even at very early stages. Among them, C1RL, A1AGx, ZAG2G, PGBM, MMP23, GP162, ADA19, G3P, RSPH3, DREB, NOTC2 SAFB2 and CC168 were identified. Conclusions: We identified several peptides whose urinary abundance varied according to tumour size, stage and grade. Among them, several play a possible role in tumorigenesis, progression and aggressiveness. These results could be a useful starting point for future studies aimed at verifying their possible use in the managements of RCC patients

LAR SILVANA: SITE PARA ABRIGO ANIMAL

O trabalho se pauta no uso da computação como ferramenta de transformação positiva na comunidade. Omesmo surgiu a partir da observação das necessidades dos abrigos de animais em Blumenau e doprocesso atual de adoção, tendo em vista que muitos ainda lidam com problemas como a decentralizaçãodos canais de doação, adoção e comunicação, além da ausência de um espaço de listagem dos animaispresentes no abrigo. A partir disso, tomamos como objetivo desenvolver uma plataforma virtual quereúna essas informações a fim de promover e facilitar a adoção responsável de animais. A proposta doprojeto consiste na criação de um website abrangente para o abrigo animal. Esse site funcionará como umhub centralizado para informações sobre o abrigo e os animais disponíveis para adoção. Através do site,os usuários terão acesso a perfis detalhados de cada animal, incluindo fotos, idade e quaisquernecessidades especiais. Além disso, a plataforma permitirá que interessados em adotar preenchamformulários online de interesse e estabeleçam contato direto com o abrigo. Também será possível realizardoações online através do site para apoiar o cuidado e a manutenção dos animais abrigados. Os dadospara o site serão coletados em colaboração com o abrigo, garantindo a precisão e atualização contínua dasinformações. A criação da plataforma será conduzida utilizando linguagens de programação web e umsistema de gerenciamento de banco de dados. A abordagem de design será responsiva, garantindo que osite seja acessível de forma adequada tanto em dispositivos móveis quanto em computadores desktop. Emresumo, o projeto busca empregar a tecnologia de maneira inovadora para enfrentar os desafiosrelacionados à adoção responsável de animais. Ao estabelecer uma plataforma online centralizada, ainiciativa visa não somente simplificar o processo de adoção, mas também transformar positivamente amaneira como a comunidade interage com os abrigos de animais. Ao enfrentar questões como adescentralização da informação e a ausência de uma plataforma única para listar os animais disponíveis, oprojeto tem como objetivo melhorar a comunicação, promover o bem-estar dos animais e incentivarpráticas de adoção responsável

Reconhecimento de Dígitos em Imagens de Medidores de Energia no Contexto de um Aplicativo de Autoleitura / Digit Recognition in Energy Meter Images in the Context of a Self-Reading Application

Segundo a Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica (ANEEL), perdas não-técnicas são aquelas relacionadas a furtos de energia e impedimento de acesso às unidades consumidoras. Uma alternativa viável e de menor custo para a redução dessas falhas seria a leitura realizada pelo próprio consumidor, denominada de autoleitura.  Esse processo engloba o uso de plataformas digitais, por meio das quais o consumidor registraria e enviaria as informações de consumo. Uma etapa primordial desse processo é o reconhecimento automático de dígitos em medidores por meio de imagens. Este trabalho propõe um método computacional para a realização dessa tarefa. São utilizados os descritores de característica Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HoG) e Local Self-similarity (LSS) de forma combinada e o classificador Máquina de Vetores de Suporte (SVM). O método alcança acurácia de 97,90% e 96,72%, respectivamente, para o reconhecimento de dígitos em medidores digitais e analógicos.

MORFEO enters final design phase

MORFEO (Multi-conjugate adaptive Optics Relay For ELT Observations, formerly MAORY), the MCAO system for the ELT, will provide diffraction-limited optical quality to the large field camera MICADO. MORFEO has officially passed the Preliminary Design Review and it is entering the final design phase. We present the current status of the project, with a focus on the adaptive optics system aspects and expected milestones during the next project phase