Urinary volatomic profile of traditional tobacco smokers and electronic cigarettes users as a strategy to unveil potential health issues

Many harmful and potentially harmful constituents are present in tobacco prod ucts. Cigarette smoke is known to cause different forms of cancer and trigger the development of chronic diseases. In the last decade, electronic cigarettes have emerged as a healthier alternative associated to less harmful effects in compar ison to traditional tobacco. However, the lack of standardization of electronic cigarettes products makes it difficult to establish and compare the real effects on health of products from different manufacturers. To better understand the impact of smoking and vaping, the volatomic composition of urine samples from traditional tobacco smokers and electronic cigarette users was established and compared with nonsmokers (control group), using headspace solid-phase microextraction combined with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. A total of 45 urinary volatile organic metabolites belonging to different chemical fami lies were identified in the urine of the studied groups. Benzene derivatives, ter penes, and aromatics were the chemical families that contributed the most to the urinary profile of smokers. The vapers urinary volatomic pattern was also domi nated by terpenes and aromatics, in addition to alcohols. The orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis of the data obtained indicated that the uri nary profile of vapers is more closely related to the control group, reinforcing the hypothesis of the lowest harmfulness of electronic cigarettes. Further studies recruiting a higher number of subjects are therefore necessary to consolidate the data obtained.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pinto Beans (\u3ci\u3ePhaseolus vulgaris\u3c/i\u3e L.) as a Functional Food: Implications on Human Health

Most foods are considered functional in terms of providing nutrients and energy to sustain daily life, but dietary systems that are capable of preventing or remediating a stressed or diseased state are classified as functional foods. Dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) contain high levels of chemically diverse components (phenols, resistance starch, vitamins, fructooligosaccharides) that have shown to protect against such conditions as oxidative stress, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and many types of cancer, thereby positioning this legume as an excellent functional food. Moreover, the United States has a rich dry bean history and is currently a top producer of dry beans in the world with pinto beans accounting for the vast majority. Despite these attributes, dry bean consumption in the US remains relatively low. Therefore, the objective of this manuscript is to review dry beans as an important US agricultural crop and as functional food for the present age with an emphasis on pinto beans

Efeito de doses crescentes de molibdênio, via foliar, sobre diferentes caracteres agronômicos em feijão-caupi.

O feijão-caupi é uma cultura de muita importância para a Região Nordeste do Brasil. É a principal fonte de proteína das populações mais carentes. No Estado do Piauí, quase sempre é cultivado com pouca ou nenhuma tecnologia, notadamente no que diz respeito à adubação, por ser um item que eleva custos. Nesta pesquisa, foi avaliada a resposta do feijão-caupi, cultivar BRS Guariba, sob sequeiro no período de março a junho de 2005, na estação experimental da Embrapa Meio-Norte, a cinco doses de molibdênio (0, 30, 60, 90, 120 g Mo/ha), aplicadas via foliar. O objetivo do trabalho foi verificar a resposta da cultura a este micronutriente, importante tanto nas reações enzimáticas da planta quanto na simbiose. Adotou-se o delineamento blocos casualizados, com cinco tratamentos e quatro repetições. As características avaliadas foram o stand, a produtividade de graõs, o peso de 100 sementes, número de grãos por planta, número de vagens por planta e comprimento de vagem. Não foram observadas respostas significativas às doses crescentes de molibdênio em nenhuma das características avaliadas

Heterocyclic acetals in Madeira wines

The maturation of Madeira wines usually involves exposure to relatively high temperatures which affect the aroma and flavour composition leading to the formation of the typical and characteristic bouquet of these wines. The formation of heterocyclic acetals (1,3-dioxanes and 1,3-dioxolanes) was investigated in order to determine levels and for possible use as indicators of wine age. The results show a linear correlation of the investigated acetals with wine age but suggest that the acetalization reaction is not particularly affected by the drastic oxidative conditions observed during maturation

Exploring a volatomic-based strategy for a fingerprinting approach of Vaccinium padifolium L. berries at different ripening stages

The effect of ripening on the evolution of the volatomic pattern from endemic Vaccinium padifolium L. (Uveira) berries was investigated using headspace-solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) followed by gas chromato graphy/quadrupole-mass spectrometry (GC–qMS) and multivariate statistical analysis (MVA). The most sig nificant HS-SPME parameters, namely fibre polymer, ionic strength and extraction time, were optimized in order to improve extraction efficiency. Under optimal experimental conditions (DVB/CAR/PDMS fibre coating, 40 °C, 30 min extraction time and 5 g of sample amount), a total of 72 volatiles of different functionalities were isolated and identified. Terpenes followed by higher alcohols and esters were the predominant classes in the ripening stages – green, break and ripe. Although significant differences in the volatomic profiles at the three stages were obtained, cis-β-ocimene (2.0–40.0%), trans-2-hexenol (2.4–19.4%), cis-3-hexenol (2.5.16.4%), β-myrcene (1.9–13.8%), 1-hexanol (1.7–13.6%), 2-hexenal (0.7–8.0%), 2-heptanone (0.7–7.7%), and linalool (1.9–6.1%) were the main volatile compounds identified. Higher alcohols, carboxylic acids and ketones gradually increased during ripening, whereas monoterpenes significantly decreased. These trends were dominated by the higher alcohols (1-hexanol, cis-3-hexenol, trans-2-hexenol) and monoterpenes (β-myrcene, cis-β-ocimene and trans-β ocimene). Partial least squares regression (PLSR) revealed that ethyl caprylate (1.000), trans-geraniol (0.995), ethyl isovalerate (−0.994) and benzyl carbinol (0.993) are the key variables that most contributed to the successful differentiation of Uveira berries according to ripening stage. To the best of our knowledge, no study has carried out on the volatomic composition of berries from endemic Uveira.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Tangerines cultivated on Madeira Island: a high throughput natural source of bioactive compounds

Tangerines (Citrus reticulata) are popular fruits worldwide, being rich in many bioactive metabolites. The setubalense variety cultivated on Madeira Island has an intense aroma easily distinguishable from other tangerines, being traditionally used to enrich several foods and beverages. Nonetheless, setubalense volatile composition has never been characterized, and we aimed to unveil the bioactive potential of peels and juices of setubalense tangerines and compare them with the murcott variety grown in Portugal mainland. Using headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography mass spectrometry (HS-SPME/GC-MS), we identified a total of 128 volatile organic metabolites (VOMs) in the juice and peels, with d-limonene, γ-terpinene, β-myrcene, α- and β-pinene, o-cymene, and terpinolene, the most dominant in both cultivars. In contrast, setubalense juices are richer in terpenes, many of them associated with health protection. Discriminant analysis revealed a pool of VOMs, including β-caryophyllene and E-ocimene, with bioactive properties able to differentiate among tangerines according to variety and sample type (peel vs. juice). This is the first report on the volatile composition of setubalense tangerines grown on Madeira Island revealing that its pungent aroma is constituted by secondary metabolites with specific aroma notes and health properties. This is strong evidence of the higher nutraceutical value of such fruit for the human diet.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dietas contendo fenos de leucena ou estilosantes para cabras Anglo-Nubianas de tipo misto em lactação.

Com o intuito de avaliar dietas para cabras Anglo-Nubianas do tipo misto em lactação, foram utilizadas oito cabras com peso médio 37,9 ± 1,72 kg, entre a 2ª e 4ª ordem de lactação, no terço médio da lactação, distribuídas em duplo quadrado latino 4 x 4. A ordenha foi realizada as 7 e 16 h. Os tratamentos consistiram de quatro dietas formuladas com diferentes volumosos (silagem de capim-elefante associada ou não aos fenos de leucena ou de estilosantes) e milho em grão, acrescidas ou não do farelo de soja

Embrapa melhora produtividade dos agricultores assentados.

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The potential of microextraction techniques for the analysis of bioactive compounds in food

For a long time, the importance of sample preparation and extraction in the analytical performance of the most diverse methodologies have been neglected. Cumbersome techniques, involving high sample and solvent volumes have been gradually miniaturized from solid-phase and liquid-liquid extractions formats and microextractions approaches are becoming the standard in different fields of research. In this context, this review is devoted to the analysis of bioactive compounds in foods using different microextraction approaches reported in the literature since 2015. But microextraction also represents an opportunity to mitigate the environmental impact of organic solvents usage, as well as lab equipment. For this reason, in the recent literature, phenolics and alkaloids extraction from fruits, medicinal herbs, juices, and coffee using different miniaturized formats of solid-phase extraction and liquid-liquid microextraction are the most popular applications. However, more ambitious analytical limits are continuously being reported and emergent sorbents based on carbon nanotubes and magnetic nanoparticles will certainly contribute to this trend. Additionally, ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents constitute already the most recent forefront of innovation, substituting organic solvents and further improving the current microextraction approaches.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio