1,030 research outputs found
Empowering Rural Citizen Journalism Via Web 2.0 Technologies
Once acquainted with the modern information and communication tools made available with the advent of the Internet, five Brazilian rural communities participating in a pilot project to develop a self-sustaining telecenter model, engaged in citizen journalism using inexpensive digital video cameras. Community members used Web 2.0 collaborative tools to post short videos on the telecenter portal. The 95 video blogs published between September 2006 and May 2008 recorded various aspects of community life,including religious celebrations,oral history arts and crafts traditions,folklore,and envirnmental concerns. This study evaluates the impact of video blogging in these communities
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
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 mĂ©dio 37,9 ± 1,72 kg, entre a 2ÂŞ e 4ÂŞ ordem de lactação, no terço mĂ©dio da lactação, distribuĂdas 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 nĂŁo aos fenos de leucena ou de estilosantes) e milho em grĂŁo, acrescidas ou nĂŁo do farelo de soja
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
Teor, conteúdo, eficiência de absorção, transporte e utilização de nitrogênio e fósforo pelo algodoeiro cultivado sob diferentes concentrações de BORO e ZINCO.
Palynological study of the endemic woody sonchus fron the flora of Madeira: a morphological and molecular approach
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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
Investigation of nitride layers deposited on annealed AISI H13 steel by die-sinking electrical discharge machining
Evaluation of the Health-Promoting Properties of Selected Fruits
In this study, the health-promoting benefits of different fruits grown in Madeira Island,
namely lemon (Citrus limon var. eureka), tangerine (Citrus reticulata var. setubalense), pitanga (Eugenia
uniflora var. red), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. gordal) and uva-da-serra, an endemic blueberry
(Vaccinium padifolium Sm.), were investigated. The phenolic composition (total phenolics and total
flavonoids content) and antioxidant capacity (assessed through ABTS and DPPH assays) were
measured revealing a high phenolic potential for all fruits, except tomato, while uva-da-serra is
particularly rich in flavonoids. In relation to the antioxidant capacity, the highest values were
obtained for pitanga and uva-da-serra extracts. The bioactive potential was also assessed through
the ability of the extracts to inhibit digestive enzymes linked to diabetes (α-amylase, α- and β glucosidases) and hypertension (angiotensin-converting enzyme, ACE). The results obtained point
to a very high bioactive potential with the selected samples exhibiting very important ACE anti enzymatic capacities. A statistical analysis of the obtained data reveals a very strong correlation
between ABTS and TPC, and a strong contribution of the fruit polyphenols for enzyme inhibition,
and thus, presenting high antihypertensive and antidiabetic capacities. Overall, the results obtained
clearly show a high bioactive potential of the selected fruits that should be further studied, in terms
of specific phenolic composition. Moreover, these results strongly support the valorisation of pitanga
seeds usually discarded as a waste, and uva-da-serra, an endemic and wild bush, as potential
bioresources of bioactive compounds with impact in human diet.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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