Natural Probiotics and Nanomaterials: A New Functional Food

Natural probiotics are functional foods with several biological properties and nutritional value inherent to their chemical composition and can play a potentially beneficial role in reducing the risk of chronic degenerative diseases. In order to improve the stability of these compounds, increase the encapsulating power, delay oxidation, increase their effectiveness, control their release and improve the bioavailability of their combination with nanomaterials is a potential tool in the food area enabling the development of new products with functional and nutraceutical characteristics. In addition, the study of nanomaterials in natural probiotics is rarely reported in the literature, being an area of paramount importance in the development of new functional foods. Therefore, in this chapter, a review of nanomaterials’ use in natural probiotics will be addressed to specify their advantages and methodologies of preparation and characterization

Produtividade e vigor do maracujazeiro-amarelo plantado em covas e plantio direto sob manejo orgânico.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o vigor e a produtividade do maracujazeiro-amarelo plantado em diferentes tamanhos de cova e plantio direto sob manejo orgânico. O experimento foi conduzido de 2005 a 2007, no Setor de Agricultura Ecológica da Universidade Federal do Acre, em delineamento de blocos casualizados, constituídos de cinco tratamentos, quatro repetições e quatro plantas por parcela. Foram avaliados cinco tipos de preparo do solo: T1 cova do tamanho do torrão (0,19 x 0,063m) com adubação em cobertura; T2 cova de 0,30 x 0,30 x 0,30m com adubação de plantio na cova; T3 cova de 0,30 x 0,30 x 0,30m com adubação de plantio em cobertura; T4 cova de 0,50 x 0,50 x 0,50m com adubação de plantio na cova; e T5 cova de 0,50 x 0,50 x 0,50m com adubação de plantio em cobertura. O tamanho da cova e o plantio direto não influenciaram o vigor da planta e a biomassa de raízes. O número de frutos por planta e a produtividade, na segunda e na somatória das duas safras, foram maiores com plantio direto e com covas cúbicas de 0,30m. Após dois anos de cultivo, a densidade do solo foi maior na camada de 0-5cm de profundidade num raio de 20cm da planta para o plantio em covas de 0,50m com adubação na cova e menor para o plantio direto, não havendo diferença entre os demais tratamentos. O plantio direto ou o plantio em covas pequenas com dimensões de 0,30 x 0,30 x 0,30m proporcionou maior produtividade de maracujá que o plantio em covas maiores, mesmo não influenciando o vigor das plantas e a massa seca de raízes

Anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2018

Anemia is a globally widespread condition in women and is associated with reduced economic productivity and increased mortality worldwide. Here we map annual 2000–2018 geospatial estimates of anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age (15–49 years) across 82 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), stratify anemia by severity and aggregate results to policy-relevant administrative and national levels. Additionally, we provide subnational disparity analyses to provide a comprehensive overview of anemia prevalence inequalities within these countries and predict progress toward the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target (WHO GNT) to reduce anemia by half by 2030. Our results demonstrate widespread moderate improvements in overall anemia prevalence but identify only three LMICs with a high probability of achieving the WHO GNT by 2030 at a national scale, and no LMIC is expected to achieve the target in all their subnational administrative units. Our maps show where large within-country disparities occur, as well as areas likely to fall short of the WHO GNT, offering precision public health tools so that adequate resource allocation and subsequent interventions can be targeted to the most vulnerable populations.Peer reviewe

Global, regional, and national burden of stroke and its risk factors, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background Regularly updated data on stroke and its pathological types, including data on their incidence, prevalence, mortality, disability, risk factors, and epidemiological trends, are important for evidence-based stroke care planning and resource allocation. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) aims to provide a standardised and comprehensive measurement of these metrics at global, regional, and national levels. Methods We applied GBD 2019 analytical tools to calculate stroke incidence, prevalence, mortality, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and the population attributable fraction (PAF) of DALYs (with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals [UIs]) associated with 19 risk factors, for 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2019. These estimates were provided for ischaemic stroke, intracerebral haemorrhage, subarachnoid haemorrhage, and all strokes combined, and stratified by sex, age group, and World Bank country income level. Findings In 2019, there were 12·2 million (95% UI 11·0–13·6) incident cases of stroke, 101 million (93·2–111) prevalent cases of stroke, 143 million (133–153) DALYs due to stroke, and 6·55 million (6·00–7·02) deaths from stroke. Globally, stroke remained the second-leading cause of death (11·6% [10·8–12·2] of total deaths) and the third-leading cause of death and disability combined (5·7% [5·1–6·2] of total DALYs) in 2019. From 1990 to 2019, the absolute number of incident strokes increased by 70·0% (67·0–73·0), prevalent strokes increased by 85·0% (83·0–88·0), deaths from stroke increased by 43·0% (31·0–55·0), and DALYs due to stroke increased by 32·0% (22·0–42·0). During the same period, age-standardised rates of stroke incidence decreased by 17·0% (15·0–18·0), mortality decreased by 36·0% (31·0–42·0), prevalence decreased by 6·0% (5·0–7·0), and DALYs decreased by 36·0% (31·0–42·0). However, among people younger than 70 years, prevalence rates increased by 22·0% (21·0–24·0) and incidence rates increased by 15·0% (12·0–18·0). In 2019, the age-standardised stroke-related mortality rate was 3·6 (3·5–3·8) times higher in the World Bank low-income group than in the World Bank high-income group, and the age-standardised stroke-related DALY rate was 3·7 (3·5–3·9) times higher in the low-income group than the high-income group. Ischaemic stroke constituted 62·4% of all incident strokes in 2019 (7·63 million [6·57–8·96]), while intracerebral haemorrhage constituted 27·9% (3·41 million [2·97–3·91]) and subarachnoid haemorrhage constituted 9·7% (1·18 million [1·01–1·39]). In 2019, the five leading risk factors for stroke were high systolic blood pressure (contributing to 79·6 million [67·7–90·8] DALYs or 55·5% [48·2–62·0] of total stroke DALYs), high body-mass index (34·9 million [22·3–48·6] DALYs or 24·3% [15·7–33·2]), high fasting plasma glucose (28·9 million [19·8–41·5] DALYs or 20·2% [13·8–29·1]), ambient particulate matter pollution (28·7 million [23·4–33·4] DALYs or 20·1% [16·6–23·0]), and smoking (25·3 million [22·6–28·2] DALYs or 17·6% [16·4–19·0]). Interpretation The annual number of strokes and deaths due to stroke increased substantially from 1990 to 2019, despite substantial reductions in age-standardised rates, particularly among people older than 70 years. The highest age-standardised stroke-related mortality and DALY rates were in the World Bank low-income group. The fastest-growing risk factor for stroke between 1990 and 2019 was high body-mass index. Without urgent implementation of effective primary prevention strategies, the stroke burden will probably continue to grow across the world, particularly in low-income countries.publishedVersio