Quality and Safety of Agri-food Products and Consumers Behavior

No passado dia 16 de Outubro de 2014 o ICAAM comemorou o Dia Mundial da Alimentação, que para este ano adotou o lema Agricultura Familiar: Alimentar o mundo, cuidar do Planeta promovendo uma pequena sessão subordinada ao tema "Qualidade e Segurança dos Produtos Agro-alimentares e Comportamento dos Consumidores". Esta celebração contou com a participação dos investigadores Fernando Capela e Silva, Gottlieb Basch, Elsa Lamy, Lénia Rodrigues, Marco Oewe e Nuno Martins, que falaram sobre as atividades do ICAAM sobre o tema, realçando a importância deste dia para a sensibilização da opinião pública sobre a importância da nutrição e de uma alimentação saudável

Assessing Predictive Factors of COVID-19 Outcomes: A Retrospective Cohort Study in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo (Brazil)

Background and Objectives: The aim of this retrospective cohort study was to search individual, sociodemographic and environmental predictors of COVID-19 outcomes.Materials and Methods: A convenience sample of 1036 COVID-19 confirmed patients (3–99 years, mean 59 years; 482 females) who sought treatment at the emergency units of the public health system of Diadema (Brazil; March–October 2020) was included. Primary data were collected from medical records: sex, age, occupation/education, onset of symptoms, presence of chronic diseases/treatment and outcome (death and non-death). Secondary socioeconomic and environmental data were provided by the Department of Health. Results: The mean time spent between COVID-19 symptom onset and admission to the health system was 7.4 days. Principal component analysis summarized secondary sociodemographic data, and a Poisson regression model showed that the time between symptom onset and health system admission was higher for younger people and those from the least advantaged regions (availability of electricity, a sewage network, a water supply and garbage collection). A multiple logistic regression model showed an association of age (OR = 1.08; 1.05–1.1), diabetes (OR = 1.9; 1.1–3.4) and obesity (OR = 2.9; 1.1–7.6) with death outcome, while hypertension and sex showed no significant association. Conclusion: The identification of vulnerable groups may help the development of health strategies for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19

The Influence of oral environment on diet choices in goats: a focus on saliva protein composition

There is ample evidence that ruminants are capable of making choices between different foods that provide a more balanced diet that would be obtained by eating at random. In the particular case of goats, they occupy a diversity of habitats and different breeds present variability of feeding behaviors resultant from adaptations to the existent plant species. In their food search activity, individuals are faced with variable amounts of plant secondary metabolites (PSMs), which may present some toxic and anti-nutritional effects depending on the individual’s ability to deal with it. The oral cavity has a key role in the recognition and decision processes of ingestion or rejection. In this chapter we will first consider how goats identify foods and behave according to the food items available. Focus will be done on the importance of taste sense in this process and the information available on the main structures involved in taste detection and perception in goats will be reviewed. In a second section we will focus on the characteristics of goat’s saliva, particularly in terms of their protein composition, presenting results obtained by our research team

Editorial: Models for Oral Biology Research.

Oral biology is a scientific field that involves several disciplines, such as anatomy, cellular and molecular biology, genetics, microbiology, immunology, biochemistry, pharmacology, physiology and pathology. A deeper understanding of the various tissues, fluids, organs and functions of the oral cavity and craniofacial structures requires the development of new strategies, approaches and study models to prevent oral diseases, to better understand them or even propose new therapies. The advance in the knowledge of oral biology is largely due to the results of research carried out using different models in vitro, in vivo and in silico, among others, all of them of importance for future translational and clinical applicability. In this Special Issue of Biomedicines, we have compiled 15 articles covering important fields of Oral Biology, namely Cariology, Periodontics, Oral Pathology, Pharmacology and Dental Materials, as commented below in this order

Effect of dithiocarbamate thiram on Wistar rat growth plate and articular cartilage

Avaliou-se o efeito do tirame, ditiocarbamato largamente utilizado na agricultura como antifúngico e repelente de roedores, na ossificação endocondral de mamíferos, usando, como modelo, ratos Wistar. Não foram observadas lesões na cartilagem articular, nem nas placas de crescimento, o que pode ser atribuído à dose utilizada e à duração do ensaio. A diminuição da altura da placa de crescimento nos animais aos quais foi administrado o tirame parece traduzir o atraso verificado no crescimento em geral, e não um efeito específico na cartilagem, uma vez que as diferentes zonas da placa epifisária mantiveram as proporções dos animais do grupo-controle. Embora não tenham sido verificados, no presente trabalho, os efeitos registrados para outras espécies nos tecidos cartilaginosos, sugere-se a avaliação dos efeitos crónicos do tirame no crescimento e no desenvolvimento dos ossos longos em mamíferos

Morphological alterations in salivary glands of mice (Mus musculus) submitted to tannin enriched diets: comparison with sialotrophic effects of sympathetic agonists stimulation.

Estudaram-se as alterações morfológicas das glândulas salivares, induzidas por taninos, em camundongos. Os animais foram distribuídos em grupos e tratados com três diferentes tipos estruturais de taninos (ácido tânico, chestnut e quebracho – adicionados à ração) ou isoproterenol via intraperitoneal, durante 10 dias. Os ácinos das glândulas parótida e submandibulares aumentaram significativamente de tamanho, sendo o incremento maior para a parótida que para as submandibulares, e maior com o quebracho comparado com o provocado pelos outros taninos. Os ácinos das glândulas sublinguais também aumentaram após o consumo de taninos em relação aos ácinos dos animais tratados com isoproterenol. Os resultados apresentam evidências de que os efeitos produzidos pelos taninos dependem de sua estrutura

Analysis of pancreas histological images for glucose intolerance identificationusing ImageJ-preliminary results

The observation in microscopy of histological sections allows us to evaluate structural differences, in pancreatic cells, between rats with normal glucose tolerance and with glucose intolerance (pre-diabetic) situation. Nevertheless, this pre-diabetic condition implies subtle changes in islets of Langerhans structure. This and the normal variability among sampled cells makes difficult the task of identifying glucose intolerance (pre-diabetic situation) with a low level of error. This paper presents preliminary results in the processing of histological pancreas images with the goal of identifying pre-diabetic situation in Wistar rats. The immediate goal of this work is to evaluate the performance of a classifier based in a morphometric measurement of the histological images and to assess the potential for image based automatic processing and classification. A set of 90 images, were used (58 from rats with normal glucose tolerance, and 32 from pre-diabetic ones). These images were segmented manually using ImageJ. This segmentation and area measurements have been speedup by the application of ImageJ macros which were defined for this purpose. The ratio, between the area of -cells and the islets of Langerhans , was used has the indicator of the prediabetic situation. Considering this feature, a receiver operating characteristic analysis has been performed. True positive rate, vs. false positive rate shows the predicted performance of a binary classifier as its discrimination threshold is varied

Efeitos da semicarbazida no esqueleto de ratos Wistar em crescimento.

The effects of semicarbazide hydrochloride on skeletal tissues were evaluated using Wistar rats. In the animals submitted to the administration of semicarbazide, radiological examination showed bone and articular alterations with growth plates enlargement. Histological exams showed irregular patterns and proliferation of chondrocytes and excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix. Immunohistochemical exams showed PCNA positive reaction in pre- and hypertrofic chondrocytes. These results confirm that semicarbazide induces important changes in skeletal tissues and that has potential utility in experimental osteolathryrism

Kidney histological alterations and metallothionein and heat shock protein expression in Wistar rats after fungicide thiram exposure

The histological alterations and the expression of metallothionein (MTs) and heat shock protein (Hsp70) in the kidney of Wistar rats after thiram fungicide exposure were evaluated. Animals were distributed into three groups: standard diet group, standard diet + corn oil group and thiram group. Significant differences were found (P<0,05) in the evolution of body weight between rats in the thiram group and those in the control and corn oil groups, and no histological lesions were evident in the animals’ kidneys. Differences were found among animals in the group exposed to thiram and the control and oil groups regarding histomorphometric characteristics of the renal corpuscle – except for the proportion in the area of Bowman’s capsule: glomerulus area – and regarding the height of the epitelium in the distal tubules. In rats exposed to thiram, a positive moderate to strong immunoexpression was observed for MTs, in the cortical convulated tubules decreasing the cortex towards the medulla, and a strong immunoexpression for Hsp70 in the cortex and medulla areas, in the glomerulus and convulated tubules. The results suggest that thiram may have chronic toxicity in mammals affecting their growth, and that the expression of MTs and Hsp70, a probable cellular adaptive response to the oxidative stress caused by thiram, may be used as a biomarker of exposure to this chemical. Keywords: rat, kidney, thiram, histology, metallothioneins, heat shock proteins (Hsp70

Oncological Applications of Photodynamic Therapy in Dogs and Cats.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) in small animals’ oncology has been under research focus, pointing to new treatment possibilities. Moreover, several animal studies constitute experimental human disease models due to the similarity of tumor biology between animals and man. PDT uses photosensitizing compounds without toxicity per se. When subjected to a specific wavelength, the photosensitizers are activated, triggering the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that lead to cell death. Additionally, antiangiogenic effects and immune stimulation may also be elicited. PDT is minimally invasive, non-toxic, and does not induce carcinogenic or mutagenic side effects. Thus, it is safe for non-neoplastic tissues compared with other neoplasms treatment modalities. This review describes the applications of PDT in the cancer treatment of small animals, particularly dogs and cats, focusing on the respective photosensitizers and treatment protocols used in trials in this therapeutic modality