Operating modes in manufacturing cells : an action research study

This paper describes the operating modes adopted in manufacturing cells of an assembly controller’s heat boilers firm and its influence on the productivity. The paper also presents the difficulties that cells faces when it is formed free of care in selecting and recruiting adequate and motivated people to form the team for operating the cells. These careless and other factors discussed here causes lower productivity. One of the appointed advantages of the cells is the possibility of varying the number of operators when the demand varies. In spite of this, this advantage could be a disadvantage if the persons recruited are not prepared or motivated. This action research industrial study shows that the cells must be part of a strategy of the company not an easy solution that someone thinks that “may be it works here”. When the cells are adopted inside this spirit its difficult to achieve all the benefits of the cells transforming these, many times, in failures

Unraveling biotic and abiotic factors shaping sugarcane straw polyphenolic richness: a gateway to artificial intelligence-driven crop management

Sugarcane straw (Saccharum officinarum) is a valuable coproduct renowned for its abundant polyphenolic content. However, extracting these polyphenols for natural ingredients faces challenges due to their inherent variability, influenced by biotic stress factors and plant characteristics. We explored the impact of five crucial factors on sugarcane straw polyphenolic diversity: (i) production area (Guariba, Valparaíso), (ii) borer insect (Diatraea saccharalis) infestation, (iii) plant age (first to seventh harvest), (iv) harvest season, and (v) plant variety. Response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural networks (ANN) were used to optimize polyphenol extraction conditions. A second-order polynomial model guided us to predict ideal sugarcane straw harvesting conditions for polyphenol-rich extracts. The analysis identified CU0618-variety straw, harvested in Guariba during the dry season (October 2020), at the seventh harvest stage, with 13.81% borer insect infection, as the prime source for high hydroxybenzoic acid (1010 µg/g), hydroxycinnamic acid (3119 µg/g), and flavone (573 µg/g) content and consequently high antioxidant capacity. The ANN model surpasses the RSM model, demonstrating superior predictive capabilities with higher coefficients of determination and reduced mean absolute deviations for each polyphenol class. This underscores the potential of artificial neural networks in forecasting and enhancing polyphenol extraction conditions, setting the stage for AI-driven advancements in crop management.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Peptide-modified dendrimer nanoparticles for targeted therapy of colorectal cancer

Peptides have recently emerged as a promising class of targeting ligands forspecific drug delivery in cancer treatment, which avoid undesirable side effectsof the systemic administration of chemotherapeutics. Their conjugation withnanoparticles has been demonstrated to improve the functionality of peptidesresulting in a versatile platform for biomedical applications. In this work, thedevelopment of carboxymethylchitosan/poly(amidoamine) (CMCht/PAMAM)dendrimer nanoparticles functionalized with YIGSR laminin receptor bindingpeptide for the active targeting and specific delivery of therapeutic agents intocolorectal cancer cells is described. The successful functionalization isconfirmed by several physico-chemical characterization techniques. Theselectivity of the YIGSR-CMCht/PAMAM dendrimer nanoparticles is firstvalidated in vitro using a micropatterned array of 67 kDa laminin receptor.Next, the specificity of YIGSR-CMCht/PAMAM dendrimers nanoparticlestoward laminin receptor is further confirmed both in 2D and 3D settings usingHCT-116 colorectal cancer cells and L929 fibroblasts in co-culture. Finally,gemcitabine-loaded YIGSR-CMCht/PAMAM dendrimer nanoparticles inducea targeted mortality on HCT-116 cancer cells in a co-culture scenario. Overall,the study shows solid evidence that YIGSR laminin receptor binding peptidecoupled to CMCht/PAMAM dendrimer nanoparticles may be employed as ananticancerous target for the specific and intracellular delivery ofchemotherapeutic agents.This work was financially supported through the project FROnTHERA (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000023), Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); M.R.C. for her Ph.D. scholarship NORTE-08-5369-FSE-000044, funded by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte, Fundo Social Europeu, Norte 2020 TERM&SC and EMBO Short-Term Fellowship 7232. J.M.O. for his distinction attributed under the FCT Investigator program (IF/00423/2012 and IF/01285/2015; F.R.M. acknowledges FCT for her work contract under the Transitional Rule DL 57/2016 (CTTI-57/18-I3BS(5)). D.C. acknowledges the financial support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the program CEEC Individual 2017 (CEECIND/00352/2017). D.C. and S.C.K. for the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the project 2MATCH (PTDC/BTMORG/28070/2017) funded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte supported by European Regional Development Funds (ERDF). This work is also partially supported by the IET Harvey Engineering Research Award 2018 (ENG ThE CANCER) and the European Union Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 on FoReCaST project under Grant Agreement No. 668983

New natural and sustainable cosmetic preservative based on sugarcane straw extract

Preservative ingredients in cosmetic formulations undertake a necessary role in the prevention of microbial contamination. In this field, there is an unmet need for natural, sustainable, and effective preservatives. Thus, the main goal of this work was to evaluate a sugarcane straw extract-based ingredient and investigate its potential as a preservative for cosmetic applications. Different ingredients were developed using several cosmetic solvents to improve the solubility of the extracted compounds. The antimicrobial activity was assessed against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Candida albicans. The 1,2-hexanediol was the solvent that allowed us to achieve the ingredient (20% dry extract dispersed in 25% 1,2-hexanediol in water) with the best antimicrobial performance, showing a minimum inhibitory concentration of between 5% and 3% (I). The 5% (w/v) concentration of this ingredient complied with the USP51 standards for cosmetic preservatives. Real-time (25 °C, 65% RH) and accelerated stability (40 °C, 75% RH) tests were conducted to determine the ingredient stability, and it was found that one month of storage time at room temperature would be ideal for better ingredient stability and performance in terms of composition, pH, color, and antioxidant activity.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sugarcane straw polyphenols as potential food and nutraceutical ingredient

The sugarcane processing industry generates a large amount of straw, which has a negative environmental impact, and high costs are associated with their elimination, wasting their potential bioactive value attributed to their richness in polyphenols. In this study, an ethanolic extract produced from sugarcane straw was screened for its phenolic compounds content, and the potential use of this extract in the development of a food ingredient was further evaluated. Fifty different secondary metabolites belonging to the hydroxybenzoic acids, hydroxycinnamic acids, and flavonoids were identified by liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization–ultrahigh-resolution—quadrupole time of flight–mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-UHR-QqTOF-MS). The predominant phenolic compounds found were 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, chlorogenic acid, and 5-O-feruloylquinic acid. The obtained extracts showed strong potential as food preservatives by exhibiting (a) antioxidant activity using both 2.2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) diammonium salt radical cation (ABTS) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) methods; and (b) antimicrobial capacity, with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 50 mg/mL for Staphylococcus aureus, 74% inhibition for Bacillus cereus, and 44% for Salmonella enterica; and (c) the capacity to inhibit a food browning enzyme, tyrosinase (28–73% for 1–8 mg/ mL). Moreover, the extracts showed antidiabetic potential by inhibiting the enzymes α-glucosidase (15–38% for 1.25–5.00 mg/mL) and dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) (62–114% for 0.31–5.00 mg/mL). The extract (0.625 mg/mL) also exhibited the capacity to reduce proinflammatory mediators (i.e., interleukins 6 and 8, and tumor necrosis factor alpha) when Caco-2 cells were stimulated with interleukin 1 beta. Thus, sugarcane straw extract, which is rich in phenolic compounds, showed high potential to be used in the development of food-preservative ingredients owing to its antioxidant and antimicrobial potential, and to be explored as a food supplement in diabetes prevention and as coadjuvant to reduce intestinal inflammation by reducing proinflammatory mediators.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Organic farming take off in Portugal

Organic farming is booming in Portugal. CAP subsidies are the main reason beyond this boom. Converted farms are still a small proportion of the country’s total farms. They are mostly extensive (low input) Mediterranean farms located in the mainland interior and less developed regions. Large farms and highly educated farmers are the ones converting. Olive oil is the main organic production. The market for organic products in Portugal is segmented and distribution channels are narrow. In general, people are not aware of organic products and/or lack the money to pay the required price premium. However, a segment of highly educated consumers with above average income do exist. Two private bodies provide certification for organic products under the supervision of the Government. Several national and regional Associations provide technical support, training and education to farmers but they face many barriers. The lack of public environmental education and the lack of research on the sector constitute other important institutional barriers to the Portuguese organic sector development

Production of sustainable postbiotics from sugarcane straw for potential food applications

The production of postbiotics for food applications has been growing in recent years owing to their biological potential and superior technological performance over probiotics. Their production involves the use of synthetic culture media, and in this work, we propose using sugarcane straw as a source of sugar and biological components and a sustainable alternative. Thus, this by-product was used as a substrate to produce a postbiotic extract using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a fermentative microorganism. Sugarcane straw underwent a precedent saccharification step to release the fermentable sugars. The final extracts were characterized for their total content of sugars, phenolic compounds, organic acids, and their respective chromatographic profiles. Seventeen different polyphenols were identified with the predominance of three classes, the hydroxybenzoic acids, hydroxycinnamic acids, and flavonoids, where ferulic acid, 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde, and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid were most prevalent. The current work evaluated the potential use of this postbiotic extract for food applications, its antioxidant activity, gut microbiota modulatory effect, and intestinal anti-inflammatory potential. The resultant extracts showed considerable antioxidant activity and the ability to lower the pro-inflammatory mediators (i.e., interleukin 6, 8, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha) in Caco-2 cells. During the fecal fermentability assay, no modulatory effect was observed on the main beneficial bacteria, such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Nevertheless, a significant increase in short-chain fatty acids, namely, acetate, propionate, butyrate, and valerate was observed. Moreover, the extract also demonstrated capacity to inhibit the proliferation of putrefactive bacteria such as Enterobacteriaceae. Finally, sustainable postbiotic extracts produced by S. cerevisiae fermentation using sugarcane straw as a substrate exhibited relevant biological properties with potential use as food and nutraceutical ingredients.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio