Introducing the Green Protein Footprint method as an understandable measure of the environmental cost of anchovy consumption

In a global framework of growing concern for food security and environmental protection, the selection of food products with higher protein content and lower environmental impact is a challenge. To assess the reliability of different strategies along the food supply chain, a measure of food cost through the environmental impact-protein content binomial is necessary. This study proposes a standardized method to calculate the Green Protein Footprint (GPF) index, a method that assesses both the environmental impact of a food product and its protein content provided to consumers. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was used to calculate the environmental impact of the selected food products, and a Life Cycle Protein Assessment (LCPA) was performed by accounting for the protein content along the supply chain. Although the GPF can be applied to all food chain products, this paper is focused on European anchovy-based products for indirect human consumption (fishmeal) and for direct human consumption (fresh, salted and canned anchovies). Moreover, the circular economy concept was applied considering the valorization of the anchovy residues generated during the canning process. These residues were used to produce fishmeal, which was employed in bass aquaculture. Hence, humans are finally consuming fish protein from the residues, closing the loop of the original product life cycle. More elaborated, multi-ingredient food products (salted and canned anchovy products), presented higher GPF values due to higher environmental impacts. Furthermore, the increase of food loss throughout their life cycle caused a decrease in the protein content. Regarding salted and canned products, the packaging was the main hotspot. The influence of the packaging was evaluated using the GPF, reaffirming that plastic was the best alternative. These results highlighted the importance of improving packaging materials in food products.The authors thank the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Spanish Government for their financial support via the projects GeSAC-Conserva: Sustainable Management of the Cantabrian Anchovies (CTM2013-43539-R) and CERES_Project: Food Production strategies for climate change mitigation: towards a food circular economy (CTM 2016-76176-C2-1-R). Authors thank Julia Celaya for her technical support. Jara Laso thanks the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spanish Government for their financial support via the research fellowship BES-2014-069368

Mitochondrial Dysfunction Increases Oxidative Stress and Decreases Chronological Life Span in Fission Yeast

Background: Oxidative stress is a probable cause of aging and associated diseases. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) originate mainly from endogenous sources, namely the mitochondria. Methodology/Principal Findings: We analyzed the effect of aerobic metabolism on oxidative damage in Schizosaccharomyces pombe by global mapping of those genes that are required for growth on both respiratory-proficient media and hydrogen-peroxide-containing fermentable media. Out of a collection of approximately 2700 haploid yeast deletion mutants, 51 were sensitive to both conditions and 19 of these were related to mitochondrial function. Twelve deletion mutants lacked components of the electron transport chain. The growth defects of these mutants can be alleviated by the addition of antioxidants, which points to intrinsic oxidative stress as the origin of the phenotypes observed. These respiration-deficient mutants display elevated steady-state levels of ROS, probably due to enhanced electron leakage from their defective transport chains, which compromises the viability of chronologically-aged cells. Conclusion/Significance: Individual mitochondrial dysfunctions have often been described as the cause of diseases or aging, and our global characterization emphasizes the primacy of oxidative stress in the etiology of such processes.This work was supported by Dirección General de Investigación of Spain Grant BFU2006-02610, and by the Spanish program Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Grant CSD 2007-0020 to E.H

LCA of greywater management within a water circular economy restorative thinking framework

Greywater reuse is an attractive option for the sustainable management of water under water scarcity circumstances, within a water circular economy restorative thinking framework. Its successful deployment relies on the availability of low cost and environmentally friendly technologies. The life cycle assessment (LCA) approach provides the appropriate methodological tool for the evaluation of alternative treatments based on environmental decision criteria and, therefore, it is highly useful during the process conceptual design. This methodology should be employed in the early design phase to select those technologies with lower environmental impact. This work reports the comparative LCA of three scenarios for greywater reuse: photocatalysis, photovoltaic solar-driven photocatalysis and membrane biological reactor, in order to help the selection of the most environmentally friendly technology. The study has been focused on the removal of the surfactant sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, which is used in the formulation of detergents and personal care products and, thus, widely present in greywater. LCA was applied using the Environmental Sustainability Assessment methodology to obtain two main environmental indicators in order to simplify the decision making process: natural resources and environmental burdens. Energy consumption is the main contributor to both indicators owing to the high energy consumption of the light source for the photocatalytic greywater treatment. In order to reduce its environmental burdens, the most desirable scenario would be the use of solar light for the photocatalytic transformation. However, while the technological challenge of direct use of solar light is approached, the environmental suitability of the photovoltaic solar energy driven photocatalysis technology to greywater reuse has been demonstrated, as it involves the smallest environmental impact among the three studied alternatives.Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and from FEDER funds for projects CTM2013-43539-R, CTM2015-69845-R and CTQ2015-66078-R(MINECO/FEDER, UE) is gratefully acknowledged. Sara Dominguez and Jara Laso would also like to express their gratitude for the FPI postgraduate research grants (BES-2013-064055 and BES-2014-069368)

Hereditary breast cancer in Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) populations: identification of novel, recurrent and founder BRCA1 mutations in the Tunisian population

Germ-line mutations in BRCA1 breast cancer susceptibility gene account for a large proportion of hereditary breast cancer families and show considerable ethnic and geographical variations. The contribution of BRCA1 mutations to hereditary breast cancer has not yet been thoroughly investigated in Middle Eastern and North African populations. In this study, 16 Tunisian high-risk breast cancer families were screened for germline mutations in the entire BRCA1 coding region and exon–intron boundaries using direct sequencing. Six families were found to carry BRCA1 mutations with a prevalence of 37.5%. Four different deleterious mutations were detected. Three truncating mutations were previously described: c.798_799delTT (916 delTT), c.3331_3334delCAAG (3450 delCAAG), c.5266dupC (5382 insC) and one splice site mutation which seems to be specific to the Tunisian population: c.212 + 2insG (IVS5 + 2insG). We also identified 15 variants of unknown clinical significance. The c.798_799delTT mutation occurred at an 18% frequency and was shared by three apparently unrelated families. Analyzing five microsatellite markers in and flanking the BRCA1 locus showed a common haplotype associated with this mutation. This suggests that the c.798_799delTT mutation is a Tunisian founder mutation. Our findings indicate that the Tunisian population has a spectrum of prevalent BRCA1 mutations, some of which appear as recurrent and founding mutations