The impact of chemometrics on food traceability

In the last decades, mankind has become totally aware about the importance of food quality: nowadays authentication and traceability are words of general use. Food authentication verifies how much a food is in accordance with its label description and law and it could be considered a further guarantee for the quality and safety of a foodstuff. The traceability of food could be considered an essential element in ensuring safety and high quality of food. The synergistic use of instrumental analytical techniques and chemometrics represents a promising way to obtain trustworthy results in the development of authenticity and traceability models. This chapter deals with the potentialities of chemometrics tools in resolving some real issues related to food traceability and authenticity. Particular attention will be paid to the use of some exploratory, classification and discrimination techniques. In the first part of this chapter, a briefly description of European regulations (Authenticity and Traceability: the European Union point of view), and traceability and authenticity markers (Authenticity and Traceability: a scientific point of view) is reported. The second part is split into two sections: namely Food Authenticity and Food Traceability applications, where the main features and advantages of some chemometrics approaches are presented

From working collections to the World Germplasm Project: agricultural modernization and genetic conservation at the Rockefeller Foundation

This paper charts the history of the Rockefeller Foundation’s participation in the collection and long-term preservation of genetic diversity in crop plants from the 1940s through the 1970s. In the decades following the launch of its agricultural program in Mexico in 1943, the Rockefeller Foundation figured prominently in the creation of world collections of key economic crops. Through the efforts of its administrators and staff, the foundation subsequently parlayed this experience into a leadership role in international efforts to conserve so-called plant genetic resources. Previous accounts of the Rockefeller Foundation’s interventions in international agricultural development have focused on the outcomes prioritized by foundation staff and administrators as they launched assistance programs and especially their characterization of the peoples and ‘‘problems’’ they encountered abroad. This paper highlights instead how foundation administrators and staff responded to a newly emergent international agricultural concern—the loss of crop genetic diversity. Charting the foundation’s responses to this concern, which developed only after agricultural modernization had begun and was understood to be produced by the successes of the foundation’s own agricultural assistance programs, allows for greater interrogation of how the foundation understood and projected its central position in international agricultural research activities by the 1970s.Research for this article was supported in part by a grant-in-aid from the Rockefeller Archive Center

Impact of Enhanced Staphylococcus DNA Extraction on Microbial Community Measures in Cystic Fibrosis Sputum

Staphylococcus aureus is a common constituent of the bacterial community inhabiting the airways of persons with cystic fibrosis (CF). Culture-independent studies have shown that this species is often present in relatively high abundance and would therefore be expected to exert a pronounced effect on measures of CF airway bacterial community structure. We investigated the impact of DNA extraction method on pyrosequencing-based measures of Staphylococcus abundance and bacterial community structure in 17 sputum samples from five CF patients. Staphylococcus was detected in fewer samples when DNA was extracted using a standard bacterial lysis method compared to when DNA was extracted using a lysis buffer amended with lysostaphin and lysozyme. The standard lysis method resulted in significantly lower measures of Staphylococcus relative abundance and higher levels of community diversity, richness, and evenness compared to the lysostaphin-lysozyme modified method. Measures of community dynamics in serial sputum samples from the same individual were nevertheless highly concordant between the two DNA extraction methods. These results illustrate the impact of DNA preparation method on measures of Staphylococcus abundance and bacterial community structures in studies of the airways microbiota in CF

Desigualdades contextuais e individuais da prevalencia de dor dentaria em adultos e idosos no Brasil

Abstract published in English and Portuguese English title: Contextual and individual inequalities in dental pain prevalence among Brazilian adults and eldersThis study aimed to assess the prevalence of dental pain among adults and older people living in Brazil’s State capitals. Information was gathered from the Telephone Survey Surveillance System for Risk and Protective Factors for Chronic Diseases (VIGITEL) in 2009 (n = 54,367). Dental pain was the outcome. Geographic region, age, gender, race, schooling, private health coverage, smoking, and soft drink consumption were the explanatory variables. Multilevel Poisson regression models were performed. Prevalence of dental pain was 15.2%; Macapá and São Luís had prevalence rates greater than 20%; all capitals in the South and Southeast, plus Cuiabá, Campo Grande, Maceió, Recife, and Natal had prevalence rates less than 15%. Factors associated with increased prevalence of dental pain were the North and Northeast regions, female gender, black/brown skin color, lack of private health insurance, smoking, and soft drink consumption. Dental pain is a public health problem that should be monitored by health surveillance systems. = O objetivo deste estudo foi conhecer a prevalência de dor dentária e fatores associados em adultos e idosos residentes nas capitais brasileiras usando os dados do Sistema de Vigilância de Fatores de Risco e Proteção para Doenças Crônicas por Inquérito Telefônico (VIGITEL), de 2009 (n = 54.367). Dor dentária foi a variável dependente. Macrorregião, idade, sexo, raça, escolaridade, posse de plano de saúde, tabagismo e consumo de refrigerantes foram as variáveis exploratórias. Foram realizadas regressões de Poisson multinível. A prevalência de dor dentária foi de 15,2%; Macapá e São Luís apresentaram prevalências maiores que 20% enquanto em todas as capitais do Sul e Sudeste, em Cuiabá, Campo Grande, Maceió, Recife e Natal foram encontradas prevalências menores que 15%. Residentes no Norte e Nordeste, mulheres, pretos e pardos, aqueles que não possuem plano de saúde, tabagistas e consumidores de refrigerantes apresentaram as maiores prevalências de dor dentária. A dor dentária é um problema de saúde pública que deve ser monitorado pelos sistemas de vigilância em saúde.Marco A. Peres, Betine Pinto Moehlecke Iser, Karen Glazer Peres, Deborah Carvalho Malta, José Leopoldo Ferreira Antune

Oil palm monoculture induces drastic erosion of an Amazonian forest mammal fauna

Oil palm monoculture comprises one of the most financially attractive land-use options in tropical forests, but cropland suitability overlaps the distribution of many highly threatened vertebrate species. We investigated how forest mammals respond to a landscape mosaic, including mature oil palm plantations and primary forest patches in Eastern Amazonia. Using both line-transect censuses (LTC) and camera-trapping (CT), we quantified the general patterns of mammal community structure and attempted to identify both species life-history traits and the environmental and spatial covariates that govern species intolerance to oil palm monoculture. Considering mammal species richness, abundance, and species composition, oil palm plantations were consistently depauperate compared to the adjacent primary forest, but responses differed between functional groups. The degree of forest habitat dependency was a leading trait, determining compositional dissimilarities across habitats. Considering both the LTC and CT data, distance from the forest-plantation interface had a significant effect on mammal assemblages within each habitat type. Approximately 87% of all species detected within oil palm were never farther than 1300 m from the forest edge. Our study clearly reinforces the notion that conventional oil palm plantations are extremely hostile to native tropical forest biodiversity, which does not bode well given prospects for oil palm expansion in both aging and new Amazonian deforestation frontiers

Inequalities in access to and utilization of dental care in Brazil: an analysis of the Telephone Survey Surveillance System for Risk and Protective Factors for Chronic Diseases (VIGITEL 2009)

Abstract published in English and Portuguese English title: Inequalities in access to and utilization of dental care in Brazil: an analysis of the Telephone Survey Surveillance System for Risk and Protective Factors for Chronic Diseases (VIGITEL 2009)This study aimed to evaluate access to and utilization of various types of dental services by individuals 18 years or older in Brazil's State capitals. We gathered data from the Telephone Survey Surveillance System for Risk and Protective Factors for Chronic Diseases (VIGITEL) in 2009 (n = 54,367). More than half of the target population reported the need for dental treatment in the previous year; of these, 15.2% lacked access to dental services when needed. The private sector provided 61.1% of all dental appointments. The share of services provided by the Unified National Health System (SUS) ranged from 6.2% in the Federal District to 35.2% in Boa Vista, in the North. Multivariate Poisson regression models showed higher prevalence of dental treatment needs among women, middle-aged adults, and individuals with more schooling. Lack of access to dental care was more frequent among women, young adults, less educated individuals, and among lightener-skinned blacks. Our findings highlight sharp inequalities in the use of and access to dental services in the Brazilian State capitals.= Pretendeu-se descrever o padrão de utilização, acesso e tipo de serviço odontológico utilizado por adultos e idosos das capitais brasileiras segundo características sociodemográficas. Foram utilizados dados do Sistema de Vigilância de Fatores de Risco e Proteção para Doenças Crônicas por Inquérito Telefônico (VIGITEL) de 2009 (n = 54.367). Mais da metade da população revelou necessitar de tratamento odontológico no último ano e desta, 15,2% não conseguiram atendimento. O uso de serviço odontológico privado foi de 61,1%. A participação do Sistema Único de Saúde variou de 6,2% no Distrito Federal a 35,2% em Boa Vista. Análises multivariáveis de Poisson revelaram que as maiores prevalências de percepção de necessidades de tratamento ocorreram nas mulheres, nos adultos de meia idade e nos mais escolarizados. Falta de acesso aos serviços odontológicos foram mais prevalentes em mulheres, nos mais jovens, nos menos escolarizados e nos pardos. Os resultados deste estudo revelam a existência de marcantes iniquidades na utilização e acesso de serviços odontológicos nas capitais brasileiras.Marco A. Peres, Betine Pinto Moehlecke Iser, Antonio Fernando Boing, Renata Tiene de Carvalho Yokota, Deborah Carvalho Malta, Karen Glazer Pere