Fat content reduction and lipid profile improvement in Portuguese fermented sausages alheira

Due to the current trend to reduce fat consumption, the meat food industry, has been increasing the strategies to produce and commercialize products where the reduction or even elimination of saturated fat is an important goal. This study aimed to test different formulas to reduce the fat content and improve the lipid profile in the Portuguese fermented sausage alheira. Data indicate that the three composition formulas of alheiras tested are not a hypercaloric product and the fatty acid profile could be improved changing the sources of fat and specie of meat, particularly reducing the palmitic and stearic acids and the myristic acid contents and increasing the oleic, linoleic and palmitoleic acid contents. The industry could diversify its offer with two new composition formulas, a pork-free alheira, and oil-free alheira, reducing the fat content and improving the fatty acid profile.The authors are grateful to Bísaro – Salsicharia Tradicional industry and to Laboratory of Carcass and Meat Quality of Agriculture School of Polytechnic Institute of Bragança ‘Cantinho do Alfredo’. The authors are members of the Healthy Meat network, funded by CYTED (ref. 119RT0568).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Curcumin: A multi-Target disease-modifying agent for late-stage transthyretin amyloidosis

Transthyretin amyloidoses encompass a variety of acquired and hereditary diseases triggered by systemic extracellular accumulation of toxic transthyretinaggregates and fibrils, particularly in the peripheral nervous system. Since transthyretin amyloidoses are typically complex progressive disorders, therapeutic approaches aiming multiple molecular targets simultaneously, might improve therapy efficacy and treatment outcome. In this study, we evaluate the protective effect of physiologically achievable doses of curcumin on the cytotoxicity induced by transthyretin oligomers in vitro by showing reduction of caspase-3 activity and the levels of endoplasmic reticulum-resident chaperone binding immunoglobulin protein. When given to an aged Familial Amyloidotic Polyneuropathy mouse model, curcumin not only reduced transthyretin aggregates deposition and toxicity in both gastrointestinal tract and dorsal root ganglia but also remodeled congophilic amyloid material in tissues. In addition, curcumin enhanced internalization, intracellular transport and degradation of transthyretinoligomers by primary macrophages from aged Familial Amyloidotic Polyneuropathy transgenic mice, suggesting an impaired activation of naive phagocytic cells exposed to transthyretin toxic intermediate species. Overall, our results clearly support curcumin or optimized derivatives as promising multi-targetdisease-modifying agent for late-stage transthyretin amyloidosis

Inter-Cohort Validation of SuStaIn Model for Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder which spans several years from preclinical manifestations to dementia. In recent years, interest in the application of machine learning (ML) algorithms to personalized medicine has grown considerably, and a major challenge that such models face is the transferability from the research settings to clinical practice. The objective of this work was to demonstrate the transferability of the Subtype and Stage Inference (SuStaIn) model from well-characterized research data set, employed as training set, to independent less-structured and heterogeneous test sets representative of the clinical setting. The training set was composed of MRI data of 1043 subjects from the Alzheimer's disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), and the test set was composed of data from 767 subjects from OASIS, Pharma-Cog, and ViTA clinical datasets. Both sets included subjects covering the entire spectrum of AD, and for both sets volumes of relevant brain regions were derived from T1-3D MRI scans processed with Freesurfer v5.3 cross-sectional stream. In order to assess the predictive value of the model, subpopulations of subjects with stable mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and MCIs that progressed to AD dementia (pMCI) were identified in both sets. SuStaIn identified three disease subtypes, of which the most prevalent corresponded to the typical atrophy pattern of AD. The other SuStaIn subtypes exhibited similarities with the previously defined hippocampal sparing and limbic predominant atrophy patterns of AD. Subject subtyping proved to be consistent in time for all cohorts and the staging provided by the model was correlated with cognitive performance. Classification of subjects on the basis of a combination of SuStaIn subtype and stage, mini mental state examination and amyloid-β1-42 cerebrospinal fluid concentration was proven to predict conversion from MCI to AD dementia on par with other novel statistical algorithms, with ROC curves that were not statistically different for the training and test sets and with area under curve respectively equal to 0.77 and 0.76. This study proves the transferability of a SuStaIn model for AD from research data to less-structured clinical cohorts, and indicates transferability to the clinical setting

Earth-based render of tabique walls – an experimental work contribution

A research work focused on studying earth render for tabique application purposes is presented. Initially, a brief description of the tabique building technique is provided. The relevance of the application of this traditional building technique is also highlighted. Different compositions of earth render are experimentally analysed and the respective performance is evaluated. Flexural and compressive strengths, workability, drying shrinkage cracking and water resistance are the material properties assessed. A simple earth render is selected as being adequate for tabique building applications and it is applied on the manufacturing of a tabique wall sample. This wall sample is monitored in terms of thermal insulation ability and its thermal transmission coefficient is estimated. Taking into account that there is still a lack of published technical information related to this topic, this paper may contribute to solve this limitation and to give some guidance in future repairing processes of tabique construction. The technological benefit of adding lime or cement with earth is researched. Real tabique timber structure samples are applied in order to validate the obtained experimental results.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

ABCD Neurocognitive Prediction Challenge 2019: Predicting Individual Residual Fluid Intelligence Scores from Cortical Grey Matter Morphology

We predicted fluid intelligence from T1-weighted MRI data available as part of the ABCD NP Challenge 2019, using morphological similarity of grey-matter regions across the cortex. Individual structural covariance networks (SCN) were abstracted into graph-theory metrics averaged over nodes across the brain and in data-driven communities/modules. Metrics included degree, path length, clustering coefficient, centrality, rich club coefficient, and small-worldness. These features derived from the training set were used to build various regression models for predicting residual fluid intelligence scores, with performance evaluated both using cross-validation within the training set and using the held-out validation set. Our predictions on the test set were generated with a support vector regression model trained on the training set. We found minimal improvement over predicting a zero residual fluid intelligence score across the sample population, implying that structural covariance networks calculated from T1-weighted MR imaging data provide little information about residual fluid intelligence

COMMUNICATION AND THE PERCEPTION OF RISK IN THE INFLUENCE OF BEHAVIORS

A comunicação de risco é um método de troca de informações e de influência de tomada de decisões, que suscita mudança de comportamentos. Este estudo incidiu sobre o contexto de pandemia COVID-19, com enfoque na avaliação da perceção de risco.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Photographed Rapid HIV Test Results Pilot Novel Quality Assessment and Training Schemes

HIV rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are now used widely in non-laboratory settings by non-laboratory-trained operators. Quality assurance programmes are essential in ensuring the quality of HIV RDT outcomes. However, there is no cost-effective means of supplying the many operators of RDTs with suitable quality assurance schemes. Therefore, it was examined whether photograph-based RDT results could be used and correctly interpreted in the non-laboratory setting. Further it was investigated if a single training session improved the interpretation skills of RDT operators. The photographs were interpreted, a 10-minute tutorial given and then a second interpretation session was held. It was established that the results could be read with accuracy. The participants (n = 75) with a range of skills interpreted results (>80% concordance with reference results) from a panel of 10 samples (three negative and seven positive) using four RDTs. Differences in accuracy of interpretation before and after the tutorial were marked in some cases. Training was more effective for improving the accurate interpretation of more complex results, e.g. results with faint test lines or for multiple test lines, and especially for improving interpretation skills of inexperienced participants. It was demonstrated that interpretation of RDTs was improved using photographed results allied to a 10-minute training session. It is anticipated that this method could be used for training but also for quality assessment of RDT operators without access to conventional quality assurance or training schemes requiring wet samples

Climatic and geomorphologic cycles in a semiarid distributive fluvial system, Upper Cretaceous, Bauru Group, SE Brazil

Studies of distributive fluvial systems and their preserved successions envisage the distribution and orientation of architectural elements to be primarily controlled by channels radiating outward from fan apices, in many cases along an elongate basin margin. Conceptual models for such systems account for the downstream dynamics of the fluvial network, but with limited consideration of temporal geomorphic variations, resulting vertical organisation of architectural elements, or of the interplay of factors controlling system dynamics. To understand the external and internal architecture of distributive fluvial systems, and the factors that influence their sequential facies organisation, a sedimentary succession of the proximal portion of an Upper Cretaceous, semiarid, distributive fluvial system, located at the north-eastern margin of the Bauru Basin (Southeast Brazil), has been analysed in detail. Three fining- and thinning-upward fluvial sequences are identified, forming an interval separated at the top and the bottom by two palaeosol profiles. Each sequence is formed of channel and floodplain deposits. Two types of channel deposits are identified. One is composed of stacked sets of small-scale dune deposits, suggesting perennial and steady fluvial regime, associated with more humid climate periods. The other is composed of large-scale sets indicative of flattened dunes associated with unsteady and fast-changing fluvial flow, formed in quasi-supercritical flow regime conditions, associated with drier climate periods. The vertical alternation of these two types of channel deposits records the accumulation of a fluvial succession that responded to high-frequency, climate-induced cyclic change in bounding conditions. Two palaeosol profiles, at the top and at the bottom of the succession, indicate temporary interruptions and cessation of the fluvial sedimentation, likely related to avulsion of the fluvial belt. Thus, the studied succession reveals high-frequency climate-induced allogenic sedimentary cycles that occur within a long-period autogenic geomorphologic-induced sedimentary cycle. This work suggests that the internal architecture of the channel deposits can be used as a climate proxy, and that climate and geomorphology act jointly as notable factors to control the vertical organisation of distributive fluvial systems