Continuous measurements of central blood pressure during mental stress monitoring

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Differentiation of the Organoleptic Volatile Organic Compound Profile of Three Edible Seaweeds

Funding Information: This research was funded by FUNDAÇÃO PARA A CIÊNCIA E TECNOLOGIA (FCT—PORTUGAL), grant number PD/BDE/150627/2020. This research was funded by MAR2020 – PORTUGUESE GOVERNMENT, project number MAR-01.03.0-FEAMP-0016. Funding Information: P.C.M. acknowledges Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT—Portugal) for his doctoral grant (PD/BDE/150627/2020). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.The inclusion of seaweeds in daily-consumption food is a worthy-of-attention challenge due to their high nutritional value and potential health benefits. In this way, their composition, organoleptic profile, and toxicity must be assessed. This work focuses on studying the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by three edible seaweeds, Grateloupia turuturu, Codium tomentosum, and Bifurcaria bifurcata, with the aim of deepening the knowledge regarding their organoleptic profiles. Nine samples of each seaweed were prepared in glass vials, and the emitted headspace was analyzed, for the first time, with a gas chromatography—ion mobility spectrometry device, a highly sensitive technology. By statistically processing the collected data through PCA, it was possible to accurately differentiate the characteristic patterns of the three seaweeds with a total explained variance of 98%. If the data were pre-processed through PLS Regression, the total explained variance increased to 99.36%. The identification of 13 VOCs was accomplished through a developed database of compounds. These outstanding values in addition to the identification of the main emissions of VOCs and the utilization of a never-before-used technology prove the capacity of GC-IMS to differentiate edible seaweeds based solely on their volatile emissions, increase the knowledge regarding their organoleptic profiles, and provide an important step forward in the inclusion of these highly nutritional ingredients in the human diet.publishersversionpublishe

D6.1 Market analysis and technology database report

Within the EDEN-ISS project, a lot of technologies were implemented into the Future Expoloration Greenhouse (FEG) for the analogue mission on Antarctica. Most were existing technologies that had been developed within previous “space related” projects and some were derived from existing hightech greenhouse production technology. This document analyses the potential for spin-offs to other applications, particularly of the technologies that were either new or modifications of existing technologies, that is: the E-nose for the microbial detection; the water-cooled LED luminaries for plant lighting; the online, continuous control of the spectrum of the luminaries and the plant health monitoring system. Whereas the potential for application of the modified E-nose is particularly in hospitals and related places, the potential for the other three systems is particularly in high-tech, fresh vegetable production, such as high-tech greenhouses or Vertical Farms. Indeed, given the size of such markets, the potential for each system is certainly high. This document also gives a preview of the improvements/adaptations of each system, which would improve the penetration in the potential market

Detection of Microorganisms Onboard the International Space Station Using an Electronic Nose

Abstract We report on the detection of microorganisms onboard the International Space Station (ISS) using an electronic nose we named the E-Nose. The E-Nose, containing an array of ten different metal oxide gas sensors, was trained on Earth to detect the four most abundant microorganisms that are known to exist onboard the ISS. To assess its performance in space, the E-Nose was brought to the ISS and three measurement campaigns were carried out in three different locations inside the ISS during a 5-month mission. At the end of this mission, all investigated locations were wiped with swabs, and the swabs and odor sensor signal data were sent back to Earth for an in-depth analysis in earthbound laboratories. The in-space measurements were compared with an odor database containing four organisms, but a consensus odor could not be identified. Microbiological results could not provide clues to the smell that was measured. The yeast Rhodotorula mucilaginosa was identified in the literature as the most probable candidate for the unknown odor. Further investigations showed that the smell of Rhodotorula mucilaginosa matches very well with the data obtained inside the ISS. Finally, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa DNA was identified in swabs taken from the sleeping cabin of the astronaut, which confirms the assumption that the yeast Rhodotorula mucilaginosa was actually measured in space by the E-Nose

Introducing EDEN ISS - A European project on advancing plant cultivation technologies and operations

Plant cultivation in large-scale closed environments is challenging and several key technologies necessary for space-based plant production are not yet space-qualified or remain in early stages of development. The EDEN ISS project foresees development and demonstration of higher plant cultivation technologies, suitable for future deployment on the International Space Station and from a long-term perspective, within Moon and Mars habitats. The EDEN ISS consortium will design and test essential plant cultivation technologies using an International Standard Payload Rack form factor cultivation system for potential testing on-board the International Space Station. Furthermore, a Future Exploration Greenhouse will be designed with respect to future planetary bio-regenerative life support system deployments. The technologies will be tested in a laboratory environment as well as at the highly-isolated German Antarctic Neumayer Station III. A small and mobile container-sized test facility will be built in order to provide realistic mass flow relationships. In addition to technology development and validation, food safety and plant handling procedures will be developed. This paper describes the goals and objectives of EDEN ISS and the different project phases and milestones. Furthermore, the project consortium will be introduced and the role of each partner within the project is explained

Gas Chromatography-Ion Mobility Spectrometry Instrument for Medical Applications: A Calibration Protocol for ppb and ppt Concentration Range

Part 9: Medical DevicesInternational audienceMedical diagnosis research is driven into the development of non-invasive diagnosis devices centered in fast and precise analytical tools and instrumentation. This led to Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) being identified as metabolomics biomarkers for several diseases, including respiratory infections, cancer and even COVID 19 non-invasive test. While VOCs give a direct access to physiological states, their applicability requires detections at low concentration ranges (ppbv-pptv). However, its clinical success is strongly dependent on precise and robust calibration methods. In this work we describe a calibration protocol of volatile organic compounds in low concentration range (ppbv-pptv) for analytical GC-IMS technology which offer a quick in-situ results in medical diagnosis. The calibration is based on permeation tubes which are monitored using thermogravimetric methods to estimate mass loss ratio over time establishing emitted concentrations. Notwithstanding future improvements, herein calibration methodology results are a promising step forward in medical diagnosis and applications