Physicochemical, microbiological and antimicrobial properties of commercial honeys from Portugal

The present study aimed to characterize five commercial honeys available in the Portuguese market in respect to their floral origins, physicochemical parameters and microbial safety and commercial quality assessment. Pollen profile, colour, moisture content, ash, acidity, electrical conductivity, pH, reducing sugars, apparent sucrose and HMF were the parameters analysed in each honey sample. Aerobic mesophiles, moulds and yeasts, fecal coliforms and sulphite-reducing clostridia were the microbial contaminants of interest studied. The antimicrobial effect against four fermentative yeasts was determined. Concerning the physicochemical parameters, all honey samples were found to meet European Legislation (EC Directive 2001/110) for all parameters, except for HMF and apparent sucrose. Microbiologically, the commercial quality was considered good and all samples showed to be negative in respect to safety parameters. We also verified that the presence of honey differentially affected the growth of fermentative yeasts under study, depending on the type of yeast, but this growth was not significantly influenced by the type of honey used

Determination of ascorbic acid and acetylsalicylic acid in commercial preparations using an electronic tongue

The electronic tongue is a multi-sensors system used to identify the basic standards of taste, such as sweet, salty, sour and bitter, at levels not detectable by humans. Although the main purpose of electronic tongue is the qualitative analysis, the quantitative analysis of substances in a liquid matrix is also possible, having been the subject of these preliminary studies the application of electronic tongue to pharmaceutical products. In this way, the aim of the current study was the quantitative analysis of ascorbic acid (AA) and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) in several commercial preparations using an electronic tongue. For that, solutions of standard compounds or of commercial preparations contain ascorbic acid and acetylsalicylic acid were analizes by an electronic tongue. The obtained data were using to determine the concentrations of the solutions thought através do multiple linear regression method. The preliminary tests showed that it is possible to quantify the ascorbic acid in effervescent formulations of vitamin C, using the predictor model obtained by multiple linear regression. In the case of acetylsalicylic acid it was verified that the matrix of the analgesics or antipyretics drugs significantly affect the signs of the electronic tongue. The electronic tongue can be used determined ascorbic acid in effervescent formulations while it is necessary developed more selective sensors to acetylsalicylic acid in order to improve the predictive power of electronic tongue quantification of this compound

A apicultura em modo de produção biológico em Portugal - projeto BIOIMPACT

Apesar do potencial para a profissionalização e organização do setor, da aptidão florística do país, dos investimentos recentes e do preço do mel, a expansão da apicultura orgânica em Portugal é restrita. Para abordar essa questão, a Federação Nacional dos Apicultores de Portugal, em colaboração com o Instituto Politécnico de Bragançã, lançou o projeto BIOIMPACT. Este projeto visa identificar os motivos que restringem a expansão da apicultura orgânica portuguesa e aumentar o número de apicultores dedicados à produção orgânica. O projeto coleta as experiências dos atuais operadores orgânicos, permitindo que potenciais novos operadores compreendam o potencial desse setor. As informações são obtidas por meio de questionários individuais, que avaliam a atividade apícola em modo orgânico.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ferromagnetism without flat bands in thin armchair nanoribbons

Describing by a Hubbard type of model a thin armchair graphene ribbon in the armchair hexagon chain limit, one shows in exact terms, that even if the system does not have flat bands at all, at low concentration a mesoscopic sample can have ferromagnetic ground state, being metallic in the same time. The mechanism is connected to a common effect of correlations and confinement.Comment: 37 pages, 12 figures, in press at Eur. Phys. Jour.

The evolution and current status of organic beekeeping in Portugal

The Portuguese beekeeping sector is one of the most resilient and persistent farming activities in the last decade. In the last five years, the figures reveal a counter cycle behavior with an increment in the number of colonies, apiaries and beekeepers, as shown in the National Beekeeping Program: there are 16.403 beekeepers with a total of 550.757 colonies. Following the same positive trend, the conversion from conventional to organic production as evolved in the period 2004/2012, from 738 up to 28.607 colonies (5% of the beekeeping sector), with a estimated production of 570 tons of certified honey, corresponding to an income of € 1.800.000. Even so, these figures are still below other European countries with similar environment potentialities like Italy, where the organic beekeeping represents more than 100.000 colonies (8% of total colonies) and even below the 7.6% that the organic farming represents in the Portuguese agriculture, which would be equivalent to more than 42.000 colonies. The sector organization and professionalization, the country natural resources (diverse nectar flows of high value) and the additional value given to organic products were expected to be self-sufficient factors for a sustainable enhancement of the number of organic beekeepers. However, it is been clear from the Portuguese experience that those key factors do not work alone without a continuous promotion of the production mode, focusing in the certification procedure, the specificities of beekeeping management and in the market approach: the distribution of Portuguese organic beekeepers is more concentrated in areas where the local organizations are more proactive towards the organic production. Additionally, it is interesting to notice that the profile of the organic beekeeper reveal some particularities: it is younger, with an academic background, frequently a degree in natural sciences or technologies complemented by specific beekeeping training. The interest for organic beekeeping, which represents the main income, arose from the commercial advantages, the environment protection but also from the influence of the local organization. More than 90% of the present Portuguese organic beekeepers are strongly engaged with the production mode, but highlight as the weakest points the efficacy and limitations of varroa treatments and a market value below their expectations

Genome-wide identification, characterization and expression profiling of the ubiquitin-proteasome genes in biomphalaria glabrata

Biomphalaria glabrata is the major species used for the study of schistosomiasis-related parasite-host relationships, and understanding its gene regulation may aid in this endeavor. The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) performs post-translational regulation in order to maintain cellular protein homeostasis and is related to several mechanisms, including immune responses. The aims of this work were to identify and characterize the putative genes and proteins involved in UPS using bioinformatic tools and also their expression on different tissues of B. glabrata. The putative genes and proteins of UPS in B. glabrata were predicted using BLASTp and as queries reference proteins from model organism. We characterized these putative proteins using PFAM and CDD software describing the conserved domains and active sites. The phylogenetic analysis was performed using ClustalX2 and MEGA5.2. Expression evaluation was performed from 12 snail tissues using RPKM. 119 sequences involved in the UPS in B. glabrata were identified, which 86 have been related to the ubiquitination pathway and 33 to proteasome. In addition, the conserved domains found were associated with the ubiquitin family, UQ_con, HECT, U-box and proteasome. The main active sites were lysine and cysteine residues. Lysines are responsible and the starting point for the formation of polyubiquitin chains, while the cysteine residues of the enzymes are responsible for binding to ubiquitin. The phylogenetic analysis showed an organized distribution between the organisms and the clades of the sequences, corresponding to the tree of life of the animals, for all groups of sequences analyzed. The ubiquitin sequence was the only one with a high expression profile found in all libraries, inferring its wide range of performance. Our results show the presence, conservation and expression profile of the UPS in this mollusk, providing a basis and new knowledge for other studies involving this system. Due to the importance of the UPS and B. glabrata, this work may influence the search for new methodologies for the control of schistosomiasis114CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQ479890/2013-

Chemical review and studies related to species from the genus Tynanthus (Bignoniaceae)

Species from the Bignoniaceae Family, including the genus Tynanthus, are very prevalent in the tropical Americas, with specimens found in a large part of the Brazilian territory. These plants are commonly used in traditional medicine for several purposes, and some studies have described their chemical structure, in addition to other reports related to some species from this genus. This review aimed to gather information from published works concerning species of the genus Tynanthus, as well as to detect flaws in research related to these plants, which may have great biological and pharmaceutical importance. Also, this review points out some common chemical characteristics of these species, providing information that may help new researchers to improve their knowledge about these plants

Efficacy of menthol as an anesthetic for tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum, Characiformes: Characidae)

Anesthetics are important in fish culture to reduce handling stress and mortality. The objective of this work is to investigate menthol as an anesthetic for tambaqui. In the first series of tests, fish were exposed to various concentrations of menthol to evaluate induction time and stress responses. The second series examined the effect of exposure period to menthol at 150 mg/L on recovery time. The third assessed the best dosage for juveniles in larger tambaqui. The best concentration for surgical anesthesia is 150 mg/L. At this concentration the induction time is short, but their recovery time is significantly longer than that for lower concentrations. For biometry procedures, the best concentration is 100 mg/L. At this concentration the induction time is prolonged, but the recovery time is within the desired period. Recovery time for fish exposed to 150 mg/L is equal for 10, 20 or 30 minutes of exposure. The results confirmed that menthol is an adequate anesthetic for tambaqui.Os anestésicos são importantes na piscicultura para reduzir o estresse e a mortalidade no manejo. Este trabalho tem como objetivo determinar a eficácia do mentol para tambaqui durante o manejo. Na primeira série de testes, foi examinado o efeito da concentração de anestésico sobre indução à anestesia e o estresse de tambaqui. Na segunda série de testes, foi avaliada a recuperação dos peixes após a exposição a uma concentração de 150 mg/L de mentol por diferentes tempos. Na terceira série, foi avaliada se a melhor concentração encontrada para juvenil (150 mg/L) também era adequada para peixes maiores. A melhor concentração para uma anestesia cirúrgica foi 150 mg/L, pois o tempo de indução é rápido, porém a recuperação é significativamente mais demorada do que para as menores concentrações testadas. Para uma anestesia, com finalidade de biometria, a melhor concentração foi 100 mg/L. Nesta concentração o tempo de indução à anestesia é prolongado, porém o tempo de recuperação está dentro da faixa considerada adequada. O tempo de recuperação do tambaqui quando exposto a 150 mg/L é significativamente igual para 10, 20 e 30 minutos de anestesia. Os resultados obtidos mostram que o mentol é um anestésico eficiente para o tambaqui

Search for displaced vertices arising from decays of new heavy particles in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a significant distance from their production point into a final state containing charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.Comment: 8 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version to appear in Physics Letters