Poluição por partículas. Um estudo de magnetismo ambiental com biocolectores em Braga, Porto, Valongo e Trancoso (Norte de Portugal)

This work presents an assessment on the pollution levels in plant leaves from 5 selected sites, 4 in urban areas and one in a rural area. It was used an environmental magnetism study with particle biological collectors (Nerium oleander L., Quercus spp., Tilia spp. e Platanus spp.). The results pointed out the contrast between sites with high traffic and the countryside. When comparing the biological collectors, Quercus leaves had higher efficiency to accumulate particles, while Platanus leaves showed the lowest value

Shelf-life extension and quality improvement of a Portuguese traditional ready-to-eat meat product with vinegar

Cabec a de xara is a traditional ready-to-eat meat product (RTEMP) from the Portuguese region of Alentejo. It is a moulded galantine made of low value pork pieces. The aim of this work was to test the addition of vinegar in reducing the spoilage microbiota, as well as controlling Listeria monocytogenes, in order to increase the shelf-life of cabec a de xara. Physicochemical (fatty acids and biogenic amines profiles), microbiological (mesophiles, psychrotrophic bacteria, enterobacteria, yeasts and L. monocytogenes) and sensory analyses were performed throughout the storage period. RTEMP vinegar samples always showed lower microbiological counts than control samples. Moreover, RTEMP vinegar samples showed significantly lower contents in vasoactive amines throughout the storage period, which might be explained by their significantly lower enterobacteria counts. Concerning sensory analysis, RTEMP vinegar samples generally scored higher in overall appreciation. Our results showed that shelf-life of cabec a de xara may be extended from 1 to 3 months

Interventions To Improve Patients' Compliance With Therapies Aimed At Lowering Glycated Hemoglobin (hba1c) In Type 1 Diabetes: Systematic Review And Meta-analyses Of Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials Of Psychological, Telecare, And Educational Interventions

Brazilian records on glycemic control in patients with type 1 diabetes show treatment efficacy. Poor patient adherence to therapeutic proposals influences these results and can be associated with social, psychological, and economic aspects, besides others factors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of psychological, telecare, and educational interventions to improve treatment compliance among patients with type 1 diabetes. Compliance was assessed indirectly using reduction of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) as the principal outcome measure. Methods: Systematic review and meta-analyses of randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) were performed using Medline, Embase, Cochrane and Scopus databases up to April 2015. The following medical subject headings were used: Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1, Patient Compliance or Adherence, Hemoglobin A, glycated, and Randomized Controlled Trial. The principal outcome was change in HbA1c between baseline and follow-up. Where appropriate, trials were combined in meta-analysis using fixed effects models. Results: From 191 articles initially identified, 57 were full text reviewed, and 19 articles met the inclusion criteria providing data from 1782 patients (49.4 % males, age 18 years). The RCTs (2 to 24 months in duration) were divided into four groups according to type of intervention: psychology (seven studies; 818 patients), telecare (six studies; 494 patients); education (five studies; 349 patients), and psychoeducation (one study; 153 patients). All studies reported some type of adherence measurement of the interventions. Decrease in HbA1c was observed after psychology (MD -0.310; 95 % CI, -0.599 to -0.0210, P = 0.035) but not after telecare (MD -0.124 %; 95 % CI, -0.268, 0.020; P = 0.090) or educational (MD -0.001; 95 % CI, -0.202, 0.200; P = 0.990) interventions. Conclusion: Psychological approaches to improve adherence to diabetes care treatment modestly reduced HbA1c in patients with type 1 diabetes; telecare and education interventions did not change glycemic control. However, the limited number of studies included as well as their methodological quality should be taken into account. © 2016 Viana et al.17

Transcriptomic analysis of plasmid and plasmid-related chromosomal ORFs in C. trachomatis strains with different cell-appetence

Despite the undergoing chromosomal size-reduction of Chlamydia trachomatis, almost all strains maintain the conserved 7,5kb plasmid. It has been recently considered a virulence factor, as plasmid-bearing strains evidenced a higher ability to successfully colonize epithelial cells and sustain infection than plasmidless strains. However, the biological role of the eight plasmid ORFs remains poorly characterized. Thus, we aim to correlate the relative expression of each plasmid ORFs with the number of plasmids per genome as well as with the relative expression of chromosomal genes that seem to be regulated by the plasmid, during the whole Chlamydia developmental cycle. Both the transcriptomic analysis of all the selected ORFs and the determination of the plasmid copy number were performed by qPCR in prototype and currently circulating strains with distinct cell-appetence and ecological success, throughout Chlamydia developmental cycle. So far, our results indicate: 1) huge differences (up to 100-fold) in the expression levels between plasmid ORFs; 2) for the same ORF, different expression levels and profiles among strains; 3) variation in the number of plasmids per genome during the infectious cycle; 4) the higher expression level of the plasmid ORFs do not seem to correlate with a higher number of plasmids per genome. These results, together with our ongoing transcriptomic survey of the plasmid-related chromosomal genes, will contribute to shed some light on the molecular function of the plasmid ORFs in chlamydial biology

Molecular features underlying the higher ecological success of C. trachomatis E and F genotypes

In the light of the >98% genomic similarity among Chlamydia trachomatis serovars, the higher worldwide ecological success of E and F is enigmatic. We intend to provide a quick overview of the molecular data that distinguish these from the remaining strains. Examples are: - E and F possess a similar chromosomal genetic make-up distinct from the remaining genotypes. Some loci linked to this independent co-segregation comprehend membrane proteins, hypothetical virulence factors, and regulatory regions (published data). - Some loci reveal nonrandom mutational patterns, where mutations exclusive of E and F are clustered in specific protein domains, likely promoting strains functional and/or structural attributes (published data). - Based on data from a worldwide survey, MOMP of E and F exhibit the lowest mutation rate (22.3-fold lower), implying more fitted antigenic profiles to deal with host immunity (published data). - The likelihood of E and F strains to undergo genetic recombination is about 12-fold lower than that of the other genotypes (P<10-2), suggesting a putative clonal evolution, where superimposed favorable clones may be strongly maintained in vivo (preliminary data from our lab). - Strains E and F do not seem to originate higher infectious load in vivo, when compared with other genital genotypes (published data). Full-genomic data from multiple and diverse clinical isolates will be essential to decipher the secret behind the higher ecological success of E and F strains

Characterisation of "Catalão" and "Salsichão" Portuguese traditional sausages with salt reduction

The present study evaluated the effect of salt reduction on traditional dry-cured sausages' safety, quality and product acceptance, comprising physicochemical and microbiological parameters, biogenic amines, fatty acids, texture profile and sensory analysis. According to our results, salt content had a major effect on microbiological counts, although not compromising the products' safety. Marked differences were identified regarding biogenic amines, in particular for histamine, tyramine and cadaverine, which were detected in larger amounts in products with 3%. Moreover, significant differences in the fatty acids profile have also been found, but only in less abundant components such as linoleic, lauric and heneicosanoic acids. Texture profile analysis of low-salt products, revealed a decrease in hardness and chewiness, along with an increase in adhesiveness values. Sensory evaluations revealed that despite the less intense aroma, products with 3% salt, had a more balanced salt perception. Our results suggest that salt content may be reduced to 50% in dry-cured products, with the obvious health-related advantages

O Preço dos Medicamentos Genéricos em Portugal (2011-2012): Estado, Cidadão e Farmácia

Nowadays, generic medicines are used to reduce the health expenses in Portugal. These medicines arise when the reference medicine patent expires and have usually a lower price in order to contribute to the sustainability of the National Health Service. The Portuguese market of generic medicines began to increase since 2003. This was the consequence of the policies implemented to promote generic medicines. The prices of generic medicines have been declining constantly over the years, with a decrease of 42 % only from 2011 to 2012. The average reimbursement of medicines has a tendency to decrease which increases the amount that the patients pay. In this context, pharmacies live a critical period because of the decrease of the profit margins that are in some cases negative. Due to these situations, the accessibility to medicines by patients is questioned, since Portugal live in an economic and social crisis accompanied by a potential decrease of the pharmaceutical services coverage. Os medicamentos genéricos são, atualmente, uma forma de diminuir as despesas em Saúde em Portugal. Estes medicamentos surgem quando expira a patente de um medicamento original e apresentam, normalmente, um preço mais baixo contribuindo, assim, para a sustentabilidade do Serviço Nacional de Saúde. A quota de mercado dos medicamentos genéricos começou a aumentar a partir de 2003 refletindo as medidas implementadas de promoção dos medicamentos genéricos. Os preços destes medicamentos tem vindo a diminuir continuadamente ao longo dos anos, havendo uma redução de 42 % apenas do ano de 2011 para 2012. As taxas médias de comparticipação dos medicamentos apresentam uma tendência para diminuir levando a um aumento dos encargos em medicamentos por parte dos cidadãos. Ainda, neste âmbito, as farmácias vivem uma fase crítica, uma vez que, as margens de lucro tem vindo a diminuir, sendo em alguns casos negativas. Devido a estes fatores, questiona-se a acessibilidade aos medicamentos por parte dos utentes uma vez que vivemos uma crise económica e social acompanhada de uma potencial diminuição da cobertura farmacêutica.

The relationship between fatty acids and fish: lesser-known aspects and the need for increasingly efficient analytical techniques

When we associate the word fatty acids with fish, most people identify fish as sources of fatty acids from the omega families. This relationship is always present in the valuation of nutritional quality of fish. However, fatty acids have many other crucial functions in fish. The oldest studies related to fatty acids focused essentially on their role as sources metabolic energy in the form of ATP through β-oxidation. Many studies referred the fatty acid role for migrations, energy production during growth and egg formation, among others. Soon fatty acids quickly began to be studied from the point of view of source of essential nutrients for several physiological processes and integral components of biological membranes. The high content of highly polyunsaturated fatty acids found in fish is related to the fact that they are poikilothermic. In the presence of various temperature scenarios, fish can effectively exploit a wide chemical diversity of membrane fatty acid profiles, to defend their physical properties, such as fluidity. In the last decades, fatty acids have been used as either biomarkers because they are limited to certain taxa and they can be transferred conservatively from primary producers to higher trophic level or stock identifiers because the fatty acid composition of phospholipids in some body tissues have a stable genetics basis. In the last decades multiple techniques have been used for fatty acid analysis. As a rule, before the instrumental analysis, the sample requires 2 previous steps. These comprise extraction of lipids from the matrix and derivatization. The combination of these two stages generates multiple methodologies that are not always standardized. Soon, the analysis of fatty acids tends to reduce and standardize these previous analyses while the instrumental analysis should solve problems related to similar mass spectra of the isomers and coelution between fatty acidsFundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) for a PhD scholarship UI/BD/153381/2022.This work was funding by National Funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology under the Project PTDC/BIA-BMA/030517/2017 and the Portuguese Science Foundation through the strategy plan for MED (Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development), via project UIDB/05183/2020, for MARE (Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre), via project UIDB/04292/2020, UID/50006/2020, and under the project LA/P/0069/2020 granted to the Associate Laboratory ARNET; and for LAQV-REQUIMTE, via project UIDB/50006/2020 and UIDP/50006/202

Impact of salt reduction on biogenic amines, fatty acids, microbiota, texture and sensory profile in traditional blood dry-cured sausages

Meat industry needs to reduce salt in their products due to health issues. The present study evaluated the effect of salt reduction from 6% to 3% in two Portuguese traditional blood dry-cured sausages. Physicochemical and microbiological parameters, biogenic amines, fatty acids and texture profiles and sensory panel evaluations were considered. Differences due to salt reduction were perceptible in a faint decline of water activity, which slightly favoured microbial growth. Total biogenic amines content ranged from 88.86 to 796.68 mg kg 1 fresh matter, with higher amounts, particularly of cadaverine, histamine and tyramine, in low-salt products. Still, histamine and other vasoactive amines remained at low levels, thus not affecting consumers’ health. Regarding fatty acids, no significant differences were observed due to salt. However, texture profile analysis revealed lower resilience and cohesiveness in low-salt products, although no textural changes were observed by the sensory panel. Nevertheless, low-salt sausages were clearly preferred by panellists

Addition of vinegar to extend the shelf-life of "Cabeça de Xara"

Cabeça de xara es un producto de carne listos para comer, cuya producción es muy característica en el Alentejo, una región de Portugal. Es una galantina que generalmente se moldea en forma de paralelepípedo. Se elabora con varias carnes obtenidas de la raza porcina Alentejana y criada en la misma región, cabezas de cerdo deshuesadas, lengua y tejido conectivo, a la que se le añade una serie de condimentos como sal, perejil, vino y pimienta. Este trabajo se pretende poner a prueba la viabilidad de añadir vinagre con el fin de aumentar la vida útil de la cabeça de xara, mediante la reducción de la microbiota contaminante responsables del deterioro, así como el control del patógeno Listeria monocytogenes. Tres lotes independientes fueron producidos y con composición proximal parecida, se evaluó pH, aw, parámetros microbiológicos y contenido de aminas biogénicas. El análisis sensorial se realizó también durante todo el período de almacenamiento. No se encontraron diferencias significativas entre las muestras control y vinagre en cuanto a la composición proximal de cabeça de xara. Como era de esperar, el pH fue menor en las muestras con vinagre, sin embargo se observaron diferencias en aw entre los dos tratamientos. L. monocytogenes estuvo presente desde el primer mes sólo en un lote, en el tratamiento control. Sin embargo, es inhibida por la adición de vinagre de vino hasta el tercer mes de almacenamiento, donde L. monocytogenes está presente pero por debajo del límite establecido en el Reglamento 2073/2005. La presencia de vinagre redujo significativamente el contenido de aminas biógenicas, en particular cadaverina, putrescina y tiramina, durante todo el período de almacenamiento. En cuanto a la evaluación sensorial, el sabor a vinagre fue evaluado por los panelistas de manera negativa