The effect of the addition of a commercial bioprotector in characteristics of "alheira" made from Alentejano pig meat

“Alheira” is a traditional fermented sausage usually produced from poultry meat. A new product was developed at a Portuguese traditional meat plant using Alentejano pig breed meat [1]. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of a commercial bioprotector in the physicochemical, microbiological and instrumental texture parameters, as well as in the sensorial attributes of the “alheiras”. Two different treatments were compared, namely control and bioprotector and three end product “alheiras” with three days were used per treatment. One-Way ANOVA was used for statistical analyses. The pH of the “alheiras” with bioprotector (4.29) was lower than the pH of the control treatment (4.48). However, no significant differences were observed between control and bioprotector regarding water activity (aw). The “alheiras” microbiological flora showed no significant differences regarding total mesophiles, total anaerobes, lactic acid bacteria, enterobacteria, Escherichia coli and Listeria spp. The counts of psychrophiles (2×107 cfu/g) and psychrophilic anaerobes (1.7×107 cfu/g) were higher in the control treatment, whereas more yeasts and moulds (7×104 cfu/g) are present in the “alheiras” with bioprotector. No contamination with Salmonella sp. was detected, but some samples showed a minor contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. Further studies are in course to reduce microbial contamination, particularly to eradicate Listeria monocytogenes [2]. Texture Profile Analysis (TPA) results revealed that the adhesiveness of the bioprotector “alheiras” (-0.386 N s) is lower than in the control (-0.2 N s). However, no significant differences were observed for other instrumental texture parameters. Regarding sensorial analysis, although no differences were observed between control and bioprotector “alheiras”, panellists noticed some off tastes in the bioprotector treatment. Considering the results of the end product at three days shelf life, no advantage was seen in the bioprotector “alheiras”. These have lower pH, which could justify the off tastes noticed by some panellists and their higher counts of yeasts and moulds. Acknowledgements This work was supported by national funds through project PRODER (QREN/PRODER/Medida 4.1) and funded by FEDER Funds through the COMPETE and National Funds through FCT under the Strategic Project PEst-C/AGR/UI0115/2011. The authors thank PALADARES ALENTEJANOS, Lda. for their collaboration and A. Oliveira and G. Pias for their technical assistance. References: 1-Elias, M. et al. (2013) “Portuguese traditional sausage, “alheira”, made with different meat: sensory evaluation and texture.” ICoMST 2013 E-Book of Proceedings, 59th International Congress of Meat Science and Technology, Izmir, Turkey, 18-23 August 2013. 2-Felício et al. (2011) “Thermal inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes from alheiras, traditional portuguese sausage during cooking.” Food Control 22, 1960-1964

Evidence on the use of gait analysis - A review

Gait analysis consists of evaluating the individual through kinematic analysis, while walking along a surface. Kinematic analysis relates the relative movement between rigid bodies and finds applications in gait analysis. The purpose of this paper is to find the applications of gait analysis, the methodologies used to perform it and conclude about the different methodologies’ uses. A literature search was performed using PRISMA Guidelines. Twenty-two documents fulfilled the inclusion criteria. A total of 15 different countries presented researches in this topic. The areas within which these papers are published include Sports Medicine (7), Pediatric Medicine (1), General Medicine (11), Occupational Medicine (1), Engineering (2). Gait analysis has many different areas of intervention. Some gait parameters are interrelated and there are a few different methodologies available to perform gait analysis. A comprehensive table of results has been developed, where results are presented.This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020

The Role of Propranolol in the Treatment of Infantile Hemangioma

INTRODUCTION: Infantile hemangioma (IH) is one of the most common childhood tumors. There are various medical or surgical therapeutic options, all with suboptimal results. Recently, the successful use of propranolol for involution of IH was described. We report the results of a single-center experience with this therapeutic option. OBJECTIVE: To prospectively assess the efficacy and safety of propranolol in children with infantile hemangioma. METHODS: We performed a prospective analysis of clinical data of all patients with IH referred to a pediatric cardiology center for baseline cardiovascular assessment prior to propranolol therapy. Propranolol was given at a starting dose of 1 mg/kg/day and titrated to a target dose of 2-3 mg/kg/day according to clinical response. Efficacy was assessed through a photograph-based severity scoring scale. Safety was assessed by collecting data regarding significant side effects. RESULTS: Starting in 2010, 30 patients (15 female) were referred for propranolol treatment of IH, at a median age of six months (1-63 months). The mean target propranolol dose was 2.8 mg/kg/day, with a mean duration of therapy of 12 months. All patients experienced significant reduction of IH size and volume. There were no side effects. CONCLUSIONS: In our experience propranolol appears to be a useful and safe treatment option for severe or complicated IH, achieving a rapid and significant reduction in their size. No adverse effects were observed, although until larger clinical trials are completed, potential adverse events should be borne in mind and consultation with local specialists is recommended prior to initiating treatment

Positive Fluid Balance Was Associated with Mortality in Patients with Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure: a Cohort Study

Purpose: We aimed to study the effect of FB in the outcomes of critically-ill patients with cirrhosis. Materials: Retrospective analysis of all adult consecutive admissions of patients with cirrhosis and organ failures to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Curry Cabral Hospital (Lisbon, Portugal) and University of Alberta Hospital (Edmonton, Canada) on 08/2013-08/2017. Primary exposure was FB at 3 and 7 days post ICU admission. Primary endpoint was hospital mortality. Results: Amongst 333 patients, median age was 56 years and 67.6% were men. Median MELD, APACHEII, CLIF-SOFA, and CLIF-C-ACLF scores on ICU admission were 27, 28, 14, and 54, respectively. ICU and hospital mortality rates were 33.0% and 49.2%, respectively. While median FB at 3 days post ICU admission (+5.46 l vs. +6.62 l; P = 0.74) was not associated with hospital mortality, higher median FB at 7 days post ICU admission (+13.50 l vs. +6.90 l; P = 0.036) was associated with higher hospital mortality. This association remained significant (OR 95%CI = 1.04 [1.01;1.07] per each l) after adjustment for confounders (age, ascites, infection, lactate, and number of organ failures). Conclusions: FB may be a therapeutic target that helps to improve the outcomes of patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure. This data may inform future clinical trials.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A network model of activities in primary care consultations.

OBJECTIVE:The objective of this study is to characterize the dynamic structure of primary care consultations by identifying typical activities and their inter-relationships to inform the design of automated approaches to clinical documentation using natural language processing and summarization methods. MATERIALS AND METHODS:This is an observational study in Australian general practice involving 31 consultations with 4 primary care physicians. Consultations were audio-recorded, and computer interactions were recorded using screen capture. Physical interactions in consultation rooms were noted by observers. Brief interviews were conducted after consultations. Conversational transcripts were analyzed to identify different activities and their speech content as well as verbal cues signaling activity transitions. An activity transition analysis was then undertaken to generate a network of activities and transitions. RESULTS:Observed activity classes followed those described in well-known primary care consultation models. Activities were often fragmented across consultations, did not flow necessarily in a defined order, and the flow between activities was nonlinear. Modeling activities as a network revealed that discussing a patient's present complaint was the most central activity and was highly connected to medical history taking, physical examination, and assessment, forming a highly interrelated bundle. Family history, allergy, and investigation discussions were less connected suggesting less dependency on other activities. Clear verbal signs were often identifiable at transitions between activities. DISCUSSION:Primary care consultations do not appear to follow a classic linear model of defined information seeking activities; rather, they are fragmented, highly interdependent, and can be reactively triggered. CONCLUSION:The nonlinearity of activities has significant implications for the design of automated information capture. Whereas dictation systems generate literal translation of speech into text, speech-based clinical summary systems will need to link disparate information fragments, merge their content, and abstract coherent information summaries

Effects of soil management practices and irrigation on plant water relations and productivity of chestnut stands under Mediterranean conditions

The effects of different soil management practices and irrigation on plant water relations, physiological response and productivity of chestnut stands in Northeastern Portugal were assessed during four growing seasons (2003 to 2006). Treatments were: conventional soil tillage up to 15–20 cm depth with a tine cultivator thrice a year (CT); no tillage with spontaneous herbaceous vegetation (NV); no tillage with rainfed seeded pasture (NP); and no tillage with irrigated seeded pasture (NIP). Results suggest that soil water availability was the most critical parameter for chestnut productivity over the study period. In all treatments, high predawn leaf water potentials (-0.40 to -0.55 MPa) were observed during the dry seasons of 2003, 2004 and 2006, showing no critical conditions for plant productivity, which is ascribed to water availability in deep soil layers. In contrast, in 2005, an extremely dry year, water potentials decreased and varied from -1.46 to - 1.72 MPa in late summer, showing unfavourable conditions for nut production. Maintenance of spontaneous herbaceous vegetation without irrigation enhanced productivity of chestnut stands as compared with the conventional tillage system and the no tillage system with seeded pasture. Productivity in the soil watering system (NIP treatment) was not significantly different from that observed in the NV treatment. Therefore, studies on the irrigation strategy should be developed, in order to increase its efficiency especially in stands with young tree

Polyethyleneiminomethyl phosphonic acid (PEI-MP) radiolabeled with technetium-99m as a potential new radiopharmaceutical for diagnosis of bladder cancer

Introduction: The polymer PEI-MP (polyethyleneiminomethyl phosphonic acid) might be labelled with 99mTc. It was initially synthesized for palliative therapy of bone metastases after convenient radiolabelling, however in biodistribution studies performed with different PEI-MP/radionuclides, was obvious that the bladder wall was a target organ [1-3], demonstrating a certain selectivity to bladder cells, and so, to bladder cancer cells. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of 99mTc-PEI-MP for diagnosis of bladder carcinoma, evaluating in vitro and in vivo the biokinetics and biodistribution of 99mTc-PEI-M

Comparative RNAseq analysis of backfat tissue from local pig breeds.

Alentejano (AL) and Bísaro (BI) are the main local pig breeds in Portugal, but have no information comparing their transcriptomic activity. AL belongs to the Iberian branch, presenting lower growth rates, precociously high adipogenic activity and higher levels of unsaturated fatty acids (FAs) while BI pig is from the Celtic group, sharing ancestors with higher growth rate and leaner commercial breeds. This work intended to explore the genome function of AL and BI to better understand the underlying physiological mechanisms associated with body fat accretion, lipid composition and meat quality. Dorsal subcutaneous fat (DSF) samples were collected from AL and BI fattening pigs, with ~150kg BW at slaughter. Total RNA was obtained and sequenced for transcriptome analysis. Bioinformatic analyses using three different tools (Cufflinks, EdgeR and DESeq2) were performed. A total of 367, 137 and 155 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (q-value0.8) were found using the Cufflinks, EdgeR and DESeq2 pipelines, respectively, between AL and BI DSF samples. EdgeR and DESeq2 shared a total 121 DEGs (~71% overlap) while Cufflinks showed divergent results (2.7% overlap with EdgeR and 5.5% with DESeq2). A functional enrichment analysis of the candidate DEGs was performed using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. Synthesis of lipid, depletion of glycogen, mass of organism and accumulation of oleic acid were revealed as main involved functions (p-value<0.05) though no directional activation state was observed (-2<Zscore<2). Potential upstream regulators that explain the obtained results such as TCF7L2 and RIPK2 were predicted to be activated and inhibited in AL, respectively. Moreover, 4 causal networks with RIT2, KL, FLCN and RIPK2 as master regulators were inhibited in AL while another with PPARGC1B was activated. These results present the first high-throughput transcriptomic data involving these local breeds and can help explain the metabolic differences that occur in the adipose tissue and shed light into specific meat quality traits