8th International symposium on delivery of functionality in complex food systems (DOF 2019)

[Excerpt] The timeless statement “tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are”, written by Brillat-Savarin in 1825 in one of the most important early books on digestion, The Physiology of Taste, these days addresses new and exciting perspectives. Accumulating research makes us realize that in order to be healthy, we must ensure our food delivers health-promoting nutrients and bioactive components that are ideally tailored to our individual needs. Functional foods, recognized now for several decades, are those that deliver health benefits beyond our basic nutritional needs. The numerous challenges facing food scientists and technologists include identifying effective nutraceuticals, extracting them, protecting them against damage during processing, shelf life and digestion, and enhancing their bioavailability and bioefficacy, without adversely affecting the food product’s safety and sensory properties. [...]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Towards the understanding of the behavior of bio-based nanostructures during in vitro digestion

The encapsulation of bioactive compounds in bio-based nanostructures is considered a hot topic in food technology, due to their huge potential in protecting the valuable bioactive compounds and providing new functionalities (e.g. increase of bioavailability). However, there are still some challenges that must be overcome before this technology can be entirely embraced by food industry, including the optimisation of nanostructures formulations to increase stability and bioactive compounds bioavailability and the risk assessment of their use in food. Therefore, in recent years, efforts are being directed to the evaluation of the in vitro behaviour of nanostructures during digestion/absorption. This evaluation can be challenging, however, there are opportunities to take advantage from the lessons learned from pharmaceutical industry and of the considerable progress in the development of more realistic in vitro models and in situ analysis techniques to more accurately predict the behaviour of bio-based nanostructures once ingested.Ana C. Pinheiro acknowledge the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for her fellowship (SFRH/BPD/101181/2014). This work was supported by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the Project PTDC/AGR-TEC/5215/2014 and of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 — Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. The authors would also like to thank the investment project n° 017931, co-funded by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) through Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (COMPETE 2020).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Production and characterization of spray-dried theophylline powders prepared from fresh milk for potential use in paediatrics

"This is the accepted version of the following article: Production and characterization of spray-dried theophylline powders prepared from fresh milk for potential use in paediatrics (2017). J Pharm Pharmacol, 69: 554–566, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jphp.12612 . This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with the Wiley Self-Archiving Policy [http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-820227.html]."Objective: This work evaluates the potential of using fresh milk to deliver theophylline to children.Methods: Theophylline–fresh milk systems were prepared using different solids ratios (0 : 1–1 : 0) and three fat contents in commercial milks (low, medium and high), which were spray-dried at different inlet air temperatures (Tinlet – 105, 130 and 150 °C). The process was evaluated for yield and the resulting powders for moisture content (MC), particle size and shape, density and wettability. Theophylline–milk potential interactions (differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and FT-IR) and chemical (theophylline content) and microbiological stability of powders (shelf and in-use) were also evaluated.Key Findings: The production yield (13.6–76.0%), MC (0.0–10.3%) and contact angles in water (77.29–93.51°) were significantly (P < 0.05) affected by Tinlet, but no differences were found concerning the mean particle size (3.0–4.3 μm) of the different powders. The milk fat content significantly (P < 0.05) impacted on the density (1.244–1.552 g/cm3). Theophylline content remained stable after 6 months of storage, before extemporaneous reconstitution. After reconstitution in water, low-fat milk samples (stored at 4 °C) met the microbial pharmacopoeia criteria for up to 7 days. No theophylline–milk components interaction was observed.Conclusion: Spray-dried milk-composed powders may be used as vehicles for theophylline delivery in paediatrics following further characterization and in-vivo evaluation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

2011 Report of NSF Workshop Series on Scientific Software Security Innovation Institute

Over the period of 2010-2011, a series of two workshops were held in response to NSF Dear Colleague Letter NSF 10-050 calling for exploratory workshops to consider requirements for Scientific Software Innovation Institutes (S2I2s). The specific topic of the workshop series was the potential benefits of a security-focused software institute that would serve the entire NSF research and development community. The first workshop was held on August 6th, 2010 in Arlington, VA and represented an initial exploration of the topic. The second workshop was held on October 26th, 2011 in Chicago, IL and its goals were to 1) Extend our understanding of relevant needs of MREFC and large NSF Projects, 2) refine outcome from first workshop with broader community input, and 3) vet concepts for a trusted cyberinfrastructure institute. Towards those goals, the participants other 2011workshop included greater representation from MREFC and large NSF projects, and, for the most part, did not overlap with the participants from the 2010 workshop. A highlight of the second workshop was, at the invitation of the organizers, a presentation by Scott Koranda of the LIGO project on the history of LIGO’s identity management activities and how those could have benefited from a security institute. A key analysis he presented is that, by his estimation, LIGO could have saved 2 senior FTE-years of effort by following suitable expert guidance had it existed. The overarching finding from the workshops is that security is a critical crosscutting issue for the NSF software infrastructure and recommended a security focused activity to address this issue broadly, for example a security software institute (S2I2) under the SI2 program. Additionally, the 2010 workshop participants agreed to 15 key additional findings, which the 2011 workshop confirmed, with some refinement as discussed in this report.NSF Grant # 1043843Ope

Physical effects upon whey protein aggregation for nano-coating production

Production of edible nanostructures constitutes a major challenge in food nanotechnology, and has attracted a great deal of interest from several research fields — including (but not limited to) food packaging. Furthermore, whey proteins are increasingly used as nutritional and functional ingredients owing to their important biological, physical and chemical functionalities. Besides their technological and functional characteristics, whey proteins are generally recognized as safe (GRAS). Denaturation and aggregation kinetics behavior of such proteins are of particular relevance toward manufacture of novel nanostructures possessing a number of potential uses. When these processes are properly engineered and controlled, whey proteins may form nanostructures useful as carriers of bioactive compounds (e.g. antimicrobials, antioxidants and nutraceuticals). This review discusses the latest advances in nano-scale phenomena involved in protein thermal aggregation aiming at formation of bio-based nano-coating networks. The extent of aggregation is dependent upon a balance between molecular interactions and environmental factors; therefore, the impact of these conditions is addressed in a critical manner. A particular emphasis is given to the effect of temperature as long as being one of the most critical variables. The application of moderate electric fields (MEF), an emergent approach, as such or combined with conventional heating is considered as it may inhibit/prevent excessive denaturation and aggregation of whey proteins — thus opening new perspectives for development of innovative protein nanostructures (i.e. nano-coatings). A better understanding of the mechanism(s) involved in whey protein denaturation and aggregation is crucial as it conveys information relevant to select methods for manipulating interactions between molecules, and thus control their functional properties in tailor-made applications in the food industry.Oscar L. Ramos and Ricardo N. Pereira gratefully acknowledge Post-Doctoral grants (SFRH/BPD/80766/2011 and SFRH/BPD/81887/2011, respectively) by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal). All authors thank the FCT Strategic Project PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013 and Project "BioEnv - Biotechnology and Bioengineering for a sustainable world", REF. NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000048, co-funded by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2 - O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER

Protein-based structures for food applications: from macro to nanoscale

Novel food structures' development through handling of macroscopic and microscopic properties of bio-based materials (e.g., size, shape, and texture) is receiving a lot of attention since it allows controlling or changing structures' functionality. Proteins are among the most abundant and employed biomaterials in food technology. They are excellent candidates for creating novel food structures due to their nutritional value, biodegradability, biocompatibility, generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status and molecular characteristics. Additionally, the exploitation of proteins' gelation and aggregation properties can be used to encapsulate bioactive compounds inside their network and produce consistent delivery systems at macro-, micro-, and nanoscale. Consequently, bioactive compounds which are exposed to harsh storage and processing conditions and digestion environment may be protected and their bioavailability could be enhanced. In this review, a range of functional and structural properties of proteins which can be explored to develop macro-, micro-, and nanostructures with numerous promising food applications was discussed. Also, this review points out the relevance of scale on these structures' properties, allowing appropriate tailoring of protein-based systems such as hydrogels and micro- or nanocapsules to be used as bioactive compounds delivery systems. Finally, the behavior of these systems in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and the impact on bioactive compound bioavailability are thoroughly discussed.JM and AP acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for their fellowships (SFRH/BPD/89992/2012 and SFRH/BPD/101181/2014). This work was supported by Portuguese FCT under the scope of the Project PTDC/AGR-TEC/5215/2014, of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684), and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020—Programa Operacional Regional do Norte.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio