CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIMICROBIAL PROPERTIES OF THREE ESSENTIAL OILS FROM PORTUGUESE FLORA

The present work reports on the evaluation of chemical composition and antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of essential oils of three aromatic herbs, growing wild in the south of Portugal, used in traditional food preparations: Foeniculum vulgare, Mentha spicata and Rosmarinus officinalis. The principal components of essential oils were anethole (41.2%) for F. vulgare, carvone (41.1%) for M. spicata and myrcene (23.7%) for R. officinalis. Essential oils showed antioxidant activity either by DPPH radical scavenging method and system β- carotene/acid linoleic method. Antimicrobial activity of essential oils was observed against pathogenic bacteria and yeasts and food spoilage fungi. F.vulgare essential oil showed bacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella enteritidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Aspergillus niger and Fusarium oxysporum with MICs of 0.25-0.75mg/mL. M. spicata oil was active against E.coli, S.aureus, C.albicans, A. niger and F. oxysporum with MICs ranging between 0.25 and 0.75mg/mL. R. officinalis essential oil showed activity against E.coli and C.albicans with MICs of 0.5-1.0mg/mL. Having in account the important antioxidant and antimicrobial properties observed in present work, we consider that these essential oils might be useful on pharmaceutical and food industry as natural antibiotic and food preservativ

Molecular evaluation of some Amanita ponderosa and fungal strains living in association with these mushrooms in the south western Iberian Peninsula

Amanita ponderosa are wild edible mushrooms that grow only in some microclimates, particularly those in the southwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula. Due to the vast diversity of mushrooms in nature, as well as nutrient variability, which is highly dependent on soil type and environmental conditions, it is essential to be able to characterize fungal microbiota that lives in association with mushrooms and to differentiate A. ponderosa strains of different regions for certification purposes. In this study, we characterized the genetic profile of A. ponderosa mushrooms and the fungal strains that live in association with them in their natural habitat and compared the fingerprinting profiles obtained by M13-PCR amplification of the genomic DNA.We found that the predominant fungal isolates living in association with A. ponderosa were Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp. and Mucor spp. M13-PCR molecular analysis showed that different fungal isolates had different genetic profiles. This approach allowed us to differentiate the different fungi strains isolated from fruiting bodies of A. ponderosa both rapidly and in a reproducible manner and to group them according to genus. Our fingerprinting analyses also distinguished different A. ponderosa mushrooms collected from different regions. Consequently, we conclude that this method is a very discriminatory approach for differentiating both A. ponderosa from different sites and the fungal microbiota that lives in association with these mushrooms

Caracterização Inorgânica de Cogumelos Amanita Ponderosa: Abordagem em Data Mining

A espécie silvestre de cogumelos Amanita ponderosa é característica de microclimas da Península Ibérica. Gastronomicamente é muito relevante, devido não só ao consumo tradicional das populações rurais, mas também devido ao seu valor comercial nos mercados gourmet. Desta forma a caracterização mineral de cogumelos comestíveis torna-se extremamente importante para os processos de certificação e comercialização. O objetivo deste estudo focou a análise da composição inorgânica de corpos de frutificação de A. ponderosa (Ca, K, Mg, Na, P, Ag, Al, Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb e Zn) e seus respetivos substratos de solo de 24 pontos de amostragem diferentes do sudoeste da Península Ibérica (nomeadamente Alentejo, Andaluzia e Extremadura). A análise da composição mineral revelou alto conteúdo em macroelementos, tais como: potássio, fósforo e magnésio, presença de oligoelementos importantes e baixos teores de metais pesados nos limites da Dose Diária Recomendada (DDR). O fenómeno de bioconcentração foi observado para alguns macro e microelementos, tais como K, Cu, Zn, Mg, P, Ag e Cd. Por outro lado, observou-se que os corpos de frutificação de Amanita ponderosa apresentam diferentes perfis inorgânicos de acordo com a sua localização. Metodologias de Data Mining foram aplicadas de forma a estudar a composição mineral dos corpos de frutificação de A. ponderosa, tendo sido utilizado o método de agrupamento "k-means" recorrendo a Árvores de Decisão (DTs) de forma a explicar o modelo de segmentação. Os resultados apontaram que é possível gerar um modelo explicativo de segmentação, realizado com dados baseados na composição inorgânica de cogumelos e conteúdo mineral do solo, mostrando a possibilidade de relacionar esses dois tipos de dados

Avaliação da composição química e actividade biológica de óleos essenciais de Lavandula spp.

As Lavandula spp. pertencem à família Lamiaceae, conhecidas vulgarmente por rosmaninho, são das plantas medicinais mais populares e de grande importância económica. Têm sido utilizadas durante séculos, secas, frescas ou os seus óleos essenciais, num grande número de aplicações, na indústria farmacêutica, na aromaterapia e cosmética como fragrância. Algumas espécies do género Lavandula, apesar de apresentarem propriedades etnobotânicas semelhantes, diferem na composição dos óleos essenciais, podendo estes constituir importantes marcadores de quimiotipo para caracterização destas espécies. Para este estudo foram seleccionadas espécies expontâneas do Alentejo, como a L. stoechas L. subsps. luisieri (Rozeira) Rozeira, L. pedunculata (Mill.) Cav. subsp. pedunculata var. lusitanica Chaytor, e do Algarve, L. viridis L’Hér. Estes espécimes são frequentes nos sub-bosques de azinhais, sobreirais e pinhais de pinheiro bravo, matagais, estevais e sargaçais, em solos arenosos, quartzíticos, graníticos ou xistosos. O objectivo deste estudo foi caracterizar os óleos essenciais das espécies-alvo no que concerne à composição química com vista a avaliar a sua diversidade e avaliar as actividades antimicrobiana e antioxidante dos óleos essenciais da espiga e folha de L. luisieri e de L. viridis

Origin and emplacement of syn-orogenic Variscan granitoids in Iberia the Beiras massif

The Beiras batholith consists of four main Variscan granitoid suites intruded into metasediments of Proterozoic-Cambrian and Palaeozoic age in Central Northern Portugal: a) the early, syn-D3 granodiorite-monzogranite suite (314-311 Ma); b) the highly peraluminous syn-D3 two-mica/leucogranite suite (308 Ma); c) the late-post-D3 granodiorite-monzogranite suite (306 Ma) and (d) the late-post-D3, peraluminous, biotite-muscovite granite suite (300-295 Ma). Major, trace and isotopic data suggest that the S-type synkinematic two-mica granites result from moderate degrees of partial melting under vapour absent conditions of middle crustal metasedimentary sources comparable to the Proterozoic-Cambrian metapelite-metagraywacke units presently exposed in the studied area. A major contribution from metaigneous lower crust materials and/or interaction with mantle derived magmas appears to be required to produce the early, syn-D3 granodiorite-monzogranite suite. The emplacement of large volumes of late-post-kinematic granites showing decoupled high-K calc-alkaline and peraluminous signatures documents the importance of combined fractional crystallization and mixing processes (AFC) in granite petrogenesis. In a scenario of post-collisional re-equilibration of a thickened lithosphere, asthenospheric mantle upwelling and underplating of abundant basaltic melts at base of the crust is thought to have lead to widespread dehydration melting of lower-to mid-crustal lithologies and consequent formation of peraluminous granite magmas (syn-D3 two-mica granites). Mixing to various degrees of anatectic crustal melts with a juvenile asthenospheric mantle component is considered the major controlling process involved in the production of the late-post-D3, high-K calc-alkaline suite. Concomitant fractional crystallization can explain the geochemical signatures of the more evolved rocks, including those of the late-post-D3, peraluminous, biotite-muscovite granites

Evaluation of Phytosterols in Milk and Yogurts Used as Functional Foods in Portu

The early development of cardiovascular diseases, one of the major death causes in Europe, is clearly associated with high plasmatic cholesterol levels. However, it is demonstrated that the ingestion of phytosterols enriched milk and yogurts could reduce cholesterolemia. The purpose of the present work was to assess the commercially available phytosterols-enriched milk and yogurts. As such, the available three milk and seven yogurt presentations in Portuguese market were collected during 2008 and analyzed through gas chromatography coupled with mass detection. All the analyzed milk samples were in agreement with the proportion established by the European Commission, with β-sitosterol as the more abundant phytosterol. However, and contrarily to milk, the different yogurt manufacturers had different options in the phytosterols added to the dairy foods commercialized

An Assessment of Pharmacological Properties of Schinus Essential Oils: A Soft Computing Approach

Plants of genus Schinus are native South America and introduced in Mediterranean countries, a long time ago. Some Schinus species have been used in folk medicine, and Essential Oils of Schinus spp. (EOs) have been reported as having antimicrobial, anti-tumoural and anti-inflammatory properties. Such assets are related with the EOs chemical composition that depends largely on the species, the geographic and climatic region, and on the part of the plants used. Considering the difficulty to infer the pharmacological properties of EOs of Schinus species without a hard experimental setting, this work will focus on the development of an Artificial Intelligence grounded Decision Support System to predict pharmacological properties of Schinus EOs. The computational framework was built on top of a Logic Programming Case Base approach to knowledge representation and reasoning, which caters to the handling of incomplete, unknown, or even self-contradictory information. New clustering methods centered on an analysis of attribute’s similarities were used to distinguish and aggregate historical data according to the context under which it was added to the Case Base, therefore enhancing the prediction process

Effect of metallic ions on the adhesion of biofilms formed by Pseudomonas fluorescens

Data on the adhesion of biofilms formed by Pseudomonas fluorescens to aluminium, copper and brass surfaces are reported in this paper. Biofilm thicknesses after 48 h were lower on the brass plates than on the other two metals. The results are compared with predictions of bacterial adhesion obtained by the method of van Oss et al. (C.J. van Oss, M.K. Chaudhury and R.J. Good, Chem. Rev., 88 (1988) 927), based on the evaluation of the change in the free energy of adhesion of the interacting systems. The presence of metallic ions released by the surfaces into the environment seemed to affect bacterial metabolism and adhesion and were taken into account to explain the discrepancies between experimental data and thermodynamic predictions. The possible effects of the extracellular polymers excreted by the bacteria on their attachment abilities are also stressed.(undefined