Determinantes Sensoriais na Escolha dos Alimentos

A escolha alimentar é um processo complexo que envolve fatores sócio- culturais, económicos, psicológicos, ambientais, e factores relacionados com as caracteristicas, os atributos dos vários alimentos. O conhecimento de tais determinantes do consumo alimentar é uma ferramenta importante para a prevenção e mudança de comportamentos de risco e a escolha de outros saudáveis. Vários autores discutem sobre a necessidade de reflexão de abordagens metodológicas pluridisciplinares na tentativa de melhorar a compreensão deste mecanismo. O principal motor para a alimentação é, obviamente, a fome, mas o que escolhemos comer não é determinado exclusivamente por necessidades fisiológicas ou nutricionais. Alguns dos outros principais fatores que influenciam a escolha dos alimentos incluem (1) l Determinantes biológicos ( tais como a fome, o apetite e, aspetos sensoriais) , (2) Determinantes económicos( tais como o custo, o rendimento e a disponibilidade) (3) Determinantes físicos ( tais como acesso, a educação, as competências , (4) Determinantes sociais( tais como a cultura, a família, os colegas e os padrões de refeições, (5) Determinantes psicológicos ( tais como o humor, o stress e a culpa) e (6) Atitudes, crenças e conhecimentos sobre alimentos. Neste trabalho é apresentado uma reflexão sobre as determinantes sensoriais na escolha dos alimentos, aspectos metodológicos e suas consequências para os diferentes grupos da polução

Avances en la investigación de la relación patogeno-hospedante y de la resistencia genética a enfermedades de la caña de azúcar en Argentina

Esta contribución presenta avances en la investigación de la variabilidad y resistencia genética con relación a “Roya marrón” y “Estría roja” de la caña de azúcar en Argentina. Resultados experimentales de la inoculación con roya en condiciones controladas permitieron postular que tanto la actividad peroxidasa basal como la tasa de su crecimiento con posterioridad a la infección serían mecanismos complementarios que favorecen la expresión de la resistencia a la enfermedad. También se investigó la diversidad molecular en poblaciones de roya con base en 538 marcadores AFLP a partir de muestreos en diferentes variedades y en una amplia faja de distribución de la enfermedad en el NOA. No se detectaron estructuras genéticas diferenciadas según orígenes, comportándose las diferentes poblaciones como una única gran población indiferenciada de uredosporos con alto grado de variabilidad genética intrínseca. Con relación a Estría roja se logró optimizar una técnica efectiva para el aislamiento, identificación y caracterización genética del agente responsable de la enfermedad. Los resultados obtenidos permitieron confirmar que Acidovorax avenae es el agente responsable de estría roja de la caña de azúcar en Argentina, siendo ésta la primera caracterización realizada en la región cañera para esta patología. Por otra parte el análisis de perfiles de REP-PCR y RAPD confirmó la presencia de al menos cuatro biotipos de la enfermedad en aislados de Salta y Tucumán. La existencia de diversidad genética entre aislamientos permite diseñar estrategias de control mediante el uso de variedades resistentes.The paper presents recent progress in the investigation of variability and genetic resistance in relation to Rust and Red stripe diseases of sugar cane in Argentina. Experimental results for rust innoculation under controlled conditions served to postulate that both basal peroxidase activity and its rate of increase after innoculation with the disease could be complementary mechanisms in the expression of resistance in different cultivars. Molecular diversity of rust populations collected in the field in North West Argentina were also investigated based on 538 AFLP markers. Samples collected in different varieties and sites indicated that rust uredospores populations correspond with a single mixed undifferentiated population with a high degree of intrinsic genetic variability. In regard to Red stripe it was possible to optimize an effective procedure for the isolation, identification and genetic characterization of the disease agent. Results permitted for the first time the identification of Acidovorax avenae as the agent responsible for the disease in Argentina. The profile analysis for REP-PC and RAPD indicated the presence of at least four different biotypes of the disease in Salta and Tucumán. The occurrence of genetic diversity among isolates permits the design of strategies for the control of the disease by means of resistant varieties.Fil: Mariotti, Jorge Alberto. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Machado Assefh, Cristina Renata. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Salta; ArgentinaFil: Rech, G.. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Fontana, P. D.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; ArgentinaFil: Collavino, N. G.. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Pocoví, M. I.. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Rago, A. M.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; ArgentinaFil: Daz, Mirta Elizabeth. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Salta; Argentin

Self-reported symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in Portuguese primary school-aged children

Costa D, Cunha M, Ferreira C, et al. Self-reported symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in Portuguese primary school-aged children. BMC Psychiatry. 2020;20(1): 87

Parental Perception of Their Child’s Weight Status in Portugal: An Observational Study

Introduction: Parental perceptions of a child’s weight status may influence family readiness to foster healthy behaviors. Our aim was to observe parental perceptions of their child’s weight status in two time periods and in multiple population subgroups. Methods: Data were collected in two national projects, 2009 - 2010 (n = 6577) and 2016 - 2017 (n = 7594), in public and private kindergartens and primary schools in Portugal (children aged three to 10 years old). Parents filled out a questionnaire regarding their perception of their child’s weight status, namely: 1) too thin, 2) thin, 3) normal weight, 4) with some excess weight, or 5) with a lot of excess weight. Children’s height and weight were objectively collected, and the International Obesity Task Force cut-offs were used to classify overweight and obesity. Accurate and misclassification levels were calculated for children according to their sex, age, as well as child and parental weight status, while considering differences within and between the two time periods. Results: Overall, accuracy in parental perception of their child’s weight was higher in 2016 - 2017 than in 2009 - 2010, regardless of children’s sex, age, parental weight status, and education (65.7% and 60.5%, respectively). However, the ability of parents to detect obesity was ~ 50% lower in 2016 - 2017 compared with 2009 - 2010. Conclusion: Even though parental perception of their child’s weight was better in 2016 - 2017 than in 2009 - 2010 , the inverse result was found among children with obesity. Strategies are needed to encourage parents to improve their perception of the appropriate weight for their child

The relevance of the two calcium sites inthe structure of the catalytic subunit (NrfA)

The Journal of Biological Chemistry Vol. 278, No. 19, Issue of May 9, pp. 17455–17465, 2003The gene encoding cytochrome c nitrite reductase(NrfA) from Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ATCC 27774 was sequenced and the crystal structure of the enzyme was determined to 2.3-Å resolution. In comparison with homologous structures, it presents structural differences mainly located at the regions surrounding the putative substrate inlet and product outlet, and includes a well defined second calcium site with octahedral geometry, coordinated to propionates of hemes 3 and 4, and caged by a loop non-existent in the previous structures. The highly negative electrostatic potential in the environment around hemes 3 and 4 suggests that the main role of this calcium ion may not be electrostatic but structural, namely in the stabilization of the conformation of the additional loop that cages it and influences the solvent accessibility of heme 4. The NrfA active site is similar to that of peroxidases with a nearby calcium site at the heme distal side nearly in the same location as occurs in the class II and class III peroxidases. This fact suggests that the calcium ion at the distal side of the active site in the NrfA enzymes may have a similar physiological role to that reported for the peroxidases

A distributed computation of Interpro Pfam, PROSITE and ProDom for protein annotation

Interpro is a widely used tool for protein annotation in genome sequencing projects, demanding a large amount of computation and representing a huge time-consuming step. We present a strategy to execute programs using databases Pfam, PROSITE and ProDom of Interpro in a distributed environment using a Java-based messaging system. We developed a two-layer scheduling architecture of the distributed infrastructure. Then, we made experiments and analyzed the results. Our distributed system gave much better results than Interpro Pfam, PROSITE and ProDom running in a centralized platform. This approach seems to be appropriate and promising for highly demanding computational tools used for biological applications

The impact of IL-10 dynamic modulation on host immune response against visceral leishmaniasis

Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease caused by protozoan parasites from the genus Leishmania. The most severe form of disease is visceral leishmaniasis (VL), which is fatal if left untreated. It has been demonstrated that interleukin (IL)-10, is associated with disease progression and susceptibility. In this work, we took advantage of a transgenic mouse model that expresses high levels of IL-10 upon zinc sulfate administration (pMT-10). We addressed the role of IL-10 during the initial stages of L. donovani infection by analyzing the parasite burden in the spleen and liver of the infected pMT-10 and WT mice as well as the histopathological alterations upon IL-10 induction. Furthermore, the profile of cytokines expressed by T cells was assessed. Our results demonstrate that an increase in IL-10 production has an impact early but not later after infection. This specific temporal role for IL-10-mediated susceptibility to VL is of interest.Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013) and the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) (contracts SFRH/BD/120127/2016 to IM, PD/BDE/127830/2016 to CF, SFRH/BD/120371/2016 to AMB, IF/01147/2013 to RDO, IF/01390/2014 to ET, IF/00735/2014 to AC, SFRH/BPD/96176/2013 to CC and IF/00021/2014 to RS), and Infect-Era (project INLEISH). JE also thanks the Canada Research Chair program for financial assistanceinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Proposta de treinamento para os coordenadores de merchandising / Training proposal for training coordinators merchandising

Esse estudo refere-se à necessidade de treinamento e qualificação de seus profissionais, visando a importância do mesmo na organização. Em contribuição  para o desenvolvimento deste estudo, verificou-se, por meio de entrevista com o gerente da empresa CBN Distribuição e Logística, a necessidade de treinamento para os coordenadores do setor de merchandising. O objetivo foi propor treinamento para os coordenadores de merchandising, identificando o perfil profissional, para desenvolver uma proposta de treinamento e sugerir um modelo de capacitação para liderança. O método de pesquisa é exploratória e qualitativa. Para a coleta de dados foi utilizado um questionário misto, composto por 19 questões fechadas e  uma aberta, aplicado por via sistema integrado, para 53 promotores da organização. Com o treinamento os coordenadores estarão capacitados para exercerem seus cargos com mais atitude, melhorando seu desempenho e o trabalho em equipe. A partir dos resultados da pesquisa, conclui-se que os resultados apresentados foram, em  média, positivos, porém nota-se que 40% dos participantes da pesquisa apresentam insatisfação em relação aos seus coordenadores, pois há alguns aspectos a serem melhorados, como, por exemplo, trabalho em equipe

Proposta de treinamento para os coordenadores de merchandising / Training proposal for training coordinators merchandising

Esse estudo refere-se à necessidade de treinamento e qualificação de seus profissionais, visando a importância do mesmo na organização. Em contribuição  para o desenvolvimento deste estudo, verificou-se, por meio de entrevista com o gerente da empresa CBN Distribuição e Logística, a necessidade de treinamento para os coordenadores do setor de merchandising. O objetivo foi propor treinamento para os coordenadores de merchandising, identificando o perfil profissional, para desenvolver uma proposta de treinamento e sugerir um modelo de capacitação para liderança. O método de pesquisa é exploratória e qualitativa. Para a coleta de dados foi utilizado um questionário misto, composto por 19 questões fechadas e  uma aberta, aplicado por via sistema integrado, para 53 promotores da organização. Com o treinamento os coordenadores estarão capacitados para exercerem seus cargos com mais atitude, melhorando seu desempenho e o trabalho em equipe. A partir dos resultados da pesquisa, conclui-se que os resultados apresentados foram, em  média, positivos, porém nota-se que 40% dos participantes da pesquisa apresentam insatisfação em relação aos seus coordenadores, pois há alguns aspectos a serem melhorados, como, por exemplo, trabalho em equipe

Mutation in the xpsD gene of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri affects cellulose degradation and virulence

The Gram-negative bacterium Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri, the causal agent of citrus canker, is a major threat to the citrus industry worldwide. Although this is a leaf spot pathogen, it bears genes highly related to degradation of plant cell walls, which are typically found in plant pathogens that cause symptoms of tissue maceration. Little is known on Xac capacity to cause disease and hydrolyze cellulose. We investigated the contribution of various open reading frames on degradation of a cellulose compound by means of a global mutational assay to selectively screen for a defect in carboxymethyl cellulase (CMCase) secretion in X. axonopodis pv. citri. Screening on CMC agar revealed one mutant clone defective in extracellular glycanase activity, out of nearly 3,000 clones. The insertion was located in the xpsD gene, a component of the type II secretion system (T2SS) showing an influence in the ability of Xac to colonize tissues and hydrolyze cellulose. In summary, these data show for the first time, that X. axonopodis pv. citri is capable of hydrolyzing cellulose in a T2SS-dependent process. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the ability to degrade cellulose contributes to the infection process as a whole