Antioxidant,antimicrobial and toxicological properties of Schinus molle L. essential oils

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Schinus molle L. has been used in folk medicine as antibacterial, antiviral, topical antiseptic, antifungal, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumoural as well as antispasmodic and analgesic; however, there are few studies of pharmacological and toxicological properties of S. molle essential oils. Aim of the study: The aim of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of S. molle leaf and fruit essential oils, correlated with their chemical composition and evaluate their acute toxicity. Materials and methods: The chemical composition of S. molle leaf and fruit essential oils were evaluated by GC-FID and GC-MS. Antioxidant properties were determined using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical and β-carotene/linoleic acid methods. Antimicrobial properties were evaluated by the agar disc diffusion method and minimal inhibitory concentration assay. Toxicity in Artemia salina and acute toxicity with behavioural screening in mice were evaluated. Results: The dominant compounds found in leaf and fruit essential oils (EOs) were monoterpene hydrocarbons, namely -phellandrene, β-phellandrene, β-myrcene, limonene and α-pinene. EOs showed low scavenging antioxidant activity by the DPPH free radical method and a higher activity by the β-carotene/linoleic acid method. Antimicrobial activity of EOs was observed for Gram+, Gram– pathogenic bacteria and food spoilage fungi. EOs showed cytotoxicity for Artemia salina and lower toxicity in Swiss mice. Conclusions: The result showed that EOs of leaves and fruits of S. molle demonstrated antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, suggesting their potential use in food or pharmaceutical industries

Level, slope, curvature of the sovereign yield curve, and fiscal behaviour

We study fiscal behaviour and the sovereign yield curve in the US and Germany. We obtain the latent factors, level, slope and curvature, with the Kalman filter, and use them in a VAR with macro, fiscal and financial stress variables. In the US, fiscal shocks generate an immediate response of the short-end of the yield curve, associated with monetary policy, lasting 6–8 quarters, followed by a response of the whole yield curve lasting 3 years, with an implied elasticity of long-term yields of 80% for the government debt shock and 48% for the budget balance shock. In Germany, fiscal shocks have entailed no significant reactions of the yield curve shape and no response of the monetary policy interest rate, notably after 1999; only in the case of debt shocks there is a short-lived decrease in the medium-end of the yield curve in the following 2nd and 3rd quarters.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Microencapsulation of thyme oil by coacervation

In this work we have developed a process to encapsulate thyme oil using PLA as the wall material. Firstly, an oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion stabilized with tween 20 (HLB of 16,7) and a solution of PLA in dimethylformamide (DMF) have been prepared. Thereafter, the PLA solution was added to the previously prepared o/w emulsion. The o/w emulsion was obtained by dispersion with an ultraturrax and the encapsulation process proceeded under stirring using an impeller stirrer in a batch actor. The microcapsules formed were hardened by adding octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane and allowed to stand during one hour. After this step, they were decanted and washed with pluronicÒ F68 solution (0.1% w/w), an ethanol solution (30% v/v), and hexane. Finally, the microcapsules were freeze-dried during 24h

Otimização da extração de azeite de azeitona ‘Cobrançosa’ por adição de adjuvantes tecnológicos

Realizaram-se ensaios de modelação e otimização das condições operatórias de extração de azeite, utilizando a metodologia das superfícies de resposta, segundo uma matriz central compósita rotativa, em função da concentração adicionada de adjuvantes na termobatedura – preparação enzimática Endozym Olea AS (0,04-0,24%) e microtalco FC8 (0,12-0,68%) – a um lote de azeitona Cobrançosa com um índice de maturação de 3,05. Os ensaios de extração foram efetuados em equipamento Abencor, calculando o rendimento pelo índice de extratabilidade e o teor de gordura dos bagaços. Os resultados obtidos mostram que o rendimento da extração depende do teor de talco, mas é independente da concentração de enzima adicionada, nos valores testados. Nem os pigmentos clorofilinos nem os critérios de qualidade do azeite foram afetados pela presença de adjuvantes

Microencapsulation by coacervation of biodegradable polymer with thyme oil

The objective of this work is to develop a novel coacervation process to produce microcapsules of PLA to encapsulate thyme oil that will be used in cosmetics. PLA is soluble in organic solvents but insoluble in water. Generally, PLA is used to encapsulate water soluble active principles such as drugs, pesticides and dye-stuffs by coacervation, mainly by means of microspheres production or by using double emulsion techniques (o/w/o). However, the objective of this work is to encapsulate thyme oil, a water insoluble active principle that needs, in a first step, the preparation of an oil-in-water emulsion. The novelty of our process consists on dissolving PLA in dimethylformamide (DMF) which is a good solvent for PLA but in addition has high solubility in water. Upon contact with water, the homogeneous solution of PLA in DMF, promotes the precipitation of PLA around the thyme oil core. With this work we demonstrate a new, easy and executable method of coacervation by introducing modifications on microencapsulation process that allow the encapsulation of an oily active principle by simply preparing an o/w emulsion. Control of size and wall thickness of microcapsules, encapsulation efficiency, the influence of surfactants and release of thyme oil were studied. The produced microcapsules have bimodal particle size distributions in volume with a mean particle size of 40 μm. Microcapsules analysis by microscopy have confirmed the spherical shape, the rough surface, and allowed the estimation of the wall thickness around 5 μm. Quantification of the encapsulated thyme oil was performed by gas chromatography and allowed to evaluate the quality of the encapsulated oil and pointed out for a preferential encapsulation of thyme oil apolar compounds.FCT: Grant SFRH/BD/43215/2008

Laboratório de Microbiologia.

Laboratório de Microbiologia.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Prevalência e crioconservação de Escherichia coli β-glucoronidase positiva em produtos de origem alimentar

Comunicação oral da qual só está disponível o resumo.Prevalência e crioconservação de Escherichia coli β-glucoronidase positiva em produtos de origem alimentar

Presença de Listeria monocytogenes e contagem de Pseudomonas em superfícies de uma indústria de lacticínios

Comunicação oral da qual só está disponível o resumo.Presença de Listeria monocytogenes e contagem de Pseudomonas em superfícies de uma indústria de lacticínios

Business Incubator and Economic Development

This chapter aims to (i) understand the functioning and importance of incubators in supporting the creation of new business and local economic development, as they help locally engage young entrepreneurs and thus retain expertise, for example, in regions farthest from large urban centers, (ii) realize the importance of incubators and science parks in the development of start-ups, (iii) understand the role of education in promoting entrepreneurship, and (iv) understand the competitive environment as it becomes more complex and dynamic, as there are opportunities to serve customers who are dissatisfied; thus the threats that large companies experience offer small business opportunities

Anti-inflammatory potential of mushroom extracts and isolated metabolites

Background: In the recent years natural resources are being in focus due to their great potential to be exploited in the discovery/development of novel bioactive compounds and, among them, mushrooms can be highlighted as alternative sources of anti-inflammatory agents. Scope and approach: The present review reports the anti-inflammatory activity of mushroom extracts and of their bioactive metabolites involved in this bioactive action. Additionally the most common assays used to evaluate mushrooms anti-inflammatory activity were also reviewed, including in vitro studies in cell lines, as well as in animal models in vivo. Key findings and conclusions: The anti-inflammatory compounds identified in mushrooms include polysaccharides, terpenes, phenolic acids, steroids, fatty acids and other metabolites. Among them, polysaccharides, terpenoids and phenolic compounds seem to be the most important contributors to the anti-inflammatory activity of mushrooms as demonstrated by numerous studies. However, clinical trials need to be conducted in order to confirm the effectiveness of some of these mushroom compounds namely, inhibitors of NF-κB pathway and of cyclooxygenase related with the expression of many inflammatory mediators