Antioxidantes em azeites ‘Galega’ e ‘Azeiteira’ provenientes de frutos obtidos em duas épocas de colheita

No presente trabalho são determinados os biofenóis em azeites ‘Galega’ e ‘Azeiteira’ obtidos em duas épocas de colheita dos frutos e olivais em produção integrada. A separação da fracção fenólica foi feita por extracção líquido-líquido (ELL) e a análise dos compostos fenólicos obtida por cromatografia líquida de alta pressão (HPLC) com detecção por díodos (DAD). São também determinados: os tocoferóis por HPLC e fluorescência (FLD); os biofenóis totais por espectroscopia VIS; e a intensidade do sabor amargo (K225) por espectroscopia UV. Os azeites ‘Galega’ e ‘Azeiteira’ apresentam teores mais elevados de antioxidantes na colheita mais temporã indicando que – do ponto de vista nutricional, sensorial e da estabilidade deste alimento – não é benéfico retardar a época de colheita. O hidroxitirosol e a luteolina decrescem acentuadamente na segunda data de colheita para os azeites de cultivar ‘Azeiteira’. Os azeites ‘Galega’ apresentam teores mais elevados de α-tocoferol e ϒ-tocoferol

Western Mediterranean precipitation over the last 300 years from instrumental observations

The paper reports the results of the analysis of the 14 longest precipitation instrumental series, covering the last 300 years, that have been recovered in six subareas of the Western Mediterranean basin, i.e., Portugal, Northern and Southern Spain, Southern France, Northern and Southern Italy. This study extends back by one century our knowledge about the instrumental precipitation over theWestern Mediterranean, and by two centuries in some specific subareas. All the time series show repeated swings. No specific trends have been found over the whole period, except in a few cases, but with modest time changes and sometimes having opposite tendency. The same can be said for the most recent decades although with some more marked departures from the average. The correlation between the various Mediterranean subareas is generally not significant, or almost uncorrelated. The Wavelet Spectral Analysis applied to the precipitation identifies only a minor 56-year cycle in autumn, i.e., the same return period that has been found in literature for the Sea Surface Temperature over North Atlantic. A comparison with a gridded dataset reconstruction based on mixed multiproxy and instrumental observations, shows that the grid reconstruction is in good agreement with the observed data for the period after 1900, less for the previous period

Optimización de hilos paralelos de lana y de acrílica/poliamida.

En el presente estudio se consideran las propiedades físico-mecánicas de los hilos paralelos con alma de lana y de acrilica-poliamida (90/10) recubiertos con mono o polifilamento de poliamida y se relacionan las mencionadas propiedades con los parámetros del hilo tales como la masa lineal, la torsión del filamento, la proporción del mismo y su masa lineal. El diseño experimental utilizado permite repasar y reconocer los factores estadísticamente significativos y el establecimiento, por regresión múltiple, de las ecuaciones que ligan las propiedades estudiadas con los parámetros de estructura del hilo, con lo cual pueden escogerse las condiciones experimentales que conducen a la optimización de las propiedades elásticas, el indice de vellosidad, la irregularidad y el coeficiente de rozamiento en sus modalidades hilo/hilo e hilo/cerámica.In this study physico-mechanical properties of wool and acryl-polyamide (90/10) wrap spun yarns are considered. Core fibres were wrapped by four types of polyamide mono and polyfilament and related to yarn parameters such as, linear density, twist yarn, ratio and linear density yarn.The experimental design applied allows to revise the statistically significant factors as well as the establishment, by means of multiple regression, of equations relating the properties studied to the parameters of the yarn structure. This, in turn, will permit to select the optimum experimental conditions leading to the optimization of the elastic properties, hairiness index, uneveness, and the friction coefficient in the aspects of yarn/yarn and yarn/ceramic.Cette étude présente les propriétés physico-mécaniques de fils bicomposés à âme de laine et d'acrylique-polyamide (90/10%) guipés de monofilament ou multifilament de polyamide. Ces propriétés sont mises en relation avec les caractéristiques du fil telles que sa masse linéique ainsi que la torsion, proportion et masse linéique du filament. Le système conçu pour l'expérience permet de passer en revue et d'identifier les facteurs statistiquement significatifs et d'en déduire, par régression multiple, les rapports entre les propriétés étudiées et les caractéristiques structurelles du fil, ce qui permet de choisir les conditions expérimentales qui conduiront à l'optimisation des propriétés élastiques, du taux de formation de duvet, de l'irrégularité et du coefficient de frottement dans ses modalités fil/fíl et fil/céramique.Peer Reviewe

In vitro and in vivo evaluation of enzymatic and antioxidant activity, cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of curcumin-loaded solid dispersions

Curcumin, the main bioactive polyphenolic compound in Curcuma longa L. rhizomes has a wide range of bioactive properties. Curcumin presents low solubility in water and thus limited bioavailability, which decreases its applicability. In this study, cytotoxic effects of curcumin solid dispersions (CurSD) were evaluated against tumor (breast adenocarcinoma and lung, cervical and hepatocellular carcinoma) and non-tumor (PLP2) cells, while cytotoxic and genotoxic effects were evaluated in Allium cepa. The effect of the CurSD on the acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), glutathione S-transferase (GST), andmonoamine oxidase (MAO A-B) enzymes was determined, as well as its capacity to inhibit the oxidative hemolysis (OxHLIA) and the formation of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). CurSD are constituted by nanoparticles that are readily dispersible in water, and inhibited 24% and 64% of the AChE and BChE activity at 100μM, respectively. GST activity was inhibited at 30μM while MAO-A and B activity were inhibited at 100μM. CurSD showed cytotoxicity against all the tested tumor cell lines without toxic effects for non-tumor cells. No cytotoxic and genotoxic potential was detected with the Allium cepa test.CurSD maintained the characteristics of free curcumin on the in vitro modulation of important enzymes without appreciable toxicity.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and FEDER under Programme PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (strategic project UID/AGR/00690/2013) and the research contracts of J. Pinela (Project AllNatt, POCI-01-0145- FEDER-030463) and R. Calhelha. To the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER- 006984 – Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM funded by FEDER through COMPETE2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) – and by national funds through FCT. This work was also funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Regional Operational Program North 2020, within the scope of Project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-023289: DeCodE and Project Mobilizador Norte-01-0247-FEDER-024479: ValorNatural®.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Exchange Bias and Vertical Shift in CoFe2O4 nanoparticles

Magnetic properties of core-shell cobalt ferrite nanoparticles 15 to 48nm prepared by a sol-gel route have been studied. It is shown that the coercivity follows non-monotonic size dependence varying as 1/d above the maximum (d is the particle size). Field cooled magnetization exhibited both horizontal (exchange bias) and vertical shifts. The exchange bias is understood as originating at the interface between a surface region with structural and spin disorder and a core ferrimagnetic region. The dependence of the exchange bias and vertical shifts on the particle sizes and cooling fields are found to have significant differences and the differences are explained in the light of recent results which suggest that both weakly and strongly pinned spins are present at the interface. It is suggested that the exchange bias is dominated by the weakly pinned spins while the vertical shift is affected by the strongly pinned ones.Comment: 2

Tranfer+.Tec. Castanha

O Projeto “Tranfer+.Tec.Castanha” tem como objetivo central o dinamizar o ecossistema regional de inovação e estimular a transferência de tecnologia e de conhecimento da fileira da Castanha, para o setor empresarial da região, nacional e internacional, com vista ao desenvolvimento de novos produtos e ao desenvolvimento de projetos de transferência e utilização de conhecimento. Foram definidas seis ações e 19 atividades específicas. As ações são: 1 - Levantamento de Necessidades de Tecnologia e Conhecimento das empresas da fileira da Castanha; 2 - Disseminação e de difusão de novos conhecimentos e tecnologias geradas no âmbito da I&D, através de ações setoriais de experimentação, no domínio das pragas e doenças do castanheiro; 3 - Interação com o ambiente empresarial, para a sensibilização, partilha e mapeamento de oportunidades de desenvolvimento de tecnologias e conhecimentos na fileira da Castanha e criação de comunidades de inovação; 4 - Valorização económica dos resultados da investigação; 5 - Iniciativas de interação com o ambiente empresarial para a promoção nacional e internacional de tecnologias e de conhecimento; 6 - Promoção e divulgação do projeto. Será apresentado um balanço das atividades já realizadas e a realizar no próximo ano.Projeto “Tranfer+.Tec.Castanha: Reforço da transferência de conhecimento científico e tecnológico da fileira da castanha para o setor empresarial. NORTE 2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio