On the physiological significance of alternative splicing events in higher plants

Alternative splicing, which generates multiple transcripts from the same gene and potentially different protein isoforms, is a key posttranscriptional regulatory mechanism for expanding proteomic diversity and functional complexity in higher eukaryotes. The most recent estimates, based on whole transcriptome sequencing, indicate that about 95 % of human and 60 % of Arabidopsis multi-exon genes undergo alternative splicing, suggesting important roles for this mechanism in biological processes. However, while the misregulation of alternative splicing has been associated with many human diseases, its biological relevance in plant systems is just beginning to unfold. We review here the few plant genes for which the production of multiple splice isoforms has been reported to have a clear in vivo functional impact. These case studies implicate alternative splicing in the control of a wide range of physiological and developmental processes, including photosynthetic and starch metabolism, hormone signaling, seed germination, root growth and flowering, as well as in biotic and abiotic stress responses. Future functional characterization of alternative splicing events and identification of the transcripts targeted by major regulators of this versatile means of modulating gene expression should uncover the breadth of its physiological significance in higher plants.FCT fellowship: (SFRH/BPD/80073/2011); Programa Ciência (QREN/MCTES)

Influence of cross section geometry on the confinement of reinforced concrete columns with CFRP composites

Comunicação apresentada em International Symposium Polymers in Concrete (ISPIC 2006), Guimarães, 2006Confinement effectiveness of externally bonded FRP jackets depends on different parameters namely type of concrete, steel reinforcement, FRP jacket stiffness (type of FRP, number of plies and design of wrap), shape of cross section, radius of corners for non-circular sections, and loading conditions. In order to investigate the effect of some of these parameters on the axial behavior of columns under compression and to quantify the level of confinement exerted on the concrete core, an experimental program has been developed. The experimental research consisted of a sequence of axial compressive tests on cylinders and square prisms. Prisms were divided into three representative groups: sharpedged sections and sections with rounded corners with corner radii equal to either 20mm or 38mm. The results presented in this paper are for the columns which were wrapped with two plies of unidirectional carbon fibers

Characterization of some recipes including honey

Honey is a natural food product used for nutritional, as well as medical purposes since ancient times. This work intended to analyze the use of honey in gastronomy. For that purpose, there were analyzed 150 recipes that included honey as an ingredient. The recipes were classified according to different criteria, namely the dish type, confection method, type of ingredient and the moment that honey was incorporated into the recipe. The results showed that the main dishes with meat and also bakery products were the ones that included more recipes with honey. The majority of the recipes involved cooking methods, with more relevance for roasting, grilling and baking. Moreover, honey was essentially used as a secondary ingredient, except for deserts and it was mostly incorporated in the beginning. The most relevant nutrients that were combined with honey were flour, bread, onion, salmon, chicken, butter, cheese, egg, milk, lemon, pepper, garlic, olive oil, sugar and salt. This work showed that honey has a wide range of applications as an ingredient in gastronomic preparations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Consumption of nuts and similar dried foods in Portugal and level of knowledge about their chemical composition and health effects

Nuts are consumed worldwide and have valuable nutritional compositions. However, few studies exist about the consumers‘ knowledge regarding nuts and similar dried fruits. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge on nuts composition (KNC) and health effects (KNHE) associated with nuts consumption and evaluate eating habits and preferences. A questionnaire survey was applied by direct interview to 300 Portuguese citizens, recruited by convenience. Anthropometric properties, behavioural and health aspects, knowledge about nuts composition and health effects, and consumption habits and preferences were evaluated and statistically analysed. Globally, the participants were not well informed on the chemical composition of nuts and about their effects on human health. Regarding age, the middle-aged adults showed a little higher level of KNC. However, no statistical differences were observed for KNC and KNHE across groups of Body Mass Index, physical exercise practice or balanced diet. Concerning eating habits and preferences, most participants (84%) like nuts, and usually consume them (58%). Among different nuts, the most consumed ones were peanuts and walnuts, followed by almonds and hazelnuts. A vast majority of participants (86%) preferred to eat the nuts in their simple form and consume them between meals. In conclusion, improvement of communication on nuts benefits to human health might be a way to increase their consumption. Our data can also help the nut industries to formulate a better strategy.This work was supported by National Funds through the FCT-Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., within the scope of the projects Refª UIDB/00681/2020 and UID/AGR/00690/2019. Furthermore, we would like to thank the CERNAS Research Centre and the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, as well as to CIMO (Instituto Politécnico de Bragança), for their support. Thanks also to PDR2020 Program through projects ValNuts (PDR2020-101-030759 and PDR2020-101-030756) and ValorCast (PDR2020-101-032035 and PDR2020-101-032034).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Understanding the role of media and food labels to disseminate food related information in Lebanon

Today’s consumers are becoming more aware of what they consume and the implications that a proper diet can have for their health. This work aimed to understand how Lebanese people get information about foods, and which communication media they consider the most appropriate. Also, the attitudes toward food labelling were assessed. This was a cross-sectional study undertaken by means of a questionnaire survey on a sample of 258 Lebanese participants. Data analysis used statistical tools such as T-test and ANOVA with post hoc to test possible group differences or Cronbach’s alpha to assess internal scale reliability. The results showed that radio was the first choice as a media tool used by Lebanese people for gathering food information (29.1%), followed by hospitals (23.3%), and the participants also considered that these are the most appropriate means to communicate information (28.3 and 22.5%, respectively). Regarding the Lebanese behaviour on nutrition labelling, nearly half of the participants (44.6%) very frequently or always check the food labels but some showed no interest in the components and the fibres they contain. Reliability analysis showed that the items used to assess the food labelling scale have a very high internal consistency (α = 0.847). So, the Lebanese people tend to rely on radio for information about food and the labels are considered as important source of information as well. Nevertheless, Lebanese don’t consult the nutritional composition as often as desirable in order to adjust their purchases or compare to different items, aimed at healthier food choices. So in order to inform Lebanese people about related food rich in fibres and to instigate their purchasing intentions, the producing companies must rely on marketing campaigns through radio and on labels not just the information in nutritional composition.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Customer knowledge and behavior on the use of food refrigerated display cabinets: A Portuguese case

This article presents a study on customer knowledge and habits regarding the use of refrigerated display cabinets (RDC). The study was carried out on a sample of Portuguese retail stores’ customers, using a questionnaire survey available through an Internet platform. The sample consisted of 136 individuals, who voluntarily participated in the study. Questions included the characterization of the sociodemographic population involved. The questionnaire included different questions to related with RDC, namely customer knowledge about the appearance of each RDC equipment, questions to evaluate the respondents’ perception about the advantages and disadvantages related to open or glass-door closed RDC, questions to assess the participants’ habits and behavior when purchasing food products from glass-door closed RDC (frequency and duration of door open), questions to characterize the consumers’ habits on purchasing food products from RDC, and also questions to characterize the consumers’ shopping attitudes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2. The results seem to indicate that customers prefer closed RDC; for example, 61.8% of participants prefer products preserved in glass-door closed RDC, against 6.6% that admit to preferring products preserved in open RDC. Therefore, we can deduce that the existence of doors does not appear to be an obstacle to purchasing food products. Regarding the use of glass-door closed RDC, 80.1% of the participants say they just open the door once, and 53.7% of the costumers believe they keep the door open in the interval [4‒6 s]. This indicates that Portuguese customers are quite well informed about food safety issues and seem to follow assertive attitudes when purchasing food products from RDC. This study reinforces the benefits of replacing open RDC by closed glass-doors allowing significant energy savings.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

INFLUENCE OF EMOTIONAL DETERMINANTS ON THE FOOD CHOICES OF THE PORTUGUESE

Food choices are influenced by many factors, such as emotional. When people eat, driven by emotional factors, they often lose control, which may lead to eating disorders. Therefore, this work aimed at studying the influence that emotional determinants had on people’s food choices. It was undertaken a descriptive cross-sectional study by means of a questionnaire on a non-probabilistic sample of 1314 participants. The data was collected among a sample of the Portuguese population and measured if people´s food choices were influenced by emotional determinants.The results revealed that the participants’ food choices were, in general, slightly influenced by emotional determinants (mean scores between –0.5 and 0.5, on a scale from –2 to +2). There were found significant differences in all of the variables under study. The participants, who already experienced an episode of binge-eating, were the ones that obtained the highest mean score (0.63±0.79), meaning that in this case those participants’ food choices were influenced by emotional determinants. These results support the premise that emotional determinants are influenced by the characteristics of each individual and also the existence of a positive association between emotional eating and the presence of eating disorders, especially, binge-eating

Development of Innovative Candied Chestnuts from Three Chestnut Cultivars Grown in Portugal

The main purpose of this work is the development of a value-added product (candied chestnuts) from Portuguese chestnut (Castanea sativa) cultivars (Martainha, Longal and Judia), as a way to minimize product loss and wastes. To accomplish this goal, the effects of rehydration, cooking, and syrup conditions on composition, textural properties, and colour parameters of candied chestnuts were investigated. The obtained results revealed that the optimal conditions to prepare candied chestnuts with a sweet taste, dark brown colour, with a crispy texture on the outside and smooth texture in the inner flesh were rehydration at 45 °C for a period of 5 h, cooking in a pressure pan for 15 min, and an immersion process with sucrose syrup for two days (syrup with 25% of sucrose on the first day and syrup of 50% of sucrose on the second day). During the process, the drying loss, hydration ratio, and cooking gain of the different cultivars were about 90%, 79%, and 130%, respectively. The total colour difference of candied chestnuts ranged from 24.18 (Longal) to 29.95 (Judia), the stickiness was moderately intense, and the adhesiveness was high for the three varieties. Longal candied chestnuts were the softest and Martainha candied chestnuts were the hardest, the most elastic, and cohesive. Moreover, the candied chestnuts presented a moisture content ranging from 52.70% and 54.23%, amounts of carbohydrates in the range of 88.58 to 91.87 g/100 g d.m, values of protein (6.55–9.51 g/100 g d.m.), values of ash (0.78–1.98 g/100 g d.m.), and fat (0.87–1.58 g/100 g d.m.). In conclusion, the chestnuts of Portuguese cultivars Martainha, Longal and Judia reveal a good potential to produce candied products with high added value.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Control and comparison of the antioxidant capacity of beers

The purpose of the present work is to determine the antioxidant capacity (AC) of 27 commercial beers. The AC indicates the degree of protection of a certain organism against oxidative damage provoked by reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. Assays were carried out by the following methods: (i) total radical trapping antioxidant parameter (TRAP); (ii) trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC); (iii) trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (DPPH); (iv) ferric-ion reducing antioxidant parameter (FRAP); (v) cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC); (vi) oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). Ascorbic acid (AA), gallic acid (GA) and trolox (TR) were used as standards. All beers showed antioxidant power, but a wide range of ACs was observed. The effect of several factors upon these differences was studied. Statistical differences were found between ACs of beers of different colours. ORAC method provided always higher experimental ACs, of significant statistical differences to other assays

Study about attitudes, perceptions and knowledge regarding edible insects in Portugal

Os insetos têm sido apontados como uma fonte alternativa e mais sustentável de proteína animal, que pode ajudar a alimentar a crescente população mundial. Devido à menor pegada e impacto ambiental, a substituição parcial da proteína animal por insetos pode contribuir para a preservação do meio ambiente e dos ecossistemas naturais. No entanto, o consumo de insetos comestíveis, embora culturalmente aceite em algumas comunidades, não é prontamente aceite noutras. Assim, este trabalho investigou o conhecimento, atitudes, hábitos de consumo e grau de aceitabilidade de insetos ou produtos derivados entre consumidores portugueses. Este estudo foi baseado numa pesquisa por questionário, realizada numa amostra de 213 participantes. Os resultados mostraram que os portugueses tendem a ter perceções corretas sobre as questões de sustentabilidade relacionadas com a utilização de insetos como alternativa a carnes convencionais. No entanto, o grau de conhecimento sobre o valor nutritivo dos insetos e possíveis efeitos na saúde é baixo. Entre os indivíduos pesquisados, apenas uma pequena percentagem indicou já ter comido insetos, consumidos maioritariamente no estrangeiro, por iniciativa própria, seja em restaurantes ou em festas/eventos sociais. Não surpreendentemente, observou-se que há uma maior relutância em consumir insetos inteiros do que em ingeri-los como ingredientes utilizados em preparações alimentares. Assim, em conclusão, a investigação revelou que os portugueses ainda apresentam alguma resistência para aderir ao consumo de insetos como alternativa a outros produtos cárneos, mas não se descarta que o mercado de produtos à base de insetos possa ser uma forma de ultrapassar a neofobia associada a este tipo de alimentos num país tradicionalmente não comedor de insetos.Insects have been pointed out as an alternative and more sustainable source of animal protein that might help feed the growing world population. Because of the lower footprint and environmental impact, replacing partly the animal protein by insects can contribute to the preservation of the environment and natural ecosystems. However, the consumption of edible insects, although culturally accepted for some communities, is not readily accepted for others. Hence this work investigated the knowledge, attitudes, consumption habits, and degree of acceptability of edible insects or derived products among Portuguese consumers. This study was based on a questionnaire survey undertaken on a sample of 213 participants. The results showed that the Portuguese tend to have correct perceptions about the sustainability issues related to the utilization of edible insects as an alternative to conventional meats. Nevertheless, the degree of knowledge about the nutritive value of insects and possible health effects is low. Among the individuals surveyed, only a small percentage indicated they had already eaten insects, consumed mostly abroad, by self-initiative, and either in restaurants or at parties/social events. Not surprisingly, it was observed that there is a higher reluctance to consume whole insects than to ingest them as ingredients used in food preparations. So, in conclusion, the research revealed that the Portuguese still present some resistance to adhere to the consumption of insects as an alternative to other meat products, but it is not discarded that the market of insect based products can be a way to surpass the neophobia associated with this type of food on a traditionally non-insect-eating country.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio