Enzymatic synthesis of lactulose using a novel biocatalyst

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

«Our Ancestors Came from Many Bloods»

Narratives of mixed ancestry in Cape Verde use gender as common denominator in the weaving of a Creole nation. These narratives may hide tensions, conflicts, and adversities, but they also contain elements of fusion and national cohesion. They are and have been gendered narratives, partial and selective of the elements of fusion substantiating and sustaining a Cape Verdean identity vis-à-vis the multiple symbolic and material challenges faced by this young postcolonial nation-state. In them, Cape Verde is portrayed as an exceptional African case without ethnic conflict with boundaries carved by the ocean, free from ethnic conflict, and without a pre-colonial past through which to filter present realities.Les récits d’ascendance mixte au Cap-Vert utilisent l’appartenance à un sexe comme un dénominateur commun dans le tissage d’une nation créole. Ces récits peuvent dissimuler les tensions, conflits et les difficultés, mais ils contiennent aussi des éléments de fusion et de cohésion nationale. Ces récits sont et ont été sexués, chargés de partialité et établissant une sélection des éléments de fusion qui fondent et qui entretiennent une identité capverdienne vis-à-vis des multiples défis symboliques et matériels auxquels doit faire face ce jeune État-nation post-colonial. Ils dressent un portrait du Cap-Vert comme un cas africain exceptionnel dépourvu de conflit ethnique, avec des frontières délimitées par l’océan, sans conflit ethnique et sans passé pré-colonial à travers lequel filtrer les réalités actuelles.Narrativas de ascendência mista em Cabo Verde utilizam o género como denominador comum no entretecer de uma nação crioula. Essas narrativas podem esconder tensões, conflitos e adversidades, mas também contêm elementos de fusão e de coesão nacional. São e têm sido narrativas criadas, parciais e selectivas dos elementos de fusão substanciando e sustentando uma identidade cabo-verdiana perante os múltiplos desafios simbólicos e materiais que esta jovem nação pós-colonial tem enfrentado. Nelas, Cabo Verde é retratado como um caso africano de excepção com fronteiras cavadas pelo oceano, livre de conflitos étnicos e sem um passado pré-colonial através do qual se possam filtrar as realidades actuais

Development and validation of a new tool to measure the facilitators, barriers and preferences to exercise in people with osteoporosis

Abstract Background Despite the widely known benefits of exercise and physical activity, adherence rates to these activities are poor. Understanding exercise facilitators, barriers, and preferences may provide an opportunity to personalize exercise prescription and improve adherence. The purpose of this study was to develop the Personalized Exercise Questionnaire (PEQ) to identify these facilitators, barriers, and preferences to exercise in people with osteoporosis. Methods This study comprises two phases, instrument design and judgmental evidence. A panel of 42 experts was used to validate the instrument through quantitative (content validity) and qualitative (cognitive interviewing) methods. Content Validity Index (CVI) is the most commonly used method to calculate content validity quantitatively. There are two kinds of CVI: Item-CVI (I-CVI) and Scale-level CVI (S-CVI). Results Preliminary versions of this tool showed high content validity of individual items (I-CVI range: 0.50 to 1.00) and moderate to high overall content validity of the PEQ (S-CVI/UA = 0.63; S-CVI/Ave = 0.91). Through qualitative methods, items were improved until saturation was achieved. The tool consists of 6 domains and 38 questions. The 6 domains are: 1) support network; 2) access; 3) goals; 4) preferences; 5) feedback and tracking; and 6) barriers. There are 35 categorical questions and 3 open-ended items. Conclusions Using an iterative approach, the development and evaluation of the PEQ demonstrated high item-content validity for assessing the facilitators, barriers, and preferences to exercise in people with osteoporosis. Upon further validation it is expected that this measure might be used to develop more client-centered exercise programs, and potentially improve adherence

Freshwater fungal diversity along an anthropogenic gradient in Hawaiian streams

Aquatic fungi play a pivotal role in detrital decomposition in freshwaters. The Hawaiian archipelago is the most geographically isolated group of islands on Earth, and knowledge about its aquatic fungal diversity is scarce. We assessed the diversity of fungi colonizing Hau leaves (Hibiscus tiliaceus) placed in 11 streams on Oahu, representing a gradient of anthropogenic pollution. Fungal diversity was assessed by high throughput sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer 2 region (ITS2) of rDNA. The majority of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) belonged to Ascomycota, and several species are new records for the Hawaiian archipelago. The number of OTUs varied by an order of magnitude between streams, and the structure of fungal communities also differ significantly between streams. Variables indicative of human influence, namely nutrient concentration in stream water and anthropogenic land cover, were strong correlates in the community ordination. Overall, human disturbance seems to be a driver of structural variability of fungal communities in Hawaiian streams

Determining known-group validity and test-retest reliability in the PEQ (personalized exercise questionnaire)

© 2019 The Author(s). Background: To determine the known-group validity, a type of construct validity, and the test-retest reliability of a newly developed tool, the Personalized Exercise Questionnaire (PEQ), that assesses the barriers, facilitators, and preferences to exercise in individuals with low bone mass and osteoporosis. Methods: A comparative design was used to assess known-group validity and a test-retest design to examine the reproducibility. Ninety-five participants with low bone mass and osteoporosis were recruited from an outpatient clinic in Hamilton, Ontario. The questionnaire was administered to 95 participants at baseline and a subset of 42 participants completed the survey again one week later. The known-group validity of the PEQ was determined using four hypotheses that compared two known groups based on employment level, age, socioeconomic status, and physical activity level. The reproducibility of individual responses was analyzed using the Kappa Coefficient (κ). Results: There was known-group validity for three of the four hypotheses. Test-retest reliability scores ranged from no agreement to almost perfect agreement; seven items had almost perfect agreement (κ: 0.81-1.00), 12 substantial agreement (κ: 0.68-0.74), six moderate agreement (κ: 0.56-0.60), two fair agreement (κ: 0.36-0.40), one slight agreement (κ = 0.23) and one no agreement (κ = - 0.03). Conclusion: Preliminary support for the usefulness of the PEQ is indicated since the majority of the items had at least substantial agreement and known-group validity was moderately supported for some items. Trial registration: This study was retrospectively registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03125590, on April 24, 2017

Sustainable lipase production by Diutina rugosa NRRL Y-95 through a combined use of agro-industrial residues as feedstock

The potential use of alternative culture media towards the development of a sustainable bioprocess to produce lipases by Diutina rugosa is clearly demonstrated. First, a synthetic medium containing glucose, peptone, yeast extract, oleic acid, and ammonium sulfate was proposed, with lipase activity of 143 U/L. Then, alternative culture media formulated with agro-industrial residues, such as molasses, corn steep liquor (CSL), and olive mill waste (OMW), were investigated. An experimental design was conducted, and only CSL concentration was found to have a positive effect in lipase production. The highest lipase activity (561 U/L) was produced on a mixture of molasses (5 g/L), CSL (6 g/L), OMW (0.5\\% v/v), 0.5 g/L of ammonium sulfate, and 3 g/L of peptone at 24 h of cultivation. Lipase production was also carried out in a 1-L bioreactor leading to a slightly higher lipase activity at 24 h of cultivation. The semi-purified enzyme exhibits an optimum temperature and pH of 40 \textdegreeC and 7.0, respectively. Finally, the media cost per unit of lipase produced (UPC) was influenced by the medium components, specially by the inducer used. The lowest UPC was obtained when the agro-industrial residues were combined and used at the improved concentrations.The study is funded by CAPES, CNPq, and FUNCAP (from Brazil) for the financial support that made this work possible. In addition, the study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit, the BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020-Programa Operacional Regional do Norte, and the Project LIGNOZYMES (POCI-01-0145- FEDER-029773).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Precipitation Maxima and upwelling trends at the NAO Southern Pole during the last millenium

European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2009 (EGU 2009), Vienna, Austria, April 19-24, 200

Efficiency of triple emitter source (TES) for irrigation experiments of horticultural crops

Triple emitter source TES experimental irrigation was designed. Three trickle laterals were connected together in order to form a triple joint lateral. Two of them and their emitters are connected to two tanks of stock solutions. The third lateral contains only fresh water. The emitters of the two solution lines have different and varying discharges to obtain several mixings of the two stock solutions. The third line is necessary to obtain constant water application rates for each trickling point along the lateral. This method was tested for several experiments involving the study of the combined effects of salinity and fertilizers on the yield function of horticultural crops, namely lettuce and cabbage. As concluding remarks, it was shown the high uniformity of the factor to be evaluated, through the use of Christiansen coefficient of uniformity distribution CUC, which value was always larger than 90%. Main advantage of this experimental design is its smaller experimental plots (reducing pollution and research costs)

In vitro fermentation of raffinose to unravel its potential as prebiotic ingredient

Supplementary data to this article can be found online athttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2020.109322.Until now the prebiotic potential of pure trisaccharide raffinose on human health assessed through high-throughput sequencing remains poorly investigated. In this work, an in vitro model using human fecal inocula of two healthy volunteers (D1 and D2) was used to study the prebiotic potential of raffinose and compare it with the well-stablished and commercial prebiotic lactulose. The intestinal microbiota showed preference for raffinose as substrate showing the highest consumption value at 48h (96.0±0.9% D1 and 95.3±0.7% D2). The fermentation of raffinose decreased the medium pH, the ammonia concentration and the relative amount of Proteobacteria, while increasing the total production of lactate and short chain fatty acids (129.9±2.6mmol/L D1 and 179.6±0.6mmol/L D2), CO2 (10.8±0.8 mmol/Lmedium D1 and 5.2±0.3 mmol/Lmedium D2) and the relative amount of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus. This study suggests that raffinose holds potential functional properties for human health.CA an BBC acknowledge her grants (UMINHO/BPD/4/2019 and SFRH/BD/132324/2017) from Portuguese Foundation for Science andTechnology (FCT). The study receivedfinancial support from FCT underthe scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2020 unit;COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684), through nationalfunds and where applicable co-financed by the FEDER, within thePT2020 Partnership Agreement; the Projects FoSynBio (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029549) and NewFood–Food Technologies Valorization(NORTE-324 01-0246-FEDER-000043). The authors also acknowledgeBioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded bythe European Regional Development Fund under the scope ofNorte2020 -Programa Operacional Regional do Norte.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Two-step purification of epilactose produced by cellobiose 2-epimerase from Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus

Epilactose is a functional sugar that can be produced from lactose using cellobiose 2-epimerase and it is considered a developing prebiotic. In that sense, the development of strategies to produce and purify epilactose is key for its wider use in the food industry. The aim of this work was to establish a food-grade purification strategy suitable to be scaled-up to an industrial level. Firstly, the epilactose was produced by enzymatic epimerization of lactose in a reaction catalyzed by the recombinant cellobiose 2-epimerase from Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus produced by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Then, to remove the unreacted lactose, a screening study was performed to find a suitable -galactosidase enzyme with high lactose hydrolysis capacity but low ability to convert the epilactose. The elimination of the generated monosaccharides was then attempted by microbial treatment using different microorganisms and using activated charcoal. The bakers yeast S. cerevisiae was proven to be the most suitable microorganism for glucose and galactose removal from the reaction mixture. Overall, an attractive and food-grade two-step process for epilactose recovery was established, resulting in a purity and yield of 87% and 76.4%, respectively. Additionally, the INFOGEST 2.0 static in vitro simulation of gastrointestinal food digestion was used, for the first time, to assess the resistance of epilactose (77% resistance) to the upper gastrointestinal tract conditions, reinforcing its potential to be used as prebiotic.BBC and JMF acknowledge their doctoral grants (SFRH/BD/ 132324/2017 and SFRH/BD/147286/2019, respectively) from the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT). This study was supported by FCT under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/ 04469/2020 unit.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio