Goat sausages containing chitosan towards a healthier product: microbiological, physicochemical textural evaluation

Goat meat is extensively known for its interesting nutritional value and for being an important source of protein with high quality. Its food derivatives are, therefore, a good alternative to develop new products addressed to health conscious consumers. In this work, a healthier goat product, namely, a low fat fresh sausage, was produced with the objective of evaluating the effect of inclusion of chitosan on quality, stability and shelf life. Sausages containing 2% chitosan were formulated with different fat levels (5%, 12.5% and 20%, w/w) and stored at 4 °C for 15 days. Results indicated the incorporation of 2% (w/w) chitosan was technologically feasible, due to the reduction of microbial growth and lipid oxidation, as well as the enhancement of red color. Additionally, the treated samples improved all the characteristics associated with cooking, showing the ability to bind water and fat and acquiring a firmer texture compared with control samples. Additionally, the reduction of fat content is technologically feasible without negative influences on the final product.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A comprehensive study into the impact of a chitosan mouthwash upon oral microorganism's biofilm formation in vitro

Modern dentistry emphasizes the importance of dental plaque control to improve oral health. To that endthe development of oral care formulations has been geared toward the incorporation of antiplaque agentsthat may play a crucial role in oral health maintenance. In later years the research into antiplaque agentshas led to the discovery of compounds with significant capability to affect biofilm formation. Among thesecompounds was chitosan, a polysaccharide which showed great ability to interfere with Streptococcusmutans biofilm formation. As such the aim of this work was to incorporate chitosan into a mouthwashmatrix and assess its effect upon biofilm formation of oral microorganisms. This assessment was per-formed via study of the impact the mouthwash upon microbial adherence, biofilm formation and maturebiofilms. Additionally, the action of the chitosan mouthwash was compared with two commerciallyavailable mouthwashes. The results here obtained show that only the chitosan containing mouthwashwas capable of interfering with all microorganisms’ adherence, biofilm formation and mature biofilmswhile at the same time showing vastly superior activity than both commercial mouthwashes assayed.As such a chitosan mouthwash shows great potential as a natural and efficient alternative to traditionalmouthwashes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A novel direct contact method for the assessment of the antimicrobial activity of dental cements

Dental cements are a crucial part of the odontological treatment, however, due to the hazardous nature and reduced biological efficiency of some of the used materials, newer and safer alternatives are needed, particularly so those possessing higher antimicrobial activity than their traditional counterparts. The evaluation of the antimicrobial properties of solid and semi-solid antimicrobials, such as dental cements and gels, is challenging, particularly due to the low sensitivity of the current methods. Thus, the main aim of this study was the evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of a novel chitosan containing dental cement while simultaneous assessing/validating a new, more efficient, method for the evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of solid and gel like materials. The results obtained showed that the proposed method exhibited a higher sensitivity than the standard 96 well microtiter assay and allowed the determination of bactericidal activity. Additionally, it is interesting to note that the chitosan containing cement, which presented higher antimicrobial activity than the traditional zinc oxide/eugenol mix, was capable of inducing a viable count reduction above 5 log of CFU for all of the studied microorganisms.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Study of influential factors on oligosaccharide formation by fructosyltransferase activity during stachyose hydrolysis by pectinex ultra SP-L

The influence of reaction conditions for oligosaccharide synthesis from stachyose using a commercial enzymatic preparation from Aspergillus aculeatus (Pectinex Ultra SP-L) was studied. Oligosaccharides were analyzed by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization–time-of-flight–mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). Galactosyl-melibiose (DP3) was synthesized as a result of fructosidase activity, whereas fructosyl-stachyose (DP5) and difructosyl-stachyose (DP6) were formed as a consequence of the fructosyltransferase activity of Pectinex Ultra SP-L. The optimal reaction conditions for the synthesis of penta- and hexasaccharides were 60 °C, pH 5.5, 600 mg/mL stachyose, and 34 U/mL enzyme. Reaction time played an important role in oligosaccharide mixture composition constituted by 20% DP5, 0.7% DP6, 55% stachyose, 21% galactosyl-melibiose, and 1% monosaccharides after 1 h and 16% DP5, 4% DP6, 27% stachyose, 44% galactosyl-melibiose, and 2% monosaccharides after 3 h. In conclusion, stachyose could be used as a substrate for the enzymatic synthesis of new oligosaccharides that may open new opportunities in the development of future prebiotics.This work has been financed under a R+D program of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation Science, Projects AGL-2008-00941/ALI and Consolider Ingenio 2010 (FUN-CFOOD) CSD 2007-00063; a R+D program of the Comunidad de Madrid, Project ALIBIRD P2009/AGR-1469; and as a R+D program of the Comunidad de Castilla-La Mancha, POII10-0178-4685.Peer Reviewe

Rehabilitación del reconocimiento de emociones combinada con estimulación cognitiva para personas con enfermedad de Alzheimer: eficacia sobre aspectos cognitivos y funcionales

[EN]The ability to recognize facial emotional expression is essential for social interactions and adapting to the environment. Emotion recognition is impaired in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD), thus rehabilitation of these skills has the potential to elicit significant benefits. To assess the efficacy of a combined treatment of rehabilitation of emotion recognition (RER) and cognitive stimulation (CS) for people with AD, due to its potential implications for more effective psychosocial interventions. 36 patients were assigned to one of three experimental conditions: an experimental group (EG) that received 20 sessions of RER and 20 sessions of CS; a control group (CG) that received 40 sessions of CS, and a treatment as usual group (TAU). 32 patients completed the treatment (77.53 ± 5.43 years). Significant differences were found in MMSE30 (F = 5.10; p = 0.013), MMSE35 (F = 4.16; p = 0.026), affect recognition (Z = -2.81; p = 0.005) and basic activities of daily living (Z = -2.27; p = 0.018) favouring the efficacy of the combined treatment. The TAU group showed a decline in depression (Z = -1.99; p = 0.048), apathy (Z = -2.30; p = 0.022) and anosognosia (Z = -2.19; p = 0.028). The combined treatment of RER + CS was more effective than TAU and CS alone for the treatment of patients with AD. This is the first study about the rehabilitation of affect recognition in AD

Chitosan mouthwash: toxicity and in vivo validation

A previous study showed that a chitosan mouthwash would be a valid alternative to current mouthwashesas it demonstrated, in vitro, significantly higher antibiofilm activity than two commercial mouthwashes.As such, the aim of this work was to verify the safety of the developed product and to validate, in vivo, thebiological activity ascertained in vitro. Chitosan mouthwash safety was evaluated through Ames, MTT andV79 chromosomal aberration assay while antimicrobial activity was evaluated through in vivo assays. Theresults showed that the chitosan mouthwash was safe, presenting lower cytotoxicity than a commercialmouthwash, and that it effectively reduced viable counts of Streptococcus spp. and Enterococcus spp. by ca.5.5 log of CFU. Furthermore, in direct comparison with a commercial mouthwash the chitosan mouthwashpossessed significantly higher antimicrobial activity. The conjunction of these results proves that thechitosan mouthwash is a safe, effective, natural alternative to the existent chemical mouthwashes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio