Industrial waste whey as a low-cost, efficient and environmentally safe disinfectant, with potential applications for minimally processed foodstuff

Current Approaches in Science and Technology Research, Vol. 14, Chapter 11Being a fast and reliable way to access healthy products, fresh-cut fruit and vegetables are becoming a rapidly rising sector of the horticultural industry with a concomitant high consumer demand. Fresh-cut processing usually involves sanitizing steps, with chlorine washing being the general choice. Due to the health harming effects of chlorine, there has been an increasing demand for alternative disinfecting agents. Under this context, fermented cheese whey has shown potential as a natural sanitizing agent but has been poorly tested in fresh-cut produce. Furthermore, it also continues to pose an environmental problem because it still contains a high organic load. Here we aimed at developing a low-cost, scalable fermentation protocol to produce a disinfectant from dairy waste that has very little organic content and high levels of lactic acid. Fermentation was achieved with industrial whey from ewe, goat, and cow´s milk, using a specific mesophilic-lactic acid bacteria starter mix over a more prolonged fermentation of 120 h, which yielded the highest lactic acid production and the lowest lactose content. Antibacterial activity was observed against Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica, and Escherichia coli O157:H7, plus a total of thirteen other food pathogenic and spoilage strains, and antibacterial activities were determined to be highest after 120 h. We further validated this whey’s application as a disinfectant in shredded lettuce and compared its efficacy to that of chlorine, evaluating microbial quality, texture, color, and sensory perception, pH, and O2 and CO2 determinations. Results showed that not only was microbial quality better when using our whey solution (p < 0.05), but also the quality indicators for whey were statistically similar to those treated with chlorine. Hence, our work validates the use of an industrial waste whey as a low-cost, efficient, and environmentally safe disinfectant, with potential applications for minimally processed foodstuffs as an alternative to chlorineinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A novel way for whey: cheese whey fermentation produces an effective and environmentally-safe alternative to chlorine

Cheese whey has been described as an environmental hazard due to its high organic content. Although it has been suggested that whey can be used as food disinfectant, it continues to pose an environmental problem because it still contains a high organic load. Here, we aimed to develop a low-cost, scalable fermentation protocol to produce a disinfectant from dairy waste that has very little organic content and high levels of lactic acid. Fermentation was achieved with industrial whey from ewe, goat, and cow’s milk, using a specific mesophilic-lactic acid bacteria starter mix over 120 h, which yielded the highest lactic acid production and the lowest lactose content. Antibacterial activity was observed against Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica, and Escherichia coli O157:H7, plus a total of thirteen other food pathogenic and spoilage strains, and antibacterial activities were determined to be highest after 120 h. We further validated this whey’s application as a disinfectant in shredded lettuce and compared its e cacy to that of chlorine, evaluating microbial quality, texture, color, and sensory perception, pH, and O2 and CO2 determinations. Results showed that not only was microbial quality better when using our whey solution (p < 0.05), but also the quality indicators for whey were statistically similar to those treated with chlorine. Hence, our work validates the use of an industrial waste whey as a low-cost, e cient, and environmentally safe disinfectant, with potential applications for minimally processed foodstu s as an alternative to chlorineinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Reactive PLIF method for characterisation of micromixing in continuous high-throughput chemical reactors

This work aimed to test and optimise reactive Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) methods for the visualisation of the micromixing regions in chemical reactors using standard PLIF and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) equipment with the laser source 512 nm. Two methods were tested: (i) an acid–base reaction with fluorescein as the reaction-sensitive tracer and (ii) Fenton’s reaction, with Rhodamine B as the reaction tracer. Both test-reactions were studied in stopped-flow equipment to define suitable operational conditions, namely the chemical composition of the inflow streams, the concentration of reagents and fluorophore, and suitable excitation light wavelength. The visualisation of the micromixing regions was tested in a continuous flow reactor with a T-jet geometry. A laser light sheet emitted from an Nd:YAG laser illuminated the axial section of the demonstration reactor. The mixing dynamics and the reaction course were visualised with the acid–base reactive PLIF images. Fenton’s reactive PLIF method showed the overall distribution of mixing and reaction regions. The main contribution of this work is benchmarking two methods with costs that enable the visualisation of micromixing regions in continuous high-throughput reactors.publishe

A Genetic Code Alteration Is a Phenotype Diversity Generator in the Human Pathogen Candida albicans

BACKGROUND: The discovery of genetic code alterations and expansions in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes abolished the hypothesis of a frozen and universal genetic code and exposed unanticipated flexibility in codon and amino acid assignments. It is now clear that codon identity alterations involve sense and non-sense codons and can occur in organisms with complex genomes and proteomes. However, the biological functions, the molecular mechanisms of evolution and the diversity of genetic code alterations remain largely unknown. In various species of the genus Candida, the leucine CUG codon is decoded as serine by a unique serine tRNA that contains a leucine 5'-CAG-3'anticodon (tRNA(CAG)(Ser)). We are using this codon identity redefinition as a model system to elucidate the evolution of genetic code alterations. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We have reconstructed the early stages of the Candida genetic code alteration by engineering tRNAs that partially reverted the identity of serine CUG codons back to their standard leucine meaning. Such genetic code manipulation had profound cellular consequences as it exposed important morphological variation, altered gene expression, re-arranged the karyotype, increased cell-cell adhesion and secretion of hydrolytic enzymes. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Our study provides the first experimental evidence for an important role of genetic code alterations as generators of phenotypic diversity of high selective potential and supports the hypothesis that they speed up evolution of new phenotypes

Descriptive?Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) in adults with imported severe Plasmodium falciparum?malaria: A 10 year-study in a Portuguese tertiary care hospital

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a severe complication of malaria that remains largely unstudied. We aim to describe the development of ARDS associated with severe P. falciparum malaria, its management and impact on clinical outcome.B910-DDDF-6BB2 | Lu?s Carlos Carvalho da Gra?aN/

Trajetorias: a dataset of environmental, epidemiological, and economic indicators for the Brazilian Amazon

The Trajetorias dataset is a harmonized set of environmental, epidemiological, and poverty indicators for all municipalities of the Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA). This dataset is the result of a scientific synthesis research initiative conducted by scientists from several natural and social sciences fields, consolidating multidisciplinary indicators into a coherent dataset for integrated and interdisciplinary studies of the Brazilian Amazon. The dataset allows the investigation of the association between the Amazonian agrarian systems and their impacts on environmental and epidemiological changes, furthermore enhancing the possibilities for understanding, in a more integrated and consistent way, the scenarios that affect the Amazonian biome and its inhabitants.This work was funded by the Brazilian Research Council (CNPQ MCTIC-SÍNTESE EM BIODIVERSIDADE E SERVIÇOS ECOSSISTÊMICOS-SINBIOSE, process 442357/2019-2). We are grateful to the Synthesis Center on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (SinBiose), funded by the Brazilian Research Council, for providing the opportunity for the development of this work. CC, AM, RML, and AD are also grateful to the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) for providing the intellectual environment that stimulated the conception of the present work, as part of the project Development, environmental degradation, and disease spread in the Brazilian Amazon led by Andres Baeza and Mercedes Pascual. We would like to extend a special thanks to Professor Francisco de Assis Costa, from the Pará Federal University (UFPA) for sharing his data on the technological trajectories in the municipalities of the Amazon biome and for his generous discussions and support. We also extend our special thanks to Alexandre Gontijo, Flavio Coelho and Marcelle Chagas, for fruitful discussions during the project.Peer Reviewed"Article signat per 15 autors/es: Ana C. Rorato, Ana Paula Dal’Asta, Raquel Martins Lana, Ricardo B. N. dos Santos, Maria Isabel S. Escada, Camila M. Vogt, Tatiana Campos Neves, Milton Barbosa, Cecilia S. Andreazzi, Izabel C. dos Reis, Danilo A. Fernandes, Mônica da Silva-Nunes, Anielli R. de Souza, Antonio M. V. Monteiro & Claudia T. Codeço "Postprint (published version

Bioactive and chemical properties of edible mycorrhizal mushrooms from Northeast Portugal

Mushrooms are widely appreciated all over the world for their nutritional properties1 and pharmacological value as sources of important bioactive compounds.2,3 Mycorrhizal macrofungi associate with plant roots constituting a symbiotic relationship, beneficial for both plant and fungus. In the present work five edible mycorrhizal species (Amanita caesarea, Cortinarius anomalus, Cortinarius violaceus, Lactarius volemus and Suillus luteus) from Northeast Portugal were studied for their bioactive and chemical properties. Antioxidant activity was accessed by in vitro assays: radical scavenging activity, reducing power, and lipid peroxidation inhibition. Bioactive compounds such as phenolic compounds, vitamins (ascorbic acid and tocopherols), sugars and fatty acids were obtained by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or gas-chromatography (GC) coupled to different detectors. The main compounds identified in each class were: Phenolic compounds- protocatechuic, p-hydroxybenzoic and p-coumaric acids; Tocopherols- the four isoforms ,, and ; Sugars- mannitol and trehalose; Fatty acids- oleic acid (C18:1n9), linoleic acid (C18:2n6) and palmitic acid (C16:0). A similar profile of metabolites was observed in the studied mushroom species with the order sugars > fat > ascorbic acid > phenolic compounds > tocopherols. Nevertheless, the samples revealed different compositions: prevalence of sugars in Lactarius volemus (28.22 1.81 g/100 g dw), ascorbic acid (343.96 ± 30.98 mg/100 g) and phenolic compounds (8.68 ± 0.38 mg/100 g) in Cortinarius anomalus and fat (3.45 ± 0.65 g/100 g), tocopherols (449.76 ± 52.96 g/100 g) and antioxidant activity in Suillus luteus (EC50 values 1.92 ± 0.08, 0.75 ± 0.03, 0.61 ± 0.02 mg/ml for radical scavenging activity, reducing power, and lipid peroxidation inhibition, respectively)

Avaliação da qualidade e segurança microbiológica de refeições de sushi prontas a consumir em Portugal

Being a food product that contains perishable ingredients and involves a significant degree of manual handling during preparation, sushi is regarded as a potentially hazardous food, which may lead to foodborne disease outbreaks. In Portugal, consumption of takeaway sushi meals has strongly increased throughout the past few years; however, there is limited information regarding its compliance with food quality standards. Under this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the microbiological quality and safety of take-away ready-to-eat sushi meals in Lisbon, Portugal. Sixty- two samples were collected from different origins (restaurant and hypermarket), and each sample was tested for aerobic mesophilic microorganisms, Enterobacteriaceae, Escherichia coli, positive coagulase Staphylococci, presumptive Bacillus cereus count, as for detection of pathogenic microorganisms, such as Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes and Vibrio parahaemolyticus, V. cholerae and V. vulnificus. Results revealed that 48.4% (30/62) were deemed unsatisfactory, 35.5% (22/62) were classified as borderline and only 16.1% (10/62) were considered satisfactory. Even though we did not detect the incidence of potentially pathogenic microorganisms in sushi, the presence of B. cereus and coagulase- positive Staphylococci was detected at unsatisfactory levels. Furthermore, significant differences between the place of origin (restaurant vs. hypermarket) and type of fish were also observed. Overall, the high number of samples classified with a level of microbiological quality “unsatisfactory” and “borderline” highlights the need to review good hygiene practices, as well as the quality of the raw materials used, to obtain a final product with a satisfactory quality and safety levelRESUMO - Por ser um género alimentício que contém ingredientes perecíveis e envolve um grau significativo de manipulação manual durante a sua preparação, o sushi é considerado um alimento potencialmente perigoso, que pode causar surtos de doença de origem alimentar. Em Portugal, o consumo de refeições de sushi prontas a consumir tem aumentado ao longo dos últimos anos. No entanto, a informação sobre o cumprimento das normas de qualidade alimentar é limitada. Neste contexto, o presente estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a qualidade e a segurança microbiológica de refeições de sushi prontas para consumo em take-way, na região de Lisboa, Portugal. Foram colhidas 62 amostras de diferentes origens (restaurante e hipermercado), e em cada amostra foi efetuada a contagem de microrganismos aeróbios mesófilos, Enterobacteriaceae, Escherichia coli, estafilococos coagulase positiva, Bacillus cereus presuntivos, e deteção de microrganismos patogénicos, tais como: Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio cholerae e Vibrio vulnificus. Os resultados revelaram que 48,4% (30/62) das amostras foram consideradas insatisfatórias, 35,5% (22/62) foram classificadas como “borderline” e apenas 16,1% (10/62) foram consideradas como satisfatórias. Embora não tenham sido detetados microrganismos potencialmente patogénicos nas amostras de sushi, a presença de B. cereus e estafilococos coagulase positivos foram detetados em níveis insatisfatórios. Além disso, também foram observadas diferenças significativas entre o local de origem (restaurante vs. hipermercado) e tipo de peixe. No geral, o elevado número de amostras classificadas com um nível de qualidade microbiológica insatisfatória e “borderline” evidência a necessidade de revisão das boas práticas de higiene, bem como da qualidade das matérias- primas utilizadas, para obter um produto final com qualidade e segurança satisfatóriainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Towards the antioxidant and chemical characterization of mycorrhizal mushrooms from Northeast Portugal

Mushrooms are widely appreciated all over the world for their nutritional properties and pharmacological value as sources of important bioactive compounds. Mycorrhizal macrofungi associate with plant roots constituting a symbiotic relationship. This symbiosis could influence the production of secondary metabolites, including bioactive compounds. We focused on the evaluation of antioxidant potential and chemical composition of mycorrhizal mushrooms species from Northeast Portugal: Amanita caesarea, Amanita muscaria, Amanita pantherina, Chroogomphus fulmineus, Cortinarius anomalus, Cortinarius collinitus, Cortinarius violaceus, Lactarius quietus, Lactarius volemus, Russula sardonia, Suillus luteus and Tricholoma ustale. A similar profile of metabolites was observed in the studied species with the order sugars > fat > ascorbic acid > phenolic compounds > tocopherols. Nevertheless, the samples revealed different compositions: prevalence of sugars in L. volemus, fat and ascorbic acid in A. muscaria, phenolic compounds in C. anomalus and tocopherols and antioxidant activity in S. luteus