Natural phytochemicals and probiotics as bioactive ingredients for functional foods: Extraction, biochemistry and protected-delivery technologies

he well-known correlation between diet and physiology demonstrates the great possibilities of food to maintain or improve our health, increasing the interest in finding new products with positive physiological effects. Nowadays, one of the top research areas in Food Science and Technology is the extraction and characterization of new natural ingredients with biological activity that can be further incorporated into a functional food, contributing to consumer's well-being. Furthermore, there is a high demand for effective encapsulation methodologies to preserve all the characteristics of bioactive compounds until the physiological action site is reached. Scope and approach: In this review, the relevance of developing standard approaches for the extraction of the highly diverse bioactive compounds was described, as it defines the suitability of the following steps of separation, identification and characterization. Special attention was also dedicated to the encapsulation techniques used on hydrophilic and/or lipophilic compounds (e.g., emulsification, coacervation, supercritical fluid, inclusion complexation, emulsification-solvent evaporation and nanoprecipitation). Key findings and conclusions: Some useful conclusions regarding the selection of the best extraction methodology (Soxhlet extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction, supercritical fluid extraction, accelerated solvent extraction, or shake extraction) were achieved, considering important aspects such as cost, required technical skills, extract integrity, green chemistry principles, solvent type, sample size, pH, temperature and pressure. In addition, this comprehensive review allowed defining the best protective approach to solve the limitations related to the extremely low absorption and bioavailability of bioactive phytochemicals, overcoming problems related to their low solubility, poor stability, low permeability and metabolic processes in the GI tract.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Automatic structures for semigroup constructions

We survey results concerning automatic structures for semigroup constructions, providing references and describing the corresponding automatic structures. The constructions we consider are: free products, direct products, Rees matrix semigroups, Bruck-Reilly extensions and wreath products.Comment: 22 page

CRESCIMENTO INICIAL DE MUDAS DE Clitoria fairchildiana Howard E Peltophorum dubium (Sprenge) Taub EM DIFERENTES CONDIÇÕES DE SOMBREAMENTO

Este experimento teve como objetivo avaliar a influência do sombreamento no crescimento de mudas de Peltophorum dubium (Canafístula) e Clitoria fairchildiana (Sombreiro), espécies utilizadas no reflorestamento de encostas do município do Rio de Janeiro. As sementes foram colhidas em diversas matrizes e semeadas em sacos plásticos. As porcentagens de sombreamento testadas foram: 0% (sol pleno), 30%, 50% e 75%. A instalação do experimento iniciou-se um mês após a semeadura. O parâmetro altura foi analisado aos 30, 60, 90, 120 e 150 dias após a semeadura. O peso da matéria seca da raiz foi analisado aos 150 dias. Os resultados demostraram que as espécies estudadas apresentam diferentes respostas para os parâmetros analisados. Para o plantio imediato recomenda-se a produção de mudas de Sombreiro sob o sombreamento de 30% e de Canafístula, sob sol pleno, 30% ou 75% de sombra. Na produção de mudas para estocagem, seria indicado para o Sombreiro, a produção a sol pleno e para Canafístula, as mudas poderiam ser mantidas sob 50% de sombreamento. Ambas as espécies podem ser plantadas sob pleno sol, 30%, 50% e 75% de sombreamento, sendo indicadas para a implantação de reflorestamentos ou para enriquecimento de área degradadas

Analysis of pancreas histological images for glucose intolerance identificationusing ImageJ-preliminary results

The observation in microscopy of histological sections allows us to evaluate structural differences, in pancreatic cells, between rats with normal glucose tolerance and with glucose intolerance (pre-diabetic) situation. Nevertheless, this pre-diabetic condition implies subtle changes in islets of Langerhans structure. This and the normal variability among sampled cells makes difficult the task of identifying glucose intolerance (pre-diabetic situation) with a low level of error. This paper presents preliminary results in the processing of histological pancreas images with the goal of identifying pre-diabetic situation in Wistar rats. The immediate goal of this work is to evaluate the performance of a classifier based in a morphometric measurement of the histological images and to assess the potential for image based automatic processing and classification. A set of 90 images, were used (58 from rats with normal glucose tolerance, and 32 from pre-diabetic ones). These images were segmented manually using ImageJ. This segmentation and area measurements have been speedup by the application of ImageJ macros which were defined for this purpose. The ratio, between the area of -cells and the islets of Langerhans , was used has the indicator of the prediabetic situation. Considering this feature, a receiver operating characteristic analysis has been performed. True positive rate, vs. false positive rate shows the predicted performance of a binary classifier as its discrimination threshold is varied

MAXIMUM NUMBER OF REPETITIONS, TOTAL WEIGHT LIFTED AND NEUROMUSCULAR FATIGUE IN INDIVIDUALS WITH DIFFERENT TRAINING BACKGROUNDS

The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance, as well as neuromuscular activity, in a strength task in subjects with different training backgrounds. Participants (n = 26) were divided into three groups according to their training backgrounds (aerobic, strength or mixed) and submitted to three sessions: (1) determination of the maximum oxygen uptake during the incremental treadmill test to exhaustion and familiarization of the evaluation of maximum strength (1RM) for the half squat; (2) 1RM determination; and (3) strength exercise, four sets at 80�0of the 1RM, in which the maximum number of repetitions (MNR), the total weight lifted (TWL), the root mean square (RMS) and median frequency (MF) of the electromyographic (EMG) activity for the second and last repetition were computed. There was an effect of group for MNR, with the aerobic group performing a higher MNR compared to the strength group (P = 0.045), and an effect on MF with a higher value in the second repetition than in the last repetition (P = 0.016). These results demonstrated that individuals with better aerobic fitness were more fatigue resistant than strength trained individuals. The absence of differences in EMG signals indicates that individuals with different training backgrounds have a similar pattern of motor unit recruitment during a resistance exercise performed until failure, and that the greater capacity to perform the MNR probably can be explained by peripheral adaptations

Balanced scorecard performance assessment in a medical imaging department

The authors present and discuss the development of a strategic management model based on the Balanced Scorecard by Kaplan and Norton to implement in an imaging ward and the relations with Performance Measurement System that allows for the monitoring of the service's evolution, the alignment of objectives, and the evaluation of individual employees within the strategy of the ward and the hospital

Controlling quantum entanglement through photocounts

We present a protocol to generate and control quantum entanglement between the states of two subsystems (the system ${\cal S}$) by making measurements on a third subsystem (the monitor ${\cal M}$), interacting with ${\cal S}$. For the sake of comparison we consider first an ideal, or instantaneous projective measurement, as postulated by von Neumann. Then we compare it with the more realistic or generalized measurement procedure based on photocounting on ${\cal M}$. Further we consider that the interaction term (between ${\cal S}$ and ${\cal M}$) contains a quantum nondemolition variable of ${\cal S}$ and discuss the possibility and limitations for reconstructing the initial state of ${\cal S}$ from information acquired by photocounting on ${\cal M}$.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev

Microstructure modelling of hot deformation of Al–1%Mg alloy

This study presents the application of the finite elementmethod and intelligent systems techniques to the prediction of microstructural mapping for aluminium alloys. Here, the material within each finite element is defined using a hybrid model. The hybrid model is based on neuro-fuzzy and physically based components and it has been combined with the finite element technique. The model simulates the evolution of the internal state variables (i.e. dislocation density, subgrain size and subgrain boundary misorientation) and their effect on the recrystallisation behaviour of the stock. This paper presents the theory behind the model development, the integration between the numerical techniques, and the application of the technique to a hot rolling operation using aluminium, 1 wt% magnesium alloy. Furthermore, experimental data from plane strain compression (PSC) tests and rolling are used to validate the modelling outcome. The results show that the recrystallisation kinetics agree well with the experimental results for different annealing times. This hybrid approach has proved to be more accurate than conventional methods using empirical equations