Comparative biochemical evolution during ripening of bovine, ovine and caprine cheeses manufactured with extracts of flowers of Cynara cardunculus

Changes in the main physicochemical and biochemical characteristics of bovine, ovine and caprine milk cheeses manufactured with aqueous extracts of flowers of Cynara cardunculus were studied throughout ripening (0 – 68 days). At the end of ripening the pH in the centre was (mean ± ISD) 5.05±0.07, 5.15±0.21 and 4.91±0.07 for bovine, ovine and caprine milk cheeses, respectively; whereas the pH at the top of the cheese was 5.21±0.09, 5.44±0.12 and 5.12±0.07, respectively; the moisture content values of bovine, ovine and caprine milk cheeses were 37.68±2.32, 40.23±4.34 and 45.73±1.44%, respectively; the NaCl content values were 4.00±0.43, 4.00±0.56 and 4.08±0.58 (%TS); the fat content values were 41.01±5.32, 63.60±7.80 and 45.14±9.14 (%TS); the protein content values were 28.96±1.84, 22.89±2.37 and 30.02±1.22 (%TS); the water-soluble nitrogen values were 32.91±1.76, 46.44±1.86 and 48.72±1.08 (%TN); the values of nitrogen soluble in trichloroacetic acid were 10.25±1.93, 10.41±2.91 and 7.25±0.84 (%TN); the values of nitrogen soluble in phosphotungstic acid were 1.50±0.18, 1.87±0.65 and 1.38±0.32 (%TN); finally, the free amino acid content values were 21.33±5.34, 17.51±5.08 and 23.93±4.80 μM equivalents of leucine. Urea-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of water-insoluble fractions from cheeses indicated high degrees of proteolysis of αs1-casein in bovine cheeses and more extensive proteolysis of the αs-casein region in caprine than in ovine cheeses, but a moderate degree of proteolysis of β-casein in all types of cheese; electrophoregrams of the water-soluble fraction displayed increasing numbers of bands throughout ripening, an observation that is consistent with the increase in the ratio of water-soluble nitrogen to total nitrogen

Ripening of ovine milk cheeses: effects of plant rennet, pasteurization, and addition of starter on lipolysis

The influences of type of rennet (from animal sources or from flowers of Cynara cardunculus), pasteurization (or not) of the milk, and addition (or not) of starter cultures prior to cheesemaking, on the release of major fatty acid residues of ovine milk cheese were evaluated throughout the ripening period. The long-chain saturated (C16:0 and C18:0) and unsaturated (C18:1, C18:2 and C18:3) free fatty acids (FFA) were the most abundant types at all stages of ripening. The overall concentrations of FFA released by 68 days of ripening were 6517 and 7802 mg kg−1 cheese for ovine milk cheeses manufactured from the same batch of raw milk and ripened under the same conditions without deliberate addition of a starter culture, using plant or animal rennet, respectively; therefore, such plant rennet appears to be a good substitute for animal rennet from a lipolytic point of view. The overall concentrations of FFA in fresh cheese were 3538, 3002 and 3283 mg kg−1 cheese for raw milk without addition of a starter culture, pasteurized milk without addition of a starter culture, and pasteurized milk with addition of a starter culture, respectively; these values increased to 6517, 8115 and 4847 mg kg−1 cheese by 68 days, of which 1791, 3887 and 1649 mg kg−1 cheese were accounted for by short-chain FFA

Advances in the role of a plant coagulant (Cynara cardunculus) in vitro and during ripening of cheeses from several milk species

Extracts from dried flowers of Cynara cardunculus have been employed successfully for many centuries in Portugal and some regions of Spain for the manufacture of traditional cheeses. Several studies have been performed in vitro and in actual cheeses focusing on the activity and specificity of proteinases from C. cardunculus, in attempts to further characterise this plant coagulant as a proteolytic agent in cheese ripening. In vitro studies encompassed extraction conditions, storage of extracts, proteolysis and specificity on caseins using experimental conditions that parallel milk and cheese during ripening. In vivo studies encompassed the effect of the type of milk (bovine, ovine and caprine) in terms of proteolysis, specificity of those plant proteinases during ripening, comparison of microbiological, chemical, proteolytic and lipolytic characteristics in ovine milk cheeses relative to animal rennet counterparts, and effect of native microflora, thermal processing and addition of starter cultures in ovine cheese

Feminine Identities

The first four essays in this volume all focus on issues of gender in the works of different English authors and thinkers. Shorter versions of each of these essays were formerly presented as papers in an autonomous section of the Research and Educational Programme on Studies of Identity at the XXth Meeting of the Portuguese Association of Anglo-American Studies (Póvoa de Varzim, 1999) and published in the proceedings of the conference. The second cluster of essays in this volume — two of which (Jennie Wang’s and Teresa Cid’s) were first presented, in shorter versions, at the joint ASA/CAAS Conference (Montréal, 1999) — addresses the work of American women variously engaged in contexts of cultural diversity and grappling with the ideas of what it means to be an American and a woman, particularly in the twentieth century. These essays approach, from different angles, the definitional quandaries and semantic difficulties encountered when speaking about the self and the United States and provide, in one way or another, a sort of feminine rewriting of American myths and history.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologi

Self-Similarity of Friction Laws

The change of the friction law from a mesoscopic level to a macroscopic level is studied in the spring-block models introduced by Burridge-Knopoff. We find that the Coulomb law is always scale invariant. Other proposed scaling laws are only invariant under certain conditions.}Comment: Plain TEX. Figures not include

Designing an ontology tool for the unification of biofilms data

Publicado em "8th International Conference on Practical Applications of Computational Biology & Bioinformatics (PACBB 2014)"The description of biofilm features presents a conceptual and practical challenge. Biofilm studies often encompass multidisciplinary approaches from Biology, Chemistry, Medicine, Material Science and Engineering, among other fields. Standardising biofilm data is essential to be able to accomplish large-scale collaborative and complementary analysis. To define a common standard format to exchange the heterogeneous biofilm data, it is first necessary to define a set of minimum information for the documentation of biofilm experiments. Then, data should be organised and semantically integrated. This paper describes the first ontology designed to share structured vocabulary for the annotation of the general biofilm experimental workflow – the Biofilm Ontology (BO). This ontology is intended for the broad research community, including bench microbiologists, clinical researchers, clinicians, curators and bioinformaticians

New Nile blue derivatives as NIR fluorescent probes and antifungal agents

The synthesis of four new Nile Blue derivatives with hydrogen, propyl and/or aminopropyl groups as substituents of the amines of 5- and 9-positions is described. Photophysical properties were evaluated in acidified ethanol and aqueous solution at physiological pH. Antifungal activity is also studied through the obtention of MIC values.Thanks are due to Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) and FEDER (European Fund for Regional Development)-COMPETE-QRENEU for financial support through the Chemistry Research Centre of the University of Minho (Ref. UID/QUI/00686/2013 and UID/QUI/0686/2016), CBMA (PEst OE/BIA/UI4050/2014) and a PhD grant to J.C.F. (SFRH/BD/133207/2017). The NMR spectrometer Bruker Avance III 400 is part of the National NMR Network (PTNMR) and are partially supported by Infrastructure Project No 022161 (co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE 2020, POCI and PORL and FCT through PIDDAC)

Adaptation and convergence in circadian‐related genes in Iberian freshwater fish

The circadian clock is a biological timing system that improves the ability of organisms to deal with environmental fluctuations. At the molecular level it consists of a network of transcription-translation feedback loops, involving genes that activate (bmal and clock - positive loop) and repress expression (cryptochrome (cry) and period (per) - negative loop). This is regulated by daily alternations of light but can also be affected by temperature. Fish, as ectothermic, depend on the environmental temperature and thus are good models to study its integration within the circadian system. Here, we studied the molecular evolution of circadian genes in four Squalius freshwater fish species, distributed across Western Iberian rivers affected by two climatic types with different environmental conditions (e.g., light and temperature). S. carolitertii and S. pyrenaicus inhabit the colder northern region under Atlantic climate type, while S. torgalensis, S. aradensis and some populations of S. pyrenaicus inhabit the warmer southern region affected by summer droughts, under Mediterranean climate type.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

MAPK signaling pathways mediate acetic acid-induced cell death in saccharomyces cerevisiae

This work was funded by FEDER through the program “Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade-COMPETE” and by FCT through the projects Pest-C/BIA/UI4050/2011 and FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-007047. F.A. was supported by an FCT fellowship (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-007047)

Monitorização da terapêutica hemostática em pacientes com razão normalizada internacional aumentada

Realizou-se um estudo observacional descritivo transversal a uma população de hipocoagulados do serviço de Hemoterapia do Hospital Pedro Hispano, entre Março e Setembro de 2009, com valor de INR ≥ 4. O estudo tem como objectivo classificar os valores de INR após Terapia Hemostática em intervalos terapêuticos segundo o ACCP. Nos valores de INR após terapia, 53,9% encontram-se dentro do intervalo terapêutico, 31,5% abaixo e 14,6% acima deste intervalo. Estes indicam uma óptima escolha da terapia hemostática sendo concordantes com outros estudos que apontam que 4 a 40% se situam abaixo do intervalo INR terapêutico e 1 a 17% acima.We perform a cross-sectional observational study in a hipocoagulated population in Hemotherapy Service, Hospital Pedro Hispano, between March and September 2009, with INR values ≥ 4. The study aims to classify the INR values after hemostatic therapy in therapeutic ranges according to the ACCP. The INR values after therapy, 53.9% were within the therapeutic range, 31.5% down and 14.6% above this range. These indicate an optimal choice of hemostatic therapy being consistent with other studies showing that 4-40% are below the therapeutic INR range and 1-17% higher