Valorization of watermelon fruit (Citrullus lanatus) byproducts: phytochemical and biofunctional properties with emphasis on recent trends and advances

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) a fruit crop, is an herbaceous creeping plant belonging to the family Cucurbitaceae. It is a tropical plant, mainly propagated by seeds and thrives best in warm areas. While the fruit pulp is consumed, seeds are often discarded. The continuously growing global market for the main tropical fruits is currently estimated at 85 million tons, of which approximately half is lost or wasted throughout the whole processing chain. Developing novel processes for the conversion of these byproducts into value‐added products could provide a viable way to manage this waste problem, aiming at the same time to create a sustainable economic growth within a bio‐economy perspective. Given the ever‐increasing concern about sustainability, complete valorization through a bio‐refinery approach, that is, zero waste concepts is therefore most important. This paper aims to report the status on the valorization of tropical fruit byproducts, more specifically in watermelon seeds and their content in bioactive compounds, such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, carotenoids, alkaloids. Moreover, the bioactivity of the different types of phytochemicals and their possible application as a resource for different sectors (food, pharmaceutical, and environmental sciences) is discussed. Consequently, this review presents the concepts of tropical fruit byproducts recovery, and the potential applications of the isolated fractions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

REFLEXÕES TEÓRICAS E PRÁTICAS SOBRE OS NOVOS LETRAMENTOS E TECNOLOGIAS DIGITAIS: RELATO DE FORMAÇÃO DOCENTE. THEORETICAL REFLECTIONS AND PRACTICES RELATED TO NEW LITERACIES AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES: A TEACHER TRAINING REPORT

O artigo apresenta o relato de experiência de formação, realizada no âmbito do Programa Mais Educação do MEC (Ministério da Educação), Brasil, de um grupo de professores de escolas públicas do estado do Ceará no eixo temático dos novos letramentos e das tecnologias digitais. A formação foi articulada em duas unidades que contemplaram três instâncias da temática trabalhada: a perspectiva sociocultural da cibercultura, a dimensão institucional da escola e a esfera profissional e pessoal do professor. A segunda unidade centrou-se ainda na análise crítica de uma experiência prática de uso de tecnologias digitais com fins educativos em um projeto de aprendizagem desenvolvido em parceria com a Universidade de Michigan, dos Estados Unidos, a partir da experiência contrastante de dois professores. A partir desses elementos a formação estabeleceu um processo dialogado e reflexivo com os professores participantes, contribuindo para sua compreensão sobre os dilemas e possíveis formas de atuação no Programa para uso educativo das tecnologias digitais a partir do paradigma da cibercultura e com fins de melhoria da aprendizagem. The paper presents the experience of teacher training conducted under the Mais Educação (More Education) Program from the Ministry of Education, Brazil, and attended by a group of public school teachers in the state of Ceará in order to learn about digital technologies and new literacies. The course was developed in two units; the first one addressed conceptual elements related to teacher identity in transition and their new professional roles, the dissonance between the paradigm of cyberspace and the space-time of schools. The second unit featured a review of a practical experience in the use of digital technologies for educational purposes on a learning project developed in partnership with the University of Michigan, U.S.A., based on the contrasting experiences of two teachers. The course established reflexive dialogues with participating teachers, contributing to their understanding of the dilemmas and possible ways of acting in the Program to promote improved educational use of digital technologies

Predicting iron deficiency and oxidative stress in glycine max through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in a time-course experiment

Aims: The excessive use of fertilizers is a problem in current agricultural systems, and sustainable farming practices, including precision agriculture, demand the use of new technologies to manage plant stress at an early stage. To sustainably manage iron (Fe) fertilization in agricultural fields, it is urgent to develop early detection methods for Fe deficiency, and linked oxidative stress, in plant leaves. Herein, the potential of using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for Fe deficiency and oxidative stress detection in soybean plants was evaluated.Methods: After a period of two weeks of hydroponic growth under optimum conditions, soybean plants were grown under Fe-sufficient (Fe+) and Fe-deficient (Fe–) hydroponic conditions for four weeks. Sampling occurred every week, infrared (IR) spectra were acquired and biological parameters (total chlorophyll, anthocyanins and carotenoids concentration, and ABTS and DPPH free radical scavenging ability), mineral concentrations, and the Fe-related genes’ expression - FRO2- and IRT1-like - were evaluated. Results: Two weeks after imposing Fe deficiency, plants displayed decreased antioxidant activity, and increased expression levels of FRO2- and IRT1-like genes. Regarding the PLS models developed to estimate the biological parameters and mineral concentrations, satisfactory calibration models were globally obtained with R2C from 0.93 to 0.99. FTIR spectroscopy was also able to discriminate between Fe + and Fe– plants from an early stage of stress induction with 96.3% of correct assignments. Conclusion: High reproducibility was observed among the different spectra of each sample and FTIR spectroscopy may be an early, non-invasive, cheap, and environmentally friendly technique for IDC management.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Chemical Modifications on Proteins Using Glutaraldehyde

In this work the effect of crosslinking the enzyme esperase (E.C. 3.4.21.62) and the proteins bovine serum albumin and casein with the bifunctional compound glutaraldehyde on molecular mass increase was studied. Two common techniques for measuring molecular mass of proteins were used: SEC and SDS-PAGE. These techniques revealed that the proteins bovine albumin and casein, when subjected to chemical crosslinking with glutaraldehyde, volume fraction 0.25 %, increased their molecular mass by 20- and 40-fold, respectively. It was also observed that Mr increased proportionally to the increase of glutaraldehyde concentration in the solution, and that the addition of glutaraldehyde should be done slowly, in small amounts, in order to attain bigger protein aggregates. When the proteolytic enzyme esperase was subjected to glutaraldehyde, no increase in its Mr was achieved. Several assumptions can be made to explain these results, the most reasonable being the low amount of free lysine groups available for crosslinking. This study confirms that glutaraldehyde is not an adequate crosslinker for esperase

Non-Destructive Inspection of High Temperature Piping Combining Ultrasound and Eddy Current Testing

Project Hi2TRUST—Second generation platform for high-temperature component inspection, (Ref. 3335), supported by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER), Programa Operacional Regional de Lisboa (Lisb@2020 and Portugal2020). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.This paper presents an automated Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) system for the in-service inspection of orbital welds on tubular components operating at temperatures as high as 200 °C. The combination of two different NDT methods and respective inspection systems is here proposed to cover the detection of all potential defective weld conditions. The proposed NDT system combines ultrasounds and Eddy current techniques with dedicated approaches for dealing with high temperature conditions. Phased array ultrasound was employed, searching for volumetric defects within the weld bead volume while Eddy currents were used to look for surface and sub-surface cracks. The results from the phased array ultrasound results showed the effectiveness of the cooling mechanisms and that temperature effects on sound attenuation can be easily compensated for up to 200 °C. The Eddy current results showed almost no influence when temperatures were raised up to 300 °C.publishersversionpublishe

Molecular docking studies of the interaction between propargylic enol ethers and human DNA topoisomerase IIα

Having identified a novel human DNA topoisomerase IIa (TOP2) catalytic inhibitor from a small and structure-focused library of propargylic enol ethers, we decided to analyze if the chirality of these compounds plays a determinant role in their antiproliferative activity. In this study, we describe for the first time the synthesis of the corresponding enantiomers and the biological evaluation against a panel of representative human solid tumor cell lines. Experimental results show that chirality does not influence the reported antiproliferative activity of these compounds. Docking studies of corresponding enantiomers against TOP2 reinforce the finding that the biological effect is not chiral-dependent and that these family of compounds seem to act as TOP2 catalytic inhibitors.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Molecular epidemiology, virulence traits and antimicrobial resistance signatures of Aeromonas spp. in the critically endangered Iberochondrostoma lusitanicum follow geographical and seasonal patterns

This research was supported by CIISA—Centro de Investigação Interdisciplinar em Sanidade Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Project UIDB/00276/2020 (funded by FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia IP) and by MARE (MARE-ISPA), MARE/UIDB/MAR/04292/2020 and strategic project MARE/UIDP/MAR/04292/2020 (also funded by FCT). M.L.G. thanks funding by the University of Lisbon (PhD fellowship C10571K). T.A.M. and C.S.M. thank partial support by CEAUL (funded by FCT, Portugal, through the project UIDB/00006/2020).Despite the fact that freshwater fish populations are experiencing severe declines worldwide, our knowledge on the interaction between endangered populations and pathogenic agents remains scarce. In this study, we investigated the prevalence and structure of Aeromonas communities isolated from the critically endangered Iberochondrostoma lusitanicum, a model species for threatened Iberian leuciscids, as well as health parameters in this species. Additionally, we evaluated the virulence profiles, antimicrobial resistance signatures and genomic relationships of the Aeromonas isolates. Lesion prevalence, extension and body condition were deeply affected by location and seasonality, with poorer performances in the dry season. Aeromonas composition shifted among seasons and was also different across river streams. The pathogenic potential of the isolates significantly increased during the dry season. Additionally, isolates displaying clinically relevant antimicrobial resistance phenotypes (carbapenem and fluroquinolone resistance) were detected. As it inhabits intermittent rivers, often reduced to disconnected pools during the summer, the dry season is a critical period for I. lusitanicum, with lower general health status and a higher potential of infection by Aeromonas spp. Habitat quality seems a determining factor on the sustainable development of this fish species. Also, these individuals act as reservoirs of important antimicrobial resistant bacteria with potential implications for public health.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Mito-nuclear sequencing is paramount to correctly identify sympatric hybridizing fishes

Background. Hybridization may drive speciation and erode species, especially when intrageneric sympatric species are involved. Five sympatric Luciobarbus species—Luciobarbus sclateri (Günther, 1868), Luciobarbus comizo (Steindachner, 1864), Luciobarbus microcephalus (Almaça, 1967), Luciobarbus guiraonis (Steindachner, 1866), and Luciobarbus steindachneri (Almaça, 1967)—are commonly identified in field surveys by diagnostic morphological characters. Assuming that i) in loco identification is subjective and observer-dependent, ii) there is previous evidence of interspecific hybridization, and iii) the technical reports usually do not include molecular analyses, our main goal was to assess the concordance between in loco species identification based on phenotypic characters with identifications based on morphometric indices, mtDNA only, and a combination of mito-nuclear markers. Materials and methods. Specimens of Luciobarbus from six Guadiana River sub-basins were collected and sequenced for the cytochrome b and beta-actin genes. For comparative purposes, samples of Luciobarbus from other 12 river basins were also used. Four levels of taxonomical identification were conducted based on: identification made in the field (in loco identification), cytb gene only, beta-actin gene only, and mito-nuclear combined genomes. Results. Results showed that interspecific hybridization seems to be high (around 41%) and likely favoured by non-random mating and the loss of fluvial connectivity. About 34% of the hybrids showed mito-nuclear discordance. Misidentifications were frequent when only phenotypic characters are considered, and the use of a single mitochondrial gene is not sufficient: the use of two mito-nuclear markers showed that around 82% of the in loco identifications based on the phenotype were not correct. Conclusion. Incorrect species assignment likely generated biased results in previous studies on the biology and ecology of Guadiana barbels and in the assignment of conservation status and, consequently, on the establishment of conservation management measuresinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Cross-Sectional Study of the Street Foods Purchased by Customers in Urban Areas of Central Asia

This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Security, Food Intake and Eating Behaviour in Low- and Middle- Income CountriesThis study aimed to describe street food purchases in cities from Central Asia, considering customers’ characteristics and the nutritional composition of the foods and beverages. Cross-sectional studies were conducted in 2016/2017 in Dushanbe (Tajikistan), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) and Almaty (Kazakhstan). Direct observation was used to collect data on the purchases made by street food customers, selected by random and systematic sampling. Nutritional composition was estimated using data from chemical analyses, food composition tables or food labels. A total of 714 customers (56.6% females, 55.5% aged ≥35 years, 23.3% overweight/obese) were observed, who bought 852 foods and beverages, the most frequent being savoury pastries/snacks (23.2%), main dishes (19.0%), sweet pastries/confectionery (17.9%), tea/coffee (11.3%) and soft drinks/juices (9.8%). Fruit was the least purchased food (1.1%). Nearly one-third of customers purchased industrial food items (31.9%). The median energy content of a street food purchase was 529 kcal/serving. Saturated and trans-fat median contents were 4.7 g/serving and 0.36 g/serving (21.4% and 16.5% of maximum daily intake recommendations, respectively). Median sodium and potassium contents were 745 mg/serving (37.3% of maximum recommendation) and 304 mg/serving (8.7% of minimum recommendation), respectively. In general, the purchases observed presented high contents of energy, saturated-fat, trans-fat and sodium, and low levels of potassium. Policies towards the improvement of these urban food environments should be encouraged.The FEEDCities project is funded by the World Health Organization Europe (WHO registration 2015/591370-0 and 2017/698514) and by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. The EPIUnit–Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto (Ref. UIDB/04750/2020) and the Investigation Unit LAQV/REQUIMTE (UID/QUI/50006/2020) are funded by Portuguese funds from FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia-Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior). Individual grants attributed to SS (SFRH/BD/130650/2017) and GA (SFRH/BD/118630/2016) are funded by FCT and the Human Capital Operational Programme of the European Social Fund (POCH/FSE)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio