Improvement of olive oil flavor and bioactive composition by optimizing industrial extraction using taste sensor devices

Olive oil is appreciated by consumers due to sensory and health properties [1]. Indeed, it is well known that virgin olive oil (VOO) is a potential antioxidant [2] showing anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, anticancer, antidiabetic and neuroprotective effects [2]. Specifically, an important expansion of the nutraceutical market has been observed with olive products due to the health benefits associated with their polyphenols [3]. The increasing levels of competition of the worldwide olive oil market and the need of satisfying the consumers incessant search for healthy foods, led to the appearance of differentiated high-value olive oils. The possibility of producing enriched olive oils with related health claims [4], either by optimizing production key variables or by using flavoring techniques is a challenge and an opportunity to segment the broad trade category of olive oils. The present work aims evaluate the feasibility of producing enriched “ready-to-sell” olive oils with enhanced flavor and high contents of bioactive natural compounds. Furthermore, profiting from the fast progress in material sciences, software innovations and electronic systems integration, novel electrochemical taste sensors (electronic tongue and nose) will be designed as in-situ cost effective alternative devices to standard analytical techniques. The expected outputs may contribute to the sustained economic growth of the olive oil national industry.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

New biophenols in olive mill wastewaters

Olive mill wastewaters (OMW) have been attracting the attention of food and pharmaceutical industries, as it is a potential source of biophenols with a wide range of biological activities. This effluent produced in the olive oil industry contains approximately half of the total phenolic compounds of the olive fruit and it is currently exploited for industrial extraction of hydroxytyrosol [1]. Still, the phenolic composition of OMW is extremely complex, and many compounds are yet unidentified. In this context, the identification of unknown phenolic compounds can encourage the search of new bioactive compounds in OMW and contribute to further valorize this waste. In the present work, six new phenolic compounds were identified in Portuguese olive mill wastewaters. The phenolic extracts of OMW were obtained by methanol and were fractionated on Sep Pack C18 cartridges, by elution of the cartridges with 50% (v/v) methanol. The analysis of the purified fractions by electrospray mass spectrometry in the negative mode showed high relative abundant [M-H]− ions at m/z 539 and m/z 523, corresponding respectively to oleuropein and ligstroside isomers that contain the glucose unit linked to its hydroxytyrosol moiety. Glucoside derivatives of these compounds were also found in the two OMW samples. In particular, the fragmentation pathway of the [M-H]− ion at m/z 863 demonstrated the presence of a diglucoside derivative of the oleuropein isomer, while those of the ions at m/z 685 and m/z 847 were consistent with mono- and a di-glucosides of the ligstroside isomer, respectively. Moreover, the structure of an elenoic derivative of the ion at m/z 685 was also elucidated. Studies regarding the abundance and the biological activities of these compounds are now required to determine their possible industrial exploitation. [1] Agallias A., Magiatis P., Skaltsounis A.-P., Mikros E., Tsarbopoulos A., Gikas E., Spanos I., Manios T. (2007). J. Agric. Food Chem. 55: 2671-2676

Valorização das águas ruças – Identificação de compostos antioxidantes

Neste trabalho pretendeu-se determinar a composição em compostos fenólicos de amostras de efluentes líquidos provenientes de diferentes lagares de azeite do Norte de Portugal (Amarante, Mirandela, Castelo Rodrigo e Frieira). Para tal, as águas ruças foram extraídas com acetato de etilo, o extracto foi fraccionado por HPLC e as fracções foram analisadas por espectrometria de massa (ESI-MS e ESI-MSn). Este procedimento permitiu verificar que o composto maioritário era o hidroxitirosol, embora em concentração variável. As amostras continham ainda outros compostos fenólicos comuns, tais como o ácido clorogénico, o ácido cafeico, o ácido p-cumárico, o tirosol; secoiridoides como o ácido elenólico, o oleosideo, o verbascosídeo, a oleuropeína, o ligostrosídeo e alguns flavonóides como a luteolina, a quercetina e o glucosídeo da luteolina.This study intended to determine the composition of phenolic compounds in different olive wastewaters collected in the North of Portugal (Amarante, Mirandela, Castelo Rodrigo and Frieira). The samples were extracted with ethyl acetate, the extract was fractionated by HPLC and the fractions were analyzed by mass spectrometry (ESI-MS and ESI-MSn). Hydroxytyrosol was the main phenolic compound, although with variable concentrations. The samples also contained other common phenolic compounds such as chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, tyrosol; secoiridoids like elenolic acid, oleoside, verbascoside, oleuropein, ligostroside and some flavonoids like luteolin, quercetin and luteolin glycoside.FC

Teachers’ perceptions of remote learning during the pandemic: a case study

The closure of higher education institutions (HEIs) due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic led to visible changes in pedagogical practices. With the lockdown, there was ambiguity and disagreement about the workload of teachers and students, and about what to teach and what strategies to select. For most instructors, the first challenge was to recreate the face-to-face experience. Worldwide, most universities have speedily adopted synchronous and asynchronous communication modes. Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Cisco, Webex, Zoom, and Moodle were among the most used tools. The present study is based upon a quantitative approach, and it intends to analyse teachers’ perceptions of remote teaching during the first pandemic period. Data were collected through an online questionnaire during June and July 2020. The questionnaire had 27 questions divided into three main sections: sociodemographic characterization, e-Learning strategies, and remote assessment. The study population was teachers of a Portuguese HEI. A random sample was used with 547 participants. The main conclusions show that the less experienced teachers are, the more satisfied they feel with remote classes and remote assessment. On the other hand, the most experienced teachers used more tools during the remote teaching period and developed more strategies to perform remote assessment. Regarding the overall assessment of the emergency remote teaching, the participants consider that it was a positive period, and they were moderately satisfied with remote classes and the strategies and tools used during this period.The APC was financed by Portuguese national funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, under the project UIDB/05422/2020.The work of author Vanda Lima is supported by national funds, through the FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the project UIDB/04728/2020

Teachers’ perceptions of remote learning during the pandemic: a case study

The closure of higher education institutions (HEIs) due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic led to visible changes in pedagogical practices. With the lockdown, there was ambiguity and disagreement about the workload of teachers and students, and about what to teach and what strategies to select. For most instructors, the first challenge was to recreate the face-to-face experience. Worldwide, most universities have speedily adopted synchronous and asynchronous communication modes. Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Cisco, Webex, Zoom, and Moodle were among the most used tools. The present study is based upon a quantitative approach, and it intends to analyse teachers’ perceptions of remote teaching during the first pandemic period. Data were collected through an online questionnaire during June and July 2020. The questionnaire had 27 questions divided into three main sections: sociodemographic characterization, e-Learning strategies, and remote assessment. The study population was teachers of a Portuguese HEI. A random sample was used with 547 participants. The main conclusions show that the less experienced teachers are, the more satisfied they feel with remote classes and remote assessment. On the other hand, the most experienced teachers used more tools during the remote teaching period and developed more strategies to perform remote assessment. Regarding the overall assessment of the emergency remote teaching, the participants consider that it was a positive period, and they were moderately satisfied with remote classes and the strategies and tools used during this period.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Thymus citriodorus as a source of antioxidants

Thymus species are well known as medicinal plants because of their biological and pharmacological properties, which include anti-asthmatic, anti-septic, antimicrobial and antioxidant. It is believed that part of these beneficial effects are due to the volatile constituents of Thymus, and thus, their essential oil composition has been the focus of many investigations. In contrast, there is only a limited number of data on the composition of other bioactive phytochemicals of Thymus and their potential biological effects. The present study aims to elucidate the phenolic composition of an ethanolic extract of Thymus citriodorus, as well as to determine its antioxidant capacity. The ethanolic extract was obtained by solubilisation of the defatted-dried plant with aqueous ethanol (80%) for twenty minutes, in a total number of five extractions. The total phenolic compounds in the extract accounted for 139±14 mg/g, as expressed as gallic acid equivalents. Further analysis of the ethanolic extract by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and electrospray mass spectrometry in the negative mode allowed to conclude that its main phenolic components were rosmarinic acid (14.0±0.8 μg/mg extract), luteolin-7-O-glucoside (11±2 μg/mg extract), an apigenin derivative (9±2 μg/mg extract), eriodictyol-O-glucoside (5.5±0.7 μg/mg extract) and naringenin-O-glucoside (1.6±0.1 μg/mg extract). Moreover, the ethanolic extract of Thymus citriodorus exhibited a high antioxidative capacity, with EC50 values of 0.32±0.05 mg/ml for the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) scavenging potential and EC50 values of 0.8±0.2 mg/ml for the reducing power. Overall, these results suggest that Thymus citriodorus can be a good source of natural antioxidants

Distopia ou utopia: cultura, criatividade e território

O presente trabalho pretende ser uma reflexão em torno das políticas públicas para a cultura, sobretudo, nas últimas décadas, quando novos conceitos são disseminados e amplamente incorporados, quer na agenda social, quer na agenda política dos territórios. Num curto espaço de tempo, os conceitos de cultura e criatividade, indústrias culturais e indústrias criativas, economia cultural e economia criativa, inovação e regeneração urbana, bairros culturais e cidades criativas, surgem plasmados nos mais diversos documentos oficiais fossem eles provenientes de organizações supranacionais ou nacionais, pressentindo-se, nestas novas formulações conceptuais, uma espécie de revolução social sem precedentes no que às políticas culturais dizia respeito. Em poucos anos, a cultura e a criatividade são colocadas no palco maior da política, de tal modo que, também em poucos anos, se passou de um investimento quase marginal e sem expressão nos orçamentos gerais das organizações públicas para mega-investimentos em infraestruturas e eventos culturais. Propondo-se, como o próprio título nos revela, uma viagem a muitos destes conceitos, partimos então de uma indagação primeira: o que significariam verdadeiramente todos estes novos conceitos e como havíamos nós chegado ao momento em que, numa única frase, poderíamos conjugar a ideia de mercado com a de cultura, a de indústrias com a de identidades, a de criatividade com a de regeneração urbana e, com que consequências para a cultura. É à luz desta indagação que nos colocamos duas perguntas-chave: de que falamos quando falamos de cultura? e de que falamos quando falamos de criatividade? As múltiplas respostas que estas duas perguntas nos fornecem constituem a base de toda a reflexão que desenvolvemos que visa ser, de certo modo, um olhar sobre o ‘estado da arte’ das políticas públicas, sobretudo, no espaço europeu, procurando entender de que modo e em que circunstâncias a cultura e a criatividade se tornaram, afinal, instrumentos políticos e económicos ao serviço do desenvolvimento dos territóriosThis work aims to be a reflection surrounding public policies in regards to culture, especially over the last few decades, when new concepts have been disseminated and widely incorporated, be it in the social or the political agenda of a territory. In a short period of time, concepts such as culture and creativity, cultural industries and creative industries, cultural economy and creative economy, urban innovation and regeneration, cultural districts and creative cities, are included in the widest variety of official documents, either from supranational or national organizations, sensing in these new conceptual formulations a sort of unprecedented social revolution as far as cultural policies are concerned. In just a few years, culture and creativity have taken centre stage in politics, in such a way that, also in a few short years, we have gone from an almost marginal investment, irrelevant to the general budget of public organizations, to mega-investments in cultural infrastructures and events. Proposing, like the title itself suggests, a journey through many of these concepts, we start from a first query: what these concepts truly mean and how we got to a point when, in a single sentence, we can combine the ideas of market and culture, industries and identities, creativity and urban regeneration, and with what consequences for culture. It’s in light of this that we ask ourselves two key questions: what do we mean when we talk about culture? And what do we mean when we talk about creativity? The multiple answers to these two questions are the basis for the reflection we developed, which, in a way, intends to be a glance at the ‘state of art’ of public policies, mainly within Europe, striving to understand in what way and in which circumstances culture and creativity have become, after all, political and economic instruments at the service of the development of territoriesPrograma Doutoral em Estudos Culturai

Seeking for sensory differentiated olive oils? The urge to preserve old autochthonous olive cultivars

Mediterranean olive heritage richness is poorly characterized. Olive oils from minor cultivars of Northeast- Portugal (Lentisca, Madural, Rebolã, Redondal, Verdeal and Verdeal Transmontana) from centenarian trees were chemical and sensory characterized, aiming to identify autochthonous cultivars capable of producing differentiated olive oils. All oils, produced during two campaigns, were classified as extra virgin. Cv. Redondal showed the highest oxidative stability (OS), total phenols, vitamin E and C18:1/C18:2. Contrary, cv. Madural presented the lowest OS and C18:1/C18:2 ratios, supporting the importance of fatty acids on OS, while cv. Verdeal had the lowest total phenols and vitamin E contents. Sensory notes of tomato, apple, dry fruits, fresh herbs, tomato leaves and cabbage were predominant on the oils of most cultivars, whilst some attributes were more specific, such as banana and kiwi (Madural), cherry and apricot (cvs. Lentisca and Madural). The chemical and sensory diversity enabled the statistical discrimination of all cultivars and harvesting years.This work was financially supported by Strategic Project PEst-OE/ AGR/UI0690/2019 (CIMO), Project UID/QUI/50006/2013 (REQUIMTE-LAQV); and Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006984 (Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM); all funded by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) through COMPETE2020-Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) and by national funds through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal. This work was also supported by PRODER project OliveOld – Identificação e caraterização de oliveiras centenárias para obtenção de produtos diferenciados” n° 53988. Nuno Rodrigues thanks FCT, POPHQREN and FSE for the Ph.D. Grant (SFRH/BD/104038/2014).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Programas de intervenção opsicoterapêutica grupal: Implementação e avaliação num contexto da prática clínica

CONTEXTO: O Regulamento n.º 129/2011 aponta os enfermeiros especialistas em Enfermagem de Saúde Mental como tendo competência para prestar cuidados de âmbito psicoterapêutico, socioterapêutico, psicossocial e psicoeducacional. Contudo, nos contextos da prática clínica em Portugal, apesar de se acreditar que são realizadas intervenções psicoterapêuticas por parte dos mesmos é escassa a divulgação dessas práticas. OBJETIVO: Apresentar um percurso de implementação e avaliação de programas de intervenção psicoterapêutica grupal realizados num contexto da prática clínica. MÉTODOS: Artigo de divulgação de boas práticas. Foram selecionados intencionalmente 153 participantes, divididos por programas de intervenção psicoterapêutica grupal dirigidos aos focos de Enfermagem "Autoestima", "Ansiedade" e "Sono", no período compreendido entre 23 de março e 31 de dezembro de 2015. RESULTADOS: Todos os programas de intervenção são compostos por um conjunto de cinco sessões com duração entre 50 e 60 minutos. É realizada uma avaliação a priori e a posteriori dos focos alvo da intervenção com recurso a instrumentos psicométricos. Os programas de intervenção dirigidos aos focos "Ansiedade" e "Sono" revelaram a existência de diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre os scores inicial e final. CONCLUSÕES: Parecem existir benefícios, para os utentes, da realização de programas de intervenção psicoterapêutica grupal dinamizados por enfermeiros especialistas em Enfermagem de Saúde Mental. Estes são dados que podem ser utilizados para argumentar junto dos gestores hospitalares e dos decisores políticos acerca do potencial e capacidade destes mesmos enfermeiros especialistas para executar intervenções deste género.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Simultaneous characterization and quantification of phenolic compounds in Thymus x citriodorus using a validated HPLC-UV and ESI- MS combined method

Thymus x citriodorus is a Lamiaceae plant extensively cultivated in Mediterranean region and used for centuries in culinary and in traditional medicine. The present work describes the detailed phenolic composition of T. x citriodorus for the first time, the by means of HPLC-DAD, ESI-MS and MSn and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses. The ethanolic extract of T. x citriodorus was analyzed by reversed phase HPLC. The method of analysis was also validated concerning its linearity, instrumental and method precision (for repeatability, immediate precision and intermediate precision) and accuracy (absolute recovery study). The technique was combined with electrospray mass spectrometry in order to identify the phenolic compounds and the structure of the main phenolics was also confirmed by NMR analysis. The in-house validated HPLC-DAD method showed good linearity for the tested reference compounds as well as satisfactory repeatability and immediate precision values, for both instrument and method. Furthermore, the satisfactory results of intermediate precision analysis and recovery assays indicated that the chromatographic method could be used to quantify the main phenolic compounds of T. x citriodorus with adequate precision and accuracy. The extract was rich in rosmarinic acid (10.4±0.6 mg/g extract) that is a widespread phenolic acid in Thymus plants, but also in luteolin-7-O--glucuronide (12±2 mg/g extract), that was herein reported in Thymus for the first time. Other novel compounds comprised one eriodictyol dihexoside with O-glycosidic linkages, two eriodictyol-O-monohexosides, one quercetagetin dimethyl ether-O-hexoside, one naringenin-O-hexoside and chrysoeriol-7-β-O-glucoside. Having in mind the health-promoting properties reported in literature for some of the main polyphenols found in T. x citriodorus, we suggest that this plant has a high potential for being used as a functional food