Food texture design by 3D printing: a review

An important factor in consumers’ acceptability, beyond visual appearance and taste, is food texture. The elderly and people with dysphagia are more likely to present malnourishment due to visually and texturally unappealing food. Three-dimensional Printing is an additive manufacturing technology that can aid the food industry in developing novel and more complex food products and has the potential to produce tailored foods for specific needs. As a technology that builds food products layer by layer, 3D Printing can present a new methodology to design realistic food textures by the precise placement of texturing elements in the food, printing of multi-material products, and design of complex internal structures. This paper intends to review the existing work on 3D food printing and discuss the recent developments concerning food texture design. Advantages and limitations of 3D Printing in the food industry, the material-based printability and model-based texture, and the future trends in 3D Printing, including numerical simulations, incorporation of cooking technology to the printing, and 4D modifications are discussed. Key challenges for the mainstream adoption of 3D Printing are also elaborated on.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Development and optimization of high-protein and low-saturated fat bread formulations enriched with lupin and microalgae

Increased consumer awareness of healthier foods is driving the growth in the functional bread market. In view of this potential, three bread formulations were developed using various types of flour enriched with microalgae. The multigrain breads were composed of lupin and rye (F–R), lupin and spelt (F–S), and lupin, oats, and carob (F-OC) enriched with a mixture of Chlorella vulgaris (C. vulgaris White and C. vulgaris Smooth (4:1)). All breads were high in protein and low in saturated fat. Response surface methodology (RSM) following a central composite design (CCD) was used to evaluate the effect of selected technological parameters, namely water content (64.6–94.6% (w/w of flours)) and microalgae concentration (1.9–3.9% (w/w of flours)) on color, aroma, taste, texture, and overall sensory acceptance of the products. Only water content was found to affect the bread's sensory scores, especially texture, with higher water content increasing bread acceptance. This study allowed the development and optimization of three novel multigrain bread formulations enriched with microalgae that met the requirements of “rich in proteins” and “low in saturated fats” claims.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Farther the Better: Effects of Multiple Environmental Variables on Reef Fish Assemblages along a Distance Gradient from River Influences

The conservation and management of site-attached assemblages of coastal reefs are particularly challenging because of the tremendous environmental variation that exists at small spatial scales. In this sense, understanding the primary sources of variation in spatial patterns of the biota is fundamental for designing effective conservation policies. We investigated spatial variation in fish assemblages around the windward and leeward sides of coastal islands situated across a gradient of riverine influence (13 km in length). Specifically, relationships between rocky reef fish assemblages and benthic, topographic and physical predictors were assessed. We hypothesized that river induced disturbances may overcome local habitat features in modeling spatial patterns of fish distribution. Fish assemblages varied primarily due to the strong directional gradient of riverine influence (22.6% of the estimated components of variation), followed by topographic complexity (15%), wave exposure (9.9%), and benthic cover (8%). The trophic structure of fish assemblages changed from having a high abundance of invertebrate feeders in macroalgae-dominated reefs close to river mouths to a high proportion of herbivores, planktivores and invertebrate feeder species in reefs with large boulders covered by epilithic algal matrices, as the distance from rivers increased. This gradient led to an increase of 4.5-fold in fish richness and fish trophic group diversity, 11-fold in fish biomass and 10-fold in fish abundance. Our results have implications for the conservation and monitoring of assemblages patchily distributed at small spatial scales. The major role of distance from river influences on fish assemblages rather than benthic cover and topographic complexity suggest that managing land-based activities should be a conservation priority toward reef restoration.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Univ Fed Rural Rio de Janeiro, Dept Biol Anim, Lab Ecol Peixes, Campus Seropedica, Seropedica, RJ, BrazilUniv Fed Rural Rio de Janeiro, Dept Ciencias Meio Ambiente, Campus Tres Rios, Seropedica, RJ, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Inst Mar, Lab Ecol & Conservacao Marinha, Campus Baixada Santista, Santos, SP, BrazilLaboratório de Ecologia e Conservação Marinha, Instituto do Mar, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Campus Baixada Santista, Santos, SP, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Selection of a new peptide homing SK-BR-3 breast cancer cells

Breast cancer diagnosis remains a challenge, mostly due to its heterogeneity. This reality translates in delayed treatments, increasing treatment aggressiveness and lower chances of overall survival. The conventional detection techniques, although becoming increasingly sophisticated each year, still lack the ability to provide reliable conclusions without being time consuming, expensive and uncomfortable for the patients. The identification of novel biomarkers for breast cancer research is therefore of utmost relevance for an early diagnosis. Moreover, breast cancer specific peptide moieties can be used to develop novel targeted drug delivery systems. In this work we used phage display to identify a novel peptide with specificity to the SK-BR-3 breast cancer cell line. Cytometry assays confirmed its specificity, while bioinformatics and docking studies predicted the potential biomarkers at the SK-BR-3 cells surface. These findings can be potentially useful in the clinical context, contributing to more specific and targeted therapeutic solutions against HER2-positive breast cancer subtypes.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2020 unit and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. Débora Ferreira and Ana Cláudia Pereira are recipient of fellowships supported by a doctoral advanced training (call NORTE-69-2015-15) funded by the European Social Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. Cátia Santos-Pereira acknowledges the PhD fellowship PD/BD/128032/2016 funded by FCT under the scope of the doctoral programme in Applied and Environmental Microbiology (DP_AEM). The authors also acknowledge César Pimenta from NOVA Institute of Chemical and Biological Technology António Xavier (NOVA ITQB) for the docking insights.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Escala de Competências de Estudo (ECE-SUP): fundamentos e construção

Num projecto de investigação entre a Universidade do Minho (Portugal), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (Espanha), Universidade Pedagógica (Moçambique) e a Universidade São Francisco (Brasil), procedeu-se à construção de uma “Escala de Competências de Estudo” (ECE-Sup), para alunos do Ensino Superior. O ponto de partida foi a leitura da investigação na área e a consulta de outras escalas disponíveis, definindo-se que a ECE-sup (designação ainda provisória) avaliaria quatro grandes áreas ou dimensões em termos do comportamento auto-regulado dos estudantes na sua aprendizagem: (i) as atitudes e os comportamentos em relação ao estudo e à sua organização pelos alunos, (ii) os aspectos motivacionais do estudo, (iii) as competências cognitivas envolvidas na aquisição de conhecimento, e (iv) a realização nas situações de avaliação. Estas quatro áreas foram representadas através de itens retirados do quotidiano dos alunos, privilegiando-se um enfoque autoregulatório na aprendizagem. Professores e alunos foram chamados a analisar os itens na sua relevância e compreensão, havendo a preocupação de buscar uma formulação dos itens comum aos quatro países (apenas diferença na componente ortográfica nas palavras usadas). Uma análise qualitativa dos itens através do método da “reflexão falada” foi conduzida junto de alguns alunos das Universidades envolvidas, eliminando-se ambiguidades e reformulando-se vários itens na base das sugestões dos próprios alunos. A versão experimental composta por 55 itens foi então aplicada a uma amostra de alunos de três das quatro Universidades, considerando estudantes de ciências/tecnologias e de humanidades, repartidos pelo 1º e 3º anos da graduação, para efeitos da apreciação dos itens através de métodos quantitativos.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Liposomal formulations loaded with a eugenol derivative for application as insecticides: encapsulation studies and In silico identification of protein targets

Supplementary Materials can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/nano12203583/s1,A recently synthesized new eugenol derivative, ethyl 4-(2-methoxy-4-(oxiran-2-ylmethyl)phenoxy)butanoate, with a high insecticidal activity against Sf9 (Spodoptera frugiperda) insect cells, was encapsulated in the liposomal formulations of egg-phosphatidylcholine/cholesterol (Egg-PC:Ch) 70:30 and 100% dioleoylphosphatidylglycerol (DOPG), aiming at the future application as insecticides. Compound-loaded DOPG liposomes have sizes of 274 ± 12 nm, while Egg-PC:Ch liposomes exhibit smaller hydrodynamic diameters (69.5 ± 7 nm), high encapsulation efficiency (88.8% ± 2.7%), higher stability, and a more efficient compound release, thus, they were chosen for assays in Sf9 insect cells. The compound elicited a loss of cell viability up to 80% after 72 h of incubation. Relevantly, nanoencapsulation maintained the toxicity of the compound toward insect cells while lowering the toxicity toward human cells, thus showing the selectivity of the system. Structure-based inverted virtual screening was used to predict the most likely targets and molecular dynamics simulations and free energy calculations were used to demonstrate that this molecule can form a stable complex with insect odorant binding proteins and/or acetylcholinesterase. The results are promising for the future application of compound-loaded nanoliposome formulations as crop insecticides.This research was funded by project PTDC/ASP-AGR/30154/2017 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER 030154) of the COMPETE2020 program, co-financed by the FEDER and the European Union. The authors also acknowledge the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and FEDERCOMPETE QREN-EU for financial support to the research centers CQUM (UID/QUI/00686/2021), CF-UM-UP (UIDB/04650/2020) and REQUIMTE (UIDB/50006/2020). Renato B. Pereira acknowledges PRIMA Foundation (H2020-PRIMA 2018—Section 2, Project MILKQUA) and FCT (PTDC/QUI-QFI/2870/2020) for additional funding. The NMR spectrometer Bruker Avance III 400 is part of the National NMR Network and was purchased within the framework of the National Program for Scientific Re-equipment, contract REDE/1517/RMN/2005, with funds from POCI 2010 (FEDER) and FCT

Childhood And Adolescent Obesity: How Many Extra Calories Are Responsible For Excess Of Weight?

To review the main articles on energy imbalance and obesity in order to quantify the daily energy surplus associated with weight gain in children and adolescents. Articles published in the last ten years, indexed in electronic databases Medline (Pubmed) and SciELO-Br. In the Medline database, the descriptor energy gap was used and describes the energy values ​​associated with changes in body weight in individuals or populations. In SciELO-Br database, the descriptors obesity, energy metabolism, energy balance, and energy imbalance were used, once it was not possible to find national articles discussing the energy gap. In the pediatric population, four studies were performed and indicate that children and adolescents are gradually gaining weight due to a small, but persistent, daily positive energy balance of 70 to 160kcal above the total energy suitable for growth. The results suggest that small changes in daily eating behavior as well as physical activity would be enough to prevent future weight gain in this population. gradual weight gain can be explained by small daily average of positive energy balance, from 70 to 160kcal above the total energy suitable for growth. The incentive to small changes in eating behavior and physical activities that promotes daily reduction of 160kcal can be an accessible practice in order to block weight gain in this population.31252-

Synthesis, computational and nanoencapsulation studies on eugenol-derived insecticides

A new set of alkoxy alcohols were synthesised by reaction of eugenol oxirane with aliphatic and aromatic alcohols. These eugenol derivatives were evaluated against their effect upon the viability of the insect cell line Sf9 (Spodoptera frugiperda). The most promising compounds, 4-(3-(tert-butoxy)-2-hydroxypropyl)-2-methoxyphenol and 4-(2-((4-fluorobenzyl)oxy)-3-hydroxypropyl)-2-methoxyphenol were submitted to in silico assays to predict possible targets. Throught an Inverted Virtual Screening approach, 23 common pesticide targets were screened and the top 2 targets predicted were further analyzed through molecular dynamics simulations and free energy calculations. In addition, these eugenol derivatives were subjected to encapsulation and release assays using liposome-based nanosystems of egg phosphatidylcholine/cholesterol (7:3), with encapsulation efficiencies higher than 90% and release profiles well described by both Korsmeyer-Peppas and Weibull models.This research was funded by the project PTDC/ASP-AGR/30154/2017 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030154) of the COMPETE 2020 program, co-financed by the FEDER and the European Union. The authors also acknowledge the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and FEDERCOMPETE-QREN-EU for financial support to the research centers CQ-UM (UID/QUI/00686/2021), CF-UM-UP (UIDB/04650/2021) and REQUIMTE (UIDB/50006/2020). Renato B. Pereira acknowledges the PRIMA Foundation (H2020-PRIMA 2018-Section 2, Project MILKQUA) and FCT (PTDC/QUI-QFI/2870/2020) for the funding. The NMR spectrometer Bruker Avance III 400 was a part of the National NMR Network and was purchased within the framework of the National Program for Scientific Re-equipment, contract REDE/1517/RMN/2005 with funds from POCI 2010 (FEDER) and FCT