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Introduction Office workers share several behavioural patterns: they work seated without moving for long times, they use only a few specific muscles of their arms, wrists and hands, and they keep an overall poor body posture. These working patterns generate musculoskeletal disorders, and produce discomfort or pain. Implementation of a work fitness program is thus a low-cost strategy to reduce/prevent body pain derived from work. The aim of this study was to test the benefits of a workplace fitness program, specifically applied to an administrative department of a Portuguese enterprise. Recall that this type of primary prevention level of musculoskeletal disorders has been seldom applied in Portugal, so this research effort materialized an important contribution to overcome such a gap. Methods The participants in this study were office workers (n = 29 in the study group, and n = 21 in the control group)-who consistently had reported pain mostly on their back side (neck, posterior back, and dorsal and lumbar zones), wrists and posterior legs. The workplace fitness program consisted of three sessions per week during an 8-month period, with 15 min per session; emphasis was on stretching exercises for the body regions most affected by workers' pain perception. Each participant was requested to point out the injured region, as well as the intensity of pain felt, by using a visual analogue scale. Statistical analyses of the perceived pain data from control and study groups resort to non-parametric hypothesis tests. Results There was a strong evidence that the workplace fitness program applied was effective in reducing workers' pain perception for their posterior back, dorsal and lumbar zones, and for their right wrist ( P < 0.05). Conclusions These results generated are rather promising, so they may efficiently serve as an example for other enterprises in that country-while raising awareness on the important issue of quality of life at the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six different types of bacteria (five strains of lactic acid bacterium and one strain of coliform) isolated from 35-day-old Serra cheese were assayed for proteolytic and lipolytic activities on milk agar and tributyrin agar, respectively. Peptidase and lipase activities were further studied via analytical assaying of free amino acids by spectrophotometry and of free fatty acids by HPLC in in vitro curdled milk (previously prepared from heat-sterilized ovine milk coagulated with thistle flower) subject to ripening for 21 days at 5 °C and 95% relative humidity. Leuconostoc mesenteroides ssp. mesenteroides/ dextranicum and Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis displayed significant proteinase and peptidase activities, where Leuconostoc lactis and Enterococcus faecium only exhibited peptidase activity. Leuc. mesenteroides ssp. mesenteroides/ dextranicum, Ent. faecium, and L. lactis ssp. lactis only showed lipase activity on milk fat after a long incubation period. Short- and medium-chain fatty acid residues were released preferentially by microbial lipases, although long-chain fatty acids were also significantly released by lipases from Leuc. mesenteroides ssp. mesenteroides/ dextranicum. Lactobacillus paracasei ssp. paracasei and Hafnia alvei did not display measurable protease, peptidase, or lipase activities. In view of their hydrolase activities, it is suggested that L. lactis ssp. lactis and Leuconostoc spp. (with possible incorporation of Ent. faecium) are a potential mixed-strain starter for Serra cheesemaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental Serra cheeses were manufactured from raw ewe’s milk and thistle flowers following a two-way factorial design. The content of nitrogen soluble in water (WSN), in 2% trichloroacetic acid (2% TCA-N), in 12% TCA (TCA-N) and in 5% phosphotungstic acid (5% PTA-N), and the pH and salt-in-moisture concentration were measured throughout the ripening period (sampling at 0, 7, 21 and 35 days) and the cheese-making season (sampling in November, February and May). Proteolysis in 35-day-old Serra cheese was quantitatively high [average values of 34.6% and 11.9% for WSN/TN (total nitrogen) and 2% TCA-N/TN, respectively], but qualitatively low (average values of 5.8% and 1.2% for 12% TCA-N/TN and 5% PTA-N/TN, respectively). The ratios WSN/TN and 2% TCA-N/TN were lowest for cheeses ripened in February, whereas the ratio 12% TCA-N/TN was highest for cheeses ripened in November. By 35 days of ripening, the average pH and salt-in-moisture concentration values were 5.2 and 4.8%, respectively. No correlation was found to occur between the measured pH or salt-in-moisture concentration and the values of soluble nitrogen fractions throughout the cheese-making season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in the quantities of lactose, lactic acid and acetic acid in Serra cheese were monitored using a triplicate two-way factorial design over a ripening period of 35 days (sampling at 0, 7, 21 and 35 days) throughout the cheesemaking season (sampling in November, February and June). The amount of lactose in total solids of cheese (TS) decreased slowly from 6.17% to 0.21% (w/wTS) as ripening time elapsed. As a result of sugar metabolism, the lactic acid content increased from 0.07% at day 0 to 2.10% (w/wTS) by 35 days, whereas the acetic acid content increased from 0.00% to 0.24% (w/wTS) during the first week. The lactose content was statistically correlated with the lactic acid content but not with the acetic acid content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]