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This study investigated the impact of a support matrix and active group on the support to the nutritional properties of orange juice after juice clarification. Pectinase was immobilized on chitosan and aminated silica supports, activated with genipin or glutaraldehyde, and applied for juice clarification. The effects on various juice properties, including reducing sugars, total soluble solids, vitamin C, and phenolic compounds, juice color, and pH, were evaluated. The results revealed that the immobilization on chitosan activated using genipin resulted in the highest biocatalyst activity (1211.21 U·g−1). The juice treatments using the biocatalysts led to turbidity reduction in the juice (up to 90%), with the highest reductions observed in treatments involving immobilized enzyme on chitosan. Importantly, the enzymatic treatments preserved the natural sugar content, total soluble solids, and pH of the juice. Color differences between treated and raw juice samples were especially relevant for those treated using enzymes, with significant differences in L* and b*, showing loss of yellow vivid color. Analysis of phenolic compounds and vitamin C showed no significant alterations after the enzymatic treatment of the raw juice. According to our results, the clarification of orange juice using immobilized enzymes can be a compromise in turbidity reduction and color reduction to maintain juice quality.

Agricultural Sciences have become one of Brazil’s most efficient and sustainable research areas, where most publications benefit from scientific collaboration. The present study analyzes the influence of the designation as the corresponding author to researchers linked to Brazilian institutions on the impact of co-authored articles in the category Agronomy from the Web of Science for five-year periods from 2005 to 2019. We have observed a noticeable growth in the number of documents in collaboration between the five-year periods. However, international partnership in the area still needs to be improved, although it is higher in non-academic institutions. The study verified that the documents published by Brazilian authors with international colleagues present a higher normalized citation impact in all types of institutions and five-year periods than documents with national collaboration. The total number of articles, their normalized citation impact, and the percentage of documents as the corresponding author of academic institutions presented less variation than non-academic institutions. For Brazilian academic institutions, assuming the role of the corresponding author of co-authored articles in Agronomy has little influence on citation impact. As for non-academic institutions, we found an association between the corresponding authorship position within the scope of international collaboration and the higher impact of their scientific production. We point out some potential implications and briefly describe the limitations and future research.

This study aimed to verify the effect of different feeding and stocking conditions during 14 days on the gene expression of several hormones and enzymes related to the stress cascade and metabolic parameters in silver catfish Rhamdia quelen under the following experimental conditions: 1) fed at low stocking density (2.5 kg m-3, LSD-F); 2) fed at high stocking density (32 kg m-3, HSD-F); 3) food-deprived at LSD (LSD-FD); and 4) food-deprived at HSD (HSD-FD). Fish from LSD-F and HSD-F groups were fed daily (1 % of their body mass), while fish from food-deprived groups (LSD-FD and HSD-FD) were not fed during the experimental time. Plasma metabolic parameters (glucose, lactate, triglycerides, and proteins) and hepatosomatic index (HSI) were evaluated. In addition, mRNA expression of genes related to the stress axis (crh, pomca, pomcb, nr3c2, star, hsd11b2 and hsd20b), heat shock protein family (hsp90 and hspa12a), sodium-dependent noradrenaline transporter (slc6a2), and growth axis (gh and igf1) were also assessed. Specific growth rate and HSI decreased in food-deprived fish regardless of stocking density. The HSD-FD group showed weight loss compared to the HSD-F, LSD-F, and LSD-FD groups. Plasma glucose and triglycerides were reduced in food-deprived groups, while lactate and protein levels did not change. The expression of key players of the stress response (crh, pomca, pomcb, hsd11b2, nr3c2, and hsp90b) and growth (gh and igf1) pathways were differently regulated depending on the experimental condition, whereas no statistical difference between treatments was found for hsd20b, scl6a2, hspa12a, and star mRNAs expression. This study suggests that LSD acts as a stressor affecting negatively the physiological status of fed fish, as demonstrated by the reduction in growth rates, altered metabolic orchestration, and a higher crh mRNA expression. In addition, food deprivation also increased mRNA expression of other assessed genes (nr3c2, hsp90b, pomca, and pomcb) in fish fr

We use the two-flavor Linear Sigma Model with quarks to study the phase structure of isospin asymmetric matter at zero temperature. The meson degrees of freedom provide the mean field chiral and isospin condensates on top of which we compute the effective potential accounting for constituent quark fluctuations at one-loop order. Using the renormalizability of the model, we absorb the ultraviolet divergences into suitable counterterms that are added respecting the original structure of the theory. These counterterms are determined from the stability conditions which require the effective potential to have minima in the condensates directions at the classical values, as well as the transition from the noncondensed to the condensed phase to be smooth as a function of the isospin chemical potential. We use the model to study the evolution of the condensates as well as the pressure, energy and isospin densities and the sound velocity as functions of the isospin chemical potential. The approach does a good average description up to isospin chemical potentials values not too large as compared to the vacuum pion mass.

The pre-exposure of plants to a potentially stressful condition can stimulate tolerance to subsequent stresses, a phenomenon associated with memory in plants. When the stimuli have different natures, a cross-tolerance phenomenon can take place. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the pre-exposure of rice plants to a saline stimulus at the vegetative stage has the potential to mitigate the effects of a drought event during grain-filling. By evaluating the transcriptional and physiological (e.g. hormones, gas exchange, growth parameters) responses, this study seek to identify likely long-term memory mechanisms. Therefore, rice plants were exposed to a pre-treatment in the vegetative stage induced by 150 mM NaCl solution for four days and then subjected to 16 days of water deficit in the reproductive stage. Physiological parameters were evaluated and the endogenous levels of the plant hormones abscisic acid (ABA), salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA) and RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) was measured to investigate transcriptional profiles of rice plants subjected to cross-stress. The results demonstrated that primed plants challenged by water stress during the grain-filling stage showed less electrolyte leakage, less damage to the photosynthetic apparatus and increased root growth. The higher ABA concentration in leaves was closely related to the above physiological responses. Along with JA and SA, ABA can be a determinant of long-term stress memory in rice. The annotation of specific cross-tolerance genes pointed to signaling and synthesis of hormones, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, antioxidant system, glyoxylate cycle and transcription factors. It is concluded that priming with salt in the vegetative stage can mitigates the effects of drought during the reproductive stage at the transcriptional, physiological and hormonal levels.

Amaranth grains are a source of proteins such as albumins and globulins with well-balanced amino acids profile since they are rich in lysine and methionine, which are scarce in other cereals. Amaranth proteins also show a great bioavailability that contributes to their high quality and, consequently, become a potential substitute for animal-based foods. This review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of the recent research on screening of amaranth proteins as well as their isolation, fractionation, amino acid composition and digestibility. In addition, we carried out an important overview of the nutritional benefits of amaranth proteins and its application as ingredients in food systems. The amaranth has an excellent balance of amino acids and bioactive peptides, with potential health benefits. The consumption of amaranth proteins can promote human health due to their potential to reduce the risk of suffering chronic diseases, while their bioactive peptides play a fundamental role as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-hypertensive and antimicrobial activities. This review makes an important contribution and approaches the potentiality of using amaranth as a plant protein source, addresses its digestibility and the beneficial health effects brought mainly by the bioactive peptides present in grains

Aluminum (Al) is a non-essential metal omnipresent in human life and is considered an environmental toxicant. Al increases reactive oxygen production and triggers immune responses, contributing to chronic systemic inflammation development. Here, we have tested whether an egg white hydrolysate (EWH) with potential bioactive properties can protect against changes in reproductive function in rats exposed to long-term Al dietary levels at high and low doses. Male Wistar rats received orally: low aluminum level group—AlCl3 at 8.3 mg/kg b.w. for 60 days with or without EWH (1 g/kg/day); high aluminum level group—AlCl3 at 100 mg/kg b.w. for 42 days with or without EWH (1 g/kg/day). The co-administration of EWH prevented the increased Al deposition surrounding the germinative cells, reducing inflammation and oxidative stress in the reproductive organs. Furthermore, the daily supplementation with EWH maintained sperm production and sperm quality similar to those found in control animals, even after Al exposure at a high dietary contamination level. Altogether, our results suggest that EWH could be used as a protective agent against impairment in the reproductive system produced after long-term exposure to Al at low or high human dietary levels.

Exposure to acidic and alkaline pHs results in an ionic imbalance. Cellular responses involved in osmoregulation in silver catfish exposed to different pHs (5.5, 7.5, and 9.0) for 24 h were evaluated. The gills and kidney were collected to measure Na+/K+-ATPase (NKA) and H+-ATPase (V-ATPase) activities and to evaluate the expression of ion transporter-related genes: NKA (atp1a1), H+-ATPases (atp6v0a1b, atp6v0a2a, atp6v0a2b), Na+/H+ antiporter (slc9a3), K+/Cl− symporters (slc12a4, slc12a6, slc12a7a, slc12a7b), Na+/K+/2Cl− symporter (slc12a2), and ammonium transporter Rh type b (rhbg). The gills presented greater responses to pH changes than the kidney. The pH alterations changed the atp1a1 gene expression and NKA activity, whereas the H+-ATPase activity increased in the gills in alkaline water, probably to maintain ionic balance. The slc9a3 and slc12a2 genes play more prominent roles in the ion uptake at acidic pH than H+-ATPase. The slc12a7a was the only isoform of this transporter affected by pH. The rhbg is apparently related to ammonia excretion through the gills and kidney (minor scale). Exposure to alkaline pH seems to be battled by impairment of NKA and H+-ATPase activities in the gills, whereas the expression of some ion transporters in silver catfish changes during both acidic and alkaline pHs.

We have investigated if EWH could counteract or prevent cardiovascular damage induced by high level of Cd exposure in rats. Male Wistar rats were treated for 14 days with: (A) Untreated - intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of distilled water and tap water by gavage; (B) Cd − 1 mg/kg of bw/day of CdCl2 (i.p.) and tap water by gavage; (C) EWH – distilled water (i.p.) and 1 mg/kg/day of EWH by gavage; (D) CdEWH – both treatments. EWH prevented the increase on systolic blood pressure, vascular dysfunction, and inflammation after Cd exposure; prevent the activation of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and its derived contractile protanoids, inhibits angiotensin II by the reduction of ACE activity and prevents the increased oxidative stress mainly mediated by NADPH oxidase. Multifunctional EWH could be considered as a natural alternative therapy to counteract the deleterious effects caused by high level of Cd exposure.

Agro-industrial residues were used as a successful, cheap and renewable substrate, capable of increasing activity of ligninolytic enzymes for further use in melanin degradation assays to develop inputs for the treatment of skin hyperpigmentation. The analysis of melanin degradation was performed in a quantitative and qualitative way. The enzymatic crude broth extract, rich in laccases, produced by Marasmiellus palmivorus VE111 in medium formulated with lignocellulosic residues of Araucaria angustifolia subjected to hydrolysis and alcoholic fermentation, degraded almost 33% of the melanin content and enzymatic crude broth extract produced by Pycnoporus sanguineus PR_32 degraded 13%, in just 8 h, using vanillin as a mediator. Proton 2D NMR spectra show melanin changes after laccase treatment. This work has provided an insight for the development of ecofriendly, sustainable and innovative cosmetics to deal with skin hyperpigmentation. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.

The links between vegetation and soil biota are responsible for a variety of ecosystem processes and services that can be affected by grazing. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of grazing frequency in natural grasslands’ biodiversity (plant and collembola communities) and on ecosystem processes (decomposition and biomass accumulation). For so, we carried out a clipping experiment over a natural area of subtropical grassland in southern Brazil. The plots were submitted during three years to three different clipping frequencies (high, intermediate, and low) to simulate defoliation caused by grazing. We found the highest aboveground biomass accumulation and detritivore activity in the low defoliation frequency, which also promoted the dominance of tussocks. The synergies between higher vegetation height and biomass tend to provide microclimatic conditions that favors decomposition, which releases nutrients to plants, promoting their growth. The defoliation frequencies applied in this study were not sufficient to provide effects on plant community, since its co-evolutionary history with grazing. The Collembola community was not affected by defoliation. It seems to be more influenced by other factors associated with grazing.

A pandemia de Covid-19 desafia os controles sanitário e securitário. Este trabalho acadêmico objetiva analisar o sistema carcerário brasileiro à luz dos direitos humanos e da violência, bem como refletir a adoção do monitoramento eletrônico, com o intuito de conter a disseminação do vírus, no âmbito do Tribunal de Justiça do Rio Grande do Sul. A partir da metodologia do estudo de caso, considerando a seleção e o exame de jurisprudência, observou-se a resistência à utilização da tornozeleira eletrônica e a necessidade de contestar a racionalidade punitiva.

The aim of the present work was to fortify yogurt by adding a stripped weakfish (Cynoscion guatucupa) protein hydrolysate obtained with the enzyme Protamex and microencapsulated by spray drying, using maltodextrin (MD) as wall material. The effects on the physicochemical properties, syneresis, texture, viscoelasticity, antioxidant and ACE inhibitory activities of yogurt after 1 and 7 days of storage were evaluated. In addition, microbiological and sensory analyses were performed. Four yogurt formulations were prepared: control yogurt (without additives, YC), yogurt with MD (2.1%, YMD), with the free hydrolysate (1.4%, YH) and the microencapsulated hydrolysate (3.5%, YHEn). Yogurts to which free and microencapsulated hydrolysates were added presented similar characteristics, such as a slight reduction in pH and increased acidity, with a greater tendency to present a yellow color compared with the control yogurt. Moreover, they showed less syneresis, the lowest value being that of YHEn, which also showed a slight increase in cohesiveness and greater rheological stability after one week of storage. All yogurts showed high counts of the microorganisms used as starters. The hydrolysate presence in both forms resulted in yogurts with antioxidant activity and potent ACE-inhibitory activity, which were maintained after 7 days of storage. The incorporation of the hydrolysate in the microencapsulated form presented greater advantages than the direct incorporation, since encapsulation masked the fishy flavor of the hydrolysate, resulting in stable and sensorily acceptable yogurts with antioxidant and ACE inhibitory activities.

[EN] Phosphate is the main cause of eutrophication in many water bodies. Its presence in waters is associated to the fact that is not completely removed in conventional wastewater treatment plants. On the other side, phosphate rocks are a non-renewable resource and considered as a critical raw material. A membrane separation process, able to recover phosphate from wastewater, is a promising process to avoid pollution and to reuse phosphate. This paper investigates the transport of salts of phosphoric acid through an anion-exchange membrane (AEM) by means of chronopotentiograms and polarization curves (CVCs). The presence of multiple transition times in the chronopotentiograms and the corresponding limiting current densities in the CVCs indicate a change in the species being transported in the membrane/diffusion boundary layer system, due to the hydrolysis reactions that take place when the concentration polarization is reached. Under the experimental conditions tested, coupled convection (gravitational and elctroconvection) occurs when a certain threshold in the membrane voltage drop is surpassed independently of the electrolyte concentration. However, at high pH values, only one transition time in the chronopotentiograms, due to the transfer of OH- ions with greater concentration and mobility. This fact is reflected in the CVCs by the large plateaus obtained, which hinders the occurrence of coupled convection phenomena, and consequently, water splitting can be considered as the main mechanism responsible for the overlimiting regime.

A intercessão entre migração e desigualdades de gênero produz formas distintas de violência e vulnerabilidade, que impactam no acesso a direitos e a políticas de saúde, especialmente sexual e reprodutiva. Este artigo tem por objetivo tratar sobre o tema do direito à saúde reprodutiva das mulheres migrantes, a partir de uma interlocução com o biopatriarcalismo de gestão das vidas humanas e controle dos corpos. Através de um estudo bibliográfico, tendo como método de abordagem o hipotético dedutivo, verificou-se a urgência do desvelamento deste processo de precarização permanente que recai sobre as vidas femininas.

O presente estudo sociojurídico objetiva contribuir para uma análise mais sofisticada acerca das demandas sociais ante as decisões jurídicas, visto que não são raras às vezes em que direitos são reivindicados por mobilizações e processos judiciais e, por conseguinte, acabam por encontrar guarida no texto legal e/ou decisões normativas. Por fim, a partir da análise pragmático-sistêmica, adotada neste artigo, observa-se que as irritações comunicacionais introduzidas na sociedade pelas organizações públicas e/ou privadas são importantes para acessos mais democráticos no STF, conforme será possível verificar nos casos estudados nesta pesquisa.

Water is a unique material with a long list of thermodynamic, dynamic and structural anomalies, which are usually attributed to the competition between two characteristic length scales in the intermolecular interaction. It has been argued that a potential liquid-liquid phase transition (LLPT) ending at a liquid-liquid critical point (LLCP) lies at the core of the anomalous behavior of water. This transition which has been evidenced in multiple simulation studies seems to be preempted experimentally by spontaneous crystallization. Here, in order to expose the connection between the spontaneous crystallization observed in the supercooled regime in the vicinity of the LLPT, and the density anomaly, we perform extensive Molecular Dynamics simulations of a model mixture of core-softened water and methanol. The pure water-like fluid exhibits a LLPT and a density anomaly. In contrast, our pure methanol-like model does have a LLPT but lacks the density anomaly. Our results illustrate the relation between the vanishing of the density anomaly and an increase in the temperature of the spontaneous crystallization: once this temperature surpasses the LLCP critical temperature, no density anomaly is observed. This peculiar feature illustrates how fine tuning the competitive interactions determine the anomalous behavior of water/alcohol mixtures.

Exposure to high concentrations of cadmium (Cd), widely used in many industries and found in air, food and contaminated water, is not uncommon. Cd damages the cardiovascular system, but the vascular mechanisms involved are not fully understood. This study investigated the mechanisms involved in cardiovascular damage after exposure to high Cd concentrations. Three-month-old male Wistar rats were treated intraperitoneally for 14 days with distilled water (Untreated group) or 1 mg/kg cadmium chloride (Cd group). We investigated the systolic blood pressure (SBP) and vascular reactivity of mesenteric resistance arteries (MRA) and the aorta by analysing contractile and relaxation responses in the absence and presence of the endothelium; we also evaluated pathways involved in vascular tone regulation. Superoxide anion production, COX-2 protein expression and in situ detection of COX-2, AT-1, and NOX-1 were evaluated. Oxidative status, creatinine level and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) activity in plasma were also evaluated. Fourteen-day exposure to a high Cd concentration induced hypertension associated with vascular dysfunction in MRA and the aorta. In both vessels, there was increased participation of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2), angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) receptor and NOX1. MRA also presented endothelial dysfunction, denoted by impaired acetylcholine-mediated relaxation. All vascular changes were accompanied by increased reactive oxygen species production and COX2, NOX1 and AT1 receptor expression in vascular tissue. Overall, high Cd concentrations induced cardiovascular damage: hypertension, endothelial dysfunction and vascular damage in conductance and resistance arteries, NADPH oxidase, renin–angiotensin system and COX2 pathway activation.