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Biomass gasification is a relevant option to produce a gaseous fuel, it faces, however, several barriers regarding its quality for energetic applications. Therefore, in this study, air-steam and O2-enriched air mixtures were used as gasification agents during the gasification of residual biomass from eucalyptus to improve the producer gas quality. The steam addition promoted an increase in CO2 and H2 concentrations, whilst decreasing the CO and CH4 concentrations. The steam addition had no evident impact on the lower heating value of the dry producer gas and a positive effect on gas yield and the H2:CO molar ratio, attaining the later values up to 1.6 molH2∙mol−1CO. The increase in O2 concentration in the gasification agent (φ) promoted an increase in all combustible species and CO2 concentrations. The lower heating value of the dry producer gas underwent an increase of 57%, reaching a value of 7.5 MJ∙Nm−3drygas, when the φ increased from 20 to 40 %vol.O2,dryGA. The gas yield had a significant decrease (33%) with φ increase. This work showed that the addition of steam or O2 during air gasification of residual biomass improved producer gas quality, overcoming some of the barriers found in conventional air gasification technology.

Com a instituição da Comissão Mundial Sobre Meio Ambiente e Desenvolvimento em 1987, cujo objetivo era abordar os fundamentos do desenvolvimento sustentável, promover o avanço da economia sem oferecer riscos às espécies naturais e garantir a capacidade de recuperação da natureza surgiu o conceito de economia circular, o qual confronta a economia linear estruturada pelo sistema capitalista durante a Revolução Industrial. Nesse contexto, o objetivo deste estudo foi apresentar os conceitos sobre economia linear, sustentabilidade e economia circular relacionados ao tema embalagens através de uma revisão sistêmica e a partir de então, elaborar uma resenha crítica da obra “Embalagem e sustentabilidade: desafios e orientações no contexto da economia circular”. Para a revisão, foram utilizadas as seguintes bases de dados para pesquisa, Google Acadêmico e SciELO. Como critérios de inclusão foi estabelecido que as publicações deveriam ser dos últimos cinco anos e apresentasse algumas das palavras-chave a seguir, “embalagem”, “economia circular” e “sustentabilidade”. A partir do estudo, foi visto que o descarte inadequado das embalagens é um fator causador de problemas ambientais. Por isso, foram criadas diretrizes e políticas públicas para auxiliar o retorno das embalagens de forma sustentável ao sistema produtivo. Partindo desse preceito, os autores da obra analisada descreveram orientações para transição da economia linear para circular, relatando os desafios e abordagens envolvidas dentro do contexto da sustentabilidade. Assim, é necessário distinguir os contextos envoltos da sustentabilidade e da economia, de modo que a implementação do modelo circular beneficia simultaneamente a produção industrial, a sociedade e o meio ambiente.

A cultura cervejeira demonstrou um elevado crescimento e desenvolvimento tecnológico no século XXI. Em 2020, o Brasil chegou a um total de 1.383 cervejarias registradas no Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (MAPA). Em Pernambuco, a produção de cervejas artesanais é a maior da região Norte/Nordeste, representada por cerca de 6 milhões de litros por ano. As diferentes composições dessa bebida são informadas ao consumidor através dos rótulos, por isso, tais informações devem constar de forma clara e em concordância com a legislação vigente. Nesse contexto, o objetivo deste estudo foi realizar um levantamento sobre a legislação brasileira, bem como as atualizações sobre a regulamentação da cerveja com vistas a identificar as informações necessárias à rotulagem desta bebida. A revisão aborda o cenário atual brasileiro da produção de cerveja artesanal, aspectos relacionados à composição, classificação e tipos desta bebida e a legislação sobre rotulagem. Ao final do estudo, foi possível perceber que o mercado das microcervejarias produtoras de cervejas artesanais encontra-se em ascensão. Apesar da produção em pequena escala, os fabricantes dessa bebida não estão isentos do registro do estabelecimento e do produto no MAPA, bem como o atendimento da legislação vigente quanto à rotulagem da cerveja. Assim, o levantamento das legislações realizado nesta revisão pode contribuir para os atuais e novos cervejeiros sobre os critérios que precisam ser cumpridos para que o comércio da cerveja esteja em condições legais. Além disso, aponta a direção para elaboração de ferramentas que auxiliam os profissionais de inspeção e fiscalização de cervejas.

Este livro reúne os trabalhos aprovados no 5° Encontro de Ciência e Tecnologia de Alimentos (5° ECTAL), organizado pelo curso de Engenharia de Alimentos da UFAPE. Os trabalhos estão organizados nas modalidades de pesquisa e revisão de literatura distribuídos conforme os eixos temáticos do evento, que incluíram as áreas: Análises físicas, químicas e físico e/ou químicas dos alimentos; Bioquímica e biotecnologia de alimentos; Desenvolvimento e processamento de alimentos de origem animal, vegetal e/ou bebidas; Engenharia de alimentos e automação de processos; Gestão ambiental dos resíduos na indústria de alimentos; Higiene, legislação e segurança dos alimentos; Microbiologia de alimentos e análise sensorial.

As classificações de alimentos e índices gráficos normalmente utilizados para orientar as recomendações dietéticas de uma população têm variado ao longo do tempo. A Roda dos Alimentos e a Pirâmide Alimentar estão entre as de maior destaque. Nos últimos anos, surgiram outras classificações com a proposta de categorizar os alimentos de acordo com o grau de processamento, sendo a classificação NOVA a mais conhecida e utilizada. Esse critério de categorização dos alimentos foi visto como inovador ao passo que também é alvo de questionamentos pela comunidade científica. Nesse contexto, o presente estudo de revisão teve como objetivo apresentar a classificação dos alimentos adotada no Brasil antes da NOVA, abordar os estudos que confrontam esta classificação com vistas a analisar os fatores críticos pontuados sob a luz da Tecnologia de Alimentos. A partir de então, foi possível constatar que a classificação estudada apresenta conceitos quanto ao processamento em desacordo com àqueles propostos pela Tecnologia de Alimentos, além de inserir o termo utltraprocessado de forma arbitrária. Demonstrando assim, a necessidade da participação de profissionais especializados em processamento de alimentos para propor ajustes à NOVA.

In this work, gasification of Eucalyptus residues was performed in a 3 kWth bench-scale bubbling fluidized bed reactor, to valorize the residues generated in the pulp and paper industry. The main purpose of this work was to study the impact of steam injection during air gasification in the producer gas quality, including producer gas composition, lower heating value (LHVG), and H2:CO molar ratio. Considering the operating conditions used, the main combustible species were H2 (up to 22 %v), CO (up to 18 %v) and CH4 (up to 4 %v). The highest values for LHVG and H2:CO molar ratio were 6.5 MJ·Nm-3dry gas and 1.6 mol H2·mol-1 CO, respectively. Compared to air gasification, the addition of steam led to an increase in the concentration of H2 and CO2, accompanied by a decrease in the CO, CH4, and C2H4 concentrations, causing a slight decrease in the LHVG, and a significant increase in the H2:CO molar ratio. Therefore, the gas produced during air gasification could be used for direct burning, whilst the gas generated from air-steam gasification fulfills the requirements for bioethanol or DME synthesis and liquid fuel production by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, concerning H2:CO molar ratio., Proceedings of the 29th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 26-29 April 2021, Online, pp. 484-489

Chromogranins and secretogranins belong to the granin family of proteins, which are expressed in neuroendocrine and nervous tissue. In earlier publications we have described the development of region-specific antibodies against CgA and CgB. In this study we describe antibodies to SgII and SgIII and their usefulness for immunohistochemical staining. Peptides homologous to defined parts of secretogranins II and III were selected and synthesized. Antibodies were raised and immunostainings were performed on normal human pancreas. The SgII 154–165 (N-terminal secretoneurin), SgII 172–186 (C-terminal secretoneurin) and SgIII antibodies immunostained all insulin-immunoreactive cells, most of the glucagon cells and some of the pancreatic polypeptide cells. The SgII 225–242 antibody immunostained only the insulin-containing cells. None of the antibodies immunostained the somatostatin cells. This study is the first observation of the expression of SgIII in human tissues, where we show expression of SgIII in three of the four major islet cell types in human pancreas.

The effect of hypophysectomy on the gastrointestinal tract was studied in the rat 8 wk after operation, particularly regarding the frequency and distribution of serotonin, somatostatin and gastrin-immunoreactive cells. Body weight, the length of the intestine and the thickness of the mucosa of the antrum and small intestine were all reduced in the hypophysectomised rats compared with sham-operated and untreated controls. In the hypophysectomised animals the serotonin-immunoreactive cells were fewer in the antrum and caecum, whereas they were more numerous in the proximal large intestine. There were fewer gastrin-immunoreactive cells in the antrum, while the somatostatin-immunoreactive cells were more numerous in the antrum and caecum. The significant influence of hypophysectomy on the gastrointestinal tract could be direct, but could also be associated with the marked effect of pituitary deficiency on endocrine cells, known to exert both trophic and antitrophic actions. However, it could also be an indirect effect on metabolism, resulting in lower food intake, other endocrine cell systems, and growth factors.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether treatment against canine leishmaniasis reduced the presence of Leishmania in the healthy skin of dogs, affecting the capacity of parasite transmission. A total of 37 dogs from an endemic region of leishmaniasis were studied. Thirteen symptomatic animals revealed parasites in the bone marrow and eight had also in the skin. Five of the 22 dogs that had been treated with meglumine antimoniate alone, meglumine antimoniate or trifluralin followed by allopurinol or just with allopurinol had the parasite in bone marrow but none showed Leishmania in the skin. One dog that was treated only with aminosidine was polisymptomatic and had parasites in bone marrow and skin. The different treatments used in this study did not completely eliminate the parasite allowing relapses to occur when the treatment is discontinued, but the use of meglumine antimoniate or allopurinol, alone or combined may improve dogs clinical condition and reduce or eliminate the parasite from the skin decreasing the probability of Leishmania transmission.

Insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) appears to play an important role during fetal life in cell growth and differentiation in several organs, including the pancreas. In the present study we investigated the cellular localization of IGF-II in human fetal pancreas at 16, 18 and 22 embryonic weeks and compared it with adult pancreas. Single and double immunofluorescence methods were used to study co-localization of IGF-II with the four major islet hormones - insulin, glucagon, somatostatin, pancreatic polypeptide - and with islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP). Distinct IGF-II immunoreactive (IR) cells were found in the endocrine, but not in the exocrine, pancreas. The intensity of IGF-II immunoreactivity was more pronounced in the fetal than in the adult pancreas. In fetal pancreas IGF-II immunoreactivity was observed in virtually all insulin-IR cells and in subsets of the glucagon, somatostatin and IAPP cells. In the adult pancreas, IGF-II immunoreactivity was found in insulin/IAPP cells only. Our results suggest a broader effect of IGF-II in fetal endocrine pancreatic cells than in the adult.

Thyroidectomy appears to reduce the serotonin content in the rat brain, whereas hyperthyroidism has the opposite effect. As it is not known whether the serotonin-producing cells of the gastrointestinal tract are influenced by these conditions, the effects of thyroparathyroidectomy and induced hyperthyroidism were studied experimentally, particularly as regards the serotonin- and gastrin-immunoreactive cells of the gastrointestinal tract. Immunocytochemical and quantification techniques were used to localize and determine the numbers of serotonin and gastrin cells. In thyroparathyroidectomized rats the intestine was significantly shorter and the mucosa thinner than in sham-operated and untreated controls, whereas the converse was found in the hyperthyroid rats. Following thyroparathyroidectomy, there were fewer gastrin-immunoreactive cells in antrum and the serotonin-immunoreactive cells were significantly less dense throughout the gastrointestinal tract. In hyperthyroid rats, gastrin-immunoreactive cells were more numerous, as were the serotonin-immunoreactive cells in the small intestine, whereas these cells were fewer in antrum and caecum. In conclusion, the thyroid gland exerts a significant influence on the gastrointestinal tract and on the serotonin-and gastrin-immunoreactive cells. The observed alterations may reflect a direct effect of the thyroid hormones, although indirect factors must also be considered.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a zoonosis in most regions where it occurs. Dogs are the most important reservoir of the disease and are mainly responsible for the persistence of VL in the Paleartic and Neotropical regions. Canine leishmaniasis (CaL) is a viscerocutaneous, chronic infection with a worse prognosis than human disease. We now know that, as in man, there are some cases of asymptomatic infection. Former studies indicated that dog cutaneous parasitism becomes infectious to the insect vector in later periods of the disease, but recent studies performed by xenodiagnosis have shown that it is possible that transmission might occur earlier. The infected animal reacts with a great production of antibodies and depression of cellular immunity. Antibodies are not protective and resistance is related with active cellular immunity. The presence of Th 1 response in asymptomatic animals, sometimes without humoral response, means that the prevalence of CaL, found in epidemiological surveys by searching for antibodies, may be underestimated.

The mechanisms which permit Leishmania to survive inside macrophages are not totally understood although it is known that prolonged culture in vitro results in loss of virulence. One of the cell surface molecules often implicated in virulence mechanisms is the glycoprotein of 63 kDa (gp63). In this work we studied changes in infectivity of L. infantum promastigotes maintained in vitro by subcultures, correlated with the proteolytic activity of gp63. It was observed that L. infantum MON-1 promastigotes became unable to establish an infection after 6 subcultures in vitro independently of the size of inoculum. This corresponded to a diminution of proteolytic activity of gp63. L. infantum MON-1 promastigotes inoculated in hamsters visceralize in the mononuclear phagocytic system accompanied by an antibody response. A correlation between antibody response, inoculum size and promastigote origin was verified. L. donovani MON-18 and L. infantum MON-24 promastigotes produced a specific humoral response but failed to establish an infection in hamsters regardless of all the passages tested.

Canine leishmaniasis was studied in 1,823 dogs from the Lisbon metropolitan region. The breeds most affected were doberman and German shepherd, independent of sex and use. Young adult (12.2%) and older dogs (14.7%) had higher prevalences of infection. Parasitological confirmation of serological diagnosis was higher in dogs with indirect fluorescent antibody test titer greater than or equal to 1:512, indicating that parasitological patency is a late event. Exposure of Leishmania in lymph nodes is more efficient for parasitological confirmation (75.4% of cases). Frequent signs of disease were enlarged lymph nodes and onychogriphosis. However, 53.8% of the dogs with significant antibody titers (greater than or equal to 1:128) showed no symptom, suggesting that canine leishmaniasis has a prolonged asymptomatic period. This study confirmed the importance of the dog as the reservoir of visceral leishmaniasis.

On the basis of staining results in closely related semi-thin sections from rat antral mucosa immunostained with polyclonal serotonin antibodies and silver-stained for the argentaffin reaction, respectively, three different cell populations could be distinguished. One of these cell populations showed both serotonin immunoreactivity and an argentaffin reaction, a second one serotonin immunoreactivity alone, and a third one only an argentaffin reaction. These cell populations were studied electron microscopically in ultra-thin sections located between the stained semi-thin sections. The cell population displaying an agentaffin reaction and serotonin immunoreactivity showed secretory granules of the enterochromaffin cell type. A similar granular appearance was observed in cells which only exhibited an argentaffin reaction. Serotonin immunoreactivity in the absence of an argentaffin reaction was evident in some G (gastrin) cells, and in some D1 and possibly also some D (somatostatin) cells; but not all the endocrine cells of the non-enterochromaffin type displayed serotonin immunoreactivity. The significance of the different reactions in the three cell populations is discussed.

Argentaffin cells from different parts of the gastro-intestinal tract were examined electron microscopically by the semi-thin/ultra-thin sectioning technique. All these cells contained round or pleomorphic secretory granules, which were mainly concentrated in the infranuclear zone, except in the antrum, where they occurred with a similar frequency in all the peri-nuclear areas. The highest frequency of granules was found in the colon. The largest granules were seen in the duodenum and the smallest in the large intestine. Argentaffin cells with processes oriented towards the glandular and villous surface were most frequent in the small intestine. No secretory granules were seen in the most apical part of these processes, where in an earlier study serotonin immunoreactivity was observed. This may indicate that serotonin can be stores in a non-granular form. No close topographic relationship was found between the argentaffin cells and other endocrine cell types or the nervous system.

The effects of gastroenteroanastomosis, antral exclusion and antral resection on the enterochromaffin (argentaffin) cell system in the rat alimentary tract were studied 6 weeks after the operation. When measured as cell density per mm3 mucosa, the number of enterochromaffin cells was decreased in most gastrointestinal regions following the three surgical procedures. In the antral exclusion group this decrease was most apparent in the caecum and large intestine, and in the animals with antral resection it was most pronounced in the proximal and middle regions of the small intestine. When expressed per segment mucosa, the enterochromaffin cells were even more reduced in number in all three experimental groups, as a result of mucosal atrophy in the entire gastrointestinal tract. The atrophy was most pronounced in animals with gastroenteroanastomosis, and least pronounced in those with antral exclusion. The underlying mechanisms of the effects on the enterochromaffin cell system under these experimental conditions are discussed.

The effect of vagotomy on the enterochromaffin (argentaffin) cells in the rat gastrointestinal tract was studied 6 weeks after the operation. No effect was found, as indicated by the following parameters--the frequency of the silver-positive cells in different parts of the digestive tract, the intensity of the argentaffin reaction in the individual cells, and the nuclear size of the enterochromaffin cells.

Charcoal is a major product of biomass carbonization and has a wide range of applications especially for barbecuing. In Portugal, charcoal is mostly produced in the southern part of the country using traditional brick kilns, being a major economic activity in certain villages. However, information about this type of carbonization technology is limited, which highlights the need to study large-scale processes as a starting point for performance improvements. In this context, the present study aims to characterize the operation of an 80 m3 cylindrical brick kiln during a complete wood carbonization cycle. Relevant operating parameters have been monitored, including kiln temperature, intake airflow rate, and outlet gas composition. The results show that significant temperature variations in the range of 150 – 800°C occur in zones near the kiln door, being related to transient wood/charcoal combustion. The pyrolysis gas composition varies following the process’s temperature and its lower heating value is typically below 4MJ/Nm³. Improvements on the carbonization process are needed to increase its economic competitiveness and environmental compatibility, thus preventing the vanishing of this activity in regions where job opportunities are limited., Proceedings of the 29th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 26-29 April 2021, Online, pp. 1004-1009