Search

The interest in adopting more sustainable diets can be a driver for consumers to engage the consumption of edible insects, even in countries where they are not culturally accepted as food. This work aimed to study the perceptions and knowledge of consumers in different countries towards edible insects and their relation with environment and sustainability. The present investigation was based on a questionnaire survey (11 questions) and this descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on a non-probabilistic sample of 7221 participants from 14 countries. The participants in the survey revealed high knowledge (over 50%) about the sustainability issues related with edible insects as food. The sociodemographic variables education, sex and age are influential, by decreasing order of importance. Regarding living environment, rural areas have the lowest percentage of informed participants. Comparing countries, statistically significant differences were observed for all questions, making this the most important predictor for information about sustainability of edible insects. This is expected, having in mind that cultural influences are highly variable among the set of countries included in the study, with a high number of European countries, but also with Latin American countries like Mexico or Brazil, or Middle East countries like Turkey or Lebanon. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Background: Real-world data in patients with moderate psoriasis treated with apremilast is limited. Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of apremilast in bio-naïve patients with moderate psoriasis in real-world clinical settings. Methods: This was a 52-week multicenter, observational, prospective study of adult outpatients with moderate psoriasis {[10% < body surface area < 20% or 10 < psoriasis area severity index (PASI) < 20] and 10 < dermatology quality of life index (DLQI) < 20} initiated on apremilast ≤7 days before enrollment. Missing data were imputed using the last observation carried forward method. Results: A total of 287 eligible patients (median age: 54.2 years; median psoriasis duration: 9.8 years) were consecutively enrolled. At baseline, the median DLQI and PASI scores were 12.0 and 11.8, respectively. The 52-week DLQI ≤ 5 and PASI75 response rates were 68.3% and 61.0%. At 52 weeks, 70.8% and 72.7% of the patients shifted from moderate/severe/very severe to clear/minimal scalp and palmoplantar psoriasis involvement, respectively; the pruritus severity state improved in 67.2%. The 52-week Kaplan–Meier estimated drug continuation rate was 85.3%. The adverse drug reaction rate was 19.9%. Conclusions: Apremilast is a safe and effective treatment for bio-naïve patients with moderate psoriasis and specific psoriasis manifestations. © 2022 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

Food behaviour is governed by different kinds of motivations, some of individual nature and others related with the external food environment. This study investigated the eating motivations in sixteen countries with respect to commercial and marketing influences on food choices. The questionnaire survey was developed between September 2017 and June 2018, via online tools, targeting a convenience sample of residents in sixteen countries (Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and the United States of America). The number of valid responses received was 11, 919 participants. The data were treated using SPSS software, and the main statistical techniques used included exploratory factor analysis, evaluation of internal reliability through Cronbach’s alpha, cluster analysis (hierarchical and k-means) and logistic regression. The results obtained showed two groups of people: low motivated and notably motivated consumers. The results showed high asymmetries between countries, with highest percentage of highly motivated consumers in Egypt and the lowest percentage of highly motivated in Portugal. It was further observed that consumers more influenced by commercial and marketing aspects (the notably motivated) tend to be women, young, single, less educated, less likely to be professionally active, and those who live mostly in rural or suburban areas. Less exercise and overweight are also factors associated with greater propensity for commercial and marketing motivations. Furthermore, health problems such as shellfish or gluten intolerance, hypertension and high cholesterol confer less propensity to be in the segment of the notably motivated consumers. In conclusion, this work highlighted the role of geographic, sociodemographic and lifestyle factors as food choice determinants.

Resumo: Introdução – O consumo de insetos é uma prática tradicional ao longo da história humana, mas o seu consumo é muito variável de acordo com a região do globo. Objetivos – Pretendeu-se investigar o nível de conhecimento sobre insetos comestíveis numa amostra de participantes de treze países. Métodos – Os dados foram recolhidos em 2021 por questionário online. Obtiveram-se 6899 respostas válidas. Para a análise dos dados usou-se análise fatorial, análise de clusters e testes qui-quadrado. Resultados – Foram usados 27 itens para medir o conhecimento, utilizando uma escala do tipo Likert de cinco pontos. Aplicando análise fatorial obteve-se uma solução que explica 55% da variância total observada. Esta inclui 4 fatores que retiveram 22 dos 27 itens iniciais: F1 = Sustentabilidade (8 it); F2 = Nutrição (8 it); F3 = Fatores de Produção (2 it); F4 = Preocupações com a Saúde (4 it). A análise de clusters produziu três grupos de participantes (indivíduos 'receosos', 'agricultores' e 'ecológicos'). A caracterização dos clusters revelou que a idade não influenciou a inclusão nos clusters, enquanto sexo, escolaridade, país, meio onde reside, área profissional e rendimento influenciaram a composição dos clusters. Conclusões – O nível de conhecimento sobre insetos comestíveis é altamente variável de acordo com as características individuais e localização geográfica. Por outro lado, a segmentação permitiu identificar 3 tipos de indivíduos, 'receosos', 'agricultores' e 'ecológicos'. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Food behaviour is governed by different kinds of motivations, some of individual nature and others related with the external food environment. This study investigated the eating motivations in sixteen countries with respect to commercial and marketing influences on food choices. The questionnaire survey was developed between September 2017 and June 2018, via online tools, targeting a convenience sample of residents in sixteen countries (Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and the United States of America). The number of valid responses received was 11,919 participants. The data were treated using SPSS software, and the main statistical techniques used included exploratory factor analysis, evaluation of internal reliability through Cronbach’s alpha, cluster analysis (hierarchical and k-means) and logistic regression. The results obtained showed two groups of people: low motivated and notably motivated consumers. The results showed high asymmetries between countries, with highest percentage of highly motivated consumers in Egypt and the lowest percentage of highly motivated in Portugal. It was further observed that consumers more influenced by commercial and marketing aspects (the notably motivated) tend to be women, young, single, less educated, less likely to be professionally active, and those who live mostly in rural or suburban areas. Less exercise and overweight are also factors associated with greater propensity for commercial and marketing motivations. Furthermore, health problems such as shellfish or gluten intolerance, hypertension and high cholesterol confer less propensity to be in the segment of the notably motivated consumers. In conclusion, this work highlighted the role of geographic, sociodemographic and lifestyle factors as food choice determinants. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

In recent years, insects have been suggested as an alternative source of animal protein, and a more sustainable way to provide the needs in protein of the growing world population. Edible insects are nutritive foods, rich in macronutrients and particularly protein and fat, but also contain micronutrients important for many body functions, such as vitamins and dietary minerals. The project "EISuFood – Study about food habits and knowledge about edible insects as sustainable foods" is developed in different countries and aims to study the habits, knowledge, and perceptions of consumers in different social and cultural contexts to edible insects. The project was approved by the CERNAS-IPV Research Centre at the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, in December 2020, and the Principal investigator and leader of the international team is Raquel Guiné. The project involves a total of 69 researchers in the 18 participating countries (Brazil, Cape Verde, Colombia, Croatia, Greece, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, with Portugal being the leader country). The project involves four tasks as follows: 1. Preparation of the instruments for data collection ; 2. Collection of data in the 18 countries ; 3. Analysis of the data ; and 4. Preparation of scientific outputs and dissemination of results. The questionnaire used in the project addresses seven different dimensions: Culture and Tradition, Gastronomic Innovation and Gourmet Kitchen, Environment and Sustainability, Economic and Social Aspects, Commercialization and Marketing, Nutritional Aspects and, finally, Health Effects. The questionnaire was prepared by the whole international team and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Polytechnic of Viseu with Reference No. 45/SUB/2021. An initial screening involved the validation for the Portuguese sample1, before global application in all countries. The validation of this questionnaire confirms its usefulness for investigating consumer perceptions of and knowledge about edible insects, making possible its application in different countries

The present study explores issues of production, distribution and application of Lykion, a renowned and widely used medicine of the ancient world, by synthesizing literary archaeological and scientific evidence. Lykion has astringent and antimicrobial properties and was used to cure various skin and several other dis-eases. Miniature vessels have been characterized by researchers as carriers of medicinal and/or cosmetic sub-stances; amongst these, a special category distributed in various areas of the Eastern Mediterranean and South Italy bear inscriptions or stamps identifying Lykion as the vessels’ content and sometimes provide the name of the manufacturer as well. A comparative study of their typology with their unlabelled counterparts indicates similarities in terms of their content and use. The unlabelled examples are mostly characterised as vessels of storage and transportation of an alternative non-certified medicine produced by using a local plant variety with similar medicinal properties. In the latter case, the shape of the container could signal both the place of origin and the content. Hitherto analytical investigations that would confirm the validity of this hypothesis had yet to be conducted. The present research attempts, for the first time, to trace evidence regarding the content of 15 published ceramic vessels whose biconical and pear-shaped shapes are mostly associated with this particular medicine. The assemblage under study was excavated in ancient Abdera, a coastal city in West-ern Thrace, Greece. In order to investigate any absorbed content into the ceramic matrix of these vessels, 42 samples were extracted from their inner unglazed walls. The powder samples were then analysed by the com-plementary Infrared (IR) and Raman spectroscopies and consequently compared to spectra acquired from certified Greek plant varieties. Here we have detected remnant which bear similarities with the spectra of the species Rhamnus lycioides.

Background & aims: Undernutrition is widely prevalent in patients with cirrhosis and affects prognosis. Given the lack of data regarding the dietary intake (DI) and habits of patients with cirrhosis, the aim of the present study was to evaluate them by assessing diet's adequacy compared to the new guidelines, and the association of DI with nutritional status indicators. Methods: One hundred and eighty-seven patients (57.8% male, 59.9 ± 10.9 years old, 44.9% decompensated ones) with cirrhosis of various etiologies were enrolled. The patients' DI was assessed using three 24 h recalls, which were analyzed regarding macronutrients’ intake, food groups consumption, adherence to the Mediterranean diet and meal patterns. The Goldberg cut-off limits for the ratio of energy intake to resting energy expenditure were used to evaluate dietary underreporting and patients were accordingly classified as low or adequate energy reporters (LERs and AERs). Results: Among the AERs (n = 91, 48.7%) only 29.7% and 31.9% met current recommendations regarding energy and protein intake, accordingly. Patients reported low intake of several healthy food groups and low adherence to the Mediterranean diet. They reported a median of 4.3 eating episodes per day and they frequently omitted late evening snack. Nevertheless, no statistically significant associations were found between parameters of DI and annual and two-year survival. Conclusions: Low energy reporting was very frequent in this sample of patients with liver cirrhosis. Diet quality was rather poor, whereas energy and protein intakes were lower than those recommended. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism

Despite the volume of publications dedicated to unraveling the biological characteristics and clinical manifestations of SARS‐CoV‐2, available data on pregnant patients are limited. In the current review of literature, we present an overview on the developmental course, complications, and adverse effects of COVID‐19 on pregnancy. A comprehensive review of the literature was per-formed in PubMed/Medline, Embase, and Cochrane Central databases up to June 2021. This article collectively presents what has been so far reported on the identified critical aspects, namely complications during pregnancy, delivery challenges, neonatal health care, potential routes of viral transmission, including vertical transmission or breastfeeding, along with the risks involved in the vaccination strategy during pregnancy. Despite the fact that we are still largely navigating un-charted territory, the observed publication explosion in the field is unprecedented. The overwhelm-ing need for data is undoubtable, and this serves as the driver for the plethora of publications wit-nessed. Nonetheless, the quality of data sourced is variable. In the midst of the frenzy for reporting on SARS‐CoV‐2 data, monitoring this informational overload is where we should head to next, con-sidering that poor quality research may in fact hamper our attempts to prevail against this unpar-alleled pandemic outbreak. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.