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The present study aims to develop three food formulations, spreadable olive oil, goat cream cheese, and a cold dessert made of carob and goat cheese, using local elements of the Mediterranean diet (MD), namely, olive oil, fresh goat cheese, and carob derivatives in addition to hydrocolloids. The final products, with the best spreadability, texture and consistency, were obtained using: a) methylcellulose 6% (w/v) for the spreadable olive oil; b) Locust Bean Gum (LBG) (0.5% w/w) for goat cream cheese; and c) Goat cream cheese (43.4%), carob flour (8.7%), glucose syrup (26.1%), olive oil (14.6%), powdered goat milk (3.8%), chia seeds (0.5%), LBG (0.7%), and cinnamon for the cold dessert. Subsequently, foods were refrigerated until evaluated by a consumer panel of 101 untrained tasters aged between 15 and 49 years. All the attributes were assessed on a scale from 1 to 5. The products were well accepted by the tasters with no significant differences registered among the different age groups regarding the food attributes, except for the sweetness of the dessert. The goat cream cheese obtained the highest acceptability (4.09 ± 1.16–3.88 ± 0.86) and creaminess (4.22 ± 0.80–4.33 ± 0.65) among the youngest consumers (<30 years), while the acceptability of spreadable olive oil was evaluated with values of 3.24 ± 1.33–3.17 ± 1.14 by the same age group, indicating the need to add seasonings, as salt substitutes, to improve the attributes flavour and aroma. The results highlight the potential of the three formulations to expand the range of food products and processing strategies in the hospitality, catering, and food industry, as well as to provide alternative foods associated with the MD food pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The expanding use of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG-PET) has contributed to an increasing number of thyroid incidentalomas. The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of 18F-FDG-PET thyroid incidentalomas and evaluate the clinicopathologic features of thyroid malignancies detected by 18F-FDG-PET., Methods: We reviewed all 18F-FDG-PET exams performed at the Portuguese Institute of Oncology, Lisbon, between 2007 and 2012 (n = 9,374). The inclusion criteria were focal thyroid uptake and absence of known thyroid disease., Results: Focal thyroid uptake was observed in 60 out of 9,374 18F-FDG-PET exams (prevalence of 0.64%). Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) was performed in 23 patients and reported as malignant in 14 cases (56.5% primary thyroid carcinoma; 4.3% secondary malignancy), as benign in 7 cases (30.5%) and as follicular lesion of undetermined significance in 2 cases (8.7%). Fourteen patients had surgery. A final histologic diagnosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma was established in 12 cases (52.2%). Three were multifocal (25.0%); 8 had extrathyroidal extension (66.7%); 5 had angioinvasion (41.7%); 3 had lymph nodes metastases (25.0%) and 2 showed lung metastases (16.7%). Overall, 91.7% were classified as intermediate or high risk. All patients had radioiodine therapy. At the last observation (mean follow-up was 29.9 months), persistent or recurrent disease was identified in 4 patients (33.3%) and none died from thyroid malignancy., Conclusions: Thyroid carcinomas disclosed by 18F-FDG-PET are associated with aggressive histological criteria likely to carry a worse prognosis.