Freezing and glazing are techniques commonly used to reduce the incidence of fish deterioration processes. In order to find an alternative to complement freezing and replace water glazing, the ...present work aimed at evaluating the effect of water glazing and edible coatings of 0.5% w/v and 1.5% w/v chitosan on quality parameters of frozen fish. Both types of coatings – water glazing and chitosan coatings – were applied directly on frozen Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and stored for 9 months at −22 °C. Several parameters such as coating/glazing loss, weight loss, drip loss, Total Viable Counts (TVC), Total Volatile Basic-Nitrogen (TVB-N), K-value, pH and color coordinates L*a*b* were periodically evaluated in order to compare glazing with the chitosan-based coatings and uncoated control samples. Samples coated with 1.5% w/v chitosan performed better in maintaining the color of the salmon and controlling microbial contamination of frozen and thawed samples.
•Proper freezing and storage control are important in the maintenance of quality.•Water glazing did not show additional effect on salmon preservation.•1.5% chitosan coating provided protection against color changes in salmon.•1.5% chitosan coating provided protection against microbiological contamination.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Cerebral ischemia and neurodegenerative diseases lead to impairment or death of neurons in the central nervous system. Stem cell based therapies are promising strategies currently under ...investigation. Carbon monoxide (CO) is an endogenous product of heme degradation by heme oxygenase (HO) activity. Administration of CO at low concentrations produces several beneficial effects in distinct tissues, namely anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory. Herein the CO role on modulation of neuronal differentiation was assessed. Three different models with increasing complexity were used: human neuroblastoma SH-S5Y5 cell line, human teratocarcinoma NT2 cell line and organotypic hippocampal slice cultures (OHSC). Cell lines were differentiated into post-mitotic neurons by treatment with retinoic acid (RA) supplemented with CO-releasing molecule A1 (CORM-A1). CORM-A1 positively modulated neuronal differentiation, since it increased final neuronal production and enhanced the expression of specific neuronal genes: Nestin, Tuj1 and MAP2. Furthermore, during neuronal differentiation process, there was an increase in proliferative cell number (ki67 mRNA expressing cells) and a decrease in cell death (lower propidium iodide (PI) uptake, limitation of caspase-3 activation and higher Bcl-2 expressing cells). CO supplementation did not increase the expression of RA receptors. In the case of SH-S5Y5 model, small amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation emerges as important signaling molecules during CO-promoted neuronal differentiation. CO's improvement of neuronal differentiation yield was validated using OHSC as ex vivo model. CORM-A1 treatment of OHSC promoted higher levels of cells expressing the neuronal marker Tuj1. Still, CORM-A1 increased cell proliferation assessed by ki67 expression and also prevented cell death, which was followed by increased Bcl-2 expression, decreased levels of active caspase-3 and PI uptake. Likewise, ROS signaling emerged as key factors in CO's increasing number of differentiated neurons in OHSC. In conclusion, CO's increasing number of differentiated neurons is a novel biological role disclosed herein. CO improves neuronal yield due to its capacity to reduce cell death, promoting an increase in proliferative population. However, one cannot disregard a direct CO's effect on specific cellular processes of neuronal differentiation. Further studies are needed to evaluate how CO can potentially modulate cell mechanisms involved in neuronal differentiation. In summary, CO appears as a promising therapeutic molecule to stimulate endogenous neurogenesis or to improve in vitro neuronal production for cell therapy strategies.
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Understanding how species adapt to new niches is a central issue in evolutionary ecology. Nutrition is vital for the survival of all organisms and impacts species fitness and distribution. While most ...Drosophila species exploit rotting plant parts, some species have diversified to use ripe fruit, allowing earlier colonization. The decomposition of plant material is facilitated by yeast colonization and proliferation. These yeasts serve as the main protein source for Drosophila larvae. This dynamic rotting process entails changes in the nutritional composition of the food and other properties, and animals feeding on material at different stages of decay are expected to have behavioural and nutritional adaptations.
We compared larval performance, feeding behaviour and adult oviposition site choice between the ripe fruit colonizer and invasive pest Drosophila suzukii, and a closely-related rotting fruit colonizer, Drosophila biarmipes. Through the manipulation of protein:carbohydrate ratios in artificial diets, we found that D. suzukii larvae perform better at lower protein concentrations and consume less protein rich diets relative to D. biarmipes. For adult oviposition, these species differed in preference for substrate hardness, but not for the substrate nutritional composition.
Our findings highlight that rather than being an exclusive specialist on ripe fruit, D. suzukii's adaptation to use ripening fruit allow it to colonize a wider range of food substrates than D. biarmipes, which is limited to soft foods with higher protein concentrations. Our results underscore the importance of nutritional performance and feeding behaviours in the colonization of new food niches.
Animals and their gut microbes mutually benefit their health. Nutrition plays a central role in this, directly influencing both host and microbial fitness and the nature of their interactions. This ...makes nutritional symbioses a complex and dynamic tri-system of diet-microbiota-host. Despite recent discoveries on this field, full control over the interplay among these partners is challenging and hinders the resolution of fundamental questions, such as how to parse the gut microbes' effect as raw nutrition or as symbiotic partners? To tackle this, we made use of the well-characterized Drosophila melanogaster/Lactiplantibacillus plantarum experimental model of nutritional symbiosis to generate a quantitative framework of gut microbes' effect on the host. By coupling experimental assays and Random Forest analysis, we show that the beneficial effect of L. plantarum strains primarily results from the active relationship as symbionts rather than raw nutrients, regardless of the bacterial strain. Metabolomic analysis of both active and inactive bacterial cells further demonstrated the crucial role of the production of beneficial bacterial metabolites, such as N-acetylated-amino-acids, as result of active bacterial growth and function. Altogether, our results provide a ranking and quantification of the main bacterial features contributing to sustain animal growth. We demonstrate that bacterial activity is the predominant and necessary variable involved in bacteria-mediated benefit, followed by strain-specific properties and the nutritional potential of the bacterial cells. This contributes to elucidate the role of beneficial bacteria and probiotics, creating a broad quantitative framework for host-gut microbiome that can be expanded to other model systems.
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Microglia are the immune guardians of the central nervous system (CNS), with critical functions in development, maintenance of homeostatic tissue balance, injury and repair. For a long time ...considered a forgotten ‘third element’ with basic phagocytic functions, a recent surge in interest, accompanied by technological progress, has demonstrated that these distinct myeloid cells have a wide-ranging importance for brain function. This review reports microglial origins, development, and function in the healthy brain. Moreover, it also targets microglia dysfunction and how it contributes to the progression of several neurological disorders, focusing on particular molecular mechanisms and whether these may present themselves as opportunities for novel, microglia-targeted therapeutic approaches, an ever-enticing prospect. Finally, as it has been recently celebrated 100 years of microglia research, the review highlights key landmarks from the past century and looked into the future. Many challenging problems have arisen, thus it points out some of the most pressing questions and experimental challenges for the ensuing century.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a gasotransmitter endogenously produced by the activity of heme oxygenase, which is a stress-response enzyme. Endogenous CO or low concentrations of exogenous CO have been ...described to present several cytoprotective functions: anti-apoptosis, anti-inflammatory, vasomodulation, maintenance of homeostasis, stimulation of preconditioning and modulation of cell differentiation. The present review revises and discuss how CO regulates cell metabolism and how it is involved in the distinct cytoprotective roles of CO. The first found metabolic effect of CO was its increase on cellular ATP production, and since then much data have been generated. Mitochondria are the most described and studied cellular targets of CO. Mitochondria exposure to this gasotransmitter leads several consequences: ROS generation, stimulation of mitochondrial biogenesis, increased oxidative phosphorylation or mild uncoupling effect. Likewise, CO negatively regulates glycolysis and improves pentose phosphate pathway. More recently, CO has also been disclosed as a regulating molecule for metabolic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes with promising results.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Animals form complex symbiotic associations with their gut microbes, whose evolution is determined by an intricate network of host and environmental factors. In many insects, such as Drosophila ...melanogaster, the microbiome is flexible, environmentally determined, and less diverse than in mammals. In contrast, mammals maintain complex multispecies consortia that are able to colonize and persist in the gastrointestinal tract. Understanding the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of gut microbes in different hosts is challenging. This requires disentangling the ecological factors of selection, determining the timescales over which evolution occurs, and elucidating the architecture of such evolutionary patterns.
We employ experimental evolution to track the pace of the evolution of a common gut commensal, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, within invertebrate (Drosophila melanogaster) and vertebrate (Mus musculus) hosts and their respective diets. We show that in Drosophila, the nutritional environment dictates microbial evolution, while the host benefits L. plantarum growth only over short ecological timescales. By contrast, in a mammalian animal model, L. plantarum evolution results to be divergent between the host intestine and its diet, both phenotypically (i.e., host-evolved populations show higher adaptation to the host intestinal environment) and genomically. Here, both the emergence of hypermutators and the high persistence of mutated genes within the host's environment strongly differed from the low variation observed in the host's nutritional environment alone.
Our results demonstrate that L. plantarum evolution diverges between insects and mammals. While the symbiosis between Drosophila and L. plantarum is mainly determined by the host diet, in mammals, the host and its intrinsic factors play a critical role in selection and influence both the phenotypic and genomic evolution of its gut microbes, as well as the outcome of their symbiosis.
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•Fish processing and sample preparation were performed at pilot-scale in an industrial environment.•Chitosan-based solutions were uniformly applied on frozen salmon pieces.•Coating loss was delayed ...by chitosan-based coatings application.•Storage temperature of −5°C was still able to inhibit microbial growth during 14weeks; ATP degradation was not inhibited.
The aim of this research was to compare the effect of chitosan solutions on frozen salmon preservation with that of water glazing. For this purpose, three chitosan solutions (0.25%, 0.50% and 0.75% w/v) and water were applied in different amounts (6%, 8% and 11% of coated fillet weight) directly on the surface of frozen salmon. In order to accelerate the deterioration processes, salmon was stored during 14weeks at −5°C. Microbial and chemical indices were used to assess deterioration during storage and the coating stability was evaluated through weight loss measurements. The results obtained showed that chitosan coatings can be a good barrier to protect frozen fish from deterioration. Microbial growth, assessed by total viable counts (TVC), and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) were maintained below the maximum limits recommended which are 5×105CFU/g and 35mg nitrogen/100g fish, respectively. The use of 0.50% and 0.75% chitosan solutions generally demonstrated to be more efficient in preventing salmon weight loss.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Machine vision systems are widely used in assembly lines for providing sensing abilities to robots to allow them to handle dynamic environments. This paper presents a comparison of 3D sensors for ...evaluating which one is best suited for usage in a machine vision system for robotic fastening operations within an automotive assembly line. The perception system is necessary for taking into account the position uncertainty that arises from the vehicles being transported in an aerial conveyor. Three sensors with different working principles were compared, namely laser triangulation (SICK TriSpector1030), structured light with sequential stripe patterns (Photoneo PhoXi S) and structured light with infrared speckle pattern (Asus Xtion Pro Live). The accuracy of the sensors was measured by computing the root mean square error (RMSE) of the point cloud registrations between their scans and two types of reference point clouds, namely, CAD files and 3D sensor scans. Overall, the RMSE was lower when using sensor scans, with the SICK TriSpector1030 achieving the best results (0.25 mm ± 0.03 mm), the Photoneo PhoXi S having the intermediate performance (0.49 mm ± 0.14 mm) and the Asus Xtion Pro Live obtaining the higher RMSE (1.01 mm ± 0.11 mm). Considering the use case requirements, the final machine vision system relied on the SICK TriSpector1030 sensor and was integrated with a collaborative robot, which was successfully deployed in an vehicle assembly line, achieving 94% success in 53,400 screwing operations.
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10.
Food safety in the seafood industry Soares, Nuno F; Vicente, António A; Martins, Cristina M. A
2015., 2015, 2016, 2015-12-29, 2015-12-24
eBook
Seafood is one of the most traded commodities worldwide. It is thus imperative that all companies and official control agencies ensure seafood safety and quality throughout the supply chain. Written ...in an accessible and succinct style, Food Safety in Seafood Industry: A practical guide for ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000 implementation brings together in one volume key information for those wanting to implement ISO 22000 or FSSC 22000 in the seafood manufacturing industry. Concise and highly practical, this book comprises: * a presentation of seafood industry and its future perspectives * the description of the main hazards associated to seafood (including an annexe featuring the analysis of notifications related with such hazards published by Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed - RASFF) * interpretation of ISO 22000 clauses together with practical examples adapted to the seafood manufacturing industry * the presentation of the most recent food safety scheme FSSC 22000 and the interpretation of the additional clauses that this scheme introduces when compared to ISO 22000 This practical guide is a valuable resource for seafood industry quality managers, food technologists, managers, consultants, professors and students. This book is a tool and a vehicle for further cooperation and information interchange around seafood safety and food safety systems. QR codes can be found throughout the book; when scanned they will allow the reader to contact the authors directly, know their personal views on each chapter and even access or request more details on the book content. We encourage the readers to use the QR codes or contact the editors via e-mail (foodsatefybooks@gmail.com) or Twitter (@foodsafetybooks) to make comments, suggestions or questions and to know how to access the Extended Book Content.
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