Azo dyes, including Tartrazine, Sunset Yellow, and Carmoisine, are added to foods to provide color, but they have no value with regard to nutrition, food preservation, or health benefits. Because of ...their availability, affordability, stability, and low cost, and because they provide intense coloration to the product without contributing unwanted flavors, the food industry often prefers to use synthetic azo dyes rather than natural colorants. Food dyes have been tested by regulatory agencies responsible for guaranteeing consumer safety. Nevertheless, the safety of these colorants remains controversial; they have been associated with adverse effects, particularly due to the reduction and cleavage of the azo bond. Here, we review the features, classification, regulation, toxicity, and alternatives to the use of azo dyes in food.
•The availability, affordability, stability and safety of azo dyes make them desirable for food use.•Tartrazine, Sunset Yellow or Carmoisine are the most widely used azo dyes due to their coloring capacity.•The safety of these artificial colorants is controversial due to possible adverse and toxic effects.•Further research on these dyes is needed to provide consistent data, alternatives to their use and safety.
•Metal availability in the soil-grapevine system was assessed using extraction methods.•Single-step extraction showed similar predictive ability to the sequential extraction.•Most of elements studied ...were weakly mobilized in the vineyard soils.•Total metal content showed different accumulation pattern in leaves and grapes.•The bioavailable content from soils was related with the found in leaves and grapes.
This study was focused on the assessment of single and sequential extraction methods to predict the bioavailability of metals in the vineyard soil-grapevine system. The modified BCR sequential extraction method and two single-step extraction methods based on the use of EDTA and acetic acid were applied to differently amended vineyard soils. The variety effect was studied on the uptake of metals by leaves and grapes. Most of the elements studied (Ca, Mg, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn and Pb) were weakly mobilized from vineyard soils, with the exception of Cu and Mn. The determination of total metal content in leaves and grapes showed a different accumulation pattern in the two parts of the vine. A significant relationship was observed, for all the elements studied except for Fe, between the content bioavailable in the soil and the accumulated in both leaves and grapes (R=0.602–0.775, p<0.01).
Fish discards are of major concern in new EU policies. Alternatives for the management of the new biomass that has to be landed is compulsory. The production of bioactive compounds from fish protein ...hydrolysates (FPH) has been explored in recent years. However, the viability of
discards, which might account for up to 90-100% of captures in mixed trawler, gillnet, and longline industrial fisheries, to produce FPH from the muscle with bioactivities has still not been studied in terms of the optimization of the experimental conditions to enhance its production. The effect of
and temperature on the hydrolysis of the
muscle was mediated by three commercial proteases using response surface methodology. Temperatures of 64.6 °C and 60.8 °C and pHs of 9.40 and 8.90 were established as the best hydrolysis conditions for Alcalase and Esperase, respectively. Optimization of the best conditions for the maximization of antihypertensive and antioxidant activities was performed. Higher Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) activity was found with Esperase. The
optimum and temperature optimum for antioxidants were 55 °C/pH8.0 for ABTS/DPPH-Esperase, 63.1 °C/pH9.0 for DPPH-Alcalase, and 55 °C/pH9.0 for ABTS-Alcalase. No hydrolysis was detected when using Protamex.
Acute asthma exacerbations and pneumonia are important causes of morbidity and mortality in children and may coexist in the same children, although symptom overlap may lead to difficulties in ...diagnosis. Microbial and viral diversity and differential abundance of either may play an important role in infection susceptibility and the development of acute and chronic respiratory diseases.
To describe the virome and bacteriome present in the upper respiratory tract of hospitalized children with a clinical diagnosis of asthma and pneumonia during an acute exacerbation and an acute respiratory illness ARI episode respectively.
During the winter seasons of 2013-2014 and 2014-2015, 134 nasopharyngeal swabs samples of children <15 years of age with ARI hospitalized at a referral hospital for respiratory diseases were selected based on clinical diagnosis of asthma or pneumonia. The virome and bacteriome were characterized using Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) and in-house bioinformatics analysis pipeline.
The Asthma group was represented mainly by RV-C, BoV-1 and RSV-B and the pneumonia group by Bacteriophage EJ-1 and TTMV. TTV was found in both groups with a similar amount of reads. About bacterial composition Moraxella catarrhalis, Propionibacterium acnes and Acinetobacter were present in asthma and Veillonella parvula and Mycoplasma pneumoniae in pneumonia. Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae were mostly found with both asthma and pneumonia.
Our results show a complex viral and bacterial composition in asthma and pneumonia groups with a strong association of RV-C presence in asthmatic children. We observed Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae concurrently in both groups.
Data on 19,489 Brown Swiss cows reared in northeastern Italy were used to associate absorbances of individual wavenumbers within the mid-infrared range with days open (DO). Different postcalving days ...in milk (DIM) intervals were studied to determine the most informative milk sampling periods for predicting DO. Milk samples were analyzed using a MilkoScan (Foss Electric, Hillerød, Denmark) Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer for 1,060 wavenumbers (wn) ranging from 5,011 to 925 cm−1. To determine DO, we considered an insemination to lead to conception when there was no return of heat (i.e., no successive insemination) and the cow had a subsequent calving date whereby gestation length was required to be within ±30 d of 290 d. Only milk records within the first 90 DIM were considered. Associations were inferred by (1) fitting linear regression models between the DO and each individual wavenumber or milk component, and (2) fitting a Bayesian regression model that included the complete FTIR spectral data. The effects of including systematic effects (parity number, year-season, herd) in the model on these associations were also studied. These analyses were performed for the complete data (5–90 DIM) and for data stratified by DIM period (5 to 30, 31 to 60, and 61 to 90 DIM). Overall, regions of wavenumbers of the milk FTIR spectra that were associated with DO included wn 2,973 to 2,830 cm−1 related to fat-B (C-H stretch), wn 2,217 to 1,769 cm−1 related to fat-A (C = O stretch), wn 1,546 cm−1 (related to protein), wn 1,465 cm−1 (related to urea and fat), wn 1,399 to 1,245 cm−1 (related to acetone), and wn 1,110 cm−1 (related to lactose). Estimated effects depended on the DIM period, with milk samples drawn during DIM intervals 31 to 60 d and 61 to 90 d being most strongly associated with DO. These DIM intervals are also typically most associated with negative energy balance and peak lactation.
Fish skins constitute an important fraction of the enormous amount of wastes produced by the fish processing industry, part of which may be valorized through the extraction of gelatins. This research ...exploited the extraction and characterization of gelatins from the skin of three seawater fish species, namely yellowfin tuna (
), blue shark (
), and greenland halibut (
). Characterization included chemical composition, rheology, structure, texture, and molecular weight, whereas extraction studies intended to reduce costly steps during extraction process (reagents concentration, water consumption, and time of processing), while maintaining extraction efficiency. Chemical and physical characterization of the obtained gelatins revealed that the species from which the gelatin was extracted, as well as the heat treatment used, were key parameters in order to obtain a final product with specific properties. Therefore, the extraction conditions selected during gelatin production will drive its utilization into markets with well-defined specifications, where the necessity of unique products is being claimed. Such achievements are of utmost importance to the food industry, by paving the way to the introduction in the market of gelatins with distinct rheological and textural properties, which enables them to enlarge their range of applications.
Moringa oleifera
Lam. (Moringa) leaves are a significant source of phytochemicals with different bioactivities carrying human health benefits. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of ...the tree age, soil physical and chemical parameters, and climatic factors, on the content of gallic acid, total phenolics, total carotenoids, and ascorbic acid and on the antiradical activity (DPPH and ABTS assays) of ethanolic extracts obtained from Moringa freeze-dried leaves. Multivariate data analysis showed that the bioactive compounds measured as reference and the antiradical activity from Moringa leaves presented correlation with climatic factors (precipitation, humidity, and radiation) and with soil nutrients, principally with the K and P contents. Tree age was positively correlated with the total carotenoids contents, and inversely correlated with the ascorbic acid contents. This information offers an understanding on variations in bioactive compounds and antiradical activity in Moringa leaves influenced by climatic factors, soil, and tree age, which may help in the estimation of the antioxidant potential present in the plants during different harvest times.
Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), choline and betaine serum levels have been associated with metabolic diseases including type 2 diabetes (T2D) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). These ...associations could be mediated by insulin resistance. However, the relationships among these metabolites, insulin resistance and NAFLD have not been thoroughly investigated. Moreover, it has recently been suggested that TMAO could play a role in NAFLD by altering bile acid metabolism. We examined the association between circulating TMAO, choline and betaine levels and NAFLD in obese subjects.
Serum TMAO, choline, betaine and bile acid levels were measured in 357 Mexican obese patients with different grades of NAFLD as determined by liver histology. Associations of NAFLD with TMAO, choline and betaine levels were tested. Moreover, association of TMAO levels with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) was tested separately in patients with and without T2D.
TMAO and choline levels were significantly associated with NAFLD histologic features and NASH risk. While increased serum TMAO levels were significantly associated with NASH in patients with T2D, in non-T2D subjects this association lost significance after adjusting for sex, BMI and HOMA2-IR. Moreover, circulating secondary bile acids were associated both with increased TMAO levels and NASH.
In obese patients, circulating TMAO levels were associated with NASH mainly in the presence of T2D. Functional studies are required to evaluate the role of insulin resistance and T2D in this association, both highly prevalent in NASH patients.
A retrospective cohort multicenter study was conducted to analyze the risk factors for tumor recurrence after liver transplantation (LT) in cirrhotic patients found to have an intrahepatic ...cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) on pathology examination. We also aimed to ascertain whether there existed a subgroup of patients with single tumors ≤2 cm (“very early”) in which results after LT can be acceptable. Twenty‐nine patients comprised the study group, eight of whom had a “very early” iCCA (four of them incidentals). The risk of tumor recurrence was significantly associated with larger tumor size as well as larger tumor volume, microscopic vascular invasion and poor degree of differentiation. None of the patients in the “very early” iCCA subgroup presented tumor recurrence compared to 36.4% of those with single tumors >2 cm or multinodular tumors, p = 0.02. The 1‐, 3‐ and 5‐year actuarial survival of those in the “very early” iCCA subgroup was 100%, 73% and 73%, respectively. The present is the first multicenter attempt to ascertain the risk factors for tumor recurrence in cirrhotic patients found to have an iCCA on pathology examination. Cirrhotic patients with iCCA ≤2 cm achieved excellent 5‐year survival, and validation of these findings by other groups may change the current exclusion of such patients from transplant programs.
This multicenter study analyzes the outcome of patients transplanted for hepatocellular carcinoma who were found to have an intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma at pathology examination, and focuses on the excellent posttransplant outcome of patients with single intrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas ≤2 cm.
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