Organic farming and high-quality fruit production promote human and environmental health.Organic farming has properties that positively affect fruit quality and can be transferred to other ...agricultural settings.Organic farming is not free of drawbacks that should be considered, such as microbial and heavy metal contamination.Fruit quality is a multifactorial parameter that should be approached by applying a holistic perspective to the underlying physiological mechanisms.Although many challenges remain, there is evidence that the convergence of sustainability, yield, and quality in agriculture is possible.
Fruit quality is essential for nutrition and human health and needs urgent attention in current agricultural practices. Organic farming is not as productive as conventional agriculture, but it can provide higher quality in some fruit crops, thanks to the absence of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, enhanced pollination, and the reduction of protection treatments, hence boosting antioxidant compound production. Although organic farming does not always provide healthier food than conventional farming, some lessons from organic farming can be extrapolated to new sustainable production models. Exploiting natural resources and an adequate knowledge transfer will undoubtedly help improve the quality of climacteric and nonclimacteric fruits in new agricultural systems.
Fruit quality is essential for nutrition and human health and needs urgent attention in current agricultural practices. Organic farming is not as productive as conventional agriculture, but it can provide higher quality in some fruit crops, thanks to the absence of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, enhanced pollination, and the reduction of protection treatments that boost antioxidant compound production. Although organic farming does not always provide healthier food than conventional farming, some lessons from organic farming can be extrapolated to new sustainable production models. Exploiting natural resources and an adequate knowledge transfer will undoubtedly help improve the quality of climacteric and nonclimacteric fruits in new agricultural systems.
•Highest contents of vitamins C and E are found in germinating and dry seeds, respectively.•Abscisic acid application increases vitamin E in chia sprouts, but levels are still much lower than in dry ...seeds.•Mixing chia developmental stages allows an optimal antioxidant vitamin intake.•Exploiting the characteristic composition of different developmental stages within the same species can improve nutritional value.
Various approaches can be used to improve chemical food composition avoiding the low acceptance risks that imply the use of transgenic crops. Here, we evaluated the antioxidant vitamin composition of dry and germinating seeds and sprouts of chia and examined the potential of exploiting natural variation of developmental stages to improve vitamin contents in chia-derived foodstuffs. Results showed that dry seeds contained the highest contents of vitamin E, with values 8-fold higher compared to sprouts. Vitamin C contents strongly increased just after seed imbibition, so that germinating seeds contained 5- and 17.5-fold higher values than dry seeds and sprouts, respectively. Sprouts displayed the highest contents of carotenoids (including β-carotene pro-vitamin A). We conclude that mixing dry seeds, germinating seeds and sprouts (in a proportion of 1.5:2:1 w/w/w) may be a cost-effective way to obtain an optimal composition of antioxidant vitamins in foodstuffs such as salads.
Chia (Salvia hispanica) is a native plant species from South America that is very appreciated for its oleaginous seeds in the agri-food field. Chia seeds are natural sources of many bioactive ...compounds which provide benefits to human health. Nevertheless, chia sprouts have better nutritional properties than seeds, such as antioxidants, essential amino acids, and phenolic compounds. Among all these beneficial compounds, β-carotene has not been studied in chia sprouts. β-carotene is a precursor of vitamin A, which contributes to maintaining our health status. In this study, to improve β-carotene content in chia sprouts, some plant growth regulators (abscisic acid, methyl jasmonate and methyl salicylate) were applied exogenously to germinating chia seeds. Gibberellins A4/A7 and cytokinin 6-benzyladenine (Promalin®) were also applied, combined with the other regulators, to antagonize a possible inhibition in the germination. Seeds were grown in darkness for 4 days, then seeds were exposed to a short light stimulus (30′) and finally to a continued light stimulus (48h). β-carotene, xanthophylls, chlorophylls, de-epoxidation status of xanthophyll cycle (DPS), germination rate, and sprouts fresh weight were analysed. The results show that sprouts treated with methyl salicylate in-creased 2,35 fold their β-carotene content when they were exposed to light for 30’+48h. Sprouts fresh weight and germination were not affected by methyl salicylate. Although more research is needed before industrial application, it is concluded that methyl salicylate can be used to improve β-carotene contents in chia sprouts.
•Methyl salicylate treatment increases by 2,35-fold β-carotene content in chia sprouts.•ABA not only inhibits germination but it also downregulates carotenoid accumulation.•Methyl salicylate effects on pro-vitamin A contents pave the way to use this PGR in chia sprouts biofortification.
Climate change is currently considered as one of the main concerns of the agriculture sector, as it limits crop production and quality. Furthermore, the current context of global crisis with ...international political instability and war conflicts over the world is pushing the agriculture sector even more to urgently boost productivity and yield and doing so in a sustainable way in the current frame of climate change. Biostimulants can be an effective tool in alleviating the negative effects of environmental stresses to which plants are exposed, such as drought, salinity, heavy metals and extreme temperatures etc. Biostimulants act through multiple mechanisms, modifying gene expression, metabolism and phytohormone production, promoting the accumulation of compatible solutes and antioxidants and mitigating oxidative stress. However, it is important to keep in mind that the use and effect of biostimulants has limitations and must be accompanied by other techniques to ensure crop yield and quality in the current frame of climate change, such as proper crop management and the use of other sustainable resources. Here, we will not only highlight the potential use of biostimulants to face future agricultural challenges, but also take a critical look at their limitations, underlining the importance of a broad vision of sustainable agriculture in the context of climate change.
•Biostimulants are biobased solutions to tackle modern agriculture problems.•For tackling climate change issue, biostimulants are not enough.•Stopping wars and conflicts is the main solution to save environment and agriculture.
Very few data exist on when a particular thrombopoietin-receptor agonist (TPO-RA) is favored in clinical practice for the treatment of patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), about novel risk ...factors for vascular events (VE) with these drugs, nor about predictive factors for therapy free responses (TFR). We conducted an observational, retrospective, long-term follow-up multicenter study from November 2016 to January 2018 of 121 adult ITP patients initiating TPO-RA between January 2012 to December 2014. Data reflected that a platelet count ≤25 × 10
/l at the time when the TPO-RA was initiated was associated with a 2.8 higher probability of receiving romiplostim vs. eltrombopag (P = 0.010). VE on TPO-RA was related to previous neoplasia in patients over 65 years (50% vs. 2.2%, P < 0.001), and to previous splenectomy in younger patients (100% vs. 33%, P = 0.001). Receiving romiplostim as first TPO-RA with no subsequent TPO-RA switching was associated with a 50% likelihood of TFR after 2.9 years of therapy (3.3 years in chronic ITP patients). These real-world data help deciphering some areas of uncertainty, and offer insight into some of the most relevant challenges of ITP which may help clinicians make appropriate treatment decisions in the management of adult ITP patients with TPO-RA.
This paper offers some reflections on the effectiveness of the insolvency law measures adopted in Spain during the Covid crisis and on the provision of public funding during this crisis and the ...repayment of the corresponding claims. The analysis shows that the insolvency measures were inherently ill-suited for achieving the policy goal of preserving businesses, and that there was a good case for the provision of public funding. However, in the Spanish case this funding came too late, and there are now significant challenges associated with restructuring these funds where they were extended by way of loan or guarantee rather than as grant. With regard to the recovery of these funds, the paper concludes that there are no good reasons to insulate the State from the restructuring of debtors’ liabilities in the context of a crisis with the characteristics of the pandemic crisis. On the contrary, credit risk should also be transferred to the State—as to other creditors—, and the State will then have to assume the role of loss absorber of last resort.
Stanniocalcin 2 (STC2) is a fish protein that controls body Ca
2+
and phosphate metabolism. STC2 has also been described in mammals, and as platelet function highly depends on both extracellular and ...intracellular Ca
2+
, we have explored its expression and function in these cells. STC2
−/−
mice exhibit shorter tail bleeding time than WT mice. Platelets from STC2-deficient mice showed enhanced aggregation, as well as enhanced Ca
2+
mobilization in response to the physiological agonist thrombin (Thr) and the diacylglycerol analog, OAG, a selective activator of the non-capacitative Ca
2+
entry channels. Interestingly, platelets from STC2
−/−
mice exhibit attenuated interaction between STIM1 and Orai1 in response to Thr, thus suggesting that STC2 is required for Thr-evoked STIM1-Orai1 interaction and the subsequent store-operated Ca
2+
entry (SOCE). We have further assessed possible changes in the expression of the most relevant channels involved in non-capacitative Ca
2+
entry in platelets. Then, protein expression of Orai3, TRPC3 and TRPC6 were evaluated by Western blotting, and the results revealed that while the expression of Orai3 was enhanced in the STC2-deficient mice, others like TRPC3 and TRPC6 remains almost unaltered. Summarizing, our results provide for the first time evidence for a role of STC2 in platelet physiology through the regulation of agonist-induced Ca
2+
entry, which might be mediated by the regulation of Orai3 channel expression.
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