Vitamin D is a lipophilic bioactive that plays an important role in bone health. Fortification of beverages, such as milk, fruit juices, teas, and vegetable drinks, could be an efficient strategy to prevent vitamin D deficiency and its associated effects on health. This review summarizes the current understanding of beverage fortification strategies with vitamin D and the resulting effects on the stability, bioaccessibility, and sensory properties of the formulated products. The direct addition technique has been the conventional approach to fortifying beverages. In addition, encapsulation has been pointed out as a desirable delivery approach to increase stability, preserve bioactivity, and enhance the absorption of vitamin D in beverage systems. The literature reports the potential applicability of several methods for encapsulating vitamin D in beverages, including spray drying, micro/nanoemulsions, nanostructured lipid carriers, liposomes, and complexation to polymers. Some of these delivery systems have been assessed regarding vitamin D stability, but there is a lack of kinetic data that allow for the prediction of its stability under industrial processing conditions. Moreover, in some cases, the applicability of some of these delivery systems to real beverages as well as the in vivo efficacy were not evaluated; thus, fortification strategies with a global outreach are lacking

This study aimed the optimization of antioxidant activity, total phenolic compounds (TPC) and total carotenoids of Horned Melon fruit submitted to maceration extraction, using ethanol as solvent. Optimization was performed by Box–Behnken design on three levels and three variables: extraction temperature (25 °C, 55 °C, and 85 °C), extraction time (0.5, 2.0, and 3.5 h) and ethanol concentration (10%, 50%, and 90%). The optimal conditions to improve the carotenoids extraction was 55 °C, 1.5 h and 86% ethanol, whereas the antiradical/antioxidant activity (ABTS and FRAP assays) and TPC were enhanced at 45 °C for 2.0 h and 40% ethanol. The optimal antioxidant extract was characterized regarding the phenolic composition and in vitro neuroprotective activities. The phenolic composition revealed the presence of high amounts of gallic acid (11.7 ± 0.6 mg/100 g dw) and protocatechuic acid (7.69 ± 0.38 mg/100 g dw). However, this extract presented a weak activity against Monoamine oxidase A (11.8 ± 2.3% inhibition at 2.7 mg/mL) and did not display anti-cholinesterase activity at the maximum concentration tested (1.3 mg/mL). Maceration was an efficient extraction technique to recover polyphenols and carotenoids from Horned Melon fruit. The optimized model can be very useful for food and pharmaceutical industries

Chestnut (Castanea sativa) shells (CSs), an undervalued agro-industrial biowaste, have arisen as a source of bioactive compounds with promising health-promoting effects. This study attempted, for the first time, to develop a functional food, namely cookies, using a CS extract obtained by an eco-friendly technology (subcritical water extraction). The cookies were characterized regarding their nutritional composition, total phenolic and flavonoid contents (TPC and TFC, respectively), antioxidant/antiradical activities, phenolic profile, and sensory evaluation. The results demonstrated that the CS-extract-enriched cookies were mainly composed of carbohydrates (53.92% on dry weight (dw)), fat (32.62% dw), and fiber (5.15% dw). The phenolic profile outlined by HPLC-PDA revealed the presence of phenolic acids, flavonoids, and hydrolysable tannins, attesting to the high TPC and TFC. The in vitro antioxidant/antiradical effects proved the bioactivity of the functional cookies, while the sensory evaluation unveiled excellent scores on all attributes (≥6.25). The heatmap diagram corroborated strong correlations between the TPC and antioxidant/antiradical properties, predicting that the appreciated sensory attributes were closely correlated with high carbohydrates and phenolic compounds. This study encourages the sustainable recovery of antioxidants from CSs and their further employment as an active nutraceutical ingredient in functional cookies.

Chayote leaves are known for culinary and traditional medicine applications. This work intended to recover carotenoids and phenolic compounds from chayote leaves using the ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE). A Box–Behnken design was employed to investigate the impact of extraction time, temperature, and ultrasonic power on the recovery of total carotenoids, total phenolic compounds, and antioxidant activities. For comparative purposes, chayote leaf extracts were prepared by maceration (ME) and microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), using the same time and temperature conditions optimized by UAE. Extraction at 50 °C and 170 Watts for 30 min provided the optimal UAE conditions. UAE showed better extraction efficacy than ME and MAE. The HPLC analysis of the extracts showed that the xanthophyll class was the main class of carotenoids, which constituted 42–85% of the total carotenoid content, followed by β-carotene and tocopherol. Moreover, 26 compounds, classified as phenolic acids, flavonols, flavonoids and other polar compounds, were identified in the chayote leaf extracts. Flavonols accounted for 55% of the total compounds quantified (the major compound was myricetin) and phenolic acids represented around 35%, mostly represented by ferulic acid, chlorogenic acid and (+)-catechin. This study revealed the potential of UAE as an effective green extraction technique to recover bioactive compounds from chayote leaves, for food, and for pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications

Chestnut (Castanea sativa) shells, generated from the peeling process of the fruit, contains appreciable amounts of lignin and cellulose. In this work, a starch-based film reinforced with these polysaccharides was developed. Response Surface Methodology was employed to optimize the composition of the film with improved elongation, tensile strength, and elasticity modulus properties. The optimal film was characterized regarding structural, optical barrier and thermal properties. The optimum composition was obtained with 10% (w/w) fibers and 50% (w/w) glycerol; the elongation responses, tensile strength and modulus of elasticity reached values of 34.19%, 7.31 N and 4.15 N, respectively. The values of tension strength and modulus of elasticity were approximately 3.5 times higher than those obtained for the control film. The reinforced film was opaque and exhibited improved water solubility, UV-barrier capacity, and thermal stability compared to control. The optimized starch film based on chestnut shells fibers’ has the potential to produce biodegradable food packaging with improved properties.

YouSound is a social science research project that studies symphonic music education organizations centred on the inclusion of minor migrants and refugees in Europe. We have chosen two organizations in different countries to serve as case studies: the Dream Orchestra in Sweden, and El Sistema Greece. In 2022 and 2023, we are visiting both countries, applying ethnographic methods to better grasp the complexity of interactions between multicultural human beings in these music education contexts. The first two YouSound Zines were a result of visits to the Dream Orchestra in Gothenburg, Sweden. The next two editions cover the El Sistema Greece program in Athens. The ethnographic illustrator, Beatriz Machado, and I spent a month and a half following the music education work that is being done with minor migrants, refugees and Greeks. El Sistema Greece, founded in 2016, was conceived as an artistic educational tool, contributing to the education and social inclusion of migrant youth in Greece. The program has been working intensively in several of Athens’ refugee camps, as well as in schools in some of its most multicultural neighbourhoods. Please visit their website, www.elsistema.gr, for more information. Beatriz Machado applies her illustration skills to capture some of the actions, movements, pedagogical tools and emotions occurring daily in these particular music education spheres. The illustrations are accompanied by her own words, creating a graphic diary of what was lived collectively by students, teachers, parents and administrators at El Sistema Greece. We thank them for the moments we shared and hope you enjoy discovering these drawings and thoughts!

The Epivillafranchian (1.2 to 0.8 Ma) fossil vertebrate assemblages of Portugal are extremely poorly known compared with to those from the eastern half of Iberia. We review material from one of the two localities of this age previously known in Portugal, Algoz, and present a new microvertebrate locality, Santa Margarida. Both localities are situated in Algarve (South Portugal). The fauna of Algoz includes Hippopotamus antiquus, Eucladoceros sp., Metacervocerus rhenanus and an indeterminate leporid. There are remains of at least two individuals of each deer species from Algoz, although most of the remains are from the same juvenile individual of Eucladoceros sp., about 6 months old. The age of Algoz is determined to be ∼1.2 Ma given the combination of species and their biometrical and morphological characters. Santa Margarida has at least ten species of microvertebrates: Lacertidae indet., Crocidura sp., Sorex sp., Oryctolagus cf. cuniculus, Eliomys cf. quercinus, Apodemus cf. sylvaticus, Allocricetus bursae, Victoriamys chalinei, Iberomys huescarensis, and Iberomys brecciensis. This is the first occurrence of Victoriamys chalinei and Iberomys huescarensis –two vole species typical from the Early Pleistocene – in Portugal. Santa Margarida is younger than Algoz, ranging between ∼0.9 and ∼0.6 Ma, which means that the Early-Middle Pleistocene transition could be represented by this locality.

Male germ cells share a common origin across animal species, therefore they likely retain a conserved genetic program that defines their cellular identity. However, the unique evolutionary dynamics of male germ cells coupled with their widespread leaky transcription pose significant obstacles to the identification of the core spermatogenic program. Through network analysis of the spermatocyte transcriptome of vertebrate and invertebrate species, we describe the conserved evolutionary origin of metazoan male germ cells at the molecular level. We estimate the average functional requirement of a metazoan male germ cell to correspond to the expression of approximately 10,000 protein-coding genes, a third of which defines a genetic scaffold of deeply conserved genes that has been retained throughout evolution. Such scaffold contains a set of 79 functional associations between 104 gene expression regulators that represent a core component of the conserved genetic program of metazoan spermatogenesis. By genetically interfering with the acquisition and maintenance of male germ cell identity, we uncover 161 previously unknown spermatogenesis genes and three new potential genetic causes of human infertility. These findings emphasize the importance of evolutionary history on human reproductive disease and establish a cross-species analytical pipeline that can be repurposed to other cell types and pathologies.

Ocean warming has been a major driver of coral reef bleaching and mass mortality. Coupled to other biotic pressures, corals’ ability for acclimatization and adaptation may become compromised. Here, we tested the combined effects of warming scenarios (26, 30, and 32°C) and predation (wound vs. no wound) in coral health condition (paleness, bleaching, and mortality), cellular stress responses (heat shock protein 70 kDa Hsp70, total ubiquitin Ub, and total antioxidant capacity TAC), and physiological state (integrated biomarker response index, IBR) of seven Scleractinian coral species, after being exposed for 60 days. Results show that although temperature was the main factor driving coral health condition, thermotolerant species (Galaxea fascicularis, Psammocora contigua, and Turbinaria reniformis) displayed increased paleness, bleaching, and mortality in predation treatments at high temperature, whereas thermosensitive species (Acropora tenuis, Echinopora lamellosa, and Montipora capricornis brown and green morphotypes) all died at 32°C, regardless of predation condition. At the molecular level, results show that there were significant main and interactive effects of species, temperature, and predation in the biomarkers assessed. Temperature affected Hsp70, Ub, and TAC, evidencing the role of protein folding and turnover, as well as reactive oxygen species scavenging in heat stress management. Predation increased Hsp70 and Ub, suggesting the activation of the pro-phenoloxidase system and cytokine activity, whereas the combination of both stressors mainly affected TAC during moderate stress and Ub under severe stress, suggesting that redox balance and defense of homeostasis are crucial in tissue repair at high temperature. IBR levels showed an increasing trend at 32°C in predated coral fragments (although non-significant). We conclude that coral responses to the combination of high temperature and predation pressure display high inter-species variability, but these stressors may pose a higher risk of endosymbiont loss, depending on species physiology and stress intensity.

Globally, there is a growing demand for healthy and sustainable food products, where seafood can play a relevant role, because it is widely recognized as a healthy food item and is an important source of essential nutrients. Still, one third of the world population suffers from food insecurity and different forms of malnutrition. Hence, developing tailor-made fortified farmed fish is a promising solution to overcome nutritional deficiencies and increase consumer confidence in these products. The aim of this study is to evaluate differences in nutritional elements distribution in biofortified and non-biofortified fillets from gilthead seabream and common carp, using micro-X-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF). This technique is a fast and nondestructive multielement mapping method with simple operation and sample preparation procedures. Results showed that calcium was mainly accumulated in the skin layer, which includes the scales and spines (skeleton), whereas iron, potassium, and zinc were uniformly distributed in the fish muscle. Compared with the control, biofortified gilthead seabream fillets showed a higher concentration of iron in the inner area of the skin layer (dermis) and muscle tissue, whereas biofortified common carp fillets showed a higher concentration of iron in muscle tissue and zinc in the abdominal cavity tissue of the sample. This study demonstrates that micro-X-ray is a suitable technique to assess the elemental distribution with micrometer resolution in fish fillets.