30 documents found, page 1 of 3
Preserving and hydrogel-matrixing the bioactive properties of aromatic medicina...
Parracho, Tiago; Cruz, Pedro F.; Peralta, Claúdia C.; Silva, Cândida G.; Campos, Maria Jorge; Neves, Marta; Cordeiro, Rachel; Trindade, DanielaEdible wild plants are part of the ethnobotanic heritage of a certain geographical area and are important sources of essential oils, antioxidants, minerals, and special flavours. Corema album (Portuguese crowberry), Crithmum maritimum (sea fennel), Eryngium maritimum (sea holly), Helichrysum italicum (curry plant) and Otanthus maritimus (cottonweed) wildly flourish along the sandy dunes of the coast of the Iber...
Retention of minerals, antioxidants, pigments, and glucosinolates by broccoli f...
Ribeiro, Vânia S.; Cruz, Pedro F.; Almeida, Zaida L.; Silva, Cândida G.; Silva, Maria Isabel; Silva, Inês S.; Santos, Liliana R.; Santos, Marta T.Given the poor palatability and chewability of crude green bean pods (Phaseolus vulgaris) and broccoli florets (Brassica oleracea var. italica Plenck) these vegetables are generally microwaved, steamed or water boiled. Hence, here, we evaluated the contents of minerals, antioxidants, phenolics, glucosinolates, pigments, colour, texture and flavour of water-boiling broccoli and green bean pods, with four mineral...
Production of parsley and pennyroyal with an African catfish-based aquaponics p...
Bernardino, Raul; Vieira, Judite; Vaz, Daniela C.; Santos, Ounísia D.; Ribeiro, Vânia S.; Pires, Cristiana L.; Cotrim, Luís; Bernardino, SusanaInsects can be used as alternative protein/food sources. Here, a novel aquaponic system based on the African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fed with 30% of yellow mealworms (YM) (Tenebrio molitor) as substitute feed to 100% of fish meal (FM) was employed to produce parsley (Petroselinum crispum) and pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium). The two systems implemented (30YW/70FM and 100FM - control) showed identical water qu...
Low-Protein Diets, Malnutrition, and Bone Metabolism in Chronic Kidney Disease
Cidália, Almeida D.; Guimarães, Carla; Ribeiro, Vânia S.; Vaz, Daniela C.; Martins, Maria JoãoChronic kidney disease (CKD) has a high prevalence worldwide, with increasing incidence in low- and middle-income countries, and is associated with high morbidity and mortality, particularly from cardiovascular disease. Protein-restricted diets are one of the most widely used non-pharmacological approaches to slow the progression of CKD and prevent associated metabolic abnormalities. However, some concerns have...
Morphological and Molecular Profiling of Amyloid-β Species in Alzheimer’s Patho...
Almeida, Zaida L.; Vaz, Daniela C.; Brito, Rui M. M.Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia around the world (~ 65%). Here, we portray the neuropathology of AD, biomarkers, and classifcation of amyloid plaques (difuse, non-cored, dense core, compact). Tau pathology and its involvement with Aβ plaques and cell death are discussed. Amyloid cascade hypotheses, aggregation mechanisms, and molecular species formed in vitro and in vivo (on- and of...
Nutrient‐efficient catfish‐based aquaponics for producing lamb's lettuce at two...
Sebastião, Fernando; Vaz, Daniela C.; Pires, Cristiana L; Cruz, Pedro F; Moreno, Maria João; Brito, Rui M M; Cotrim, Luís; Oliveira, Nelson; Costa, AnaBACKGROUND: Aquaponic systems are sustainable processes of managing water and nutrients for food production. An innovate nutrient-efficient catfish-based (Clarias gariepinus) aquaponics system was implemented for producing two cultivars of two leafy vegetables largely consumed worldwide: lamb's lettuce (Valerianella locusta var. Favor and Valerianella locusta var. de Hollande) and arugula (Eruca vesicaria var. ...
Transthyretin mutagenesis: impact on amyloidogenesis and disease
Almeida, Zaida L.; Vaz, Daniela C.; Brito, Rui M. M.Transthyretin (TTR), a homotetrameric protein found in plasma, cerebrospinal fluid, and the eye, plays a pivotal role in the onset of several amyloid diseases with high morbidity and mortality. Protein aggregation and fibril formation by wild-type TTR and its natural more amyloidogenic variants are hallmarks of ATTRwt and ATTRv amyloidosis, respectively. The formation of soluble amyloid aggregates and the accum...
Nutritive Value and Bioactivities of a Halophyte Edible Plant: Crithmum maritim...
Correia, Iris; Antunes, Madalena; Tecelão, Carla; Neves, Marta; Pires, Cristiana L.; Cruz, Pedro F.; Peralta, Claúdia C.; Pereira, Cidália D.Crithmum maritimum L. (sea fennel), an edible xerophyte of coastal habitats, is considered an emerging cash crop for biosaline agriculture due to its salt-tolerance ability and potential applications in the agri-food sector. Here, the nutritional value and bioactive properties of sea fennel are described. Sea fennel leaves, flowers, and schizocarps are composed of carbohydrates (>65%) followed by ash, proteins,...
Lessons on protein structure from interleukin‐4: All disulfides are not created...
Vaz, Daniela C.; Rodrigues, J. Rui; Loureiro‐Ferreira, Nuno; Müller, Thomas D.; Sebald, Walter; Redfield, Christina; Brito, Rui M. M.Interleukin-4 (IL-4) is a hematopoietic cytokine composed by a four-helix bundle stabilized by an antiparallel beta-sheet and three disulfide bonds: Cys3-Cys127, Cys24-Cys65, and Cys46-Cys99. IL-4 is involved in several immune responses associated to infection, allergy, autoimmunity, and cancer. Besides its physiological relevance, IL-4 is often used as a “model” for protein design and engineering. Hence, to un...
BSA-PEG Hydrogel: A Novel Protein-Ligand Binding 3D Matrix
Coelho, Carlos D. F.; Jesus, João A.; Vaz, Daniela C.; Lagoa, Ricardo; Moreno, Maria JoãoHydrogel materials have good biomimetic properties and high potential for biomedical and bioanalytical applications. In this work, a hydrogel of serum albumin crosslinked with poly-(ethylene glycol) was prepared and characterized for its water content, protein structure and stability. The ability of the hydrogel to bind small molecule ligands with different hydrophobicity was evaluated using a homologous series...