Increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods and likely impact on human health: evidence from Brazil

Objective: To assess time trends in the contribution of processed foods to food purchases made by Brazilian households and to explore the potential impact on the overall quality of the diet. Design: Application of a new classification of foodstuffs based on extent and purpose of food processing to data collected by comparable probabilistic household budget surveys. The classification assigns foodstuffs to the following groups: unprocessed/minimally processed foods (Group 1); processed culinary ingredients (Group 2); or ultra-processed ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat food products (Group 3). Setting: Eleven metropolitan areas of Brazil. Subjects: Households; n 13 611 in 1987-8, n 16 014 in 1995-5 and n 13 848 in 2002-3. Results: Over the last three decades, the household consumption of Group 1 and Group 2 foods has been steadily replaced by consumption of Group 3 ultra-processed food products, both overall and in lower- and upper-income groups. In the 2002-3 survey, Group 3 items represented more than one-quarter of total energy (more than one-third for higher-income households). The overall nutrient profile of Group 3 items, compared with that of Group 1 and Group 2 items, revealed more added sugar, more saturated fat, more sodium, less fibre and much higher energy density. Conclusions: The high energy density and the unfavourable nutrition profiling of Group 3 food products, and also their potential harmful effects on eating and drinking behaviours, indicate that governments and health authorities should use all possible methods, including legislation and statutory regulation, to halt and reverse the replacement of minimally processed foods and processed culinary ingredients by ultra-processed food products.

Physical properties of goat milk powder with soy lecithin added before spray drying

P>In this study, physical characteristics of goat milk powder produced with the addition of soy lecithin at levels of 0 (control), 0.4, 0.8 and 1.0 g lecithin/100 g of total solids in concentrated milk before the spray drying process were investigated. Goat milk was pasteurised, concentrated at 40% of total solids, spray dried and packed in plastic bags under vaccum conditions. Lecithin addition decreased the wetting time of milk powders, although no influence was observed on dispersibility, water sorption, water activity and particle size distribution of the powders. Powders with higher levels of lecithin showed significantly lower brightness, with a greater intensity of yellow colour. It was concluded that lecithin addition before spray drying process at the minimal proportion in concentrated milk of 0.4 g lecithin/100 g of total solids in concentrated milk is useful for achieving more rapid wetting time of goat milk powder.

Role of the Mitochondrial Mutations, m. 827A > G and the Novel m. 7462C > T, in the Origin of Hearing Loss

Samples from 30 deaf probands exhibiting features suggestive of syndromic mitochondrial deafness or from families with maternal transmission of deafness were selected for investigation of mutations in the mitochondrial genes MT-RNR1 and MT-TS1. Patients with mutation m. 1555A>G had been previously excluded from this sample. In the MT-RNR1 gene, five probands presented the m. 827A>G sequence variant, of uncertain pathogenicity. This change was also detected in 66 subjects of an unaffected control sample of 306 Brazilian individuals from various ethnic backgrounds. Given its high frequency, we consider it unlikely to have a pathogenic role on hereditary deafness. As to the MT-TS1 gene, one proband presented the previously known pathogenic m. 7472insC mutation and three probands presented a novel variant, m. 7462C>T, which was absent from the same control sample of 306 individuals. Because of its absence in control samples and association with a family history of hearing impairment, we suggest it might be a novel pathogenic mutation.

New Species of Earless Lizard Genus Heterodactylus (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from the Highlands of Chapada Diamantina, State of Bahia, Brazil

A new species of Heterodactylus is described based on two specimens obtained in the highlands of Chapada Diamantina, state of Bahia, Brazil. The new lizard is characterized by very elongate body and tail, absence of external ear opening, presence of moveable eyelids, absence of prefrontals and frontoparietals, a vestigial interparietal, 37-39 dorsal and 27-29 ventral transverse scale rows, 23-25 scales around midbody, six gular scale rows, and 10-11 and 14-15 fourth finger and fourth toe infradigital lamellae, respectively. The new species is most similar to Heterodactylus lundii from which it differs by the absence of contact between frontal and interparietal, by having wider than long parietals, smooth posterior dorsal scales, posterior ventral scales almost twice longer than wide, a lower number of scales around midbody, last supralabial in contact with the granules of the ear depression, and a more elongate body. The new species occurs about 1,100 km north of the northernmost known record of H. lundii. Species of Heterodactylus seem to be restricted to areas of cold climates associated with high latitudes and mountainous areas of eastern Brasil.

Interaction of membrane mimetic vesicles with the antimicrobial peptide gomesin and its analogues

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Henon-like maps with arbitrary stationary combinatorics

We extend the renormalization operator introduced in [A. de Carvalho, M. Martens and M. Lyubich. Renormalization in the Henon family, I: universality but non-rigidity. J. Stat. Phys. 121(5/6) (2005), 611-669] from period-doubling Henon-like maps to Henon-like maps with arbitrary stationary combinatorics. We show that the renonnalization picture also holds in this case if the maps are taken to be strongly dissipative. We study infinitely renormalizable maps F and show that they have an invariant Cantor set O on which F acts like a p-adic adding machine for some p > 1. We then show, as for the period-doubling case in the work of de Carvalho, Martens and Lyubich [Renormalization in the Henon family, I: universality but non-rigidity. J. Stat. Phys. 121(5/6) (2005), 611-669], that the sequence of renormalizations has a universal form, but that the invariant Cantor set O is non-rigid. We also show that O cannot possess a continuous invariant line field.

Further studies on peptide synthesis at high temperature

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

The importance of protoporphyrin IX efflux for ALA-PDT dosimetry

One of the major advances in PDT is the use of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) to induce the production of an enclogenous photosensitizer inside the cells using intracellular enzymatic pathways. ALA is the first intermediate in heme biosynthesis and a precursor of the protoporphyrin IX (PpIX). When activated by light, this efficient photosensitizer accumulated in the target cells can produce cytotoxicity. The aim of this study was to find the best conditions for cell killing using ALA to temporarily increase the concentration of PpIX in two cell lines. It was shown that a considerable efflux of synthesized PpIX occurs. Since this efflux is time-dependent, it is essential to know the optimum time for irradiation after ALA administration. So, the efflux of PpIX from the cells is an important parameter to be considered for ALA-PDT dosimetry.