Association between dairy product intake and abdominal obesity in Azorean adolescents

BACKGROUND: Some studies have reported an inverse association between dairy product (DP) consumption and weight or fat mass loss. OBJECTIVES: The objective of our study was to assess the association between DP intake and abdominal obesity (AO) among Azorean adolescents. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional analysis. A total of 903 adolescents (370 boys) aged 15--16 years was evaluated. Anthropometric measurements were collected (weight, height and waist circumference (WC)) and McCarthy’s cut-points were used to categorize WC. AO was defined when WC was X90th percentile. Adolescent food intake was assessed using a self-administered semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire and DP intake was categorized in o2 and X2 servings/day. Data were analyzed separately for girls and boys, and logistical regression was used to estimate the association between DPs and AO adjusting for potential confounders. RESULTS: The prevalence of AO was 54.9% (boys: 32.1% and girls: 70.7%, Po0.001). For boys and girls, DP consumption was 2.3±1.9 and 2.1±1.6 servings/day (P¼0.185), respectively. In both genders, the proportion of adolescents with WC o90th percentile was higher among individuals who reported a dairy intake of X2 servings/day compared with those with an intake o2 servings/day (boys: 71% vs 65% and girls: 36% vs 24%, Po0.05). After adjustments for confounders, two or more DP servings per day were a negative predictor of AO (odds ratio, 0.217; 95% confidence interval, 0.075 -- 0.633) only in boys. CONCLUSION: We found a protective association between DP intake and AO only in boys.

O E-commerce e a internacionalização. O caso Bilua e-commerce

Relatório de Estágio apresentado ao Instituto de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Marketing Digital, sob orientação do Mestre Especialista António Silva Vieira

Milk intake is inversely related to body mass index and body fat in girls

Dairy foods comprise a range of products with varying nutritional content. The intake of dairy products (DPs) has been shown to have beneficial effects on body weight and body fat. This study aimed to examine the independent association between DP intake, body mass index (BMI), and percentage body fat (%BF) in adolescents. A cross-sectional, school-based study was conducted with 1,001 adolescents (418 boys), ages 15–18 years, from the Azorean Archipelago, Portugal. Anthropometric measurements were recorded (weight and height), and %BF was assessed using bioelectric impedance analysis. Adolescent food intake was measured using a self-administered, semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. Data were analyzed separately for girls and boys, and separate multiple linear regression analysis was used to estimate the association between total DP, milk, yogurt, and cheese intake, BMI, and %BF, adjusting for potential confounders. For boys and girls, respectively, total DP consumption was 2.6 ± 1.9 and 2.9 ± 2.5 servings/day (P = 0.004), while milk consumption was 1.7 ± 1.4 and 2.0 ± 1.7 servings/day (P = 0.001), yogurt consumption was 0.5 ± 0.6 and 0.4 ± 0.7 servings/day (P = 0.247), and cheese consumption was 0.4 ± 0.6 and 0.5 ± 0.8 servings/day (P = 0.081). After adjusting for age, birth weight, energy intake, protein, total fat, sugar, dietary fiber, total calcium intake, low-energy reporters, parental education, pubertal stage, and physical activity, only milk intake was negatively associated with BMI and %BF in girls (respectively, girls: β = −0.167, P = 0.013; boys: β = −0.019, P = 0.824 and girls: β = −0.143, P = 0.030; boys: β = −0.051, P = 0.548). Conclusion: We found an inverse association between milk intake and both BMI and %BF only in girls.

Mergers and acquisitions as strategies of business expansion in the pharmaceutical industry

Introduction: The present paper deals with the issue of the increasing usage of corporation mergers and acquisitions strategies within pharmaceutical industry environment. The aim is to identify the triggers of such business phenomenon and the immediate impact on the financial outcome of two powerful biopharmaceutical corporations: Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline, which have been sampled due to their successful approach of the tactics in question. Materials and Methods: In order to create an overview of the development steps through mergers and acquisitions, the historical data of the two corporations has been consulted, from their official websites. The most relevant events were then associated with adequate information from the financial reports and statements of the two corporations indulged by web-based financial data providers. Results and Discussions: In the past few decades Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline have purchased or merged with various companies in order to monopolize new markets, diversify products and services portfolios, survive and surpass competitors. The consequences proved to be positive although this approach implies certain capital availability. Conclusions: Results reveal the fact that, as far as the two sampled companies are concerned, acquisitions and mergers are reactions at the pressure of the highly competitive environment. Moreover, the continuous diversification of the market’s needs is also a consistent motive. However, the prevalence and the eminence of mergers and acquisition strategies are conditioned by the tender offer, the announcer’s caliber, research and development status and further other factors determined by the internal and external actors of the market.

A case study on the improvement of eco-efficiency ratios: application to a composite processing industry

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) defines Eco-Efficiency as follows: ‘Eco- Efficiency is achieved by the delivery of competitively priced-goods and services that satisfy human needs and bring quality of life, while progressively reducing ecological impacts and resource intensity throughout the life-cycle to a level at least in line with the earth’s estimated carrying capacity’. Eco-Efficiency is under this point of view a key concept for sustainable development, bringing together economic and ecological progress. Measuring the Eco-Efficiency of a company, factory or business, is a complex process that involves the measurement and control of several and relevant parameters or indicators, globally applied to all companies in general, or specific according to the nature and specificities of the business itself. In this study, an attempt was made in order to measure and evaluate the eco-efficiency of a pultruded composite processing company. For this purpose the recommendations of WBCSD [1] and the directives of ISO 14301 standard [2] were followed and applied. The analysis was restricted to the main business branch of the company: the production and sale of standard GFRP pultrusion profiles. The main general indicators of eco-efficiency, as well as the specific indicators, were defined and determined according to ISO 14031 recommendations. With basis on indicators’ figures, the value profile, the environmental profile, and the pertinent eco-efficiency’s ratios were established and analyzed. In order to evaluate potential improvements on company eco-performance, new indicators values and ecoefficiency ratios were estimated taking into account the implementation of new proceedings and procedures, both in upstream and downstream of the production process, namely: a) Adoption of new heating system for pultrusion die in the manufacturing process, more effective and with minor heat losses; b) Implementation of new software for stock management (raw materials and final products) that minimize production failures and delivery delays to final consumer; c) Recycling approach, with partial waste reuse of scrap material derived from manufacturing, cutting and assembly processes of GFRP profiles. In particular, the last approach seems to significantly improve the eco-efficient performance of the company. Currently, by-products and wastes generated in the manufacturing process of GFRP profiles are landfilled, with supplementary added costs to this company traduced by transport of scrap, landfill taxes and required test analysis to waste materials. However, mechanical recycling of GFRP waste materials, with reduction to powdered and fibrous particulates, constitutes a recycling process that can be easily attained on heavy-duty cutting mills. The posterior reuse of obtained recyclates, either into a close-looping process, as filler replacement of resin matrix of GFRP profiles, or as reinforcement of other composite materials produced by the company, will drive to both costs reduction in raw materials and landfill process, and minimization of waste landfill. These features lead to significant improvements on the sequent assessed eco-efficiency ratios of the present case study, yielding to a more sustainable product and manufacturing process of pultruded GFRP profiles.

Valorisation of fish-cannery by-products targeting the recovery of ω3 lipids

Over the past years, ω3 fatty acids, namely EPA and DHA, have been recognized as presenting multiple health benefits. Several studies consider fish oil as the most important source of EPA and DHA. Nowadays, canned fish industry plays a very important role in Portuguese economy. However, expansion of this business brought some environmental concerns due to the high amount of by-products generated. Nevertheless, this problem can be substantially reduced by the recovery of some of the by-product components, diminishing its contamination load and simultaneously obtaining value-added products. This study was born from the growing interest in obtaining new sources of lipids rich in ω3 fatty acids, combined with environmental concerns related to the production of wastes from the fish canning industries, rich in these compounds. It thus intends to evaluate lipid extraction methods in liquid by-products from the fish canning industry, aiming to obtain fractions rich in ω3 fatty acids. Additionally, in a biorefining concept, the protein content of the remaining aqueous fractions was also quantified.