Characterization of the phenolic and antioxidant profiles of selected culinary herbs and spices: caraway, turmeric, dill, marjoram and nutmeg

Culinary herbs and spices have long been considered essentially as flavor enhancers or preservatives, with little attention given to their potential health-promoting properties. Nevertheless, recent research has shown them to be significant dietary sources of bioactive phenolic compounds. Despite noteworthy efforts performed in recent years to improve our knowledge of their chemical composition, a detailed phenolic profile of these plant-based products is still lacking. In the present work, antioxidant activities and phenolic composition of five herbs and spices, namely caraway, turmeric, dill, marjoram and nutmeg, have been studied. The use of liquid chromatography coupled to LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometry enabled the identification of up to 42 phenolic compounds. To the best of our knowledge, two of them, apigenin-C-hexoside-C-pentoside and apigenin-C-hexoside-C-hexoside have not been previously reported in turmeric. Qualitative and quantitative differences were observed in polyphenol profiles, with the highest phenolic content found in caraway. Multivariate statistical treatment of the results allowed the detection of distinctive features among the studied herbs and spices.

Avaliação da pressão arterial sistêmica em cães obesos: comparação entre os métodos oscilométrico e doppler ultrassônico

Obesity is the most common nutritional problem in dogs and it can cause various harmful effects on animal health. However, the effect of this condition on systolic blood pressure (SBP) in obese dogs is controversial. The indirect method of measuring PAS is the most commonly used in veterinary medicine for the diagnosis of systemic hypertension, because it is more practical and easy to access. There is little scientific information about the comparison of the two non- invasive methods of measurement of blood pressure in obese dogs. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the SBP in obese dogs by comparing both indirect methods of measuring blood pressure, with oscillometric and doppler vascular in order to verify the differences in blood pressure values, but also the best method to assess the SBP dogs in this body score condition. The study complain blood pressure measurement of 50 dogs, with were divided in obese dogs with mean body condition score (BCS) of 8.42 +/- 0.50 (n = 25) and dogs with ideal BCS of 4.56 +/- 0.51 (n = 25). At comparison of blood pressure values, SBP values obtained by doppler method (152 +/- 16mmHg) were higher than the oscillometric (136 +/- 11mmHg). Correspondence analysis determined by multivariate statistical analysis showed correlation between body condition and the procedure of the SBP. These findings suggest that the indirect method doppler can better reflect the SBP in obese dogs.

Adsorção de cádmio em Latossolos sob vegetação de mata nativa e cultivados

Heavy metals are found naturally in soils at low concentrations, but their content may be increased by human activity, making them one of the barriers in management of tropical soils. These chemical elements can be found in the composition of organic and inorganic fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, mine tailings, and urban waste, and may cause serious damage to the environment and human health. Thus, adsorption studies are essential in assessing the behavior of heavy metals in the soil. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of soil chemical, particle size, and mineralogical properties on adsorption of cadmium (Cd), evaluated by Langmuir and Freundlich models, in Latossolos (Oxisols) with or without human activity. Soil samples were collected from the surface layer, 0.00-0.20 m, and chemical, particle size, and mineralogical analyzes were performed. In the adsorption study, concentrations of 0, 5, 25, 50, 100, 200, 300, and 400 mu g L-1 of Cd were used in the form of Cd(NO3)(2). The empirical mathematical models of Langmuir and Freundlich were used for construction of adsorption isotherms. Data were analyzed by means of multivariate statistical techniques, Cluster Analysis and Principal Component Analysis. The data from the adsorption experiment showed a good fit to the Langmuir and Freundlich models. Soils with a lower goethite/hematite ratio and greater cation exchange capacity and pH, showed higher maximum adsorption capacity of Cd.

Evaluation of the presence of microorganisms in solid-organ preservation solution

OBJECTIVE: To assess the presence of microorganism contamination in the preservation solution for transplant organs (kidney/pancreas). Method: Between August 2007 and March 2008, 136 samples of preservation solution were studied prior to graft implantation. Variables related to the donor and to the presence of microorganisms in the preservation solution of organs were evaluated, after which the contamination was evaluated in relation to the recipient culture variable. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were performed. RESULTS: The contamination rate of the preservation solution was 27.9%. Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus was the most frequently isolated microorganism. However, highly virulent agents, such as fungi and enterobacteria, were also isolated. In univariate analysis, the variable donor antibiotic use was significantly associated to the contamination of the preservation solution. on the other hand, multivariate analysis found statistical significance in donor antibiotic use and donor's infectious complications variables. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, 27.9% of the preservation solutions of transplant organs were contaminated. Infectious diseases and non-use of antibiotics by the donor were significantly related to the presence of microorganisms in organ preservation solutions. Contamination in organ preservation solutions was not associated with infection in the recipient.

Grouping of countries according to indicators of standard of living

The position of 125 countries is studied on the basis of a collection of 26 basic, health, economic and educational indicators. Multivariate statistical methods were used, including Cluster Analysis, Principal Component Analysis and Multivariate Analysis of Variance. The most discriminating variables were life expectancy the child mortality rate, the mortality rate of children of less than five years of age, the birth and fertility rates and the high-school female matriculation rate. The first principal component was interpreted as a measure of the living standard which made it possible to place the countries in order. Five clusters of countries are suggested.

Online analysis of H2S and SO2 via advanced mid-Infrared gas sensors

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

Análise dos sistemas de produção dos estabelecimentos rurais do município de Palmital/SP em busca de estratégias para o desenvolvimento rural

Pós-graduação em Agronegócio e Desenvolvimento - Tupã

Arquitetura de um sistema multiagente autônomo para supervisão e controle

This paper presents a multi-agent architecture that was designed to develop processes supervision and control systems, with the main objective to automate tasks that are repetitive and stressful, and error prone when performed by humans. A set of agents were identified, based on the study of a number of applications found in the literature, that use the approach of multi-agent systems for data integration and process monitoring to faults detection and diagnosis, these agents are used as basis of the proposed multi-agent architecture. A prototype system for the analysis of abnormalities during oil wells drilling was developed.

Qualidade dos processos mecanizados de semeadura e colheita na cultura da soja

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Produção Vegetal) - FCAV

Indicadores morfométricos: uma ferramenta no diagnóstico da vulnerabilidade ambiental

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Produção Vegetal) - FCAV

Recolhimento mecanizado do café em função do manejo do solo e da declividade do terreno

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Controle de qualidade no plantio convencional e mecanizado de cana-de-açúcar

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Ciência do Solo) - FCAV

Construção de índice percentual de “status” de desenvolvimento sus-tentável de assentamentos rurais utilizando procedimento estatísti-co multivariado

The objective of the present work is the construction of percentual indexes of sustainable development "Status" - PIDSD (%) aiming to order and classify the rural settlements, considering agricultural, socioeconomic and environmental aspects, in order to diagnose their sustainable reality. This way, we considered multivariate statistical procedure to establish analytical descriptors - indexes - like the principal components technique (CP). The CP technique was used in a matrix formed by 47 variables observed in 50 rural settlements, distributed in seven different regions of the state of Mato Grosso, obtained from diagnostics, provided by "Mato-Grossense" Enterprise of Research, Assistance and Rural Extension S/A - EMPAER - MT, in order to obtain the indexes used in the construction of PIDSD (%). The settlements with higher PIDSD (%) were considered "higher potential" or "higher sustainable" in relation to the analyzed variables, making the establishment of assistance strategies and cooperation possible, allowing the government and civil society in general, to improve those with worse results ("lower potential" or "lower sustainable"), and search for ways to strengthen and multiply the results of the "higher potential" settlements. Vale do Seringal settlement had the best conditions in relation to the variables, mainly those of higher weigh and was considered the one with "higher potential". São Sebastião had the worst conditions and was considered "lower potential".

Análise da produtividade agrícola da cana-de-açúcar nos estados de Mato Grosso do Sul e Goiás

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

A control chart based on sample ranges for monitoring the covariance matrix of the multivariate processes

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)