The assessment of the level of knowledge about dietary fibre among the portuguese population

The aim of this work was to assess the degree of knowledge about dietary fibre (DF), as influenced by factors such as age, gender, level of education and living environment. For this, a descriptive cross- sectional study was undertaken by means of a questionnaire and the total number of respondents was 382. The results revealed that the participants had a not satisfying global level of knowledge (3.59 ± 0.64, on a scale from 1 to 5). The overall knowledge was found lower for young adults aged 19 to 30 years, when compared to adults aged over 31 and up to 65 years, being this difference statistically significant (p=0.030). However, no statistical significant differences were found between genders, levels of education or living environments. The low level of knowledge demonstrated by the enquired alerts for the need to plan some additional actions to further inform the Portuguese population about dietary fibre.

Life Cycle Assessment as a tool to promote sustainable Thermowood boards: a Portuguese case study

The present work aims to develop the Life Cycle Assessment study of thermo-modified Atlanticwood® pine boards based on real data provided by Santos & Santos Madeiras company. Atlanticwood® pine boards are used mainly for exterior decking and cladding facades of buildings. The LCA study is elaborated based on ISO 14040/44 standard and Product Category Rules for preparing an environmental product declaration for Construction Products and Construction Services. The inventory analysis and, subsequently, the impact analysis have been performed using the LCA software SimaPro8.0.4. The method chosen for impact assessment was EPD (2013) V1.01. The results show that more than ¾ of ‘Acidification’, ‘Eutrophication’, ‘Global warming’ and ‘Abiotic depletion’ caused by 1 m3 of Atlanticwood® pine boards production is due to energy consumption (electricity + gas + biomass). This was to be expected since the treatment is based on heat production and no chemicals are added during the heat treatment process.

International Conference on Safety and Innovation in Food Packaging (InSIPack) 2016: book of abstracts

The aim of the conference is to bring together academia and industry to discuss the safety of food packaging as well as the development of new food packaging materials, including active, intelligent and nano concepts. Bio-based materials will be also discussed due to be a growing area of food packaging. Topics: Food Safety & Quality (Physical and chemical hazards: measurement and assessment; Biological hazards: risk and prevention; Mathematical modelling of risk assessment; Evaluation of food spoilage, food quality and shelf life; Food packaging laws and regulations; Food package interactions: migration measurement methods, models and food safety risk assessment; Food Packaging innovation (Active and intelligent packaging; Nano-packaging; New packaging materials and material development; Bio based and edible packaging; Food package testing; Sustainable food contact materials; Recycling and Life Cycle Assessment).

A quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR assay for the assessment of drug activities against intracellular Theileria annulata schizonts.

Intracellular schizonts of the apicomplexans Theileria annulata and Theileria parva immortalize bovine leucocytes thereby causing fatal immunoproliferative diseases. Buparvaquone, a hydroxynaphthoquinone related to parvaquone, is the only drug available against Theileria. The drug is only effective at the onset of infection and emerging resistance underlines the need for identifying alternative compounds. Current drug assays employ monitoring of proliferation of infected cells, with apoptosis of the infected host cell as a read-out, but it is often unclear whether active compounds directly impair the viability of the parasite or primarily induce host cell death. We here report on the development of a quantitative reverse transcriptase real time PCR method based on two Theileria genes, tasp and tap104, which are both expressed in schizonts. Upon in vitro treatment of T. annulata infected bovine monocytes with buparvaquone, TaSP and Tap104 mRNA expression levels significantly decreased in relation to host cell actin already within 4 h of drug exposure, while significant differences in host cell proliferation were detectable only after 48-72 h. TEM revealed marked alterations of the schizont ultrastructure already after 2 h of buparvaquone treatment, while the host cell remained unaffected. Expression of TaSP and Tap104 proteins showed a marked decrease only after 24 h. Therefore, the analysis of expression levels of mRNA coding for TaSP and Tap104 allows to directly measuring impairment of parasite viability. We subsequently applied this method using a series of compounds affecting different targets in other apicomplexan parasites, and show that monitoring of TaSP- and Tap104 mRNA levels constitutes a suitable tool for anti-theilerial drug development.

Application of phosphatidylethanol (PEth) in whole blood in comparison to ethyl glucuronide in hair (hEtG) in driving aptitude assessment (DAA)

For driving aptitude assessment (DAA), the analysis of several alcohol biomarkers is essential for the detection of alcohol intake besides psycho-medical exploration. In Switzerland, EtG in hair (hEtG) is often the only direct marker for abstinence monitoring in DAA. Therefore, the suitability of phosphatidylethanol (PEth) was investigated as additional biomarker. PEth 16:0/18:1 and 16:0/18:2 were determined by online-SPE-LC-MS/MS in 136 blood samples of persons undergoing DAA and compared to hEtG, determined in hair segments taken at the same time. With a PEth 16:0/18:1 threshold of 210 ng/mL for excessive alcohol consumption, all (n = 30) but one tested person also had hEtG values ≥30 pg/mg. In 54 cases, results are not in contradiction to an abstinence as neither PEth (<20 ng/mL) nor hEtG (<7 pg/mg) was detected. In eight cases, both markers showed moderate consumption. Altogether, PEth and hEtG were in accordance in 68 % of the samples, although covering different time periods of alcohol consumption. With receiver operating characteristic analysis, PEth was evaluated to differentiate abstinence, moderate, and excessive alcohol consumption in accordance with hEtG limits. A PEth 16:0/18:1 threshold of 150 ng/mL resulted in the best sensitivity (70.6 %) and specificity (98.8 %) for excessive consumption. Values between 20 and 150 ng/mL passed for moderate consumption, values <20 ng/mL passed for abstinence. As PEth mostly has a shorter detection window (2-4 weeks) than hEtG (up to 6 months depending on hair length), changes in drinking behavior can be detected earlier by PEth than by hEtG analysis alone. Therefore, PEth helps to improve the diagnostic information and is a valuable additional alcohol marker for DAA.

A macroeconomic assessment of the economy of Guyana /

Mode of access: Internet.

An Assessment of U.S. competitiveness in high technology industries.

Item 231-B-1

Assessment of border crossings and transportation corridors for North American trade. Report to Congress pursuant to Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, Public Law 102-240, Sections 1089 and 6015.

Mode of access: Internet.

Deep sea searches : the story of the seabed assessment program.

Mode of access: Internet.

Landside transportation at ports : a preliminary assessment of transportation connectivity problems at U.S. ports /

"July 1980."

A Competitive assessment of the U.S. textile machinery industry /

Item 231-B-1.

A Competitive assessment of the U.S. transformer industry /

Item 231-B-1

Competitive assessment of the U.S. information services industry.

Item 231-B-1

A competitive assessment of the renewable energy equipment industry /

Item 231-B-1