O desassossego goês. Cultura e política em Goa do liberalismo ao . Acto Colonial

Tese apresentada para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Doutor em História e Teoria das Ideias, especialidade Pensamento, Cultura e Política

De Pangim a Vasco: o território goês no longo século XIX

The present volume contains the short papers and abstracts reviewed and presented at PNUM 2013, the 2013 Annual Conference of Portuguese Network of Urban Morphology, held in Coimbra on June 27 and 28, 2013.

Effect of a whey-predominant starter formula containing LCPUFAs and oligosaccharides (FOS/GOS) on gastrointestinal comfort in infants.

Development of new infant formulas aims to replicate the benefits of breast milk. One benefit of breast milk over infant formulas is greater gastrointestinal comfort. We compared indicators of gastrointestinal comfort in infants fed a whey-predominant formula containing long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, galacto-oligo-saccharides and fructo-oligosaccharides, and infants fed a control casein-predominant formula without additional ingredients. The single-centre, prospective, double-blind, controlled trial randomly assigned healthy, full-term infants (n=144) to receive exclusively either experimental or control formula from 30 days to 4 months of age. A group of exclusively breast-fed infants served as reference (n=80). At 1, 2, 3, and 4 months, infants' growth parameters were measured and their health assessed. Parents recorded frequency and physical characteristics of infants' stool, frequency of regurgitation, vomiting, crying and colic. At 2-months, gastric emptying (ultrasound) and intestinal transit time (H2 breath test) were measured, and stool samples collected for bacterial analysis. Compared to the control (n=69), fewer of the experimental group (n=67) had hard stools (0.7 vs 7.5%, p<0.001) and more had soft stools (90.8 vs 82.3%, p<0.05). Also compared to the control, the experimental group's stool microbiota composition (mean % bifidobacteria: 78.1 (experimental, n=17), 63.7 (control, n=16), 74.3 (breast-fed, n=20), gastric transit times (59.6 (experimental, n=53), 61.4 (control, n=62), 55.9 (breast-fed, n=67) minutes) and intestinal transit times (data not shown) were closer to that of the breast-fed group. Growth parameter values were similar for all groups. The data suggest that, in infants, the prebiotic-containing whey-based formula provides superior gastrointestinal comfort than a control formula.

El gos com a personatge. 'El perro como personaje'.

Resumen de la autora en catalán

El meu gos ??s de color negre : de quin color ??s el meu gos?

Resumen basado en el de la publicaci??n

Modulation of the fecal microflora profile and immune function by a novel trans-galactooligosaccharide mixture (B-GOS) in healthy elderly volunteers

Background: Aging is associated with reduced numbers of beneficial colonic bifidobacteria and impaired immunity. Galactooligosaccharides (GOSs) stimulate the growth of bifidobacteria in younger adults, but little is known about their effects in the elderly and their immunomodulatory capacity. Objective: We assessed the effect of a prebiotic GOS mixture (B-GOS) on immune function and fecal microflora composition in healthy elderly subjects. Design: In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study, 44 elderly subjects were randomly assigned to receive either a placebo or the B-GOS treatment (5.5 g/d). Subjects consumed the treatments for 10 wk, and then went through a 4-wk washout period, before switching to the other treatment for the final 10 wk. Blood and fecal samples were collected at the beginning, middle (5 wk), and end of the test period. Predominant bacterial groups were quantified, and phagocytosis, natural killer (NK) cell activity, cytokine production, plasma cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol were measured. Results: B-GOS significantly increased the numbers of beneficial bacteria, especially bifidobacteria, at the expense of less beneficial groups compared with the baseline and placebo. Significant increases in phagocytosis, NK cell activity, and the production of antiinflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10) and significant reduction in the production of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-1 beta , and tumor necrosis factor-alpha) were also observed. B-GOS exerted no effects on total cholesterol or HDL-cholesterol production, however. Conclusions: B-GOS administration to healthy elderly persons resulted in positive effects on both the microflora composition and the immune response. Therefore, B-GOS may be a useful dietary candidate for the enhancement of gastrointestinal health and immune function in elderly persons. Am J Clin Nutr 2008; 88: 1438-46.

Galactooligosaccharides (GOS) inhibit Vibrio cholerae toxin binding to its GM1 receptor

It is widely reported that cholera toxin (Ctx) remains a significant cause of gastrointestinal disease globally, particularly in developing countries where access to clean drinking water is at a premium. Vaccines are prohibitively expensive and have shown only short-term protection. Consequently, there is scope for continued development of novel treatment strategies. One example is the use of galactooligosaccharides (GOS) as functional mimics for the cell-surface toxin receptor (GM1). In this study, GOS fractions were fractionated using cation exchange chromatography followed by structural characterization using a combination of hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) such that their molecular weight profiles were known. Each profile was correlated against biological activity measured using a competitive inhibitory GM1-linked ELISA. GOS fractions containing > 5% hexasaccharides (DP6) exhibited > 90% binding, with EC50 values between 29.27 and 56.04 mg/mL. Inhibition by GOS DP6, was dose dependent, with an EC50 value of 5.10 mg/mL (5.15 mu M MW of 990 Da). In removing low molecular weight carbohydrates that do possess prebiotic, nutraceutical, and/or biological properties and concentrating GOS DP5 and/or DP6, Ctx antiadhesive activity per unit of (dry) weight was improved. This could be advantageous in the manufacture of pharmaceutical or nutraceutical formulations for the treatment or prevention of an acute or chronic disease associated with or caused by the adhesion and/or uptake of a Ctx or HLT.

Influence of galacto-oligosaccharide mixture (B-GOS) on gut microbiota, immune parameters and metabonomics in elderly persons

It is recognised that ageing induces various changes to the human colonic microbiota. Most relevant is a reduction in bifidobacteria, which is a health-positive genus. Prebiotics, such as galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS), are dietary ingredients that selectively fortify beneficial gut microbial groups. Therefore, they have the potential to reverse the age-related decline in bifidobacteria and modulate associated health parameters. We assessed the effect of GOS mixture (Bimuno (B-GOS)) on gut microbiota, markers of immune function and metabolites in forty elderly (age 65-80 years) volunteers in a randomised, double-blind, placebo (maltodextrin)-controlled, cross-over study. The intervention periods consisted of 10 weeks with daily doses of 5·5 g/d with a 4-week washout period in between. Blood and faecal samples were collected for the analyses of faecal bacterial populations and immune and metabolic biomarkers. B-GOS consumption led to significant increases in bacteroides and bifidobacteria, the latter correlating with increased lactic acid in faecal waters. Higher IL-10, IL-8, natural killer cell activity and C-reactive protein and lower IL-1β were also observed. Administration of B-GOS to elderly volunteers may be useful in positively affecting the microbiota and some markers of immune function associated with ageing.

Lógos e noûs no Fedro de Platão

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Environmental conditions and habitats of GOS sites and bottle data of HOT-ALOHA station

The Global Ocean Sampling (GOS) expedition is currently the largest and geographically most comprehensive metagenomic dataset, including samples from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. This study makes use of the wide range of environmental conditions and habitats encompassed within the GOS sites in order to investigate the ecological structuring of bacterial and archaeal taxon ranks. Community structures based on taxonomically classified 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene fragments at phylum, class, order, family, and genus rank levels were examined using multivariate statistical analysis, and the results were inspected in the context of oceanographic environmental variables and structured habitat classifications. At all taxon rank levels, community structures of neritic, oceanic, estuarine biomes, as well as other exotic biomes (salt marsh, lake, mangrove), were readily distinguishable from each other. A strong structuring of the communities with chlorophyll a concentration and a weaker yet significant structuring with temperature and salinity were observed. Furthermore, there were significant correlations between community structures and habitat classification. These results were used for further investigation of one-to-one relationships between taxa and environment and provided indications for ecological preferences shaped by primary production for both cultured and uncultured bacterial and archaeal clades.