Improving the textural and nutritional properties in restructured meat loaf by adding fibers and papain designed for elderly.

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of dietary fibers (apple, oat, pea, and inulin) in meat loaves treated with papain enzyme. In the first step, dietary fibers were added to the products at the level of 6%. All dietary fibers decreased the cooking loss and improved the water retention capacity throughout the shelf life of the meat loaves. Besides, the dietary fibers increased the compression force of meat loaves treated with papain, mainly oat fiber. The dietary fibers decreased the pH, especially the treatment with apple fiber. In the same way, the color was changed mainly by the apple fiber addition, resulting in a darker color in both raw and cooked samples. TBARS index increased in meat loaves added with both pea and apple fibers, mostly for the last one. In the next step, the combination of inulin, oat, and pea fibers was evaluated in the meat loaves treated with papain, combining fibers up to 6% total content likewise decreased cooking and cooling loss and increased the texture of the papain-treated meat loaf. The addition of fibers improved the acceptability of the texture-related samples, except for the three-fiber mixture (inulin, oat, and pea), which was related to a dry, hard-to-swallow texture. The mix of pea and oat fibers conferred the best descriptive attributes, possibly related to improved texture and water retention in the meat loaf, and comparing the use of isolated oat and pea, the perception of negative sensory attributes was not mentioned, such as soy and other off-flavors. Considering these results, this study showed that dietary fibers combined with papain improved the yielding and functional properties with potential technological use and consistent nutritional claims for elderly.

Evaluating different levels of papain as texture modifying agent in bovine meat loaf containing transglutaminase.

In this study, bovine meat loaves were produced with different levels of papain (0.00125%, 0.0025%, 0.00375%, and 0.005%) combined with transglutaminase (1%). The effect of this reformulation on pH, instrumental color, water activity, proximate composition, texture, yield, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of meat loaves was investigated. In addition, the enzymatic activity of papain was also analyzed. The papain addition increased the pH and the yield of the samples. The hardness was progressively reduced with the increase of papain level. Such changes could be seen through the images recorded by SEM, where an extremely fragmented structure was observed in treatments with higher papain concentration. Papain showed an optimum temperature of 80 °C. This study allowed to observe an intense proteolytic effect in all treatments, despite the papain concentration. Therefore, lower levels should be applied so that the product does not alter its sensory characteristics, such as soft and crumbly texture.

Effect of Transglutaminase Treatment on the Structure and Sensory Properties of Rice- or Soy-Based Hybrid Sausages.

Partial substitution of meat with non-protein sources in hybrid meat products generally leads to a decrease in texture attributes and, consequently, in sensory acceptance. In this study, we investigated the effects of transglutaminase (TG) at two concentrations (0.25% and 0.5%) on the physicochemical, textural, and sensory properties of hybrid sausages formulated with concentrated soy or rice proteins. TG caused a reduction in the heat treatment yield of hybrid sausages, particularly those made with rice protein. pH and color parameters were marginally affected by TG addition. Texture parameters increased substantially with TG, although escalating the TG level from 0.25% to 0.5% did not result in a proportional improvement in texture parameters; in fact, for rice-based hybrid sausages, no difference was achieved for all attributes, while only cohesiveness and chewiness were improved for soy-based ones. TG enhanced the sensory attributes of soy-based hybrid sausages to a level comparable to control meat emulsion, as evidenced by ordinate preference score and projective mapping. Our findings suggest that TG is a viable strategy for enhancing texture and sensory parameters in hybrid sausages, particularly for plant proteins that exhibit greater compatibility with the meat matrix.

Scenarios for Ecodesign in loudspeaker's motor.

The worldwide loudspeaker market follows the growing tendency of electronic entertainment technologies both in quantity and variety. Consequently, the environmental impacts caused during the life cycle of loudspeakers increase in the same proportion, going in the opposite direction to what is determined by world environmental laws and regulations and global market tendencies. Even so, the environmental performance of this type of product is not considered in the decision-making process for technological updates in loudspeaker design. In this sense, Ecodesign is the most adequate Life Cycle Engineering tool applied in the design of a product since the environmental performance is considered throughout the different design stages. However, the feasibility of Ecodesign in products requiring complex production chains relies on splitting the product into subsystems and components. Thus, the present work focuses on evaluating the environmental performance of a classic loudspeaker motor, which is composed of a magnet, coil, and coil former. Eight raw material substitution scenarios are proposed and analyzed, which allowed the proposal identification with the best environmental performance within the current technologies. This represents an initial step toward the complete Ecodesign of a loudspeaker and sets the procedure to be followed with the other constitutive parts.

Interaction between papain and transglutaminase enzymes on the textural softening of burgers.

The present study investigated the effect of the enzymes papain (0.2%) and microbial transglutaminase (MTG) (1%) on the texture properties of beef and chicken burgers to develop a meat product with significant increase in softness due to the physiological limitations of the elderly. The products were characterized for pH, objective color, water activity, texture profile analysis (TPA), shear force, compression test, electrophoretic profile, cooking loss, and diameter reduction. A pronounced increase in softness was observed for both raw materials containing papain. An increase in shear force was observed for the beef burger containing only MTG, while the chicken burger showed a reduction of this parameter. The compression tests showed papain alone or combined with MTG decreased the hardness of the burgers. The results showed that the combination of the enzymes papain and MTG can be an effective strategy to develop beef and chicken burgers much softer, contributing to the future studies focused on the physiological needs of the elderly.

Ultrasound and low-levels of NaCl replacers: A successful combination to produce low-phosphate and low-sodium meat emulsions.

Meat emulsions were made with 50% of phosphate level commonly used in the meat industry, and 0, 25, and 50% NaCl reduction. In addition, salt replacers (KCl, CaCl2, or MgCl2) were used in the formulations with 25 and 50% salt reduction, corresponding to 10 and 20% of the total amount of salts added, respectively. After embedding in casings, the samples were sonicated (25 kHz and 230 W) in an ultrasonic bath (US) at 20 °C for 0, 18, and 27 min. The addition of CaCl2 or MgCl2 impaired (P < .05) the technological properties of the low-sodium samples. Defects caused by NaCl reduction were not eliminated by 18-min US. However, the combination of KCl and 27-min US eliminated the technological defects caused by the 50% NaCl reduction, with no major impact on lipid oxidation during storage (21 days/4 °C), as observed in the TBARS and sensory profile results. Therefore, it is possible to produce low-phosphate and low-sodium meat emulsions.

Using dynamic sensory techniques to determine drivers of liking in sodium and fat-reduced Bologna sausage containing functional emulsion gels.

Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) and Temporal Check-all-that-apply (TCATA) are fast and dynamic descriptive techniques for sensory characterization of food. The temporal perception involved during the consumption of reformulated meat products are rarely considered and, in this context, the aim of the present work was to evaluate the influence of salt and fat reduction on Bologna sausage with addition of emulsion gel in the dynamic sensorial perception by using TDS and TCATA methods considering overall liking. After the dynamic sensory characterization tasks, consumers rated their liking using a 9-point hedonic scale. The findings showed that fat and salt reduction, and the addition of emulsion gels as fat replacers affected the sensory characteristics of the Bologna sausages. Regarding the methods, both studies collected the variations between samples with a great correlation between data. The TDS and TCATA curves revealed that texture attributes (firm and soft) were dominant at the beginning of the evaluation for all samples. TCATA also showed that juicy was dominant in the first 15 s of eating period. Related to overall liking, control sample (2% salt and 20% pork back fat) presented the highest scores (7.25 for TDS and 7.24 for TCATA) and Bolognas sausages with emulsion gels and reduced in salt were less accepted (4.95 for TDS and 5.86 for TCATA). Bologna flavor was the major attribute related to liking and fat flavor the main driver of disliking. Results from the present work suggest that dynamic sensorial methods are effective tools to characterize reformulated meat products.

Ultrasound: A new approach to reduce phosphate content of meat emulsions.

Meat emulsions with a reduction of 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% of phosphate levels were produced. Soon after filling, the pieces were sonicated in an ultrasonic bath (normal mode, 60% amplitude, 25 KHz frequency, 230 W acoustic power, and 33 W L-1 volumetric power) for 0, 9, and 18 min. The technological, oxidative, and sensory quality was evaluated. The reduction of the phosphate content in the non-sonicated samples led to a decrease in the cooking yield and emulsion stability and impaired the texture profile, and the oxidative and sensory quality of the samples. Although the 9-min ultrasound treatment was not effective to compensate for defects caused by the phosphate reduction, the application for 18 min improved the technological quality and did not increase the lipid oxidation. In addition, it allowed reducing most of the sensory defects caused by the reduction of 50% of the phosphate level. Therefore, the US can be useful to produce low-phosphate meat emulsions.

Bauhinia forficata in the treatment of diabetes mellitus: a patent review.

INTRODUCTION: Diabetes Mellitus has been considered an epidemic by the World Health Organization, with a high risk of morbidity and mortality. The treatment of this pathology consists in glycemic control, which can be done by oral hypoglycemic agents, insulin therapy, dietary guidance, regular physical activity, and psychosocial support. In addition, other adjuvant treatments are employed, such as phytotherapic, and one of the most used plants is Bauhinia forficata. AREAS COVERED: In the current review, patents using Bauhinia forficata for the Diabetes Mellitus treatment have been analyzed. There were 03 patents in WIPO, 01 in Espacenet, 01 in USPTO, and 02 in INPI. EXPERT OPINION: Patents on the adjuvant treatment of Diabetes Mellitus by Bauhinia forficata are discussed. Although there are some phytotherapy products containing this medicinal plant which has hypoglycemic effect here is still a need for the development of more products based on natural resources, for the treatment of this pathology, without side effects and with other benefits, to assist in the glycemia control in diabetic patients, and to improve their quality of life.

Determination of Trace Elements in Cow Placenta by Tungsten Coil Atomic Emission Spectrometry.

Tungsten coil atomic emission spectrometry (WCAES) is used to determine trace levels of Mn (403.1 nm) and Cr (425.5 nm) in cow placenta. All samples were collected in Ilha Solteira, SP, Brazil. The instrumental setup is based on a tungsten filament extracted from 150 W, 15 V microscope light bulbs, a solid state power supply, fused silica lens, crossed Czerny-Turner spectrograph, and a thermoelectrically cooled charge-coupled device detector. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) for Cr are 2 and 8 µg L-1, and 20 and 60 µg L-1 for Mn, respectively. Recoveries for 0.30 mg L-1 spikes of each analyte were in the range 93.0-103.0%, and relative standard deviation (RSD) was between 6.50 and 7.20% for both elements. Placenta samples were microwave-assisted digested with diluted HNO3 and H2O2 and analyzed by WCAES. The results for Cr and Mn were compared with values obtained by tandem inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS). No statistically significant difference was observed between the different methods by applying a paired t test at a 95% confidence level. The average concentrations of Cr and Mn in the placentas evaluated were 0.95 ± 0.22 and 2.64 ± 0.39 µg g-1, respectively. By using a short integration time, LODs for Cr and Mn were lower than values reported by recent works using a similar WCAES system.

[Temporal evolution of dengue fever in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo State, 1994-2003]. / Evolução temporal da dengue no município de Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, 1994 a 2003.

This epidemiological-descriptive study aimed to describe the temporal evolution of dengue cases in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo State, between 1994 and 2003, according to month of occurrence and gender. Data were obtained from the compulsory notification forms provided by the Epidemiological Surveillance service of the Ribeirão Preto Municipal Health Secretary. We obtained incidence coefficients per 100,000 inhabitants, according to population estimates by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. The city experienced a dengue epidemic in 2001, when the incidence coefficient reached 619.65 cases/100,000 inhabitants. We found 5553 cases during the study period, 0.07% of which occurred in 1994, 3.68% in 1995, 4.52% in 1996, 2.40% in 1997, 1.82% in 1998, 5.73% in 1999, 3.75% in 2000, 57.37% in 2001, 6.25% in 2002 and 14.39% in 2003. January to May were the months with the highest occurrence levels. As to the gender variable, we found a proportion of approximately 1:1, showing small fluctuations between men and women for dengue cases during the entire study period. Results indicate the need to study the theme and reinforce the role of teaching institutions to tackle dengue in Brazil.

Screening of plants found in the State of Amazonas, Brazil for activity against Aedes aegypti larvae

Ethanol, methanol and water extracts representing mostly native plant species found in the Amazon region were prepared, respectively, by maceration, continuous liquid-solid extraction and infusion, followed by evaporation and freeze-drying. The freeze-dried extracts were tested for lethality toward Aedes aegypti larvae at test concentrations of 500 mg / mL. In general, methanol extracts exhibited the greatest larvicidal activity. The following 7 methanol extracts of (the parts of) the indicated plant species were the most active, resulting in 100% mortality in A. aegypti larvae: Tapura amazonica Poepp. (root), Piper aduncum L. (leaf and root), P. tuberculatum Jacq. (leaf, fruit and branch). and Simaba polyphylla (Cavalcante) W.W. Thomas (branch).

Extratos aquosos, etanólicos e metanólicos, representando principalmente espécies vegetais nativas encontradas na região Amazônica, foram preparados, respectivamente, por infusão, maceração e extração contínua líquido-sólido, seguida de evaporação e liofilização. Os extratos liofilizados foram testados para atividade contra larvas de Aedes aegypti, na concentração única de 500 mg / mL. Os extratos metanólicos foram, em geral, os que apresentaram maior atividade larvicida. Os seguintes 7 extratos metanólicos das (partes das) espécies vegetais indicadas foram os mais ativos, provocando 100% de mortalidade em larvas de A. aegypti: Tapura amazonica Poepp. (raiz), Piper aduncum L. (folha e raiz), P. tuberculatum Jacq. (folha, fruto e galho) e Simaba polyphylla (Cavalcante) W.W. Thomas (galho).

Screening of plants found in Amazonas State for lethality towards brine shrimp

226 methanol and water extracts representing 74 mainly native plant species found in Amazonas State, Brazil, were tested at a standard concentration of 500 g/mL for lethality towards larvae of the brine shrimp species Artemia franciscana. Several cytotoxic plant species were identified in this work: Aspidosperma marcgravianum, A. nitidum, Croton cajucara, Citrus limetta, Geissospermum argenteum, Minquartia guianensis, Piper aduncum, P. amapense, P. capitarianum, P. tuberculatum and Protium aracouchini. The results were analyzed within the context of the available traditional knowledge and uses for these plants.

Foram testados 226 extratos metanólicos e aquosos de 74 espécies vegetais (a maioria nativas) encontradas no Estado do Amazonas, Brasil, para letalidade às larvas da espécie microcrustácea Artemia franciscana na concentração teste de 500 g/mL. Várias espécies citotóxicas foram identificadas nesse estudo: Aspidosperma marcgravianum, A. nitidum, Citrus limetta, Croton cajucara, Geissospermum argenteum, Minquartia guianensis, Piper aduncum, P. amapense, P. capitarianum, P. tuberculatum e Protium aracouchini. Os resultados foram analisados levando em consideração as informações populares, quando disponíveis.