Life design facing the fertility gap: promoting gender equity to give women and men the freedom of a mindful life planning.

Nowadays, society is characterized by enormous and rapid changes, erratic careers, gender discrimination, injustices, and inequities. Discrimination includes professional and educational segregation, the gender pay gap, stereotypical gender roles, and social expectations. In this context, phenomena called low fertility and fertility gap are increasing. Indeed, the birth rate necessary to ensure the replacement of the population is not reached, with severe repercussions at a social, environmental, and economic level. This study aimed to investigate 835 women's perceptions of the desire for motherhood and the associated difficulties. Hierarchical multiple regression and thematic decomposition analyses first highlight a significant difference between the number of children women realistically plan and the ideal number of children they would like. Secondly, the results showed how the parenthood choice is connected to the perception of social and gender inequity. Finally, in a Life Design perspective, preventive actions will be described to support women to get back to the center of life choices, building dignified fair paths and family projects.

The challenge of o-phenylphenol detection in coffee: How "OPP-conjugates" hide their presence in green and roasted samples.

o-Phenylphenol (OPP) is not a commonly used pesticide in the coffee production chain. Although it has only been detected in roasted coffee, it is unlikely that OPP can be formed during roasting. Its acidic nature may lead to the formation of conjugates with natural matrix components. The objective of this study is to optimize an analytical method to discover how these conjugates may mask the presence of OPP in coffee. Sample extraction with hexane followed by basic hydrolysis and then a QuEChERS method allows the presence of OPP to be quantitatively detected via UPLC-MS/MS. The optimized method was applied to the same Arabica coffee (Brazil), and the quantification of comparable amounts of OPP was observed in both green and roasted samples (34.8 vs 32.2 µg/kg). The optimized procedure detected twice the amount of OPP in roasted samples, compared to the QuEChERS method, suggesting that roasting causes the partial hydrolysis of OPP conjugates.

Phthalimide Residue in Coffee: Does It Solely Derive from Folpet?

Folpet, a fungicide used on several crops, easily degrades into phthalimide (PAI) at high temperatures and basic pH. The maximum admitted limit for Folpet in foodstuffs as coffee is defined by the sum of its amount and that of PAI. Noteworthy, PAI can also arise from the reaction between ubiquitous phthalate derivatives and NH3. This work aims to demonstrate that the detection of PAI in roasted coffee is not necessarily diagnostic for Folpet as it can also originate from the reaction between phthalic anhydride (PAA), derived from phthalates, and amino acids (AAs), as a NH3 source. Thermal treatment of AAs with PAA confirmed that PAI generation follows a temperature-dependent path. Experiments with diethyl phthalate (DEP) and AAs have shown that maximum PAI generation via heating occurs at 200 °C for 60 min. PAI generation has also been proven for Folpet-free green coffee beans that were heated under laboratory and industrial roasting conditions.