Comparison between boiling and vacuum cooking (sous-vide) in the bioaccessibility of minerals in bovine liver samples.

Only some of ingested nutrients are available for absorption by the organism. The foods generally are submitted to some heat processing that may interfere in the bioaccessibility of nutrients. There are no studies of the influence of cooking under vacuum (sous vide) on the bioaccessibility of minerals. This study evaluated the in vitro bioaccessibility of Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg and Zn in bovine liver samples after traditional cooking in water and using the sous vide procedure. All heat treatments of bovine liver promoted the increase of the bioaccessibility of Ca, Cu, Fe, K and Mg, except for Zn when the effect was the opposite. The sous vide method provided higher bioaccessibility of these minerals than cooking in boiling water, except for K when both methods presented equivalent values. Samples of raw liver and liver cooked using sous vide method presented the following percentage of bioaccessible fraction, respectively: 39.7% and 95.8% (Ca), 8.78% and 26.9% (Cu), 8.80% and 39.5% (Fe), 30.2% and 42.6% (K), 26.4% and 43.9% (Mg), 24.8% and 36.3% (Zn). Thus, under the aspect of improvement availability of studied minerals by organism, the sous-vide technique was the most suitable to cook bovine liver.

DNA repair genes polymorphisms and genetic susceptibility to Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms in a Portuguese population: The role of base excision repair genes polymorphisms.

The role of base excision repair (BER) genes in Philadelphia-negative (PN)-myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) susceptibility was evaluated by genotyping eight polymorphisms [apurinic/apyrimidinic endodeoxyribonuclease 1, mutY DNA glycosylase, earlier mutY homolog (E. coli) (MUTYH), 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase 1, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) 1, PARP4 and X-ray repair cross-complementing 1 (XRCC1)] in a case-control study involving 133 Caucasian Portuguese patients. The results did not reveal a correlation between individual BER polymorphisms and PN-MPNs when considered as a whole. However, stratification for essential thrombocythaemia revealed i) borderline effect/tendency to increased risk when carrying at least one variant allele for XRCC1_399 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP); ii) decreased risk for Janus kinase 2-positive patients carrying at least one variant allele for XRCC1_399 SNP; and iii) decreased risk in females carrying at least one variant allele for MUTYH SNP. Combination of alleles demonstrated an increased risk to PN-MPNs for one specific haplogroup. These findings may provide evidence for gene variants in susceptibility to MPNs. Indeed, common variants in DNA repair genes may hamper the capacity to repair DNA, thus increasing cancer susceptibility.

Biohydroxylation of (-)-ambrox®, (-)-sclareol, and (+)-sclareolide by whole cells of Brazilian marine-derived fungi.

A screening was performed using nine marine-derived fungi as biocatalysts and the natural products (-)-ambrox® (1), (-)-sclareol (2), and (+)-sclareolide (3) in order to select the microorganisms able to catalyze the biooxidation of these compounds. It was observed that only the Aspergillus sydowii CBMAI 934, Botryosphaeria sp., Eutypella sp., and Xylaria sp. presented active oxidoreductases and catalyzed the regioselective hydroxylation in the natural products. The hydroxylated metabolites obtained were 1ß-hydroxy-ambrox (1a) (14%, A. sydowii CBMAI 934); 3ß-hydroxy-ambrox (1b) (17%, Botryosphaeria sp.; 11%, Eutypella sp.); 3ß-hydroxy-sclareol (2a) (31%, Xylaria sp.; 69%, Botryosphaeria sp.; 55%, Eutypella sp.); 18-hydroxy-sclareol (2b) (10%, Xylaria sp.); and 3ß-hydroxy-sclareolide (3a) (34%, Botryosphaeria sp.; 7%, Eutypella sp.). This is the first report of biohydroxylation of (-)-ambrox® (1), (-)-sclareol (2), and (+)-sclareolide (3) by whole mycelia of marine-derived fungi.