Low Profile Multi-Band Antenna for Mobile Communications

In this paper, the design of low profile antennas by using Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) structures is introduced. Taking advantage of the fact that they can behave as Perfect Magnetic Conductor (PMC), it is shown that these structures exhibit dual band in-phase reflection at WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) bands, the 2.4 GHz and 5.2 GHz bands. These structures are applied to PIFA (Planar Inverted-F Antenna) and the results show that it is possible to obtain low profile PIFA's

Toxinfeções alimentares: um problema de Saúde Pública

Editorial

PortFIR – an integrated approach for food risk analysis in Portugal

Introduction: Portugal plans and executes annual control plans to check the foodstuff safety, to ensure consumer’s health. This control is assured by different institutions and therefore a large amount of data is produced. Additional data is provided by other stakeholders, such as universities, research centers, laboratories and food business operators. To compile, and standardize this multi-source data, PortFIR (Portuguese Food Information Resource) was created, in order to provide national data to be used in risk assessment.N/

Can Wheat Germ Have a Beneficial Effect on Human Health? A Study Protocol for a Randomised Crossover Controlled Trial to Evaluate its Health Effects

INTRODUCTION: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of mortality worldwide and diet is an important contributor to CVD risk. Thus, several food derivatives are being investigated for their beneficial impact on reducing cardiometabolic risk factors, either in risk groups or in healthy population as a preventive measure. Wheat germ is a food by-product with high nutritional value, especially as a concentrated source of dietary fibre and essential fatty acids, but its incorporation into the diet has been rare up to now. Previous studies do not clarify the hypothesised potential causal relationship between the consumption of wheat germ and benefits for human health. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We are conducting a randomised, double-blinded, crossover, placebo-controlled clinical trial designed to assess the physiological effects of daily consumption of wheat germ-enriched bread (containing 6 g of wheat germ) compared with non-enriched bread, over a 4-week period with a 15-week follow-up, in a healthy human population. A total of 55 participants (healthy volunteers, aged 18-60) have been recruited from the Porto metropolitan area in northern Portugal. Our aim is to evaluate the health effects of wheat germ on blood cholesterol and triglycerides, postprandial glycaemic response, gastrointestinal function and discomfort, and changes in intestinal microbiota and insulin resistance as secondary outcomes. The study follows the best practices for evaluating health claims in food according to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) scientific opinion, namely random allocation, double blinding, reporting methods to measure and maximise compliance, and validated outcomes with beneficial physiological effects as recommended by EFSA. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has been approved by the Health Ethics Committee of São João Hospital Centre (156-15) and the Ethics Committee of Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (PCEDCSS-FMUP07/2015). Results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and presentations at international scientific meetings.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

6ª Reunião Anual PortFIR "Gestão da informação alimentar: presente e futuro": resumo da reunião

O Departamento de Alimentação e Nutrição (DAN) do Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge, I.P.(INSA, I.P.) realizou em parceria com a GS1 Portugal, no dia 31 de outubro de 2013 em Lisboa, a 6ª Reunião Anual do Programa PortFIR - Plataforma de Informação Alimentar com o tema “Gestão da Informação Alimentar: Presente e Futuro”. O presente resumo da reunião apresenta os indicadores do grau de satisfação e sugestões dos participantes, integrando igualmente as comunicações e abstrats/posters apresentados

Foodborne outbreaks risk mitigation “from epidemiologic investigation to school education”

Introduction: Foodborne outbreaks (FBO) caused by consumption of contaminated foods represent an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. FBO epidemiological surveillance data analysis is essential to identify their risk factors, to be used as scientific evidence to support their risk management and burden mitigation activities. Prevention of FBO can be optimized by teaching good food safety practices to different target populations, including consumers, food handlers and health educators.N/

Gluten-Free Diet: a contribution to safety and informed choices

Celiac disease (CD) is a chronic small intestinal immune-mediated enteropathy precipitated by exposure to dietary gluten in genetically susceptible individuals. Currently, medical nutrition therapy consisting of the gluten-free diet (GFD) is the only accepted treatment for CD. In the last years, the impressive growth of CD incidence, significantly provoked changes in the dietary habit of an increasingly large population, with a rise in demand of gluten-free products. GFD is a complex and challenging diet but recent advances in the food industry are making it easier to follow. Although several advances have been made in the preparation processes of gluten-free products, many of them, available on the market, exhibit a low nutritional quality. Previous studies have demonstrated that these products are poor sources of minerals, vitamins and fibre; therefore, its nutritional content is an increasing area of concern. A promising area is the use of minor or pseudo-cereals such as amaranth, buckwheat, quinoa and sorghum.In addition, patients with CD tend to compensate the restrictions of a GFD by eating foods containing high levels of fat, salt, sugars and calories, leading to the risk of developing obesity and diseases related to the metabolic syndrome. Therefore, getting nutritional therapy should be an essential part of this complex disease. The safest way for celiac patients to live healthfully is to eat naturally gluten-free whole foods, however, consumers must be educated to read labels carefully and look for sources of gluten. Currently, shopping for commercial gluten-free products is less difficult than in the past, but still risky for those particularly sensitive to gluten because many foods aren’t labelled accurately or consistently. In accordance with the European Regulation No 1169/2011, which came into force on 13 December 2014, it’s mandatory to include the substances or products that cause allergies or intolerances on the label. At European level there is a great concern with this type of food intolerance, therefore foodstuffs intended for particular nutritional use have a specific regulation (No 41/2009). This regulation, applicable since January of 2012, concerns the composition and labelling of foodstuffs suitable for people with gluten intolerance. In order to comply with this regulation, and to insert reliable information on the food labels, our laboratory works with the food industry companies and carry out analysis for detection and quantification of gluten in food and raw materials. In this study we evaluated the gluten content of 45 samples. Gluten analysis was performed using two different immunoenzimatic assays: RIDASCREEN® Gliadin and/or RIDASCREEN® Gliadin competitive.The obtained results showed that all the samples analysed can be safely labelled as “Gluten-free” as they contained levels of gluten below the 20 mg/Kg limit proposed by the Codex Alimentarius for gluten-free foods. This study underlines the importance of the laboratory in ensuring that the information “gluten-free” on the labels is reliable, so people with CD can make informed choices about the products available on the market

Mercury content in foods a contribution to food risk assessment

Food risk assessment takes account of both toxicological information and estimates of dietary exposure of a population to the chemical substances in order to evaluate risks for public health (EFSA, FAO, & WHO 2011). To estimate dietary exposure accurately, it is essential to analyse foods as consumed for the presence and levels of chemical substances. Mercury is a metal that is released into the environment from both natural and anthropogenic sources. Once released, mercury undergoes a series of complex transformations and cycles between atmosphere, ocean and land. The three chemical forms of mercury are (i) elemental or metallic mercury (Hg0), (ii) inorganic mercury (mercurous (Hg2 2+) and mercuric (Hg2+) cations) and (iii) organic mercury. Methylmercury is by far the most common form of organic mercury in the food chain. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has established Tolerable Weekly Intakes (TWIs), or ‘safe levels’, intended to protect consumers from adverse health effects posed by the possible presence of the main forms of mercury found in food: methylmercury and inorganic mercury.On this basis, Member States, research institutions, academia and any other stakeholders are invited to submit occurrence data on these contaminants. Following these Commission Recommendations, Member States are requested to encourage the active involvement of food and feed business operators on the submission of available data on contaminants in food/feed to EFSA. In this study 117 different samples from 10 food groups according to the FoodEx Level 1, a pan- European food classification system, were analyse to determine the amount of total mercury. The samples were collected during October 2013-May 2015. Determination was carried in compliance with ISO standard 17025. Total mercury (Hg) was determined in a Direct Mercury Analyser DMA 80 (Milestone Inc.; CT, USA), according to United States Environmental Protection Agency test method 7473 (USEPA, 2007) [2]. We obtained different limits of quantification, according matrices, in a range 0.5 μg/Kg (grapes and fruit salad) to 13.8 μg/Kg (popcorn). Analytical quality control was achieved using certified reference material NIST 1566b oyster tissue and BCR 151 skim milk powder. More than 72 % of the results were below the limit of quantification (LOQ). However, 27.4% of the results revealed measurable concentration of mercury. Fish and other seafood and a composite food containing fish had the highest values of total mercury (between 2.9 and 574 μg/Kg of sample) in comparison to all other food categories. Analysis of this data indicated that the average intake of mercury from fish and seafood products can be near the tolerable weekly intakes established by JECFA (1.6 μg/kg body weight). This study provide baseline information on the analytical data on the chemical substances of interest to performed, a dietary exposure assessment to determine whether this substance pose a risk to the public health, i.e. whether intakes exceed the toxicological limits

The salt in Portuguese diet

O consumo excessivo de sal pela população é um dos maiores riscos de saúde pública em Portugal, sendo urgente propor medidas para a sua redução. Este trabalho teve como objetivo, a determinação do teor de sal em alimentos representativos da dieta portuguesa. A definição da amostragem, recolha e preparação das amostras seguiu as metodologias estabelecidas pelo projeto TDS_EXPOSURE. As amostras foram agrupadas de acordo o sistema FoodEx2, foram analisadas em triplicado recorrendo à metodologia de espectrometria de emissão ótica com plasma indutivo acoplado (ICP-OES). O teor em sal em g/100 g de alimento foi calculado pela fórmula: sal = sódio (Na) × 2,5. O grupo do peixe, produtos da pesca e invertebrados foi o que apresentou alimentos com um valor médio de sal mais elevado (2,4-2,6) g/100 g de alimento. Nos restantes grupos de alimentos, os valores médios de sal mais elevados situaram-se entre 1,0-1,8 g/100 g de alimento. Os resultados observados permitem concluir que, em Portugal o sal em excesso na alimentação é uma realidade identificada. A educação para a saúde, nomeadamente a promoção de formas mais saudáveis de confecionar os alimentos, deverá ser cada vez mais uma parte integrante da estratégia para a redução do sal.The excessive salt consumption by the population is one of the greatest risks of public health in Portugal, and it is urgent to propose measures for its reduction. The objective of this work was the determination the salt content in foods representative of the Portuguese diet. The definition of sampling, collection and preparation of the samples followed the methodologies established by the TDS_EXPOSURE project. The samples were grouped according to the FoodEx2 system, were analyzed in triplicate using the optical emission spectrometry methodology with coupled inductive plasma (ICP-OES). The salt content in g/100 g of food was calculated by the formula: salt = sodium (Na) × 2.5. The group of fish, fishery products and invertebrates presented foods with a higher average salt value (2.4-2.6) g/100 g of food. In the remaining food groups, the highest mean salt values were between 1.0-1.8 g/100 g food. The obser ved results allow to conclude that, in Portugal, the salt excess in food is an identified reality. Health education, namely promoting healthier ways of food production, should increasingly be an integral part of the salt reduction strategy.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio