Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2016-10-17"
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- Bioaccessibility in risk-benefit analysis of raw and cooked seabream consumptionPublication . Afonso, Cláudia; Costa, Sara; Cardoso, Carlos; Coelho, Inês; Castanheira, Isabel; Lourenço, Helena; Gonçalves, Susana; Oliveira, Rui; Carvalho, Maria Luísa; Martins, Maria Fernanda; Bandarra, Narcisa; Nunes, Maria LeonorThe composition of raw and cooked gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) was analysed. The bioaccessibility of arsenic (As), selenium (Se), mercury (Hg), and methylmercury (MeHg) in raw and cooked fish was studied by an in vitro model. A risk-benefit assessment was performed taking into account bioaccessibility. The content of contaminants Hg and As displayed a significant increase for every culinary treatment, only As content in boiled fish did not increase. Regarding bioaccessibility, while bioaccessible As was high (over 96%), the share of Hg (and MeHg) available for intestinal absorption was reduced by cooking, especially by grilling, 39% (60%) and roasting, 38% (55%). The risk-benefit probabilistic assessment leads to an advice of not exceeding one weekly meal of gilthead seabream. This recommendation concerns mainly pregnant and nursing women. However, Se bioaccessibility was high —minimum of 85% in boiled seabream—, thus helping to balance the deleterious effects of MeHg.
- Genome-scale analysis of the non-cultivable Treponema pallidum reveals extensive within-patient genetic variationPublication . Pinto, Miguel; Borges, Vítor; Antelo, Minia; Pinheiro, Miguel; Nunes, Alexandra; Azevedo, Jacinta; Borrego, Maria José; Mendonça, Joana; Carpinteiro, Dina; Vieira, Luís; Gomes, João Paulo.Insights into the genomic adaptive traits of Treponema pallidum, the causative bacterium of syphilis, have long been hampered due to the absence of in vitro culture models and the constraints associated with its propagation in rabbits. Here, we have bypassed the culture bottleneck by means of a targeted strategy never applied to uncultivable bacterial human pathogens to directly capture whole-genome T. pallidum data in the context of human infection. This strategy has unveiled a scenario of discreet T. pallidum interstrain single-nucleotide-polymorphism-based microevolution, contrasting with a rampant within-patient genetic heterogeneity mainly targeting multiple phase-variable loci and a major antigen-coding gene (tprK). TprK demonstrated remarkable variability and redundancy, intra- and interpatient, suggesting ongoing parallel adaptive diversification during human infection. Some bacterial functions (for example, flagella- and chemotaxis-associated) were systematically targeted by both inter- and intrastrain single nucleotide polymorphisms, as well as by ongoing within-patient phase variation events. Finally, patient-derived genomes possess mutations targeting a penicillin-binding protein coding gene (mrcA) that had never been reported, unveiling it as a candidate target to investigate the impact on the susceptibility to penicillin. Our findings decode the major genetic mechanisms by which T. pallidum promotes immune evasion and survival, and demonstrate the exceptional power of characterizing evolving pathogen subpopulations during human infection.