Veritati

Institutional Repository of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa

The Institutional Repository (Veritati) is a reference platform for those who want to access scientific production, as well as master's dissertations and doctoral theses, developed within the scope of the teaching and research activities of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP).

As part of the RCAAP project (Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal), it aims to preserve and disseminate scientific production, thus increasing its visibility and impact.

The Institutional Repository is also integrated into the UCP science management ecosystem, which includes, namely, the Ciência-UCP platform and the Scientific Journals of Universidade Católica Portuguesa portal

Universidade Católica Portuguesa Resources

Email repositorio@ucp.pt

Recent Submissions

The CHANT's conceptual and psychometric validity in Switzerland: a descriptive three-round multicentre e-Delphi study

Publication . Santos, Omar Portela Dos; Alves, Paulo Jorge Pereira; Verloo, Henk

To effectively mitigate the health impacts of climate change, future nurses must be equipped with the requisite knowledge and competencies. Knowing their levels of ecoliteracy would help to make them more effective. Background/Objectives: This descriptive study will use a three-round, multicentre, modified e-Delphi survey to establish an expert panel’s consensus on the Climate, Health, and Nursing Tool’s (CHANT) item-level and scale-level content validity indices. It will also examine potential associations between the expert panel members’ sociodemographic and professional characteristics and their content validity index assessments of the CHANT. Methods: The study will be conducted in the French-speaking regions of Switzerland, running its three-round e-Delphi survey between January and April 2025. After each round, the CHANT’s overall scale-level and individual item-level content validity indices will be computed. Comparisons between different types of healthcare professionals’ profiles will also be conducted. Results: The three-round modified e-Delphi survey should allow the expert panel to reach a consensus on the CHANT’s overall content validity index. The tool should then be considered suitable for pilot testing. The first round brought together 16 experts from different regions, namely French-speaking Switzerland, France, and Belgium. Conclusions: To ensure that the nursing discipline is well positioned to meet future challenges, the development of ecoliteracy must be integrated into nursing education. Ensuring the CHANT’s conceptual and psychometric validity will be essential in strengthening nursing competencies in and knowledge about planetary health and in implementing future educational interventions.

2025-04-26Research article

Open access

Lemon dietary fibre-based powder as a promising ingredient for the food industry: enhancing mortadella nutritional quality

Publication . Magalhães, Daniela; Rodrigues, Cristina V.; Botella-Martinez, Carmen; Muñoz-Tebar, Nuria; Pérez-Álvarez, José Angel; Viuda-Martos, Manuel; Teixeira, Paula; Pintado, Manuela

Lemon co-products are valuable due to their high dietary fibre, making them significant for valorisation. This research aimed to characterise an innovative lemon dietary fibre (LDF) obtained through integrated extraction (of essential oil, phenolic compounds (PCs), and pectin) by evaluating its chemical, physicochemical, structural, techno-functional, total phenolic content, and antioxidant and antibacterial properties. The effects of incorporating LDF (3% and 6%) into mortadella, a bologna-type sausage, on chemical, physicochemical, technological, and sensory properties were analysed. LDF exhibited a total dietary fibre content of 85.79%, mainly insoluble (52.55%). Hesperidin (89.97–894.44 mg/100 g DW) and eriocitrin (68.75–146.35 mg/100 g DW) were the major free PCs. The major bound PCs were vanillin (5.90–9.16 mg/100 g DW) and apigenin-7-O-glucoside (8.82 mg/100 g DW). This functional ingredient demonstrated antioxidant and antibacterial activity. LDF significantly influenced mortadella’s colour, texture, and mineral composition. Higher levels of LDF result in a paler colour and increased hardness and contribute to reducing sodium levels of the final product. It also decreased residual nitrite levels, although this reduction was followed by a slight increase in lipid oxidation, which remained below the rancidity threshold (≥1.0), ensuring acceptable product quality. Sensory evaluation revealed positive feedback, favouring the 3% LDF formulation.

2025-05-10Research article

Open access

Nutritional composition and health benefits of peas-a bibliometric research

Publication . Akin, Melekşen; Eyduran, Sadiye Peral; Mileṧevic, Jelena; Pavlovic, Suzana; Orahovac, Amil; Vasconcelos, Marta W.; Knez, Marija

Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is a nutritious legume with health benefits, gaining attention as a functional food. Bibliometric studies use quantitative methods to assess research trends, gaps, and future directions. The main objective of this study was to provide a comprehensive overview of the fragmented literature on the nutritional profiles and health benefits of peas using a bibliometric approach. The analysis examined publications from 2013 to 2023, revealing trends in publication volume, author productivity, and international collaboration. Publications peaked in 2015, focusing on topics such as dietary fibers, carotenoids, phenolic compounds, and antinutrients affecting mineral bioavailability. Over the decade, the annual growth rate was 3.25%. The University of Saskatchewan produced the most influential research, with Warkentin TD as the most productive author. Canada and Poland had the highest number of publications, with the USA, China, and India following. Six major international co-authorship networks were identified, highlighting significant collaborations between countries. Key research themes included antioxidants, protein, fiber, and phytate in peas. This study provides a strong foundation for future integrated research, helping to better understand the potential of peas as a functional food and guiding more targeted studies to address current knowledge gaps across various disciplines.

2025-05-14Review article

Open access

Correction: Starkute et al. Characteristics of unripened cow milk curd cheese enriched with raspberry (Rubus idaeus), blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) and elderberry (Sambucus nigra) industry by-products. Foods 2023, 12, 2860

Publication . Starkute, Vytaute; Lukseviciute, Justina; Klupsaite, Dovile; Mockus, Ernestas; Klementaviciute, Jolita; Rocha, João Miguel; Özogul, Fatih; Ruzauskas, Modestas; Viskelis, Pranas; Bartkiene, Elena

2025-05-21Research article

Open access

Understanding virulence variability among Listeria monocytogenes Clonal Complexes

Publication . Sousa, Mariana; Magalhães, Rui; Ferreira, Vânia; Teixeira, Paula

Introduction and objective: Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen that causes human listeriosis. This pathogen is characterized by an intra-species heterogeneity so, its strains can be grouped into clonal complexes (CCs) defined either as hypervirulent – mainly associated with clinical cases, or hypovirulent – associated with food or food processing environments and causing infections mainly in highly susceptible individuals. This pathogen has a complex infection mechanism represented in Figure 1. A crucial step for infection is the internalization of the pathogen into host cells, which is accomplished by the linkage of internalins (A and B) to host receptors. The differences in virulence potential may be explained by the presence of mutations in key virulence genes. The purpose of this study was to explore the virulence capacity based of L. monocytogenes CCs through in vitro infection assays and to further assess mutations in the inlA gene, which is crucial for the invasion into intestinal epithelial cells by the pathogen. Methodology: Eleven isolates were selected based on the top five hypervirulent CCs occurring in Portugal and one strain from CC4 was also included, as this hypervirulent CC is one of the best characterized CCs around Europe. Five isolates from hypovirulent CCs were also used. Invasion assays were performed in Caco-2 cells and subsequently the presence of PMSC mutations in the inlA gene were assessed, using the MEGA software (version 10.1.8). Results: Our results show a clear-cut difference on invasion capacity between isolates from hyper- and hypovirulent CCs, with the latter showing significantly reduced efficiencies. Sequence analysis of the inlA gene, revealed that only hypovirulent CCs carried PMSC mutations, leading to truncated forms of the InlA protein. A 3-codon deletion was detected in isolates from CC6.

2023-12-07Conference poster not in proceedings

Open access