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Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2020-08-05"

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  • The role of a nutritionist in a bakery, pastry & chocolate b2b company
    Publication . Moreira, Catarina Oliveira; Galli, Federica; Pimenta, Ana
    This thesis was written in the format of an internship report. Thus it describes the most relevant activities carried out during the time the trainee spent as a nutrition intern in Puratos Group – headquarter office (Brussels, Belgium). The internship was carried out under the EIT RIS Fellowship and lasted five months. The trainee joined the Health & Well-Being (H&WB) team, and her primary function was to develop the new building block (BB) of the H&WB department: gut health. First, a literature review was carried out regarding the benefits of sourdough (SD) consumption on the gut health of the host. According to the latest scientific evidence, one of the main benefits of SD consumption is the low postprandial glycemic index (GI) compared with yeast-based wheat bread consumption. However, SD is only one bread ingredient that can have both a direct and indirect effect on gut health. Other important players are fibers. For this reason, another literature and market search was carried out to assess the fiber threshold tolerance by the consumer. The data collected showed how several variables (regarding both consumers, markets, and products type) play a significant role in consumers' tolerance to this ingredient, making it impossible to define concrete formulation guidelines. Minor tasks undertake during the five months internship are also described in this work. The list of these tasks include: • the elaboration of learning materials such as "dietary trends" accompanied by the creation of concrete dietary tips (example: definition of the ideal the lunch box, composition); • the participation into the development of new products and/or new product pilot tests production (example the use of Rapidojet® machine for preparing gluten-free bread); • calculations of nutritional values of finished products designed by Puratos’ Technical Adviser as a tool to showcase Puratos products to the general public; • assisting other business units with specific literature review, namely the work on the impact of chocolate on cardiovascular health, where it was observed that moderate consumption of chocolate could contribute to the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.
    2020-08-05Master thesis Restricted access Show more
  • Novel method for prevention of periprosthetic joint infections : chitosan and hydroxyapatite composite in paste form
    Publication . Lobo, André Alves Moreno Sampaio; Pinto, Ana Rita da Costa; Pintado, Maria Manuela Estevez
    Periprosthetic joint infections are one of the leading challenges in the orthopedic field today. This specific type of infection surrounds bone’s prosthesis and the tissues adjacent to it, occurring mainly when a total joint arthroplasty is performed. When successful, this joint replacement provides pain relief and restores function and independence to the body, improving the patients’ quality of life. The full dynamic of these infections is still unclear, but as the number of joint arthroplasties keeps rising due to the aging population, so does the incidence of infections. The selection of materials to interact with hard tissues, such as bone, must possess two essential characteristics for the proper healing of the tissue surrounding the material, which are osteoconduction and osteoinduction. Osteoconduction is the ability of bone to grow on a surface, in this case, the material’s surface. Osteoinduction is the process of inducing new bone formation, also known as osteogenesis, by the mobilization of immature and undifferentiated cells, differentiating them into pre-osteoblasts. Currently, calcium phosphate ceramics, such as hydroxyapatite (HAp), are promising substitutes for large orthopedic defects’ remodeling and regeneration. This biomaterial presents osteoconductive and osteoinductive properties. However, pure HAp is a material that can be limited by its brittleness, low fracture toughness, bad tensile strength and poor wear resistance. A lot of effort has been put into modifying HAp with the use of polymers in order to enhance its clinical applications. The polymer used in this work was chitosan, which possesses an intrinsic antimicrobial nature, it is biodegradable and biocompatible, and it can be molded into all sorts of structures. This biocomposite was tested in L929 fibroblast cells in other to assess the toxicity of the material. Besides that, the paste was tested in a pre-osteoblastic cell line (MC3T3) by several techniques, to determine the differentiation, proliferation, and calcium production of the cells when in contact with the biocomposite. This work presents a new biocomposite that should have the appropriate characteristics, not only to promote faster regeneration of the bone defect, but also to reduce the incidence rate of periprosthetic joint infections, through the antimicrobial properties of chitosan.
    2020-08-05Master thesis Open access Show more