Exploiting Non-Conventional Yeasts for Low-Alcohol Beer Production

Non-Saccharomyces yeasts represent a very appealing alternative to producing beers with zero or low ethanol content. The current study explores the potential of seven non-Saccharomyces yeasts to produce low-alcohol or non-alcoholic beer, in addition to engineered/selected Saccharomyces yeasts for low-alcohol production. The yeasts were first screened for their sugar consumption and ethanol production profiles, leading to the selection of strains with absent or inefficient maltose consumption and consequently with low-to-null ethanol production. The selected yeasts were then used in larger-scale fermentations for volatile and sensory evaluation. Overall, the yeasts produced beers with ethanol concentrations below 1.2% in which fusel alcohols and esters were also detected, making them eligible to produce low-alcohol beers. Among the lager beers produced in this study, beers produced using Saccharomyces yeast demonstrated a higher acceptance by taster panelists. This study demonstrates the suitability of non-conventional yeasts for producing low-alcohol or non-alcoholic beers and opens perspectives for the development of non-conventional beers.

The use of an electronic form to register play observation of a child with anxiety: A study case at a university clinical practice in Brazil

Introduction

The modality of assessment used at a University Clinical Practice in Brazil is interventive psychodiagnosis in which the active participation of children and families is considered. Orientation is given following the input provided by children and their parents.

Objectives

Evaluating the use of an electronic form to be fulfilled during the observation of a child’s play in psychological session.

Methods

A child at the age of 5yrs 4m was brought for psychological assessment with the complaint of aggressiveness and irritability. His parents answered the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL -1 1/12 5 yrs) and the Psychology interns had to observe the child’s play and fulfill an electronic form in which the choice of toys and plays, motricity, creativity, symbolic abilities, frustration tolerance, adequation with reality were verified.

Results

The results of CBCL indicated that the child was within the clinical range regarding anxiety and depression along with somatic complaints. The indicators observed in the electronic form such as rigidity in the modality of play, the lack of adequate ability of impersonating in role-playing, the difficulty of using creativity during play unless he was guided by peers or the Psychology interns and the constant anguish of separating himself from his parents were crucial for parents’ orientation. The psychological treatment lasted five months and benefited from the information obtained through the form once the symptoms of irritability and aggressiveness were reduced.

Conclusions

This modality of assessment can be instructional for parents and may also reduce financial and time costs once provides specific indicators to observe during play.

The sea as science: ocean research institutions and strategies in Portugal in the twentieth century (from the First Republic to democracy)

Historical perspective has revealed the many aspects of Portugal's interest in the sea, evident in a series of initiatives and entities throughout the twentieth century. From the beginning of the century until the 1974 Revolution, the genesis of organizations devoted to the scientific study of the sea is analyzed, observing their specific missions in the context of the formulation of science policy, and more specifically "ocean policies." The Portuguese valued knowledge of the sea due to their maritime vocation, coastal life and geographic position. Traversing different historical and political contexts and development cycles, the assumptions and political implications that accentuate the strategic dimension of science policy, visible in the geopolitical affirmation of oceanography, are studied.

Valuation of brewers spent yeast polysaccharides: a structural characterization approach

Brewers spent yeast (BSY) is a by-product from beer industry that can be exploited as source of glucans and mannoproteins, with potential biological activities. In order to solubilize these carbohydrate-rich polymeric materials, a sequential extraction with hot water and alkaline solutions (0.1-8 M KOH) was performed. Mannoproteins were mainly (85%) extracted with 4 M KOH whereas glucans were extracted with 8 M KOH and in an amount that accounted only for 34% of total glucose. Final residue still accounted for 34% of the initial glucans and contained 98% of glucose. Cellulase and α-amylase treatments showed the presence of both α- and β-(1→4)-Glc linkages. To promote total solubilization of these insoluble glucans, the final residue was submitted to a partial acid hydrolysis. This work is the first report showing that the most abundant polysaccharides in BSY are polymers that contain structural features similar to cellulose, thus justifying their resistance to alkaline extractions, acid hydrolysis, and insolubility in water.

Evaluation of Brewer's spent yeast to produce flavor enhancer nucleotides: influence of serial repitching

The present work evaluates the influence of serial yeast repitching on nucleotide composition of brewer's spent yeast extracts produced without addition of exogenous enzymes. Two procedures for disrupting cell walls were compared, and the conditions for low-cost and efficient RNA hydrolysis were selected. A HILIC methodology was validated for the quantification of nucleotides and nucleosides in yeast extracts. Thirty-seven samples of brewer's spent yeast ( Saccharomyces pastorianus ) organized according to the number of serial repitchings were analyzed. Nucleotides accounted for 71.1-88.2% of the RNA products; 2'AMP was the most abundant (ranging between 0.08 and 2.89 g/100 g dry yeast). 5'GMP content ranged between 0.082 and 0.907 g/100 g dry yeast. The sum of 5'GMP, 5'IMP, and 5'AMP represented between 25 and 32% of total nucleotides. This works highlights for the first time that although serial repitching influences the content of monophosphate nucleotides and nucleosides, the profiles of these RNA hydrolysis products are not affected.

Probing beer aging chemistry by nuclear magnetic resonance and multivariate analysis

This paper describes the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, in tandem with multivariate analysis (MVA), for monitoring the chemical changes occurring in a lager beer exposed to forced aging (at 45°C for up to 18 days). To evaluate the resulting compositional variations, both principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were applied to the NMR spectra of beer recorded as a function of aging and a clear aging trend was observed. Inspection of PLS-DA loadings and peak integration enabled the changing compounds to be identified, revealing the importance of well known markers such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) as well as a range of other relevant compounds: amino acids, higher alcohols, organic acids, dextrins and some still unassigned spin systems. In addition, the multivariate analysis method of 2D correlation analysis was applied to the NMR data enabling the relevant compound variations to be confirmed and inter-compound correlations to be assessed, some reflecting common metabolic/chemical pathways and, therefore, offering improved insight into the chemical aspects of beer aging.

Quantification of organic acids in beer by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based methods

The organic acids present in beer provide important information on the product's quality and history, determining organoleptic properties and being useful indicators of fermentation performance. NMR spectroscopy may be used for rapid quantification of organic acids in beer and different NMR-based methodologies are hereby compared for the six main acids found in beer (acetic, citric, lactic, malic, pyruvic and succinic). The use of partial least squares (PLS) regression enables faster quantification, compared to traditional integration methods, and the performance of PLS models built using different reference methods (capillary electrophoresis (CE), both with direct and indirect UV detection, and enzymatic essays) was investigated. The best multivariate models were obtained using CE/indirect detection and enzymatic essays as reference and their response was compared with NMR integration, either using an internal reference or an electrical reference signal (Electronic REference To access In vivo Concentrations, ERETIC). NMR integration results generally agree with those obtained by PLS, with some overestimation for malic and pyruvic acids, probably due to peak overlap and subsequent integral errors, and an apparent relative underestimation for citric acid. Overall, these results make the PLS-NMR method an interesting choice for organic acid quantification in beer.

4'-epidoxorubicin versus mitomycin C intravesical chemoprophylaxis of superficial bladder cancer

The authors report the preliminary data concerning a phase III study comparing the chemoprophylactic effects of mitomycin C and epirubicin in Ta-T1 primary and recurrent superficial bladder tumors. 60 patients were treated, 32 with epirubicin and 28 with mitomycin C, with a medium follow-up of 17.7 and 16.2 months, respectively. There were no systemic side effects. The remission rate was 62.5% in the epirubicin group and 64.2% in the mitomycin C group. Both drugs were equally useful in the chemoprophylaxis of superficial bladder cancer.