ALBERT

Beschreibung: This Special Issue will look at the advances made in the essential oils. Essential oils have received increasing attention as natural additives for the shelf-life extension of food products, due to the risk in using synthetic preservatives. Synthetic additives can reduce food spoilage, but the present generation is very health conscious and believes in natural products rather than synthetic ones due to their potential toxicity and other concerns. Therefore, one of the major emerging technologies is the extraction of essential oils from several plant organs and their application to foods. Essential oils are a good source of several bioactive compounds, which possess antioxidative and antimicrobial properties, so their use can be very useful to extend the food shelf-life. Although essential oils have been shown to be promising alternative to chemical preservatives, they present special limitations that must be solved before their application in food systems. Low water solubility, high volatility and strong odor are the main properties that make it difficult for food applications. Recent advances refer to new forms of application to avoid these problems are currently under study. Their application into packaging materials and coated films but also directly into the food matrix as emulsions, nanoemulsions, coated and others are some of their new applications.

Beschreibung: International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 382 in the Scotia Sea’s Iceberg Alley recovered among the most continuous and highest resolution stratigraphic records in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica spanning the last 3.3 Myr. Sites drilled in Dove Basin (U1536/U1537) have well‐resolved magnetostratigraphy and a strong imprint of orbital forcing in their lithostratigraphy. All magnetic reversals of the last 3.3 Myr are identified, providing a robust age model independent of orbital tuning. During the Pleistocene, alternation of terrigenous versus diatomaceous facies shows power in the eccentricity and obliquity frequencies comparable to the amplitude modulation of benthic δ18O records. This suggests that variations in Dove Basin lithostratigraphy during the Pleistocene reflect a similar history as globally integrated ice volume at these frequencies. However, power in the precession frequencies over the entire ∼3.3 Myr record does not match the amplitude modulation of benthic δ18O records, suggesting Dove Basin contains a unique record at these frequencies. Comparing the position of magnetic reversals relative to local facies changes in Dove Basin and the same magnetic reversals relative to benthic δ18O at North Atlantic IODP Site U1308, we demonstrate Dove Basin facies change at different times than benthic δ18O during intervals between ∼3 and 1 Ma. These differences are consistent with precession phase shifts and suggest climate signals with a Southern Hemisphere summer insolation phase were recorded around Antarctica. If Dove Basin lithology reflects local Antarctic ice volume changes, these signals could represent ice sheet precession‐paced variations not captured in benthic δ18O during the 41‐kyr world.

Beschreibung: Highlights • Core-log-seismic correlation allows to assign ages to the Scotia Sea seismic record. • Major implications are derived on the relation between regional and global events. • The main stratigraphic events are much younger than previously proposed. • Three major phases for the regional oceanography are observed from late Miocene. • These phases appear to be closely linked to the Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics. Scotia Sea and the Drake Passage is key towards understanding the development of modern oceanic circulation patterns and their implications for ice sheet growth and decay. The sedimentary record of the southern Scotia Sea basins documents the regional tectonic, oceanographic and climatic evolution since the Eocene. However, a lack of accurate age estimations has prevented the calibration of the reconstructed history. The upper sedimentary record of the Scotia Sea was scientifically drilled for the first time in 2019 during International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 382, recovering sediments down to ∼643 and 676 m below sea floor in the Dove and Pirie basins respectively. Here, we report newly acquired high resolution physical properties data and the first accurate age constraints for the seismic sequences of the upper sedimentary record of the Scotia Sea to the late Miocene. The drilled record contains four basin-wide reflectors – Reflector-c, -b, -a and -a' previously estimated to be ∼12.6 Ma, ∼6.4 Ma, ∼3.8 Ma and ∼2.6 Ma, respectively. By extrapolating our new Scotia Sea age model to previous morpho-structural and seismic-stratigraphic analyses of the wider region we found, however, that the four discontinuities drilled are much younger than previously thought. Reflector-c actually formed before 8.4 Ma, Reflector-b at ∼4.5/3.7 Ma, Reflector-a at ∼1.7 Ma, and Reflector-a' at ∼0.4 Ma. Our updated age model of these discontinuities has major implications for their correlation with regional tectonic, oceanographic and cryospheric events. According to our results, the outflow of Antarctic Bottom Water to northern latitudes controlled the Antarctic Circumpolar Current flow from late Miocene. Subsequent variability of the Antarctic ice sheets has influenced the oceanic circulation pattern linked to major global climatic changes during early Pliocene, Mid-Pleistocene and the Marine Isotope Stage 11.

Beschreibung: Limited therapeutic tools and an overwhelming clinical demand are the major limiting factors in pediatric obesity management. The optimal protocol, environment, body mass index (BMI) change targets and duration of obesity-oriented interventions remain to be elucidated. Aims: We aimed to characterize the singularities of follow-up, anthropometric and metabolic evolution of a large cohort of pediatric patients with obesity in a specialized university hospital outpatient obesity unit. Patients and methods: Follow-up duration (up to seven years), attrition rate and anthropometric and metabolic evolution of 1300 children and adolescents with obesity were studied. An individualized analysis was conducted in patients attaining a high level of weight loss (over 1.5 BMI-SDS (standard deviation score) and/or 10% of initial weight; n = 252; 19.4%) as well as in “metabolically healthy” patients (n = 505; 38.8%). Results: Attrition rate was high during the early stages (11.2% prior to and 32.5% right after their initial metabolic evaluation). Mean follow-up time was 1.59 ± 1.60 years (7% of patients fulfilled 7 years). The highest BMI reduction occurred in the first year (−1.11 ± 0.89 SDS, p 〈 0.001 in 72.5% of patients). At the end of the follow-up, improvements in glucose and lipid metabolism parameters were observed (both p 〈 0.05), that were highest in patients with the greatest weight reduction (all p 〈 0.01), independent of the time spent to achieve weight loss. The pubertal growth spurt negatively correlated with obesity severity (r = −0.38; p 〈 0.01) but patients attaining adult height exceeded their predicted adult height (n = 308, +1.6 ± 5.4 cm; p 〈 0.001). “Metabolically healthy” patients, but with insulin resistance, had higher blood pressure, glucose, uric acid and triglyceride levels than those without insulin resistance (all p 〈 0.05). Preservation of the “metabolically healthy” status was associated with BMI improvement. Conclusions: Behavioral management of children with obesity can be effective and does not impair growth but is highly conditioned by high attrition. The best results regarding BMI reduction and metabolic improvement are achieved in the first year of intervention and can be preserved if follow-up is retained.