Phytoprostanes (PhytoPs) and phytofurans (PhytoFs) are prostaglandin-like compounds, contributing to defense signaling and prevention of cellular damage. These plant oxylipins result from autoxidation of α-linolenic acid (ALA) and have been proposed as new bioactive compounds due to their structural analogies with isoprostanes (IsoPs) and prostanoids derived from arachidonic acid in mammals, which have demonstrated diverse biological activities. The present work assesses a wide range of vegetable oils - including extra virgin olive oils (n = 7) and flax, sesame, argan, safflower seed, grapeseed, and palm oils - for their content of PhytoPs and PhytoFs. Flax oil displayed the highest concentrations, being notable the presence of 9-epi-9-D-PhytoP, 9-D-PhytoP, 16-B-PhytoP, and 9-L-PhytoP (7.54, 28.09, 28.67, and 19.22 μg mL, respectively), which contributed to a total PhytoPs concentration of 119.15 μg mL, and of ent-16-(RS)-9-epi-ST-Δ-10-PhytoF (21.46 μg mL). Palm and grapeseed oils appeared as the most appropriate negative controls, given the near absence of PhytoPs and PhytoFs (lower than 0.15 μg mL). These data inform on the chance to develop nutritional trials using flax and grapeseed oils as food matrices that would provide practical information to design further assays intended to determine the actual bioavailability/bioactivity in vivo.

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The gut microbiota has a profound effect on human health and is modulated by food and bioactive compounds. To study such interaction, in vitro batch fermentations are performed with fecal material, and some experimental designs may require that such fermentations be performed with previously frozen stools. Although it is known that freezing fecal material does not alter the composition of the microbial community in 16S rRNA gene amplicon and metagenomic sequencing studies, it is not known whether the microbial community in frozen samples could still be used for in vitro fermentations. To explore this, we undertook a pilot study in which in vitro fermentations were performed with fecal material from celiac, cow’s milk allergic, obese, or lean children that was frozen (or not) with 20% glycerol. Before fermentation, the fecal material was incubated in a nutritious medium for 6 days, with the aim of giving the microbial community time to recover from the effects of freezing. An aliquot was taken daily from the stabilization vessel and used for the in vitro batch fermentation of lentils. The microbial community structure was significantly different between fresh and frozen samples, but the variation introduced by freezing a sample was always smaller than the variation among individuals, both before and after fermentation. Moreover, the potential functionality (as determined in silico by a genome-scaled metabolic reconstruction) did not differ significantly, possibly due to functional redundancy. The most affected genus was Bacteroides, a fiber degrader. In conclusion, if frozen fecal material is to be used for in vitro fermentation purposes, our preliminary analyses indicate that the functionality of microbial communities can be preserved after stabilization.

This paper presents a new low-reflectivity quay wall caisson based on the formation of cell circuits. The cell circuit lengths can be adapted to the specific wave climate conditions at the construction site to obtain the best performance. Results from physical model tests of conventional and cell circuit caissons are described, as well as the construction process and steel reinforcement, which turns out to be quite similar to highly reflective conventional caissons. Neural Network (NN) models are used to describe the nonlinear relationship observed between experimental coefficients of reflection (CR) and the structural and wave conditions for the new low reflectivity quay wall caisson.