Maria Dolores del Castillo

SyMSS: A syntax-based measure for short-text semantic similarity

Sentence and short-text semantic similarity measures are becoming an important part of many natural language processing tasks, such as text summarization and conversational agents. This paper presents SyMSS, a new method for computing short-text and sentence semantic similarity. The method is based on the notion that the meaning of a sentence is made up of not only the meanings of its individual words, but also the structural way the words are combined. Thus, SyMSS captures and combines syntactic and semantic information to compute the semantic similarity of two sentences. Semantic information is obtained from a lexical database. Syntactic information is obtained through a deep parsing process that finds the phrases in each sentence. With this information, the proposed method measures the semantic similarity between concepts that play the same syntactic role. Psychological plausibility is added to the method by using previous findings about how humans weight different syntactic roles when computing semantic similarity. The results show that SyMSS outperforms state-of-the-art methods in terms of rank correlation with human intuition, thus proving the importance of syntactic information in sentence semantic similarity computation.

Dietary Advanced Glycation End Products and Their Role in Health and Disease

Over the past 2 decades there has been increasing evidence supporting an important contribution from food-derived advanced glycation end products (AGEs) to the body pool of AGEs and therefore increased oxidative stress and inflammation, processes that play a major role in the causation of chronic diseases. A 3-d symposium (1st Latin American Symposium of AGEs) to discuss this subject took place in Guanajuato, Mexico, on 1-3 October 2014 with the participation of researchers from several countries. This review is a summary of the different presentations and subjects discussed, and it is divided into 4 sections. The first section deals with current general knowledge about AGEs. The second section dwells on mechanisms of action of AGEs, with special emphasis on the receptor for advanced glycation end products and the potential role of AGEs in neurodegenerative diseases. The third section discusses different approaches to decrease the AGE burden. The last section discusses current methodologic problems with measurement of AGEs in different samples. The subject under discussion is complex and extensive and cannot be completely covered in a short review. Therefore, some areas of interest have been left out because of space. However, we hope this review illustrates currently known facts about dietary AGEs as well as pointing out areas that require further research.

Changes in protein quality and antioxidant properties of buckwheat seeds and groats induced by roasting.

This study focused on the evaluation of changes in protein quality and antioxidant properties of buckwheat seeds and groats induced by roasting. Changes in protein quality were indirectly measured by Maillard reaction chemical indicators such as furosine, FAST index, and browning. Characterization of antioxidant profiles of raw whole seeds, roasted whole seeds, raw groats, and roasted groats was undertaken by determining the extractable total phenolic compounds (TPC), extractable total flavonoids (TF) and individual flavonoids, lipophilic and hydrophilic peroxyl radical scavengers by ORAC(FL) assay, and scavengers of ABTS radical cations by TEAC assay. Roasting significantly decreased the total protein content of groats, whereas this parameter was not affected by the thermal treatment of whole seeds. The formation of MRPs was induced by the thermal treatment of both whole seeds and groats, thus suggesting deterioration of protein quality due to this chemical event. A significant degradation in natural antioxidants due to thermal processing was observed. Most of the peroxyl radical scavenging activity of samples was associated with hydrophilic compounds because L-ORAC(FL) values were on average 9% of the H-ORAC(FL) values. The H-ORAC(FL) values were positively correlated with extractable TPC contents (r = 0.51) and extractable TF contents (r = 0.93), whereas they showed a negative correlation with furosine (r = -0.87), FAST index (r = -0.85), and browning (r = -0.98) results.

A novel antioxidant beverage for body weight control based on coffee silverskin

The present research aimed to add value to coffee silverskin by looking for new innovative applications. Formulation of novel beverages based on coffee silverskin for body fat reduction and body weight control was proposed. Conditions for beverage preparation were optimised. Data on chemical composition and sensorial quality of the new drink were acquired. Health benefits were evaluated in vitro and in vivo employing as animal model Caenorhabditis elegans. An antioxidant beverage containing physiological active concentrations of caffeine and chlorogenic acid for prevention body fat accumulation and possessing acceptable sensorial properties was obtained. Our findings support that the use of coffee silverskin for obtaining bioactive extract is an innovative way for revalorisation of coffee by-product.

Study of 2-furoylmethyl amino acids in processed foods by HPLC–mass spectrometry

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in combination with electrospray ionisation mass spectrometric detection in positive ion mode, has been used in order to confirm the identity of 2-furoylmethyl amino acids in stored, dehydrated orange juice and tomato products. Three new compounds, identified as 2-furoylmethyl aspartic acid, 2-furoylmethyl pyrrolidone carboxylic acid and 2-furoylmethyl lysine (furosine), have been detected in stored orange juice. In stored dehydrated tomato product, two new compounds were identified as 2-furoylmethyl pyrrolidone carboxylic acid and 2-furoylmethyl arginine.

Changes in chemical composition and antioxidative properties of rye ginger cakes during their shelf-life

Changes in chemical composition and antioxidative properties of rye ginger cakes during their shelf-life were investigated in this study. In particular, the changes in antioxidants content, antioxidative and reducing capacity, and Maillard reaction development in rye ginger cakes after long-term storage were addressed. Ginger cakes produced according to the traditional and current recipe were stored for 5 years at room temperature in a dark place. The total phenolic compounds (TPC), inositol hexaphosphate (IP6), reduced (GSH) and oxidised glutathione (GSSG) contents, antioxidant and reducing capacity and Maillard reaction products (MRPs) were determined in ginger cakes after storage and then compared to those measured after baking. After long-term storage a decrease in TPC and IP6 contents in cakes was noted. In contrast, an increase in antioxidative and reducing capacity of stored cakes was observed. Long-term storage induced formation of furosine, advanced and final Maillard reaction products and caused changes in both reduced and oxidised forms of glutathione. After long-term storage the modest changes in furosine, FAST index and browning in ginger cake formulated with dark rye flour may suggest that this product is the healthiest among others. Therefore, traditional rye ginger cakes can be considered as an example of a healthy food that is also relatively stable during long term storage as noted by the small chemical changes observed in its composition.

Coffee Silverskin Extract Protects against Accelerated Aging Caused by Oxidative Agents.

Nowadays, coffee beans are almost exclusively used for the preparation of the beverage. The sustainability of coffee production can be achieved introducing new applications for the valorization of coffee by-products. Coffee silverskin is the by-product generated during roasting, and because of its powerful antioxidant capacity, coffee silverskin aqueous extract (CSE) may be used for other applications, such as antiaging cosmetics and dermaceutics. This study aims to contribute to the coffee sector’s sustainability through the application of CSE to preserve skin health. Preclinical data regarding the antiaging properties of CSE employing human keratinocytes and Caenorhabditis elegans are collected during the present study. Accelerated aging was induced by tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BOOH) in HaCaT cells and by ultraviolet radiation C (UVC) in C. elegans. Results suggest that the tested concentrations of coffee extracts were not cytotoxic, and CSE 1 mg/mL gave resistance to skin cells when oxidative damage was induced by t-BOOH. On the other hand, nematodes treated with CSE (1 mg/mL) showed a significant increased longevity compared to those cultured on a standard diet. In conclusion, our results support the antiaging properties of the CSE and its great potential for improving skin health due to its antioxidant character associated with phenols among other bioactive compounds present in the botanical material.

Patented and commercialized applications

Abstract The commercialization of high added-value compounds recovery from food wastes deals with several issues such as laboratory research, scale-up problems, protection of intellectual properties, and development of market-destined applications. These issues are described in this chapter wherein a collection of commercially available compounds recovered from food by-products is presented. Verification of market existing products matching with patented processes was conducted using patent applicant name in each case. However, this matching as well as production characteristics may not be correct in all cases, as most companies typically are secretive about their methods of production and respective data cannot be found in the literature. Despite the omnipresence of related studies and patented methodologies, the market existing products derived from food wastes are today rather limited. There are many reasons for this, such as scale-up and commercialization problems, protection of intellectual properties, approval of products’ health claims, etc. All these aspects are discussed in this chapter, wherein a proposal for the establishment of a new label (similar to organic foods) is introduced in order to reveal the potentiality of recovering valuable compounds from food wastes.

Effect of theanine and polyphenols enriched fractions from decaffeinated tea dust on the formation of Maillard reaction products and sensory attributes of breads

The antiglycoxidative properties of theanine (TEF) and polyphenols enriched fractions (PEF) prepared from tea dust were tested in a model system composed of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and methylglyoxal (MGO). PEF caused a decrease in available free amino groups of BSA in presence and absence of MGO, suggesting the simultaneous occurrence of glycoxidation reaction and phenols-protein interaction. The presence of PEF and TEF inhibited formation of fluorescent advanced glycation end-products (AGEs). Moreover, theanine (TB) and polyphenol-enriched bread (PB) were formulated. A significant increase in free amino groups was observed in TBs with a dose-response effect, while addition of PEF in bread produced a significant decrease (p<0.05). PEF efficiently reduced fluorescent AGE formation in breads compared with TEF. The results are in line with the simplified model systems. PEF used as food ingredient allows obtaining a tasty food possessing health promoting properties and lower content of potential harmful compounds (AGEs).

Validation of coffee silverskin extract as a food ingredient by the analysis of cytotoxicity and genotoxicity

The aim of the present study was to validate the food safety of CSE, by studying its effect on cytotoxicity (100-20000μg/ml) and genotoxicity (10, 100 and 1000μg/ml) and also to investigate its preventive potential (1, 10 and 100μg/ml) against B(a)P induced DNA damage. Prior to analyses, the antioxidant capacity and the microbiological quality of CSE were tested. DNA damage (strand breaks and oxidized purines/pyrimidines) was evaluated by the alkaline single-cell gel electrophoresis or comet assay. HepG2 cells were pre-treated with CSE (1, 10 and 100μg/ml) for 24h followed by the addition of 100μM B(a)P in presence of CSE for other 24h. Detection of oxidized purines and pyrimidines was carried out using Formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylase or Endonuclease III enzymes, respectively. Chlorogenic acid (CGA), the major antioxidant present in coffee, was used as a control. Treatment with 100 μM B(a)P significantly increased (p<0.05) levels of DNA strand breaks and oxidized purine and pyrimidine bases. Treatment of HepG2 cells with CSE did not induce either cytotoxicity or genotoxicity. CSE significantly inhibited (p<0.05) genotoxicity induced by B(a)P and the observed effect may be associated to its antioxidant capacity. CGA alone at the concentration present in CSE was effective against B(a)P. Thus, CGA seems to be a contributor to the preventive effect of CSE against B(a)P induced DNA damage in HepG2 cells. In conclusion, CSE presents potential as a natural sustainable chemoprotective agent against the chemical carcinogen B(a)P.