[en] Today, increased concerns regarding the safeguarding of heritage result in constant evolution of the conservation and restoration fields as new challenges arise. Besides the deterioration that occurs with the passing of time, most of our cultural and artistic heritage can be damaged by environmental factors as well as by organisms and microorganisms that attack and may induce aesthetic changes. Microbial deterioration is related to environmental conditions and also to the physicochemical properties of the objects’ constituent materials. Microorganisms can cause alterations to material surfaces through a variety of mechanisms, including biofilm formation, chemical reactions with the material, physical penetration into the substrate and production of pigments. To diagnose biodeterioration processes and design effective biocontrol measures, the microbial communities and the material need to be investigated.

[en] There is an ever-increasing global demand from consumers for high-quality foods with major emphasis placed on quality and safety attributes. One of the main consumer demands is for minimally processed foods that are highly nutritive but low energy-dense and are natural foods with no or minimal chemical preservatives. Extending the shelf-life of food products, while improving the food safety and quality, will have a positive impact on both the industry and consumers. Food irradiation is emerging as a promising and innovative processing technology in this regard. The main objective of this research was to investigate and propose fresh irradiated foods that are health promoting, safe and convenient to be treated by electron beam irradiation. One of the purposes of this research is to help foster more wide use of electron beam irradiation especially where it will enhance food safety and quality. To attain these aims, electron beam irradiation parameters were studied in terms of equipment parametrization, as well as, the effects of irradiation on fresh food products through the evaluation of bioactive compounds and also microbial inactivation (natural microbiota and potential pathogenic bacteria). The food products selected for study were cherry tomatoes, raspberries, and mushrooms. These where chosen due to their perishability, nutritional and bioactive compound profile, and socioeconomic importance in the Mediterranean region. Modelling tools were also applied to simulate high energy electron beam irradiation (10 MeV) of cherry tomatoes and raspberries from the LINAC situated at C2TN (Portugal). An alternative simulation framework, Ensaroot, was also used to test its application in food irradiation studies. Overall the results of this comprehensive study support the feasibility of electron beam irradiation as a post-harvest treatment of cherry tomatoes (3 kGy), mushrooms (5 kGy) and raspberries (3 kGy). It would guarantee the safety, extend the shelf-life and preserving the bioactive contents of these products. (author)

[en] The work done over the last years has shown that ionizing radiation can induced an increase in antioxidant activity in cork cooking water. To confirm this statement, antioxidant activity was evaluated using different methodologies as DPPH radical scavenging activity, reducing power and inhibition of β-carotene bleaching. The overall antioxidant activity was found to increase with ionizing radiation confirming the previous results. Toxicity tests were performed to access the added value of these wastewaters after irradiation and/or potential minimization of the environmental impact of treated water discharge in the environment. Two different methods for toxicity evaluation were performed in order to predict behaviour of different cells (bacterial and eukaryotic). The gamma radiation treatment seems to not affect the toxicity of cork compounds for Pseudomonas fluorescens growth inhibition test. On the other hand, the same radiation treatment of cork wastewater indicated to decrease the viability of Raw 264.7 and A549 cells, which could be related to a cytotoxicity effect of radiolytic products of cork compounds. These results could give two important outcomes: a) gamma radiation treatment does not affect the ecotoxicity of cork industry effluent which could reduce the environmental pollution problematics; b) cork wastewater cytotoxicity increases with gamma radiation treatment. Consequently, the applicability of the added-value cork wastewater by-products needs to be carefully studied to evaluate both the antioxidant potential as well as the cytotoxicity. (author)

[en] New liposome formulations for antimycobacterial purpose are under development in Portugal. The drug must be submitted to a sterilization process. In order to find out if gamma radiation could be applied, microbiological and chemical studies were developed based on ISO standards. The bioburden was determined, the main critical points of line production were detected and the sterilization dose was determined based on a chart control for bioburden. A preliminary maximum acceptable dose for product was found out based on the main functional parameters