Publications by authors named "Maria Vaz Patto"

Grasspea (Lathyrus sativus L.) is an underutilised but promising legume crop with tolerance to a wide range of abiotic and biotic stress factors, and potential for climate-resilient agriculture. Despite a long history and wide geographical distribution of cultivation, only limited breeding resources are available.

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This study investigates the relationship between sleep patterns and ischemic stroke beyond the predominant focus on obstructive sleep apnea. Through a systematic review of the existing literature, we aim to elucidate the connections between insomnia, sleep duration, cardiovascular factors, and ischemic stroke onset. We searched databases, including MEDLINE, SciELO, Scopus, and Science Direct, using an adapted PICO framework.

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Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is one of the legume crops most consumed worldwide and bean rust is one of the most severe foliar biotrophic fungal diseases impacting its production. In this work, we searched for new sources of rust resistance (Uromyces appendiculatus) in a representative collection of the Portuguese germplasm, known to have accessions with an admixed genetic background between Mesoamerican and Andean gene pools. We identified six accessions with incomplete hypersensitive resistance and 20 partially resistant accessions of Andean, Mesoamerican, and admixed origin.

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Common bean ( L.) is one of the most important food legumes worldwide, and its production is severely affected by fungal diseases such as powdery mildew. Portugal has a diverse germplasm, with accessions of Andean, Mesoamerican, and admixed origin, making it a valuable resource for common bean genetic studies.

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Legumes have been sought as alternative protein sources to ensure food security and environmental sustainability. Characterizing their protein content and quality, including in underutilized grain legumes, e.g.

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Due to its ability to improve the most frequent clinical sequelae left by ischemia, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation has been considered a promising therapeutic strategy for stroke. Those improvements are associated with changes in neurons and their synaptic liaisons. However, the hypothesis that this technique modulates astrocytes, potentiating their neuroprotective capabilities, was also raised.

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is a Portuguese maize bread with characteristic sensory attributes that can only be achieved using traditional maize varieties. This study intends to disclose the volatile compounds that are mainly associated with the baking process of which can be important contributors to their aroma. Twelve were prepared from twelve maize flours (eleven traditional maize varieties and one commercial hybrid).

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Latent variables are used in chemometrics to reduce the dimension of the data. It is a crucial step with spectroscopic data where the number of explanatory variables can be very high. Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares (PLS) are the most common.

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Rusts are among the most important foliar biotrophic fungal diseases in legumes. crop can be severely damaged by , to which partial resistance has been identified. Nevertheless, the underlying genetic basis and molecular mechanisms of this resistance are poorly understood in .

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Maize ( L.) is one of the major crops of the world for feed, food, and industrial uses. It was originated in Central America and introduced into Europe and other continents after Columbus trips at the end of the 15 century.

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Common bean is a nutritious food legume widely appreciated by consumers worldwide. It is a staple food in Latin America, and a component of the Mediterranean diet, being an affordable source of protein with high potential as a gourmet food. Breeding for nutritional quality, including both macro and micronutrients, and meeting organoleptic consumers' preferences is a difficult task which is facilitated by uncovering the genetic basis of related traits.

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Wider and more profitable legume crop cultivation is an indispensable step for the agroecological transition of global agri-food systems but represents a challenge especially in Europe. Plant breeding is pivotal in this context. Research areas of key interest are represented by innovative phenotypic and genome-based selection procedures for crop yield, tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses enhanced by the changing climate, intercropping, and emerging crop quality traits.

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In Portugal, maize has been used for centuries to produce an ethnic bread called , employing traditional maize varieties, which are preferred by the consumers in detriment of commercial hybrids. In order to evaluate the maize volatiles that can influence consumers' acceptance of , twelve were prepared from twelve maize varieties (eleven traditional and one commercial hybrid), following a traditional recipe. All maize flours and were analyzed by HS-SPME-GC-MS (headspace solid-phase microextraction) and were appraised by a consumer sensory panel.

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Article Synopsis
  • Grass pea, an annual legume related to common peas, can be infected by the Fusarium oxysporum pathogen, which causes significant yield losses in peas, with varying resistance observed among different grass pea plants.
  • A genome-wide association study was conducted on grass pea accessions to identify genetic regions linked to resistance against fusarium wilt, using high-throughput SNP screening and mapping against the pea reference genome.
  • The research identified 17 genomic regions associated with resistance traits, highlighting candidate genes involved in metabolism and development, which could aid in breeding disease-resistant grass pea varieties through molecular tools.
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Mediterranean annual forage mixtures are facing the impact of climate change, especially higher frequencies of winter-time drought. Increased mixture plasticity to climate variability is needed to mitigate this impact. However, little information exists regarding the specificities and complementarities of each forage species component to potentiate mixture resilience under drought.

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Metabolomics is one of the most powerful -omics to assist plant breeding. Despite the recognized genetic diversity in Portuguese common bean germplasm, details on its metabolomics profiles are still missing. Aiming to promote their use and to understand the environment's effect in bean metabolomics profiles, 107 Portuguese common bean accessions, cropped under contrasting environments, were analyzed using spectrophotometric, untargeted and targeted mass spectrometry approaches.

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Article Synopsis
  • The 'Galega vulgar' olive variety is a unique blend of genetic traits from the West and Central Mediterranean, characterized by its rusticity and high-quality oil, but it's being outcompeted by higher-yield foreign varieties.
  • A study on 595 ancient trees used genetic markers to identify 95 distinct genets, revealing significant intra-genetic variation and a likely monoclonal origin for the 'Galega vulgar.'
  • The findings emphasize the importance of preserving and integrating these ancient genets into future breeding programs to recover lost genetic diversity and promote the sustainability of this traditional olive variety.
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Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), one of the most consumed food legumes worldwide, is threatened by two main constraints that are found frequently together in nature, water deficit (WD) and fusarium wilt (Fop). To understand the shared and unique responses of common bean to Fop and WD, we analyzed the transcriptomic changes and phenotypic responses in two accessions, one resistant and one susceptible to both stresses, exposed to single and combined stresses.

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Powdery mildews are major diseases for a range of crops. The loss of function of specific Mildew Locus O (MLO) genes has long been associated with pre-haustorial plant resistance to powdery mildew and has proven to be durable in several species. Erysiphe pisi is the major causal agent of powdery mildew in pea (Pisum sativum L.

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Maize is an important source of phenolic compounds, specially hydroxycinnamic acids, which are widely known for their antioxidant activity and associated health benefits. However, these effects depend on their bioaccessibility, which is influenced by the different techniques used for food processing. Several traditional products can be obtained from maize and, in Portugal, it is used for the production of an ethnic bread called .

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There is a consensus that elderly individuals are quite vulnerable to adverse drug reactions (ADRs), and headaches are one of the most frequent clinical presentations of central nervous system problems in the general population, which can be an ADR. The purpose of our work was to analyze reports of "headache" associated ADRs in the elderly sent to the Portuguese Pharmacovigilance System (PPS), and also which drugs were more frequently associated with this adverse reaction. A retrospective analysis of suspected ADR reports involving patients aged 65 years or older received by the PPS in the last 10 years was conducted.

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After decades of effort, there are no effective clinical treatments to induce the recovery of ischemia-injured tissues, and among the several strategies that have been explored, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation has proven to be one of the most promising, with beneficial effects in limb motor function, aphasia, hemispatial neglect, or dysphagia. Despite the clinical evidences, little is known about the mechanisms underlying those effects. The present study aimed to explore the cellular and molecular effects of high-frequency repetitive magnetic stimulation (HF-rMS) on an in vitro model of ischemia.

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