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A stainless steel paper-embedded biofilm reactor (PEBR) was developed for Candida spp. growth, permitting confluent distribution of nutrients by capillary diffusion through ordinary laboratory filter paper. Antibiogram disks were distributed along the filter paper rim, and the PEBR received 0.1 or 0.01 % crystal violet (CV) at 200 μL min(-1) and at 37 °C, for 48 h. CV was recovered from the disks and measured at 540 nm. Candida albicans SC5314 cells were applied onto antibiogram disks. The bioreactor was assembled, and YEPD broth was admitted (200 μL min(-1)) at 37 °C, for 72 h. Biofilm growth was estimated via the MTT reduction test. Controls were disks that received the same treatments, except for the fungus. The PEBR was considered high-throughput table, low-cost, and feasible to grow C. albicans biofilms.

We compared the effects of medium light roast (MLR) and medium roast (MR) paper-filtered coffee on antioxidant capacity and lipid peroxidation in healthy volunteers. In a randomized crossover study, 20 volunteers consumed 482 ± 61 ml/day of MLR or MR for four weeks. Plasma total antioxidant status (TAS), oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), oxidized LDL and 8-epi-prostaglandin F2α, erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and catalase (CAT) activity were measured at baseline and after the interventions. MLR had higher chlorogenic acids-(CGA; 334 mg/150 mL) and less caffeine (231 mg/150 ml) than MR had (210 and 244 mg/150 ml, respectively). MLR also had fewer Maillard reaction products (MRP) than MR had. Compared with baseline, subjects had an increase of 21 and 26 % in TAS, 13 and 13 % in CAT, 52 and 75 % in SOD, and 62 and 49 % in GPx after MLR and MR consumption (P < 0.001), respectively. ORAC increased after MLR (P = 0.004). No significant alteration in lipid peroxidation biomarkers was observed. Both coffees had antioxidant effects. Although MLR contained more CGA, there were similar antioxidant effects between the treatments. MRP may have contributed as an antioxidant. These effects may be important in protecting biological systems and reducing the risk of diseases related to oxidative stress.

The sugar and osmophilic fungal composition of soils amended with five organic substrates (newspaper, orange peel, bromegrass leaves, wheat straw and wood sawdust) was estimated after 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 weeks using the dilution plate method on glucose and 50% sucrose Czapek's agar media. Wheat straw was the best substrate for total counts of both sugar and osmophilic fungi followed by newspaper, bromegrass leaves, wood sawdust and orange peel. Wood sawdust supported the highest average counts of total sugar fungi, Fusarium, Mucor, Scopulariopsis, Trichoderma and Trimmatostroma spp.; Newspaper, of Aspergillus (8 spp.), Penicillium (4 spp.) and Chaetomium sp.; bromegrass leaves of Cladosporium sp., Humicola sp. and Sporotrichum sp.; orange peel, of Alternaria sp., Circinella sp. and Stachybotrys sp.; and wheat straw, of Botryotrichum sp. and Myrothecium sp. Bromegrass leaves and orange peel supported the highest average counts of total osmophilic fungi, Aspergillus (10 spp.), Cladosporium sp. Paecillomyces sp. and Rhizopus sp.; and of Stemphylium sp., Trichoderma sp., Humicola sp. and Circinella sp. respectively; wheat straw, of Epicoccum sp., Scopulariopsis sp. and Trichothecium sp.; newspaper, of Penicillium (4 spp.) and Alternaria sp.; and wood sawdust of Curvularia sp. and Fusarium (3 spp.). The best colonizers throughout the experimental periods were Aspergilus and Penicillium spp.