THE ACINETOBACTER CALCOACETICUS?ACINETOBACTER BAUMANNII COMPLEX, OR ACB COMPLEX, CONSISTS OF SIX SPECIES: ACINETOBACTER BAUMANNII, ACINETOBACTER CALCOACETICUS, ACINETOBACTER NOSOCOMIALIS, ACINETOBACTER PITTII, ACINETOBACTER SEIFERTII, AND ACINETOBACTER LACTUCAE. A. BAUMANNII IS THE MOST CLINICALLY SIGNIFICANT OF THESE SPECIES AND IS FREQUENTLY RELATED TO HEALTHCARE-ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS (HCAIS). CLUSTERED REGULARLY INTERSPACED SHORT PALINDROMIC REPEAT (CRISPR) ARRAYS AND ASSOCIATED GENES (CAS) CONSTITUTE BACTERIAL ADAPTIVE IMMUNE SYSTEMS AND FUNCTION AS VARIABLE GENETIC ELEMENTS. THIS STUDY AIMED TO CONDUCT A GENOMIC ANALYSIS OF ACB COMPLEX GENOMES AVAILABLE IN DATABASES TO DESCRIBE AND CHARACTERIZE CRISPR SYSTEMS AND CAS GENES.

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

POWDERED INFANT FORMULAS (PIF) ARE THE MOST USED DIETARY SUBSTITUTES THAT ARE USED IN ORDER TO SUPPLEMENT BREASTFEEDING. HOWEVER, PIF ARE NOT STERILE AND CAN BE CONTAMINATED WITH DIFFERENT MICROORGANISMS. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO GENOMICALLY CHARACTERIZE ENTEROBACTERIACEAE (ENT) AND ENTEROCOCCUS STRAINS THAT WERE ISOLATED FROM PIF. STRAINS WERE IDENTIFIED BY MATRIX-ASSISTED LASER DESORPTION IONIZATION?TIME-OF-FLIGHT MASS SPECTROMETRY (MALDI-TOF MS) AND WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCING (WGS). GENOMIC TYPING, DETECTION OF VIRULENCE, AND RESISTANCE PROFILES AND GENES WERE PERFORMED WITH THE RIDOM SEQSPHERE+ SOFTWARE; THE COMPREHENSIVE ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE DATABASE (CARD) PLATFORM; RESFINDER AND PLASMIDFINDER TOOLS; AND BY THE DISK DIFFUSION METHOD. NINETEEN ISOLATES FROM PIF WERE ANALYZED, INCLUDING ENT SUCH AS KOSAKONIA COWANII, ENTEROBACTER HORMAECHEI, FRANCONIBACTER HELVETICUS, MIXTA CALIDA, AND LACTIC ACID BACTERIA SUCH AS ENTEROCOCCUS FAECIUM. THE STRAINS EXHIBITED RESISTANCE TO BETA-LACTAMS, CEPHALOSPORINS, AND MACROLIDES. RESISTANCE GENES SUCH AS ACRAB-TOLC, MARA, MSBA, KNPEF, OQXAB, FOSA, BLAACT-7, BLAACT-14, QACJ, OQXAB, AAC(6?)-II, AND MSR(C); AND VIRULENCE GENES SUCH AS ASTA, CHEB, CHER, OMPA OMPX, TERC, IRONA, ACM, AND EFAAFM, ADEM WERE ALSO DETECTED. ALL THE ANALYZED STRAINS POSSESSED GENES THAT PRODUCED HEAT-SHOCK PROTEINS, SUCH AS IBPA AND CLPL. IN PIF, THE PRESENCE OF ENT AND ENTEROCOCCUS THAT ARE MULTIRESISTANT TO ANTIBIOTICS TOGETHER WITH RESISTANCE AND VIRULENCE GENES POSE A HEALTH RISK FOR INFANTS CONSUM- ING THESE FOOD PRODUCTS.

THE CHILEAN PLANTS DISCARIA CHACAYE, TALGUENEA QUINQUENERVIA (RHAMNACEAE), PEUMUS BOLDUS (MONIMIACEAE), AND CRYPTOCARYA ALBA (LAURACEAE) WERE EVALUATED AGAINST CODLING MOTH: CYDIA POMONELLA L. (LEPIDOPTERA: TORTRICIDAE) AND FRUIT FLY DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER (DIPTERA: DROSOPHILIDAE), WHICH IS ONE OF THE MOST WIDESPREAD AND DESTRUCTIVE PRIMARY PESTS OF PRUNUS (PLUMS, CHERRIES, PEACHES, NECTARINES, APRICOTS, ALMONDS), PEAR, WALNUTS, AND CHESTNUTS, AMONG OTHER. FOUR BENZYLISOQUINOLINE ALKALOIDS (COCLAURINE, LAUROLITSINE, BOLDINE, AND PUKATEINE) WERE ISOLATED FROM THE ABOVE MENTIONED PLANT SPECIES AND EVALUATED REGARDING THEIR INSECTICIDAL ACTIVITY AGAINST THE CODLING MOTH AND FRUIT FLY. THE RESULTS SHOWED THAT THESE ALKALOIDS POSSESS ACUTE AND CHRONIC INSECTICIDAL EFFECTS. THE MOST RELEVANT EFFECT WAS OBSERVED AT 10 ?G/ML AGAINST D. MELANOGASTER AND AT 50 ?G/ML AGAINST C. POMONELLA, BEING THE ALTERATION OF THE FEEDING, DEFORMATIONS, FAILURE IN THE DISPLACEMENT OF THE LARVAE IN THE FEEDING MEDIUM OF D. MELANOGASTER, AND MORTALITY VISIBLE EFFECTS. IN ADDITION, THE DOCKING RESULTS SHOW THAT THESE TYPE OF ALKALOIDS PRESENT A GOOD INTERACTION WITH OCTOPAMINE AND ECDYSONE RECEPTOR SHOWING A POSSIBLE ACTION MECHANISM.

OBJECTIVE: THIS STUDY AIMED TO DETERMINE THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN BODY MASS INDEX (BMI) AND FUNCTIONAL FITNESS (FF) IN 9- TO 10-YEAR-OLD CHILEAN CHILDREN. METHODS: THIS WAS AN ANALYTICAL AND CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY WITH A PROBABILISTIC SAMPLE CONSISTING OF 139 CHILDREN OF BOTH SEXES. ANTHROPOMETRIC MEASUREMENTS, HEMODYNAMIC VARIABLES, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY (PAQ-C), AND FF (MEASURED BY A 6-MINUTE WALK TEST: 6MWT) WERE RECORDED. IF THE DISTANCE WALKED WAS

OBJECTIVE: THE AIM OF THIS STUDY WAS TO DETERMINE THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PREPREGNANCY BODY MASS, GESTATIONAL WEIGHT GAIN, AND INADEQUATE BREASTFEEDING (BF) WITH OVERWEIGHT IN CHILEAN CHILDREN AGES 3 TO 4 Y. METHODS: THIS WAS AN ANALYTICAL AND CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY WITH 560 PARTICIPANTS. AGE, RESIDENCE, BF, AND WEIGHT GAIN INFORMATION WERE COLLECTED FROM CHILD CARE RECORDS. THE CHILDRENS NUTRITIONAL STATUS (NS) WAS DETERMINED ACCORDING TO THE WEIGHT-FOR-HEIGHT Z-SCORE FOR SEX. BIVARIATE RELATIONSHIPS WERE EVALUATED BY THE ?2 TEST, AND A MULTIVARIATE LOGISTIC REGRESSION MODEL WAS APPLIED WITH THE STATA VERSION 15 SOFTWARE AT ? < 0.05. RESULTS: PREPREGNANCY NS VALUES WERE 37% NORMAL AND 63% OVERWEIGHT. EXCESS WEIGHT GAIN OCCURRED IN 75% OF THE MOTHERS. THE CHILDRENS NS WAS RELATED TO THE DURATION OF BF (P = 0.002), PREPREGNANCY NS (P = 0.002), AND WEIGHT GAIN (P = 0.004). WHEN ADJUSTING THE LOGISTIC REGRESSION MODEL FOR SEX AND MATERNAL AGE, THE OVERWEIGHT PREPREGNANCY NS INCREASED UP TO TWICE THE RISK FOR OW IN CHILDREN (ODDS RATIO [OR], 2; 95% CONFIDENCE INTERVAL [CI], 1.3-4.1), AS WELL AS EXCESS WEIGHT GAIN (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.5-5.9), AND NON-EXCLUSIVE BF (OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.3-4.4). CONCLUSION: CHILDREN SHOWING RISK FACTORS SUCH AS NON-EXCLUSIVE BF, PREPREGNANCY NS WITH OVERWEIGHT, AND EXCESS GESTATIONAL WEIGHT GAIN FACED BETWEEN 2 AND 2.4 TIMES MORE RISK FOR OVERWEIGHT THAN CHILDREN WITHOUT THESE FACTORS.

THERE HAS BEEN AN INCREASE IN PRETERM (PT) BIRTHS IN WESTERN COUNTRIES IN RECENT YEARS, WHICH IS ASSOCIATED WITH LOW-BIRTHWEIGHT (LBW) CHILDREN. THE AIM OF THIS STUDY WAS TO DETERMINE THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN MATERNAL FACTORS AND PT AND LBW CHILEAN NEWBORNS. METHODS: THIS WAS AN ANALYTICAL CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY OF A NATIONAL SAMPLE OF 903,847 NEWBORNS AND THEIR MOTHERS. THE NEWBORN GESTATIONAL AGE, BIRTH WEIGHT, MATERNAL AGE, MARITAL STATUS, EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT SITUATION, AND RESIDENCE WERE ANALYZED. A MULTIVARIATE LOGISTIC REGRESSION MODEL WAS APPLIED (? = 0.05) (STATA V.15). THE PREVALENCE WAS 6.8% AND 5.0% FOR PT AND LBW, RESPECTIVELY. THE PROBABILITY OF THE NEWBORNS BEING PT AND LBW WAS 1.18 AND 1.22 TIMES IF THEIR MOTHERS HAD

OVERNUTRITION IS A RELEVANT PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM WITH A MULTIFACTORIAL ORIGIN. ASSOCIATED FACTORS INCLUDE MATERNAL NUTRITIONAL STATUS BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER GESTATION, EXCESSIVE GESTATIONAL WEIGHT GAIN, AND BREASTFEEDING DURATION. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY WAS TO EVALUATE THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN OVERNUTRITION IN CHILDREN AGED 5-10 YEARS AND PRE- AND GESTATIONAL NUTRITIONAL STATUS, EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING, AND MATERNAL PATHOLOGIES. THE STUDY CONSISTED OF 213 SCHOOLCHILDREN AGED 5-10 YEARS. BIO-SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC DATA WERE OBTAINED THROUGH INTERVIEWS WITH MOTHERS, PREVIOUS MATERNAL DATA AND PREGNANCY FOLLOW-UP RECORDS. NUTRITIONAL STATUS WAS MEASURED USING WEIGHT-FOR-HEIGHT AND BMI Z-SCORE BY AGE AND SEX. THE STATA 15.0 SOFTWARE WAS USED FOR STATISTICAL ANALYSIS. A TOTAL OF 56% OF THE SCHOOLCHILDREN HAD OVERNUTRITION. MEANWHILE, 53.1% OF THE MOTHERS DEMONSTRATED PRE-PREGNANCY OVERNUTRITION, WHICH INCREASED TO 74.6% POST-PREGNANCY. IT WAS FOUND THAT 71.4% OF SCHOOLCHILDREN HAD EXPERIENCED EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING ?6 MONTHS. MATERNAL AGE ?35 YEARS (P= 0.044) AND PREGESTATIONAL NUTRITIONAL STATUS (P= 0.014) WERE STATISTICALLY RELATED. MATERNAL AGE ?35 YEARS INCREASED OVERNUTRITION BY ALMOST TWO-FOLD (OR= 1.78; IC: 1.029-3.046), AS DID PRE-GESTATIONAL NUTRITIONAL STATUS (OR= 2.11; IC: 1.193-3.693) AND MATERNAL PATHOLOGIES (OR= 1.41; IC: 1.073-2.694). IN CONCLUSION, SCHOOLCHILDREN AGED 5-10 YEARS WITH MOTHERS ?35 YEARS OF AGE, WHO HAD OVERNUTRITION IN THE PRE-GESTATIONAL PERIOD, AND A PATHOLOGY WERE 1.4 TO 2.44 TIMES MORE AT RISK OF DEVELOPING OVERNUTRITION THAN CHILDREN WITHOUT THESE FACTORS. KEYWORDS: BREASTFEEDING; CHILDREN; GESTATIONAL WEIGHT GAIN; MATERNAL AGE; OVERNUTRITION.

FETAL GROWTH CAN BE AFFECTED BY GESTATIONAL EXPOSURE TO AIR POLLUTION. THE AIM OF THE STUDY WAS TO DETERMINE THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PREMATURITY AND LOW BIRTH WEIGHT (LBW) WITH GESTATIONAL EXPOSURE TO PM2.5 AND PM10 PARTICULATE MATTER IN CHILEANS NEWBORNS. THIS CROSS-SECTIONAL ANALYTICAL STUDY INCLUDED 595,369 NEWBORNS. DATA WERE EXTRACTED FROM THE LIVE NEWBORN RECORDS OF THE CHILEAN MINISTRY OF HEALTH. SEX, GESTATIONAL AGE, BIRTH WEIGHT, AND LIVING VARIABLES WERE ANALYZED. WE USED THE AIR QUALITY INFORMATION SYSTEM OF THE CHILEAN MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT TO OBTAIN MEAN PM2.5 AND PM10 EMISSIONS. A MULTIVARIATE LOGISTIC REGRESSION MODEL WAS PERFORMED WITH STATA 15.0 SOFTWARE AT ? < 0.05. PREVALENCE WAS 7.4% PREMATURITY AND 5.5% LBW. MEAN PM2.5 AND PM10 CONCENTRATIONS WERE 25.5 ?G/M3 AND 55.3 ?G/M3, RESPECTIVELY. PM2.5 WAS ASSOCIATED WITH AN INCREASED THE RISK OF LBW (OR: 1.031; 95%CI: 1.004-1.059) WHEN EXPOSURE OCCURRED IN THE SECOND TRIMESTER, WHILE PM10 AFFECTED THE WHOLE PREGNANCY. IN ADDITION, PM10 EXPOSURE IN ANY GESTATIONAL TRIMESTER WAS ASSOCIATED WITH AN INCREASED THE RISK OF PREMATURITY. THE PM10 PARTICULATE MATTER WAS ASSOCIATED WITH BOTH PREMATURITY AND LBW IN ALL OF THE TRIMESTERS OF EXPOSURE. THE PM2.5 PARTICULATE MATTER WAS ONLY ASSOCIATED WITH LBW WHEN EXPOSURE OCCURRED IN THE SECOND GESTATIONAL TRIMESTER.

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO CHARACTERIZE CRONOBACTER SPP. AND RELATED ORGANISMS ISOLATED FROM POWDER DAIRY PRODUCTS INTENDED FOR CONSUMPTION BY ADULTS AND OLDER ADULTS USING WHOLE-GENOME SEQUENCING (WGS), AND TO IDENTIFY GENES AND TRAITS THAT ENCODE ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE AND VIRULENCE. VIRULENCE (VGS) AND ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE GENES (ARGS) WERE DETECTED WITH THE COMPREHENSIVE ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE DATABASE (CARD) PLATFORM, RESFINDER, AND MOB-SUITE TOOLS. SUSCEPTIBILITY TESTING WAS PERFORMED USING DISK DIFFUSION. FIVE PRESUMPTIVE STRAINS OF CRONOBACTER SPP. WERE IDENTIFIED BY MALDI?TOF MS AND RIBOSOMAL MLST. THREE C. SAKAZAKII STRAINS WERE OF THE CLINICAL PATHOVAR ST1, ONE WAS ST31, AND THE REMAINING ISOLATE WAS C. MALONATICUS ST60. IN ADDITION, FRANCONIBACTER HELVETICUS ST345 WAS IDENTIFIED. THE C. SAKAZAKII ST1 STRAINS WERE FURTHER DISTINGUISHED USING CORE GENOME MLST BASED ON 2831 LOCI. MOREOVER, 100% OF THE STRAINS WERE RESISTANT TO CEFALOTIN, 75% TO AMPICILLIN, AND 50% TO AMIKACIN. THE C. SAKAZAKII ST1 STRAINS WERE MULTIRESISTANT (MDR) TO FOUR ANTIBIOTICS. ADDITIONALLY, ALL THE STRAINS ADHERED TO THE N1E-115 CELL LINE, AND TWO INVADED IT. EIGHTEEN ARGS MAINLY INVOLVED IN ANTIBIOTIC TARGET ALTERATION AND ANTIBIOTIC EFFLUX WERE DETECTED. THIRTY VGS WERE DETECTED AND CLUSTERED AS FLAGELLAR PROTEINS, OUTER MEMBRANE PROTEINS, CHEMOTAXIS, HEMOLYSINS, AND GENES INVOLVED IN METABOLISM AND STRESS. THE PESA3, PSP291-1, AND PCMA1 PLASMIDS WERE DETECTED, AND THE PREVALENT MOBILE GENETIC ELEMENTS (MGES) WERE ISESA1, ISEC52, AND IS26. THE ISOLATES OF C. SAKAZAKII AND C. MALONATICUS EXHIBITED MULTIRESISTANCE TO ANTIBIOTICS, HARBORED GENES ENCODING VARIOUS ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE PROTEINS, AND VARIOUS VIRULENCE FACTORS. CONSEQUENTLY, THESE CONTAMINATED POWDERED DAIRY PRODUCTS POSE A RISK TO THE HEALTH OF HYPERSENSITIVE ADULTS.

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO EVALUATE THE PRESENCE OF CRONOBACTER SAKAZAKII AND MICROBIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS IN DAIRY PRODUCTS ASSOCIATED WITH A FOOD ALERT. NINETY DAIRY PRODUCT SAMPLES WERE ANALYZED, INCLUDING SEVEN COMMERCIAL BRANDS AND TWO PRODUCT TYPES (LIQUID AND POWDERED) FROM FOUR COUNTRIES. AEROBIC PLATE COUNT (APC) AND ENTEROBACTERIACEAE COUNT WERE PERFORMED ACCORDING TO CHILEAN STANDARDS. CRONOBACTER SPP. AND C. SAKAZAKII WERE IDENTIFIED BY POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION REAL TIME AMPLIFICATION OF RPOB AND CGCA GENES AND THE GENOTYPE BY MULTILOCUS SEQUENCE TYPING. EIGHTY-EIGHT PERCENT OF DAIRY PRODUCTS SHOWED APC HIGHER THAN THE DETECTION LIMIT. FIFTY PERCENT OF LIQUID COMMERCIAL BRAND SAMPLES CONTAINED APC: 2.6, 2.3, 1.1, AND 2.9 CFU/ML IN BRANDS A, C, E, AND G, RESPECTIVELY. RESULTS FOR POWDERED COMMERCIAL BRANDS WERE 3.0, 3.6, AND 5.7 CFU/G IN BRANDS B, D, AND F, RESPECTIVELY. MAXIMUM COUNT (5.7 CFU/G) OCCURRED IN BRAND F DAIRY PRODUCT MANUFACTURED IN CHILE. ENTEROBACTERIACEAE WERE FOUND IN 55% OF THE SAMPLES, 64% IN LIQUID AND 51% IN POWDERED COMMERCIAL BRANDS. IN 50% OF BRANDS B, D, AND E, SAMPLES CONTAINED 2.9, 2.8, AND 2.7 LOG CFU/G, RESPECTIVELY. ONLY LIQUID COMMERCIAL BRANDS FROM THE UNITED STATES HAD ENTEROBACTERIACEAE VALUES BETWEEN 0.1 AND 4.5 CFU/ML. SEVENTEEN SUSPICIOUS STRAINS WERE ISOLATED AND NINE WERE IDENTIFIED AS ENTEROBACTER SPP. ONLY EIGHT SUSPICIOUS STRAINS FROM FOUR POWDERED COMMERCIAL BRANDS (CHILE AND SINGAPORE) WERE CONFIRMED AS C. SAKAZAKII BY RPOB AND CGCA GENE AMPLIFICATION AND FUSA SEQUENCING. C. SAKAZAKII PREVALENCE IN THE ANALYZED SAMPLES WAS 8.8%. THERE WERE 11% OF POWDERED MILK BRANDS THAT CONTAINED APC BETWEEN 4.0 AND 4.7 LOG CFU/G AND 55% OF THE SAMPLES CONTAINED ENTEROBACTERIACEAE. C. SAKAZAKII WAS FOUND IN DAIRY PRODUCTS MANUFACTURED IN CHILE AND SINGAPORE. ON THE BASIS OF THIS INFORMATION, THE CHILEAN MINISTRY OF HEALTH (RSA) DECREED A NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL FOOD ALERT AND RECALLED ALL THE PRODUCT BATCHES THAT RES

BREAST MILK AND POWDERED MILK ARE THE PRIMARY FOOD FOR CHILDREN. HOWEVER, THEY ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO CONTAMINATION BY MICROORGANISMS SUCH AS CRONOBACTER SPP. CRONOBACTER SPP. HAS BEEN A CONCERN FOR HEALTH AUTHORITIES BECAUSE OF ITS ASSOCIATION WITH SEVERE NEONATAL INFECTIONS AND POWDERED INFANT FORMULA CONSUMPTION. AS A RESULT, THE MICROBIOLOGICAL CRITERIA FOR THE HYGIENIC PRACTICE FOR POWDERED FORMULAE FOR INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN WERE IMPROVED BY THE CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION AND REVISED BY THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION. THIS REVIEW CONSIDERS INFORMATION PUBLISHED ON THE GENUS CRONOBACTER SPP., ITS PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT, ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION METHODS, AND VIRULENCE AND ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE PROFILE.

ALTHOUGH THERMAL TREATMENTS ARE BENEFICIAL FOR THE PRESERVATION AND SAFETY OF MILK, THEY CAN ALSO ALTER ITS IMMUNOGENIC ACTIVITY BY AFFECTING ITS PROTEIN COMPONENTS. TO ACHIEVE PRECISE RESULTS, IT IS ESSENTIAL TO IDENTIFY THE SPECIFIC PROTEINS THAT CAUSE FOOD ALLERGIES. THEREFORE, INVESTIGATING THE POSSIBLE ALTERATIONS OF COW?S MILK PROTEINS (CMPS) RESULTING FROM THERMAL TREATMENTS IS NECESSARY. IN THIS STUDY, THE FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY (FTIR) TECHNIQUE WAS USED TO ANALYZE THE EFFECT OF UHT THERMAL TREATMENT ON THE SECONDARY STRUCTURES OF MILK CASEIN. USING THE SECOND DERIVATIVE, SIX CHARACTERISTIC PEAKS WERE IDENTIFIED IN THE AMIDE I REGION, RANGING FROM 1700 TO 1600?CM?1. IT WAS FOUND THAT THERMAL TREATMENTS PRODUCE SHIFTS IN ABSORPTION PEAKS, INDICATING CHANGES IN PROTEIN CONFORMATION AND POSSIBLY IN ALLERGENIC ACTIVITY. THESE SHIFTS WERE CLEARLY IDENTIFIED IN THE FIRST CHARACTERISTIC PEAK OF SAMPLES M8 AND M9, FROM 1621 TO 1600?CM?1. THE RESULTS SUGGEST THAT THERMAL TREATMENTS MAY PROMOTE PROTEIN AGGREGATION BY INCREASING ? TURNS AND REDUCING ? SHEETS AND ? HELICES, WHICH COULD ENHANCE THE ALLERGENIC POTENTIAL OF THE PROTEINS AND FACILITATE THE FORMATION OF COMPLEXES BETWEEN DIFFERENT MILK PROTEINS, SUCH AS ?-LACTOGLOBULIN AND ?-CASEIN. FURTHER STUDIES ARE NEEDED TO EXPERIMENTALLY VALIDATE THE ALLERGENIC ACTIVITY OF PROTEINS MODIFIED BY THERMAL TREATMENTS, AS ONLY AN ANALYTICAL METHOD (FTIR) WAS USED TO EVALUATE THE SECONDARY STRUCTURES OF THE PROTEINS.

POWDERED MILK FORMULAS (PIF) ARE THE MOST COMMONLY USED FOOD SUBSTITUTES TO SUPPLEMENT BREASTFEEDING. THE PIF PRODUCTS ARE NOT STERILE AND CAN BE CONTAMINATED WITH VARIOUS MICROORGANISMS, ESPECIALLY SEVERAL SPECIES OF THE ENTEROBACTERIACEAE FAMILY. CRONOBACTER SPP. AND SALMONELLA ARE THE GENERA MOST FREQUENTLY ASSOCIATED TO CASES AND OUTBREAKS OF FOODBORNE DISEASES. MOREOVER, PATHOGENIC ENTEROBACTERIACEAE ARE FREQUENTLY DETECTED IN PIF; THESE CAN CAUSE OPPORTUNISTIC INFECTIONS THAT COULD BECOME A HEALTH PROBLEM FOR INFANTS WHOSE IMMUNE SYSTEM IS STILL DEVELOPING.