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Abstract: The microalgae Spirulina may be a popular dietary supplement rich in essential nutrients and vitamins, but oversight of the supplement industry, in general, remains limited, and increasing incidents of adulteration, misbranding, and undeclared ingredients together with misleading claims create potential risks. In response, this study characterized the elemental, amino acid and fatty acid content of commercially available Spirulina supplements in Slovenia using EDXRF, ICP-MS and GC-MS and compared the results with their nutritional declaration. The gathered data confirm that Spirulina supplements are a good source of calcium (0.15 to 29.5% of RDA), phosphorous (3.36–26.7% of RDA), potassium (0.5 to 7.69% of RDA) and selenium (0.01 to 38.6% of RDA) when consumed within recommended amounts. However, although iron contents were relatively high (7.64 to 316% of RDA), the actual bioavailability of iron was much lower since it was mainly present as the ferric cation. This study also confirms that pure Spirulina supplements are a good source of essential and non-essential amino acids, and !-6 but not !-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. The presence of additives resulted in significant variation in nutrient content and, in some instances, lower product quality. Moreover, a high proportion (86.7%) of inappropriate declarations regarding the elemental content was observed. Overall, the study conclusions underline the need for a stricter control system for Spirulina-based supplements.
Keywords: Spirulina, microalgae, cyanobacteria, elements, toxic elements, amino acids, fatty acids, authenticity, safety, quality
Published in RUNG: 24.03.2022; Views: 1601; Downloads: 0
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Keywords: Sprotno zajemanje podatkov, kontrolni sistemi, algoritmi, baze podatkov, Observatorij Pierre Auger
Published in RUNG: 21.07.2021; Views: 2092; Downloads: 180
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Keywords: Prepoznavanje vzorcev, kalibracija in metode prilagajanja, veliki detektorski sistemi za fiziko in astrofiziko delcev, Observatory Pierre Auger
Published in RUNG: 16.07.2021; Views: 2903; Downloads: 198
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Keywords: ultra-high energy cosmic rays, extensive air showers (EAS), EAS muonic component, hadronic interaction models, Pierre Auger Observatory
Published in RUNG: 29.04.2021; Views: 2223; Downloads: 0
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Abstract: To obtain direct measurements of the muon content of extensive air showers with energy above 10[sup]16.5 eV, the Pierre Auger Observatory is currently being equipped with an underground muon detector (UMD), consisting of 219 10 m[sup]2-modules, each segmented into 64 scintillators coupled to silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). Direct access to the shower muon content allows for the study of both of the composition of primary cosmic rays and of high-energy hadronic interactions in the forward direction. As the muon density can vary between tens of muons per m[sup]2 close to the intersection of the shower axis with the ground to much less than one per m[sup]2 when far away, the necessary broad dynamic range is achieved by the simultaneous implementation of two acquisition modes in the read-out electronics: the binary mode, tuned to count single muons, and the ADC mode, suited to measure a high number of them. In this work, we present the end-to-end calibration of the muon detector modules: first, the SiPMs are calibrated by means of the binary channel, and then, the ADC channel is calibrated using atmospheric muons, detected in parallel to the shower data acquisition. The laboratory and field measurements performed to develop the implementation of the full calibration chain of both binary and ADC channels are presented and discussed. The calibration procedure is reliable to work with the high amount of channels in the UMD, which will be operated continuously, in changing environmental conditions, for several years.
Keywords: ultra-high energy cosmic rays, extensive air showers (EAS), EAS muonic component, Pierre Auger Observatory, underground muon detector, detector calibration
Published in RUNG: 14.04.2021; Views: 2777; Downloads: 139
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