High hydrostatic pressure enhances the formation of oleocanthal and oleacein in 'Arbequina' olive fruit

During olive oil production, the activity of endogenous enzymes plays a crucial role in determining the oil's phenolic composition. β-Glucosidase contributes to the formation of secoiridoids, while polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POX) are involved in their oxidation. This study investigated whether high hydrostatic pressure (HHP), known to cause cell disruption and modify enzymatic activity and food texture, could reduce PPO and POX activity. HHP was applied to ‘Arbequina’ olives at different settings (300 and 600 MPa, 3 and 6 min) before olive oil extraction. The tested HHP conditions were not effective in reducing the activity of PPO and POX in olives, resulting in oils with a lower phenolic content. However, HHP increased the secoiridoid content of olives, particularly oleocanthal and oleacein (>50%). The pigments in oils produced from HHP-treated olives were higher compared to the control, whereas squalene and α-tocopherol levels and the fatty acid profile remained the same. © 2023 The Authors</p

Drug Repurposing for Cancers With Limited Survival: Protocol for a Retrospective Cohort Study

Only 5% of the molecules tested in oncology phase 1 trials reach the market after an average of 7.5 years of waiting and at a cost of tens of millions of dollars. To reduce the cost and shorten the time of discovery of new treatments, drug repurposing (research with molecules already approved for another indication) and the use of secondary data (not collected for the purpose of research) have been proposed. Due to advances in informatics in clinical care, secondary data can, in some cases, be of equal quality to primary data generated through prospective studies.Objective: The objective of this study is to identify drugs currently marketed for other indications that may have an effect on the prognosis of patients with cancer.Methods: We plan to monitor a cohort of patients with high-lethality cancers treated in the public health system of Catalonia between 2006 and 2012, retrospectively, for survival for 5 years after diagnosis or until death. A control cohort, comprising people without cancer, will also be retrospectively monitored for 5 years. The following study variables will be extracted from different population databases: type of cancer (patients with cancer cohort), date and cause of death, pharmacological treatment, sex, age, and place of residence. During the first stage of statistical analysis of the patients with cancer cohort, the drugs consumed by the long-term survivors (alive at 5 years) will be compared with those consumed by nonsurvivors. In the second stage, the survival associated with the consumption of each relevant drug will be analyzed. For the analyses, groups will be matched for potentially confounding variables, and multivariate analyses will be performed to adjust for residual confounding variables if necessary. The control cohort will be used to verify whether the associations found are exclusive to patients with cancer or whether they also occur in patients without cancer.Results: We anticipate discovering multiple significant associations between commonly used drugs and the survival outcomes of patients with cancer. We expect to publish the initial results in the first half of 2024.Conclusions: This retrospective study may identify several commonly used drugs as candidates for repurposing in the treatment of various cancers. All analyses are considered exploratory; therefore, the results will have to be confirmed in subsequent clinical trials. However, the results of this study may accelerate drug discovery in oncology

Correlation between Topographic Vessel Density and Retinal Thickness Changes in Patients with Diabetic Macular Edema Treated with Anti-VEGF Therapy: Is It a Suitable OCTA Biomarker?

The objective of this study was to determine the correlation between topographic vessel density (VD) and retinal thickness (RT) reductions induced by vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors (anti-VEGF) in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). This was a prospective, interventional case series. VD and RT measurements were separately taken in four parafoveal subfields at baseline and after six months of treatment. This correlation was statistically assessed using Spearman's rho correlation coefficient after adjustment for multiple comparisons. The study included a total of 48 eyes in the final analysis. Mean VD decreased from baseline to month 6 (from 45.2 (+/- 3.5) to 44.6% (+/- 3.2) in the superficial capillary plexus and from 50 (+/- 3.3) to 49% (+/- 3.9) in the deep capillary plexus). Statistically significant reductions in RT were observed in all ETDRS sectors (p < 0.0001). No significant association was found between RT and VD, even when analyzing responders and non-responders separately. After six months of anti-VEGF treatment, no significant correlation was observed between the topographic VD and RT values. These findings suggest that reductions in VD values may not solely result from a reduction in microaneurysms, also being affected by the repositioning of displaced vessels due to edema and a reduction in their caliber. Therefore, VD changes may not be a suitable indirect OCTA biomarker of microaneurysm turnover and treatment response

La clase mutante. Una investigación sobre los movimientos que tienen lugar cuando la práctica escénica entra a formar parte de las relaciones pedagógicas y la atención a la diversidad en la Educación Secundaria Obligatoria

[spa] Esta investigación adapta y aplica la práctica escénica al contexto de la Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, preguntándose por su potencial a la hora de reconfigurar las relaciones pedagógicas y de cuidado así como la atención a la diversidad entre la comunidad educativa. Indaga en la integración de otros saberes en las artes vivas, como la a/r/tografía desde lo performativo, la pedagogía crítica, la educación por la justicia social, las teorías queer, o la interseccionalidad. Para ello, despliega diferentes procesos de creación, acciones artísticas que devienen producción teatral y medio de estudio a través del cual se investiga tanto el contexto como al propio equipo de trabajo. Y, en tanto que indagación basada en las artes escénicas, se ofrece como un dispositivo performativo que pretende ‘hacer cosas’ con el teatro: más allá de describir realidades, las crea, junto a nuevas representaciones, contextos y experiencias. Por otra parte, las metodologías y los sujetos de estudio de esta investigación mutan a medida que se desarrolla. Así, esta tesis da cuenta de tres grandes desplazamientos acontecidos durante los dos años de trabajo de campo realizado en un instituto de máxima complejidad. El primero se dio al conocer la realidad del centro educativo; el segundo cuando se constató hasta qué punto las condiciones en las que el profesorado llevaba a cabo su labor eran determinantes en la educación del estudiantado; y el tercero, cuando a partir de un proyecto de investigación-creación se produjo un giro hacia la comunidad docente, trasladando el estudio del centro educativo a la sala de ensayos. Para finalizar, esta tesis también se presenta como un espacio que reivindica las posibilidades de lo teatral y lo performativo en la investigación social y que a nivel formal quiere desbordar los límites de lo académico e infiltrarse en otros lugares como centros de formación no reglada, actividades divulgativas en centros cívicos, salas de programación escénica y, en definitiva, la sociedad en general

Virtual assessment achieved two binary cocrystals based on a liquid and a solid pyridine derivative with modulated thermal stabilities

The rational design of cocrystals triggered by the control of recurrent H-bonded patterns referred to as supramolecular synthons enabled the correlation between their structure and properties, which has been a topic of interest owing to the possibility to modulate them depending on the selected components. Accordingly, melting point has been one of the most studied properties, providing materials with enhanced thermal stability for specific applications. Within this frame, in this work we have selected a liquid and a solid pyridine derivative (dPy), namely 4-acetylpyridine (4-Acpy) and 2-hydroxypyridine (2-OHpy) to combine with carboxylic acids to obtain a pair of cocrystals. An initial virtual screening of some carboxylic acids based on the positive and negative critical points of the molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) surfaces was performed to evaluate the feasibility of cocrystal formation. This enabled us to select 1,3-benzodioxole-5-carboxylic acid (piperonylic acid, HPip) to combine with 4-Acpy and a-acetamidocinnamic acid (HACA) with 2-OHpy. Then, we have obtained the corresponding cocrystal experimentally by means of liquid-assisted grinding (LAG), and their crystal structures were elucidated, revealing the formation of (HPip)(4-Acpy) (1) and (HACA)(Pdon) (2) (Pdon = 2-pyridone), observing the tautomerization of 2-OHpy to Pdon. Both cocrystals were characterized by analytical and spectroscopic techniques. In addition, a Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) survey of 4-Acpy and Pdon in cocrystal systems was performed and the observed preferences regarding their preferable synthons and dimensionalities were shown. Finally, their melting points have been determined, and the resulting values have been correlated with the crystal packing of the compounds, supported by Hirshfeld surface analysis and energy frameworks

CRAI Biblioteca de Fons Antic. Memòria 2023

Memòria que recull les activitats realitzades al CRAI Biblioteca de Fons Antic durant l'any 2023

Qué sabem de les persones pèl-roges? Revisió de l’estat de la qüestió

Us ha passat mai que quan teniu un pacient pèl-roig a la cadira dental noteu que sou davant d’una persona amb més por i amb molta més ansietat del que és habitual? ¿I que de vegades necessitarem més quantitat d’anestèsia local que la usual per poder efectuar els mateixos tractaments que amb la majoria de pacients? Vaja... amb paraules més planeres: que quan ve un pèl-roig a la consulta acostumem a tenir més problemes. Atès que moltes vegades ens han fet preguntes sobre aquest tema, hem decidit investigar –ajudats pel Dr. Leonardo Berini– què hi ha de cert en totes aquestes anècdotes i creences que envolten el tractament dental dels pacients pèl-rojos. Si bé és cert que a la nostra població la prevalença d’individus pèlrojos sembla bastant baixa, no deixa de ser important saber quins problemes haurem d’afrontar davant un cas d’aquestes característiques i, consegüentment, com els podem prevenir. Aquest escrit, que no deixa de ser un article que reflecteix la nostra opinió, s’ha fet a partir d’una extensa revisió de moltes altres publicacions científiques que tractaven específicament aquest tema i que ens han permès extreure algunes conclusions que segurament ens podran ser útils quan haguem de tractar aquest tipus de pacients

Quantifying sovereign risk in the euro area

The choice of the optimal sovereign risk indicator is crucial in the context of the euro area (EA) countries, which faced a fierce sovereign debt crisis. Traditional indicators of sovereign risk (CDS, bond yields, and credit rating) do not take into consideration the priority structure of creditors and are highly influenced by market sentiment. We propose a new indicator (DtD) to quantify sovereign risk for eleven EA countries over the period 2004Q1- 2019Q4. Using contingent claims’ methodology, DtD incorporates the seniority structure of creditors in an existing theoretical model. Our results suggest that (1) DtD is a leading indicator of sovereign risk and (2) adding information from the public sector’s balance sheet structure to market information, helps better incorporate macroeconomic fundamentals in the sovereign risk measure, overcoming some of the weaknesses documented in the traditional indicators