Consumers’ Study of Sensory Acceptability of Flavoured Fluoride Gel for Oral Use

El propósito de este estudio es evaluar la aceptabilidad sensorial de dos formulaciones de gel con fluoruro de sodio, que difieren en el aromatizante utilizado (A –fórmula original- y B –nuevo sabor-) mediante el uso de una escala hedónica. Las diferencias significativas se analizaron mediante un test no paramétrico de la mediana con un nivel de significancia del 5%. No hubo diferencias significativas en los atributos olor, aspecto y consistencia y persistencia olfato gustativa, mientras que hubo diferencias significativas en los atributos sabor y color, siendo la muestra A la que obtuvo el promedio más alto de aceptación para todos los atributos. Si bien el proceso farmacotécnico utilizado para la elaboración de los dos productos fue el mismo, y los colorantes utilizados los mismos, la diferencia encontrada en el atributo color se explica por una asociación subjetiva entre sabor y color.The purpose of this study is to evaluate the sensory acceptability of two formulations of the gel which differ in the flavoring used (A -original formula- and B -new flavour-). Significant differences were analyzed using a nonparametric median test with a significance level of 5%. Were no significant differences in odor, appearance and consistency, and smell-taste persistence attributes, whereas significant differences were observed in taste and color attributes, being the sample A to which was the highest rate of acceptance for all attributes. Although the pharmacotechnical process used to produce both products and the colorants used was the same, the differences found in the color attribute may be explained by a subjective association between taste and color

Un caso de seudología.

Se estudia un caso de seudología fantástica, trastorno de la personalidad incluido en los trastornos no especificados (DSM-III-R) y que podría ser definido, siguiendo a CASTILLA DEL PINO, como una caracterosis impositiva del self intelectual. El síntoma fundamental, en el caso que comentamos, está constituido por la personalidad del paciente, que se cimenta en un un falso self -expresado éste en los numerosos engaños y mentiras que giran, principalmente, alrededor de su identidad intelectual-. Como consecuencia de estas conductas mendaces, el paciente manifiesta, además, conductas desadaptivas (alcoholismo, endeudamientos en cadena, etc). A diferencia del fantasioso, el seudólogo opta por la acción: su intención es imponer el self fantaseado a los demás, por lo que no le basta la simple fantasía si ésta no es llevada a la práctica. Asímismo, es preciso diferenciar el cuadro seudólogo de las neurosis histéricas, estados hipomaníacos y psicosis paranoides crónicas de exaltación intelectual. El abordaje psicoterapéutico suele verse dificultado por la actitud del paciente

Un caso de seudología.

Se estudia un caso de seudología fantástica, trastorno de la personalidad incluido en los trastornos no especificados (DSM-III-R) y que podría ser definido, siguiendo a CASTILLA DEL PINO, como una caracterosis impositiva del self intelectual. El síntoma fundamental, en el caso que comentamos, está constituido por la personalidad del paciente, que se cimenta en un un falso self -expresado éste en los numerosos engaños y mentiras que giran, principalmente, alrededor de su identidad intelectual-. Como consecuencia de estas conductas mendaces, el paciente manifiesta, además, conductas desadaptivas (alcoholismo, endeudamientos en cadena, etc). A diferencia del fantasioso, el seudólogo opta por la acción: su intención es imponer el self fantaseado a los demás, por lo que no le basta la simple fantasía si ésta no es llevada a la práctica. Asímismo, es preciso diferenciar el cuadro seudólogo de las neurosis histéricas, estados hipomaníacos y psicosis paranoides crónicas de exaltación intelectual. El abordaje psicoterapéutico suele verse dificultado por la actitud del paciente

Life cycle assessment of European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) landed by purse seine vessels in northern Spain

Purpose: The main purpose of this article is to assess the environmental impacts associated with the fishing operations related to European anchovy fishing in Cantabria (northern Spain) under a life cycle approach. Methods: The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was applied for this case study including construction, maintenance, use, and end of life of the vessels. The functional unit used was 1 kg of landed round anchovy at port. Inventory data were collected for the main inputs and outputs of 32 vessels, representing a majority of vessels in the fleet. Results and discussion: Results indicated, in a similar line to what is reported in the literature, that the production, transportation, and use of diesel were the main environmental hot spots in conventional impact categories. Moreover, in this case, the production and transportation of seine nets was also relevant. Impacts linked to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions suggest that emissions were in the upper range for fishing species captured with seine nets and the value of global warming potential (GWP) was 1.44 kg CO2 eq per functional unit. The ecotoxicity impacts were mainly due to the emissions of antifouling substances to the ocean. Regarding fishery-specific categories, many were discarded given the lack of detailed stock assessments for this fishery. Hence, only the biotic resource use category was computed, demonstrating that the ecosystems' effort to sustain the fishery is relatively low. Conclusions: The use of the LCA methodology allowed identifying the main environmental hot spots of the purse seining fleet targeting European anchovy in Cantabria. Individualized results per port or per vessel suggested that there are significant differences in GHG emissions between groups. In addition, fuel use is high when compared to similar fisheries. Therefore, research needs to be undertaken to identify why fuel use is so high, particularly if it is related to biomass and fisheries management or if skipper decisions could play a role.The authors thank the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Spanish Government for their financial support via the project GeSAC-Conserva: Sustainable Management of the Cantabrian Anchovies (CTM2013-43539-R) and to Pedro Villanueva-Rey for valuable scientific exchange. Jara Laso thanks the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spanish Government for their financial support via the research fellowship BES-2014-069368 and to the Ministry of Rural Environment, Fisheries and Food of Cantabria for the data support. Dr. Ian Vázquez-Rowe thanks the Peruvian LCA Network for operational support. Reviewers are also thanked for the valuable and detailed suggestions. The work of Dr. Rosa M. Crujeiras has been funded by MTM2016-76969P (AEI/FEDER, UE)

The Structural Architecture of an Infectious Mammalian Prion Using Electron Cryomicroscopy

The structure of the infectious prion protein (PrPSc), which is responsible for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, has escaped all attempts at elucidation due to its insolubility and propensity to aggregate. PrPSc replicates by converting the non-infectious, cellular prion protein (PrPC) into the misfolded, infectious conformer through an unknown mechanism. PrPSc and its N-terminally truncated variant, PrP 27-30, aggregate into amorphous aggregates, 2D crystals, and amyloid fibrils. The structure of these infectious conformers is essential to understanding prion replication and the development of structure-based therapeutic interventions. Here we used the repetitive organization inherent to GPI-anchorless PrP 27-30 amyloid fibrils to analyze their structure via electron cryomicroscopy. Fourier-transform analyses of averaged fibril segments indicate a repeating unit of 19.1 Å. 3D reconstructions of these fibrils revealed two distinct protofilaments, and, together with a molecular volume of 18,990 Å3, predicted the height of each PrP 27-30 molecule as ~17.7 Å. Together, the data indicate a four-rung β-solenoid structure as a key feature for the architecture of infectious mammalian prions. Furthermore, they allow to formulate a molecular mechanism for the replication of prions. Knowledge of the prion structure will provide important insights into the self-propagation mechanisms of protein misfolding

Evaluation of biospheric components in earth system models using modern and palaeo-observations: The state-of-the-art

PublishedJournal ArticleEarth system models (ESMs) are increasing in complexity by incorporating more processes than their predecessors, making them potentially important tools for studying the evolution of climate and associated biogeochemical cycles. However, their coupled behaviour has only recently been examined in any detail, and has yielded a very wide range of outcomes. For example, coupled climate-carbon cycle models that represent land-use change simulate total land carbon stores at 2100 that vary by as much as 600 Pg C, given the same emissions scenario. This large uncertainty is associated with differences in how key processes are simulated in different models, and illustrates the necessity of determining which models are most realistic using rigorous methods of model evaluation. Here we assess the state-of-the-art in evaluation of ESMs, with a particular emphasis on the simulation of the carbon cycle and associated biospheric processes. We examine some of the new advances and remaining uncertainties relating to (i) modern and palaeodata and (ii) metrics for evaluation. We note that the practice of averaging results from many models is unreliable and no substitute for proper evaluation of individual models. We discuss a range of strategies, such as the inclusion of pre-calibration, combined process-and system-level evaluation, and the use of emergent constraints, that can contribute to the development of more robust evaluation schemes. An increasingly data-rich environment offers more opportunities for model evaluation, but also presents a challenge. Improved knowledge of data uncertainties is still necessary to move the field of ESM evaluation away from a "beauty contest" towards the development of useful constraints on model outcomes. © 2013 Author(s).This paper emerged from the GREENCYCLESII mini-conference “Evaluation of Earth system models using modern and palaeo-observations” held at Clare College, Cambridge, UK, in September 2012. We would like to thank the Marie Curie FP7 Research and Training Network GREENCYCLESII for providing funding which made this meeting possible. Research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7 2007–2013) under grant agreement no. 238366. The work of C. D. Jones was supported by the Joint DECC/Defra Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme (GA01101). N. R. Edwards acknowledges support from FP7 grant no. 265170 (ERMITAGE). N. Vázquez Riveiros acknowledges support from the AXA Research Fund and the Newton Trust

Galaxy and Mass Assembly: luminosity and stellar mass functions in GAMA groups

How do galaxy properties (such as stellar mass, luminosity, star formation rate, and morphology) and their evolution depend on the mass of their host dark matter halo? Using the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) group catalogue, we address this question by exploring the dependence on host halo mass of the luminosity function (LF) and stellar mass function (SMF) for grouped galaxies subdivided by colour, morphology and central/satellite. We find that spheroidal galaxies in particular dominate the bright and massive ends of the LF and SMF, respectively. More massive haloes host more massive and more luminous central galaxies. The satellite LF and SMF respectively show a systematic brightening of characteristic magnitude, and increase in characteristic mass, with increasing halo mass. In contrast to some previous results, the faint-end and low-mass slopes show little systematic dependence on halo mass. Semi-analytic models and simulations show similar or enhanced dependence of central mass and luminosity on halo mass. Faint and low-mass simulated satellite galaxies are remarkably independent of halo mass, but the most massive satellites are more common in more massive groups. In the first investigation of low-redshift LF and SMF evolution in group environments, we find that the red/blue ratio of galaxies in groups has increased since redshift $z \approx 0.3$ relative to the field population. This observation strongly suggests that quenching of star formation in galaxies as they are accreted into galaxy groups is a significant and ongoing process