Manglar vivo en Cuba : costos y beneficios de las acciones basadas en ecosistemas. Análisis económico-ecológico en las provincias Sur Artemisa y Mayabeque

En Cuba, las poblaciones del sur de las provincias Artemisa y Mayabeque han sido afectadas por la indiscriminada tala de sus manglares durante años, lo que ha provocado la afectación de sus servicios ecosistémicos. La adaptación basada en el ecosistema (ABE) constituye un enfoque alternativo para aumentar la resiliencia de las comunidades vulnerables.El análisis de costo-beneficio es un método económico empleado para evaluar las opciones de inversión, donde se comparan directamente los costos y beneficios en términos monetarios. Esto muestra el impacto en valor de una manera que es fácil de entender por los tomadores de decisiones. En esta contribución se analizan los principales costos por: restauración, mantenimiento, activos fungibles, combustible, equipamiento y proyectos de conservación ejecutados, así como los beneficios obtenidos por estas acciones de ABEen el valor de los servicios ecosistémicosdelmanglar en estas localidades. De ellos se consideraron cinco servicios de provisión y seis de regulación y soporte. Se desarrollaron tres escenarios: un escenario base y dos modificados. La relación beneficio-costo varió de 6.81 a 14.91de acuerdo con elescenario reportado entre los tres escenarios realizados. Ello evidencia que por cada peso invertido se obtuvo un beneficio económico-ecológico superior a 6 pesos, demostrando así la rentabilidad integral de la aplicación del enfoque ABE en las zonas de trabajo.In Cuba, populations in the southern provinces of Artemisa and Mayabeque have been affected by the indiscriminate deforestation of their mangroves for years, which has affected their ecosystem services. Ecosystem-based adaptation (EBA) is an alternative approach to increasing the resilience of vulnerable communities. Cost-benefit analysis is an economic method used to evaluate investment options, where costs and benefits are directly compared in monetary terms. This shows the impact of the environmental management strategies applied in a way that is easy for decision makers to understand. This contribution analyzes the main costs for the restoration, maintenance, consumable assets, fuel, equipment and executed conservation projects, as well as the benefits obtained by these EBA actions in the value of the ecosystem services of the mangroves in these localities. Of these, the study includes five provision services and six regulation and support services. It also develops three scenarios: a base scenario for the areas intervened and two modified ones changing cost and area size assumptions. The benefit-cost ratio ranged from 6.81 to 15.25 according to the reported scenario of the three scenarios developed. This shows that each peso invested yielded an ecological economic benefit of more than 6 pesos, thus demonstrating the integral net benefits to the inhabitants of the region and the country of the application of the EBA approach in these study areas

Microencapsulation of ellagic acid from pomegranate husk and karaya gum by spray drying

Objective: The aim of this study was to obtain and characterize microcapsules with Ellagic Acid (EA) from pomegranate as core material and Karaya Gum (KG) as wall material. Methods: EA was obtained from dry pomegranate peel powder via methanolysis and quantified by HPLC. Microcapsules were obtained preparing a dispersion containing KG and EA in phosphate buffer pH 8. The dispersion was processed in a spray dryer under specific conditions (inlet temperature at 150 °C, feed flow at 30% and aspirator at 100 %) for obtaining of microcapsules. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used for characterization. Results: Obtained material contains 98.03±2.82 mg EA/g of pomegranate peel. FTIR showed that there were changes in the molecular structure of microcapsules referred to raw materials. SEM confirmed that particles obtained had micron-size (1-5 µm). DSC analysis showed that raw materials had glass transition temperatures of 79.58 and 83.41 °C and for microcapsules the value was67.25 °C. Conclusion: Methanolysis is a viable technique for the obtaining of EA from the peel of pomegranate. KG shows good potential for be used as wall material for EA microencapsulation

Candelilla wax edible coating with Flourensia cernua bioactives to prolong the quality of tomato fruits

The improvement of the postharvest quality of tomato fruits was evaluated using an edible coating functionalized with an Flourensia cernua extract evaluating the antifungal, structural, barrier, and optical properties. The formulation and evaluation of an edible coating and its application on tomato was evaluated using a response surface methodology to determine the ideal concentrations of candelilla wax, whey protein, and glycerol. Edible films showed good barrier properties, with water vapor permeability varying from 0.4350.404 g mm/m2 day kPa. The addition o F. cernua extract showed significant improvement in the transparency of films. The edible coating applied to tomato reduced weight and firmness loss. The sensory evaluation proved that the product obtained is acceptable for consumers. The edible coating added with F. cernua extract was the most effective in inhibiting the growth of pathogenic fungi and the visual appearance at the end of storage confirmed the beneficial effect of the edible coating.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Hydrothermal–microwave processing for starch extraction from mexican avocado seeds: operational conditions and characterization

Avocado seeds are an agroindustrial residue widely produced in Mexico that are causing various environmental problems due to their accumulation. The evaluation of avocado residues to recover biopolymers by microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and the characterization of avocado starch properties were studied in the present work. A central-composite design was used to optimize the MAE process. Moreover, a comparison was performed between MAE non-isothermal mode (NO–ISO) and conventional extraction. Starch optimization by MAE was obtained at 161.09 °C for 56.23 min with an extraction yield of 49.52% ± 0.69%, while with NO–ISO at 161 °C was obtained 45.75% ± 2.18%. Conventional extraction was 39.04% ± 2.22%. Compared with conventional starch, MAE starch showed similar proprieties and molecular spectra. In contrast, MAE starch showed high solubility, low water absorption capacity, a non-granular structure with small particle size (<2 μm) and polydispersity of fragments at different sizes of polymers. Therefore, MAE is a viable technology to extract the starch, and avocado seed can be considered an excellent starch source for the development of novel functional foods, contributing to promoting sustainability across the food chain.N/Ainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

TELMA: Entorno de formación personalizada online en Cirugía de Mínima Invasión

TELMA es un entorno de formación y aprendizaje online basado en edición de vídeo laparoscópico, la gestión del conocimiento y el trabajo colaborativo con el fin de mejorar la efectividad y eficacia de los procesos de formación (inicial y continuada) de los cirujanos de Cirugía de Mínima Invasión (CMI). TELMA explota el uso del vídeo laparoscópico como el núcleo de los contenidos didácticos y hace uso de tecnologías de formación online y gestión de contenidos digitales multimedia, para mejorar la adaptación, calidad y eficiencia del servicio ofrecido al usuario. TELMA persigue acortar las curvas de aprendizaje, proporcionando a los cirujanos un acceso ubicuo a contenidos educativos y metodologías didácticas, dotando al aprendizaje de mayor interactividad y proporcionando a los alumnos un papel más activo, una mejor adquisición de los conocimientos y habilidades y un mayor uso de las fuentes de información disponibles

Isogenic GAA-KO Murine Muscle Cell Lines Mimicking Severe Pompe Mutations as Preclinical Models for the Screening of Potential Gene Therapy Strategies

Pompe disease (PD) is a rare disorder caused by mutations in the acid alpha-glucosidase (GAA) gene. Most gene therapies (GT) partially rely on the cross-correction of unmodified cells through the uptake of the GAA enzyme secreted by corrected cells. In the present study, we generated isogenic murine GAA-KO cell lines resembling severe mutations from Pompe patients. All of the generated GAA-KO cells lacked GAA activity and presented an increased autophagy and increased glycogen content by means of myotube differentiation as well as the downregulation of mannose 6-phosphate receptors (CI-MPRs), validating them as models for PD. Additionally, different chimeric murine GAA proteins (IFG, IFLG and 2G) were designed with the aim to improve their therapeutic activity. Phenotypic rescue analyses using lentiviral vectors point to IFG chimera as the best candidate in restoring GAA activity, normalising the autophagic marker p62 and surface levels of CI-MPRs. Interestingly, in vivo administration of liver-directed AAVs expressing the chimeras further confirmed the good behaviour of IFG, achieving cross-correction in heart tissue. In summary, we generated different isogenic murine muscle cell lines mimicking the severe PD phenotype, as well as validating their applicability as preclinical models in order to reduce animal experimentation.Fundacion Poco Frecuente (Almeria)Asociacion Espanola de Enfermos de Glucogenosis (AEEG)Asociacion Espanola de Enfermos de Pompe (AEEP

Caracterización de huertos urbanos y periurbanos de Xalapa de Enríquez, Veracruz

La necesidad de adquirir alimentos de forma adecuada y sana ha llevado a buscar y fortalecer alternativas para su producción; en las ciudades se practica la agricultura urbana y periurbana (AUyP) y Xalapa, Veracruz, México, es un ejemplo de ello. Desde el año 2013 se autogestiono la Red de Agricultura Urbana y Periurbana de Xalapa (RAUPX), en la cual se centró el objetivo de la presente investigación, que consistió en caracterizar los huertos de la RAUPX, en función de las variables: tamaño de huerto, diversidad (índice de Shannon), presencia de artropofauna y prácticas de manejo fitosanitarias; con el fin de diagnosticar y aportar propuestas para mejorar el manejo integrado de plagas. Los resultados incluyen datos generales productor-huerto tales como rango de edad, nivel de estudios, superficie, familias botánicas representativas, presencia de artropofauna en relación con las especies cultivadas y manejo de prácticas fitosanitarias de acuerdo con su complejidad. Las prácticas fitosanitarias que realizan los productores son de forma correctiva en vez de preventiva y están moderadamente relacionadas con la presencia de plagas

Sustainable Ethanol Production From Sugarcane Molasses by Saccharomyces cerevisiae Immobilized on Chitosan-Coated Manganese Ferrite

The interaction between nanostructures and yeast cells, as well as the description of the effect of nanoparticles in ethanol production are open questions in the development of this nanobiotechnological process. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the ethanol production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the free and immobilized state on chitosan-coated manganese ferrite, using cane molasses as a carbon source. To obtain the chitosan-coated manganese ferrite, the one-step coprecipitation method was used. The nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction obtaining the typical diffraction pattern. The crystal size was calculated by the Scherrer equation as 15.2 nm. The kinetics of sugar consumption and ethanol production were evaluated by HPLC. With the immobilized system, it was possible to obtain an ethanol concentration of 56.15 g/L, as well as the total sugar consumption at 24 h of fermentation. Productivity and yield in this case were 2.3 ± 0.2 g/(L * h) and 0.28 ± 0.03, respectively. However, at the same time in the fermentation with free yeast, 39.1 g/L were obtained. The total consumption of fermentable sugar was observed only after 42 h, reaching an ethanol titer of 50.7 ± 3.1, productivity and yield of 1.4 ± 0.3 g/(L * h) and 0.25 ± 0.4, respectively. Therefore, a reduction in fermentation time, higher ethanol titer and productivity were demonstrated in the presence of nanoparticles. The application of manganese ferrite nanoparticles shows a beneficial effect on ethanol production. Research focused on the task of defining the mechanism of their action and evaluation of the reuse of biomass immobilized on manganese ferrite in the ethanol production process should be carried out in the future