Armonización del análisis NIRS de grasa de cerdo ibérico: transferencia de calibraciones de ácidos grasos

El objetivo del presente trabajo es mostrar la posibilidad de transferir ecuaciones de calibración para la determinación de ácidos grasos en grasa de cerdo Ibérico en diferentes instrumentos NIRS, empleando para ello cápsulas no selladas

[(7-chloroquinolin-4-yl)amino]acetophenones and their copper(II) derivatives

The synthesis of the compounds [(7-chloroquinolin-4-yl)amino]acetophenones (4, 5) and their copper(II) complexes (4a, 5a) is reported. The compounds were characterized using a wide range of spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques, such as FTIR, UV-vis, NMR, EPR, ESI-CID-MS2. The spectral results suggested that the ligand acted as chelating species coordinating the metal through the endocyclic nitrogen of the quinoline ring in both complexes, with general formulae ex pressed in two ways, according to the phase in which they are: [Cu(L)2Cl2] for solid phase and [Cu(L)2][2Cl] for liquid phase. The EPR study of the Cu (II) complexes indicated a probable distorted tetrahedral coordination geometry. This result was confirmed by the calculated optimized structures at the DFT/B3LYP method with the 6-31G (d,p) basis set. The characterization of the fragmentation pattern of protonated free ligands was extended here to fragments as low as m/z 43, while for coordination complexes it extends to fragments at m/z 80 and m/z 111. The antimalarial activity of the compounds was determined through three different tests: inhibitory activity against in vitro growth of Plasmodium falciparum (W2), inhibition of hemozoin formation (β-hematin) and in vitro inhibitory activity against recombinant falcipain-2, where compound 5 showed considerable activity. However, the activity of free ligands against P. falciparum was increased by complexing with the Cu (II) metal ion. The values of the HOMO-LUMO energy gap of 3.847 eV (4a) and 3.932 eV (5a) were interpreted with high chemical activity and thus, could influence on biological activity. In both compounds, the total electron density surface mapped with electrostatic po tential clearly revealed the presence of high negative charge on the Cu atom. Also, this study reported the molecular docking of free ligands (4, 5) using software package ArgusLab 4.0.1. The results revealed the importance of water molecules as interaction bridges through hydrogen bonds between free ligands and β-hematin; at the same time, the hypothesis that π–π interaction between quinoline derivatives and the electronic system of hematin governs the formation of adducts was confirmed

BRUCELOSIS HUMANA EN ESTUDIANTES DE LA ESCUELA DE BIOANÁLISIS, UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES-VENEZUELA

La brucelosis genera grandes pérdidas económicas tanto al productor como al país; produciendo graves problemas de salud pública ocasionados por el descuido en el control de la vacunación animal y medidas preventivas al hombre. En la Escuela de Bioánalisis de la Universidad de los Andes la gran mayoría de sus estudiantes provienen de zonas endémicas para la brucelosis como lo son: Santa Barbára del Zulia y El Vigia. Razón que nos motivó a realizar el presente estudio de investigación. Un total de 204 (29.9%) de los estudiantes se les aplicó una encuesta epidemiológica. Luego se les tomo 6 ml de sangre venosa para obtener el suero sanguíneo y ser analizados mediante las técnicas de Rosa de Bengala, la Microaglutinación en placa con fenol con 2-Mercaptoetanol. De esta manera conocer el porcentaje de seropositividad de dicha población estudiantil. Los resultados arrojados indicaron que 3 (1.47%) de los estudiantes fueron seropositivos y 203 (98.5%) seronegativos a los antígenos anti-Brucella sp. Lo que demuestra que en la Escuela de Bioánalisis existe la enfermedad. Abstract Brucellosis causes economic losses both to the producer and the country, producing serious piblic health problems due to the lack of control on animal vaccination and preventive measures to individuals. At the School of Bionalysis at the University of Los Antes, most of the students come from endemic regions to Brucellosis, such as: Santa Barbára del Zulia and El Vigia. This sitiation encouraged us to perform this research. 204 (29.9%) of the students were given a serological survey. Then, 6 ml of blood were drawn to obtain the blood serum and to be analyzed by the Rose Bengal technique, the Microagglutination on the a plate with phenol and 2mercapethanol. At his way could know the seropositive percentage of such student group. The results showed that 3 (1.47%) of the students were seropositive and 203 (98.5%) were seronegative to antigens like anti-Brucella sp. This proves that the disease exists at the School of Bionalysis. Palabras claves: Brucella, zoonosis, humanos, epidemiología, diagnóstico serólogic

AISLAMIENTO DE CEPAS DE BRUCCELLA sp., EN MUESTRAS DE LECHE BOVINA PRODUCIDAS EN FINCAS DEL SECTOR EL DOS DE SOCOPO, ESTADO DE BARINAS, VENEZUELA

La brucelosis es una enfermedad transmitida al ser humano; a través del contacto con los animales o consumo de productos lácteos sin pasteurizar. Es producida por una bacteria que pertenece al género Brucella. En el hombre la enfermedad causa problemas de salud y socioeconómicos; el riesgo de infección es mayor cuando existen deficientes hábitos sanitarios en la fabricación de productos lácteos y sus derivados provenientes de sitios que no cuentan con los debidos permisos sanitarios. Es por ello; que el presente trabajo de investigación tuvo como finalidad determinar la presencia de Brucella sp.; en leche cruda proveniente de rebaños lecheros ubicados en el sector El Dos de Socopó; Estado Barinas; mediante el aislamiento en agar Brucella. La identificación de las colonias aisladas se llevó a cabo por medio de pruebas bioquímicas estandarizadas para género Brucella y comparado con el sistema API 20 NE. Los resultados arrojaron el aislamiento e identificación de una cepa delgénero Brucella sp.; en una de las colonias representando el 8% de los aislamientos bacterianos. Esto nos permite concluir que la bacteria está presente en las fincas lecheras de esta región. Se sugiere a las autoridades competentes tomar medidas adecuadas de prevención y control en esta zoonosis. Abstract Brucellosis is an important disease transmitted to human; through no pasteurized dairy products. This pathology is caused by the genus Brucella.  In humans, causes health and socioeconomic problems; the infection risk is high when sanitary status in the dairy industry is low; usually in crafts factories without sanitary license . For this reason; the present investigation; has how initial objective to found antibodies against Brucella sp.; in raw milk samples from El Dos town in Socopo County of Barinas State; by isolation in Brucella medium.  Then; we were identifying by bacteriological methods described for Brucella and the API 20 NE system. The final results found a Brucella strain; it has been 8% of the isolates colonies. We has concluded that Brucella has been present in the dairy farms in this area; and recommend to official authorities that is necessary a efficient control and eradication plan in this zoonosis. Palabras claves: Brucella; aislamiento; rebaño lechero, dairy farms.

Are there consistent relationships between major connective tissue components, intramuscular fat content and muscle fibre types in cattle muscle?

peer-reviewedIntramuscular connective tissue (IMCT) is mainly composed of several fibrils (known as total collagen (TCol)) linked between each other by different chemical cross-links (CLs), the whole being embedded in a matrix of proteoglycans (PGs). In the field of beef quality, there is limited information on the role of CLs and PGs. Accordingly, several authors suggest that, to investigate the role of IMCT, it is important to investigate them just like TCol and insoluble collagen (ICol). In muscle, there are two other components, the muscle fibres and intramuscular fat (IMF) content. There are limited data on the relationships between these three components of muscle and then on possibility to independently manipulate these characteristics in order to control the final quality of meat. The present study aimed to investigate whether consistent relationships exist between these different components of muscle. Therefore, the present study compared four muscles of two cattle types (dairy and beef) to determine associations between TCol, ICol, CLs and PGs. Data were analysed across and within muscle (M) and animal type (AT) based on residuals. There was a strong M and AT effect for all muscle characteristics and an interaction M × AT for type I muscle fibres and IMF. Correlations between TCol, ICol and their CLs were M- and AT-independent. Total proteoglycans were positively correlated with TCol and ICol in a muscle-dependent manner irrespective of AT, but no correlation was found with CLs. On the contrary, CLs were negatively correlated with the ratio TPGs : TCol in an M-dependent manner, irrespective of AT. TCol, ICol and CLs were positively and negatively correlated with type IIA and IIB+X muscle fibres only in longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle, regardless the AT. Insoluble collagen was the only parameter of IMCT to be correlated with type I muscle fibres but only in LT muscle, irrespective of AT. There was no correlation between PGs and muscle fibre types, but PGs were the only IMCT component to be related with IMF in an M-dependent manner, irrespective of AT. Finally, there was no correlation between muscle fibre types and IMF content within M and AT. This study revealed that there is a strong relationship between IMCT components irrespective of M, an M-dependent relationship between the IMCT components and muscle fibre types and few (only with PGs) or no relationship between IMF and IMCT and muscle fibres

Susceptibility of Phoenix roebelenii to Xylella fastidiosa

Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Plant Health Panel analysed a dossier submitted by Costa Rica Authorities to reach a conclusion on the host status of Phoenix roebelenii for Xylella fastidiosa. The Panel wishes first to stress the difficulties faced in providing compelling evidence for the non-susceptibility status of any particular plant species. The Panel acknowledges that the listing of P. roebelenii as a host of X. fastidiosa rests on a single report from California. Because isolation of X. fastidiosa from some hosts can be difficult, the Panel considers that the failure to isolate X. fastidiosa from P. roebelenii cannot be used to totally discard the detection of X. fastidiosa by ELISA and PCR. The Panel concludes that the detection of X. fastidiosa by two independent techniques provides sufficient evidence, although not totally conclusive, for the listing of P. roebelenii as a X. fastidiosa host plant. Concerning the survey data provided in the Costa Rican dossier, the Panel wishes to stress that such surveys cannot demonstrate the non-host status but can only provide a probability bound, upper estimate of the proportion of infected plants in the field. In the present case, and assuming all survey parameters to be optimal, the 95% confidence incidence threshold obtained is 0.2%, leaving the possibility that close to 25,000 P. roebelenii plants could be infected but undetected in the country. Accepting a scenario of local, non-systemic infection of P. roebelenii by X. fastidiosa would further increase uncertainties. In addition, the absence of data on the vector infection pressure further affects the ability to derive meaningful information on the P. roebelenii host status from the survey data. Appropriately conducted mechanical and/or vector-mediated inoculation experiments are critical to reach a more solid conclusion on the X. fastidiosa host status of P. roebelenii

Evaluation of spent coffee obtained from the most common coffeemakers as a source of hydrophilic bioactive compounds

The main hydrophilic antioxidant compounds (3-, 4-, and 5-monocaffeoylquinic and 3,4-, 3,5-, and 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acids, caffeine, and browned compounds, including melanoidins) and the antioxidant capacity (Folin-Ciocalteu, ABTS, DPPH, Fremy's salt, and TEMPO) were evaluated in Arabica and Robusta spent coffee obtained from the preparation of coffee brews with the most common coffeemakers (filter, espresso, plunger, and mocha). All spent coffee grounds, with the exception of those from the mocha coffeemaker, had relevant amounts of total caffeoylquinic acids (6.22-13.24 mg/g of spent coffee), mainly dicaffeoylquinic acids (3.31-5.79 mg/g of spent coffee), which were 4-7-fold higher than in their respective coffee brews. Caffeine ranged from 3.59 to 8.09 mg/g of spent coffee. The antioxidant capacities of the aqueous spent coffee extracts were 46.0-102.3% (filter), 59.2-85.6% (espresso), and <42% (plunger) in comparison to their respective coffee brews. This study obtained spent coffee extracts with antioxidant properties that can be used as a good source of hydrophilic bioactive compounds

Strategies to design clinical studies to identify predictive biomarkers in cancer research

The discovery of reliable biomarkers to predict efficacy and toxicity of anticancer drugs remains one of the key challenges in cancer research. Despite its relevance, no efficient study designs to identify promising candidate biomarkers have been established. This has led to the proliferation of a myriad of exploratory studies using dissimilar strategies, most of which fail to identify any promising targets and are seldom validated. The lack of a proper methodology also determines that many anti-cancer drugs are developed below their potential, due to failure to identify predictive biomarkers. While some drugs will be systematically administered to many patients who will not benefit from them, leading to unnecessary toxicities and costs, others will never reach registration due to our inability to identify the specific patient population in which they are active. Despite these drawbacks, a limited number of outstanding predictive biomarkers have been successfully identified and validated, and have changed the standard practice of oncology. In this manuscript, a multidisciplinary panel reviews how those key biomarkers were identified and, based on those experiences, proposes a methodological framework—the DESIGN guidelines—to standardize the clinical design of biomarker identification studies and to develop future research in this pivotal field