Cyclodextrins: properties and applications of inclusion complex formation

Las ciclodextrinas son macromoléculas formadas por distinto número de residuos de D(+) glucopiranosa unidos mediante enlaces a(1-4). Las más utilizadas son la a-, 13- y y-CD que contienen 6,7 y 8 moléculas de glucopiranosa respectivamente. A pesar de que son muy hidrosolubles, el interior de la cavidad de las ciclodextrinas es apolar, por lo que son capaces de formar complejos de inclusión con distintos tipos de moléculas que se alojan en su interior. La mayoría de las aplicaciones de las ciclodextrinas en la industria están encaminadas a mejorar las características del producto terminado (solubilidad, caracteres organolépticos) y a incrementar la estabilidad de los compuestos lábiles. En este artículo se comentan algunas de las aplicaciones de las ciclodextrinas en la industria farmacéutica y en catálisis química así como en química analítica. La formación de los complejos de inclusión incrementa la selectividad y la sensibilidad de la mayoría de los métodos analíticos.Cyclodextrins are macrocyclic compounds consisting of a varying number of D(+) glucopiranose residues linked through a(1-4) bonds. The most widely used are a-, 13-, y-cyclodextrins containing respectively 6,7 and 8 glucose units. In spite of their high aqueous solubility, the inner cyclodextrin cavity is non-polar and they can form complexes with many types of molecules placed inside this cavity. Most industrial applications of cyclodextrins aim at improving certain properties offmished products (solubility, organoleptic properties, stability). In this article several applications of cyclodextrins to pharmaceutical industry and chemical catalysis are reviewed. Analytical applications are al so considered, since cyclodextrin inclusion improves the sensitivity and selectivity of most analytical methods

Ecological momentary assessment for chronic pain in fibromyalgia using a smartphone: A randomized crossover study

Background Daily diaries are a useful way of measuring fluctuations in pain-related symptoms. However, traditional diaries do not assure the gathering of data in real time, not solving the problem of retrospective assessment. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) by means of electronic diaries helps to improve repeated assessment. However, it is important to test its feasibility in specific populations in order to reach a wider number of people who could benefit from these procedures. Methods The present study compares the compliance and acceptability of an electronic diary running on a smartphone using a crossover design for a sample with a specific pain condition, fibromyalgia and low familiarity with technology. Forty-seven participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (1) paper diary smartphone diary and (2) smartphone diary paper diary, using each assessment method for 1 week. Results The findings of this study showed that the smartphone diary made it possible to gather more accurate and complete ratings. Besides, this method was well accepted by a sample of patients with fibromyalgia referred by a public hospital, with an important proportion of participants with low level of education and low familiarity with technology. Conclusions The findings of this study support the use of smartphones for EMA even in specific populations with a specific pain condition, fibromyalgia and with low familiarity with technology. These methods could help clinicians and researchers to gather more accurate ratings of relevant pain-related variables even in populations with low familiarity with technology.The research presented in this paper was funded in part by Fundacio La Marato de TV3 (Ajuts de la Marato de TV3 2006), Plan de Promocion de la investigacion Universitat Jaume I, (Fundacio Caixa Castello-Bancaixa, P11B2009-30) and by Generalitat Valenciana, Redes de Excelencia ISIC (ISIC/2012/012).Garcia-Palacios, A.; Herrero, R.; Belmonte, M.; Castilla, D.; Guixeres Provinciale, J.; Molinari, G.; Baños, R.... (2014). Ecological momentary assessment for chronic pain in fibromyalgia using a smartphone: A randomized crossover study. European Journal of Pain. 18(6):862-872. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1532-2149.2013.00425.xS86287218

Elche dates (phoenix dactylifera l.) responses to different post-harvest exogenous treatment

[SPA] Los dátiles recolectados en el palmeral de Elche, el más grande de Europa, se encarecen por 3 razones básicamente: 1-como la reproducción tradicionalmente ha sido por semillas, existe una gran variabilidad y por tanto poca homogeneidad del producto. 2-Como la maduración de los dátiles es muy heterogénea dentro de un racimo, son necesarias varias recolecciones para obtener todos los dátiles de una palmera. 3- Como maduran en otoño, hay riesgo de lluvias, lo que ocasiona grandes pérdidas de dátiles. Por estas razones, se han estudiado dátiles que pertenecen a palmeras de 3 huertos denominados Caqui, Los Olmos y Los Cherros. El objetivo de este trabajo ha sido estudiar la efectividad de los tratamientos con ácido acético, congelación o vaporización de dátiles en estado khalal, para acelerar su maduración artificialmente y poder recolectar los dátiles por racimos enteros y antes de las lluvias, lo que aumentaría la producción de dátiles y a menor coste, a la vez que aumentaría la época en la que podrían salir al mercado. Para ello se han estudiado en los dátiles antes y después del tratamiento, el peso, para estudiar las posibles pérdidas debidas a los tratamientos, la firmeza, los sólidos solubles totales, acidez, índice de madurez y el color externo, así como un test organoléptico. Los resultados indican que los dátiles pertenecientes a los huertos Caqui y Los Olmos han madurado con buena calidad organoléptica al ser tratados con ácido acético y al congelamiento, pero no se ha conseguido dátiles de calidad por el método de vaporización en ningún tipo de dátil. Sin embargo, los dátiles de Los Cherros no han madurado con buen estado organoléptico con ningún tratamiento. [ENG] Dates harvested from Elche grove, the biggest within Europe, became expensive due to three reasons: 1- Plant reproduction has been traditionally through seeds, therefore products present a high variability, 2- Date ripening within a cluster is heterogeneous, therefore several harvests are needed to obtain all the fruits form a palm tree, 3- Ripening occurs during autumn, when rain can cause lose of yield. Date fruits from different palm trees belonging to 3 orchards, Caqui, Los Olmos and Los Cherros have been studied. The aim off the present work has been to study the effectiveness of three ripening treatments during khalal stage: acetic acid, freezing and vaporization, to accelerate ripening artificially. This will allow us to collect all dates from a cluster at the same time and before the rains, which would increase date yield, at a lower cost, and also would increase the marketing period. Different parameters have been measured in date fruits before and after the treatments, as: fresh weight, firmness, total soluble solids, acidity, ripening index, external colour and also an organoleptic test was carried out. Results indicated that dates from Caqui and Los Olmos orchards have ripen with a good organoleptic quality when treated with acetic acid and freezing treatment, but not quality dates were obtained with vaporization treatment. Dates fruits from Los Cherros orchard did not present a good sensorial analysis under any of the ripening treatments.Agradecemos a la empresa Viveros Huerto del Cura S.A. la donación del material vegetal, sin el cual no se hubiera podido realizar este trabajo

Estrategias de conservación para Cotoneaster granatensis (Rosaceae), especie catalogada En Peligro de Extinción en la Comunitat Valenciana (España)

Cotoneaster granatensis (Rosaceae) is an endangered species in the Valencian Community with two natural populations known and 37 wild plants located in Alicante province. The strategy applied for conservation of this species comprises three steps in a cyclical method: in situ (first step) - ex situ - in situ (second step). Current conservation status for this species has been evaluated as a part of the first step in situ actions. Ex situ conservation activities consisted of germplasm conservation on seed banks, creation and maintenance of collections of livings plants and production of new plants in order to develop reintroductions (in situ actions: second step) in natural populations. The seed germination is a complex issue, but an effective protocol has been established reaching values over 60% of germination. The plant propagation by cuttings has not been successful. In situ actions such as reducing the threat of herbivory has been also essential to enhance natural populations. The initial results on plantations in the natural habitat show high survival rates of specimens

Study of KS KL Coupled Decays and KL -Be Interactions with the CMD-2 Detector at VEPP-2M Collider

The integrated luminosity about 4000 inverse nanobarn of around phi meson mass ( 5 millions of phi mesons) has been collected with the CMD-2 detector at the VEPP-2M collider. A latest analysis of the KS KL coupled decays based on 30 % of available data is presented in this paper. The KS KL pairs from phi meson decays were reconstructed in the drift chamber when both kaons decayed into two charged particles. From a sample of 1423 coupled decays a selection of candidates to the CP violating KL into pi+ pi- decay was performed. CP violating decays were not identified because of the domination of events with a KL regenerating at the Be beam pipe into KS and a background from KL semileptonic decays. The regeneration cross section of 110 MeV/c KL mesons was found to be 53 +- 17 mb in agreement with theoretical expectations. The angular distribution of KS mesons after regeneration and the total cross section of KL for Be have been measured.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Search for composite and exotic fermions at LEP 2

A search for unstable heavy fermions with the DELPHI detector at LEP is reported. Sequential and non-canonical leptons, as well as excited leptons and quarks, are considered. The data analysed correspond to an integrated luminosity of about 48 pb^{-1} at an e^+e^- centre-of-mass energy of 183 GeV and about 20 pb^{-1} equally shared between the centre-of-mass energies of 172 GeV and 161 GeV. The search for pair-produced new leptons establishes 95% confidence level mass limits in the region between 70 GeV/c^2 and 90 GeV/c^2, depending on the channel. The search for singly produced excited leptons and quarks establishes upper limits on the ratio of the coupling of the excited fermio

Search for lightest neutralino and stau pair production in light gravitino scenarios with stau NLSP

Promptly decaying lightest neutralinos and long-lived staus are searched for in the context of light gravitino scenarios. It is assumed that the stau is the next to lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) and that the lightest neutralino is the next to NLSP (NNLSP). Data collected with the Delphi detector at centre-of-mass energies from 161 to 183 \GeV are analysed. No evidence of the production of these particles is found. Hence, lower mass limits for both kinds of particles are set at 95% C.L.. The mass of gaugino-like neutralinos is found to be greater than 71.5 GeV/c^2. In the search for long-lived stau, masses less than 70.0 to 77.5 \GeVcc are excluded for gravitino masses from 10 to 150 \eVcc . Combining this search with the searches for stable heavy leptons and Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model staus a lower limit of 68.5 \GeVcc may be set for the stau mas

Clinical Practice Guideline on Melanoma From the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV)

El diagnóstico y tratamiento del melanoma en atención especializada es un campo en el que se han producido numerosos cambios. El objetivo de esta guía es ofrecer a los dermatólogos españoles una referencia para resolver las dudas clínicas más frecuentes basándose en la evidencia actual. Para la realización de esta guía se escogió a miembros del Grupo Español de Dermato-Oncología y Cirugía con experiencia en el tratamiento de estos tumores y con interés en participar en la elaboración de la guía. Se hizo una adaptación de las guías de práctica clínica existentes mediante el método ADAPTE: inicialmente se resumió el proceso de atención y se elaboraron las preguntas clínicas relevantes. Se seleccionaron las guías mejor puntuadas mediante el instrumento AGREE II, realizando la búsqueda de las respuestas en dichas guías y elaborando las recomendaciones. Finalmente se sometió la guía a revisión externa. La guía se estructuró a partir de 21 preguntas clínicas que fueron seleccionadas por su relevancia, dado que se centran en aspectos que pueden plantear decisiones difíciles en el manejo del melanoma, y se han respondido empleando la evidencia obtenida de las mejores guías existentes. Entre las limitaciones de esta guía merece reseñarse que la evidencia es escasa para responder a algunas preguntas. En algunos aspectos el cambio es rápido y exige una actualización frecuente de la guía. Esta guía responde a preguntas habituales sobre el manejo del melanoma en la práctica clínica diaria, sirviendo a los dermatólogos como referencia en la toma de decisiones, siempre teniendo presente los recursos y preferencias del paciente

Proceedings of SuperB Workshop VI: New Physics at the Super Flavor Factory

The sixth SuperB Workshop was convened in response to questions posed by the INFN Review Committee, evaluating the SuperB project at the request of INFN. The working groups addressed the capability of a high-luminosity flavor factory that can gather a data sample of 50 to 75 /ab in five years to elucidate New Physics phenomena unearthed at the LHC. This report summarizes the results of the Workshop.Comment: Updated author lis