Estudio de viabilidad para la comercialización de fruta en polvo

[ES] La fruta en polvo puede ser una alternativa para promover su consumo entre la población. Algunas ventajas de este formato son la mucha mayor estabilidad de producto y la mayor comodidad de su manejo, en relación con su mayor facilidad de transporte y almacenamiento. La obtención de fruta en polvo puede ser por técnicas de liofilización o atomización. La elección de una u otra técnica debe contemplar aspectos de calidad del producto y también su coste. Desde este punto de vista, en este trabajo, se han comparado diferentes productos de pomelo en polvo obtenidos por atomización y por liofilización. Para cada uno de ellos se ha analizado su humedad, higroscopicidad, porosidad, solubilidad, actividad enzimática, color, contenido en carotenoides, fenoles y flavonoides totales, así como en vitamina C y capacidad antioxidante. Además se ha calculado su precio, a escala de laboratorio, considerando el coste de las materias primas utilizadas en cada caso, el rendimiento de producto en polvo obtenido y el coste asociado al consumo eléctrico de cada equipo empleado en cada proceso. Los resultados obtenidos permiten recomendar la liofilización frente a la atomización para la obtención de pomelo en polvo. Las altas temperaturas a las que se somete al producto durante la atomización hacen que se pierda una cantidad importante de compuestos funcionales y se afecte el color del producto. Además, especialmente el bajo rendimiento de este proceso, hace que el precio del producto atomizado sea del orden de tres veces mayor que el del liofilizado.[EN] Powdered fruit can be an alternative to promote its consumption among the population. Some advantages of this product format are the much greater product stability and the convenience of its handling, relative to its easier transport and storage. Obtaining fruit powder can be by spray or freeze-drying techniques. Choosing one or the other technique should include aspects of product quality and its cost. From this point of view, in this work, we have compared different grapefruit powder products obtained by freeze and spray-drying. For each powdered product we have analyzed its moisture, hygroscopicity, porosity, solubility, enzymatic activity, color, total carotenoid, phenols and flavonoids content, also as vitamin C, and the antioxidant capacity. Also their price was calculated, at a laboratory scale, considering the cost of the raw materials used in each case, the performance of the obtained powder and the cost associated with power consumption of each equipment used in each process. The results allow us to recommend freeze-drying to obtain powdered grapefruit. The high temperatures to which the product is subjected during spraydrying cause a significant lost of functional compounds and an impact in the color of the product. Furthermore, especially the low performance of this process, leads to a price of the spray-dried product in the order of three times greater than that of the lyophilized one.Casanova González, MÁ. (2014). Estudio de viabilidad para la comercialización de fruta en polvo. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/39792.Archivo delegad

Viabilidad económica de producción industrial de fruta en polvo en función del proceso

[ES] La fruta en polvo puede ser una alternativa para promover su consumo entre la población. Algunas ventajas de este formato son la mucha mayor estabilidad de producto y la mayor comodidad de su manejo, en relación con su mayor facilidad de transporte y almacenamiento. La obtención de fruta en polvo puede ser por diferentes técnicas, entre ellas, las seleccionadas para este estudio han sido, la liofilización o la atomización. La elección de una u otra técnica debe contemplar aspectos de calidad del producto y también su coste. Ambos procesos proporcionan productos en polvo de muy alta calidad. En el caso concreto de la fruta en polvo, estudios previos han puesto de manifiesto una mejor calidad del producto liofilizado. No obstante, no se dispone de ningún estudio económico que compare la rentabilidad económica y el coste de producción industrial de fruta en polvo por ambos procesos. Por ello, éste es el objetivo que se propone para este trabajo. Desde el punto de vista técnico, las diferencias más importantes entre ambos procesos radican en que para la liofilización se requiere la congelación previa del puré de la fruta y la posterior sublimación del hielo formado en una etapa que normalmente se realiza a baja presión. Por su parte, para la atomización se requiere una etapa previa de licuado de la fruta y además, por la composición del licuado, este proceso ofrece un rendimiento muy bajo de producto en polvo. Desde un punto de vista económico, tendrá que considerarse, para cada uno de los procesos, el cálculo de la inversión inicial necesaria y los costes tanto fijos como variables. A partir de esta información se procederá al estudio de la viabilidad económica de cada proceso. Además se pretende estimar un precio mínimo de venta del producto dependiendo del formato de envasado.[EN] The fruit powder can be an alternative to promote consumption among the population. Some advantages of this format are much greater product stability and convenience of handling, relative to its ease of transportation and storage. Obtaining fruit powder can be by various techniques, including those selected for this study were, lyophilization or atomization. The choice of one or another technique should include aspects of product quality and cost. Both processes provide powders of very high quality. In the case of fruit powder, previous studies have shown a better quality of lyophilized product. However, there are no any economic study comparing the profitability and cost of industrial production of powdered fruit for both processes. Therefore, this is the objective proposed for this work. From the technical point of view, the most important differences between the two processes are that prior to lyophilization freezing fruit puree and subsequent sublimation of ice formed on a stage which is usually done at low pressure is required. Meanwhile, for atomization a previous stage of fruit smoothie is required and also the composition of the liquid, this process offers a very low yield of powder. From an economic point of view, it will be considered for each of the processes, the calculation of the initial investment required and both fixed and variable costs. From this information we will proceed to study the economic viability of each process. In addition, it is intended to estimate a minimum selling price depending on the product packaging format.Casanova González, MÁ. (2016). Viabilidad económica de producción industrial de fruta en polvo en función del proceso. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/67599.TFG

Study of the behaviour of adhesive joints of steel with CFRP for its application in bus structures

In recent years, the use of adhesives in structural applications is growing, achieving a great current implementation in the industry, due to the benefits that this technology is capable of providing to complex-shaped structures, both in aerospace and automotive applications. Adhesive joints show many advantages in comparison with other traditional joints such as welded joints, because they offer a continuous joint with homogeneous stress distribution, they are able to joint dissimilar materials (such metals and composite materials) and they do not require large investments. Current bus steel structures present fatigue problems due to the rigidity of the commonly used welded joints. Crack problems due to fatigue are evident in the areas of the bus structure closest to the rear door, being the joint between the side vertical pillars and the waist rail the most critical. A finite element model (FEM) of a bus steel structure is developed, in order to obtain the forces that work on the reference node. From the obtained force values, the value and type of stress at the reference node are calculated. A new carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) node is developed, replacing the existing welded joint by steel-CFRP adhesive joint. The new node design allows to obtain mainly shear stress. Because of that, single lap joint specimens are developed to carry out the experimental procedure. This work is focused on the study of a structural adhesive for its application in this new type of joint taking also into consideration manufacturing criteria (mounting periods, costs, etc.). This new adhesive joint shows strength values an order of magnitude higher than the requests at the node, and higher than 30% of strain values, minimizing fatigue problems.This research was supported by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain, under grants TRA2014-56471-C4-1-R and TRA2014-56471-C4-2-R. The authors gratefully acknowledge the collaboration of Castrosua S. A. who provided with the CAD information and let making tests over a manufacturing specimen and Sika S.A.U. España for supplying the adhesive

Las clases sociales en México

El análisis de la estructura de clases en México, de sus características y de su evolución, constituye una tarea previa indispensable para valorar objetivamente la situación actual y para proyectar las transformaciones futuras. La Editorial Nuestro Tiempo considera que al poner al alcance del público esta colección de ensayos, coadyuva a estimular el interés en el análisis de este problema crucial en la vida nacional

Haloalkalitolerant Actinobacteria with capacity for anthracene degradation isolated from soils close to areas with oil activity in the State of Veracruz, Mexico

The use of native strains of microorganisms from soils is an excellent option for bioremediation. To our knowledge, until now there has been no other group working on the isolation of Actinobacteria from contaminated soils in Mexico. In this study, samples of soils close to areas with oil activity in the State of Veracruz, Mexico, were inoculated for the isolation of Actinobacteria. The strains isolated were characterized morphologically, and the concentrations of NaCl and pH were determined for optimal growth. Strain selection was performed by the detection of a phylogenetic marker for Actinobacteria located at the 23S rRNA gene, followed by species identification by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene. Several haloalkalitolerant Actinobacteria were isolated and identified as: Kocuria rosea, K. palustris, Microbacterium testaceum, Nocardia farcinica and Cellulomonas denverensis. Except for C. denverensis, the biomass of all strains increased in the presence of anthracene. The strains capacity to metabolize anthracene (at 48 h), determined by fluorescence emission, was in the range of 46–54%. During this time, dihydroxy aromatic compounds formed, characterized by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy bands of 1205 cm–1 and 1217 cm–1. Those Actinobacteria are potentially useful for the bioremediation of saline and alkaline environments contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds. [Int Microbiol 2016; 19(1):15-26]Keywords: Kocuria · Microbacterium · haloalkalitolerant Actinobacteria · anthracene degradation · State of Veracruz, Mexic

Focal adhesion genes refine the intermediate-risk cytogenetic classification of acute myeloid leukemia

© 2018 by the authors.In recent years, several attempts have been made to identify novel prognostic markers in patients with intermediate-risk acute myeloid leukemia (IR-AML), to implement risk-adapted strategies. The non-receptor tyrosine kinases are proteins involved in regulation of cell growth, adhesion, migration and apoptosis. They associate with metastatic dissemination in solid tumors and poor prognosis. However, their role in haematological malignancies has been scarcely studied. We hypothesized that PTK2/FAK, PTK2B/PYK2, LYN or SRC could be new prognostic markers in IR-AML. We assessed PTK2, PTK2B, LYN and SRC gene expression in a cohort of 324 patients, adults up to the age of 70, classified in the IR-AML cytogenetic group. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that PTK2B, LYN and PTK2 gene expression are independent prognostic factors in IR-AML patients. PTK2B and LYN identify a patient subgroup with good prognosis within the cohort with non-favorable FLT3/NPM1 combined mutations. In contrast, PTK2 identifies a patient subgroup with poor prognosis within the worst prognosis cohort who display non-favorable FLT3/NPM1 combined mutations and underexpression of PTK2B or LYN. The combined use of these markers can refine the highly heterogeneous intermediate-risk subgroup of AML patients, and allow the development of risk-adapted post-remission chemotherapy protocols to improve their response to treatment.Pallarès, VictorThis work was supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Co-funding from FEDER) [CD13/00074 to V.P., PI15/00378 and PIE15/00028 to R.M., FIS PI17/01246, RD12/0036/0071 and FIS PI14/00450 to J.S., RD12/0036/0069 to M.G.., ISCIII-PS13/1640 and PI16/0665 to E.B., and RD12/0036/0014 and PIE13/00046 to M.A.S.] CIBERONC [CB16/12/00284 to M.A.S.]; CIBER-BBN [CBV6/01/1031 and Nanomets3 to R.M.]; AGAUR [2017 FI_B 00680 to A.F.; 2017-SGR-865 and 2014PROD0005 to R.M. and 2014-SGR-1281 to J.S.]; Fundació La Marató TV3 [416/C/2013-2030 to R.M., 100830/31/32 to J.S., M.G.. and M.A.S.]; Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute [P/AG 2017 to R.M.]; Spanish Health Research Program [PI12/02321 to M.G..]; Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) [to M.C.C.]; a grant from the Cellex Foundation, Barcelona [to J.S.]; a grant from La Generalitat de Catalunya (PERIS) [SLT002/16/00433 to J.S.]; and a grant from Fundación Española de Hematología y Hemoterapia (FEHH) [to V.P.]

Multi-technical approach for the characterization of polychrome decorative surfaces at Spanish Mission Churches in Nueva Vizcaya (Chihuahua, Mexico)

An interdisciplinary and multi-institutional group of science and art conservation specialists has provided new insight into the painting materials used in the polychrome walls and wooden ceilings in four seventeenth century Spanish colonial churches of Nueva Vizcaya (Chihuahua, Mexico). A multi-analytical study of the decorative surfaces was performed in situ using spectroscopic approaches (XRF, FORS), False Colour Infrared Reflectography – IRFC, as well as micro sampling (ATR-FTIR, LM, GC/MS). A survey of natural resources and study (ATR-FTIR, LM) was carried out to elucidate the natural occurrence of a select number of materials in the surrounding areas of the churches. The present paper presents a multi-analytical study and characterization of green, red-orange and black colour pigments and binders selected from the decorative surfaces. The aim of this study is to highlight relationships between local materials and those from the original polychrome ceilings, in order to understand the material and technological influences that converged in the Spanish colonial architecture of northern Mexico

NEDD9, an independent good prognostic factor in intermediate-risk acute myeloid leukemia patients

Altres ajuts: Fundació La Marató TV3 [416/C/2013-2030,100830/31/32]; Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute [P/AG 2014]; Spanish Health Research Program [PI12/02321]; Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) [to MCC]; and a grant from the Cellex Foundation, Barcelona.Intermediate-risk acute myeloid leukemia (IR-AML) is the largest subgroup of AML patients and is highly heterogeneous. Whereas adverse and favourable risk patients have well-established treatment protocols, IR-AML patients have not. It is, therefore, crucial to find novel factors that stratify this subgroup to implement risk-adapted strategies. The CAS (Crk-associated substrate) adaptor protein family regulates cell proliferation, survival, migration and adhesion. Despite its association with metastatic dissemination and prognosis of different solid tumors, the role of these proteins in hematological malignancies has been scarcely evaluated. Nevertheless, previous work has established an important role for the CAS family members NEDD9 or BCAR1 in the migratory and dissemination capacities of myeloid cells. On this basis, we hypothesized that NEDD9 or BCAR1 expression levels could associate with survival in IR-AML patients and become new prognostic markers. To that purpose, we assessed BCAR1 and NEDD9 gene expression in a cohort of 73 adult AML patients validating the results in an independent cohort (n = 206). We have identified NEDD9, but not BCAR1, as a new a marker for longer overall and disease-free survival, and for lower cumulative incidence of relapse. In summary, NEDD9 gene expression is an independent prognostic factor for favourable prognosis in IR-AML patients

Consensus on early detection of disease progression in patients with multiple sclerosis

BackgroundEarly identification of the transition from relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) to secondary progressive MS (SPMS) can be challenging for clinicians, as diagnostic criteria for SPMS are primarily based on physical disability and a holistic interpretation.ObjectiveTo establish a consensus on patient monitoring to identify promptly disease progression and the most useful clinical and paraclinical variables for early identification of disease progression in MS.MethodsA RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method was used to establish the level of agreement among a panel of 15 medical experts in MS. Eighty-three items were circulated to the experts for confidential rating of the grade of agreement and recommendation. Consensus was defined when ≥66% agreement or disagreement was achieved.ResultsConsensus was reached in 72 out of 83 items (86.7%). The items addressed frequency of follow-up visits, definition of progression, identification of clinical, cognitive, and radiological assessments as variables of suspected or confirmed SPMS diagnosis, the need for more accurate assessment tools, and the use of promising molecular and imaging biomarkers to predict disease progression and/or diagnose SPMS.ConclusionConsensus achieved on these topics could guide neurologists to identify earlier disease progression and to plan targeted clinical and therapeutic interventions during the earliest stages of SPMS

Immunogenetic characterization of clonal plasma cells in systemic light-chain amyloidosis

This study was supported by the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red—Área de Oncología—del Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CIBERONC; CB16/12/00369; and CB16/12/00489), Instituto de Salud Carlos III/Subdirección General de Investigación Sanitaria (FIS No. PI13/02196), Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (GCB120981SAN and the Accelerator Award), CRIS against Cancer foundation grant 2014/0120, and the Black Swan Research Initiative of the International Myeloma Foundation.Peer reviewe