Evaluación Sensorial y Características Fisicoquímicas de Carne de Conejo Alimentado con Romero (Rosmarinus officinalis L) y Tomillo (Thymus vulgaris).

Los resultados dados por las encuestas que se hicieron en la evaluación sensorial indican que el color en los cinco tratamientos fue de agrado para los participantes, como se puede observar en el cuadro 6. El tratamiento de tomillo del 3% tuvo el grado más alto de aceptación en cuestión al color, esto puede deberse al contenido de sustancia activa del tomillo. A pesar que no se encontraron diferencias significativas (P<0.05), visualmente existe una preferencia a la muestra de tomillo al 3%, quizá debido a los componentes de esta planta que mejoraron la apariencia de la carneEl objetivo fue comparar carne de conejo alimentados con romero y tomillo mediante una prueba de aceptación del consumidor y los efectos sobre las propiedades fisicoquímicas y organolépticas. Se determinó para la aceptación el color, textura, olor y sabor, mientras que para el fisicoquímico fue el pH, capacidad de retención de agua por presión (CRAp), capacidad de retención de agua por cocción (CRAc) y color. Para cumplir con el objetivo se tomó carne de piernas de conejo tratados con diferentes niveles de adición de romero y tomillo (1.5% y 3.0% de cada uno), así como un tratamiento control el cual no fue adicionado y solo se alimentó con alimento comercial, con la carne se hicieron cubos de 1 cm3 el cual se cocinó a 75°C por 4 minutos (ambos lados), los trozos se proporcionaron a jueces no entrenados y se realizó una prueba de aceptación (Watts, 1992); con otra porción se realizó la prueba fisicoquímica de pH y capacidad de retención de agua por presión y cocción (Braña et al., 2011), la información fue analizada mediante un diseño completamente al azar con una significancia de 0.05, no se encontraron resultados significativos en las pruebas fisicoquímicas. Luego del análisis de datos se puede afirmar que la carne de conejo alimentado con adición de romero y tomillo representa una opción favorable como alimento por sus cualidades organolépticas. La población encuestada la considera una carne de aroma intenso, de sabor agradable, color claro y buena aceptación. Así mismo no hubo cambios estadísticos significativos en las pruebas fisicoquímicas

Construction and characterization of new piggyBac vectors for constitutive or inducible expression of heterologous gene pairs and the identification of a previously unrecognized activator sequence in piggyBac

BACKGROUND: We constructed and characterized several new piggyBac vectors to provide transposition of constitutively- or inducibly-expressible heterologous gene pairs. The dual constitutive control element consists of back-to-back copies of a baculovirus immediate early (ie1) promoter separated by a baculovirus enhancer (hr5). The dual inducible control element consists of back-to-back copies of a minimal cytomegalovirus (CMV(min)) promoter separated by a synthetic operator (TetO7), which drives transcription in the presence of a mutant transcriptional repressor plus tetracycline. RESULTS: Characterization of these vectors revealed an unexpected position effect, in which heterologous genes adjacent to the 3'- terminal region ("rightward" genes) were consistently expressed at higher levels than those adjacent to the 5'-terminal region ("leftward" genes) of the piggyBac element. This position effect was observed with all six heterologous genes examined and with both transcriptional control elements. Further analysis demonstrated that this position effect resulted from stimulation of rightward gene expression by the internal domain sequence of the 3'-terminal region of piggyBac. Inserting a copy of this sequence into the 5'- terminal repeat region of our new piggyBac vectors in either orientation stimulated leftward gene expression. Representative piggyBac vectors designed for constitutive or inducible expression of heterologous gene pairs were shown to be functional as insect transformation vectors. CONCLUSION: This study is significant because (a) it demonstrates the utility of a strategy for the construction of piggyBac vectors that can provide constitutive or inducible heterologous gene pair expression and (b) it reveals the presence of a previously unrecognized transcriptional activator in piggyBac, which is an important and increasingly utilized transposable element

Expression and purification of Suid Herpesvirus-1 glycoprotein E in the baculovirus system and its use to diagnose Aujeszky's disease in infected pigs

Suid Herpesvirus 1 (SHV-1) is the etiological agent of Aujeszky’s disease (AD), which affects swine herds worldwide and causes substantial economic losses due to animal mortality and lost productivity. In order to eradicate SHV-1, vaccination programs using viruses lacking the gene encoding glycoprotein E (gE) are ongoing in several countries. These eradication programs have generated a currently unmet demand for affordable and sensitive tests that can detect SHV-1 infection, yet distinguish between infected and vaccinated pigs. To meet this demand, we used the baculovirus-insect cell system to produce immunologically authentic full-length recombinant gE protein for use in a serum ELISA assay. As previous efforts to clone the gE gene had failed due to its extremely high GC-content (75% average), we used betaine as a PCR enhancer to facilitate amplification of the entire gE gene from the Argentinian CL15 strain of SHV-1. The cloned gE gene was expressed at high levels in recombinant baculovirus-infected insect cells and reacted strongly with sera from SHV-1 infected pigs. We used the recombinant gE protein to develop a local indirect ELISA test with sensitivity and specificity comparable to currently available commercial tests. Thus, recombinant gE produced in baculovirus-infected insect cells is a viable source of antigen for the detection of SHV-1 in ELISA tests. We also provide evidence supporting a potential application of this recombinant form of gE as a SHV-1 subunit vaccine.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

Cosmological parameters from SDSS and WMAP

We measure cosmological parameters using the three-dimensional power spectrum P(k) from over 200,000 galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) in combination with WMAP and other data. Our results are consistent with a ``vanilla'' flat adiabatic Lambda-CDM model without tilt (n=1), running tilt, tensor modes or massive neutrinos. Adding SDSS information more than halves the WMAP-only error bars on some parameters, tightening 1 sigma constraints on the Hubble parameter from h~0.74+0.18-0.07 to h~0.70+0.04-0.03, on the matter density from Omega_m~0.25+/-0.10 to Omega_m~0.30+/-0.04 (1 sigma) and on neutrino masses from <11 eV to <0.6 eV (95%). SDSS helps even more when dropping prior assumptions about curvature, neutrinos, tensor modes and the equation of state. Our results are in substantial agreement with the joint analysis of WMAP and the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, which is an impressive consistency check with independent redshift survey data and analysis techniques. In this paper, we place particular emphasis on clarifying the physical origin of the constraints, i.e., what we do and do not know when using different data sets and prior assumptions. For instance, dropping the assumption that space is perfectly flat, the WMAP-only constraint on the measured age of the Universe tightens from t0~16.3+2.3-1.8 Gyr to t0~14.1+1.0-0.9 Gyr by adding SDSS and SN Ia data. Including tensors, running tilt, neutrino mass and equation of state in the list of free parameters, many constraints are still quite weak, but future cosmological measurements from SDSS and other sources should allow these to be substantially tightened.Comment: Minor revisions to match accepted PRD version. SDSS data and ppt figures available at http://www.hep.upenn.edu/~max/sdsspars.htm

The Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) Survey Design, Reductions, and Detections

We describe the survey design, calibration, commissioning, and emission-line detection algorithms for the Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX). The goal of HETDEX is to measure the redshifts of over a million Lyα emitting galaxies between 1.88 < z < 3.52, in a 540 deg2 area encompassing a comoving volume of 10.9 Gpc3. No preselection of targets is involved; instead the HETDEX measurements are accomplished via a spectroscopic survey using a suite of wide-field integral field units distributed over the focal plane of the telescope. This survey measures the Hubble expansion parameter and angular diameter distance, with a final expected accuracy of better than 1%. We detail the project’s observational strategy, reduction pipeline, source detection, and catalog generation, and present initial results for science verification in the Cosmological Evolution Survey, Extended Groth Strip, and Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey North fields. We demonstrate that our data reach the required specifications in throughput, astrometric accuracy, flux limit, and object detection, with the end products being a catalog of emission-line sources, their object classifications, and flux-calibrated spectra

Cosmological 3D Hi Gas Map with HETDEX Lyα Emitters and eBOSS QSOs at z = 2: IGM-Galaxy/QSO Connection and a ∼ 40-Mpc Scale Giant Hii Bubble Candidate

We present cosmological (30−400 Mpc) distributions of neutral hydrogen (H i) in the intergalactic medium (IGM) traced by Lyα emitters (LAEs) and QSOs at z = 2.1–2.5, selected with the data of the ongoing Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) and the eBOSS survey. Motivated by a previous study of Mukae et al., we investigate spatial correlations of LAEs and QSOs with H i tomography maps reconstructed from H i Lyα forest absorption in the spectra of background galaxies and QSOs obtained by the CLAMATO survey and this study, respectively. In the cosmological volume far from QSOs, we find that LAEs reside in regions of strong H i absorption, i.e., H i rich, which is consistent with results of previous galaxy−background QSO pair studies. Moreover, there is an anisotropy in the H i distribution plot of transverse and line-of-sight distances; on average the H i absorption peak is blueshifted by ~200 km s−1 from the LAE Lyα redshift, reproducing the known average velocity offset between the Lyα emission redshift and the galaxy systemic redshift. We have identified a ~40 Mpc scale volume of H i underdensity that is a candidate for a giant H ii bubble, where six QSOs and an LAE overdensity exist at $\left\langle z\right\rangle =2.16$

Autoantibodies against type I IFNs in patients with critical influenza pneumonia

In an international cohort of 279 patients with hypoxemic influenza pneumonia, we identified 13 patients (4.6%) with autoantibodies neutralizing IFN-alpha and/or -omega, which were previously reported to underlie 15% cases of life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia and one third of severe adverse reactions to live-attenuated yellow fever vaccine. Autoantibodies neutralizing type I interferons (IFNs) can underlie critical COVID-19 pneumonia and yellow fever vaccine disease. We report here on 13 patients harboring autoantibodies neutralizing IFN-alpha 2 alone (five patients) or with IFN-omega (eight patients) from a cohort of 279 patients (4.7%) aged 6-73 yr with critical influenza pneumonia. Nine and four patients had antibodies neutralizing high and low concentrations, respectively, of IFN-alpha 2, and six and two patients had antibodies neutralizing high and low concentrations, respectively, of IFN-omega. The patients' autoantibodies increased influenza A virus replication in both A549 cells and reconstituted human airway epithelia. The prevalence of these antibodies was significantly higher than that in the general population for patients 70 yr of age (3.1 vs. 4.4%, P = 0.68). The risk of critical influenza was highest in patients with antibodies neutralizing high concentrations of both IFN-alpha 2 and IFN-omega (OR = 11.7, P = 1.3 x 10(-5)), especially those <70 yr old (OR = 139.9, P = 3.1 x 10(-10)). We also identified 10 patients in additional influenza patient cohorts. Autoantibodies neutralizing type I IFNs account for similar to 5% of cases of life-threatening influenza pneumonia in patients <70 yr old

Higher COVID-19 pneumonia risk associated with anti-IFN-α than with anti-IFN-ω auto-Abs in children

We found that 19 (10.4%) of 183 unvaccinated children hospitalized for COVID-19 pneumonia had autoantibodies (auto-Abs) neutralizing type I IFNs (IFN-alpha 2 in 10 patients: IFN-alpha 2 only in three, IFN-alpha 2 plus IFN-omega in five, and IFN-alpha 2, IFN-omega plus IFN-beta in two; IFN-omega only in nine patients). Seven children (3.8%) had Abs neutralizing at least 10 ng/ml of one IFN, whereas the other 12 (6.6%) had Abs neutralizing only 100 pg/ml. The auto-Abs neutralized both unglycosylated and glycosylated IFNs. We also detected auto-Abs neutralizing 100 pg/ml IFN-alpha 2 in 4 of 2,267 uninfected children (0.2%) and auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-omega in 45 children (2%). The odds ratios (ORs) for life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia were, therefore, higher for auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-alpha 2 only (OR [95% CI] = 67.6 [5.7-9,196.6]) than for auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-. only (OR [95% CI] = 2.6 [1.2-5.3]). ORs were also higher for auto-Abs neutralizing high concentrations (OR [95% CI] = 12.9 [4.6-35.9]) than for those neutralizing low concentrations (OR [95% CI] = 5.5 [3.1-9.6]) of IFN-omega and/or IFN-alpha 2

Vaccine breakthrough hypoxemic COVID-19 pneumonia in patients with auto-Abs neutralizing type I IFNs

Life-threatening `breakthrough' cases of critical COVID-19 are attributed to poor or waning antibody response to the SARS- CoV-2 vaccine in individuals already at risk. Pre-existing autoantibodies (auto-Abs) neutralizing type I IFNs underlie at least 15% of critical COVID-19 pneumonia cases in unvaccinated individuals; however, their contribution to hypoxemic breakthrough cases in vaccinated people remains unknown. Here, we studied a cohort of 48 individuals ( age 20-86 years) who received 2 doses of an mRNA vaccine and developed a breakthrough infection with hypoxemic COVID-19 pneumonia 2 weeks to 4 months later. Antibody levels to the vaccine, neutralization of the virus, and auto- Abs to type I IFNs were measured in the plasma. Forty-two individuals had no known deficiency of B cell immunity and a normal antibody response to the vaccine. Among them, ten (24%) had auto-Abs neutralizing type I IFNs (aged 43-86 years). Eight of these ten patients had auto-Abs neutralizing both IFN-a2 and IFN-., while two neutralized IFN-omega only. No patient neutralized IFN-ss. Seven neutralized 10 ng/mL of type I IFNs, and three 100 pg/mL only. Seven patients neutralized SARS-CoV-2 D614G and the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) efficiently, while one patient neutralized Delta slightly less efficiently. Two of the three patients neutralizing only 100 pg/mL of type I IFNs neutralized both D61G and Delta less efficiently. Despite two mRNA vaccine inoculations and the presence of circulating antibodies capable of neutralizing SARS-CoV-2, auto-Abs neutralizing type I IFNs may underlie a significant proportion of hypoxemic COVID-19 pneumonia cases, highlighting the importance of this particularly vulnerable population