Rosmarinic acid recovery from Lamiaceae plants

Póster presentado en las I Jornadas Científicas CIAL Forum 2014, celebrado en Madrid el 5 de junio de 2014.El ácido Rosmarínico es un ácido fenólico conocido por sus múltiples propiedades biológicas, tales como antioxidante, antiinflamatoria, anticancerígena y antibacteriana. Se encuentra en diferentes especies de la familia Lamiaceae, en concentraciones desde 0.01 a 9.30 mg/g. En este estudio el ácido rosmarínico ha sido recuperado de diferentes plantas de la familia de las Lamiaceae (Rosmarinus officinalis, Salvia officinalis, Melissa officinalis, Origanum Majorana) utilizando extracción sólido-líquido asistida por ultrasonidos (UAE) y extracción con líquidos presurizados (PLE). Debido a la naturaleza polar de este ácido fenólico, diferentes disolventes polares fueron estudiados, incluyendo metanol, etanol, agua y mezclas de metanol-agua (1:1). Los ensayos UAE fueron llevados a cabo usando una sonda (Branson Digital Sonifier, Branson Ultrasonics, model 250; Danbury, USA) durante 15 minutos, con agitación, y manteniendo la temperatura en 45°C. La mezcla de metanol:agua fue la que presentó mayor capacidad para la extracción de ácido rosmarínico. Además, Romero y Salvia fueron las plantas de las cuales se obtuvo extractos con mayor concentración de dicho ácido (61.7 y 46.5 mg/g, respectivamente). Los experimentos PLE fueron realizados con Salvia, a tres temperaturas diferentes: 100, 150 and 200°C utilizando la mezcla metanol:agua. Los rendimientos fueron considerablemente mayores que los obtenidos por UAE (61% a 200°C). El aumento de temperatura produce un incremento en el rendimiento de extracción y una disminución en la concentración de ácido rosmarínico en los extractos. Así, la mayor concentración de ácido rosmarínico en los ensayos PLE se obtuvo a la menor temperatura (100°C) y fue similar al obtenido mediante UAE. Por otro lado, en los extractos PLE las recuperaciones fueron aproximadamente dos veces mayores que las obtenidas por UAE (12.34 mg/g vs. 6.61 mg/g).Este trabajo ha sido financiado por el proyecto ALIBIRD-S2009/AGR-1469, de la Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid.Peer reviewe

MicroRNAs as Modulators of Tumor Metabolism, Microenvironment, and Immune Response in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Molecular heterogeneity and absence of biomarkers helping patient allocation to the best therapeutic option contribute to poor prognosis in advanced stages. MicroRNAs' (miRNAs) deregulated expression contributes to tumor development and progression and influences drug resistance in HCC. Accordingly, miRNAs have been extensively investigated as both biomarkers and therapeutic targets. The diagnostic and prognostic roles of circulating miRNAs have been ascertained, though with some inconsistencies across studies. From a therapeutic perspective, miRNA-based approaches demonstrated safety profiles and antitumor efficacy in HCC animal models. Nevertheless, caution should be used when transferring preclinical findings to the clinic, due to possible molecular inconsistency between animal models and the heterogeneous patterns of human diseases. Awealth of information is offered by preclinical studies exploring the mechanisms driving miRNAs' aberrant expression, the molecular cascades triggered by miRNAs and the corresponding phenotypic changes. Ex-vivo analyses confirmed these results, further shedding light on the intricacy of the human disease often overcoming pre-clinical models. This complexity seems to be ascribed to the intrinsic heterogeneity of HCC, to different risk factors driving its development, as well as to changes across stages and previous treatments. Preliminary findings suggest that miRNAs associated with specific risk factors might be more informative in defined patients' subgroups. The first issue to be considered when trying to envisage a possible translational perspective is the molecular context that often drives different miRNA functions, as clearly evidenced by "dual" miRNAs. Concerning the possible roles of miRNAs as biomarkers and therapeutic targets, we will focus on miRNAs' involvement in metabolic pathways and in the modulation of tumor microenvironment, to support their exploitation in defined contexts

A Review of Eating Disorders and Suicide Risk in Adolescence

This review examines the literature during the past 10 years about suicide risk and suicide during adolescence and young adulthood of individuals with eating disorders. Epidemiological surveys are summarized, including suicide rates, parasuicidal behaviors, associated risk factors, and comorbid psychopathology. Critical implications for the comprehensive assessment and treatment planning, including safety considerations, are discussed. Two clinical cases of women with long-standing eating disorders are described to highlight both the pragmatic considerations and the complex clinical challenges of working with patients with eating disorders who become suicidal. The potentially life-threatening issues of safety have not received sufficient attention, neither in the medical literature nor by the treating clinicians. All health care professionals who are treating patients with an eating disorder must be keenly aware of the serious risks of suicidal behavior and of suicide in this population

"Zbigniew Herbert"

Traduzione di testi dedicati a Herbert (Zagajewski, Milosz, Brodskij, Heaney), e di poesie e frammenti di saggi di Herbert. Traduzioni di P. Marchesani, e di Francesca Fornari alle pp. 3-4, 9-10, 13, 16-17, 37, 39-40, 43, 45

Katherine R.Jolluck, "Exile and identity. Polish Women in the Soviet Union During World War II"

Recensione di Katherine R.Jolluck, "Exile and identity. Polish Women in the Soviet Union During World War II", Pitt Series in Russian and east European Studies, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh 200

Landslide monitoring by fixed-base terrestrial stereo-photogrammetry

Photogrammetry has been used since long to periodically control the evolution of landslides; however, true monitoring is reserved to robotic total stations and ground based InSAR systems, capable of high frequency, high accurate 24h/day response. This paper presents the first results of a fixed terrestrial stereo photogrammetric system developed to monitor shape changes of the scene. The system is made of two reflex cameras, each contained in a sealed box with a control computer that periodically acquires an image and send it to a host computer; once an image pair is received from the two cameras, the DSM of the scene is generated by image correlation and made available for archiving or analysis. The system has been installed and is being tested on the Mont de la Saxe landslide, where several monitoring system are active. Some instability of the camera attitude has been noticed and is corrected with an automated procedure. First comparisons with InSAR data show a good agreement

Landslide monitoring by fixed-base terrestrial stereo-photogrammetry

Photogrammetry has been used since long to periodically control the evolution of landslides; however, true monitoring is reserved to robotic total stations and ground based InSAR systems, capable of high frequency, high accurate 24h/day response. This paper presents the first results of a fixed terrestrial stereo photogrammetric system developed to monitor shape changes of the scene. The system is made of two reflex cameras, each contained in a sealed box with a control computer that periodically acquires an image and send it to a host computer; once an image pair is received from the two cameras, the DSM of the scene is generated by image correlation and made available for archiving or analysis. The system has been installed and is being tested on the Mont de la Saxe landslide, where several monitoring system are active. Some instability of the camera attitude has been noticed and is corrected with an automated procedure. First comparisons with InSAR data show a good agreement

Supercritical Phase Equilibria Modeling of Glyceride Mixtures and Carbon Dioxide Using the Group Contribution EoS

The Group Contribution Equation of State (GC-EoS) was extended to represent high-pressure phase equilibria behavior of mixtures containing mono-, di-, triglycerides, and carbon dioxide (CO2). For this purpose, the alcohol-ester and the alcoholtriglyceride binary group interaction parameters were regressed in this work, using experimental phase equilibria data from the literature. The capability of the parameters obtained was assessed by applying the GC-EoS model to simulate the supercritical CO2 fractionation of a complex glyceride mixture, which was produced by the ethanolysis of sunflower oil. Experimental data was obtained in a countercurrent packed extraction column at pressures ranging from 16 to 25MPa and temperatures from 313 to 368 K. The GC-EoS model was applied in a completely predictive manner to simulate the phase equilibria behavior of the multistage separation process. The chemical analysis of the glyceride mixture allowed a significant simplification of its complex composition and thus, a simple and satisfactory simulation of the supercritical extraction process was achievedThis work has been financed by project ALIBIRD (S2009-AGR-1469) from the Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid and project FUN-C-FOOD (CSD2007-00063, CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010)

Distance as a barrier to cancer diagnosis and treatment: Review of the literature

The burden of travel from a patient’s residence to health care providers is an important issue that can influence access to diagnosis and treatment ofcancer.Although several studies have shown that the travel burden can result in delays in diagnosis and treatment of many common cancers, its role appears underestimated in the treatment of patients in clinical practice. Therefore, we performed a review of the published data on the role of travel burden influencing four items: delay of diagnosis, adequate treatment of cancer, outcome, and quality of life of cancer patients. Forty-seven studies published up to December 2014 were initially identified. Twenty studies were excluded because they did not regard specifically the four items of our review.Twenty-seven studies formed the basis of our study and involved 716,153 patients. The associations between travel burden and (a) cancer stage at diagnosis (12 studies), (b) appropriate treatment (8 studies), (c) outcome (4 studies), and (d) quality of life (1 study) are reported. In addition, in two studies,therelationbetween travel burden and compliance with treatment was examined. The results of our review show that increasing travel requirements are associated with more advanced disease at diagnosis, inappropriatetreatment, aworse prognosis, and a worse quality of life. These results suggest that clinical oncologists should remember the specific travel burden problem for cancer patients, who often need health care services every week or every month for many years