Chemostat Production of Plantaricin C By Lactobacillus plantarum LL441

Plantaricin C, a bacteriocin synthesized by Lactobacillus plantarum LL441, was optimally produced in chemostats kept at pH 5.0, 30°C, 150 rpm, and a dilution rate of 0.05 h1 when glucose was used as carbon source and a dilution rate of 0.10 to 0.12 h1 when sucrose or fructose was used instead. Production was abolished at high dilution rates, i.e., when the cells grew rapidly in all carbon sourcesThis work was supported by grants ALI93-0873-CO2 and BIOT-CT96-0402 from the Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología of Spain and the BIOTECH Program of the European Union, respectively. F.S. was the recipient of a visitor's grant from the University of Oviedo.Peer reviewe

Photoionization of the water molecule with XCHEM

The following article appeared in Journal of Chemical Physics 158.13 (2023): 134305 and may be found at https://pubs.aip.org/aip/jcp/article/158/13/134305/2883255/Photoionization-of-the-water-molecule-with?searchresult=1We have evaluated total and partial photoionization cross sections, β asymmetry parameters, and molecular frame photoelectron angular distributions (MFPADs) of the water molecule by using the XCHEM methodology. This method accounts for electron correlation in the electronic continuum, which is crucial to describe Feshbach resonances and their autoionization decay. We have identified a large number of Feshbach resonances, some of them previously unknown, in the region between 12.2 and 18.7 eV, for which we provide energy positions and widths. Many of these resonances lead to pronounced peaks in the photoionization spectra, some of them remarkably wide (up to 0.2 eV, for resonances converging to the third ionization threshold), which should be observable in high-energy resolution experiments. We show that, in the vicinity of these peaks, both asymmetry parameters and MFPADs vary very rapidly with photoelectron energy, which, as in atoms and simpler molecules, reflects the interference between direct ionization and autoionization, which is mostly driven by electron correlationAll calculations were performed at the Mare Nostrum Supercomputer of the Red Española de Supercomputación (BSC-RES) and the Centro de Computación Científica de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (CCC-UAM). This work was supported by European COST Action CA18222 AttoChem, Project Nos. PDC2021-121073-I00, PID2019-105458RB-I00, and PID2019-106732GB-I00 funded by Grant No. MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union “NextGenerationEU”/PRTRMICINN programs, the “Severo Ochoa” Program for Centres of Excellence in R & D (Grant No. CEX2020-001039-S), and the “María de Maeztu” Programme for Units of Excellence in R & D (Grant No. CEX2018-000805-M

Photoionization cross sections and photoelectron angular distributions of molecules with XCHEM-2.0

The XCHEM code was introduced in 2017 [1] to provide an accurate description of electron correlation and exchange in the electronic continuum of molecules at the same level as complete or restricted active-space self-consistent field (CASSCF or RASSCF) methods. This has allowed for an accurate description of molecular photoionization in the region of Feshbach resonances, shake up processes in which ionization is accompanied by excitation of one or several of the remaining electrons, and interchannel couplings. The success of XCHEM for small molecules has led us to improve its performance in several aspects, which now allows for the description of resonant molecular photoionization in larger systems. In addition, we have incorporated the possibility to calculate photoelectron angular distributions in the laboratory and molecular frames, which are essential to interpret angularly resolved photoionization experiments. Here we show its performance in the N2 and pyrazine molecules. The new version of the code, XCHEM-2.0, is freely available at https://gitlab.com/xchem/xchem_ publicWork supported by the Synergy Grant of the European Research Council TOMATTO (ref. 951224), the projects PDC2021-121073-I00, PID2019-105458RB-I00 and PID2019- 106732GB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union “NextGenerationEU”/PRTRMICINN programs, the “Severo Ochoa” Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (CEX2020-001039-S), and the “María de Maeztu” Programme for Units of Excellence in R&D (CEX2018-000805-M). L.A. acknowledges the DOE CAREER grant No. DE-SC0020311V and the NSF grant PHY1912507. J.B. thanks the MICINN for the FPI grant (BES-2017-081521) related to the project FIS2016-77889-R and P.F-M the MICINN for the FPU grant (FPU-2016-05453) related to the project FIS2016-77889-

Evaluación de las propiedades probióticas de bacterias lácticas de origen enológico

[ES]: En este trabajo se ha evaluado la resistencia a la saliva, al medio ácido y a las sales biliares de once cepas de origen enológico pertenecientes a Lactobacillus spp., Pediococcus spp., y Oenococcus oeni, además de dos cepas probióticas de referencia. Las cepas de Lactobacillus y Pediococcus mostraron una alta resistencia a la lisozima (> 80 %), y todas sobrevivieron a las sales biliares y a bajos valores de pH (pH 1.8), lo que sugiere una buena adaptación de estas cepas a las condiciones gastrointestinales. También se evaluó su capacidad para adherirse a la mucosa intestinal y para inhibir la adhesión de Escherichia coli a células epiteliales del intestino. En particular, la cepa P. pentosaceus cIAL-86 mostró un alto porcentaje de adherencia a las células intestinales (> 12 %), incluso superior al mostrado por las cepas probióticas de referencia, y una alta actividad anti-adhesión de E. coli cIAL-153 (> 30 %).[EN]: In this study, the saliva, acid and bile resistance of eleven enological strains of Lactobacillus spp., Pediococcus spp., and Oenococcus oeni, as well as two probiotic reference strains were evaluated. Lactobacillus and Pediococcus strains showed high resistance to lysozyme (> 80 %) and all were capable of surviving at bile salts and low pH values (pH 1.8), suggesting a good adaptation to gastrointestinal conditions. The ability of these strains to adhere to the intestinal mucosa and the inhibition of the adhesion of Escherichia coli to intestinal cells were also evaluated. In particular, P. pentosaceus cIAL-86 showed a high percentage of adhesion to intestinal cells (> 12 %), even higher than that shown by the reference probiotic strains, and a high anti-adhesion activity against E. coli cIAL-153 (> 30 %).Este trabajo ha sido financiado por el Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Proyectos AGL2012-04172-C02-01, PRI-PIBAR-2011-1358 y Consolider Ingenio 2010 FUN-C-FOOD CSD2007-00063), la Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid (ALIBIRD P2009/AGR-1469) y el INIA (proyecto RM2011-00003-00-00). A. García Ruiz es beneficiaria de una beca del Instituto DanonePeer Reviewe

Anti-adhesive activity of cranberry phenolic compounds and their microbial-derived metabolites against uropathogenic Escherichia coli in bladder epithelial cell cultures

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.-- This article belongs to the Special Issue Phenolics and Polyphenolics 2015.Cranberry consumption has shown prophylactic effects against urinary tract infections (UTI), although the mechanisms involved are not completely understood. In this paper, cranberry phenolic compounds and their potential microbial-derived metabolites (such as simple phenols and benzoic, phenylacetic and phenylpropionic acids) were tested for their capacity to inhibit the adherence of uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) ATCC®53503™ to T24 epithelial bladder cells. Catechol, benzoic acid, vanillic acid, phenylacetic acid and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid showed anti-adhesive activity against UPEC in a concentration-dependent manner from 100-500 µM, whereas procyanidin A2, widely reported as an inhibitor of UPEC adherence on uroepithelium, was only statistically significant (p < 0.05) at 500 µM (51.3% inhibition). The results proved for the first time the anti-adhesive activity of some cranberry-derived phenolic metabolites against UPEC in vitro, suggesting that their presence in the urine could reduce bacterial colonization and progression of UTI.This work was funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) (Projects AGL-2010-17499 and AGL2012-40172-C02-01) and the Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid (Project ALIBIRD S2013/ABI-2728), Spain. Adelaida Esteban-Fernández would like to thank the MINECO-FPI program for her research contract.We acknowledge the support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).Peer Reviewe

Deciphering the interactions between lipids and red wine polyphenols through the gastrointestinal tract

This paper investigates the mutual interactions between lipids and red wine polyphenols at different stages of the gastrointestinal tract by using the simgi® dynamic simulator. Three food models were tested: a Wine model, a Lipid model (olive oil + cholesterol) and a Wine + Lipid model (red wine + olive oil + cholesterol). With regard to wine polyphenols, results showed that co-digestion with lipids slightly affected the phenolic profile after gastrointestinal digestion. In relation to lipid bioaccessibility, the co-digestion with red wine tended to increase the percentage of bioaccessible monoglycerides, although significant differences were not found (p > 0.05). Furthermore, co-digestion with red wine tended to reduce cholesterol bioaccessibility (from 80 to 49 %), which could be related to the decrease in bile salt content observed in the micellar phase. For free fatty acids, almost no changes were observed. At the colonic level, the co-digestion of red wine and lipids conditioned the composition and metabolism of colonic microbiota. For instance, the growth [log (ufc/mL)] of lactic acid bacteria (6.9 ± 0.2) and bifidobacteria (6.8 ± 0.1) populations were significantly higher for the Wine + Lipid food model respect to the control colonic fermentation (5.2 ± 0.1 and 5.3 ± 0.2, respectively). Besides, the production of total SCFAs was greater for the Wine + Lipid food model. Also, the cytotoxicity of the colonic-digested samples towards human colon adenocarcinoma cells (HCT-116 and HT-29) was found to be significantly lower for the Wine and Wine + Lipid models than for the Lipid model and the control (no food addition). Overall, the results obtained using the simgi® model were consistent with those reported in vivo in the literature. In particular, they suggest that red wine may favourably modulate lipid bioaccessibility – a fact that could explain the hypocholesterolemic effects of red wine and red wine polyphenols observed in human

Online psycho-education to the treatment of bipolar disorder: protocol of a randomized controlled trial

Background: Bipolar disorder patients frequently present recurrent episodes and often experience subsyndromal symptoms, cognitive impairment and difficulties in functioning, with a low quality of life, illness relapses and recurrent hospitalization. Early diagnosis and appropriate intervention may play a role in preventing neuroprogression in this disorder. New technologies represent an opportunity to develop standardized psychological treatments using internet-based tools that overcome some of the limitations of face-to-face treatments, in that they are readily accessible and the timing of therapy can be tailored to user needs and availability. However, although many psychological programs are offered through the web and mobile devices for bipolar disorder, there is a lack of high quality evidence concerning their efficacy and effectiveness due to the great variability in measures and methodology used. Methods: This clinical trial is a simple-blind randomized trial within a European project to compare an internet-based intervention with treatment as usual. Bipolar disorder patients are to be included and randomly assigned to one of two groups: 1) the experimental group (tele-care support) and 2) the control group. Participants in both groups will be evaluated at baseline (pre-treatment) and post-treatment. Discussion: This study describes the design of a clinical trial based on psychoeducation intervention that may have a significant impact on both prognosis and treatment in bipolar disorder. Specifically, bringing different services together (service aggregation), it is hoped that the approach proposed will significantly increase the impact of information and communication technologies on access and adherence to treatment, quality of the service, patient safety, patient and professional satisfaction, and quality of life of patients.This study has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 604691

Some contributions to the study of oenological lactic acid bacteria through their interaction with polyphenols

Probiotic features and the ability of two oenological lactic acid bacteria strains (Pediococcus pentosaceus CIAL‐86 and Lactobacillus plantarum CIAL‐121) and a reference probiotic strain (Lactobacillus plantarum CLC 17) to metabolize wine polyphenols are examined. After summarizing previous results regarding their resistance to lysozyme, gastric juice and bile salts, the three strains were assessed for their ability to release phenolic metabolites after their incubation with a wine phenolic extract. Neither of the two bacteria were able to metabolize wine polyphenols, at least in the conditions used in this study, although a certain stimulatory effect on bacterial growth was observed in the presence of a wine‐derived phenolic metabolite (i.e., 3,4‐dihydroxyphenylacetic acid) and a wine phenolic compound (i.e., (+) ‐catechin). Bacteria cell‐free supernatants from the three strains delayed and inhibited almost completely the growth of the pathogen E. coli CIAL‐153, probably due to the presence of organic acids derived from the bacterial metabolism of carbohydrates. Lastly, the three strains showed a high percentage of adhesion to intestinal cells, and pre‐incubation of Caco‐2 cells with bacteria strains prior to the addition of E. coli CIAL‐153 produced a notable inhibition of the adhesion of E. coli to the intestinal cells.The study was supported by the projects AGL2012-40172-C02-01 and AGL2015-64522-C2-1-R of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and ALIBIRD S2013/ABI-2728 of the Comunidad de Madrid, as well as COST Action POSITIVe FA1403. IG-S is the recipient of an FPU contract from the Spanish Ministry of Education. AE-F is the recipient of an FPI contract from the Spanish MINECO (Project AGL2012-40172-C02-01). We acknowledge support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).We acknowledge the support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI)