A compositional genetic analysis of oleic acid content in pig meat

Intramuscular fat (IMF) content and composition, particularly the oleic fatty acid content (OL), are major quality characteristics of pork fresh and dry-cured products. They are known to be related to nutritional, manufacturing and organoleptic properties, as well as to human health. It is known that IMF content is under genetic control but little evidence is available for IMF composition, namely OL. There are very few estimates in the literature regarding genetic parameters for OL (Suzuki et al., 2006) and, besides, most of them are based on small data sets from experiments designed for other purposes (Ntawubizi et al., 2010; Sellier et al., 2010). However, genetic parameters associated to IMF and OL (i.e. heritability and genetic correlations with other relevant traits) are needed for developing selection criteria and optimum breeding strategies and programmes. IMF content is usually expressed in percent of dry or wet matter and OL in percent of total fatty acids in IMF. However, all research done in this field was not aware of the compositional nature of these data (Aitchison, 1986). The purpose of the present contribution is to compare results from standard linear with compositional data analyses for IMF and OL. Analyses were compared in terms of genetic parameter estimates, selection efficiency, and predictive capacity

Exploratory data analysis for fatty acid composition in pig meat

Fat content and composition are determinant factors affecting pork production and meat quality (Wood et al., 2003). Fat composition is commonly presented as the percentage of each individual fatty acid relative to total fatty acids and then some pork quality traits are described in terms of some fatty acid percentages (see for example the review by Wood et al., 2008). Despite being compositional in nature, to our knowledge there is no reference in the literature where specific compositional data analysis methods had been applied to analyze fatty acid composition. A first objective of this contribution is to analyze fatty acid composition as compositional data. In meat quality research, it is common to analyze the effect of some influential factors (such as diet, genotype, gender, live weight or age, among others) on fat content and composition, usually the subcutaneous (SF) or the intramuscular (IMF) fats. In these studies, the aim is mostly to estimate and then test the differences among treatments for fatty acid percentages. The pattern of fatty acid deposition may differ among tissue (for instance, SF or IMF) or muscle (Kloareg et al., 2007; Duran-Montgé et al., 2008), and even between localization within a specific tissue. A second objective of this manuscript is to better know the differences between fatty acid deposition pattern between tissues, localization within a tissue, and muscles. Thus, the purpose of the present study is, first, to describe a data set of fatty acid composition collected specifically for doing research on IMF content and composition and assess the main differences among IMF of three muscles and SF using compositional data methods, and, second, to apply, as a case study, specific compositional data methods to discriminate between samples of IMF and SF by fatty acid composition and compare the results with the obtained when using the traditional approach

Anodization of titanium implants in order to improve chemical degradation resistance

El objetivo de este trabajo de investigación es la obtención de una capa de anodizado, que sea homogénea en toda la superficie del implante de titanio. Esta capa de óxido de titanio tendrá unas propiedades beneficiosas para el implante dental como son: 1. Limpieza de residuos tanto orgánicos como inorgánicos de la superficie del implante. 2. Mejora de la resistencia a la corrosión del implante. 3. Disminución de la liberación de iones del titanio al medio fisiológico. 4. Aumento de la dureza superficial así como de la resistencia al desgaste.Peer Reviewe

Evaluación de la rigidez de diferentes fijadores externos

Se ha estudiado la rigidez a compresión, flexión en 3 puntos y torsión de fijadores del tipo Orthofix, Wagner y Hoffmann doble marco con diferentes distancias del clavo al foco de fractura. Se han comparado los resultados que permitirán realizar en la práctica clínica montajes con las carcaterísticas de regidez deseables.Peer Reviewe

Proceedings on periodontology

El diagnóstico de la enfermedad periodontal está adqui­riendo mayor complejidad debido a su etiología bacte­riana específica, y a la presencia de interacciones húes­ped-parásito que pueden comportar distintas manifesta­ciones clínicas(1). Además, cabe pensar que la enfer­medad periodontal puede cursar con una inflamación crónica que desarrollaría brotes destructivos, por lo que se crea la duda de si siempre una gingivitis evoluciona hacia una periodontitis y /o cuando sería necesario ini­ciar o finalizar un tratamiento (2)

Validación del empleo de aleaciones superelásticas en distracción mandibular

Peer Reviewe

Resolució del problema del carter xinès en un mapa Google

En aquest projecte fi de carrera s'implementa una aplicació web capaç de resoldre el problema del carter xinès sobre un mapa de Google en el que l'usuari ha introduït una selecció de trams de carrers connexos, mostrant-li la ruta més curta per recórrer tots aquests trams i retornar a l'origen. N'hi ha prou amb un navegador web compatible amb JavaScript i amb no excedir les limitacions d'alguns dels serveis que proporciona Google Maps.En este proyecto fin de carrera se implementa una aplicación web capaz de resolver el problema del cartero chino sobre un mapa de Google en el que el usuario ha introducido una selección de tramos de calles conexos, mostrándole la ruta más corta para recorrer todos estos tramos y retornar al origen. Hay suficientes con un navegador web compatible con JavaScript y con no exceder las limitaciones de los servicios que proporciona Google Maps.In this end of career project, the application able to solve the problem of Chinese postman on a Google map is implemented on which the user has introduced a range of connected sections of streets, showing him the shortest route to go all these sections and return to the source. It is enough with a web browser compatible with JavaScript and not to exceed the limitations of some of the services provided by Google Maps

Recent global warming induces the coupling of dissimilar long-term sedimentary signatures in two adjacent volcanic lakes (Azores Archipelago, Portugal)

Paleoclimatological information derived from the study of lacustrine sedimentary records is not only biased by taphonomical processes but also by potential differences in the expression of climate variability in the sediments due to site-specific factors. Using a multiproxy approach (the elemental and isotopic compositions of organic matter, diatom assemblages, and marker pigments of algae and cyanobacteria), we study the different environmental signatures recorded since the Little Ice Age (LIA) in the sediments of two volcanic lakes located within the same caldera on S~ao Miguel Island (Azores Archipelago). Lake Santiago is a crater lake whose eutrophic status in the last stage of the LIA was linked to external nutrient inputs associated with this humid period. Its post-LIA evolution was forced by changes in the thermal structure of the water, which determined its degree of mixing and therefore nutrient availability through recycling from the hypolimnion. In contrast, the decadal to centennial limnological evolution of Lake Azul, a caldera lake 2.5 km from Lake Santiago, shows geochemical and micropaleontological signatures disconnected from climate variability until 1980/1990 CE due to its greater exposure to the fallout of tephra after a catastrophic eruption in c. 1290 CE. Only after 1980/1990 CE did a global warming scenario induce a common ecological restructuring of both lakes, involving the replacement of turbulence-loving algal taxa by species adapted to strengthening water column stratification. Nevertheless, this shift was relatively gradual in Lake Azul but more sudden in Lake Santiago, indicating that the local site-specific components still had an effect on the expression of climate change in the sediments. Despite the short history of anthropogenic pressure (compared to their continental counterparts) and the large atmospheric patterns operating over the Azores Archipelago, the sedimentary records of these two adjacent oceanic volcanic lakes reacted quite differently to climate changes

Fibroblast viability and phenotypic changes within glycated stiffened three-dimensional collagen matrices

Background: There is growing interest in the development of cell culture assays that enable the rigidity of the extracellular matrix to be increased. A promising approach is based on three-dimensional collagen type I matrices that are stiffened by cross-linking through non-enzymatic glycation with reducing sugars. Methods: The present study evaluated the biomechanical changes in the non-enzymatically glycated type I collagen matrices, including collagen organization, the advanced glycation end products formation and stiffness achievement. Gels were glycated with ribose at different concentrations (0, 5, 15, 30 and 240 mM). The viability and the phenotypic changes of primary human lung fibroblasts cultured within the non-enzymatically glycated gels were also evaluated along three consecutive weeks. Statistical tests used for data analyze were MannWhitney U, Kruskal Wallis, Student's t-test, two-way ANOVA, multivariate ANOVA, linear regression test and mixed linear model. Results: Our findings indicated that the process of collagen glycation increases the stiffness of the matrices and generates advanced glycation end products in a ribose concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, we identified optimal ribose concentrations and media conditions for cell viability and growth within the glycated matrices. The microenvironment of this collagen based three-dimensional culture induces α-smooth muscle actin and tenascin-C fibroblast protein expression. Finally, a progressive contractile phenotype cell differentiation was associated with the contraction of these gels. Conclusions: The use of non-enzymatic glycation with a low ribose concentration may provide a suitable model with a mechanic and oxidative modified environment with cell s embedded in it, which allowed cell proliferation and induced fibroblast phenotypic changes. Such culture model could be appropriate for investigations of the behavior and phenotypic changes in cells that occur during lung fibrosis as well as for testing different antifibrotic therapies in vitro