Variation in flavonoids in a collection of peppers (Capsicum sp.) under organic and conventional cultivation: effect of the genotype, ripening stage, and growing system

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Ribes-Moya, A.M., Adalid, A.M., Raigón, M.D., Hellín, P., Fita, A. and Rodríguez-Burruezo, A. (2020), Variation in flavonoids in a collection of peppers (Capsicum sp.) under organic and conventional cultivation: effect of the genotype, ripening stage, and growing system. J Sci Food Agric, 100: 2208-2223, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.10245. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.[EN] BACKGROUND In recent years, the acreage used for organic agriculture and the demand for organic fruit and vegetables have increased considerably. Given this scenario, landraces, such as Capsicum landraces, can provide valuable germplasm. Capsicum peppers are very interesting because of their high phenolic content, and particularly their flavonoid content, which provides a high added value. Moreover, the broad genetic diversity in local varieties expands the opportunities for adaptation to organic production and for exploiting genotype x environment interactions to select peppers with the highest phenolic content. RESULTS In this work, the main flavonoids of peppers were exhaustively evaluated over 2 years in a wide collection of heirlooms, both unripe and fully ripe, under organic and conventional cultivation. The genotype and ripening stage contributed to a high degree to the variation in flavonoids. The growing system influenced this variation to a lesser extent. Luteolin and quercetin showed the highest contributions to total phenolic content (70% and > 20%, respectively) at both ripening stages, while myricetin, apigenin, and kaempferol showed lower contributrions. The average flavonoid content was higher in ripe fruits, and organic management significantly increased the accumulation of total flavonoids and luteolin. Positive correlations between flavonoids were found at both ripening stages, especially between main flavonoids luteolin and quercetin and between kaempferol and quercetin (rho > 0.7). CONCLUSION Genotype x environment interaction enabled the identification of accessions with high flavonoid content grown under organic conditions at both ripening stages, particularly total flavonoids and luteolin at the fully ripe stage. Our results reinforce the importance of a wide genetic variation and of considering different ripening stages and growing conditions for breeding high-quality peppers.This work has been funded by the Instituto Nacional de Investigacion y Tecnologia Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA) project RTA2014-00041-C02-02, Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) funds. A.M. Ribes-Moya expresses her gratitude to the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV) for her scholarship FPI-UPV-2017 (PAID-01-17). The authors also thank the farmers' association Unio de Llauradors i Ramaders (LA UNI) for the arrangement and management of fields - specifically Manuel Figueroa, Rafael Hurtado, Ricard Ballester, and Antonio Munoz, and seed providers P.W. Bosland, S. Lanteri, Francois Jourdan, Santiago Larregla, and the Regulatory Boards of the PDOs and PGIs included in this work. The authors are also grateful for the support of Professor Jaime Prohens with statistical methods.Ribes Moya, AM.; Adalid-Martinez, AM.; Raigón Jiménez, MD.; Hellín, P.; Fita, A.; Rodríguez Burruezo, A. (2020). Variation in flavonoids in a collection of peppers (Capsicum sp.) under organic and conventional cultivation: effect of the genotype, ripening stage, and growing system. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. 100(5):2208-2223. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.10245S220822231005WillerH European organic market grew by double digits and organic area reached 13.5 million hectares in2016 [Online]. FiBL‐Media release (2018). Available:https://www.fibl.org/en/media/media-archive/media-archive18/media-release18/article/bio-in-europa-legt-weiter-zu-biomarkt-waechst-zweistellig-bioflaeche-steigt-auf-fast-14-millionen-h.html[8 August 2019]BENGTSSON, J., AHNSTRÖM, J., & WEIBULL, A.-C. (2005). The effects of organic agriculture on biodiversity and abundance: a meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Ecology, 42(2), 261-269. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2664.2005.01005.xHunter, D., Foster, M., McArthur, J. O., Ojha, R., Petocz, P., & Samman, S. (2011). Evaluation of the Micronutrient Composition of Plant Foods Produced by Organic and Conventional Agricultural Methods. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 51(6), 571-582. doi:10.1080/10408391003721701Fita, A., Rodríguez-Burruezo, A., Boscaiu, M., Prohens, J., & Vicente, O. (2015). Breeding and Domesticating Crops Adapted to Drought and Salinity: A New Paradigm for Increasing Food Production. Frontiers in Plant Science, 6. doi:10.3389/fpls.2015.00978FAOSTAT Data[Online]. FAOSTAT (2019). Available:http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC[17 January 2019]Denominaciones de Origen e Indicaciones Geográficas Protegidas. [Online]. MAPAMA. (2019). Available:https://www.mapa.gob.es/es/alimentacion/temas/calidad-agroalimentaria/calidad-diferenciada/dop/default.aspx[6 February 2019]Hill, T. A., Ashrafi, H., Reyes-Chin-Wo, S., Yao, J., Stoffel, K., Truco, M.-J., … Van Deynze, A. (2013). Characterization of Capsicum annuum Genetic Diversity and Population Structure Based on Parallel Polymorphism Discovery with a 30K Unigene Pepper GeneChip. PLoS ONE, 8(2), e56200. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0056200Kumar, S., Kumar, R., & Singh, J. (2006). Cayenne/American pepper. Handbook of Herbs and Spices, 299-312. doi:10.1533/9781845691717.3.299Bosland, P. W., & Votava, E. J. (Eds.). (2012). Peppers: vegetable and spice capsicums. doi:10.1079/9781845938253.0000Pellegrini, N., Serafini, M., Colombi, B., Del Rio, D., Salvatore, S., Bianchi, M., & Brighenti, F. (2003). Total Antioxidant Capacity of Plant Foods, Beverages and Oils Consumed in Italy Assessed by Three Different In Vitro Assays. The Journal of Nutrition, 133(9), 2812-2819. doi:10.1093/jn/133.9.2812Zimmer, A. R., Leonardi, B., Miron, D., Schapoval, E., Oliveira, J. R. de, & Gosmann, G. (2012). Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of Capsicum baccatum: From traditional use to scientific approach. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 139(1), 228-233. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2011.11.005Morales-Soto, A., García-Salas, P., Rodríguez-Pérez, C., Jiménez-Sánchez, C., Cádiz-Gurrea, M. de la L., Segura-Carretero, A., & Fernández-Gutiérrez, A. (2014). Antioxidant capacity of 44 cultivars of fruits and vegetables grown in Andalusia (Spain). Food Research International, 58, 35-46. doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2014.01.050BHATTACHARYA, A., SOOD, P., & CITOVSKY, V. (2010). The roles of plant phenolics in defence and communication during Agrobacterium and Rhizobium infection. Molecular Plant Pathology, no-no. doi:10.1111/j.1364-3703.2010.00625.xBlum, U., Shafer, S. R., & Lehman, M. E. (1999). Evidence for Inhibitory Allelopathic Interactions Involving Phenolic Acids in Field Soils: Concepts vs. an Experimental Model. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, 18(5), 673-693. doi:10.1080/07352689991309441Alasalvar, C., Grigor, J. M., Zhang, D., Quantick, P. C., & Shahidi, F. (2001). Comparison of Volatiles, Phenolics, Sugars, Antioxidant Vitamins, and Sensory Quality of Different Colored Carrot Varieties. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 49(3), 1410-1416. doi:10.1021/jf000595hRomero, N., Saavedra, J., Tapia, F., Sepúlveda, B., & Aparicio, R. (2015). Influence of agroclimatic parameters on phenolic and volatile compounds of Chilean virgin olive oils and characterization based on geographical origin, cultivar and ripening stage. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 96(2), 583-592. doi:10.1002/jsfa.7127Ferrer-Gallego, R., Hernández-Hierro, J. M., Rivas-Gonzalo, J. C., & Escribano-Bailón, M. T. (2012). Influence of climatic conditions on the phenolic composition of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Graciano. Analytica Chimica Acta, 732, 73-77. doi:10.1016/j.aca.2011.12.072Tomás-Barberán, F. A., & Espín, J. C. (2001). Phenolic compounds and related enzymes as determinants of quality in fruits and vegetables. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 81(9), 853-876. doi:10.1002/jsfa.885Sun, J., Chu, Y.-F., Wu, X., & Liu, R. H. (2002). Antioxidant and Antiproliferative Activities of Common Fruits. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 50(25), 7449-7454. doi:10.1021/jf0207530Sala, A., Recio, M. del C., Giner, R. M., Máñez, S., Tournier, H., Schinella, G., & Ríos, J.-L. (2002). Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of Helichrysum italicum. Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 54(3), 365-371. doi:10.1211/0022357021778600Cai, Y., Luo, Q., Sun, M., & Corke, H. (2004). Antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds of 112 traditional Chinese medicinal plants associated with anticancer. Life Sciences, 74(17), 2157-2184. doi:10.1016/j.lfs.2003.09.047WOJDYLO, A., OSZMIANSKI, J., & CZEMERYS, R. (2007). Antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds in 32 selected herbs. Food Chemistry, 105(3), 940-949. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2007.04.038Bae, H., Jayaprakasha, G. K., Jifon, J., & Patil, B. S. (2012). Extraction efficiency and validation of an HPLC method for flavonoid analysis in peppers. Food Chemistry, 130(3), 751-758. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2011.07.041Jeong, W. Y., Jin, J. S., Cho, Y. A., Lee, J. H., Park, S., Jeong, S. W., … Shin, S. C. (2011). Determination of polyphenols in three Capsicum annuum L. (bell pepper) varieties using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry: Their contribution to overall antioxidant and anticancer activity. Journal of Separation Science, 34(21), 2967-2974. doi:10.1002/jssc.201100524Materska, M. (2014). Bioactive phenolics of fresh and freeze-dried sweet and semi-spicy pepper fruits (Capsicum annuum L.). Journal of Functional Foods, 7, 269-277. doi:10.1016/j.jff.2014.02.002Plazas, M., Prohens, J., Cuñat, A., Vilanova, S., Gramazio, P., Herraiz, F., & Andújar, I. (2014). Reducing Capacity, Chlorogenic Acid Content and Biological Activity in a Collection of Scarlet (Solanum aethiopicum) and Gboma (S. macrocarpon) Eggplants. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 15(10), 17221-17241. doi:10.3390/ijms151017221Wickham, H. (2011). ggplot2. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Computational Statistics, 3(2), 180-185. doi:10.1002/wics.147Ribes-Moya, A. M., Raigón, M. D., Moreno-Peris, E., Fita, A., & Rodríguez-Burruezo, A. (2018). Response to organic cultivation of heirloom Capsicum peppers: Variation in the level of bioactive compounds and effect of ripening. PLOS ONE, 13(11), e0207888. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0207888Rodríguez-Burruezo, A., Prohens, J., & Nuez, F. (2002). Genetic Analysis of Quantitative Traits in Pepino (Solanum muricatum) in Two Growing Seasons. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, 127(2), 271-278. doi:10.21273/jashs.127.2.271Metsalu, T., & Vilo, J. (2015). ClustVis: a web tool for visualizing clustering of multivariate data using Principal Component Analysis and heatmap. Nucleic Acids Research, 43(W1), W566-W570. doi:10.1093/nar/gkv468Bhandari, S. R., Jung, B.-D., Baek, H.-Y., & Lee, Y.-S. (2013). Ripening-dependent Changes in Phytonutrients and Antioxidant Activity of Red Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) Fruits Cultivated under Open-field Conditions. HortScience, 48(10), 1275-1282. doi:10.21273/hortsci.48.10.1275Howard, L. R., Talcott, S. T., Brenes, C. H., & Villalon, B. (2000). Changes in Phytochemical and Antioxidant Activity of Selected Pepper Cultivars (Capsicum Species) As Influenced by Maturity. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 48(5), 1713-1720. doi:10.1021/jf990916tBae, H., Jayaprakasha, G. K., Crosby, K., Yoo, K. S., Leskovar, D. I., Jifon, J., & Patil, B. S. (2014). Ascorbic acid, capsaicinoid, and flavonoid aglycone concentrations as a function of fruit maturity stage in greenhouse-grown peppers. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 33(2), 195-202. doi:10.1016/j.jfca.2013.11.009Ghasemnezhad, M., Sherafati, M., & Payvast, G. A. (2011). Variation in phenolic compounds, ascorbic acid and antioxidant activity of five coloured bell pepper (Capsicum annum) fruits at two different harvest times. Journal of Functional Foods, 3(1), 44-49. doi:10.1016/j.jff.2011.02.002Hallmann, E., & Rembiałkowska, E. (2012). Characterisation of antioxidant compounds in sweet bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) under organic and conventional growing systems. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 92(12), 2409-2415. doi:10.1002/jsfa.5624Slimestad, R., & Verheul, M. (2009). Review of flavonoids and other phenolics from fruits of different tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) cultivars. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 89(8), 1255-1270. doi:10.1002/jsfa.3605NAVARRO, J., FLORES, P., GARRIDO, C., & MARTINEZ, V. (2006). Changes in the contents of antioxidant compounds in pepper fruits at different ripening stages, as affected by salinity. Food Chemistry, 96(1), 66-73. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2005.01.057Martí, M. C., Camejo, D., Vallejo, F., Romojaro, F., Bacarizo, S., Palma, J. M., … Jiménez, A. (2011). Influence of Fruit Ripening Stage and Harvest Period on the Antioxidant Content of Sweet Pepper Cultivars. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition, 66(4), 416-423. doi:10.1007/s11130-011-0249-xLEE, Y., HOWARD, L. ., & VILLALÓN, B. (1995). Flavonoids and Antioxidant Activity of Fresh Pepper (Capsicum annuum) Cultivars. Journal of Food Science, 60(3), 473-476. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2621.1995.tb09806.xSerrano, M., Zapata, P. J., Castillo, S., Guillén, F., Martínez-Romero, D., & Valero, D. (2010). Antioxidant and nutritive constituents during sweet pepper development and ripening are enhanced by nitrophenolate treatments. Food Chemistry, 118(3), 497-503. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2009.05.006Pérez-López, A. J., del Amor, F. M., Serrano-Martínez, A., Fortea, M. I., & Núñez-Delicado, E. (2007). Influence of agricultural practices on the quality of sweet pepper fruits as affected by the maturity stage. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 87(11), 2075-2080. doi:10.1002/jsfa.2966Kim, J. K., Lee, S. Y., Chu, S. M., Lim, S. H., Suh, S.-C., Lee, Y.-T., … Ha, S.-H. (2010). Variation and Correlation Analysis of Flavonoids and Carotenoids in Korean Pigmented Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Cultivars. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 58(24), 12804-12809. doi:10.1021/jf103277gMoriguchi, T., Kita, M., Tomono, Y., Endo-Inagaki, T., & Omura, M. (2001). Gene expression in flavonoid biosynthesis: Correlation with flavonoid accumulation in developing citrus fruit. Physiologia Plantarum, 111(1), 66-74. doi:10.1034/j.1399-3054.2001.1110109.

Psychometric properties of a test in evidence based practice: the Spanish version of the Fresno test

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Validated instruments are needed to evaluate the programmatic impact of Evidence Based Practice (EBP) training and to document the competence of individual trainees. This study aimed to translate the Fresno test into Spanish and subsequently validate it, in order to ensure the equivalence of the Spanish version against the original English version.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Before and after study performed between October 2007 and June 2008. Three groups of participants: (a) Mentors of family medicine residents (expert group) (n = 56); (b) Family medicine physicians (intermediate experience group) (n = 17); (c) Family medicine residents (novice group) (n = 202); Medical residents attended an EBP course, and two sets of the test were administered before and after the course. The Fresno test is a performance based measure for use in medical education that assesses EBP skills. The outcome measures were: inter-rater and intra-rater reliability, internal consistency, item analyses, construct validity, feasibility of administration, and responsiveness.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Inter-rater correlations were 0.95 and 0.85 in the pre-test and the post-test respectively. The overall intra-rater reliability was 0.71 and 0.81 in the pre-test and post-test questionnaire, respectively. Cronbach's alpha was 0.88 and 0.77, respectively. 152 residents (75.2%) returned both sets of the questionnaire. The observed effect size for the residents was 1.77 (CI 95%: 1.57-1.95), the standardised response mean was 1.65 (CI 95%:1.47-1.82).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The Spanish version of the Fresno test is a useful tool in assessing the knowledge and skills of EBP in Spanish-speaking residents of Family Medicine.</p

Validity of the Polar V800 heart rate monitor to measure RR intervals at rest

Purpose To assess the validity of RR intervals and short-term heart rate variability (HRV) data obtained from the Polar V800 heart rate monitor, in comparison to an electrocardiograph (ECG). Method Twenty participants completed an active orthostatic test using the V800 and ECG. An improved method for the identification and correction of RR intervals was employed prior to HRV analysis. Agreement of the data was assessed using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC), Bland–Altman limits of agreement (LoA), and effect size (ES). Results A small number of errors were detected between ECG and Polar RR signal, with a combined error rate of 0.086 %. The RR intervals from ECG to V800 were significantly different, but with small ES for both supine corrected and standing corrected data (ES 0.999 for both supine and standing corrected intervals. When analysed with the same HRV software no significant differences were observed in any HRV parameters, for either supine or standing; the data displayed small bias and tight LoA, strong ICC (>0.99) and small ES (≤0.029). Conclusions The V800 improves over previous Polar models, with narrower LoA, stronger ICC and smaller ES for both the RR intervals and HRV parameters. The findings support the validity of the Polar V800 and its ability to produce RR interval recordings consistent with an ECG. In addition, HRV parameters derived from these recordings are also highly comparable

Development of microsatellite markers and detection of genetic variation between Goniozus wasp populations

Molecular genetic markers reveal differences between genotypes according to the presence of alleles (the same or different) at target loci. Microsatellite markers are especially useful codominant markers that have been used in a wide range of studies to elucidate the population structure and dynamics of a range of organisms, including agriculturally beneficial insects such as parasitic wasps (parasitoids). In the present study, twelve primer pairs were designed for the south Asian , Goniozus nephantidis (Muesebeck) (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae), and 24 for its New World congener, Goniozus legneri Gordh, parasitoids of the larvae of the lepidopteran coconut pest Opisina arenosella Walker (Lepidoptera: Crytophasidae) and other lepidopteran pests, respectively, in order to investigate polymorphism within and between populations. The wasps fingerprinted were a total of 85 G. nephantidis and G. legneri, including individuals belonging to three putatively different strains of G. legneri. Annealing gradient tests (50–65°C) were conducted to study the quality of the PCR amplification across an annealing temperature gradient using a mixed genotype DNA template from each species separately. Seven primer pairs, which amplified clear products of approximately the expected size of G. nephantidis and 18 of G. legneri, were then selected for capillary analysis for fragment size determination on a Beckmann CEQ 8000. Neither G. nephantidis nor G. legneri were polymorphic within populations. However, there were six primer pairs that did show polymorphism between G. legneri populations that originated from different geographical areas within South America (Uruguay and Chile). Furthermore, one primer pair revealed diversity between the two strains collected within Chile. One of the markers was subsequently used to provide unbiased assessment of primary sex ratio in G. legneri

Body fat measurement by bioelectrical impedance and air displacement plethysmography: a cross-validation study to design bioelectrical impedance equations in Mexican adults

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The study of body composition in specific populations by techniques such as bio-impedance analysis (BIA) requires validation based on standard reference methods. The aim of this study was to develop and cross-validate a predictive equation for bioelectrical impedance using air displacement plethysmography (ADP) as standard method to measure body composition in Mexican adult men and women.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study included 155 male and female subjects from northern Mexico, 20–50 years of age, from low, middle, and upper income levels. Body composition was measured by ADP. Body weight (BW, kg) and height (Ht, cm) were obtained by standard anthropometric techniques. Resistance, R (ohms) and reactance, Xc (ohms) were also measured. A random-split method was used to obtain two samples: one was used to derive the equation by the "all possible regressions" procedure and was cross-validated in the other sample to test predicted versus measured values of fat-free mass (FFM).</p> <p>Results and Discussion</p> <p>The final model was: FFM (kg) = 0.7374 * (Ht²/R) + 0.1763 * (BW) - 0.1773 * (Age) + 0.1198 * (Xc) - 2.4658. R²was 0.97; the square root of the mean square error (SRMSE) was 1.99 kg, and the pure error (PE) was 2.96. There was no difference between FFM predicted by the new equation (48.57 ± 10.9 kg) and that measured by ADP (48.43 ± 11.3 kg). The new equation did not differ from the line of identity, had a high R²and a low SRMSE, and showed no significant bias (0.87 ± 2.84 kg).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The new bioelectrical impedance equation based on the two-compartment model (2C) was accurate, precise, and free of bias. This equation can be used to assess body composition and nutritional status in populations similar in anthropometric and physical characteristics to this sample.</p

Laforin, a Dual Specificity Phosphatase Involved in Lafora Disease, Is Present Mainly as Monomeric Form with Full Phosphatase Activity

Lafora Disease (LD) is a fatal neurodegenerative epileptic disorder that presents as a neurological deterioration with the accumulation of insoluble, intracellular, hyperphosphorylated carbohydrates called Lafora bodies (LBs). LD is caused by mutations in either the gene encoding laforin or malin. Laforin contains a dual specificity phosphatase domain and a carbohydrate-binding module, and is a member of the recently described family of glucan phosphatases. In the current study, we investigated the functional and physiological relevance of laforin dimerization. We purified recombinant human laforin and subjected the monomer and dimer fractions to denaturing gel electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, phosphatase assays, protein-protein interaction assays, and glucan binding assays. Our results demonstrate that laforin prevalently exists as a monomer with a small dimer fraction both in vitro and in vivo. Of mechanistic importance, laforin monomer and dimer possess equal phosphatase activity, and they both associate with malin and bind glucans to a similar extent. However, we found differences between the two states' ability to interact simultaneously with malin and carbohydrates. Furthermore, we tested other members of the glucan phosphatase family. Cumulatively, our data suggest that laforin monomer is the dominant form of the protein and that it contains phosphatase activity

MODELO DE ATENCIÓN DEL CÁNCER EN LA INFANCIA Y ADOLESCENCIA

La atención integral de niños y adolescentes con cáncer es uno de los grandes desafíos para el sistema de salud pública de nuestros países donde el cáncer infantil representa un problema de salud pública y un problema social. El cáncer pediátrico en Paraguay, un país de escasos recursos, es un problema social y de salud pública por las consecuencias que se infringen a los pacientes, sus familias, las comunidades y los sistemas de salud. Un modelo descentralizado con clínicas más cercanas y dedicadas a cuidados primarios y referencias de niños con diagnóstico potencial de cáncer mejoraron el acceso a cuidados especializados y seguimiento del cáncer. Estas clínicas, implementadas dentro de los hospitales regionales de los sistemas nacionales de salud, ofrecen soluciones sostenibles y efectivas para un mejor acceso y seguimiento del cuidado de los niños con cáncer. El análisis de los desafíos, el éxito y la rentabilidad de estas clínicas regionales de cáncer pediátrico para referencias y seguimiento, permite sugerir un modelo óptimo para tales clínicas en entornos de bajos ingresos. Este modelo podría ser replicado para el cuidado de otras enfermedades y en otros grupos de edad. Presentamos aquí el resultado de la evaluación de los resultados de los pacientes de las cuatro clínicas regionales desde su implementación inicial

Study protocol of psychometric properties of the Spanish translation of a competence test in evidence based practice: The Fresno test

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There are few high-quality instruments for evaluating the effectiveness of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) curricula with objective outcomes measures. The Fresno test is an instrument that evaluates most of EBP steps with a high reliability and validity in the English original version. The present study has the aims to translate the Fresno questionnaire into Spanish and its subsequent validation to ensure the equivalence of the Spanish version against the English original.</p> <p>Methods and design</p> <p>The questionnaire will be translated with the back translation technique and tested in Primary Care Teaching Units in Catalonia (PCTU). Participants will be: (a) tutors of Family Medicine residents (expert group); (b) Family Medicine residents in their second year of the Family Medicine training program (novice group), and (c) Family Medicine physicians (intermediate group). The questionnaire will be administered before and after an educational intervention. The educational intervention will be an interactive four half-day sessions designed to develop the knowledge and skills required to EBP. Responsiveness statistics used in the analysis will be the effect size, the standardised response mean and Guyatt's method. For internal consistency reliability, two measures will be used: corrected item-total correlations and Cronbach's alpha. Inter-rater reliability will be tested using Kappa coefficient for qualitative items and intra-class correlation coefficient for quantitative items and the overall score. Construct validity, item difficulty, item discrimination and feasibility will be determined.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The validation of the Fresno questionnaire into different languages will enable the expansion of the questionnaire, as well as allowing comparison between countries and the evaluation of different teaching models.</p

Evolution of cooperation without reciprocity

A long-standing problem in biological and social sciences is to understand the conditions required for the emergence and maintenance of cooperation in evolving populations. For many situations, kin selection(1) is an adequate explanation, although kin-recognition may still be a problem. Explanations of cooperation between non-kin include continuing interactions that provide a shadow of the future (that is, the expectation of an ongoing relationship) that can sustain reciprocity(2-4), possibly supported by mechanisms to bias interactions such as embedding the agents in a two-dimensional space(4-6) or other context-preserving networks(7). Another explanation, indirect reciprocity(8), applies when benevolence to one agent increases the chance of receiving help from others. Here we use computer simulations to show that cooperation can arise when agents donate to others who are sufficiently similar to themselves in some arbitrary characteristic. Such a characteristic, or 'tag', can be a marking, display, or other observable trait. Tag-based donation can lead to the emergence of cooperation among agents who have only rudimentary ability to detect environmental signals and, unlike models of direct(3,4) or indirect reciprocity(9,10), no memory of past encounters is required.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62686/1/414441a0.pd