Identification of Peptides Potentially Responsible for In Vivo Hypolipidemic Activity of a Hydrolysate from Olive Seeds

Previous studies demonstrated that peptides produced by the hydrolysis of olive seed proteins using Alcalase enzyme showed in vitro multifunctional lipid-lowering capability. This work presents a deeper insight into the hypolipidemic effect of olive seed peptides. The capability of olive seed peptides to inhibit endogenous cholesterol biosynthesis through the inhibition of HMGCoA reductase enzyme was evaluated observing a 38 ± 7% of inhibition. Two in vivo assays using different peptides concentrations (200 and 400 mg/kg/day) were designed to evaluate the hypolipidemic effect of olive seed peptides in male and female mice. A low concentration of hydrolysate reduced total cholesterol in male mice in a 20% after 11 weeks compared to the mice feeding with hypercholesterolemic diet. A higher hydrolysate concentration showed a greater reduction in total cholesterol (25%). The analysis of the olive seed hydrolysate by reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (RP-HPLC-MS) enabled the identification of peptides that could be responsible for this hypolipidemic effect

Carbon dioxide emissions from semi-arid soils amended with biochar alone or combined with mineral and organic fertilizers

Semi-arid soils cover a significant area of Earth s land surface and typically contain large amounts of inorganic C. Determining the effects of biochar additions on CO2 emissions fromsemi-arid soils is therefore essential for evaluating the potential of biochar as a climate change mitigation strategy. Here, we measured the CO2 that evolved from semi-arid calcareous soils amended with biochar at rates of 0 and 20 t ha?1 in a full factorial combination with three different fertilizers (mineral fertilizer, municipal solid waste compost, and sewage sludge) applied at four rates (equivalent to 0, 75, 150, and 225 kg potentially available N ha?1) during 182 days of aerobic incubation. A double exponential model, which describes cumulative CO2 emissions from two active soil C compartments with different turnover rates (one relatively stable and the other more labile), was found to fit verywell all the experimental datasets. In general, the organic fertilizers increased the size and decomposition rate of the stable and labile soil C pools. In contrast, biochar addition had no effects on any of the double exponential model parameters and did not interact with the effects ascribed to the type and rate of fertilizer. After 182 days of incubation, soil organic and microbial biomass C contents tended to increase with increasing the application rates of organic fertilizer, especially of compost, whereas increasing the rate of mineral fertilizer tended to suppress microbial biomass. Biochar was found to increase both organic and inorganic C contents in soil and not to interactwith the effects of type and rate of fertilizer on C fractions. As a whole, our results suggest that the use of biochar as enhancer of semi-arid soils, either alone or combined with mineral and organic fertilizers, is unlikely to increase abiotic and biotic soil CO2 emissions

Efecto terapéutico del afecto positivo

Resumen. La capacidad para regular las emociones de manera eficaz facilita la adaptación de las personas alámbito social y es uno de los elementos fundamentales para entender cómo las personas más resilientes son capacesde afrontar las situaciones adversas y salir reforzadas. El análisis de estas variables permitiría comprendermejor la relación que la literatura científica establece entre el estado afectivo positivo y una mejor salud física ymental. Uno de los aspectos más relevantes en esta relación son las habilidades para reconocer y expresar lasemociones, que permiten su fácil integración en programas de prevención y rehabilitación. Además, estas habilidadespodrían potenciarse en el contexto clínico a través de la mejora en la interacción emocional entre el personalsanitario y los pacientes, con un enfoque prioritario hacia la regulación de las emociones positivas.Summary. The ability to regulate emotions effectively makes it easier for individuals to adapt to their socialcontext, and it is one of the keys to understanding how the most resilient people are better able to cope with adversesituations and emerge from them stronger than before. An analysis of these variables would allow for a betterunderstanding of the relationship that previous scientific literature has established between positive emotionalstates and improved physical and mental health. Among the most important aspects of this relationship is anability to recognize and express emotions, which would indicate that these skills would be suitable for inclusionin prevention and rehabilitation programs. In addition, these abilities can be enhanced in the clinical contextthrough improved emotional interaction between health professionals and patients, aimed at fostering positiveemotion regulation

Positron emission tomography of the airway distribution of intranasal challenge solutions

Abstract of: Scientific Sessions: 2007 AAAAI Annual Meeting, February 23-27, San Diego, CAIntranasal administration is one of the main routes of allergen challenge in mouse models of airway disease. Although it is widely used, it is not well established the amount of allergen that reaches the lung or is lost to the gastrointestinal tract. The local distribution of the challenge solution within the airways is also unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the distribution immediately after intranasal delivery using a Positron Emission Tomography scanner (PET)FIS 01/0598 and Foundation SEAICPublicad

Consecutive Expansion of Limbal Epithelial Stem Cells from a Single Limbal Biopsy

Producción CientíficaPurpose: Corneal epithelium is maintained by limbal epithelial stem cells (LESCs), the loss of which can be catastrophic for corneal transparency. Effective therapies include the transplantation of cultivated LESCs, requiring optimization of in vitro cultivation protocols. Unfortunately, optimization studies are hampered by the limited number of ocular tissue donors. We investigated the feasibility of obtaining more than one limbal primary culture (LPC) from the same 1-2 mm2 limbal explant (LE). Methods: LEs were plated and maintained until outgrowth surrounded each, being removed at this point. LPCs were allowed to reach confluence (LPC0). The same removed LE was plated again, following the same procedure, obtaining LPC1. This procedure was repeated as often as possible up to 6 times. LPCs from each passage were analysed by real time RT-PCR and immunofluorescence-microscopy. Results: LPCs from LPC0 to LPC2 presented an heterogeneous cell population, with cells positive for LESC markers K14, K15, ABCG2 and p63, differentiated corneal epithelial cell-specific markers K3 and K12, and for the fibroblast marker S100A4. These cells had an epithelial-like morphology. In LPC3-LPC4, elongated cell morphology appeared, and the presence of LESC markers decreased, while the presence of differentiated corneal epithelial-cell and fibroblast markers increased. Conclusion: one LE can be successfully cultivated up to three consecutive times while maintaining the LESC phenotype in the LPC cells. This protocol provides several homologous LPCs for basic research. Additionally, by using a cell-carrier, the resulting LPCs could serve reservoirs for potential autologous expanded LESC transplantations and/or for making correlations between laboratory and clinical outcomes.This study was supported by CIBER-BBN, Spain and Network Center for Regeneration Medicine and Cell Therapy, Castile and Leon Government (SAN673/VA/28/08 and SAN/103/2011). M. L-P. and S. G. were supported by scholarships co-financed by the Castile and Leon Government and the European-Social-Fond

Catalytic VOCs elimination over copper and cerium oxide modified mesoporous SBA-15 silica

[EN] Copper and cerium oxide bi-component materials with different Cu/Ce ratio were prepared using ordered SBA-15 silica as a support and compared with their bulk analogs. The samples were characterized by nitrogen physisorption, XRD, UV-Vis, FTIR, XPS, Raman spectroscopy and TPR with hydrogen. Cyclohexanol conversion was used as a catalytic test to obtain more information for the surface properties of the supported materials. The catalytic properties of the samples were studied in VOCs oxidation using toluene and ethyl acetate as probe molecules. A strong effect of mesoporous silica support and samples composition on the formation of catalytic sites was established. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Financial support of Bulgarian Academy of Science and National Scientific Fond of Ministry of Education Projects DTK 02/64 and ДНTC/Киtай 01/8, financial support from DGICYT in Spain (Project CTQ-2009-14495) and bilateral project Bulgarian-Spain Inter-academic Exchange Agreement (Project 2009BG0002) are acknowledged.Tsoncheva, T.; Issa, G.; Blasco Lanzuela, T.; Dimitrov, M.; Popova, M.; Hernández Morejudo, S.; Kovacheva, D.... (2013). Catalytic VOCs elimination over copper and cerium oxide modified mesoporous SBA-15 silica. Applied Catalysis A General. 453:1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcata.2012.12.007S11245

Total Oxidation of Propane Using CeO2 and CuO-CeO2 Catalysts Prepared Using Templates of Different Nature

[EN] Several CeO2 and CuO-CeO2 catalysts were prepared using different methods, i.e., a homogeneous precipitation with urea, a nanocasting route using CMK-3 carbon as a hard template and a sol¿gel process using Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) polymer as a soft template, and tested in the total oxidation of propane. The catalysts were characterized by a number of physicochemical techniques (XRD, N2 adsorption, TPR, XPS, Raman spectroscopy) showing distinct characteristics. For each series, Cu-Ce-O catalysts with low Cu-loadings (5 wt % CuO) showed the highest activity, higher than those samples either without copper or with high Cu-loading (13 wt % CuO). The incorporation of copper leads to an increase of the concentration of bulk defects but if the Cu-loading is too high the surface area drastically falls. The highest activity in the total oxidation of propane was achieved by Cu-containing ceria catalysts synthesized using a polymer as a template, as this method yields high surface area materials. The surface area and the number of bulk/sub-surface defects of the ceria seem to be the main properties determining the catalytic activityThe authors would like to acknowledge the DGICYT in Spain CTQ2012-37925-C03-2, CTQ2015-68951-C3-1-R, CTQ2015-68951-C3-3-R. Authors from ITQ also thank Project SEV-2012-0267 for financial support. B.S, R.S and A.M.D also thank UV-INV-AE16-484416.Solsona, B.; Sanchis, R.; Dejoz, AM.; Garcia, T.; Ruiz-Rodríguez, L.; López Nieto, JM.; Cecilia, JA.... (2017). Total Oxidation of Propane Using CeO2 and CuO-CeO2 Catalysts Prepared Using Templates of Different Nature. Catalysts. 7(4):96-110. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal7040096S961107

NiO diluted in high surface area TiO2 as efficient catalysts for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane

[EN] Catalysts consisting of NiO diluted in high surface area TiO2 can be as efficient in the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane as the most selective NiO-promoted catalysts reported previously in the literature. By selecting the titania matrix and the NiO loading, yields to ethylene over 40% have been obtained. In the present article, three different titanium oxides (TiO2) have been employed as supports or diluters of nickel oxide and have been tested in the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene. All TiO2 used present anatase as the main crystalline phase and different surface areas of 11,55 and 85 m(2) g(-1). It has been observed that by selecting an appropriate nickel loading and the titanium oxide extremely high selectivity towards ethylene can be obtained. Thus, nickel oxide supported on TiO2 with high surface areas (i.e. 55 and 85 m(2) g(-1)) have resulted to give the best catalytic performance although the optimal nickel loading is different for each case. The optimal catalyst has been obtained for NiO-loadings up to 5-10 theoretical monolayers regardless of the TiO2 employed. Free TiO2 is inactive whereas unsupported NiO is active and unselective (forming mainly carbon dioxide) and, therefore, unmodified NiO particles have to be avoided in order to obtain the optimal catalytic performance. The use of low surface area titania (11 m(2) g(-1)) have led to the lowest selectivity to olefin due to the presence of an excess of free NiO particles. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.The authors would like to acknowledge the DGICYT in Spain CTQ2012-37925-C03-2, CTQ2015-68951-C3-1-R, CTQ2015-68951-C3-3-R and SEV-2012-0267 Projects for financial support. D.D. also thanks Severo Ochoa Excellence fellowship (SVP-2014-068669). We also thank the University of Valencia (UV-INV-AE-16-484416 project) and SCSIE-UV for assistanceSanchis, R.; Delgado-Muñoz, D.; Agouram, S.; Soriano Rodríguez, MD.; Vázquez, MI.; Rodriguez-Castellon, E.; Solsona, B.... (2017). NiO diluted in high surface area TiO2 as efficient catalysts for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane. Applied Catalysis A General. 536:18-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcata.2017.02.012S182653

Persistence of tree relicts in the Spanish Central System through the Holocene

Persistence of relict tree species in Mediterranean environments is becoming increasingly unlikely in view of ongoing and future global change. The variability in the Holocene climate and more recent anthropogenic impacts have driven many populations to fragmentation and isolation, and even to extinction. However, some have persisted to the present day. The understanding of their evolution requires long-term studies, in which pollen analysis is a key approach both for formulating hypotheses and supporting results from other disciplines. Mountain ranges have played and still play an essential role as both glacial and interglacial refugia during the Quaternary. The Spanish Central System harbors an exceptional diversity due to its geographical location and complex topography. Some cold-adapted species have survived here with significant proportions of their southernmost populations, often displaying striking adaptations to their changing environments. This work contains a comprehensive review of the palynological investigations conducted in the Spanish Central System, and reveals the distribution of genera such as Taxus, Betula, Fagus, Carpinus and Tilia throughout the Holocene. We also highlight the scarcity of well-dated and high-resolution works, which may contribute to a better understanding of their recent and future evolution.This paper is part of the research carried our within the project "Dinámicas socio-ecológicas, resiliencia y vulnerabilidad en un paisaje de montaña: el Sistema Central (9000 cal. BC-1850 cal. AD) " (R&D National Plan of the Spanish Government, HAR2013-43701-P)