Aceite de oliva virgen y regulación hormonal de la presión arterial: una revisión del papel de los enzimas proteolíticos

Numerosos estudios realizados en los últimos años, han puesto de manifiesto que los niveles elevados de grasa en la dieta están directamente relacionados con el desarrollo de diversas patologías, entre las que destacan enfermedades cardiovasculares, diabetes o incluso diversos tipos de cánceres. Estudios epidemiológicos también han demostrado que no sólo es importante la cantidad, sino también el tipo de grasa de la dieta. Son especialmente conocidos los efectos beneficiosos de la dieta mediterránea, caracterizada entre otros aspectos, por un consumo elevado de ácidos grasos monoinsaturados como el oleico. En cualquier caso, no se conoce con exactitud las relaciones existentes entre el tipo de grasa de la dieta y el desarrollo de las distintas patologías. Las aminopeptidasas son enzimas proteolíticos implicados en una amplia variedad de procesos biológicos, destacando su papel en el control de la presión arterial a través del sistema renina-angiotensina. En esta revisión se estudia la influencia de una dieta enriquecida en aceite de oliva sobre la actividad aminopeptidásica sérica y de tejidos periféricos, analizando su influencia en la regulación del sistema renina-angiotensina para el control de la presión arterial y el balance de líquidos y electrolitos.The intake of high fat dietary levels is related to the development of several pathologies such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer. However, epidemiological studies have demonstrated that not only the amount but also the type of dietary fat participates in the origin of the diseases. In fact, several important beneficts have been attributed to the Mediterranean diet, characterized by the high intake of monoinsaturated fatty acids such as oleic acid preferently. In any case, the relationship between the type of dietary fat an the development of diseases are unknown. Aminopeptidases are proteolytic enzymes involved in several biological proccesses, regulating blood pressure through the renin-angiotensin system. In this review, the influence of an olive oil-enriched diet is presented, analyzing their role in the regulation of blood pressure, local blood flow and fluid and electrolytic balance among other functions

Mitigation of phytotoxic effect of compost by application of optimized aqueous extraction protocols

The abuse of chemical fertilizers in recent decades has led the promotion of less harmful alternatives, such as compost or aqueous extracts obtained from it. Therefore, it is essential to develop liquid biofertilizers, which in addition of being stable and useful for fertigation and foliar application in intensive agriculture had a remarkable phytostimulant extracts. For this purpose, a collection of aqueous extracts was obtained by applying four different Compost Extraction Protocols (CEP1, CEP2, CEP3, CEP4) in terms of incubation time, temperature and agitation of compost samples from agri-food waste, olive mill waste, sewage sludge and vegetable waste. Subsequently, a physicochemical characterization of the obtained set was performed in which pH, electrical conductivity and Total Organic Carbon (TOC) were measured. In addition, a biological characterization was also carried out by calculating the Germination Index (GI) and determining the Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD5). Furthermore, functional diversity was studied using the Biolog EcoPlates technique. The results obtained confirmed the great heterogeneity of the selected raw materials. However, it was observed that the less aggressive treatments in terms of temperature and incubation time, such as CEP1 (48 h, room temperature (RT)) or CEP4 (14 days, RT), provided aqueous compost extracts with better phytostimulant characteristics than the starting composts. It was even possible to find a compost extraction protocol that maximize the beneficial effects of compost. This was the case of CEP1, which improved the GI and reduced the phytotoxicity in most of the raw materials analyzed. Therefore, the use of this type of liquid organic amendment could mitigate the phytotoxic effect of several composts being a good alternative to the use of chemical fertilizers

Key plant species and detritivores drive diversity effects on instream leaf litter decomposition more than functional diversity: A microcosm study

Anthropogenic impacts on freshwater ecosystems cause critical losses of biodiversity that can in turn impair key processes such as decomposition and nutrient cycling. Forest streams are mainly subsidized by terrestrial organic detritus, so their functioning and conservation status can be altered by changes in forest biodiversity and composition, particularly if these changes involve the replacement of functional groups or the loss of key species. We examined this issue using a microcosm experiment where we manipulated plant functional diversity (FD) (monocultures and low-FD and high-FD mixtures, resulting from different combinations of deciduous and evergreen Quercus species) and the presence of a key species (Alnus glutinosa), all in presence and absence of detritivores, and assessed effects on litter decomposition, nutrient cycling, and fungal and detritivore biomass. We found (i) positive diversity effects on detritivore-mediated decomposition, litter nutrient losses and detritivore biomass exclusively when A. glutinosa was present; and (ii) negative effects on the same processes when microbially mediated and on fungal biomass. Most positive trends could be explained by the higher litter palatability and litter trait variability obtained with the inclusion of alder leaves in the mixture. Our results support the hypothesis of a consistent slowing down of the decomposition process as a result of plant biodiversity loss, and hence effects on stream ecosystem functioning, especially when a key (N-fixing) species is lost; and underscore the importance of detritivores as drivers of plant diversity effects in the studied ecosystem processes.This study was funded by the 2014–2020 FEDER Operative Program Andalusia (RIOVEGEST project, Ref. FEDER-UAL18 -RNM -B006 – B, to J.J.C). Additional support was provided by the Spanish Ministry for Science, Innovation and Universities and FEDER (BioLoss project, Ref. RTI2018-095023- B-I00, to L.B.). Rubio-Ríos was supported by an FPU grant of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (reference FPU16/03734)

Changes in Biomarkers of Redox Status in Saliva of Pigs after an Experimental Sepsis Induction

Saliva from pigs is gaining attention as an easy sample to obtain, being a source of biomarkers that can provide information on animal health and welfare. This study aimed to evaluate the changes that can occur in salivary biomarkers of the redox status of pigs with an experimentally induced sepsis. For that, the cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC), ferric reducing ability of saliva (FRAS), Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), ferrous oxidation-xylenol orange (FOX), peroxide activity (POX-Act), and reactive oxygen-derived compounds (d-ROMs) were measured in the saliva of pigs with experimentally induced sepsis by endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS), non-septic inflammation induced by turpentine, and in healthy individuals before and after 3 h, 6 h, 24 h, and 48 h. AOPP, POX-Act, and d-ROMs in the sepsis group were higher than in the control from 3 h to 24 h after the inoculation. CUPRAC, FRAS, and TEAC were higher in sepsis than the control group at 24 h. These changes were of higher magnitude than those that occurred in the turpentine group. In conclusion, our findings reveal that sepsis produces changes in salivary biomarkers of redox status, which opens the possibility of using them as potential biomarkers in this species

Simulation Study of Chic -> J/Psi + gamma Detection with J/Psi -> e+ e- in pp Collisions

We present Monte Carlo preliminary results about the feasibility to detect the Chic family in p-p collisions at 14 TeV in the ALICE Central Barrel at CERN LHC. The Chic1 and Chic2 were forced to decay in the channel J/Psi + gamma -> e+ e- + gamma and were merged with a proton-proton non-biased collision. After MonteCarlo transport and simulation of the detector response, the e+, e- and converted gamma were reconstructed and identified in the ALICE ITS, TPC and TRD detectors. Separate signals corresponding to gamma from Chic1 and from Chic2 were observed. The position and relative weight of the fit to gaussians agreed with the input values within the statistical limits. Similar studies will be done for Pb-Pb collisions