Utilización de dos soportes para la inmovilización de la papaína

Papain was immobilized on activated carbon (AC) and on alumina (AL), with the aim of preparing low cost dietarysupplements, using whey as hydrolysed protein source. The quantifi cation of the non-adsorbed enzyme, using Lowry’smethod was used to determine the immobilization rate. The effect of the contact time and the temperature was tested,and 30 min at 250C was considered the best condition for immobilizing papain in both supports. AC showed muchhigher immobilization rates (from 95% to 99%) than AL (from 4% to 13%). The reusability of papain was evaluated bymeasuring the residual activity of the enzyme after it has been used for up to 20 times. The quantifi cation of exposurerate of phenylalanine by second derivative spectrophotometry was used to determine the enzyme activity. In this case, ALshowed better results than AC, since the activity of papain remained unchanged after 15 and 5 times, respectively.Con la intención de preparar suplementos dietéticos de bajo coste, se inmovilizó papaína en carbón activado (CA) yen alúmina, utilizando suero como fuente de proteínas hidrolizadas. Para determinar el índice de inmovilización secuantifi caron las enzimas no adsorbidas mediante el método de Lowry. Se analizó el efecto del tiempo de contactoy la temperatura, considerándose 30 min. a 25 ºC como la condición óptima para inmovilizar la papaína en ambossoportes. El CA presentó unos índices de inmovilización muy superiores (entre 95% y 99%) a los de la AL (entre4% y 13%). Para evaluar la capacidad de reutilización de la papaína se midió la actividad residual de la enzimadespués de haber sido utilizada hasta 20 veces. Para determinar la actividad de la enzima se cuantifi có el índice deexposición de la fenilalanina mediante espectrofotometría de derivada segunda. En este caso, la AL presentó mejoresresultados que el CA, ya que la actividad de la papaína seguía siendo la misma después de haber sido utilizada 15y 5 veces, respectivamente

Cell walls of the dimorphic fungal pathogens Sporothrix schenckii and Sporothrix brasiliensis exhibit bilaminate structures and sloughing of extensive and intact layers

This work was supported by the Fundação Carlos Chagas de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), grants E-26/202.974/2015 and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), grants 229755/2013-5, Brazil. LMLB is a senior research fellow of CNPq and Faperj. NG acknowledged support from the Wellcome Trust (Trust (097377, 101873, 200208) and MRC Centre for Medical Mycology (MR/N006364/1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Association Between Memory B-Cells and Clinical and Immunological Features of Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome and Sicca Patients

B-cells play a pivotal role in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) pathogenesis. We aim to (1) evaluate the distribution of B-lymphocyte subpopulations in pSS and Sicca patients, (2) establish cut-off points that discriminate pSS from controls, (3) evaluate the association between memory B-cells and phenotypic features in pSS. We included 57 pSS patients, 68 Sicca and 24 healthy controls. Circulating B-cells were characterized by flow cytometry as naïve and memory subsets and classified from Bm1 to Bm5. Compared to controls, pSS patients had lower percentages (29.5 vs 44.4%) and absolute numbers (47 vs 106 cells/µl) of memory B-cells. Through ROC curves, a cut-off of ≤ 58 total memory B-cells/µl yielded a specificity of 0.88 and a sensitivity of 0.60 for pSS, and was met by 59.6% of pSS patients, 38.8% of Sicca and 12.5% of controls. A cut-off of < 23.5 Switched-memory B-cells/µl yielded a specificity of 0.88 and a sensitivity of 0.54 and was met by 54.4% of pSS patients, 37.3% of Sicca and 12.5% of controls. In pSS, lower total memory B-cells count was associated with longer disease duration (14.3 vs 8.1 years, p = 0.006) and more active disease profile, as evaluated by the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Sjögren's Syndrome Disease Activity Index (ESSDAI) (3.1 vs 1.4, p = 0.043). Decreased numbers of memory B-cells clearly discriminated pSS from controls and can also have prognostic value. It remains to be clarified whether Sicca patients with decreased memory B-cells represent pSS and if B-cell profiling could help in the diagnosis of pSS.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Olive oil consumption and all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality in an adult mediterranean population in Spain

Objective: We assessed the association between usual olive oil consumption (OOC) and all-cause, cardiovascular (CVD) and cancer mortality in an adult population in Spain. Materials and methods: OOC was evaluated at baseline in 1,567 participants aged 20 years and older from the Valencia Nutrition Study in Spain using validated food frequency questionnaires. During an 18-year follow-up period, 317 died, 115 due to CVD and 82 due to cancer. Cox regression models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). Results: After adjusting for demographic and lifestyle factors, the OOC was associated with a lower risk of all-cause, CVD and cancer mortality. Compared to the less than once per month consumption, the consumption of up to one tablespoon per day was associated with a 9% lower risk of all-cause mortality (HR: 0.91; 95%CI: 0.68-1.22) and the consumption of 2 or more tablespoons with a 31% lower risk of all-cause mortality (HR: 0.69; 95%CI: 0.50–0.93; p-trend = 0.011). The consumption of 2 or more tablespoons per day was also associated with lower risk of mortality for CVD (HR: 0.54; 95%CI: 0.32–0.91; p-trend = 0.018) and cancer (HR: 0.49, 95%CI: 0.26–0.94; p-trend = 0.019). Conclusion: Higher olive oil consumption was associated with lower long-term risk of all-cause, CVD and cancer mortality in an adult Mediterranean population. The maximum benefit was observed for the consumption of two or more tablespoons per day. Copyright © 2022 Torres-Collado, García-de la Hera, Lopes, Compañ-Gabucio, Oncina-Cánovas, Notario-Barandiaran, González-Palacios and Vioque.The VNS study was supported by a grant from the Dirección General de Salud Pública, Generalitat Valenciana 1994 and the Fondo Investigacion Sanitaria (FIS 00/0985). This study has also received support from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III FEDER funds (FIS PI13/00654), CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), CB06/02/0013 and ISABIAL