Effect of feed on cholesterol concentration and oxidation products development of longissimus dorsi muscle from Iberian pigs

peer-reviewedThe effect of dietary free-range feeding or supplementation with copper and/or vitamin E in confinement on total cholesterol, neutral and polar lipids and cholesterol oxidation of the longissimus dorsi muscle from Iberian pigs was studied. Free-range fed pigs had higher (P=0.001) contents of γ-tocopherol and lower concentrations of α-tocopherol in the muscle than pigs fed diets supplemented with 100 mg/kg vitamin E. The total cholesterol content of the muscle was not significantly affected by the diets. However, the cholesterol:phospholipid ratio was higher (P<0.05), and consequently the membrane fluidity was lower, in the free-range fed pigs than in the pigs fed in confinement with either copper-supplemented (P<0.05) or vitamin E-supplemented (P<0.01) diets. The proportion of saturated fatty acids in phospholipids was greater (P<0.05) in the free-range fed group, which suggests metabolic regulation to maintain membrane structure. Free-range feeding produced higher levels of free fatty acids (P<0.01), lysophosphatidylcholine (P<0.05) and phosphatidylserine (P<0.01) and lower cholesterol esters (P<0.01) and sphingomyelin (P<0.05) in the muscle than the other groups. The ratios of phosphatidylethanolamine:phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin: phosphatidylcholine, which are indicators of membrane fluidity, were not significantly affected in any group. Dietary α-tocopheryl acetate supplementation produced lower β-epoxide (P<0.01), 7β-OH (P<0.05), and total cholesterol oxides (P<0.01) in cooked muscle after refrigerated display than in the other groups. These results indicate that supplementation with dietary α-tocopheryl acetate is more effective in reducing cholesterol oxidation than free-range feeding in cooked muscle from Iberian pigs. In evaluating oxidation, the composition of the muscle and meat treatment have to be considered as well as membrane fluidity.This research was funded by the European Project AIR-CT94-1577 (DIETOX

Rose Bengal test: diagnostic yield and use for the rapid diagnosis of human brucellosis in emergency departments in endemic areas

ABSTRACTThe aim of the present study was to analyse the diagnostic yield of the rose Bengal test for the rapid diagnosis of human brucellosis in an emergency department in an area where the disease is endemic. The study included 711 patients diagnosed initially with brucellosis and 270 controls. Brucellosis patients were divided into three groups: group I, individuals with no regular exposure to or history of brucellosis; group II, individuals exposed repeatedly to Brucella infection; and group III, individuals infected with Brucella who had received appropriate treatment during the previous 12 months. Blood cultures were positive for 445 (62.6%) brucellosis patients, while the remaining 266 (37.4%) patients were diagnosed according to clinical and serological criteria. The overall sensitivity of the rose Bengal test was 92.9%. The specificities for groups I, II and III were 94.3%, 91.7% and 76.9%, respectively, with positive likelihood ratios of 16.5, 10.4 and 4.2, respectively. The diagnostic gain after the performance of the rose Bengal test was good or very good in patients with no previous exposure to Brucella or history of brucellosis, but poor in patients who were exposed repeatedly to Brucella or had a history of brucellosis and a low pre-test probability. Use of the rose Bengal test as the sole technique for the diagnosis of brucellosis in endemic areas should be considered very carefully in the context of patients who are exposed repeatedly to Brucella or have a history of brucellosis

TransverseDiff gravity is to scalar-tensor as unimodular gravity is to General Relativity

Transverse Diffeomorphism (TDiff) theories are well-motivated theories of gravity from the quantum perspective, which are based upon a gauge symmetry principle. The main contribution of this work is to firmly establish a correspondence between TransverseDiff and the better-known scalar-tensor gravity --- in its more general form ---, a relation which is completely analogous to that between unimodular gravity and General Relativity. We then comment on observational aspects of TDiff. In connection with this proof, we derive a very general rule that determines under what conditions the procedure of fixing a gauge symmetry can be equivalently applied before the variational principle leading to the equations of motion, as opposed to the standard procedure, which takes place afterwards; this rule applies to gauge-fixing terms without derivatives.Comment: 10 pages; amsart style; v3: version as appeared in JCAP, redaction improve

Using a Bayesian modelling approach (INLA‑SPDE) to predict the occurrence of the Spinetail Devil Ray (Mobular mobular)

To protect the most vulnerable marine species it is essential to have an understanding of their spatiotemporal distributions. In recent decades, Bayesian statistics have been successfully used to quantify uncertainty surrounding identified areas of interest for bycatch species. However, conventional simulation-based approaches are often computationally intensive. To address this issue, in this study, an alternative Bayesian approach (Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation with Stochastic Partial Differential Equation, INLA-SPDE) is used to predict the occurrence of Mobula mobular species in the eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO). Specifically, a Generalized Additive Model is implemented to analyze data from the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission’s (IATTC) tropical tuna purse-seine fishery observer bycatch database (2005–2015). The INLA-SPDE approach had the potential to predict both the areas of importance in the EPO, that are already known for this species, and the more marginal hotspots, such as the Gulf of California and the Equatorial area which are not identified using other habitat models. Some drawbacks were identified with the INLA-SPDE database, including the difficulties of dealing with categorical variables and triangulating effectively to analyze spatial data. Despite these challenges, we conclude that INLA approach method is an useful complementary and/or alternative approach to traditional ones when modeling bycatch data to inform accurately management decisions.En prensa2,92

Higher Dimensional Cosmology with Some Dark Energy Models in Emergent, Logamediate and Intermediate Scenarios of the Universe

We have considered N-dimensional Einstein field equations in which four-dimensional space-time is described by a FRW metric and that of extra dimensions by an Euclidean metric. We have chosen the exponential forms of scale factors a and d numbers of b in such a way that there is no singularity for evolution of the higher dimensional Universe. We have supposed that the Universe is filled with K-essence, Tachyonic, Normal Scalar Field and DBI-essence. Here we have found the nature of potential of different scalar field and graphically analyzed the potentials and the fields for three scenario namely Emergent Scenario, Logamediate Scenario and Intermediate Scenario. Also graphically we have depicted the geometrical parameters named statefinder parameters and slow-roll parameters in the higher dimensional cosmology with the above mentioned scenarios.Comment: 21 pages, 36 figure

Web-based system for adaptable rubrics: case study on CAD assessment

[EN] This paper describes the implementation and testing of our concept of adaptable rubrics, defined as analytical rubrics that arrange assessment criteria at multiple levels that can be expanded on demand. Because of its adaptable nature, these rubrics cannot be implemented in paper formats, neither are they supported by current Learning Management Systems (LMS). The main contribution of this work involves the adaptable capability of different levels of detail, which can be expanded for each rubric criterion as needed. Our rubrics platform provides specialized and intuitive tools to create and modify rubrics as well as managing metadata to support learning analytics. As an example of a practical assessment situation, a case study on Mechanical Computer Aided Design (MCAD) systems training is presented. The validation process in this scenario proved the effectiveness of our adaptable rubric platform for supporting formative assessment in a multifaceted and complex field such as MCAD. The system also showed the potential of collecting user interaction metadata, which can be used to analyze the evaluation process and guide further improvements in the teaching strategy.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund, through the ANNOTA project (Ref. TIN2013-46036-C3-1-R).Company, P.; Contero, M.; Otey, J.; Camba, J.; Agost, M.; Pérez Lopez, DC. (2017). Web-based system for adaptable rubrics: case study on CAD assessment. Journal of Educational Technology and Society. 20(3):24-41. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/136958S244120

Primordial nucleosynthesis with a varying fine structure constant: An improved estimate

We compute primordial light-element abundances for cases with fine structure constant alpha different from the present value, including many sources of alpha dependence neglected in previous calculations. Specifically, we consider contributions arising from Coulomb barrier penetration, photon coupling to nuclear currents, and the electromagnetic components of nuclear masses. We find the primordial abundances to depend more weakly on alpha than previously estimated, by up to a factor of 2 in the case of ^7Li. We discuss the constraints on variations in alpha from the individual abundance measurements and the uncertainties affecting these constraints. While the present best measurements of primordial D/H, ^4He/H, and ^7Li/H may be reconciled pairwise by adjusting alpha and the universal baryon density, no value of alpha allows all three to be accommodated simultaneously without consideration of systematic error. The combination of measured abundances with observations of acoustic peaks in the cosmic microwave background favors no change in alpha within the uncertainties.Comment: Phys. Rev. D accepted version; minor changes in response to refere

Toxina botulínica para uso terapéutico

From the year 1980 the intramuscular inoculation of botulinal neurotoxin (BoNT) is realized for treatment of disorders of the muscular tone. The simplicity of the treatment does an excellent alternative to the surgery. The p rincipal action is a flaccid muscular palsy that needs between 2 and 6 months for its rec overy. As for the therapeutic rank, the BoNT would overcome in safety to the majority o f the drugs. In the latter decade the use of the therapy with BoNT has experimented an am azing growth, with new and mul- tiple indications, especially neurological, and has turned into the treatment of aesthetic medicine with more rapid growth into his demand. It would be ideal to obtain prepara- tions that: during the making and storage the toxic ity does not diminish significantly, could be stored to ambient temperature, support maj or time the activity and with dimin- ished capacity of diffusion and of formation of ant ibodies. The effect is not instantane- ous, but progressive in the first days and ideally between 1 and 2 weeks later. Between 3 and 4 months later, the effect starts diminishing and the muscles contract again. The result is not the definitive remedy, and repeated d oses being needed. Its use is limited by economic reasons.Fil: Fernandez, Rafael Alfredo. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Lopez Laur, J.D.. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Ciccarelli, A.S.. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: de Jong, L.I.T.. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Caballero, Patricia Alejandra. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Bianco, María Isabel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología ; Argentin

Medicinal Plants of Chile: Evaluation of their Anti-Trypanosoma cruzi Activity

San Martin, J (San Martin, Jose). Univ Talca, Inst Biol Vegetal & Biotecnol, Talca, ChileThe extracts of several plants of Central Chile exhibited anti-Trypanosoma cruzi trypomastigotes activity. Most active extracts were those obtained from Podanthus ovatifolius, Berberis microphylla, Kageneckia oblonga, and Drimys winteri. The active extract of Drimys winteri (IC50 51.2 mu g/mL) was purified and three drimane sesquiterpenes were obtained: polygodial, drimenol, and isodrimenin. Isodrimenin and drimenol were found to be active against the trypomastigote form of T cruzi with IC50 values of 27.9 and 25.1 mu M, respectivel

Configuration Complexities of Hydrogenic Atoms

The Fisher-Shannon and Cramer-Rao information measures, and the LMC-like or shape complexity (i.e., the disequilibrium times the Shannon entropic power) of hydrogenic stationary states are investigated in both position and momentum spaces. First, it is shown that not only the Fisher information and the variance (then, the Cramer-Rao measure) but also the disequilibrium associated to the quantum-mechanical probability density can be explicitly expressed in terms of the three quantum numbers (n, l, m) of the corresponding state. Second, the three composite measures mentioned above are analytically, numerically and physically discussed for both ground and excited states. It is observed, in particular, that these configuration complexities do not depend on the nuclear charge Z. Moreover, the Fisher-Shannon measure is shown to quadratically depend on the principal quantum number n. Finally, sharp upper bounds to the Fisher-Shannon measure and the shape complexity of a general hydrogenic orbital are given in terms of the quantum numbers.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, accepted i