The incorporation of alpha-tocopherol and functional doses of phytosterol esters during cheesemaking does not affect DNA or mRNA dynamics of Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactococcus lactis throughout and after the end of ripening

Tocopherols and phytosterols are lipid-soluble molecules which have been widely used in the food industry. Nevertheless, the influence of these compounds on the performance of starter lactic acid bacteria (SLAB) in fermented foods has received little attention. Here, we assessed the behavior of Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactococcus lactis during the ripening of a functional Port Salut light cheese elaborated with these SLAB and with alpha-tocopherol and phytosterol esters as bioactive molecules. Functional and control cheeses were manufactured at an industrial plant and sampled at 7, 21, 40, 60 and 90 days after elaboration for real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) or reverse transcription-qPCR (RT-qPCR) experiments. Target DNA and mRNA from both SLAB were detected after 90 days of elaboration in both functional and control cheeses, supporting their potential role in generating flavor metabolites. Furthermore, here we showed for the first time that the addition of alpha-tocopherol and functional doses of phytosterols did not affect DNA or mRNA dynamics of these SLAB during cheesemaking, throughout and after the end of ripening. Therefore, our results support the use of cheese manufactured with both S. thermophilus and L. lactis as an optimal delivery system for these beneficial bioactive compounds.Fil: Pega, Juan Franco. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación de Agroindustria. Instituto de Tecnología de Alimentos; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Pérez, Carolina Daiana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación de Agroindustria. Instituto de Tecnología de Alimentos; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Rizzo, Sergio Anibal. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación de Agroindustria. Instituto de Tecnología de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Rossetti, Luciana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación de Agroindustria. Instituto de Tecnología de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Diaz, G.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación de Agroindustria. Instituto de Tecnología de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Ruzal, Sandra Mónica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Nanni, M.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación de Agroindustria. Instituto de Tecnología de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Descalzo, Adriana Maria. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación de Agroindustria. Instituto de Tecnología de Alimentos; Argentina. Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développerment; Francia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Demersal and epibenthic communities of sedimentary habitats in the Avilés Canyon System, Cantabrian Sea (NE Atlantic)

The aim of this study was to describe the epibenthic and demersal communities of the Avilés Canyon System (ACS) in relation to the environmental variables that characterize their biotope. ACS (Cantabrian Sea, NE Atlantic) was recently included in the Natura 2000 network as a Site of Community Importance (SCI). Data of faunal biomass derived from 6 surveys carried out using beam trawl and otter trawls in 2009 and 2010 within INDEMARES and ERDEM projects. Data were divided into two groups to obtain information about the two ecological compartments: benthic and demersal. The total number of species used in this analysis ascended to 116 in the case of benthic organisms and 110 in the case of demersal. Hierarchical clustering analysis was applied to obtain groups of samples similar in terms of species composition for the two ecological components. Depth was the main discriminating factor for grouping hauls, showing high consistency of bathymetric range independently from the compartment examined. Six groups were identified by depth as follows: medium shelf (∼100–200 m), external shelf (∼150–300m), shelf break (∼300–400 m), upper-slope (∼500–700 m), upper middle-slope (∼700–1100 m), and lower-middle-slope (1200–1500 m). SIMPER analysis on biomass values was performed to determine the structure of the faunal assemblages observed for each group in both compartments. Using biomass values for the analysis allowed for the exploration of groups playing important roles in ecosystem functioning and energy fluxes taking place on the sedimentary bottom of this SCI. Finally, CCA analysis revealed that the main environmental drivers were depth, broad scale bathymetric position index (BPI), near-bottom salinity, sedimentary type, and dynamics related variables (Q50 phy and So). This study gives an inventory of the soft bottom assemblages along a very wide depth range (100–1500 m) inside a SCI, linking both epibenthic and demersal communities with the biotope preferences. This study contributes to fundamental knowledge on soft-bottom communities as a pre-requisite, necessary for the next steps in terms of management framework in the SCI

Electrophysiological Heterogeneity of Fast-Spiking Interneurons: Chandelier versus Basket Cells

In the prefrontal cortex, parvalbumin-positive inhibitory neurons play a prominent role in the neural circuitry that subserves working memory, and alterations in these neurons contribute to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Two morphologically distinct classes of parvalbumin neurons that target the perisomatic region of pyramidal neurons, chandelier cells (ChCs) and basket cells (BCs), are generally thought to have the same "fast-spiking" phenotype, which is characterized by a short action potential and high frequency firing without adaptation. However, findings from studies in different species suggest that certain electrophysiological membrane properties might differ between these two cell classes. In this study, we assessed the physiological heterogeneity of fast-spiking interneurons as a function of two factors: species (macaque monkey vs. rat) and morphology (chandelier vs. basket). We showed previously that electrophysiological membrane properties of BCs differ between these two species. Here, for the first time, we report differences in ChCs membrane properties between monkey and rat. We also found that a number of membrane properties differentiate ChCs from BCs. Some of these differences were species-independent (e.g., fast and medium afterhyperpolarization, firing frequency, and depolarizing sag), whereas the differences in the first spike latency between ChCs and BCs were species-specific. Our findings indicate that different combinations of electrophysiological membrane properties distinguish ChCs from BCs in rodents and primates. Such electrophysiological differences between ChCs and BCs likely contribute to their distinctive roles in cortical circuitry in each species. © 2013 Povysheva et al

Canvis en l'ensenyament de la Toxicología a Barcelona la segona meitat del segle XIX

La Toxicologia va començar a explicar-se dintre de I'assignatura de Medicina Legal. Eren els temps en que a Europa alguns casos criminals importants foren resolts amb l'ajut del peritatge toxicològic. L'exemple d'Orfila fou el més decisori en aquest aspecte. Així la Toxicología Forense fou una part important de la Medicina Legal. Sovint inclús l'assignatura es va denominar Medicina Legal i Toxicologia'

Nota sobre la Gaceta Médico Forense (1983), revista pionera de la Medicina Legal en España

Es la revista más antigua de Medicina Legal y Forense, publicada en España, que hemos visto. El primer número apareció el15 de marzo de 1863. Hemos consultado un tomo encuadernado, hasta el número 30, de 15 de junio de 1864, con numeración continuada y un total de 456 páginas. Se subtitula 'Revista científica dedicada al examen teórico práctico de todas las cuestiones propias de la Higiene Pública, Medicina Legal y de la Legislación relativa a estos ramos y a la defensa de los intereses generales del Cuerpo de Médicos Forenses', Su director es Anibal Alvarez-Ossorio y Pizarra. Se publicó en Madrid

Minimising multi-centre radiomics variability through image normalisation:a pilot study

Radiomics is an emerging technique for the quantification of imaging data that has recently shown great promise for deeper phenotyping of cardiovascular disease. Thus far, the technique has been mostly applied in single-centre studies. However, one of the main difficulties in multi-centre imaging studies is the inherent variability of image characteristics due to centre differences. In this paper, a comprehensive analysis of radiomics variability under several image- and feature-based normalisation techniques was conducted using a multi-centre cardiovascular magnetic resonance dataset. 218 subjects divided into healthy (n = 112) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (n = 106, HCM) groups from five different centres were considered. First and second order texture radiomic features were extracted from three regions of interest, namely the left and right ventricular cavities and the left ventricular myocardium. Two methods were used to assess features' variability. First, feature distributions were compared across centres to obtain a distribution similarity index. Second, two classification tasks were proposed to assess: (1) the amount of centre-related information encoded in normalised features (centre identification) and (2) the generalisation ability for a classification model when trained on these features (healthy versus HCM classification). The results showed that the feature-based harmonisation technique ComBat is able to remove the variability introduced by centre information from radiomic features, at the expense of slightly degrading classification performance. Piecewise linear histogram matching normalisation gave features with greater generalisation ability for classification ( balanced accuracy in between 0.78 ± 0.08 and 0.79 ± 0.09). Models trained with features from images without normalisation showed the worst performance overall (balanced accuracy in between 0.45 ± 0.28 and 0.60 ± 0.22). In conclusion, centre-related information removal did not imply good generalisation ability for classification

Geomorphology of the Avilés Canyon System, Cantabrian Sea (BayofBiscay)

The Avilés Canyon System (ACS) is a complex, structurally-controlled canyon and valley system constituted by three main canyons of different morphostructural character. They are, from east to west: La Gaviera Canyon, El Corbiro Canyon and Avilés Canyon. In addition to this ACS, a new canyon has been surveyed: Navia Canyon. We present for the first time a high resolution multibeam map showing with great detail the morphological and structural complexity of this segment of the Cantabrian margin. ACS presents a tectonic imprint marked by NW-SE, NNE-SSW and E-W structures. The morphology of their reaches as well as their single mouth, in addition to some rock dredges in their major valleys, demonstrates active down-slope flushing. The continental shelf shows a flat, uniform slope with local and well defined rock outcrops south of Aviles Canyon head. Sedimentary zones are limited, showing thin unconsolidated sedimentary cover. Strong continental margin water dynamics avoid thicker sediment deposition, being littoral sedimentary dynamics responsible for transport to the canyons heads and conduit to the Biscay Abyssal plain. Biscay Abyssal Plain shows evidence of a strong westward current affecting the surveyed strip of this more than 10 km wide plain. Presence of two parallel deep sea channels, erosive scarps, and erosion of gully divides on the lower slope, may indicate that this is part of the distal fan at the termination of the large turbiditic system fed by Cap Ferret, Capbreton and other large canyons (Santander, Torrelavega, Lastres and Llanes) to the west of ACS.Instituto Español de OceanografíaVersión del edito