Rapid Determination of Olive Oil Chlorophylls and Carotenoids by Using Visible Spectroscopy

The determination of total chlorophylls and total carotenoids in olive oil by using visible spectroscopy (VIS) is reported. The proposed technique has been compared with the determination of these pigments by near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and VIS together with NIRS. Several procedures for multivariate regression were tested. The reference methods used were the determination of the extinction coefficient K670 for total chlorophylls and K470 for total carotenoids. A total of 258 samples were tested. The optimization of the calibration for total chlorophylls was set by using multiple linear regression (MLR) from the wavelengths 670¿686 nm exclusively visible. Its satisfactory performance was proven from the model coefficients standard error of calibration SEC 2.63 and R2 0.97, and the residual predictive deviation (RPD) 5.76 from the external validation. For the total carotenoids the best VIS calibration was fit by using the window of 465¿475 nm and partial least squares (PLS), which provided an RPD of 3.68. However, the model built using the entire spectrum VIS-NIRS available (350¿2,500 nm) was slightly better for this last pigment, showing an RPD of 3.86. Hence, this study showed that the proposed VIS technique can be advantageous for the determination of total chlorophylls in olive oils while it is also suitable for determining total carotenoids.The authors are indebted to the Junta de Andalucía (project AGR-6456) for its financial support, and gratefully acknowledge Antonio Montero, of the Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología (CSIC) for his technical assistance. Our thanks are also due to the group Quality and Purity of Oils, of the Instituto de la Grasa (CSIC), for the use of the chromatographic equipmentPeer Reviewe

Efecto de la refrigeración sobre la maduración del fruto del chirimoyo

Cherimoya fruits have a typically climateric ripening characterized, among other parameters, by a peak in the ethylene production that produces the senescence. Several attempts have been made in our Department in order to extend the shelf life of the fruits, but sorne undesirable reactions affecting the flavour are always produced. The most simple and natural treatment is the control of the storage temperature. With sorne precautions, it allows a considerable delay in the onset of senescence, making possible the marketing of the fruits in, previously, inaccessible markets.El fruto del chirimoyo presenta una maduración típicamente climatérica caracterizada, entre otros parámetros, por un pico muy acentuado de producción de etileno que conduce a la rápida senescencia. Varios intentos se han hecho en nuestro Departamento para tratar de prolongar la vida comercial de los frutos, pero en todos ellos se producen algunas reacciones indeseables que afectan a la palatabilidad. El tratamiento más natural es el control de la temperatura de almacenamiento, que con ciertas precauciones permite un retardo en la aparición de la senescencia, suficiente para alcanzar mercados de otra forma inaccesibles

Efecto de la refrigeración sobre la maduración del fruto del chirimoyo

El fruto del chirimoyo presenta una maduración típicamente climatérica caracterizada, entre otros parámetros, por un pico muy acentuado de producción de etileno que conduce a la rápida senescencia. Varios intentos se han hecho en nuestro Departamento para tratar de prolongar la vida comercial de los frutos, pero en todos ellos se producen algunas reacciones indeseables que afectan a la palatabilidad. El tratamiento más natural es el control de la temperatura de almacenamiento, que con ciertas precauciones permite un retardo en la aparición de la senescencia, suficiente para alcanzar mercados de otra forma inaccesibles.Cherimoya fruits have a typically climateric ripening characterized, among other parameters, by a peak in the ethylene production that produces the senescence. Several attempts have been made in our Department in order to extend the shelf life of the fruits, but sorne undesirable reactions affecting the flavour are always produced. The most simple and natural treatment is the control of the storage temperature. With sorne precautions, it allows a considerable delay in the onset of senescence, making possible the marketing of the fruits in, previously, inaccessible markets

Economic model predictive control for energy dispatch of a smart micro-grid system

© 2017 IEEE. Personal use of this ma terial is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for al l other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting /republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, f or resale or redistribution to se rvers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted compone nt of this work in other worksThe problem of energy dispatch in heterogeneous complex systems such as smart grids cannot be efficiently solved using classical control or ad-hoc methods. This paper proposes the application of Economic Model Predictive Control (EMPC) for the management of a smart micro-grid system connected to an electrical power grid. The system comprises several subsystems, namely some photovoltaic (PV) panels, a wind generator, a hydroelectric generator, a diesel generator, and some storage devices (batteries). The batteries are charged with the energy from the PV panels, wind and hydroelectric generators, and they are discharged whenever the generators produce less energy than needed. The subsystems are interconnected via a DC Bus, from which load demands are satisfied. Assuming the load demand and the energy prices to be known, this study shows that EMPC is economically superior to other Model Predictive Control (MPC) based strategies (a standard tracking MPC, and their cascaded version in form of hierarchical two-layer approach).Postprint (author's final draft

Relationship between postharvest diseases resistance and mineral composition of citrus fruit

reen and blue moulds, due to the pathogenic action of Penicillium digitatum and Penicillium italicum respectively are the main cause of orange losses during postharvest. Under Mediterranean climate conditions, both together are responsible for 80% of total postharvest citrus fruit decay. The type of orchard production system, field location with different types of climate and soil has a main influence on mineral composition of fruits. The mineral composition of fruits can have a significant impact on fruit quality and shelf life during postharvest period. These include effects on fruit colour, texture, disease susceptibility, juice composition and development of physiological disorders. Oranges from different regions from South of Spain and Portugal and from three different production systems (conventional, integrated and organic) were studied to evaluate whether both factors (origin and production system) affected the degree of fruit sensitivity to decay. Results indicate that the sensitivity to green or blue mould is determined better by the origin of fruit than by the system of production.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

ENFERMERÍA Y EDUCACIÓN PARA LA SALUD EN NUTRICIÓN ENTERAL DOMICILIARIA.

Home enteral nutrition (HEN) allows, besides guaranteeing a correct nutricional treatment, improving patient autonomy and wellbeing along with a reduction of the expenditure on hospitalization. Due to the characteristics of this treatment, which is administered at home, Health Education becomes of high importance: the patient, their family and/or caregivers need to learn theoretical and practical aspects of this procedure. For this reason, one of the nursing tasks could be not only the identification and treatment of its complications, but also being a patient/family educator.La nutrición enteral domiciliaria (NED) permite, además de garantizar un correcto tratamiento nutricional, favorecer la autonomía y el bienestar del paciente, junto con una reducción del coste sanitario por hospitalización. Debido al carácter domiciliario de esta terapéutica, adquiere especial importancia en este procedimiento la Educación para la Salud (EpS), que deberá manifestarse mediante un aprendizaje teórico-práctico al paciente, familia y/o cuidadores. Es por esto, que el profesional de Enfermería puede ser requerido para atender a este tipo de pacientes, no sólo desde el punto de vista asistencial, con la identificación y tratamiento de las complicaciones, sino por su papel de educador al paciente y a sus familiares

Evolución de diversas actividades enzimáticas durante la maduración del chirimoyo n atmosfera controlada

Cherimoya fruits after harvesting have a short shelf life thus conditioning their marketing. Polyphenoloxidase, peroxidase, catalase and acid phosphatase are enzymes implicated in the ripening process of cherimoya. We have studied the variations of activity for these enzymes during cherimoya ripening in an C02 atmosphere and in the same atmosphere in presence sulphite. There was a marked decrease in the protein contents of both epicarp and mesocarp, during fruit ripening in C02 atmosphere. Enzymic activities also decreased at the beginning of the ripening. These low activities were maintained while fruits were in presence of C02 or C02 and sulphite.El fruto del chirimoyo tiene un proceso de maduración muy corto, lo cual afecta a su vida comercial. En este proceso están implicadas una serie de enzimas, como son polifenoloxidasa, peroxidasa, catalasa y fosfatasa ácida. Se han estudiado la evolución de las actividades de estas enzimas, almacenando los frutos en atmósfera de C02 y en presencia de sulfito. Los resultados obtenidos indican que existe una disminución en la concentración de proteínas totales, tanto en el epicarpio como en el mesocarpio de los frutos, durante la maduración en presencia de C02. Igualmente se produce una disminución de las actividades enzimáticas con este tratamiento. Esta baja actividad se mantiene, al menos durante tres semanas de almacenamiento. La presencia de sulfito en atmósfera de C02, no condiciona variaciones ni en la concentración de proteínas del fruto ni en las actividades enzimáticas

Evolución de diversas actividades enzimáticas durante la maduración del chirimoyo en atmosfera controlada

El fruto del chirimoyo tiene un proceso de maduración muy corto, lo cual afecta a su vida comercial. En este proceso están implicadas una serie de enzimas, como son polifenoloxidasa, peroxidasa, catalasa y fosfatasa ácida. Se han estudiado la evolución de las actividades de estas enzimas, almacenando los frutos en atmósfera de C02 y en presencia de sulfito. Los resultados obtenidos indican que existe una disminución en la concentración de proteínas totales, tanto en el epicarpio como en el mesocarpio de los frutos, durante la maduración en presencia de C02. Igualmente se produce una disminución de las actividades enzimáticas con este tratamiento. Esta baja actividad se mantiene, al menos durante tres semanas de almacenamiento. La presencia de sulfito en atmósfera de C02, no condiciona variaciones ni en la concentración de proteínas del fruto ni en las actividades enzimáticas.Cherimoya fruits after harvesting have a short shelf life thus conditioning their marketing. Polyphenoloxidase, peroxidase, catalase and acid phosphatase are enzymes implicated in the ripening process of cherimoya. We have studied the variations of activity for these enzymes during cherimoya ripening in an C02 atmosphere and in the same atmosphere in presence sulphite. There was a marked decrease in the protein contents of both epicarp and mesocarp, during fruit ripening in C02 atmosphere. Enzymic activities also decreased at the beginning of the ripening. These low activities were maintained while fruits were in presence of C02 or C02 and sulphite

Analysis of the Promoters Involved in Enterocin AS-48 Expression

The enterocin AS-48 is the best characterized antibacterial circular protein in prokaryotes. It is a hydrophobic and cationic bacteriocin, which is ribosomally synthesized by enterococcal cells and post-translationally cyclized by a head-to-tail peptide bond. The production of and immunity towards AS-48 depend upon the coordinated expression of ten genes organized in two operons, as-48ABC (where genes encoding enzymes with processing, secretion, and immunity functions are adjacent to the structural as-48A gene) and as-48C1DD1EFGH. The current study describes the identification of the promoters involved in AS-48 expression. Seven putative promoters have been here amplified, and separately inserted into the promoter-probe vector pTLR1, to create transcriptional fusions with the mCherry gene used as a reporter. The activity of these promoter regions was assessed measuring the expression of the fluorescent mCherry protein using the constitutive pneumococcal promoter PX as a reference. Our results revealed that only three promoters PA, P2(2) and PD1 were recognized in Enterococcus faecalis, Lactococcus lactis and Escherichia coli, in the conditions tested. The maximal fluorescence was obtained with PX in all the strains, followed by the P2(2) promoter, which level of fluorescence was 2-fold compared to PA and 4-fold compared to PD1. Analysis of putative factors influencing the promoter activity in single and double transformants in E. faecalis JH2-2 demonstrated that, in general, a better expression was achieved in presence of pAM401-81. In addition, the P2(2) promoter could be regulated in a negative fashion by genes existing in the native pMB-2 plasmid other than those of the as-48 cluster, while the pH seems to affect differently the as-48 promoter expression.This work was supported in part by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación project BIO2008-01708, the Plan Propio from the University of Granada (Spain) and by the Research Plan Group (BIO 160)

Type 2 diabetes-related variants influence the risk of developing multiple myeloma: results from the IMMEnSE consortium

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) has been suggested to be a risk factor for multiple myeloma (MM), but the relationship between the two traits is still not well understood. The aims of this study were to evaluate whether 58 genome-wide-association-studies (GWAS)-identified common variants for T2D influence the risk of developing MM and to determine whether predictive models built with these variants might help to predict the disease risk. We conducted a case–control study including 1420 MM patients and 1858 controls ascertained through the International Multiple Myeloma (IMMEnSE) consortium. Subjects carrying the KCNQ1rs2237892T allele or the CDKN2A-2Brs2383208G/G, IGF1rs35767T/T and MADDrs7944584T/T genotypes had a significantly increased risk of MM (odds ratio (OR)=1.32–2.13) whereas those carrying the KCNJ11rs5215C, KCNJ11rs5219T and THADArs7578597C alleles or the FTOrs8050136A/A and LTArs1041981C/C genotypes showed a significantly decreased risk of developing the disease (OR=0.76–0.85). Interestingly, a prediction model including those T2D-related variants associated with the risk of MM showed a significantly improved discriminatory ability to predict the disease when compared to a model without genetic information (area under the curve (AUC)=0.645 vs AUC=0.629; P=4.05×10-06). A gender-stratified analysis also revealed a significant gender effect modification for ADAM30rs2641348 and NOTCH2rs10923931 variants (Pinteraction=0.001 and 0.0004, respectively). Men carrying the ADAM30rs2641348C and NOTCH2rs10923931T alleles had a significantly decreased risk of MM whereas an opposite but not significant effect was observed in women (ORM=0.71 and ORM=0.66 vs ORW=1.22 and ORW=1.15, respectively). These results suggest that TD2-related variants may influence the risk of developing MM and their genotyping might help to improve MM risk prediction models.This work was supported by grants from the FIBAO foundation (Granada, Spain) and the CRIS foundation against cancer, from the Cancer Network of Excellence (RD12/10 Red de Cancer) and from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Madrid, Spain; PI12/02688)