Students' european changes

El artículo describe, por una parte, las actividades financiadas por la Unión Europea (VE) en el marco del programa Erasmus y su interacción con otros programas de cooperación interuniversitaria desarrollados tanto en los países de la UE como en los de la AELC. Asimismo, se hace una evaluación de este programa en el área de Ciencias de la Salud, especialmente en Farmacia, y su proyección futura dentro del programa Sócrates.The article describes the activities financed by the European Union (EU) in the framework of Erasmus Program and their interaction with other programs of interuniversity co-operation developed in the EU countries as well as in the EFTA. Likewise a evaluation ofthis program in the area ofHealth Sciences, specially in Pharmacy is made. Attainments obtained in the recent years are judged and their future projection into the Sócrates Program studied

Coffee Silverskin and Spent Coffee Suitable as Neuroprotectors against Cell Death by Beauvericin and α-Zearalenol: Evaluating Strategies of Treatment

Coffee silverskin and spent coffee have been evaluated in a neuroblastoma cell line (SHSY5Y cells) against beauvericin (BEA) and α-zearalenol (α-ZEL)-induced cytotoxicity with different strategies of treatment. First, the direct treatment of mycotoxins and coffee by-products extracts in SH-SY5Y cells was assayed. IC50 values for α-ZEL were 20.8 and 14.0 μM for 48 h and 72 h, respectively and, for BEA only at 72 h, it was 2.5 μM. Afterwards, the pre-treatment with spent coffee obtained by boiling water increased cell viability for α-ZEL at 24 h and 48 h from 10% to 16% and from 25% to 30%, respectively; while with silverskin coffee, a decrease was observed. Opposite effects were observed for BEA where an increase for silverskin coffee was observed at 24 h and 48 h, from 14% to 23% and from 25% to 44%, respectively; however, a decrease below 50% was observed for spent coffee. Finally, the simultaneous treatment strategy for the highest concentration assayed in SH-SY5Y cells provided higher cytoprotection for α-ZEL (from 44% to 56% for 24 h and 48 h, respectively) than BEA (30% for 24 h and 48 h). Considering the high viability of coffee silverskin extracts for SH-SY5Y cells, there is a forthcoming promising use of these unexploited residues in the near future against mycotoxins effects

Preliminary Estimation of Deoxynivalenol Excretion through a 24 h Pilot Study

A duplicate diet study was designed to explore the occurrence of 15 Fusarium mycotoxins in the 24 h-diet consumed by one volunteer as well as the levels of mycotoxins in his 24 h-collected urine. The employed methodology involved solvent extraction at high ionic strength followed by dispersive solid phase extraction and gas chromatography determination coupled to mass spectrometry in tandem. Satisfactory results in method performance were achieved. The method"s accuracy was in a range of 68%108%, with intra-day relative standard deviation and inter-day relative standard deviation lower than 12% and 15%, respectively. The limits of quantitation ranged from 0.1 to 8 μg/Kg. The matrix effect was evaluated and matrix-matched calibrations were used for quantitation. Only deoxynivalenol (DON) was quantified in both food and urine samples. A total DON daily intake amounted to 49.2 ± 5.6 μg whereas DON daily excretion of 35.2 ± 4.3 μg was determined. DON daily intake represented 68.3% of the established DON provisional maximum tolerable daily intake (PMTDI). Valuable preliminary information was obtained as regards DON excretion and needs to be confirmed in large-scale monitoring studie

The soluble dietary fiber inulin can influence the bioaccessibility of enniatins

Enniatins (ENs) are bioactive compounds produced by the secondary metabolism of several Fusarium strains and are known to have various biological activities, such as acting as enzyme inhibitors, antifungal antibacterial agents, and immunomodulatory substances. This study investigated the bioaccessibility of the ENs in wheat crispy breads produced with three different inulin concentrations (1, 5 and 10%). The mean bioaccessibility data of the four ENs (A, A1, B and B1) ranged from 68.67% to 84.67 in the experiments carried out without inulin, whereas the data ranged from 51.00 to 74.00% in the experiments carried out with the wheat crispy bread produced with 5 and 10% of the inulin

Phenol Profiling and Nutraceutical Potential of Lycium spp. Leaf Extracts Obtained with Ultrasound and Microwave Assisted Techniques

In recent years, agricultural and industrial residues have attracted a lot of interest in the recovery of phytochemicals used in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. In this paper, a study on the recovery of phenol compounds from Lycium spp. leaves is presented. Ultrasound‐assisted extraction (UAE) and microwave‐assisted extraction (MAE) have been used with alcoholic and hydroalcoholic solvents. Methanolic UAE was the most successful technique for extracting phenols from Lycium leaves, and we used on leaves from L. barbarum and L. chinense cultivated in Italy. The extracts were then characterized as regards to the antioxidant properties by in vitro assays and the phenol profiling by a high performance liquid chromatography‐diode array detector (HPLC‐DAD). Chlorogenic acid and rutin were the main phenol compounds, but considerable differences have been observed between the samples of the two Lycium species. For example, cryptochlorogenic acid was found only in L. barbarum samples, while quercetin‐3‐O‐rutinoside‐7‐O‐glucoside and quercetin‐3‐O‐sophoroside‐7‐O‐rhamnoside only in L. chinense leaves. Finally, multivariate statistical analysis techniques applied to the phenol content allowed us to differentiate samples from different Lycium spp. The results of this study confirm that the extraction is a crucial step in the analytical procedure and show that Lycium leaves represent an interesting source of antioxidant compounds, with potential use in the nutraceutical field

Urinary levels of enniatin B and its phase I metabolites: First human pilot biomonitoring study

Enniatins (Enns) are mycotoxins produced by Fusarium spp. and are widely distributed contaminants of cereals and derivate products. Among the different identified enniatins, Enn B is the most relevant analogue in cereals in Europe. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate for the first time the occurrence of Enn B and Enn B phase I metabolites in 300 human urine samples throughout an ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS) methodology. Three different sample preparation procedures were evaluated and salting-out liquid-liquid extraction showed satisfactory validation results. Enn B was quantified in 83.7% of samples ranging from 0.006 to 0.391 ng/mL (average content: 0.016 ng/mL). In line with the in vitro observations with human liver microsomes, in the here analyzed samples the Enn B monooxygenated, N-demethylated and dioxygenated metabolites were tentatively found in 87.7%, 96.3% and 6.7% of samples. The data of this pilot biomonitoring survey indicate a frequent intake of enniatins in Italy, supporting further toxicological studies to provide better basis for understanding their potential effects in humans

Multi-Mycotoxin Analysis in Durum Wheat Pasta by Liquid Chromatography Coupled to Quadrupole Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry

A simple and rapid multi-mycotoxin method for the determination of 17 mycotoxins  simultaneously  is  described  in  the  present  survey  on  durum  and  soft  wheat  pasta  samples.  Mycotoxins included in the study were those mainly reported in cereal samples: ochratoxin-A  (OTA), aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), zearalenone (ZON), deoxynivalenol (DON), 3-and 15-acetyl-deoxynivalenol  (3-AcDON and 15-AcDON), nivalenol (NIV), neosolaniol (NEO), fusarenon-X, (FUS-X), T-2 toxin  (T-2) and HT-2 toxin (HT-2), fumonisin B1 and B2 (FB1 and FB2), and four emerging mycotoxins:  three  enniatins  (ENA,  ENA1,  and  ENB),  and  beauvericin  (BEA).  Twenty-nine  samples  were  analyzed to provide an overview on mycotoxin presence: 27 samples of durum wheat pasta, and  two samples of baby food. Analytical results concluded that trichothecenes showed the highest  incidence, mainly DON, NIV, and HT-2 toxin, followed by ZON and ENB, while NEO, FUS-X, OTA,  AFB1, and FUM were not detected in any sample. The highest contents corresponded to ENB and  ranged from 91.15μg/kg to 710.90 μg/kg

Potential application of lactic acid bacteria in the biopreservation of red grape from mycotoxigenic fungi

BACKGROUND: Filamentous fungi are the main contamination agent in the viticultural sector. Use of synthetic fungicides is theregular answer to these contaminations. Nevertheless, because of several problems associated with the use of synthetic com-pounds, the industry demands new and safer methods. In the present work, the biopreservation potential of four lactic acidbacteria (LAB) strains was studied against the principal grape contaminant fungi.RESULTS: Agar diffusion test evidenced that all four culture-free supernatant (CFS) had antifungal properties against all testedfungi. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) test values evidenced thatmedia fermented by theLactobacillus plantarumE3 andLactobacillus plantarumE4 strains showed the highest antifungal activ-ity, resulting in an MFC from 6.3 to 100 g L−1. Analysis of CFS evidenced the presence of different antifungal compounds, suchas lactic acid, phenyllactic acid and pyrazines. In tests on red grapes, an average reduction of 1.32 log10of the spores per gramof fruit was achieved by all CFS in grapes inoculated withAspergillus ochraceusand by 0.94 log10forL. plantarumE3 CFS againstBotrytis cinerea.CONCLUSION: The antifungal activity of the fermented CFS byL. plantarumE3 reduced the growth ofB. cinereaandA. ochraceusin grapes, which are the main contaminant and main producer of ochratoxin A in these crops, respectively. Therefore, based onthe results obtained in this work, use of the strainL. plantarumE3 could be an interesting option for the biopreservation ofgrapes

Bioaccessibility study of aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A in bread enriched with fermented milk whey and/or pumpkin

The presence of mycotoxins in cereals and cereal products remains a significant issue. The use of natural ingredients such as pumpkin and whey, which contain bioactive compounds, could be a strategy to reduce the use of conventional chemical preservatives. The aim of the present work was to study the bioaccessibility of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and ochratoxin (OTA) in bread, as well as to evaluate the effect of milk whey (with and without lactic acid bacteria fermentation) and pumpkin on reducing mycotoxins bioaccessibility. Different bread typologies were prepared and subjected to an in vitro digestion model. Gastric and intestinal extracts were analyzed by HPLC-MS/qTOF and mycotoxins bioaccessibility was calculated. All the tested ingredients but one significantly reduced mycotoxin intestinal bioaccessibility. Pumpkin powder demonstrated to be the most effective ingredient showing significant reductions of AFB1 and OTA bioaccessibility up to 74% and 34%, respectively. Whey, fermented whey, and the combination of pumpkin-fermented whey showed intestinal bioaccessibility reductions between 57-68% for AFB1, and between 11-20% for OTA. These results pointed to pumpkin and milk whey as potential bioactive ingredients that may have promising applications in the bakery industry

Multi-occurrence of twenty mycotoxinsin pasta and a risk assessment in the moroccan population

In the present study, the multi-occurrence of twenty (20) mycotoxins in pasta samples consumed in Morocco was assessed. For this, a modified quick, easy, cheap effective, rugged, and safe method was validated. The mycotoxins studied were identified and quantified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). The validated method was applied to one hundred and six (n = 106) pasta samples purchased from several areas in the country. The analytical results showed that 99 out of 106 total samples (93.4%) were contaminated with at least one mycotoxin. Nine mycotoxins (Aflatoxin B1, Enniatin B, Enniatin B1, Enniatin A1, Zearalenone, Deoxynivalenol, 3-Acetyl-Deoxynivalenol, T-2, and HT-2 toxins) were present in the pasta samples. Enniatin B and Enniatin B1 were the predominant mycotoxins. The Zearalenone, Deoxynivalenol, HT-2, and T-2 toxins were present in 51.8%, 43.5%, 34.9%, and 16% of samples, respectively. Aflatoxin B1 was detected in only 2 samples. Risk exposure assessment concluded that mycotoxin levels found in pasta do not pose a significant human health risk for the Moroccan population. This is the first paper drafted on the multi-occurrence of mycotoxins in pasta from this countr