Usefulness of manufactured tomato extracts in the diagnosis of tomato sensitization: Comparison with the prick-prick method

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Commercial available skin prick test with fruits can be negative in sensitized or allergic patients due to a reduction in biological activity during the manufacturing process. Prick-prick tests with fresh foods are often preferred, but they are a non-standardized procedure. The usefulness of freeze-dried extracts of Canary Islands tomatoes, comparing the wheal sizes induced by prick test with the prick-prick method in the diagnosis of tomato sensitization has been analyzed.</p> <p>The objective of the study was to assess the potential diagnostic of freeze-dried extracts of Canary Islands tomatoes, comparing the wheal sizes induced by prick test with the prick-prick method.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two groups of patients were analyzed: Group I: 26 individuals reporting clinical symptoms induced by tomato contact or ingestion. Group II: 71 control individuals with no symptoms induced by tomato: 12 of them were previously skin prick test positive to a tomato extract, 39 were atopic and 20 were non-atopic. All individuals underwent prick-prick with fresh ripe peel Canary tomatoes and skin prick tested with freeze-dried peel and pulp extracts obtained from peel and pulp of Canary tomatoes at 10 mg/ml. Wheal sizes and prick test positivity (≥ 7 mm²) were compared between groups.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In group I, 21 (81%) out of 26 patients were prick-prick positive. Twenty patients (77%) had positive skin prick test to peel extracts and 12 (46%) to pulp extracts. Prick-prick induced a mean wheal size of 43.81 ± 40.19 mm²compared with 44.25 ± 36.68 mm²induced by the peel extract (Not significant), and 17.79 ± 9.39 mm²induced by the pulp extract (p < 0.01).</p> <p>In group II, 13 (18%) out of 71 control patients were prick-prick positive. Twelve patients (all of them previously positive to peel extract) had positive skin prick test to peel and 3 to pulp. Prick-prick induced a mean wheal size of 28.88 ± 13.12 mm²compared with 33.17 ± 17.55 mm²induced by peel extract (Not significant), and 13.33 ± 4.80 mm²induced by pulp extract (p < 0.05 with peel extract and prick-prick).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Canary peel tomato extract seems to be as efficient as prick-prick tests with ripe tomatoes to diagnose patients sensitized to tomato. The wheal sizes induced by prick-prick and peel extracts were very similar and showed a high correlation coefficient.</p

Daily consumption of a dairy drink enriched with DHA, Vitamins and minerals enhanced nutritional status and cognitive abilities parameters

Preadolescence is a period of growth with special nutritional requirements. In this research we investigated the effects produced by a 5-month consumption of an enriched dairy drink on biochemical and cognitive development parameters in children. Methods: 119 children (8 14y) of both genders (male 49%, female 51%) were randomly distributed into two study groups. The supplemented group (SG, n = 60) consumed 0.6 L/day (breakfast, elevenses and teatime) of an enriched dairy drink containing fish oils (high in DHA), oleic acid, carbohydrates (sugar and honey), vitamins (A, B complex, C, D, and E) and minerals (calcium, phosphorus, zinc) (Puleva Max®). The control group (CG, n = 59) consumed 0.6 L/day of standard whole milk. Both groups received the same dietary advice and consumed the dairy drinks for 5-moths, in addition to their usual diet. Blood samples and psychometric tests (some subscales of W.I.S.C.-IV of Wechsler and EVALUA of Vidal) were taken at 0 and 5 months. RM ANOVA was applied. Data are expressed as mean±SEM. Results: The consumption of the enriched dairy drink (SG) produced significant (p < 0.05) increases in plasma DHA (20%) and calcium (1.5%). Total proteins (1.9%), transferrine (2.1%), total cholesterol (3.3%) and HDLcholesterol (5.2%), but not LDL-cholesterol, decreased significantly in CG. Regarding psychometric parameters, digits span (working memory test), speed reading and reading comprehension scores showed significant increases in SG at the end of the study (16.8%, 19.1%, and 19.0% respectively) whereas CG only showed higher scores in the reading comprehension test (19.2%). Conclusion: The dietary supplementation with the enriched dairy drink improved the nutritional and biochemical status and a number of cognitive performance markers in children of 8 and 14 years. Supported by Puleva Food SA.Universidad e Granada Puleva Biotech S

Galaxy clusters and groups in the ALHAMBRA Survey

We present a catalogue of 348 galaxy clusters and groups with $0.2<z<1.2$ selected in the 2.78 $deg^2$ ALHAMBRA Survey. The high precision of our photometric redshifts, close to $1\%$, and the wide spread of the seven ALHAMBRA pointings ensure that this catalogue has better mass sensitivity and is less affected by cosmic variance than comparable samples. The detection has been carried out with the Bayesian Cluster Finder (BCF), whose performance has been checked in ALHAMBRA-like light-cone mock catalogues. Great care has been taken to ensure that the observable properties of the mocks photometry accurately correspond to those of real catalogues. From our simulations, we expect to detect galaxy clusters and groups with both $70\%$ completeness and purity down to dark matter halo masses of $M_h\sim3\times10^{13}\rm M_{\odot}$ for $z<0.85$. Cluster redshifts are expected to be recovered with $\sim0.6\%$ precision for $z<1$. We also expect to measure cluster masses with $\sigma_{M_h|M^*_{CL}}\sim0.25-0.35\, dex$ precision down to $\sim3\times10^{13}\rm M_{\odot}$, masses which are $50\%$ smaller than those reached by similar work. We have compared these detections with previous optical, spectroscopic and X-rays work, finding an excellent agreement with the rates reported from the simulations. We have also explored the overall properties of these detections such as the presence of a colour-magnitude relation, the evolution of the photometric blue fraction and the clustering of these sources in the different ALHAMBRA fields. Despite the small numbers, we observe tentative evidence that, for a fixed stellar mass, the environment is playing a crucial role at lower redshifts (z$<$0.5).Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Catalogues and figures available online and under the following link: http://bascaso.net46.net/ALHAMBRA_clusters.htm

The ALHAMBRA survey: reliable morphological catalogue of 22 051 early- and late-type galaxies

Advanced Large Homogeneous Area Medium Band Redshift Astronomical (ALHAMBRA) is photometric survey designed to trace the cosmic evolution and cosmic variance. It covers a large area of ~4 deg2 in eight fields, where seven fields overlap with other surveys, allowing us to have complementary data in other wavelengths. All observations were carried out in 20 continuous, medium band (30 nm width) optical and 3 near-infrared (JHK) bands, providing the precise measurements of photometric redshifts. In addition, morphological classification of galaxies is crucial for any kind of galaxy formation and cosmic evolution studies, providing the information about star formation histories, their environment and interactions, internal perturbations, etc. We present a morphological classification of >40 000 galaxies in the ALHAMBRA survey. We associate to every galaxy a probability to be early type using the automated Bayesian code GALSVM. Despite of the spatial resolution of theALHAMBRAimages (~1 arcsec), for 22 051 galaxies, we obtained the contamination by other type of less than 10 per cent. Of those, 1640 and 10 322 galaxies are classified as early-(down to redshifts ~0.5) and late-type (down to redshifts ~1.0), respectively, with magnitudes F613W ≤ 22.0. In addition, for magnitude range 22.0 < F613W ≤ 23.0, we classified other 10 089 late-type galaxies with redshifts ≤1.3.We show that the classified objects populate the expected regions in the colour-mass and colour-magnitude planes. The presented data set is especially attractive given the homogeneous multiwavelength coverage available in the ALHAMBRA fields, and is intended to be used in a variety of scientific applications. The low-contamination catalogue (<10 per cent) is made publicly available with this paper. © 2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.This research was supported by the Junta de Andalucía through projects PO8-TIC-03531 and TIC114, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) through projects AYA2006-14046, AYA2010-15169, AYA2010-22111-C03-02, AYA2011-29517-C03-01, and the Generalitat Valenciana through project GV/Prometeo 2009/064. MP acknowledges financial support from JAE-Doc program of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), co-funded by the European Social Fund.Peer Reviewe

The ALHAMBRA survey: Bayesian photometric redshifts with 23 bands for 3 deg2

A. Molino et al.The Advance Large Homogeneous Area Medium-Band Redshift Astronomical (ALHAMBRA) survey has observed eight different regions of the sky, including sections of the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS), DEEP2, European Large-Area Infrared Space Observatory Survey (ELAIS), Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey North (GOODS-N), Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Groth fields using a new photometric system with 20 optical, contiguous ~300-Å filters plus the JHKs bands. The filter system is designed to optimize the effective photometric redshift depth of the survey, while having enough wavelength resolution for the identification of faint emission lines. The observations, carried out with the Calar Alto 3.5-m telescope using the wide-field optical camera Large Area Imager for Calar Alto (LAICA) and the near-infrared (NIR) instrument Omega-2000, represent a total of ~700 h of on-target science images. Here we present multicolour point-spread function (PSF) corrected photometry and photometric redshifts for ~438 000 galaxies, detected in synthetic F814W images. The catalogues are complete down to a magnitude I~24.5AB and cover an effective area of 2.79 deg2. Photometric zero-points were calibrated using stellar transformation equations and refined internally, using a new technique based on the highly robust photometric redshifts measured for emission-line galaxies. We calculate Bayesian photometric redshifts with the Bayesian Photometric Redshift (BPZ)2.0 code, obtaining a precision of δz/(1+zs)=1 per cent for I<22.5 and δz/(1+zs)=1.4 per cent for 22.5<I<24.5. The global n(z) distribution shows a mean redshift 〈z〉=0.56 for I<22.5 AB and 〈z〉=0.86 for I<24.5 AB. Given its depth and small cosmic variance, ALHAMBRA is a unique data set for galaxy evolution studies. © 2014 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.We acknowledge financial support from the Spanish MICINN under the Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Program grant CSD2006-00070: First Science with the GTC. Part of this work was supported by Junta de Andalucía, through grant TIC-114 and the Excellence Project P08-TIC-3531, and by the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation through grants AYA2006-1456, AYA2010-15169, AYA2010-22111-C03-02, AYA2010-22111-C03-01 and Generalitat Valenciana project Prometeo 2009/064.Peer Reviewe

Gaya Desain Kolonial Belanda Dan Cina Pada Interior Hotel Ganefo Surabaya

Ganefo Hotel was originally a residence of an ex- lieutenant of China who was assigned by the Dutch to oversee the activities of the local population. Although at this time the building has functioned as a hotel, the styles of Dutch Colonial and Chinese are applied to the building is still maintained until now. The combination of styles in this hotel makes it an interesting object to be researched. This study aims to analyze the Dutch Colonial and Chinese styles which still exist in this building. The method used in this study is descriptive qualitative method. The result demonstrates the application of Dutch Colonial design styles and China on the interior Ganefo Hotel Surabaya which is seen on the building orientation, layout, organization of space, space-forming elements, transition elements, furniture, and decorative elements

Guía de Práctica Clínica para el Diagnóstico y Tratamiento de Esclerosis Múltiple en Adultos.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease of the central nervous system, for which there is still no definitive cure; but there is a diverse variety of therapies with the objective of modifying the course of the disease, which promotes the constant inclusion of new therapeutic strategies. Objective: The Peruvian Society of Neurology, as requested by the Peruvian Health Ministry, convened a committee of experts with the purpose of elaborating a clinical practice guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of MS. Method: Clinical practice guidelines were searched and evaluated according to the AGREE II methodology, choosing the Catalan Clinical Practice Guide as a model. The clinical questions not related to treatment were solved through a systematic review. The clinical treatment questions were assessed under the PICO format and were solved with a meta-analysis of clinical trials available until August 2017, considering the therapies approved by DIGEMID until January 2017. The final recommendations were elaborated using the modified Delphi method with a consensus of at least 80% of the members of its committee. Finally, an external revision of the manuscript was made by international experts in MS. Results: Eighteen clinical questions and twenty-one recommendations for management were developed, including therapeutic algorithms.La Esclerosis Múltiple (EM) es una enfermedad crónica del sistema nervioso central, para la cual aún no hay una cura definitiva; sin embargo, existe una diversa variedad de terapias con el objetivo de modificar el curso natural de la enfermedad, que promueve la inclusión constante de nuevas estrategias terapéuticas. Objetivo: La Sociedad Peruana de Neurología, por encargo del Ministerio de Salud, convocó a un comité de expertos con el objetivo de elaborar una guía de práctica clínica para el diagnóstico y tratamiento de EM. Método: Se realizó una búsqueda y evaluación de guías de práctica clínica bajo la metodología AGREE II, escogiendo como modelo la Guía de Práctica Clínica Catalana. Las preguntas clínicas no concernientes al tratamiento fueron resueltas a través de revisión sistemática. Las preguntas clínicas de tratamiento se diseñaron bajo el formato PICO y se resolvieron con un meta-análisis de ensayos clínicos disponibles hasta agosto del 2017, tomando en consideración las terapias aprobadas por DIGEMID hasta enero del 2017. Las recomendaciones finales fueron elaboradas mediante el método Delphi modificado con un consenso de al menos 80% de los miembros de su comité. Finalmente se realizó una revisión externa del manuscrito por expertos internacionales en EM. &nbsp; Resultados: Se formularon 18 preguntas clínicas y 21 recomendaciones para el manejo, incluyendo algoritmos terapéuticos

Impact of interstitial lung disease on the survival of systemic sclerosis with pulmonary arterial hypertension

To assess severity markers and outcomes of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) with or without pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH-SSc/non-PAH-SSc), and the impact of interstitial lung disease (ILD) on PAH-SSc. Non-PAH-SSc patients from the Spanish SSc registry and PAH-SSc patients from the Spanish PAH registry were included. A total of 364 PAH-SSc and 1589 non-PAH-SSc patients were included. PAH-SSc patients had worse NYHA-functional class (NYHA-FC), worse forced vital capacity (FVC) (81.2 +/- 20.6% vs 93.6 +/- 20.6%, P < 0.001), worse tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) (17.4 +/- 5.2 mm vs 19.9 +/- 6.7 mm, P < 0.001), higher incidence of pericardial effusion (30% vs 5.2%, P < 0.001) and similar prevalence of ILD (41.8% vs. 44.9%). In individuals with PAH-SSc, ILD was associated with worse hemodynamics and pulmonary function tests (PFT). Up-front combination therapy was used in 59.8% and 61.7% of patients with and without ILD, respectively. Five-year transplant-free survival rate was 41.1% in PAH-SSc patients and 93.9% in non-PAH-SSc patients (P < 0.001). Global survival of PAH-SSc patients was not affected by ILD regardless its severity. The multivariate survival analysis in PAH-SSc patients confirmed age at diagnosis, worse NYHA-FC, increased PVR, reduced DLCO, and lower management with up-front combination therapy as major risk factors. In conclusion, in PAH-SSc cohort risk of death was greatly increased by clinical, PFT, and hemodynamic factors, whereas it was decreased by up-front combination therapy. Concomitant ILD worsened hemodynamics and PFT in PAH-SSc but not survival regardless of FVC impairment