Postharvest quality changes of salvia (Salvia officinalis) stored under cold-storage conditions

El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el efecto de temperaturas bajas sobre la calidad poscosecha de salvia (Salvia officinalis L.). Para ello, las plantas fueron empacadas en bolsas de polietileno de baja densidad y almacenadas por 21 días a 0±2 y 6±2°C y un testigo a 23±2°C. Durante este período cada tres días se evaluó: tasa de respiración (TR), producción de etileno (PE), pérdida de peso (PP), sólidos solubles totales (SST), acidez titulable (AT), clorofila total (CT), color (*L, *C, °h) y vitamina C (VitC). Adicionalmente, mediante evaluación sensorial, se determinó: apariencia visual, escala de color, amarillamiento, abscisión de hojas y pudriciones. El uso de refrigeración (0° y 6°C) mantuvo la TR y PE con valores de 15,4 a 22,9 mL CO2·kg-1·h-1 y de 0,06 a 0,46mL etileno·kg-1·h-1, respectivamente. El uso de refrigeración disminuyó la pérdida de peso en salvia hasta un 40%. La CT y el CL se conservaron por 15 días a 6°C. El contenido de vitamina C decreció progresivamente, y fue significativamente menor en el tratamiento a 23°C. La refrigeración a 0°C, permitió prolongar la calidad de la salvia por 12 días, mientras que a 6° y 23°C, solo se mantuvo por 9 y 6 días, respectivamente.The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of low temperatures on the postharvest quality of sage (Salvia officinalis L.). For this, the plants were stored at 0° to 6°C with compared to 23 ± 2°C (control) and packed in polyethylene bags, low density for 21 days. During this period were evaluated every three days: respiration rate (TR), production of ethylene (PE), weight loss (WL), total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), the total chlorophyll (CLT), color (*L, *C, °h) and vitamin C (VtC). Additionally, through a sensory evaluation: visual appearance, color scale, yellowing, leaf abscission and decay. The use of cooling (0° to 6°C) maintained the TR and PE values were 15.4 to 22.9 mL CO2·kg-1 · h-1 and 0.06 to 0.46mL ethylene · kg-1 · h-1, respectively. The use of cooling diminished WL up to 40% sage. The CT and CL were stored for up to 15 days to 6°C. The VtC gradually decreased, but this decrease were more evident in the treatment at 23°C. The best treatment was 0°C, since, allowed prolong the quality of sage up to 12 days, contrary to the treatments to 6° and 23°C where quality only maintained for up to 9 and 6 days, respectively.Fil: Romero Tejeda, María Luz. Universidad Autónoma Chapingo (México)Fil: Martínez Damián, María Teresa. Universidad Autónoma Chapingo (México)Fil: Rodríguez Pérez, Juan Enrique. Universidad Autónoma Chapingo (México)Fil: Colinas León, María Teresa Beryl. Universidad Autónoma Chapingo (México)Fil: Martínez Solís, Juan. Universidad Autónoma Chapingo (México

Iron regulatory mechanisms in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Iron is an essential micronutrient for all eukaryotic organisms because it participates as a redox cofactor in many cellular processes. However, excess iron can damage cells since it promotes the generation of reactive oxygen species. The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used as a model organism to study the adaptation of eukaryotic cells to changes in iron availability. Upon iron deficiency, yeast utilizes two transcription factors, Aft1 and Aft2, to activate the expression of a set of genes known as the iron regulon, which are implicated in iron uptake, recycling and mobilization. Moreover, Aft1 and Aft2 activate the expression of Cth2, an mRNA-binding protein that limits the expression of genes encoding for iron-containing proteins or that participate in iron-using processes. Cth2 contributes to prioritize iron utilization in particular pathways over other highly iron-consuming and non-essential processes including mitochondrial respiration. Recent studies have revealed that iron deficiency also alters many other metabolic routes including amino acid and lipid synthesis, the mitochondrial retrograde response, transcription, translation and deoxyribonucleotide synthesis; and activates the DNA damage and general stress responses. At high iron levels, the yeast Yap5, Msn2, and Msn4 transcription factors activate the expression of a vacuolar iron importer called Ccc1, which is the most important high-iron protecting factor devoted to detoxify excess cytosolic iron that is stored into the vacuole for its mobilization upon scarcity. The complete sequencing and annotation of many yeast genomes is starting to unveil the diversity and evolution of the iron homeostasis network in this species

Derivas de la memoria. Una biocartografía de Madrid. Indagación en las metodologías de comprensión de la ciudad desde la experiencia subjetiva

La ciudad es ese entorno paradójico y diverso en el que discurren nuestras vidas, es la expresión de la cultura y la organización social de las personas, y es el espacio que contiene nuestras memorias individuales y las de la colectividad. El texto trata sobre la relación entre personas y su entorno vital, enfocándola desde una óptica que pretende construir una visión de la ciudad a partir de la memoria. Para ello, se proponen dos instrumentos que nos permiten dicha indagación, como son el relato autobiográfico y las cartografías personales. El primero, entendido como deriva a través de los recuerdos asociados a los espacios de la ciudad, y las segundas, como sistema de representación de una realidad subjetiva desarrollada desde la experiencia. Sobre estas bases podremos tomar una postura coherente acerca de la doble utilidad de dichos instrumentos. Por una parte, como fuente de información valiosa para proporcionar una mejor comprensión de nuestro entorno vital y, por otro lado, como sustrato capaz de inspirar propuestas creativas sobre la ciudad. En el desarrollo del trabajo se ha partido de un relato autobiográfico que guía al autor hacia diversas líneas de investigación prácticas y teóricas. Por una parte se realizan una serie de reflexiones específicas relativas a los conceptos claves que se tratan de relacionar como son: la ciudad, la deriva como práctica artística, la memoria y los mapas. Por otra parte se muestran un conjunto de planos de Madrid realizados a partir de la memoria. The city is the paradoxical and diverse environment where takes place our everyday life. It is the expression of the culture and the social organization of people, and the space that contains our individual and collective memories. This text addresses the relationship between people and their living environment, focusing on this subject form a perspective that aims to build a vision of the city from the memory. For this purpose, we will propose the tools that allow us to do such an inquiry, as it is the case of the autobiographical narratives and the personal cartographies. The first, treated as a dérive through the memories associated with the spaces of the city, and the latter, as a system of representation of the subjective realities drawn from self experience. On this basis, we can take a coherent position about the affordances of these instruments. On one hand, as a source of valuable information capable of providing a better understanding of our living environment. On the other, as a substrate capable of inspiring creative proposals about the city. The working process starts with an autobiographical story that leads the author towards several research guidelines, both concerning theory and practice. On one side, a series of specific considerations on the work´s key concepts will be undergone: city, dèrive as an artistic practice, the memory and the maps. On the other, a set of maps of Madrid related to personal memories have been drawn

Los artistas nómadas de los Balcanes. El panorama del arte contemporáneo emergente en los Balcanes y su migración hacia y desde el mundo. Nomad artists of the Balkans. The emerging contemporary art scene in the Balkans and their migration to and from the world

Esta comunicación intentará definir la ciudad como un lugar de interculturalidad, de intercambio de culturas y más concretamente definirá el lugar de los artistas de los Balcanes en la escena artística internacional, así como el grado de influencia que tiene el sistema mundial de globalización y los efectos directos e indirectos en la producción artística de la región. Nos preocupan las dificultades que han retrasado la inserción de esta región europea en el panorama artístico mundial, provocadas por las herencias históricas negativas, la inestabilidad y vulnerabilidad política, económica, religiosa y cultural, causadas por las guerras y la fragmentación geográfica e ideológica. Partimos de la idea de que los problemas religiosos y étnicos y la gran inestabilidad política interna, que han surgido después de la caída del régimen, no han permitido el desarrollo del arte contemporáneo en la zona hasta hace no mucho más de una década. Intentaremos comprender la situación de la escena artística actual en la región a través de la mirada de artistas nómadas que exportan la cultura balcánica (hacia el mundo).Por otra parte estos artistas también son importadores de culturas diferentes, de modo que se convierten en motor de desarrollo cultural y artístico para los Balcanes (desde el mundo). Nos centraremos en los artistas balcánicos exiliados hacia Europa o Estados Unidos, como Adrian Paci, Nedko Solakov, Mariana Vassileva o Ergin Çavusoglu. La acotación de los artistas escogidos en el presente estudio es espacial, no para ofrecer algún tipo de división o de estereotipos simplistas, sino para hallar los procesos culturales positivos de búsqueda de su propia identidad, pero no ya “balcánica”, sino cosmopolita y universal. Porque no se puede negar la importancia cultural e identitaria que tienen las características geoestratégicas de los Balcanes y la mezcla o la hibridación cultural, tan enriquecedora, que representa el puente entre Europa y Asia, entre Occidente y Oriente… This paper attempts to define the city as an intercultural place, a place of exchange of cultures and more specifically will try to identify where the artists from the Balkans are placed on the international art scene, as well as the degree of influence of the world globalization system and its direct and indirect effects on the Region’s artistic production. We are concerned about the difficulties that have delayed the inclusion of this European region in the world art scene, as a consequence of negative historical legacies, political, economic, religious and cultural instability and vulnerability, as well as wars caused by geographical and ideological fragmentation. We analyze the idea that due to religious and ethnical problems as well as internal political instability that have emerged after the fall of the regime, the development of contemporary art in the area had not started until only about a decade ago. We are trying to understand the situation of the current art scene in the region through the eyes of artists who export nomadic Balkan culture (to the world). Furthermore these artists also import different cultures, so that they become an engine of the cultural and artistic development in the Balkans (from the world). We will focus on the Balkan artists exiled to Europe or the United States, such as Adrian Paci, Nedko Solakov, Mariana Vassileva or Çavusoglu Ergin. The dimension of the artists chosen for this study is spatial, not aiming to offer any kind of division or simplistic stereotypes, but to find positive cultural processes of discovering one’s own identity, however not anymore as "Balkan", but as cosmopolitan and universal. Because we could not deny the identity and cultural importance of the geostrategic characteristics of the Balkans as well as the enriching mix of cultural hybridism that represents the bridge between Europe and Asia, between East and West..

Acquisition activity: do firm age and family control matter?

This article examines the relationship between firm age and acquisition activity and how family and non-family firms differ in the number of acquisitions they undertake. Inspired by previous research requiring firm age as a focal aspect and literature studying the antecedents of acquisitions, we draw on the SEW perspective to test our hypotheses based on the analysis of the acquisition activity of Asia-Pacific public firms. Our empirical findings support a U-shaped relationship between firm age and acquisition activity. Moreover, the findings reveal that family firms engage in fewer acquisitions than non-family firms irrespective of the age of the firm.Funding for open Access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBU

New Insights into the Medieval Hispano-Muslim Panel Painting: The Alfarje Found in a Balearic Casal (Spain)

Hispano-Muslim culture flourished during the Middle Ages in the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands. During the restoration of a Balearic nobiliary building (casal), several panels with polychrome decoration on the back side were found. They were part of an old Muslim wooden ceiling (alfarje). A multi-technique strategy including optical microscopy, infrared and μRaman spectroscopies, field emission scanning electron microscopy-X-ray microanalysis (FESEM-EDX), focused ion beam (FIB-FESEM-EDX), atomic force microscopy nanoindentation (AFM-NI), and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) has been applied in the analysis of these panel paintings and has provided morphological and compositional data that have led to the identification of the materials and artistic technique as well as the alteration mechanisms due to the natural aging and the adverse conditions of conservation. As a novelty, this study has confirmed the use of indigo as a blue pigment, an unusual material in Hispano-Muslim panel painting. Apart from the notable change in the visual appearance observed in the paintings, the study has also confirmed a change in the mechanical resistance in the paint layers. These changes have been induced by the combination of the chemical and microbiological alteration mechanisms identified

Compliance with the main preventive measures of COVID-19 in Spain: The role of knowledge, attitudes, practices, and risk perception

In epidemics such as COVID-19, major changes need to be made to the population's behavior to prevent infection and stop disease transmission. The three most recommended preventive measures are wearing a mask, washing hands with soap or hydroalcoholic gel, and watching an interpersonal distance of at least two meters (3W) from other people. This study aimed to assess adherence to these COVID-19-related three preventive measures and its association with knowledge, attitudes, risk perception, and practices in Spain. The COSMO-Spain survey, based on the WHO Behavioral Insights questionnaire on COVID-19, was conducted in the general Spanish population using an online questionnaire (n = 1,033). Sociodemographic, knowledge, attitudes, practices, and risk perception variables were included. A multivariable logistic regression model was carried out to evaluate the factors associated with compliance with the three preventive measures. Half of the respondents (49.8%) were women with a median age of 45 (Inter-quartile Range, IR = 21) years. In the logistic regression, the factors associated with 3W compliance were being over 45 years; knowing about how COVID-19 spreads and wearing masks properly; appropriate attitudes towards COVID-19 (greater agreement with mandatory mask use); high risk perception (feeling that the coronavirus is spreading rapidly, being concerned about non-mask wearers), and adherence to other preventive measures against COVID-19, such as staying at home. Adequate knowledge, attitudes and risk perception are determinants of 3W compliance. Developing effective health education programs and frequent communication strategies are necessary, particularly for those who adhere less to preventive measures.S

Duelo, cuidados emocionales y alimentarios en la post pandemia

The COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico has caused the death of more than 326,000 people in official data and an excess mortality of almost 645,020. This means people who were not expected to die according to INEGI during the period 2020- 2022. From the total of the excess deaths, 61% correspond to men who many of them were heads of the family, therefore they left orphans and widows who had to assume responsibility for the family´s economy. In  addition, these deaths left families with very complicated mourning processes, due to the unexpected, painful circumstances, and the loneliness in which the death from COVID-19 occurred.  These complicated mournings promoted processes of anxiety and depression, which have been reflected in an increase of search for emotional support in public and private institutions. Along with the excessive deaths, the partial or total confinement during the pandemic encouraged the rise in rates of obesity and chronic degenerative diseases in the population. Hence the importance of forming emotional and feeding networks, since an important part of Mexican families the management of emotional and health crisis rests on women.La pandemia de COVID-19 en México ha provocado la muerte de más de 326,000 personas en cifras oficiales y un exceso de mortalidad de casi 645,020, es decir, de personas que no se esperaba que murieran de acuerdo al INEGI durante el periodo del 2020-2022. Del total de  muertes en exceso el 61 % corresponde a varones y muchos de ellos eran cabeza de familia por lo tanto dejaron huérfanos y viudas que tuvieron que asumir la responsabilidad de la economía familiar. Además, estas muertes dejaron procesos de duelo muy complicados en las familias, debido a las circunstancias inesperadas, dolorosas y la soledad en que ocurrió la muerte por COVID-19. Estos duelos complicados promovieron procesos de ansiedad y depresión, que se han reflejado en un aumento en la búsqueda de apoyo emocional en instituciones públicas y privadas. Junto con el exceso de muertes, el confinamiento parcial o total durante la pandemia fomentó que se elevaran lo índices de obesidad y enfermedades crónicas degenerativas en la población. De ahí la importancia de formar redes de apoyo emocional y alimentario, ya que en una parte importante de las familias mexicanas el manejo de crisis emocionales y de salud recae en las mujeres

Cambios en la calidad poscosecha de salvia (Salvia officinalis) almacenada bajo condiciones de frigoconservación

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of low temperatures on the postharvest quality of sage (Salvia officinalis L.). For this, the plants were stored at 0º to 6ºC with compared to 23 ± 2ºC (control) and packed in polyethylene bags, low density for 21 days. During this period were evaluated every three days: respiration rate (TR), production of ethylene (PE), weight loss (WL), total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), the total chlorophyll (CLT), color (*L, *C, ºh) and vitamin C (VtC). Additionally, through a sensory evaluation: visual appearance, color scale, yellowing, leaf abscission and decay. The use of cooling (0º to 6ºC) maintained the TR and PE values were 15.4 to 22.9 mL CO2·kg-1 · h-1 and 0.06 to 0.46mL ethylene · kg-1 · h-1, respectively. The use of cooling diminished WL up to 40% sage. The CT and CL were stored for up to 15 days to 6ºC. The VtC gradually decreased, but this decrease were more evident in the treatment at 23ºC. The best treatment was 0ºC, since, allowed prolong the quality of sage up to 12 days, contrary to the treatments to 6º and 23ºC where quality only maintained for up to 9 and 6 days, respectively.El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el efecto de temperaturas bajas sobre la calidad poscosecha de salvia (Salvia officinalis L.). Para ello, las plantas fueron empacadas en bolsas de polietileno de baja densidad y almacenadas por 21 días a 0±2 y 6±2ºC y un testigo a 23±2ºC. Durante este período cada tres días se evaluó: tasa de respiración (TR), producción de etileno (PE), pérdida de peso (PP), sólidos solubles totales (SST), acidez titulable (AT), clorofila total (CT), color (*L, *C, ºh) y vitamina C (VitC). Adicionalmente, mediante evaluación sensorial, se determinó: apariencia visual, escala de color, amarillamiento, abscisión de hojas y pudriciones. El uso de refrigeración (0º y 6ºC) mantuvo la TR y PE con valores de 15,4 a 22,9 mL CO2·kg-1·h-1 y de 0,06 a 0,46mL etileno·kg-1·h-1, respectivamente. El uso de refrigeración disminuyó la pérdida de peso en salvia hasta un 40%. La CT y el CL se conservaron por 15 días a 6ºC. El contenido de vitamina C decreció progresivamente, y fue significativamente menor en el tratamiento a 23ºC. La refrigeración a 0ºC, permitió prolongar la calidad de la salvia por 12 días, mientras que a 6º y 23ºC, solo se mantuvo por 9 y 6 días, respectivamente