Tensioactivos. XX. ω-Monoésteres grasos de ditioacetales de azúcares

The preparation of 5-O-lauroyl(myhstoyl, palmitoyl)-D-arabinose ethylendithioacetals, 6-O-lauroyl-D-glucose(D-galactose) ethylendithioacetals and 6-O-decanoyl(lauroyl)-D-mannose ethylendithioacetals is reported. The preparation of 5-O-octanoyl(decanoyl, lauroyl)-L-arabinose diethyldithioacetais is also reported. These compounds were obtained by monoesterification of aldosedithioacetals with the corresponding fatty acid chlorides in pyridine.Se describe la preparación de etilenditioacetales de la 5-O-lauroil(miristoil, palmitoil)- D-arabinosa, de la 6-O-lauroil-D-glucosa(D-galactosa) y de la 6-O-decanoil(lauroil)-D-manosa; y la preparación de dietilditioacetales de la 5-O-octanoil(decanoil, lauroil)-L-arabinosa. La síntesis de estos compuestos se ha realizado por monoesterificación de los ditioacetales de azúcares con los correspondientes cloruros de ácidos grasos en piridina

Evaluación de la atención en deportistas de artes marciales : expertos vs. novatos

El objetivo del estudio fue determinar las diferencias en el desempeño de una tarea de atención en relación con la pericia en artes marciales. Participaron 12 deportistas de artes marciales expertos y 13 novatos. Se les aplicó el Test of Variables of Attention (Greenberg, 1996) y se analizaron los datos de la prueba para cada variable, condición y segmentos en los que se divide, con un método estadístico no-paramétrico de permutaciones. Las comparaciones intergrupos indicaron una tendencia a que el puntaje global de Trastorno por Déficit de Atención e Hiperactividad (TDAH) de la prueba fuera mejor en los expertos que en los novatos. Se hizo un análisis intragrupo para conocer el comportamiento de cada grupo a lo largo de la prueba; los resultados indicaron que los deportistas expertos muestran mayor consistencia en el número de aciertos y tiempos de reacción a lo largo de la prueba, lo que se traduce como un mejor desempeño cuando se compara con la forma en que los deportistas novatos responden a la tarea. Los resultados sugieren que el entrenamiento físico y mental de las disciplinas de artes marciales podría producir una mejora en las capacidades de atención de los deportistas.The aim of this study is to determine differences in the performance of an attention-related task involving martial arts skills. 12 expert martial arts athletes and 13 novices took part, performing the Test of Variables of Attention (Leark, Greenberg, Kindschi, Dupuy and Hughes, 2007). Using a non-parametric statistical permutation method, the test data for each variable, condition and segment of the test was analysed. Comparisons of the groups showed a trend toward a higher global Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) score by the expert athletes as compared with the novices. In order to find out each group's performance during the test, a statistical intra-group analysis was performed. Generally, the results revealed more consistent accuracy and response times by the experts than by the novice athletes. The results suggest that physical and mental training in the martial arts may increase the attention skills of sportsmen and women.O objectivo do estudo foi determinar as diferenças no desempenho de uma tarefa atencional tendo em conta a perícia em artes marciais.Participaram no estudo 12 desportistas especialistas em artes marciais e 13 iniciantes. Foi aplicado aos participantes o Test of Variables of Attention (Greenberg, 1996) e analisaram-se os dados do teste para cada variável, condição e segmentos em que se dividem, através de um método estatístico nãoparamétrico de permutações. As comparações intergrupos indicaram uma tendência para que a pontuação global de Transtorno do Défice de Atenção e Hiperactividade (TDAH) fosse maior nos especialistas do que nos iniciantes. Foi realizada uma análise intragrupo para conhecer o comportamento de cada grupo ao longo da prova; os resultados indicaram que os desportistas especialistas revelaram maior consistência no número de acertos e tempos de reacção ao longo da prova, o que se traduz num melhor desempenho quando comparados com a forma como os desportistas iniciantes respondem à tarefa. Os resultados sugerem que o treino físico e mental das disciplinas de artes marciais poderia produzir uma melhoria nas capacidades atencionais dos desportistas

Seguimiento de la diversidad de líquenes y cambio climático en Sierra Nevada (España)

Lichens are common organisms in high mountain zones, where they play an important role in ecosystem balance. In recent years, the increasing interest in understanding more about their interactions with abiotic factors has prompted several investigations, some of which have proved their value as bioindicators of climatic conditions. In this context, focusing on climatic change effects on high mountain vascular plants and supported by the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments project (GLORIA), we have monitored for the first time the lichens biodiversity in Sierra Nevada with the intention of studying the alterations caused by the process of climatic change. The aim of this paper is to explain the monitoring experience developed on the massif and contribute to the first results from the biodiversity and statistical analysis of the sampling data.Los líquenes son organismos comunes en las zonas de alta montaña donde juegan un importante papel en el equilibrio de los ecosistemas. En los últimos años, el creciente interés por entender más acerca de sus interacciones con los factores abióticos ha motivado diversas investigaciones, algunas de las cuales han demostrado su valor como bioindicadores de las condiciones climáticas. En este contexto, centrándonos en los efectos del cambio climático en plantas vasculares de alta montaña y respaldados por el proyecto “Iniciativa para la investigación y el seguimiento global de los ambientes alpinos (GLORIA)”, se ha monitorizado por primera vez la diversidad de líquenes en Sierra Nevada con la intención de estudiar las posibles alteraciones que esta pueda sufrir causadas por el proceso de cambio climático. El objetivo de este artículo es el de dar a conocer la experiencia de seguimiento en el macizo y aportar los primeros resultados procedentes del análisis, tanto de la biodiversidad como estadístico, de los datos de muestreo

Fruit and vegetables supply chain organization in Spain: effects on quality and food safety

The Spanish fruit and vegetables sector is both diverse and fragmented, comprising many different players whose produce varies according to its geographical origin. However, these players tend to converge in the latter stages of the distribution process of their products. Therefore, for the purpose of analysis it is advisable to group homogeneous products and similar characteristics, which usually belong to particular areas, since the type of supply chain depends on the destination of the goods. In Spain, supply chains are highly adapted to the type of market to which they belong and consequently to the type of retailer at the end of the supply chain. All too often producers commercialize their products in total ignorance of the channel that they will follow to consumers. This hinders the necessary vertical coordination and collaboration within the channel to optimize its function, particularly as regards quality management and sanitary monitoring of the products. The principal scenarios in which Spanish distribution channels play a major role are the EU, domestic and local markets. The typical outlets corresponding to these areas of the retail market would be the Spanish and European mass distribution self-service stores, the small specialized warehouse, and street markets or street vending. Exports via the supply chain to Europe have constituted by far the largest change this sector has undergone. Both the European channels and those which continue to supply domestic markets, which have also undergone significant customization, form the basic structure of the current fruit and vegetables distribution sector in Spain. In essence, this distribution network system is strongly oriented to exports, innovation and the implementation of new technologies. The simplest descriptions of the fruit and vegetables distribution system in Spain describe it as: i) a "long channel” involving numerous intermediaries; and ii) a "short channel" arising from changes in both productive and commercialization stages. In both cases, the effects on quality management can vary greatly, influencing the food safety of the product reaching consumers.Working Paper within the project: “Food safety regulations, market access and international competition, SAFEMED” (nº 219262 FP7-ERANET ARIMNET

Food safety importers’ strategies and typologies of international fresh fruit and vegetables supply chains

Related to growing concerns about food safety, the present heterogeneity of certifications and types of control adopted in international supply chains has been interacting with a number of private level strategies, having supermarket chains and large distributors as main protagonists, such as the strategic selection of target market or the differentiation strategy of B2B ('Business to Business') and B2C ('Business to Consumer'), which are applicable to food safety in the fresh fruit and vegetable distribution channel. In this paper, on the one hand, we describe the types of international supply chains for fresh products, and on the other hand, the strategies related to food safety of importers and distributors in developed countries. This with the aim of determining how these strategies influence and interact with both the health risk and the management and decision processes along the supply chain. Especially, it is shown how the diversity of effects caused by the introduction and development of risk management systems is reflected in the wide range of inter-related responses performed by the different members of the distribution channel. This paper proposes a summary of the more noteworthy ones in a segmented way according to their strategic purposes. As main conclusions of this paper we have that, due to the need and obligation for the distribution channel´s members to meet the quality and safety levels required by the market, the characteristics of the linkages, which were established until now along the supply chain, have been altered towards a search for higher upstream commitments from retailers to producers, and thus, the operator´s response to the new dimension acquired by food safety within the supply chain has led to the staging of new methods and procedures for its management. It can also be observed that the bulk of the literature in the area of food safety in the fresh fruit and vegetables supply chain is about the government and implementation of quality in products, processes, or with specific protocols, being much less present a pragmatic and management approach oriented to executive staff in their various areas of responsibility, as well as empirical fieldworks

The impacts of agricultural and urban land-use changes on plant and bird biodiversity in Costa Rica (1986-2014)

Costa Rica is recognized worldwide for its nature conservation policy following the traditional land-sparing approach. However, concerns have been raised about the opposite trends of the agricultural land cover changes driven by the option to expand old and new export crops after the country's external debt crisis of the 1980s. We study what happened during the last 20 years by applying landscape ecology metrics to the REDD+ land cover maps of 1986, 2001, and 2014, and statistically testing these indicators with the locations of species richness of plants and birds recorded by INBio. Our results confirm that deforestation has been reversed and most of the biodiversity considered is housed in forestland, but also that the expansion of export monocultures and urban sprawl have fragmented and isolated these tropical forests. Ecological connectivity values decreased 13% across the territory, all crops are negatively correlated with bird and plant locations, and the metropolitan expansion caused a detrimental impact on coffee agroforestry. All these outcomes are consistent with the growing deficit of the Costa Rican physical trade balance due to a faster increase of tropical exports than the growing imports of staple food, with a loss of soil organic matter filled by high doses of agrochemicals imported. Overcoming these environmental problems require a new land-sharing approach to nature conservation aimed at improving ecological connectivity through an agroecology approach combined with land-use planning to preserve the remaining green belt of the shade coffee plantations as a buffer green infrastructure in the metropolitan area

Vegetation and geochemical responses to Holocene rapid climate change in the Sierra Nevada (southeastern Iberia): the Laguna Hondera record

High-altitude peat bogs and lacustrine records are very sensitive to climate changes and atmospheric dust input. Recent studies have shown a close relationship between regional climate aridity and enhanced eolian input to lake sediments. However, changes in regional-scale dust fluxes due to climate variability at short scales and how alpine environments were impacted by climatic- and human-induced environmental changes are not completely understood.Here we present a multi-proxy (palynological, geochemical and magnetic susceptibility) lake sediment record of climate variability in the Sierra Nevada (southeastern Iberian Peninsula) over the Holocene. Magnetic susceptibility and geochemical proxies obtained from the high mountain lake record of Laguna Hondera evidence humid conditions during the early Holocene, while a trend towards more arid conditions is recognized since  ∼ 7000&thinsp;cal&thinsp;yr&thinsp;BP, with enhanced Saharan eolian dust deposition until the present. This trend towards enhanced arid conditions was modulated by millennial-scale climate variability. Relative humid conditions occurred during the Iberian Roman Humid Period (2600–1450&thinsp;cal&thinsp;yr&thinsp;BP) and predominantly arid conditions occurred during the Dark Ages and the Medieval Climate Anomaly (1450–650&thinsp;cal&thinsp;yr&thinsp;BP). The Little Ice Age (650–150&thinsp;cal&thinsp;yr&thinsp;BP) is characterized in the Laguna Hondera record by an increase in runoff and a minimum in eolian input. In addition, we further suggest that human impact in the area is noticed through the record of Olea cultivation, Pinus reforestation and Pb pollution during the Industrial Period (150&thinsp;cal&thinsp;yr&thinsp;BP–present). Furthermore, we estimated that the correlation between Zr and Ca concentrations stands for Saharan dust input to the Sierra Nevada lake records. These assumptions support that present-day biochemical observations, pointing to eolian input as the main inorganic nutrient source for oligotrophic mountain lakes, are comparable to the past record of eolian supply to these high-altitude lakes.</p

Immediate improvement of left ventricular mechanics following transcatheter aortic valve replacement

Background: Left ventricular (LV) mechanics are impaired in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS). Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has become a widespread technique for patients with severe AS considered inoperable or high risk for traditional open-surgery. This procedure could have a positive impact in LV mechanics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the immediate effect of TAVR on LV function recovery, as assessed by myocardial deformation parameters. Methods: One-hundred twelve consecutive patients (81.4 ± 6.4 years, 50% female) from 10 centres in Europe with severe AS who successfully underwent TAVR with either a self-expanding CoreValve (Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN) or a mechanically expanded Lotus valve (Boston Scientific, Natick, MA) were enrolled in a prospective multi-center study. A complete echocardiographic examination was performed at baseline and immediately before discharge, including the assessment of LV strain using standard two-dimensional images. Results: Echocardiographic examination with global longitudinal strain (GLS) quantification could be obtained in 92 patients, because of echocardiographic and logistic reasons. Between examinations, a modest statistically significant improvement in GLS could be seen (GLS% –15.00 ± 4.80 at baseline;–16.15 ± 4.97 at discharge, p = 0.028). In a stratified analysis, only women showed a significant improvement in GLS and a trend towards greater improvement in GLS according to severity of systolic dysfunction as measured by LV ejection fraction could be noted. Conclusions: Immediate improvement in GLS was appreciated after TAVR procedure. Whether this finding continues to be noted in a more prolonged follow-up and its clinical implications need to be assessed in further studies