Screening of aflatoxins, ochratoxins and fumonisins in baby food Paraguayan in markets

Foods based on cereals and other components made for this purpose are susceptible to contamination with mycotoxins, toxic secondary metabolites produced by certain fungal. The present study aims to determine the ocurrece of aflatoxins, ochatoxins and fumonisin in processed cereal based food.CONACYT - Consejo Nacional de Ciencias y TecnologíaPROCIENCI

Ocurrencia de toxinas de Fusarium sp. en cereales para bebe en el área metropolitana – Paraguay.

Las micotoxinas, son metabolitos secundarios tóxicos para los seres humanos y animales que producen síndromes llamados micotoxicosis y que en casos extremos pueden llevar a la muerte. Micotoxinas del género Fusarium sp. : Deoinivalenol (DON), las Fumonisinas (FUM), la Toxina T-2 y la Zearalenona (ZEA), que poseen efectos diversos sobre la salud. Es importante destacar que los bebés son uno de los segmentos poblacionales más expuestos a los efectos negativos de las micotoxinas debido a la relación peso – ingesta y a su dieta más restringida.CONACYT - Consejo Nacional de Ciencias y TecnologíaPROCIENCI

Presencia de aflatoxina M1 en fórmulas lácteas infantiles comercializadas en el área metropolitana a Asunción, Paraguay.

Introducción: La aflatoxina M1 (AFM1) es un metabolito tóxico derivado de la aflatoxina B. Su ingestión en lactantes se ha relacionado con retraso en el crecimiento, aumento de susceptibilidad a enfermedades infecciosas, reducción de la eficiencia en la inmunización y cirrosis. En Paraguay se recomienda lactancia exclusiva hasta los 6 meses, sin embargo se comercializan diferentes marcas de fórmulas infantiles dirigidas a lactantes menores de 6 meses. Objetivo: Detectar y cuantificar la presencia de AFM1 en fórmulas para lactantes comercializadas en el Área Metropolitana. Materiales y Métodos: Se adquirieron fórmulas fluidas (n=18) y en polvo (n=91) para lactantes de 0 a 12 meses de farmacias y supermercados del Área Metropolitana de Asunción y fueron analizados mediante el ensayo de inmunoafinidad ligado a enzimas (ELISA). Resultados: 9,75% (0 a 6 meses) y 2% (6 a 12 meses) de las fórmulas lácteas en polvo y 100% de las fórmulas fluidas resultaron positivas para AFM1. La mediana de contenido de AFM1 en formulas en polvo fue de 1820 ng/kg y 510 ng/kg en las marcas A y B. En las fórmulas líquidas fue de 31,8 ng/kg y 33,6 ng/kg para las dos marcas analizadas respectivamente, p=0,0001. Conclusiones: Se detectó AFM1 en todas las fórmulas líquidas analizadas, y en el 2 y 9,7% de las fórmulas en polvo de las marcas Ay B respectivamente Los niveles de AFM1 fueron mayores en las fórmulas en polvo. Conflicto de interés: Los autores declaran no poseer conflicto de interés Recibido: 16/11/2020 Aceptado: 12/02/202

Uncovering tomato quantitative trait loci and candidate genes for fruit cuticular lipid composition using the Solanum pennellii introgression line population

[EN] The cuticle is a specialized cell wall layer that covers the outermost surface of the epidermal cells and has important implications for fruit permeability and pathogen susceptibility. In order to decipher the genetic control of tomato fruit cuticle composition, an introgression line (IL) population derived from a biparental cross between Solanum pennellii (LA0716) and the Solanum lycopersicum cultivar M82 was used to build a first map of associated quantitative trait loci (QTLs). A total of 24 cuticular waxes and 26 cutin monomers were determined. They showed changes associated with 18 genomic regions distributed in nine chromosomes affecting 19 ILs. Out of the five main fruit cuticular components described for the wild species S. pennellii, three of them were associated with IL3.4, IL12.1, and IL7.4.1, causing an increase in n-alkanes (>= C-30), a decrease in amyrin content, and a decrease in cuticle thickness of similar to 50%, respectively. Moreover, we also found a QTL associated with increased levels of amyrins in IL3.4. In addition, we propose some candidate genes on the basis of their differential gene expression and single nucleotide polymorphism variability between the introgressed and the recurrent alleles, which will be the subjects of further investigation.Research at the IBMCP was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture (BIO2013-42193-R) and H2020 TRADITOM (634561). AA, AG, and J-PF-M thank COST FA1106 Quality Fruit for STSM and networking activities. This work was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) personal grant to AA (grant no. 646/11). We would like to thank the Adelis Foundation, the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, the Jeanne and Joseph Nissim Foundation for Life Sciences, Tom and Sondra Rykoff Family Foundation Research, and the Raymond Burton Plant Genome Research Fund for supporting AA's laboratory activity. AA is the incumbent of the Peter J. Cohn Professorial Chair. We are very grateful to Prof. Dani Zamir for providing us the S. pennellii IL collection and to Prof. Antonio Heredia for his valuable advice in preparing the manuscript for publication. We would like to acknowledge the help offered by the Electron Microscopy Unit at the WIS (Israel) for the TEM sample preparation and imaging, especially Elena Kartvelishvily, Eugenia Klein, and Eyal Shimoni. Finally, we would also like to thank Calanit Raanan and Tamara Berkutzki (Department of Veterinary Resources, WIS) for their help in tissue fixation and embedding, as well as Hanna Levanony (Department of Plant Sciences, WIS) for her help in tissue staining for the light microscopy studies.Fernández Moreno, JP.; Levy-Samoha, D.; Malitsky, S.; Monforte Gilabert, AJ.; Orzáez Calatayud, DV.; Aharoni, A.; Granell Richart, A. (2017). Uncovering tomato quantitative trait loci and candidate genes for fruit cuticular lipid composition using the Solanum pennellii introgression line population. Journal of Experimental Botany. 68(11):2703-2716. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erx134S27032716681

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

Search for new particles in events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search is presented for new particles produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, using events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb(-1), collected in 2017-2018 with the CMS detector. Machine learning techniques are used to define separate categories for events with narrow jets from initial-state radiation and events with large-radius jets consistent with a hadronic decay of a W or Z boson. A statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data sample of 36 fb(-1), collected in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed with respect to the standard model background expectation determined from control samples in data. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the branching fraction of an invisible decay of the Higgs boson, as well as constraints on simplified models of dark matter, on first-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying to quarks and neutrinos, and on models with large extra dimensions. Several of the new limits, specifically for spin-1 dark matter mediators, pseudoscalar mediators, colored mediators, and leptoquarks, are the most restrictive to date.Peer reviewe

MUSiC : a model-unspecific search for new physics in proton-proton collisions at root s=13TeV

Results of the Model Unspecific Search in CMS (MUSiC), using proton-proton collision data recorded at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1), are presented. The MUSiC analysis searches for anomalies that could be signatures of physics beyond the standard model. The analysis is based on the comparison of observed data with the standard model prediction, as determined from simulation, in several hundred final states and multiple kinematic distributions. Events containing at least one electron or muon are classified based on their final state topology, and an automated search algorithm surveys the observed data for deviations from the prediction. The sensitivity of the search is validated using multiple methods. No significant deviations from the predictions have been observed. For a wide range of final state topologies, agreement is found between the data and the standard model simulation. This analysis complements dedicated search analyses by significantly expanding the range of final states covered using a model independent approach with the largest data set to date to probe phase space regions beyond the reach of previous general searches.Peer reviewe

Measurement of prompt open-charm production cross sections in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

The production cross sections for prompt open-charm mesons in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13TeV are reported. The measurement is performed using a data sample collected by the CMS experiment corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 29 nb(-1). The differential production cross sections of the D*(+/-), D-+/-, and D-0 ((D) over bar (0)) mesons are presented in ranges of transverse momentum and pseudorapidity 4 < p(T) < 100 GeV and vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2.1, respectively. The results are compared to several theoretical calculations and to previous measurements.Peer reviewe

Combined searches for the production of supersymmetric top quark partners in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A combination of searches for top squark pair production using proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb(-1) collected by the CMS experiment, is presented. Signatures with at least 2 jets and large missing transverse momentum are categorized into events with 0, 1, or 2 leptons. New results for regions of parameter space where the kinematical properties of top squark pair production and top quark pair production are very similar are presented. Depending on themodel, the combined result excludes a top squarkmass up to 1325 GeV for amassless neutralino, and a neutralinomass up to 700 GeV for a top squarkmass of 1150 GeV. Top squarks with masses from 145 to 295 GeV, for neutralino masses from 0 to 100 GeV, with a mass difference between the top squark and the neutralino in a window of 30 GeV around the mass of the top quark, are excluded for the first time with CMS data. The results of theses searches are also interpreted in an alternative signal model of dark matter production via a spin-0 mediator in association with a top quark pair. Upper limits are set on the cross section for mediator particle masses of up to 420 GeV

Probing effective field theory operators in the associated production of top quarks with a Z boson in multilepton final states at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe