Quantification of Total Phenolic and Carotenoid Content in Blackberries (Rubus Fructicosus L.) Using Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) and Multivariate Analysis

A rapid method to quantify the total phenolic content (TPC) and total carotenoid content (TCC) in blackberries using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was carried out aiming to provide reductions in analysis time and cost for the food industry. A total of 106 samples were analysed using the Folin-Ciocalteu method for TPC and a method based on Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrometer for TCC. The average contents found for TPC and TCC were 24.27 mg·g−1 dw and 8.30 µg·g−1 dw, respectively. Modified partial least squares (MPLS) regression was used for obtaining the calibration models of these compounds. The RPD (ratio of the standard deviation of the reference data to the standard error of prediction (SEP)) values from external validation for both TPC and TCC were between 1.5 < RPDp < 2.5 and RER values (ratio of the range in the reference data to SEP) were 5.92 for TPC and 8.63 for TCC. These values showed that both equations were suitable for screening purposes. MPLS loading plots showed a high contribution of sugars, chlorophyll, lipids and cellulose in the modelling of prediction equations

Extracción y microencapsulación de compuestos antioxidantes de la semilla de Oenocarpus bataua Mart

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the extraction and microencapsulation of antioxidant compounds from Oenocarpus bataua Mart seed, commonly known as “ungurahui” or “patawa”. The extraction process was performed in an ultrasonic bath and the orthogonal composite central design of the response surface methodology (RSM) was used to determine the optimal extraction conditions, using two factors: ethanol concentration (48.44 to 91.56%) and extraction time (13.83 to 46.17 min). The optimal extraction conditions (48.44% ethanol and 13.83 min) allowed to obtain the extract (EUL) with the highest number of antioxidants (yield (YI): 24.64%, total phenolic content (TPC): 452.76 mg GAE/g EUL and DPPH: 74.26%). Microencapsulation of EUL with maltodextrin by spray drying produced microcapsules (EUM) of homogeneous size (5 µm), without cracks or fissures and that preserved its antioxidant capacity (TPC: 110.08 mg GAE / g EUM, DPPH: 74.59%) because the encapsulant protected the core from being affected by drying temperature. The microcapsules also showed no significant degradation during storage. In general, this study offers a suitable process for the incorporation of antioxidant compounds from Oenocarpus bataua seed in the food industry.El objetivo del presente estudio fue evaluar la extracción y microencapsulación de compuestos antioxidantes de la semilla de Oenocarpus bataua Mart, conocido comúnmente como “ungurahui” o “patawa”. El proceso de extracción se realizó en un baño ultrasónico y se utilizó el diseño central compuesto ortogonal de la metodología de superficie de respuesta (MSR) para determinar las condiciones óptimas de extracción, usando dos factores: concentración de etanol (48,44 a 91,56%) y tiempo de extracción (13,83 a 46,17 min). Las condiciones óptimas de extracción (48,44% etanol y 13,83 min) permitieron obtener el extracto (EUL) con la mayor cantidad de antioxidantes (rendimiento (RE): 24,64%, contenido fenólico total (CFT): 452,76 mg EAG/g EUL y DPPH: 74,26%). La microencapsulación del EUL con maltodextrina mediante secado por aspersión originó microcápsulas (EUM) de tamaño homogéneo (5 µm), ausencia de grietas y fisuras, y preservaron su capacidad antioxidante (CFT: 110,08 mg EAG/g EUM, DPPH: 74,59%) debido a que el encapsulante evitó que sean afectadas por la temperatura de secado. Las microcápsulas tampoco presentaron una degradación significativa durante el almacenamiento. En general, este estudio ofrece un proceso adecuado para la incorporación de compuestos antioxidantes de la semilla del Oenocarpus bataua en la industria alimentaria

Propuesta de alternativas energéticas para la electrificación de la comunidad rural La Majagua, Los Palacios, Pinar del Río

In the last decades, the appreciation of the use renewable sources of energy and their effect, have become in a fundamental aspect to define the way in which a rural community can be electrified. This research is based on the analysis of the energy potentials in "La Majagua", a rural community, which has not been electrified; to propose energy alternatives for its electrification by means of the model SURE, which allows taking decisions in rural energy projects. It was required to characterize the community using a survey, identifying the criteria of the population about the potential use of local energy sources, to carry out an estimation of the necessary power, establishing a module of equipments for each house, getting as result1, 4,460 kWh/day of demand for a module 1 with fridge, and 1,26 kWh/day for a module 2 without fridge. There were four proposals as result from the previous study: photovoltaic solar, with two individuals variants for each house, with 8 solar panels (module 1), and other with 2 solar panels (module 2), both of them with 180 W; hydro-energy, with two turbines Michell Banki, and a guarantee energy of 2,822 GWh/year, and a connection to the National Electronenergetic System (NES), providing a benefit to the mentioned community, contributing to the human and social development of the population.Para definir la forma en que se electrificará una comunidad rural, la valoración del uso de las fuentes renovables de energía y su impacto, se ha convertido en un aspecto fundamental en las últimas décadas. Esta investigación está basada en el análisis de las potencialidades energéticas que existen en "La Majagua", comunidad rural que no ha sido electrificada, para proponer alternativas energéticas para su electrificación, mediante la aplicación del modelo SURE para la toma de decisiones en proyectos de energización rural. Para esto fue necesario caracterizar la comunidad a partir de una encuesta predeterminada, identificando los criterios de la población sobre el uso de las potencialidades de fuentes energéticas locales, realizar el cálculo de la potencia necesaria estableciendo un módulo de equipos por casa, resultando 4,460 kWh/día de demanda para el módulo 1 con refrigerador, y de 1,26 kWh/día para el módulo 2 sin refrigerador. Del análisis se obtuvieron cuatro propuestas de electrificación: solar fotovoltaica con dos variantes de equipos individuales por vivienda, uno con 8 paneles (módulo 1) y otro con 2 paneles (módulo 2), ambos de 180 W; hidroenergía, con dos turbinas Michell Banki y una energía garantizada de 2,822 GWh/año; y conexión al Sistema Electroenergético Nacional; posibilitando brindar un beneficio a la comunidad, contribuyendo al desarrollo humano y social de sus pobladores

Proposal of the energy potentials in "La Majagua", a rural community to electrify

Para definir la forma en que se electrificará una comunidad rural, la valoración del uso de las fuentes renovables de energía y su impacto, se ha convertido en un aspecto fundamental en las últimas décadas. Esta investigación está basada en el análisis de las potencialidades energéticas que existen en "La Majagua", comunidad rural que no ha sido electrificada, para proponer alternativas energéticas para su electrificación, mediante la aplicación del modelo SURE para la toma de decisiones en proyectos de energización rural. Para esto fue necesario caracterizar la comunidad a partir de una encuesta predeterminada, identificando los criterios de la población sobre el uso de las potencialidades de fuentes energéticas locales, realizar el cálculo de la potencia necesaria estableciendo un módulo de equipos por casa, resultando 4,460 kWh/día de demanda para el módulo 1 con refrigerador, y de 1,26 kWh/día para el módulo 2 sin refrigerador. Del análisis se obtuvieron cuatro propuestas de electrificación: solar fotovoltaica con dos variantes de equipos individuales por vivienda, uno con 8 paneles (módulo 1) y otro con 2 paneles (módulo 2), ambos de 180 W; hidroenergía, con dos turbinas Michell Banki y una energía garantizada de 2,822 GWh/año; y conexión al Sistema Electroenergético Nacional; posibilitando brindar un beneficio a la comunidad, contribuyendo al desarrollo humano y social de sus pobladores

Biology and ecology of the lionfish Pterois volitans/Pterois miles as invasive alien species: a review

The lionfish is an exotic invasive fish native to the Indo-Pacific, which is established in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Lionfish can affect native fishes and invertebrates through direct predation or competition for food. The present review aims to analyze the most relevant characteristics of the biology and ecology of lionfish as an invasive alien species, with an emphasis on Cuba. We provide a current view of the well-known lionfish as a successful invasive fish, and we put in this context the information regarding lionfish in Cuban waters, enriching the background knowledge, and giving novel and relevant information. The compilation of numerous publications on the subject has allowed for a more complete analysis of essential aspects of this invader in the Cuban archipelago. The consulted literature records that the first report of lionfish in Cuba occurred in 2007; subsequently, sightings of lionfish were reported in numerous localities. In 2010, the lionfish was considered an invasive alien species, which currently is established in various habitats, at depths up to 188 m, throughout the Cuban archipelago (e.g., coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds, submerged artificial structures). In addition, it has reached very high densities (12.42 ind./100 m2), which exceed those reported in the Indo-Pacific as well as in many locations in the Western Atlantic. It has been confirmed that the lionfish in Cuba also presents numerous characteristics that guarantee its success as an invader, among them: less quantity and diversity of parasites than other Atlantic fishes found in similar environments, a high number of gametes in the gonads, reproductive activity during all year and wide diet. The most important fish families for the lionfish diet in Cuba have been Pomacentridae, Gobiidae, Scaridae, Holocentridae, Mullidae, Labridae and Acanthuridae; and the most important crustacean orders are Decapoda, Mysida, Stomatopoda and Isopoda. In Cuba, as in the entire invaded region, numerous investigations have been directed to evaluate the impact of this invader on ecosystems, and although there is enough information, their results differ. Additional studies are required to assess the impact of lionfish as a predator after several years of invasion on a larger geographic scale in Cuba and other areas of the region. This knowledge will allow the development of more effective control strategies. Periodic lionfish culling have been carried out in Cuban MPAs as a control strategy, and some positive results have been observed, such as the average size reduction; however, further efforts are still required. Due to the importance of the study of lionfish as an invader, this review is a necessity as it provides, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of lionfish information and results from Cuba, which is adequately contrasted with previous studies of other areas, particularly, from the Greater Caribbean

Uso de extracto chayote (Sechium edule Jacq. Sw.) o harina de frijol de soya (Glycine max L.) como medios de cultivo para Pleurotus pulmonarius (Fr.) Quel

México hace una década ocupaba el décimo octavo lugar en la producción de hongos comestibles a nivel mundial. En nuestro país se cultivan principalmente las especies de P. pulmonarius y P. ostreatus, a partir de cepas comerciales introducidas. Su cultivo representa una importancia socioeconómica que favorece a muchas familias, se considera un alimento de alto valor nutricional. Su producción natural es fácil y económico ya que se desarrollan en una gran variedad de sustratos lignocelulósicos. De forma artificial su producción es sencillas de cultivar, ya que mediante un sustrato formulado se reemplaza el sustrato natural donde la especie crece. Sin embargo los costos de los medios de cultivo para la producción de micelio son relativamente altos. Por lo anterior, el objetivo de esta investigación se centró en evaluar la eficiencia de dos medios de cultivo hechos a base de los vegetales (Sechium edule y Glycine max) utilizados como medios alternativos para la obtención de micelio de Pleurotus pulmonarius. Como resultado se obtuvo que el medio de chayote, cumple con los requerimientos nutricionales de Pleurotus, por lo que este alcanzó un desarrollo óptimo, en contraste con el testigo

Factors associated with the clinical outcome of patients with relapsed/refractory CD19+acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated with ARI-0001 CART19-cell therapy

The prognosis of patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) remains poor, particularly for those relapsing after allogeneic hema-topoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT). Novel agents such as inotuzumab ozogamicin or blinatumomab achieve increased response rates, but these are generally transient unless followed by alloHCT. Chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) targeting CD19 have shown promising results in R/R ALL, and one of these products (tisagenlecleucel) has been approved for the treatment of patients with R/R ALL up to 25 years of age

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London

Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV