Mejora metodológica de las enseñanzas en el EEES en el caso de las materias pedagógicas

The following document is the final report of an institutional project that the Department of Teaching and Theory of Education in 2009 introduced to the Office of European convergence aimed at boosting teacher quality improvement and renewal of the teaching methodology in the Teacher Training Degree. The activities developed by the team of teachers are here described in order to revise the aims and features of the different pedagogical subjects included in the degree of Child Education and Primary Education. We also include the indicators used to make a follow-up of the activities. To conclude, we include the results obtained in the opinion survey about the changes this project introduces in the teaching of this degree. In addition, we show here a little sample of the study of the profile of teaching professionals carried out by the Secondary Education teamworkEste trabajo reúne los principales resultados de un proyecto institucional que el Departamento de Didáctica y Teoría de la educación presentó en el año 2009 a la Oficina de Convergencia europea destinado a impulsar la mejora de la calidad docente y la renovación metodológica de las enseñanzas en las titulaciones de maestro .Se describen las actividades realizadas por el equipo docente a fin de revisar los objetivos y características de la materias pedagógicas en los Grados de Maestro de Infantil y Maestro de Primaria así como los indicadores de seguimiento de esas actividades .Para terminar se incluyen los resultados obtenidos en la encuesta de opinión sobre los cambios que introduce este proyecto en las enseñanzas de Grado. Así mismo, se aporta una pequeña muestra del equipo de trabajo de Educación Secundaria sobre el estudio del perfil profesional docente

Metodología para la evaluación de la sostenibilidad en autopistas: cálculo del balance energético de la infraestructura.

El trabajo aborda el desarrollo de un procedimiento para la evaluación de la eficiencia energética en infraestructuras lineales desde el punto de vista constructivo. El procedimiento permite calcular, tanto globalmente como de forma independizada, el balance energético de las diferentes fases del ciclo de vida de la infraestructura: construcción, operación y desmantelamiento o deconstrucción

PTHrP-induced modifications of the sea bream (Sparus auratus) vertebral bone proteome

Endocrine factors play an essential role in the formation and turnover of the skeleton in vertebrates. In the present study sea bream vertebral bone transcripts for PTH1R and PTH3R were identified and the action of intermittent administration of parathyroid hormone related protein (PTHrP) on the proteome of vertebral bone was analysed. Treatment of immature sea bream (Sparus auratus, n = 6) for 5 days with homologous recombinant PTHrP(1–125; 150 ng/g body weight) modified bone metabolism and caused a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in both tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRACP) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in relation to control fish. However, the ratio of TRACP: ALP in PTHrP treated fish (1.3 to 2.2 cf. control) suggested it had an anabolic response. A sea bream vertebral bone proteome of 157 protein spots was generated and putative identity assigned to 118 (75.2%) proteins of which 72% had homology to proteins/transcripts from teleosts many of which have not previously been reported in teleost bone. Classification of bone proteins using gene ontology revealed those with protein or metal/ion (e.g., calcium, magnesium, zinc) binding (∼53%) activities were most abundant. The expression of eight proteins was significantly (p < 0.05) modified in the vertebra of PTHrP treated compared to control fish; three were up-regulated, betainehomocystein S-methyltransferase, glial fibrillary acidic protein, parvalbumin beta and five were down-regulated, annexin A5, apolipoprotein A1, myosin light chain 2, fast skeletal myosin light chain 3, troponin C. In conclusion, intermittent administration of PTHrP to sea bream is associated with an anabolic response in vertebral bone metabolism and modifies calcium binding proteins in the proteome

Data on recovery of 21 amino acids, 9 biogenic amines and ammonium ions after spiking four different beers with five concentrations of these analytes

A novel chromatographic method for the simultaneous analysis of nine biogenic amines, 21 amino acids and ammonium ions in beer has been recently described in “A UHPLC method for the simultaneous analysis of biogenic amines, amino acids and ammonium ions in beer” (Redruello et al., 2017) [1]. The present article provides recovery data of the 31 analytes after spiking four different beers with five concentrations of each analyte (15, 30, 60, 120 and 240 µM).This work was performed with the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (AGL2013-45431-R) and the Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation 2013–2017 of the Principality of Asturias, which is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (GRUPIN14-137).Peer reviewe

Putrescine biosynthesis in Lactococcus lactis is transcriptionally activated at acidic pH and counteracts acidification of the cytosol

Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris CECT 8666 is a lactic acid bacterium that synthesizes the biogenic amine putrescine from agmatine via the agmatine deiminase (AGDI) pathway. The AGDI genes cluster includes aguR. This encodes a transmembrane protein that functions as a one-component signal transduction system, the job of which is to sense the agmatine concentration of the medium and accordingly regulate the transcription of the catabolic operon aguBDAC. The latter encodes the proteins necessary for agmatine uptake and its conversion into putrescine. This work reports the effect of extracellular pH on putrescine biosynthesis and on the genetic regulation of the AGDI pathway. Increased putrescine biosynthesis was detected at acidic pH (pH 5) compared to neutral pH. Acidic pH induced the transcription of the catabolic operon via the activation of the aguBDAC promoter P. However, the external pH had no significant effect on the activity of the aguR promoter P, or on the transcription of the aguR gene. The transcriptional activation of the AGDI pathway was also found to require a lower agmatine concentration at pH 5 than at neutral pH. Finally, the following of the AGDI pathway counteracted the acidification of the cytoplasm under acidic external conditions, suggesting it to provide protection against acid stress.This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (AGL2013-45431-R) and by the GRUPIN14-137 Project, which is co-financed by the Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation of the Principality of Asturias 2014–2017 and the European Regional Development Funds. The authors thank Adrian Burton for language and editing assistance.Peer Reviewe

Putrescine production by Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris CECT 8666 is reduced by NaCl via a decrease in bacterial growth and the repression of the genes involved in putrescine production

The reduction of NaCl in food is a public health priority; high NaCl intakes have been associated with serious health problems. However, it is reported that reducing the NaCl content of cheeses may lead to an increase in the content of biogenic amines (BAs). The present work examines the effect of NaCl on the accumulation of putrescine (one of the BAs often detected at high concentration in cheese) in experimental Cabrales-like cheeses containing Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris CECT 8666, a dairy strain that catabolises agmatine to putrescine via the agmatine deiminase (AGDI) pathway. The genes responsible for this pathway are grouped in the AGDI cluster. This comprises a regulatory gene (aguR) (transcribed independently), followed by the catabolic genes that together form an operon (aguBDAC). Reducing the NaCl concentration of the cheese led to increased putrescine accumulation. In contrast, increasing the NaCl concentration of both pH-uncontrolled and pH-controlled (pH 6) cultures of L. lactis subsp. cremoris CECT 8666 significantly inhibited its growth and the production of putrescine. Such production appeared to be inhibited via a reduction in the transcription of the aguBDAC operon; no effect on the transcription of aguR was recorded. The present results suggest that low-sodium cheeses are at risk of accumulating higher concentrations of putrescine.This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (AGL2013-45431-R) and by the GRUPIN14-137 project, which is co-financed by the Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation of the Principality of Asturias 2013–2017 and the European Regional Development Funds.Peer reviewe

Genetic and functional analysis of biogenic amine production capacity among starter and non-starter lactic acid bacteria isolated from artisanal cheeses

© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. This work reports the capacity of 137 strains of starter and non-starter LAB belonging to nine species of the genera Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Streptococcus and Leuconostoc (all isolated from artisanal cheeses) to produce histamine, tyramine, putrescine and β-phenylethylamine, the biogenic amines (BA) most commonly found in dairy products. Production assays were performed in liquid media supplemented with the appropriate precursor amino acid; culture supernatants were then tested for BA by (U)HPLC. In addition, the presence of key genes involved in the biosynthetic pathways of the target BA, including the production of putrescine via the agmatine deiminase pathway, was assessed by PCR. Twenty strains were shown to have genes involved in the synthesis of BA; these belonged to the species Lactobacillus brevis (4), Lactobacillus curvatus (3), Lactococcus lactis (11) and Streptococcus thermophilus (2). With the exception of the two S. thermophilus strains, all those possessing genes involved in BA production synthesized the corresponding compound. Remarkably, all the putrescine-producing strains used the agmatine deiminase pathway. Four L. brevis and two L. curvatus strains were found able to produce both tyramine and putrescine. There is increasing interest in the use of autochthonous LAB strains in starter and adjunct cultures for producing dairy products with ‘particular geographic indication’ status. Such strains should not produce BA; the present results show that BA production capacity should be checked by (U)HPLC and PCR.This work was funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain (AGL2013-45431-R), the Fundación para el Fomento en Asturias de la Investigación Científica Aplicada y la Tecnología (FICYT), cofunded by FEDER (GRUPIN14-137) and the INIA (RM2011-00005-00-00).Peer Reviewe

Biofilm-forming capacity in biogenic amine-producing bacteria isolated from dairy products

Biofilms on the surface of food industry equipment are reservoirs of potentially food-contaminating bacteria-both spoilage and pathogenic. However, the capacity of biogenic amine (BA)-producers to form biofilms has remained largely unexamined. BAs are low molecular weight, biologically active compounds that in food can reach concentrations high enough to be a toxicological hazard. Fermented foods, especially some types of cheese, accumulate the highest BA concentrations of all. The present work examines the biofilm-forming capacity of 56 BA-producing strains belonging to three genera and 10 species (12 Enterococcus faecalis, 6 Enterococcus faecium, 6 Enterococcus durans, 1 Enterococcus hirae, 12 Lactococcus lactis, 7 Lactobacillus vaginalis, 2 Lactobacillus curvatus, 2 Lactobacillus brevis, 1 Lactobacillus reuteri, and 7 Lactobacillus parabuchneri), all isolated from dairy products. Strains of all the tested species - except for L. vaginalis-were able to produce biofilms on polystyrene and adhered to stainless steel. However, the biomass produced in biofilms was strain-dependent. These results suggest that biofilms may provide a route via which fermented foods can become contaminated by BA-producing microorganisms.This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness (AGL2013-45431-R) and the Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation 2013–2017 financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the Principality of Asturias (GRUPIN14-137). MD is a beneficiary of an FPI fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness.Peer Reviewe

Comparative analysis of the in vitro cytotoxicity of the dietary biogenic amines tyramine and histamine

Tyramine and histamine, the most toxic biogenic amines (BA), are often found in high concentrations in certain foods. Prompted by the limited knowledge of BA toxicity, and increasing awareness of the risks associated with high intakes of dietary BA, the in vitro cytotoxicity of tyramine and histamine was investigated. Tyramine and histamine were toxic for HT29 intestinal cell cultures at concentrations commonly found in BA-rich food, as determined by real-time cell analysis. Surprisingly, tyramine had a stronger and more rapid cytotoxic effect than histamine. Their mode of action was also different, while tyramine caused cell necrosis, histamine induced apoptosis. To avoid health risks, the BA content of foods should be reduced and legal limits established for tyramine.This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (AGL2013-45431-R) and by the GRUPIN14-137 project, which is co-financed by the Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation of the Principality of Asturias 2014-2017 and the European Regional Development Funds.Peer reviewe

Implementation of the agmatine-controlled expression system for inducible gene expression in Lactococcus lactis

[Background] Lactococcus lactis has been safely consumed in fermented foods for millennia. This Gram-positive bacterium has now become of industrial importance as an expression host for the overproduction of lipopolysaccharide-free recombinant proteins used as food ingredients, therapeutic proteins and biotechnological enzymes.[Results] This paper reports an agmatine-controlled expression (ACE) system for L. lactis, comprising the lactococcal agmatine-sensor/transcriptional activator AguR and its target promoter P aguB . The usefulness and efficiency of this system was checked via the reporter gene gfp and by producing PEP (Myxococcus xanthus prolyl-endopeptidase), an enzyme of biomedical interest able to degrade the immunotoxic peptides produced during the gastrointestinal breakdown of gluten.[Conclusion] The ACE system developed in this work was suitable for the efficient expression of the functional recombinant proteins GFP and PEP. The expression system was tightly regulated by the agmatine concentration and allowed high protein production without leakiness.This work was performed with the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (AGL2013-45431-R), the Principality of Asturias Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation 2013-2017, and FEDER funds (GRUPIN14-137). We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI). P.A.S. was the beneficiary of a fellowship from the FICYT, Principality of Asturias, Spain (BP09093). D.M.L. and B.d.R. were beneficiaries of JAE DOC contracts (CSIC).Peer Reviewe