Accuracy of a method based on atomic absorption spectrometry to determine inorganic arsenic in food : Outcome of the collaborative trial IMEP-41

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Procesado digital de imágenes de video para la detección de humo

Llobregat Rubio, R. (2011). Procesado digital de imágenes de video para la detección de humo. Universitat Politècnica de València. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/13863Archivo delegad

The complex Jacobi iterative method for three-dimensional wide-angle beam propagation

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Second Chance Reauthorization Act - Fact Sheet

Signed into law on April 9, 2008, the Second Chance Act (P.L. 110-199) is designed to positively impact the life outcomes of individuals transitioning into society after experiencing incarceration. The Second Chance Act authorizes grants to state, local, and federally recognized tribal governments to provide support strategies and services designed to reduce recidivism and create opportunities for people returning from prisons, jails, and juvenile facilities. In June 2015, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) introduced a bill (S. 1513) to reauthorize the Second Chance Act. This fact sheet prepared by the National Initiatives on Poverty and Economic Opportunity team describes some of the provisions included in the Second Chance Reauthorization Act

Circulating microRNAs in sera correlate with soluble biomarkers of immune activation but do not predict mortality in ART treated individuals with HIV-1 infection: A case control study

Introduction: The use of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) has dramatically reduced HIV-1 associated morbidity and mortality. However, HIV-1 infected individuals have increased rates of morbidity and mortality compared to the non-HIV-1 infected population and this appears to be related to end-organ diseases collectively referred to as Serious Non-AIDS Events (SNAEs). Circulating miRNAs are reported as promising biomarkers for a number of human disease conditions including those that constitute SNAEs. Our study sought to investigate the potential of selected miRNAs in predicting mortality in HIV-1 infected ART treated individuals. Materials and Methods: A set of miRNAs was chosen based on published associations with human disease conditions that constitute SNAEs. This case: control study compared 126 cases (individuals who died whilst on therapy), and 247 matched controls (individuals who remained alive). Cases and controls were ART treated participants of two pivotal HIV-1 trials. The relative abundance of each miRNA in serum was measured, by RTqPCR. Associations with mortality (all-cause, cardiovascular and malignancy) were assessed by logistic regression analysis. Correlations between miRNAs and CD4+ T cell count, hs-CRP, IL-6 and D-dimer were also assessed. Results: None of the selected miRNAs was associated with all-cause, cardiovascular or malignancy mortality. The levels of three miRNAs (miRs -21, -122 and -200a) correlated with IL-6 while miR-21 also correlated with D-dimer. Additionally, the abundance of miRs -31, -150 and -223, correlated with baseline CD4+ T cell count while the same three miRNAs plus miR- 145 correlated with nadir CD4+ T cell count. Discussion: No associations with mortality were found with any circulating miRNA studied. These results cast doubt onto the effectiveness of circulating miRNA as early predictors of mortality or the major underlying diseases that contribute to mortality in participants treated for HIV-1 infection

Aflatoxin M1 in the intermediate dairy products from Manchego cheese production: distribution and stability

[EN] Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1 ) distribution in curd, whey, Manchego cheese, the traditional Spanish whey cheese Requesón and Requesón whey, and its stability during two different cold treatments, have been studied. Raw ewe¿s milk was artificially contaminated with AFM1 in a final concentration of 50 and 100 ng kg-1, and was used to produce Manchego cheese. AFM1 determinations were carried out by HPLC with fluorimetric detection after immunoaffinity clean-up. The mean AFM1 concentrations in the produced curd and Manchego cheese were approximately 2- and 3-fold higher than the initial milk they were made from, and the levels of this toxin remaining in whey were 42.3 % and 51.3 % of the initial concentrations. In the Requesón samples, the mean AFM1 values were 1.7 times higher than those in the corresponding whey, while 33.7 % and 44.4 % of the AFM1 concentration detected in milk also appeared in the Requesón whey. Short refrigeration and freezing periods did not affect the toxin levels in either curd or Requesón samples. When ewe¿s milk destined for Manchego cheese-making is AFM1 -contaminated at the EU limit level (50 ng kg-1) or double, a concentration of this toxin will appear in the manufactured products, but values will be considerably below the toxic doses (Tolerable Daily Intake = 2 ng kg-1 body weight per day), which poses a human health problem.Rubio, R.; Moya Salvador, VJ.; Berruga Fernandez, MI.; Molina Pons, MP.; Molina Casanova, A. (2011). Aflatoxin M1 in the intermediate dairy products from Manchego cheese production: distribution and stability. Mljekarstvo. 61(4):283-290. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/90949S28329061

Fuzzy K-NN applied to moulds detection

peer reviewedThe possibility to detect Aspergillus versicolor growing on different building materials by a metal oxide sensor array is studied. Results show that an accurate classification rate of 89 +/- 3% can be obtained combining an extended linear discriminant analysis plus a fuzzy k-NN classifier. The classification ability of the classifier is assessed within the dataset by crossvalidation and also in a second dataset collected 5 months later. There is a slight decrease in the classification performance for all the algorithms, being the most sensitive the most accurate one

Epidemiological trends of HIV/HCV coinfection in Spain, 2015-2019

Altres ajuts: Spanish AIDS Research Network; European Funding for Regional Development (FEDER).Objectives: We assessed the prevalence of anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies and active HCV infection (HCV-RNA-positive) in people living with HIV (PLWH) in Spain in 2019 and compared the results with those of four similar studies performed during 2015-2018. Methods: The study was performed in 41 centres. Sample size was estimated for an accuracy of 1%. Patients were selected by random sampling with proportional allocation. Results: The reference population comprised 41 973 PLWH, and the sample size was 1325. HCV serostatus was known in 1316 PLWH (99.3%), of whom 376 (28.6%) were HCV antibody (Ab)-positive (78.7% were prior injection drug users); 29 were HCV-RNA-positive (2.2%). Of the 29 HCV-RNA-positive PLWH, infection was chronic in 24, it was acute/recent in one, and it was of unknown duration in four. Cirrhosis was present in 71 (5.4%) PLWH overall, three (10.3%) HCV-RNA-positive patients and 68 (23.4%) of those who cleared HCV after anti-HCV therapy (p = 0.04). The prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies decreased steadily from 37.7% in 2015 to 28.6% in 2019 (p < 0.001); the prevalence of active HCV infection decreased from 22.1% in 2015 to 2.2% in 2019 (p < 0.001). Uptake of anti-HCV treatment increased from 53.9% in 2015 to 95.0% in 2019 (p < 0.001). Conclusions: In Spain, the prevalence of active HCV infection among PLWH at the end of 2019 was 2.2%, i.e. 90.0% lower than in 2015. Increased exposure to DAAs was probably the main reason for this sharp reduction. Despite the high coverage of treatment with direct-acting antiviral agents, HCV-related cirrhosis remains significant in this population

Diversity of mycorrhizal plant species and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in evergreen forest, deciduous forest and grassland ecosystems of Southern Chile

In the Valdivian rainforest region of the Southern Chilean Andes three main ecosystems are found: Primary evergreen forests, secondary deciduous forests, and grassland areas. The secondary forest and the grasslands are habitually the result of the clearance of the primary forest some 60 years ago. The secondary forest consists mainly of the deciduous tree species Nothofagus alpina; forest management practices such as crown thinning and clearance of the understorey are applied to the secondary forest to improve its economic value. The grasslands are used by extensive cattle grazing. Soils in this region are acid Andosols with high organic matter content, high exchangeable aluminum and low levels of available phosphorus. The main objective of this study was to investigate the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) plant species and of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in these three ecosystems. The highest diversity with 53 plant species was found in the evergreen forest with 77.4% of them AM, while in the grassland 91% of the 22 plant species were AM. The deciduous forest had 11 plant species only and the lowest proportion of AM plant species (55%). Thirty-nine AM fungal species were found in total, of which most are being reported for the first time from Southern Chile. Thirteen fungal species were of the Acaulospora genus, 10 of Glomus, 4 species each of Scutellospora and Archaeospora, 3 species each of Pacispora and Entrophospora, and one species each of Paraglomus and Diversispora. AMF species were more abundant in the grassland (29 spp.) than in the evergreen forest (20 spp.) which is likely related to a higher relative proportion of AM plant species in the grassland. Four AMF species were present in all the ecosystems, and 15 species were apparently quite specific as they were only found in one of the ecosystems. Noteworthy was the lack of Paraglomus and Scutellospora spp. in any of the forest ecosystems, and the relatively higher presence of Entrophospora spores in those ecosystems. It was concluded that the diversity of the AMF species in the ecosystems is strongly influenced by the proportion of AM plant species in each ecosystem and that their diversity is not related to soil chemical properties