Antioxidant activity of pepper grown under organic, low-input and soilless systems

[SPA] En los últimos años se ha producido un importante aumento del interés por el cuidado del medio ambiente y la obtención de alimentos más seguros y saludables. Como consecuencia, se han buscado formas de cultivo alternativas a la convencional, como el cultivo ecológico (E), producción integrada (PI) y cultivo sin suelo (SS). Existen evidencias de que el sistema de cultivo adoptado puede influir sobre la calidad de los productos hortícolas. La actividad antioxidante es un parámetro de calidad que proporciona una medida de la capacidad de un compuesto para proteger del efecto perjudicial de los procesos oxidativos y a la que se le ha atribuido capacidad para prevenir enfermedades cardiovasculares y diversos tipos de cáncer. El objetivo de este trabajo ha sido estudiar la influencia de los diferentes sistemas de cultivo (E, PI y SS), sobre la actividad antioxidante, tanto en la fracción hidrofílica (AAH) como en la lipofílica (AAL) del fruto de pimiento. El estudio se realizó sobre pimientos variedad Quito, en sus estados de maduración verde y rojo. Se realizaron tres muestreos consecutivos en 8 invernaderos comerciales de cada uno de los tres sistemas de cultivos. Los resultados obtenidos mostraron una mayor actividad antioxidante de los pimientos rojos respecto a los verdes en todos los sistemas de cultivo. A su vez, se encontró que la fracción con mayor actividad antioxidante fue la hidrofílica, tanto en fruto verde como rojo. La actividad antioxidante se vio significativamente afectada tanto por el tipo de cultivo como por la cosecha, en las dos fracciones estudiadas. En general, el sistema de cultivo SS dio como resultado frutos con mayor AAH y AAL que los cultivados bajo PI y E. Sin embargo, los cambios observados a lo largo del ciclo de cultivo muestran que la época de recolección puede afectar a la actividad antioxidante del pimiento en mayor medida que el sistema de producción. [ENG] In recent years consumer’s awareness of environmental protection and health and safecontrolled food has increased. As consequence, alternative production systems to the conventional one, such as organic (O), low-input (LI), and soilless (SS) systems, have been promoted. It has been shown that the production system can influence quality of horticultural products. Antioxidant activity is a quality parameter which provides a measurement of the ability of a compound to protect against oxidative processes. It has been recognised as beneficial for preventing some kinds of cancers and cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of the different production systems (O, LI and SS) on the antioxidant activity, studying the contribution of the hydrophilic (HAA) and the lipophilic (LAA) pepper fraction. The study was carried on peppers cv. Quito in their green and red stage of maturation. Three consecutive harvests were performed in 8 commercial greenhouses of each production system. The results showed higher antioxidant activity in red than in Green pepper regardless of the cropping systems. In addition, HAA was higher than LAA regardless of the maturation stage. HAA and LAA were significantly affected for both the production system and the harvest time. In general, peppers grown under soilless system showed higher values of HAA and LAA than fruits under O and LI production. However, the fluctuations throughout the cultivation period show that harvest time can affect pepper antioxidant activity to a large extent than production system.Este trabajo ha sido financiado por la Fundación Séneca (05751/PI/07)

COVID-19 in hospitalized HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients : A matched study

CatedresObjectives: We compared the characteristics and clinical outcomes of hospitalized individuals with COVID-19 with [people with HIV (PWH)] and without (non-PWH) HIV co-infection in Spain during the first wave of the pandemic. Methods: This was a retrospective matched cohort study. People with HIV were identified by reviewing clinical records and laboratory registries of 10 922 patients in active-follow-up within the Spanish HIV Research Network (CoRIS) up to 30 June 2020. Each hospitalized PWH was matched with five non-PWH of the same age and sex randomly selected from COVID-19@Spain, a multicentre cohort of 4035 patients hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19. The main outcome was all-cause in-hospital mortality. Results: Forty-five PWH with PCR-confirmed COVID-19 were identified in CoRIS, 21 of whom were hospitalized. A total of 105 age/sex-matched controls were selected from the COVID-19@Spain cohort. The median age in both groups was 53 (Q1-Q3, 46-56) years, and 90.5% were men. In PWH, 19.1% were injecting drug users, 95.2% were on antiretroviral therapy, 94.4% had HIV-RNA < 50 copies/mL, and the median (Q1-Q3) CD4 count was 595 (349-798) cells/μL. No statistically significant differences were found between PWH and non-PWH in number of comorbidities, presenting signs and symptoms, laboratory parameters, radiology findings and severity scores on admission. Corticosteroids were administered to 33.3% and 27.4% of PWH and non-PWH, respectively (P = 0.580). Deaths during admission were documented in two (9.5%) PWH and 12 (11.4%) non-PWH (P = 0.800). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that well-controlled HIV infection does not modify the clinical presentation or worsen clinical outcomes of COVID-19 hospitalization