Efect of high co2 levels on fungal decay and quality in stored table grapes

[SPA] En este trabajo nos hemos centrado en el efecto del pretratamiento con un 20% CO2+20% O2+60% N2 durante 3 días en el mantenimiento de la calidad del fruto (color, sólidos solubles y acidez titulable), acumulación de antocianos totales, trans-resveratrol en la piel y en la expresión de genes que codifican para proteínas relacionadas con la patogénesis (PR) en uvas de mesa cv. ‘Cardinal’. Nuestros resultados indican que este tratamiento gaseoso redujo los cambios metabólicos asociados a la conservación a 0ºC y fue eficaz en el control fúngico durante el periodo de almacenamiento. Concretamente, el tratamiento limitó la acumulación de antocianos totales asociada con la aplicación de bajas temperaturas (0ºC) durante la fase inicial de conservación. El menor ataque fúngico de las bayas tratadas con altas concentraciones de CO2 se correspondía con una menor expresión del gen que codifica para la quitinasa de clase I. Asimismo, el patrón de cambios en el contenido de resveratrol en la piel de uva durante su conservación a 0ºC y posterior transferencia a temperatura ambiente revelan la eficacia del tratamiento en la restricción del crecimiento fúngico, sin afectar a la calidad del fruto. [ENG] The effect of pretreatment with 20% CO2+20% O2+60% N2 for 3 days was studied with regards to its effectiveness on the maintenance of fruit quality (color, soluble solids content and titratable acidity), total anthocyanins content, trans-resveratrol levels in the skin and the pattern of specific PR genes in table grapes cv. ‘Cardinal’. Our results indicate that this short-term high CO2 treatment reduced the metabolic changes associated with low temperature storage at 0ºC and it was effective for controlling fungal decay during storage period. Specifically, this treatment restrained the accumulation of total anthocyanins observed the first days of storage at 0ºC in non-treated table grapes. The lower fungal decay observed in CO2-treated grapes was consistent with a reduction in the expression of class I chitinase. Moreover, the pattern of changes in trans-resveratrol content in the skin during low temperature storage and upon transfer to 20ºC confirm the efficacy of high CO2 pretreatment in reducing total fungal decay, maintaining fruit quality.Este trabajo está financiado por la CICYT proyecto AGL2005-04502. La cuantificación de trans-resveratrol se realizó en la Unidad de Láseres y Haces Moleculares, Instituto Pluridisciplinar, Madrid. MT.S.-B. y R.M. tienen contratos I3P

A proteomics study of chilling injury in tomato fruit, a low-temperature stress-induced physiological disorder affecting fruit quality

Trabajo presentado a la conferencia "Molecular Basis of Plant Stress" celebrado en Bulgaria del 21 al 23 de septiembre de 2011.-- FP7 REGPOT Project "BioSupport".Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is the second most cultivated horticultural crop in the world in terms of harvested area and production, after the potato (FAOSTAT 2011, data from 2009). A main problem regarding its postharvest life is its sensitivity to low temperature stress during refrigerated storage, which constitutes a main obstacle for its long-term commercialization. This sensitivity is reflected in the physiopathy of chilling injury (CI), which negatively affects the final fruit quality. The main symptoms of CI-affected fruits are skin depressions, tissue decomposition and impaired ripening, which results in deficient flavour and aroma. Physiological and biochemical events involved in CI progress have been extensively described, but the precise molecular mechanisms that ultimately regulate the plant response to cold stress remain unclear. In order to investigate this response at molecular level in tomato fruit a proteomics strategy has undertaken. The proteome analysis provides a direct insight on the changes undergone by proteins, which are the major functional determinants of the cell machinery, in a certain biological situation such as low temperature stress. The protein expression profile of chilled tomato fruits has been compared with fruits stored at nonchilling temperature (control). The protein analysis has been performed by two-dimensional differential-in-gel-electrophoresis (2D-DIGE), and mass spectrometry of protein spots was applied to identify proteins differentially expressed. Comparative analysis revealed significant changes in abundance of 31 identified proteins between the proteomes of chilled and control fruits. Major modifications in the expression profile are related to those proteins specifically involved in stress (chaperonins and heat-shock proteins); cell wall biochemistry (hydrolytic enzymes), and carbohydrate metabolism (enzymes involved in glycolisis, tricarboxylic acids cycle, photosynthesis and sucrose biosynthesis).This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) through grant and PIE2009-40I080, and by the Council of Science and Technology from the Spanish Region of Murcia (Fundación SENECA) through grant no. 04553/GERM/06.Peer Reviewe

Clubs de lectura como estrategia para aumentar el conocimiento sobre nutrición entre la población general: Estudio piloto

Introduction: The spread of false news related to nutrition shows the need to provide general public validated information on food and health, inducing them to follow healthy dietary habits. Objective: To assess whether attendance to book clubs devoted to scientific disseminations books is a useful strategy for improving nutritional knowledge among the population. Methodology: 65 adults participated in a reading club, attending a research center once a month for 4 months to talk about informative scientific books on food/nutrition. The knowledge of the participants was monitored through a survey performed in all the sessions of the club. Results: Participants were mostly female with university studies. Attendance to the book clubs caused a significant increase (P < 0.05) in the number of correct answers on a questionnaire about common misbeliefs on the topics covered in the discussed books. Participants showed a high degree of satisfaction with the activity and willingness to read more scientific dissemination books, even when most of them were not previously usual readers. Conclusions: Book clubs based on popular science books and led by scientists with expertise in the field could increase nutritional knowledge among general population, which should be further explored in different socioeconomic contexts.Introducción: La difusión de noticias falsas relacionadas con la nutrición muestra la necesidad de proporcionar al público general información validada sobre alimentación y salud, induciendo a llevar hábitos dietéticos saludables. Objetivo: Evaluar si la asistencia a clubs de lectura dedicados a libros de divulgación científica es una estrategia útil para mejorar el conocimiento nutricional entre la población. Metodología: 65 adultos participaron en un club de lectura, asistiendo una vez al mes, durante 4 meses a un centro de investigación para conversar sobre libros científicos divulgativos de alimentación/nutrición. Se llevó a cabo un seguimiento de los conocimientos de los participantes a través de una encuesta realizada en todas las sesiones del club de lectura. Resultados: Los participantes fueron en su mayoría mujeres con estudios universitarios. La asistencia a los clubs de lectura provocó un aumento significativo (P < 0,05) en el número de respuestas correctas en un cuestionario sobre las creencias erróneas comunes en los temas tratados en los libros discutidos. Conclusiones: Los clubs de lectura basados en libros de divulgación científica y dirigidos por científicos con experiencia en el campo pueden aumentar el conocimiento nutricional entre la población en general, debiéndose explorar más a fondo en diferentes contextos socioeconómicos

Treatment with tocilizumab or corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients with hyperinflammatory state: a multicentre cohort study (SAM-COVID-19)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the association between tocilizumab or corticosteroids and the risk of intubation or death in patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) with a hyperinflammatory state according to clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods: A cohort study was performed in 60 Spanish hospitals including 778 patients with COVID-19 and clinical and laboratory data indicative of a hyperinflammatory state. Treatment was mainly with tocilizumab, an intermediate-high dose of corticosteroids (IHDC), a pulse dose of corticosteroids (PDC), combination therapy, or no treatment. Primary outcome was intubation or death; follow-up was 21 days. Propensity score-adjusted estimations using Cox regression (logistic regression if needed) were calculated. Propensity scores were used as confounders, matching variables and for the inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs). Results: In all, 88, 117, 78 and 151 patients treated with tocilizumab, IHDC, PDC, and combination therapy, respectively, were compared with 344 untreated patients. The primary endpoint occurred in 10 (11.4%), 27 (23.1%), 12 (15.4%), 40 (25.6%) and 69 (21.1%), respectively. The IPTW-based hazard ratios (odds ratio for combination therapy) for the primary endpoint were 0.32 (95%CI 0.22-0.47; p < 0.001) for tocilizumab, 0.82 (0.71-1.30; p 0.82) for IHDC, 0.61 (0.43-0.86; p 0.006) for PDC, and 1.17 (0.86-1.58; p 0.30) for combination therapy. Other applications of the propensity score provided similar results, but were not significant for PDC. Tocilizumab was also associated with lower hazard of death alone in IPTW analysis (0.07; 0.02-0.17; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Tocilizumab might be useful in COVID-19 patients with a hyperinflammatory state and should be prioritized for randomized trials in this situatio

CIBERER : Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

Altres ajuts: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research

The Relationship Between Bound Water and Carbohydrate Reserves in Association with Cellular Integrity in Fragaria vesca Stored Under Different Conditions

© 2014, The Author(s). It has been recognized that high CO2 concentrations maintain the freshness of strawberries, reducing weight loss and the incidence of decay. Since strawberries have high tolerance threshold to CO2, it is of interest to know what changes occur in cellular water distribution when the threshold is reached or exceeded. Moreover, as strawberries are prone to producing exudate during storage at low temperatures, application of technologies improving water retention is needed. Changes in bound water content were analyzed in relation to simple sugars, polyols, and fructooligosaccharides (FOS) in Fragaria vesca stored at low temperature (0 °C) in the presence of 0, 20, or 40 % CO2. Fruits were analyzed at the end of a 3-day treatment and after transfer to air for one additional day. Unfavorable storage conditions were associated with a decrease in the levels of bound water and in that of 1-kestose and myo-inositol. However, the 1-kestose and myo-inositol content was enhanced when 40 % CO2-treated strawberries were transferred to air at the same time as an increase in bound water content and a restoration of intracellular water took place. The ability of the fruit to modulate the accumulation of these compounds, and by extension their water binding strength, in conjunction with the pool of the bound water fraction, appears to be a mechanism associated with the maintenance of cellular structural integrity. Variation in the percentage of air space and in the weight loss rate produced by enhancing the CO2 treatment during storage at 0 °C was also analyzed.This work was financed by the CICYT Project AGL2011-26742. We thank the Hugo Vela nursery for providing certified organic strawberries with requisites in compliance with CE Regulations 834/2007 and 889/2008.Peer Reviewe

Characterization of fructans in response to high CO2 treatments in strawberries (Fragaria × vesca cv. Mara de Bois).

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Fructo-oligosaccharides in table grapes and response to storage

Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) have been recognized as health food ingredients with a protective effect against environmental stresses in plants. We have analyzed the profiles of individual FOS in Cardinal table grape pulp, until now undetected, and quantified their changes in response to low temperature and high CO2 levels. FOS separation and quantification was carried out using anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD), and the glucose, fructose and sucrose content of the grapes was also determined. Five FOS were identified and quantified: 1-kestose, neokestose, nystose, nystose b and kestopentaose. While in non-treated table grapes the endogenous FOS remained at steady state levels during storage at 0 °C, exposure to 20% CO2 for 3 days significant increases the levels of 1-kestose and kestopentaose, members of the inulin series. Considering the competitive advantage afforded by CO2-treated grapes, this transitory FOS accumulation could provide protection against damage caused by low temperature storage. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.The authors wish to thank the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Project AGL2008-02949/ALI) for financial supportPeer Reviewe

Ácidos grasos de membrana y osmoprotectores: respuesta diferencial a baja temperatura y alto CO2 en tejidos de uva de mesa

AGL2017-85291-R. PID2020-113965RB-100. FEDER: Una manera de hacer Europa.Peer reviewe