Cost‐effectiveness and cost‐utility evaluation of individual vs. group transdiagnostic psychological treatment for emotional disorders in primary care (PsicAP‐Costs): a multicentre randomized controlled trial protocol

Background: Emotional disorders are common, and they have become more prevalent since the COVID‐19 pan‐ demic. Due to a high attendance burden at the specialized level, most emotional disorders in Spain are treated in primary care, where they are usually misdiagnosed and treated using psychotropic drugs. This contributes to perpetu‐ ate their illness and increase health care costs. Following the IAPT programme and the transdiagnostic approach, the PsicAP project developed a brief group transdiagnostic cognitive‐behavioural therapy (tCBT) as a cost‐effective alternative. However, it is not suitable for everyone; in some cases, one‐on‐one sessions may be more effective. The objective of the present study is to compare, in cost‐benefit terms, group and individual tCBT with the treatment usu‐ ally administered in Spanish primary care (TAU). Methods: A randomized, controlled, multicentre, and single‐blinded trial will be performed. Adults with mild to moderate emotional disorders will be recruited and placed in one of three arms: group tCBT, individual tCBT, or TAU. Medical data and outcomes regarding emotional symptoms, disability, quality of life, and emotion regulation biases will be collected at baseline, immediately after treatment, and 6 and 12 months later. The data will be used to calcu‐ late incremental cost‐effectiveness and cost‐utility ratios. Discussion: This trial aims to contribute to clinical practice research. The involvement of psychologists in primary care and the implementation of a stepped‐care model for mental disorders are recommended. Group therapy and a transdiagnostic approach may help optimize health system resources and unblock waiting lists so that people can spend less time experiencing mental health problems. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04847310; Protocols.io: bx2npqde. (April 19, 2021

Garlic used as a preservative increases the reduced form of ascorbate in pepper fruits

Proceedings of the I Congress PIIISA celebrado en la Estación Experimental del Zaidín (Granada), en mayo de 2013.This work is a continuation of the one initiated by our group last season which dealt on the Ripening of pepper fruits. The main objective of this project is to design strategies which allow post-harvest and storage practices for pepper fruits conducting to extend their shelf life without lowering their nutritional value. In this work, an innovative procedure was set up with results implying improvement of quality of fruits. The potential repercussion of the proposed process is under a broader study for future transfer to the productive sector.This work was supported by the ERDF-cofinanced grant AGL2011-26044 from the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain.Peer reviewe

Arsenic-induced stress activates sulfur metabolism in different organs of garlic (Allium sativum L.) plants accompanied by a general decline of the NADPH-generating systems in roots

Arsenic (As) contamination is a major environmental problem which affects most living organisms from plants to animals. This metalloid poses a health risk for humans through its accumulation in crops and water. Using garlic (Allium sativum L.) plants as model crop exposed to 200 μM arsenate, a comparative study among their main organs (roots and shoots) was made. The analysis of arsenic, glutathione (GSH), phytochelatins (PCs) and lipid peroxidation contents with the activities of antioxidant enzymes (catalase, superoxide dismutase, ascorbate-glutathione cycle), and the main components of the NADPH-generating system, including glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH), 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGDH), NADP-malic enzyme (NADP-ME) and NADP-isocitrate dehydrogenase (NADP-ICDH) was carried out. Data showed a correlation among arsenic accumulation in the different organs, PCs content and the antioxidative response, with a general decline of the NADPH-generating systems in roots. Overall, our results demonstrate that there are clear connections between arsenic uptake, increase of their As-chelating capacity in roots and a decline of antioxidative enzyme activities (catalase and the ascorbate peroxidase) whose alteration provoked As-induced oxidative stress. Thus, the data suggest that roots act as barrier of arsenic mediated by a prominent sulfur metabolism which is characterized by the biosynthesis of high amount of PCs.This work was supported by ERDF-cofinanced grants from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Recupera 2020-20134R056) and Junta de Andalucía (group BIO 192), Spain. MRR acknowledges a fellowship from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain. LC-ES/MS, and mineral analyses were carried out at the Instrumental Technical Services of the Estación Experimental del Zaidín (CSIC)

Does garlic-generated nitric oxide (NO) affect the physiology of pepper fruits?

Proceedings of the I Congress PIIISA celebrado en la Estación Experimental del Zaidín, Granada, el 26 de abril de 2012.The pepper is the fruit of a plant which belongs to the family of the Solanáceas. According to the shape, three main types of fruits are distinguished: California (square and short), Lamuyo (square and long), and dulce intaliano (long and narrow). Pepper varieties are classified as sweet and hot. Sweet peppers are usually red, yellow or green, with varying shapes and sizes. This group includes morrón and dulce italiano. Varieties from the hot peppers fruits are Padrón, Gernika and piquillo. The main pepper’s producer countries are China, Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia, Spain and USA (Figure). The NO is a colourless slightly soluble gas in water, which is present in small quantities in animals and plants. It is a very unstable molecule in the air, since it oxidizes rapidly in the presence of oxygen. In plants, NO intervenes in different physiological responses such as the opening and closing of the stomata and in the germination of seeds. Preliminary experiments indicate that garlic seems to be an important source of NO. In this project, we incubated pepper fruits with garlic and have studied how the fruits were affected.This work was supported by the ERDF‐cofinanced grant AGL2008‐00834 from the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain.Peer reviewe

Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis: a powerful tool in the food-processing sector

Proceedings of the I Congress PIIISA celebrado en la Estación Experimental del Zaidín (Granada), en mayo de 2013.Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) is an analytical and powerful technique widely used in research to analyze proteins and nucleic acids. In this project, this technique has been used to study the protein pattern in different organs (leaves and fruits) and plant species. Specifically, we used pepper and pea plants, which have agronomical interest, and Arabidopsis as a model plant. Two different applications of PAGE, designated as SDS-PAGE and non-denaturing PAGE, useful to investigate the pattern of polypeptides and to assay in situ the enzymatic activities, particularly superoxide dismutase (SOD), were developed, respectively. The results show that each plant sample has a specify protein pattern and the number and type of SOD isoenzymes varies depending on the organ and the plant species.This work was supported by the ERDF-cofinanced grant AGL2011-26044 from the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain.Peer reviewe

Estudio preliminar del ganglio centinela en el cáncer oral: a propósito de 12 casos

El manejo de los cuellos N0 en pacientes con carcinoma epidermoide de cabeza y cuello es controvertido. Objetivo. Demostrar la eficacia diagnóstica de la biopsia del ganglio centinela (GC) en los pacientes con carcinoma epidermoide oral con cuello clinicamente negativo. Metodología. Se realiza un estudio prospectivo de 12 pacientes consecutivos, hasta el momento, con carcinoma epidermoide oral de cualquier tamaño y cuello clinicamente negativo que no habian recibido tratamiento antitumoral, asistidos en el S. de Cirugía Maxilofacial del área del H.U.V.M de Sevilla. A estos pacientes se les realiza una linfografía cervical con nanocoloides -Tc 99 para localizar el GC, y una dosis de recuerdo antes de iniciar el ttº quirúrgico. Durante la cirugía se localiza el GC con la sonda y se extirpa, se completa la disección cervical funcional y la extirpación de la lesión con posteriores estudios histológicos independientes. Resultados. índice de linfolocalización: 91%, índice de radiolocalización 100%, falsos negativos 0%, la sensibilidad y VPN del 100%, cocientes de probabilidades positivo > 10 y negativo 10 and likely negative ratios < 0.1. Conclusions. The technique allows identification of SN-metastases and shows promise in guiding functional neck dissection (FIS-2002 subvention)

Optimized De Novo Eriodictyol Biosynthesis in Streptomyces albidoflavus Using an Expansion of the Golden Standard Toolkit for Its Use in Actinomycetes

Eriodictyol is a hydroxylated flavonoid displaying multiple pharmaceutical activities, such as antitumoral, antiviral or neuroprotective. However, its industrial production is limited to extraction from plants due to its inherent limitations. Here, we present the generation of a Streptomyces&nbsp;albidoflavus bacterial factory edited at the genome level for an optimized de novo heterologous production of eriodictyol. For this purpose, an expansion of the Golden Standard toolkit (a Type IIS assembly method based on the Standard European Vector Architecture (SEVA)) has been created, encompassing a collection of synthetic biology modular vectors (adapted for their use in actinomycetes). These vectors have been designed for the assembly of transcriptional units and gene circuits in a plug-and-play manner, as well as for genome editing using CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genetic engineering. These vectors have been used for the optimization of the eriodictyol heterologous production levels in S.&nbsp;albidoflavus by enhancing the flavonoid-3&prime;-hydroxylase (F3&rsquo;H) activity (by means of a chimera design) and by replacing three native biosynthetic gene clusters in the bacterial chromosome with the plant genes matBC (involved in extracellular malonate uptake and its intracellular activation into malonyl-CoA), therefore allowing more malonyl-CoA to be devoted to the heterologous production of plant flavonoids in this bacterial factory. These experiments have allowed an increase in production of 1.8 times in the edited strain (where the three native biosynthetic gene clusters have been deleted) in comparison with the wild-type strain and a 13 times increase in eriodictyol overproduction in comparison with the non-chimaera version of the F3&prime;H enzyme