Authenticity of Ecuadorian Commercial Honeys

Control of honey frauds is needed in Ecuador to protect bee keepers and consumers because simple syrups and new syrups with eucalyptus are sold as genuine honeys. Authenticity of Ecuadorian commercial honeys was tested with a vortex emulsion consisting on one volume of honey:water (1:1) dilution, and two volumes of diethyl ether. This method allows a separation of phases in one minute to discriminate genuine honeys that form three phase and fake honeys that form two phases; 34 of the 42 honeys analyzed from five provinces of Ecuador were genuine. This was confirmed with 1H NMR spectra of honey dilutions in deuterated water with an enhanced amino acid region with signals for proline, phenylalanine and tyrosine. Classic quality indicators were also tested with this method (sugars, HMF), indicators of fermentation (ethanol, acetic acid), and residues of citric acid used in the syrup manufacture. One of the honeys gave a false positive for genuine, being an admixture of genuine honey with added syrup, evident for the high sucrose. Sensory analysis was the final confirmation to recognize the honey groups studied here, namely honey produced in combs by Apis mellifera, fake honey, and honey produced in cerumen pots by Geotrigona, Melipona, and Scaptotrigona. Chloroform extractions of honey were also done to search lipophilic additives in NMR spectra. This is a valuable contribution to protect honey consumers, and to develop the beekeeping industry in Ecuador

Entomological Origin of Honey Discriminated by NMR Chloroform Extracts in Ecuadorian Honey

Honeys are produced by Apis mellifera and stingless bees (Meliponini) in Ecuador. We studied honey produced in beeswax combs by Apis mellifera, and honey produced in pots by Geotrigona and Scaptotrigona bees. Chloroform extracts of honey were obtained for fast NMR spectra. The 1D spectra were acquired at 298 K, with a 600 MHz NMR Bruker instrument, using a modified double pulsed field gradient spin echoes (DPFGSE) sequence. Signals of 1H NMR spectra were integrated and used as inputs for PCA, PLS-DA analysis, and labelled sets of classes were successfully identified, enhancing the separation between the three groups of honey according to the entomological origin: A. mellifera, Geotrigona and Scaptotrigona. This procedure is therefore recommended for authenticity test of honey in Ecuador

Ley de Salud Mental n° 26657: consecuencias de su implementación en la concepción teórica, abordaje y dirección de la cura en el tratamiento de adicciones

La presente investigación tiene como objetivo ubicar las consecuencias de la implementación de la Ley 26657 de Salud Mental en el área de adicciones. Sus objetivos específicos son el relevamiento del impacto en los efectores de la Ley (profesionales de salud mental, judiciales y funcionarios) y el aporte de contenidos teórico-metodológicos a la formación en competencias de los estudiantesy graduados. Para relevar el primer objetivo, se realizaron entrevistas y encuestas a dichos profesionales en la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires y el Conurbano Sur dentro del ámbito público. Como resultado, puede mencionarse que la mayoría de los entrevistados concuerdan con la concepción teórica de que las adicciones son un padecimiento mental, considerándolo como un avance introducido por la ley. Coinciden, además, en que las nuevas intervenciones conviven con viejas prácticas estigmatizantes. Justifican este escenario como un proceso de adecuación que requierede cambios culturales y paradigmas profesionales. Asimismo, señalan como dirección del tratamiento la inclusión social de los grupos de mayor vulnerabilidad, y para ello la necesidad de la intersectorialidad unida a la interdisciplina. Se insiste en la insuficiente adecuación de los recursos existentes a las nuevas prácticas emanadas de la Ley 26657. Esto, sumado a la resistencia de ciertos actores a asumir responsabilidades y ceder espacios de poder, son las dos principales dificultades referenciadas. En tanto es incipiente el funcionamiento del Órgano de Revisión, la mayoría de los entrevistados desconoce sus acciones concretas. En relación al segundo objetivo específico, puede concluirse que los alumnos refieren algún conocimiento de la Ley de Salud Mental, ningún conocimiento del Plan IACOP y disparidad de conocimiento respecto a las normas y tratados internacionales. Con respecto a la autopercepción de la formación en DDHH, adicciones, Salud Pública y Trabajo Interdisciplinario sostienen que es básica y deberían ampliarla. Respecto al conocimiento de abordajes de adicciones, un número significativamente elevado responde negativamente. Consideran a los temas indagados en la encuesta como muy relevantes, y coinciden en la necesidad de incluirlos en la formación académica. Se promovió la participación de las alumnas integrantes del Equipo en todas las instancias del procesode investigación, aportando así a su formación.This research focuses its goals on locating the consequences of Law implementation 26657 in Mental Health within the area of addictions. Its specific goals are to relieve the impact on effectors of Law (mental health professionals, judicial professionals and officials) and provide theoretical and methodological contents to training skills of students and graduates.To relieve this first objective, professionals of Buenos Aires city and its south suburbs area were interviewed. Interviews and surveys were the methodological tools applied.The following conclusions were reached: Most respondents agree on the theoretical concept of addiction as a mental suffering, considering it as a progress introduced by the law. They also agree that the new interventions coexist with old stigmatizing practices. They justify this scenario as aprocess of adaptation that requires cultural changes and professional paradigms. They point out the social inclusion of the most vulnerable groups as the direction of the treatment and the need forinter-sectoriality together with inter-discipline. It insists on the insufficient adequacy of existing resources to new practices derived from Law 26657. This situation added to the resistance from certain actors to take responsibilities and give positions of power become the two main difficulties. Considering the incipient operation of the Review Body, most respondents do not know its concreteactions. As regards the second goal, it shall be concluded that students refer some knowledge on the Mental Health Law, no knowledge on the IACOP Plan [Integral Plan for the Approach of Problematic Drug Use] and disparity of knowledge about rules and international treaties. Regarding the self-perception of training in Human Rights, addictions, Public Health and Interdisciplinary Work, they argue that it is basic and should be extended. As regards knowledge of approaches toaddictions, a significantly high number responds negatively. They consider the issues investigated in the survey as very important and they agree on the need for including them in academic training. Student’s participation in the entire research process was promoted in order to contribute in their own training

REST Controls Self-Renewal and Tumorigenic Competence of Human Glioblastoma Cells

The Repressor Element 1 Silencing Transcription factor (REST/NRSF) is a master repressor of neuronal programs in non-neuronal lineages shown to function as a central regulator of developmental programs and stem cell physiology. Aberrant REST function has been associated with a number of pathological conditions. In cancer biology, REST has been shown to play a tumor suppressor activity in epithelial cancers but an oncogenic role in brain childhood malignancies such as neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma. Here we examined REST expression in human glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) specimens and its role in GBM cells carrying self-renewal and tumorigenic competence. We found REST to be expressed in GBM specimens, its presence being particularly enriched in tumor cells in the perivascular compartment. Significantly, REST is highly expressed in self-renewing tumorigenic-competent GBM cells and its knock down strongly reduces their self-renewal in vitro and tumor-initiating capacity in vivo and affects levels of miR-124 and its downstream targets. These results indicate that REST contributes to GBM maintenance by affecting its self-renewing and tumorigenic cellular component and that, hence, a better understanding of these circuitries in these cells might lead to new exploitable therapeutic targets

All in the Game. The Wire: un campo di ricerca sociologica

Analyzing with an ethnographic approach The Wire, one of the most important TV series on American ghettos, to understand and question the sociological perspective that emerges from the series, positioning it into the broader scientific debate. This is, in a nutshell, the work presented in the book It's all in the Game, the outcome of a laboratorial research activity carried out in 2020 by students and teachers of the Sociology of Communities and Urban Neighborhoods class, at the University of Bologna. The text is structured into four chapters, resulting from the four topics used to analysis the TV series: forms of social capital, the relationship between structural forces- culture of poverty and individual agency, neighborhood effects mechanism and the relationship between statistics and political action. Four subjects that are the core of many neighborhood- studies related researches and on which the TV series makes a clear stand. We analyzed those topics through a critical perspective, not considering them as a truth about ghettos, but as a very precise way of thinking about life in the American suburbs

NMR carbohydrate profile in tracing acacia honey authenticity

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Entomological authentication of stingless bee honey by 1H NMR-based metabolomics approach

The high value of stingless bee honey, better known as pot-honey, offers an incentive to fraud and requires new analytical methods to guarantee the entomological origin. In this research, Geotrigona-Trigona, Melipona, Scaptotrigona, and Apis mellifera Ecuadorian honeys were analyzed. Orthogonal projection to latent structure-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) built on 1H NMR data obtained by both water dilution and chloroform extracts spectra, conveyed to successful entomological discrimination. The metabolic fingerprints of these different types of honeys are unique. The most important findings are specific marker signals of entomological origin in chloroform extracts: metabolites deriving from the cerumen secreted by the same bees are present and may be considered as the bee species signature on honey. Furthermore, the endogenous diacylglyceryl ether is recognized as the key marker of pot-honey adulteration with Apis mellifera hone