COMPUESTOS BIOACTIVOS Y PROPIEDADES SALUDABLES DEL TAMARINDO (Tamarindus indica L)/ BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS AND HEALTH PROPERTIES OF TAMARIND (Tamarindus indica L)

El tamarindo (Tamarindus Indica L.) es un fruto procedente de África, cuya producción a nivel mundial se encuentra entre 400 y 500 mil ton, mientras que México produce alrededor de 39 mil ton anuales; este fruto es reconocido en la tradición popular por sus propiedades antioxidantes, posiblemente relacionadas con la presencia de compuestos bioactivos, principalmente compuestos polifenólicos. Al fruto de tamarindo se le han brindado distintas aplicaciones, desde medicinales hasta de ingrediente en la industria alimentaria. La presente revisión tiene la finalidad de recopilar y mostrar algunos de los estudios recientes de los efectos benéficos que se han reportado para la pulpa de este fruto. En los últimos tiempos se han acumulado evidencias de que algunos compuestos polifenólicos ingeridos con la dieta habitual pueden encontrarse asociados con la fibra dietética, por lo que en este trabajo se incluye la cuantificación de los compuestos polifenólicos y la actividad antioxidante en la pulpa del fruto, además de la cuantificación de los compuestos fenólicos que se encuentran potencialmente asociados a la fibra dietética del fruto. Esta evaluación fue realizada por medio de métodos in vitro. Esta sencilla pero novedosa revisión podrá brindar información adicional a la literatura que se encuentra disponible respecto a este fruto, el cual contiene fitoquímicos con bioactividad/ ABSTRACT Tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.) is a fruit from Africa with a worldwide production between 400 and 500 thousand ton, with 39 000 ton produced in Mexico; traditionally it is recognized for its antioxidant properties, possibly related to the presence of bioactive compounds, mainly polyphenols. Tamarind fruit has been given different applications from medicinal as well as an ingredient in the food industry. The present review aims to collect and display some of the recent studies of the beneficial effects that have been reported for the pulp of this fruit. However, in recent times there has been enough evidence which show that some polyphenols ingested with the daily diet may be associated with dietary fiber, so in this review the quantification of polyphenols and antioxidant activity in the fruit pulp was included in addition to the quantification of the phenolic compounds that are potentially associated with dietary fiber of the fruit. This evaluation was performed by in vitro methods. This simple but novel information may provide additional information to the literature that is available around the fruit, which contains phytochemicals with bioactivity

Nanoinformatics: developing new computing applications for nanomedicine

Nanoinformatics has recently emerged to address the need of computing applications at the nano level. In this regard, the authors have participated in various initiatives to identify its concepts, foundations and challenges. While nanomaterials open up the possibility for developing new devices in many industrial and scientific areas, they also offer breakthrough perspectives for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. In this paper, we analyze the different aspects of nanoinformatics and suggest five research topics to help catalyze new research and development in the area, particularly focused on nanomedicine. We also encompass the use of informatics to further the biological and clinical applications of basic research in nanoscience and nanotechnology, and the related concept of an extended ?nanotype? to coalesce information related to nanoparticles. We suggest how nanoinformatics could accelerate developments in nanomedicine, similarly to what happened with the Human Genome and other -omics projects, on issues like exchanging modeling and simulation methods and tools, linking toxicity information to clinical and personal databases or developing new approaches for scientific ontologies, among many others

Pentaquarks: review of the experimental evidence

Pentaquarks, namely baryons made by 4 quarks and one antiquark have been predicted and searched for since several decades without success. Theoretical and experimental advances in the last 2 years led to the observation of a number of pentaquark candidates. We review the experimental evidence for pentaquarks as well as their non-observations by some experiments, and discuss to which extend these sometimes contradicting informations may lead to a consistent picture.Comment: Contribution to the International Conference on 'Strangeness in Quark Matter', 15-21 Sept. 2004, Cape Tawn, South Afric

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection