Plasma Non-Enzymatic Antioxidant Capacity (NEAC) in Relation to Dietary NEAC, Nutrient Antioxidants and Inflammation-Related Biomarkers

The results presented in this article constitute part of the C.J. Carrión-García’s Doctoral Thesis performed in the Nutrition and Food Science Doctorate Program of the University of Granada.(1) Background: Little is known about the interlinkages between dietary and plasma non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity (D-NEAC and P-NEAC, respectively) and the body’s antioxidant and inflammation response. Our aim was to explore these associations in 210 participants from two Spanish European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) centers. (2) Methods: D-NEAC was estimated using published NEAC values in food. P-NEAC and total polyphenols (TP) were quantified by FRAP (ferric-reducing antioxidant power), TRAP (total radical-trapping antioxidant parameter), TEAC-ABTS (trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity-Azino Bis Thiazoline Sulfonic), ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) and Folin–Ciocalteu assays. Nutrient antioxidants (carotenes, α-tocopherol, ascorbic acid, retinol, uric acid, Q9 and Q10 coenzymes) and inflammation markers (IL-6, IL-8, CRP, TNF-α, PAI-I, resistin and adiponectin) were also analyzed. Spearman correlation and linear regression analyses were performed in association analyses. Analyses were stratified by covariates and groups were defined using cluster analysis. (3) Results: P-FRAP was correlated with D-NEAC, and significantly associated with P-NEAC in multivariate adjusted models. P-FRAP levels were also significantly associated with plasma antioxidants (log2 scale: TP β = 0.26; ascorbic acid β = 0.03; retinol β = 0.08; α-tocopherol β = 0.05; carotenes β = 0.02; Q10 β = 0.06; uric acid β = 0.25), though not with inflammation-related biomarkers. Different profiles of individuals with varying levels of P-NEAC and biomarkers were found. (4) Conclusions: P-NEAC levels were to some extent associated with D-NEAC and plasma antioxidants, yet not associated with inflammation response.This research was co-funded by the Health Research Found (FIS), Acción Estratégica en Salud (AES), of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, grant number PI12/00002, and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

Mineralogy and geochemistry of Fe-Ti oxide ores from the Don Dieguito massif type anorthosite suite, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia

Fe-Ti oxide ores are commonly associated with Proterozoic massif-type anorthosite bodies emplaced during the Grenville orogeny (~1.2-1.0 Ga). Some of these anorthositic bodies occur in the northernmost part of the Santa Marta Massif, Colombia. They locally contain crosscutting Fe-Ti(-V) ore bodies between the El Hierro creek and the Don Dieguito river. We have distinguished two types of Fe-Ti(-V) ores: i) oxide-apatite norite (fine grained ilmenite and magnetite disseminated in an assemblage of apatite, amphibole, chlorite, rutile and sericitized plagioclase) and ii) banded nelsonite (coarser grained ilmenite, magnetite and apatite distributed in bands, with minor baddeleyite, srilankite and högbomite)

A track record of Au-Ag nanomelt generation during fuid‑mineral interactions

Recent studies have reported the signifcant role of Au-bearing nanoparticles in the formation of hydrothermal gold deposits. Despite the ever-increasing understanding of the genesis and stability of Au-bearing nanoparticles, it is still unknown how they behave when exposed to hydrothermal fuids. Here, we study the nanostructural evolution of Au–Ag nanoparticles hosted within Co-rich diarsenides and sulfarsenides of a natural hydrothermal deposit. We use high-resolution transmission electron microscopy to provide a singular glimpse of the complete melting sequence of Au–Ag nanoparticles exposed to the hydrothermal fuid during coupled dissolution–precipitation reactions of their host minerals. The interaction of Au–Ag nanoparticles with hydrothermal fuids at temperatures (400– 500 ºC) common to most hydrothermal gold deposits may promote melting and generation of Au–Ag nanomelts. This process has important implications in noble metal remobilization and accumulation during the formation of these deposits

Robust and scalable barcoding for massively parallel long‑read sequencing

Nucleic-acid barcoding is an enabling technique for many applications, but its use remains limited in emerging long-read sequencing technologies with intrinsically low raw accuracy. Here, we apply so-called NS-watermark barcodes, whose error correction capability was previously validated in silico, in a proof of concept where we synthesize 3840 NS-watermark barcodes and use them to asymmetrically tag and simultaneously sequence amplicons from two evolutionarily distant species (namely Bordetella pertussis and Drosophila mojavensis) on the ONT MinION platform. To our knowledge, this is the largest number of distinct, non-random tags ever sequenced in parallel and the frst report of microarray-based synthesis as a source for large oligonucleotide pools for barcoding. We recovered the identity of more than 86% of the barcodes, with a crosstalk rate of 0.17% (i.e., one misassignment every 584 reads). This falls in the range of the index hopping rate of established, highaccuracy Illumina sequencing, despite the increased number of tags and the relatively low accuracy of both microarray-based synthesis and long-read sequencing. The robustness of NS-watermark barcodes, together with their scalable design and compatibility with low-cost massive synthesis, makes them promising for present and future sequencing applications requiring massive labeling, such as long-read single-cell RNA-Seq.Fil: Ezpeleta, Joaquín. Centro Internacional Franco Argentino de Ciencias de la Información y de Sistemas; Argentina.Fil: Labari, Ignacio Garcia. Centro Internacional Franco Argentino de Ciencias de la Información y de Sistemas; Argentina.Fil: Bulacio, Pilar. Centro Internacional Franco Argentino de Ciencias de la Información y de Sistemas; Argentina.Fil: Tapia, Elizabeth. Centro Internacional Franco Argentino de Ciencias de la Información y de Sistemas; Argentina.Fil: Ezpeleta, Joaquín. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Ingeniería y Agrimensura; Argentina.Fil: Bulacio, Pilar. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Ingeniería y Agrimensura; Argentina.Fil: Tapia, Elizabeth. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Ingeniería y Agrimensura; Argentina.Fil: Villanova, Gabriela Vanina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina.Fil: Lavista Llanos, Sofía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina.Fil: Villanova, Gabriela Vanina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Laboratorio Mixto de Biotecnología Acuática. Centro Científico Tecnológico y Educativo Acuario del Río Paraná; Argentina.Fil: Posner, Victoria María. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Laboratorio Mixto de Biotecnología Acuática. Centro Científico Tecnológico y Educativo Acuario del Río Paraná; Argentina.Fil: Arranz, Silvia Eda. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Laboratorio Mixto de Biotecnología Acuática. Centro Científico Tecnológico y Educativo Acuario del Río Paraná; Argentina.Fil: Krsticevic, Flavia. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Robert H Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment; Israel

High intellectual capacity: How do the professionals of education perceive them?

La finalidad del trabajo es indagar sobre la información que tienen los colectivos que se ocupan de la educación con respecto a los alumnos/as de alta capacidad. La muestra fue de 241 informantes, concretamente 201 (83,40%) eran mujeres y 40(16,60%) hombres. Los resultados evidencian que los encuestados han tenido algún contacto con personas con altas capacidades ya sea a través del ámbito profesional o personal. Se ha recibido poca formación a lo largo de la carrera universitaria para trabajar adecuadamente con este colectivo. Existe una percepción generalizada que no es un error crear programas específicos para alumnos de alta capacidad.The objective of the current study is to investigate the information that the professionals know about education of high intellectual level students. The total sample was 241participants, 201women(83,40%) and 40 men(16,60%).The results showed that the educational professionals had some contact with people with high intellectual capacity through their professional practice or personal life. However, professionals expressed a need for more training during their degrees in the university. Finally, there is a widespread perception about specific training for high intellectual capacity students which is not an error, meaning that these students need to be in their classrooms, in an inclusive frame

Geological, geochemical and mineralogical characteristics of REE-bearing Las Mercedes bauxite deposit, Dominican Republic

Bauxite deposits, traditionally the main source of 'aluminum, have been recently targeted for their remarkable contents in rare earth elements (REE). With Sigma REE (lanthanoids + Sc + Y) concentrations systematically higher than similar to 1400 ppm (ay. = 1530 ppm), the Las Mercedes karstic bauxites in the Dominican Republic rank as one of the REE-richest deposits of its style.The bauxitic ore in the Las Mercedes deposit is mostly unlithified and has a homogeneous-massive lithostructure, with only local cross-stratification and graded bedding. The dominant arenaceous and round-grained texture is composed of bauxite particles and subordinate ooids, pisoids and carbonate clasts. Mineralogically, the bauxite ore is composed mostly of gibbsite and lesser amounts of kaolinite, hematite, boehmite, anatase, goethite, chromian spinel and zircon. Identified REE-minerals include cerianite and monazite-Ce, whose composition accounts for the steady enrichment in light-relative to medium-and heavy-REE of the studied bauxites.Considering the paleo-geomorphology of the study area, we propose that bauxites in the Las Mercedes deposit are the product of the erosion and deposition of lithified bauxites located at higher elevations in the Bahoruco ranges. Based on the available data, we suggest a mixed lithological source for the bauxite deposits at the district scale: bedrock carbonates and an igneous source of likely mafic composition. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

APOGEE chemical abundances of globular cluster giants in the inner Galaxy

We report chemical abundances obtained by Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-III/Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment for giant stars in five globular clusters located within 2.2 kpc of the Galactic Centre. We detect the presence of multiple stellar populations in four of those clusters (NGC 6553, NGC 6528, Terzan 5 and Palomar 6) and find strong evidence for their presence in NGC 6522. All clusters with a large enough sample present a significant spread in the abundances of N, C, Na and Al, with the usual correlations and anticorrelations between various abundances seen in other globular clusters. Our results provide important quantitative constraints on theoretical models for self-enrichment of globular clusters, by testing their predictions for the dependence of yields of elements such as Na, N, C and Al on metallicity. They also confirm that, under the assumption that field N-rich stars originate from globular cluster destruction, they can be used as tracers of their parental systems in the high-metallicity regime

Reconstructing Neutrino Properties from Collider Experiments in a Higgs Triplet Neutrino Mass Model

We extend the minimal supersymmetric standard model with bilinear R-parity violation to include a pair of Higgs triplet superfields. The neutral components of the Higgs triplets develop small vacuum expectation values (VEVs) quadratic in the bilinear R-parity breaking parameters. In this scheme the atmospheric neutrino mass scale arises from bilinear R-parity breaking while for reasonable values of parameters the solar neutrino mass scale is generated from the small Higgs triplet VEVs. We calculate neutrino masses and mixing angles in this model and show how the model can be tested at future colliders. The branching ratios of the doubly charged triplet decays are related to the solar neutrino angle via a simple formula.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures; one formula corrected, two author's names corrected; some explanatory comments adde

Role of Soil, Crop Debris, and a Plant Pathogen in Salmonella enterica Contamination of Tomato Plants

Background: In the U.S., tomatoes have become the most implicated vehicle for produce-associated Salmonellosis with 12 outbreaks since 1998. Although unconfirmed, trace backs suggest pre-harvest contamination with Salmonella enterica. Routes of tomato crop contamination by S. enterica in the absence of direct artificial inoculation have not been investigated. Methodology/Principal Findings: This work examined the role of contaminated soil, the potential for crop debris to act as inoculum from one crop to the next, and any interaction between the seedbourne plant pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria and S. enterica on tomato plants. Our results show S. enterica can survive for up to six weeks in fallow soil with the ability to contaminate tomato plants. We found S. enterica can contaminate a subsequent crop via crop debris; however a fallow period between crop incorporation and subsequent seeding can affect contamination patterns. Throughout these studies, populations of S. enterica declined over time and there was no bacterial growth in either the phyllosphere or rhizoplane. The presence of X. campestris pv. vesicatoria on co-colonized tomato plants had no effect on the incidence of S. enterica tomato phyllosphere contamination. However, growth of S. enterica in the tomato phyllosphere occurred on co-colonized plants in the absence of plant disease. Conclusions/Significance: S. enterica contaminated soil can lead to contamination of the tomato phyllosphere. A six week lag period between soil contamination and tomato seeding did not deter subsequent crop contamination. In the absence o