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This work presents the MuscleTracker Hand Movement dataset, containing Surface Electromyography (sEMG) data from the right arm of 49 healthy subjects without neuromuscular or cardiovascular issues. Subjects performed five hand movements—pronation with extended fingers, flexion, extension, pronation with flexed fingers, and relaxation—while standing, with one hand palm-down. Data was recorded from two sEMG channels using Biopac MP36 (1000 Hz) and MuscleTracker (512 Hz), with three and four repetitions per device, respectively, for each movement. The dataset includes 825 samples, along with subject details such as gender, age, physical condition, and, for MuscleTracker subjects, anthropometric measurements. This data supports machine-learning development for classifying hand gestures in sEMG signals, with applications in prosthetics control and human-computer interaction. In addition, validation experiments were performed to validate the database and stablish a comparison baseline.

Texture-modified foods have become a growing trend in the market and retrograded starch can enhance the rheological properties of foods. This study assessed the effect of adding 10% (w/w) of normal (RNS) or high amylose (RHS) retrograded starches on the physicochemical and rheological properties of commercial peach puree stored at 4°C. The resistant starch content (RS), syneresis, and rheological behavior were evaluated during 14-day storage. Control puree exhibited high syneresis (60%), low consistency (6 Pa·sn), and decreasing viscosity during storage. These characteristics improved after adding retrograded starches. Samples with RNS exhibited higher viscosity, lower syneresis, lower RS (2%), and poor stability; meanwhile, the systems with RHS exhibited greater stability maintaining their viscosity, syneresis, and RS (10%) relatively constant during storage. Therefore, RHS can be recommended to enhance and maintain the physicochemical, nutraceutical, and rheological properties of a food matrix like peach puree during storage.

Por meio de homenagens, podemos resgatar histórias de personalidades ilustres e ressaltar marcos do passado, seu impacto no presente e torná-los como inspiração para o futuro. Neste sentido, Juliano Moreira se destaca como um dos expoentes que jamais deve cair no ostracismo: responsável por alicerces da psiquiatria brasileira, seu engajamento e pioneirismo foram feitos em uma época ainda mais hostil do que os tempos atuais. Sendo a medicina um curso historicamente elitizado, pessoas de origem socioeconômica humilde e até mesmo negros tiveram seu acesso dificultado, não tendo as mesmas oportunidades que os demais. Indo além, Juliano não só traz uma necessária representatividade, mas sua bagagem e história refutando o racismo científico que, à época, pregava uma “inferioridade biológica” a raças humanas. Passados mais de 90 anos de sua morte, observamos diversos avanços em nossa sociedade e na própria psiquiatria, sustentados em grande parte na luta de agentes como Juliano – pioneiro na reforma psiquiátrica brasileira e no combate à discriminação, sendo esta responsável, por exemplo pelo tratamento diferenciado empregado à época a pessoas abastadas quando comparadas a pacientes sem posses.

Esta carta tem visa abordar a crescente propagação de informações falsas, fenômeno observado entre todas as áreas da medicina atualmente, mas em especial no que diz respeito ao transtorno de déficit de atenção e hiperatividade (TDAH). Entraves como autodiagnóstico e banalização do transtorno tem sido uma questão cada vez mais frequente, sendo capaz de dificultar o percurso do paciente até chegar em um diagnóstico definitivo, dado por profissional habilitado. Com dados internacionais sobre o tema, é possível também fazer um recorte e observar o impacto da desinformação até mesmo na realidade local.

The formation of resistant starch type 5 (RS5), primarily associated with amylose–lipid complexes, is typically attributed to starches with high-amylose content due to their affinity for lipid interactions. Recently, studies have also investigated the potential of amylopectin-rich starches to form amylopectin–lipid complexes (ALCs), expanding RS5 sources. This study explores the capacity of waxy corn starch (WS), which is rich in amylopectin, to develop ALCs with oleic acid (10% w/w) under different thermal and mechanical conditions. Specifically, WS was treated at temperatures of 80 °C, 85 °C, and boiling, with stirring times of 0 and 45 min. Results demonstrated significant ALC formation, reaching a peak complexation index (CI) of 59% under boiling conditions with 45 min of stirring. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) identified a notable endothermic transition at 110 °C, indicating strong ALC interactions. FTIR spectra further evidenced starch–lipid interactions through bands at 2970 cm−1 and 2888 cm−1. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the presence of orthorhombic nanocrystals in native WS, with ALC samples exhibiting a V-type diffraction pattern, supporting effective complexation. This study advances knowledge on starch–lipid interactions, suggesting ALCs as a promising RS5 form with potential food industry applications due to its structural resilience and associated health benefits.

Understanding gel structures and behavior is a prerequisite for attaining the desired food application characteristics. The mixing temperature is crucial when incorporating thermolabile active compounds into gels. This study evaluated the effect of mixing temperature on the physical and chemical properties of a bigel system prepared using a carnauba wax/canola oil oleogel and Arabic gum hydrogels. The results showed that bigels prepared at lower temperatures (30 and 40 °C) resulted in a solid-like state under crystallization temperature, resulting in matrices with larger hydrogel droplets, softer texture, and lower adhesiveness, spreadability, and solvent binding capacity. In contrast, bigels prepared at higher temperatures (50 and 60 °C), around crystallization temperature but with no solid state, resulted in matrices with smaller hydrogel droplets and higher firmness, adhesiveness, and spreadability. These bigels had a higher apparent viscosity, especially at lower shear rates, and solid-like behavior in the linear viscosity range. During the bigel preparation process, adjusting the mixture temperature had no effect on the samples’ oxidative stability, FTIR spectra, or thermal properties. The results highlighted the importance of hydrogel droplet size on the microstructure of the formed bigels, and smaller droplets could act as effective fillers to reinforce the matrix without making chemical changes.

Sumário do Livro Apresentação Prefácio Parte 1. Fundamentos Capítulo 1. Uma breve história do conhecimento psiquiátrico e de suas implicações para a prática Capítulo 2. Ética na psiquiatria Capítulo 3. Religiosidade, espiritualidade e transtornos mentais Capítulo 4. Aspectos epidemiológicos dos transtornos mentais Capítulo 5. Fundamentos e análise estatística de desenhos experimentais em psiquiatria Capítulo 6. A psiquiatria no sistema de saúde Capítulo 7. O estigma dos transtornos mentais Capítulo 8. Desenvolvimento normal da criança e do adolescente Capítulo 9. Aspectos genéticos em psiquiatria Capítulo 10. Neuroanatomia funcional Parte 2: Diagnóstico Capítulo 11. Histórico do diagnóstico e classificações atuais Capítulo 12. Entrevista psiquiátrica, exame clínico e exame do estado mental Capítulo 13. Psicopatologia geral Capítulo 14. Instrumentos de avaliação em psiquiatria Capítulo 15. Avaliação neuropsicológica em psiquiatria Capítulo 16. Exames de laboratório em psiquiatria Capítulo 17. Estudos de imagem em psiquiatria Parte 3. Transtornos psiquiátricos Capítulo 18. Transtornos do neurodesenvolvimento e transtorno do espectro autista Capítulo 19. Espectro da esquizofrenia e outros transtornos psicóticos Capítulo 20. Transtorno bipolar Capítulo 21. Transtornos depressivos Capítulo 22. Suicídio: epidemiologia, risco e prevenção Capítulo 23. Transtornos de ansiedade Capítulo 24. Transtorno obsessivo-compulsivo e transtornos relacionados Capítulo 25. Transtornos relacionados a trauma e a estressores Capítulo 26. Transtornos alimentares Capítulo 27. Transtornos somatoformes, dissociativos e factício Capítulo 28. Transtornos mentais secundários a doenças orgânicas Capítulo 29. Transtorno por uso de álcool Capítulo 30. Transtornos por uso de substâncias Capítulo 31. Disfunções sexuais, parafilias e transtornos parafílicos e disforia de gênero Capítulo 32. Transtornos do sono-vigília Capítulo 33. Transtornos do controle de impulsos Capítulo 34. Transtornos neurocognitivos e demências Capítulo 35. Transtorno de déficit de atenção/hiperatividade Capítulo 36. Transtornos da personalidade Capítulo 37. Interconsulta psiquiátrica Capítulo 38. Emergências psiquiátricas Parte 4. Tratamentos Capítulo 39. Psicofarmacologia Capítulo 40. Terapias de estimulação cerebral não invasiva Capítulo 41. Terapias de estimulação cerebral invasiva Capítulo 42. Psicoterapias Capítulo 43. Transtornos psiquiátricos em mulheres Capítulo 44. Psiquiatria da infância e adolescência: princípios gerais Capítulo 45. Transtornos cognitivos e demenciais associados ao envelhecimento Capítulo 46. Psiquiatria forense

A common challenge in hydrogel-based delivery systems is the premature release of low molecular weight encapsulates through diffusion or swelling and reduced cell viability caused by the low pH in gastric conditions. A second biopolymer, such as chitosan, can be incorporated to overcome this. Chitosan is usually associated with colonic drug delivery systems. We intended to formulate chitosan-coated pectin beads for use in delaying premature release of the encapsulate under gastric conditions but allowing release through disintegration under intestinal conditions. The latter is of utmost importance in delivering most functional food ingredients. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of formulation and process conditions on the size, sphericity, and dissolution behavior of chitosan-coated hydrogel beads prepared by interfacial coacervation. The size and sphericity of the beads depend on the formulation and range from approximately 3 to 5 mm and 0.82 to 0.95, respectively. Process conditions during electro-dripping may be modulated to tailor bead size. Depending on the voltage, bead size ranged from 1.5 to 4 mm. Confocal laser scanning microscopy and scanning electron microscopy confirmed chitosan shell formation around the pectin bead. Chitosan-coated beads maintained their size and shape in simulated gastric fluid but experienced structural damage in simulated intestinal fluid. Therefore, they represent a novel delivery system for functional food ingredients.

The food-use of the tamarind ( Tamarindus indica L.) fruit produces shell and seeds as by-products. In this work, the effects of the tamarind shell moisture content and the temperature of their extrusion on the dietary fiber content and physiochemical properties, such as water absorption capacity (WAC), oil absorption capacity (OAC), and glucose dialysis retardation index (GDRI) of the extrudates, were estimated. Moreover, the effects of the extrusion variables on the total phenolic and total flavonoid contents and on the antioxidant capacity of the tamarind shell were evaluated. The dry powdered tamarind shell was conditioned to have 32 or 39 g of water per 100 g of shell, prior to being subjected to extrusion. Subsequently, the conditioned samples were processed at 90°C, 100°C and 110°C in a single screw extruder. A non-extruded tamarind shell was taken as a control. The extrusion resulted in a 138.3% increase in the soluble dietary fiber content, along with 40.3% and 18.4% reductions of total phenolic and total flavonoid contents, respectively. The antioxidant capacity of the tamarind shell with moisture content of 32 g/100 g extruded at 100°C and 110°C was similar to that of non-extruded material. Moreover, the extruded products had the higher OAC compared to that of the control and they displayed an excellent response with regard to controlling the GDRI. The extrusion advantageously modified properties of the tamarind shell particularly when material with a moisture content of 32 g/100 g at 100°C was processed.

BackgroundGlobally, high rates of maternal and infant mortality call for interventions during the perinatal period to engage pregnant people as well as their loved ones in care. Mobile health technologies have become ubiquitous in our lives and in health care settings. However, there is a need to further explore their safety and effectiveness to support and improve health outcomes locally and globally. ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to review and synthesize published literature that described the development process or effectiveness evaluations of maternal and infant apps. MethodsWe applied a methodological framework for scoping reviews as well as the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines; in addition, the systematic review platform Covidence (Veritas Health Innovation Ltd) was used to facilitate the review of included studies. Search terms were developed collaboratively, and health sciences–associated databases were searched for studies conducted between January 1, 2000, and February 4, 2022. We excluded studies about apps that only gathered or tracked data or targeted care providers. ResultsA total of 1027 articles were included for title and abstract screening, of which 87 (8.47%) were chosen for full-text screening. Of these 87 articles, 74 (85%) were excluded with reasons, and 19 (22%) were included. Four articles were added at data extraction from hand searching and 2 others were excluded. Thus, we reviewed and synthesized data from 11 unique studies reported in 21 articles published between 2017 and 2021. The included studies represented 8 different countries. Most of the apps (8/11, 73%) were in English, although apps were also developed in Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, and Nepali. The articles reviewed revealed the early stage of development of the field of maternal and infant health apps, with modest evidence of app use and achievement of study outcomes. Only 1 (9%) of the 11 apps was endorsed by an independent health care provider society. App development and evaluation processes emerged, and specific app features were identified as vital for well-functioning apps. End-user engagement occurred in some, but not all, parts of app research and development. ConclusionsApps to improve maternal and infant health are being developed and launched in enormous numbers, with many of them not developed with mothers’ needs in mind. There are concerns about privacy, safety, and the standardization of current apps as well as a need for professional or institution-specific guidelines or best practices. Despite challenges inherent in currently available apps and their design processes, maternal and infant app technology holds promise for achieving health equity goals and improving maternal and child health outcomes. Finally, we propose recommendations for advancing the knowledge base for maternal and infant apps.

La producción de carbón a partir de biomasas surge como una alternativa sustentable, tanto para aprovechar residuos como para proteger el medio ambiente. Esta investigación tiene como objetivo aprovechar semillas de aguaje para elaborar ecocarbón. En primer lugar, las semillas (procedentes de Pucallpa y Yurimaguas) fueron caracterizadas proximalmente. Luego fueron caracterizadas morfológicamente (largo, diámetro y peso), tanto en estado fresco y deshidratado. En la segunda parte se realizó la carbonización, empleando un Diseño Completamente al Azar con arreglo factorial. El primer factor fue el estado de la semilla (fresca y deshidratada), y el segundo fue el método de carbonización (abierto y en caja), siendo la variable respuesta el rendimiento. En la tercera etapa se elaboraron las briquetas, evaluando principalmente el poder calorífico. Los resultados mostraron que el deshidratado solar redujo similarmente el peso de las semillas. Existe un efecto significativo del estado de la semilla como del método de carbonización en el rendimiento, siendo el mejor tratamiento con semilla seca y carbonización abierta (rendimiento 25,77%). Este tratamiento también obtuvo el mayor poder calorífico (6716,93 cal/g) en las briquetas finales, mayor en casi 25% que el de las briquetas tradicionales.

Microvasculature analysis is an important task in the medical field due to its various applications. It has been used for the diagnosis and threat of diseases in fields such as ophthalmology, dermatology, and neurology by measuring relative blood flow or blood vessel morphological properties. However, light scattering at the periphery of the blood vessel causes a decrease in contrast around the vessel borders and an increase in the noise of the image, making the localization of blood vessels a challenging task. Therefore, this work proposes integrating known information from the experimental setup into a deep learning architecture with multiple inputs to improve the generalization of a computational model for the segmentation of blood vessels and depth estimation in a single inference step. The proposed R-UNET + ET + LA obtained an intersection over union of 0.944 ± 0.065 and 0.812 ± 0.080 in the classification task for validation (in vitro) and test sets (in vivo), respectively, and a root mean squared error of 0.0085 ± 0.0275 μm in the depth estimation. This approach improves the generalization of current solutions by pre-training with in vitro data and adding information from the experimental setup. Additionally, the method can infer the depth of a blood vessel pixel by pixel instead of in regions as the current state of the art does.

La secuencia, el momento y los materiales utilizados en la reconstrucción de fracturas del piso orbitario siguen siendo un tema de debate. El tratamiento quirúrgico de las fracturas del suelo de la órbita depende de varias consideraciones. El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar la evidencia respecto al uso de diferentes materiales de reconstrucción así como la experiencia de los autores. Varón de 51 años con diagnóstico de fractura en estallido puro en el piso de la órbita derecha, producida por caída desde su propia altura. Se decidió realizar una reducción abierta con la combinación de placas de lactosorb, malla de titanio y cartílago costal. El paciente fue dado de alta sin complicaciones con revisión durante los siguientes 4 meses, sin antecedentes de enoftalmos, diplopía o distopía. La evaluación temprana y el ingreso para manejo quirúrgico siguiendo las indicaciones internacionales antes mencionadas son primordial. La correcta evaluación del paciente en el postoperatorio indica un adecuado marco de manejo interdisciplinario.

The family-owned dairy goat sector in Andalusia presents great diversity. Taking into account the particularities of their economic strategies, which are focused on generating net value added and a stable long-term remuneration for family labor, this work aims to expand the scarce existing knowledge on the energetic and economic profiles of the different caprine management systems in a context of climate and energy crisis. For this purpose, twenty-one farms, representatives of the four typologies of the Andalusian dairy goat system, were monitored for one year: pastoral systems, grazing systems with high feed supply, indoor systems with associated crops, and indoor systems without associated crops. Technical-economic information was obtained that allowed the calculation of energy and economic indicators. In terms of socialized output, the differences found were due to the energy derived from milk sales, which was clearly lower in pastoral systems. The higher proportion of energy output obtained from manure with respect to edible products (milk and meat) highlights the importance of the former in energetic terms. High values for external inputs are found in the intensive group (111.22 GJ LSU−1), while the lowest results correspond to the pastoral group (36.96 GJ LSU−1). The main external input is the energy proceeding from purchased feed, which accounts for over 79% of the total external energy input in all four groups. The highest energy efficiency corresponds to the pastoral group, which is also the most efficient one in the use of non-renewable energy to produce milk and meat. Additionally, the level of eco-efficiency is higher in pastoral systems. Common Agricultural Policy funds contribute to increasing the remuneration of family work in pastoral systems, assimilating it to the rest of the systems. Therefore, intensification does not imply an absolute monetary advantage in all cases, while extensification can be remunerative for family-owned dairy farming.

Berry production is increasing worldwide each year; however, high production leads to labor shortages and an increase in wasted fruit during harvest seasons. This problem opened new research opportunities in computer vision as one main challenge to address is the uncontrolled light conditions in greenhouses and open fields. The high light variations between zones can lead to underexposure of the regions of interest, making it difficult to classify between vegetation, ripe, and unripe blackberries due to their black color. Therefore, the aim of this work is to automate the process of classifying the ripeness stages of blackberries in normal and low-light conditions by exploring the use of image fusion methods to improve the quality of the input image before the inference process. The proposed algorithm adds information from three sources: visible, an improved version of the visible, and a sensor that captures images in the near-infrared spectra, obtaining a mean F1 score of 0.909±0.074 and 0.962±0.028 in underexposed images, without and with model fine-tuning, respectively, which in some cases is an increase of up to 12% in the classification rates. Furthermore, the analysis of the fusion metrics showed that the method could be used in outdoor images to enhance their quality; the weighted fusion helps to improve only underexposed vegetation, improving the contrast of objects in the image without significant changes in saturation and colorfulness.

Introduction: The calcification of the double J catheter can be found in 13% of those placed and increases proportionally to the time it remains in contact with urine. The researchers agree that the calcified double J catheter is a complex complication to resolve. A bibliographic review was carried out, from 2011 to 2021. The resources of the SciELO, EBSCO, Elsevier and PubMed databases were used in relation to the descriptors lithiasis, catheters, minimally invasive surgical procedures and intraoperative and postoperative complications. Objective: To describe the role of minimally invasive surgery for the treatment of calcified double J catheter. Development: The risk factors related to calcified double J are clinical-therapeutic and sociodemographic, such as urinary tract infection, history of lithiasis, pregnancy, chronic kidney disease, metabolic or congenital anomalies. Those made of polyurethane have higher rates of calcification. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy can be used in up to 70.7% of patients. Multimodal methods such as ureteroscopy prior to transurethral cystolithotripsy have been applied between 6-17.9%, percutaneous nephrolithotomy and ureteroscopy prior cystolithotripsy or not in 7.7%-20%. The most frequent complications are reported during the postoperative period (20%): fever, pain, vomiting, hematuria, pyelonephritis, sepsis, urinoma, spontaneous migration of the newly placed catheter, and acute kidney injury, among others. Conclusions: Minimally invasive surgery is currently the cornerstone of treatment for patients with calcified double-J catheters.

The development of bio-based materials remains one of the most important alternatives to plastic materials. Although research in this field is growing, reporting various materials and methodologies, it is still necessary to increase exploration. The aim of this work was to expand and complement previous research on the preparation and characterization of high- and low-methoxyl pectin films obtained by casting, with the addition of commercial and recovered sunflower waxes. The results showed that the addition of sunflower waxes to the pectin matrix generated some discontinuity in the aggregate, increasing the thickness and roughness of the film. However, due to their hydrophobic nature, the waxes contributed to lower vapor transmission rate values of the films. On the other hand, the low-methoxyl pectin films had a more crystalline structure, which could help to diminish water vapor permeability values, mechanical resistance and rigidity, and improve their elongation. Regarding chemical characteristics, most of the raw materials’ chemical groups were found in the resulting films, and the presence of C-H bending due to pectin gelation was observed. Finally, the compatibility and contribution of pectin and sunflower waxes to the production of the films were demonstrated, as well as the possibility of using materials from industrial waste in food packaging applications.

The small ruminant livestock sector faces the challenge of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Carbon footprint (CF) studies on dairy goats, the most widely used indicator to quantify the impact of livestock farming on global warming, are still few. The aim of this study was to calculate the CF of the different production systems of autochthonous dairy goat breeds presently occurring in Andalusia (S Spain) and identify systems and practices that can minimize their environmental impact in these terms. Twenty-one farms were monitored during a year, obtaining valuable information that allowed the CF calculation on a “cradle-to-gate” approach, taking into account both GHG emissions at the farm level and carbon sink by vegetation associated with land-based systems. Results showed similar CF values for the analyzed systems (1.42, 1.04, 1.15, and 1.17 kg CO2-eq kg−1 fat–protein corrected milk for indoor systems without associated crops, indoor systems with associated crops, grazing systems with high feed supply, and pastoral systems, respectively). To minimize their environmental impact, specific actions must be developed for each system, particularly regarding genetic improvement, reproductive and feeding management, including pasture management, and the integration of livestock activity into the bio-circular economy with the help of professional advice.

The nixtamalization process used for tortilla production entails extended processing time and generates pollutant effluents. Ohmic heating (OH) is an emerging technology that uses an alternating electric current for rapid and uniform food heating and mitigates effluent concerns. However, gaps exist in nutrient bioavailability studies. In this work, we assessed OH’s impact on tortilla nutritional value, protein, and calcium using a rat model. Twenty-five male Wistar rats were fed one of four diets for 21 days: raw corn (RC) as an experimental control, OH-processed tortillas (OHTs), traditionally processed tortillas (TPTs), commercial tortillas (CTs), and a casein diet (CD) as a growth control. Despite similar protein and macronutrient profiles, OH significantly enhanced insoluble fiber content. The weight gain sequence was OHTs > TPTs > CTs > RC. OHTs exhibited superior protein digestibility (88.52%), which was 3% higher than other diets. The serum albumin (2.63–2.73 g/dL) indicated moderate malnutrition due to the tortilla’s lower protein content. Nonetheless, the protein efficiency ratio (1.2–1.74) showed no significant difference from TPTs. Bone characteristics and fracture strength resembled the tortilla-fed groups, surpassing RC. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy confirmed that the OHT and TPT diets improved male rat bone thickness and crystallinity. The findings suggest the potential for OH as an eco-friendly tortilla production method, maintaining nutritional value comparable to traditional methods.

With the growing of consumer’s demand for products ready to eat that can be elaborated with greener technologies without affecting to their organoleptic characteristics, the application of ultrasound combined with microwaves has been widely studied on food preservation treatments (drying, frying), extraction of high-value added compounds and enzymatic hydrolysis of proteins. This review presents a complete picture of current knowledge on the ultrasound combined with microwaves including the mechanisms, influencing factors, advantages and drawbacks, emphasising in several synergistic effects observed in different processes of strong importance in the food industry. Recent research has shown that this hybrid technology could not only minimise the disadvantages of power US for drying and frying but also improve the product quality and the efficiency of both cooking processes by lowering the energy consumption. Regarding extraction, current studies have corroborated that the combined method presents higher yields in less time, in comparison with those in the respective ultrasound and microwave separately. Additionally, recent results have indicated that the bioactive compounds extracted by this combined technology exhibit promising antitumor activities as well as antioxidant and hepatoprotective effects. Remarkably, this hybrid technology has been shown as a good pre-treatment since the structural changes that are produced in the molecules facilitate the subsequent action of enzymes. However, the combination of these techniques still requires a proper design to develop and optimized conditions are required to make a scale process, and it may lead to a major step concerning a sustainable development and utilization of bioactive compounds from natural products in real life.

This study investigated the changes in the physicochemical properties of maize starch on nixtamalized flours produced with ohmic heating (OH). Samples were prepared using the following OH process variables and levels: cooking temperature (85 and 90 °C), heating time (0, 5 and 10 min) and voltage (120 and 130 V). Changes were studied using their viscosity profiles, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results indicated that flour viscosity was affected by increasing time and/or temperature, but also by greater electrical fields. This was due to gelatinization and electroporation, shown as damage of the starch granule in SEM. DSC and XRD indicated not only gelatinization and loss of crystalline structures, but also formation of new amylose–lipid interactions, stabilizing the starch system and causing lower peak viscosity.

The ecosystem services provided by the age-old activity of husbandry are presently declining or seriously endangered. The situation is particularly serious for regulation services and for certain cultural services given their growing dependence on external inputs. This work performs a bibliometric analysis for the purpose of identifying the certainties and gaps associated with the different ecosystems generated by pastoral husbandry, and confirms the pressing challenges that the livestock industry is facing in the current context of global change. Two different tools, Scopus and VOSviewer, have been implemented to analyze 2230 documents published between 1961 and 2021 that include the terms “grazing” and “service”. The information required for the bibliometric analysis of authorship, country of origin, field of study and number of citations, among other categories, was drawn from the documents to the effect of evidencing their general thematic relationships. Finally, the current state of the ecosystem services currently provided by pastoral husbandry—provisioning, regulation, cultural and support services—was assessed. The results showed a greater abundance of scientific literature on provisioning and regulation services than on cultural and support services. An increase in the number of publications from the beginning of the 21st century was confirmed. The United States stands out as the country with the largest scientific production, and environmental sciences is the most prominent field in the study of ecosystem services. A recent larger academic effort to encourage the promotion of ecosystem services from the institutions has also been observed, as well as to include them as a factor in the development of environmental policies, which is described as the greatest challenge for the future of this discipline. Among other possible solutions, the new European Union agricultural subsidies—the so-called eco-schemes—appear to be essential for that effort to bear fruit as soon as possible.

Efecto de las condiciones de atomización electrohidrodinámica sobre las características morfométricas y la resistencia mecánica de las partículas de mucílago de chía y alginato Electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA) is a technique which produces monodispersed particles and can employ food grade biopolymers as wall materials, such as chia mucilage. The aim of this work was to study the changes on the morphometric characteristics (Feret, roundness) and mechanical resistance of chia mucilage-sodium alginate microparticles obtained at different process conditions (voltage: 11–14 kV; distance to collector 5.5–8.5 cm). The diameter of particles was ≤1 mm, being more deformed (roundness, RD < 0.61), with higher mechanical strength (MS: 7–7.5 N) and Weber numbers (9.9 x 10−5 – 3.7 × 10−4) than those processed without voltage. A descriptive model relating We and process parameters was developed, being corroborated by Pearson analysis, and observing correlations larger than 0.8 between We with Feret and MS (0.817, 0.807), and Feret with MS and voltage (0.837, 0.826). These results confirmed the feasibility of applying EHDA to produce chia mucilage-sodium alginate particles with different morphologies and mechanical characteristics depending on process conditions.

Resumen: Introducción: Promover la investigación en estudiantes de Medicina y elevar la producción científica en las universidades del Perú y de Latinoamérica es una prioridad y una necesidad. Objetivo: Describir el diseño y la aplicación del curso taller de titulación por tesis de pregrado y su eficacia en la producción de tesis. Métodos: Estudio descriptivo, comparativo, con componentes analíticos, que incluyó a estudiantes del pregrado de la Facultad de Medicina Humana de la Universidad Ricardo Palma, durante los años 2015, 2016 y 2017. Se tomaron como indicadores de eficacia del curso: número de proyectos aprobados, número de tesis de pregrado sustentadas y número de manuscritos de artículos finalizados. Resultados: Se incluyeron un total de 460 alumnos; el 55% fueron mujeres y el 45%, hombres. El 99% de los estudiantes no tenía experiencia previa en investigación. Las áreas elegidas por los estudiantes para las tesis fueron: clínica 50%, quirúrgica 30% y salud pública 20%. Pasamos de un promedio de 6 tesis por año a uno de 150 tesis anuales con la introducción de la nueva ley universitaria y la realización del curso taller. Los indicadores evaluados del curso mostraron una eficacia mayor al 95%, p = 0,000. Conclusión: El curso taller demostró ser un instrumento eficaz para contribuir a la producción de las tesis de pregrado en la Facultad de Medicina Humana de la Universidad Ricardo Palma. Abstract: Introduction: Promoting research in medical students and increasing scientific production in the universities of Peru and Latin America is a priority and a necessity. Objective: To describe the design and application of the undergraduate thesis workshop course and its effectiveness in thesis production. Methods: A descriptive, comparative study, with analytical components, which included undergraduate students of the Human Medicine Faculty of the Universidad Ricardo Palma (Peru), during the years 2015, 2016, and 2017. The effectiveness indicators of the course were taken as: number of completed projects, number of undergraduate thesis dissertations approved, and number of completed manuscripts of articles. Results: A total of 460 students were included; 55% were women and 45% were men. Almost all (99%) of the students had no previous experience in research. The areas chosen by the students for the theses were: clinical 50%, surgical 30%, and public health 20%. We passed from an average of 6 theses per year to one of 150 theses per year with the introduction of the new university law and the completion of the workshop course. The indicators evaluated of the course showed an efficiency greater than 95%, P = .000. Conclusion: The workshop course proved to be an effective tool for contributing to the production of undergraduate theses in the Faculty of Human Medicine of the Universidad Ricardo Palma. Palabras clave: Tesis de pregrado, Estudiantes de Medicina, Promoción de la investigación, Educación médica, Universidades, Investigación biomédica, Keywords: Undergraduate thesis, Medical students, Research promotion, Medical education, Universities, Biomedical research

Background and aims – As a result of the description of many new species, reanalyses of type material, and information becoming available on valve morphogenesis in small araphid diatoms lacking a rimoportulae, the existing classification scheme at the genus level needs revision. Because morphological information has increased manyfold since the system provided by Williams & Round (1987), it may now be possible to find distinguishing characters in order to produce a more stable and useful framework, encompassing a morphogenetic perspective, which could then guide the placement of newly discovered taxa. This new framework could also be used to help assess the molecular information generated for the group, based on which many new genera are being erected, but perhaps without proper pondering of morphological data.Methods – A thorough review was made of available published information on the ultrastructure of small-celled araphid diatoms lacking rimoportulae. In addition, image databases were searched, and new light and scanning electron microscopical observations made of some hitherto undescribed species.Key results and conclusions – We provide a table of putative distinguishing features for nine genera (Nanofrustulum, Opephora, Pseudostaurosira, Pseudostaurosiropsis, Punctastriata, Sarcophagodes, Stauroforma, Staurosira and Staurosirella), together with a discussion on their value for discriminating these small diatoms using a morphogenetic perspective. Based on our findings, we amend the genus Pseudostaurosira, establishing wide and short vimines as its most characteristic feature. We use our system in describing a new species from Bolivia, which we place in Nanofrustulum based on its quasifract copulae, the distinguishing trait of the genus. The new species is distinguished from its congeners by its heteropolar valves, apical pore field features, and the multiseriate areolae. We also examine the three genera Popovskayella, Gedaniella, and Serratifera, the latter two recently erected based on molecular information. Since none of these latter genera pass the morphogenetic evaluation we think is essential, we place them in synonymy with other genera and provide the consequent nomenclatural changes. Finally, we make several new combinations in Nanofrustulum, Pseudostaurosira, Sarcophagodes and Staurosirella.

The nutritional, cooking and technological properties of the Tepary bean (TB) cultivated in Mexican northeast comparing to two common beans varieties (Pinto Americano and Black Jamapa) were evaluated in this study. Nutritional parameters evaluated of TB resulted significantly different from common beans varieties analysed, except lipid fraction. Cooking times of soaked (4 and 8 h) and non-soaked varieties varied significantly; TB shows between 55.1-80.49 min by cooking time. The textural profile analysis (TPA) of TB showed a significant reduction of hardness, chewiness and adhesiveness in soaked compared to non-soaked. In addition, TB presented a similar behaviour to Pinto Americano in TPA non-soaked and cooked and soaked 8h and cooked, except to adhesiveness. Technological properties of TB and resistant and non-resistant starch content showed significant differences between species. Due to, TB has nutritional, cooking and technological properties comparable to other edible legumes as common bean, mainly Pinto Americano variety.

Microvasculature analysis in biomedical images is essential in the medical area to evaluate diseases by extracting properties of blood vessels, such as relative blood flow or morphological measurements such as diameter. Given the advantages of Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging (LSCI), several studies have aimed to reduce inherent noise to distinguish between tissue and blood vessels at higher depths. These studies have shown that computing Contrast Images (CIs) with Analysis Windows (AWs) larger than standard sizes obtains better statistical estimators. The main issue is that larger samples combine pixels of microvasculature with tissue regions, reducing the spatial resolution of the CI. This work proposes using adaptive AWs of variable size and shape to calculate the features required to train a segmentation model that discriminates between blood vessels and tissue in LSCI. The obtained results show that it is possible to improve segmentation rates of blood vessels up to 45% in high depths (≈900 μm) by extracting features adaptively. The main contribution of this work is the experimentation with LSCI images under different depths and exposure times through adaptive processing methods, furthering the understanding the performance of the different approaches under these conditions. Results also suggest that it is possible to train a segmentation model to discriminate between pixels belonging to blood vessels and those belonging to tissue. Therefore, an adaptive feature extraction method may improve the quality of the features and thus increase the classification rates of blood vessels in LSCI.

Good sleep quality is essential in human life due to its impact on health. Currently, technology has focused on providing specific features for quality sleep monitoring in people. This work represents a contribution to state of the art on non-invasive technologies that can help improve the quality of people’s sleep at a low cost. We reviewed the sleep quality of a group of people by analyzing their good and bad sleeping habits. We take that information to feed a proposed algorithm for a non-invasive sensor network in the person’s room for monitoring factors that help them fall asleep. We analyze vital signs and health conditions in order to be able to relate these parameters to the person’s way of sleeping. We help people get valuable information about their sleep with technology to live a healthy life, and we get about a 15% improvement in sleep quality. Finally, we compare the implementations given by the network with wearables to show the improvement in the behavior of the person’s sleep.

Saponins from Quillaja saponaria and Chenopodium quinoa were evaluated as natural emulsifiers in the formation of astaxanthin enriched canola oil emulsions. The aim of this study was to define the processing conditions for developing emulsions and to evaluate their physical stability against environmental conditions: pH (2–10), temperature (20–50 °C), ionic strength (0–500 mM NaCl), and storage (35 days at 25 °C), as well as their performance in an in vitro digestion model. The emulsions were characterized, evaluating their mean particle size, polydispersity index (PDI), and zeta potential. Oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions were effectively produced using 1% oil phase and 1% emulsifier (saponins). Emulsions were stable over a wide range of pH values (4–10), but exhibited particle aggregation at lower pH, salt conditions, and high temperatures. The emulsion stability index (ESI) remained above 80% after 35 days of storage. The results of our study suggest that saponins can be an effective alternative to synthetic emulsifiers.

Objectives To describe and assess clinical characteristics and factors associated with mortality in adult patients with COVID-19 admitted to a national referral hospital in Peru. Methods We conducted a prospective cohort study that included hospitalized patients older than 18 years with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection diagnosis. Patients with a positive rapid serological test on admission but no respiratory symptoms nor compatible images were excluded. We collected the data from clinical records. Results A total of 813 adults were included, 544 (66.9%) with confirmed COVID-19. The mean age was 61.2 years (standard deviation: 15.0), and 575 (70.5%) were male. The most frequent comorbidities were hypertension (34.1%) and obesity (25.9%). On admission, the most frequent symptoms were dyspnea (82.2%) and cough (53.9%). A total of 114 (14.0%) patients received mechanical ventilation, 38 (4.7%) were admitted to the intensive care unit, and 377 (46.4%) died. The requirement for ventilatory support, greater lung involvement, and inflammatory markers were associated with higher mortality. It was found that for every 10-year age increase, the risk of dying increased 32% (relative risk: 1.32; 95% confidence interval: 1.25 to 1.38). Those who were admitted to the intensive care unit and and were placed on mechanical ventilation had 1.39 (95% confidence interval: 1.13 to 1.69) and 1.97 (95% confidence interval: 1.69 to 2.29) times the risk of dying compared to those who did not, respectively. Conclusion We found a high mortality rate among hospitalized patients associated with older age, higher inflammatory markers, and greater lung involvement.

Introduction: Adrenal oncocytoma is a rare and incidental tumor without its own clinical manifestations. Objective: To present a case of adrenal oncocytoma and its diagnostic and therapeutic characteristics. Clinical case: 34-year-old male patient with a medical history, who presented with right lumbo-abdominal pain, without radiation or other accompanying symptoms. The physical exam was normal. The ultrasound reported a tumor of about 7 cm of diameter, located towards the upper pole of the right kidney. The adrenal origin was defined with contrast abdominal tomography. The blood levels of hormones of the adrenal cortex were normal. Total excision of the tumor was performed by conventional laparotomy. The kidney was normal. Histopathological examination reported adrenal oncocytoma and the immunohistochemistry confirmed it. The patient evolved satisfactorily. Conclusions: Adrenal oncocytoma is a rare and fortuitous tumor. Contrast abdominal tomography does not have high specificity to differentiate it from other adrenal tumors. The immunohistochemical profile of the tumor is conclusive in the definitive diagnosis.

Fats play multiple roles in determining the desirable characteristics of foods. However, there are health concerns about saturated and trans fats. Bigels have been proposed as a novel fat replacer in foods. This research evaluated the role of the type of hydrogel in the development of bigels to be used as fat replacers in cookies. Bigels were made with beeswax/canola oil oleogel and sodium alginate and carboxymethylcellulose hydrogels. The results showed that the peroxide value and binding capacity of bigels were affected by the type of hydrogel used. However, their fatty acid profile, p-anisidine value, oxidative stability, and texture remained unchanged. Using bigels as fat replacers, cookies were obtained with a hardness similar to those with original shortening, showing the potential of bigels for use in foods.

Background: Acute stroke care has greatly improved in recent decades. However, the increasing stroke mortality in low-to-middle income countries suggests that progress has not been reached completely by these populations. Here we present the analysis of the hospital phase of the first population-based stroke surveillance study. Methods: A daily hospital surveillance method was used to identify adult patients with acute stroke during 18 months in six hospitals. We abstracted data on demographics, vascular risk factors, neuroimaging-confirmed stroke types, and clinical data. Results: A total of 1361 adults with acute stroke were identified (mean age 69.2 years; 52% women) with transient ischemic attack (5.5%), acute ischemic stroke (68.6%), intracerebral hemorrhage (23.1%), cerebral venous thrombosis (0.2%), and undetermined stroke (2.6%). The main risk factors were hypertension (80.7%) and diabetes mellitus (47.6%). The usage rate of thrombolysis was 3.6%, in spite of the fact that 37.2% of acute ischemic stroke patients arrived in

Valorization of by-products obtained from food processing has achieved an important environmental impact. In this research, sunflower wax recovered from oil refining process was incorporated to low and high-methoxyl pectin films produced by electrospraying. Film-forming solutions and wax-added electrosprayed films were physical and structurally evaluated. The addition of sunflower wax to the film-forming solutions reduces conductivity while raising surface tension and density, whereas the type of pectin had a larger impact on viscosity, with the low-methoxyl solution having the highest value. These changes in physical solution properties influenced the film characteristics, observing thicker films with lower water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) when adding wax. Micrographs obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed the presence of wax particles as small spherical shapes, having a good distribution through the sectional area of films. According to X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and mechanical properties analyses, the presence of wax had an impact on the degree of crystallinity, producing a more amorphous and rougher film’s structure, without affecting the elongation percentage and the tensile stress (p>0.05). These results showed that wax addition improves the physical properties of films, while the suitability of using both pectins and the electrospraying technique was demonstrated.

Introducción: El manejo diagnóstico y terapéutico en los pacientes con lupus eritematoso sistémico que desarrollan una afectación neuropsiquiátrica representa un reto, debido a la heterogeneidad de las formas en que puede presentarse y la ausencia de criterios diagnósticos. Objetivo: Reconocer las formas clínicas de presentación de los síndromes neuroftalmológicos que traducen afectación pontina. Presentación del caso: Hombre de 71 años con antecedente de lupus eritematoso sistémico con afectación neuopsiquiátrica, que de forma aguda desarrolla un cuadro emético en el curso de una emergencia hipertensiva seguido de una parálisis de la mirada horizontal hacia la izquierda, una oftalmoplejía internuclear posterior derecha y una parálisis facial izquierda. En la neuroimagen se constata una afectación multifocal con marcado daño pontino. Conclusiones: Reconocer las formas clínicas de presentación de estos trastornos neuroftalmológicos raros que generalmente se presentan de forma aguda/subaguda permite al neurólogo realizar el diagnóstico topográfico de la lesión a nivel protuberancial con elevada precisión desde la Sala de Urgencias, así como reducir los posibles diagnósticos diferenciales a una etiología vascular, desmielinizante u ocupativa de espacio.

Objetivo: Determinar los factores asociados y el grado de adherencia al TARGA en los pacientes con VIH/SIDA en el hospital Central PNP “Luis N. Sáenz” en los meses de octubre a diciembre del 2015.Métodos: Estudio observacional, transversal, analítico y descriptivo donde se evaluó a 123 pacientes con un cuestionario CEAT-VIH. Se realizó la recolección de datos en el programa Microsoft Excel y el análisis estadístico mediante el programa SPSS v.22.Resultados: Donde encontramos que la edad promedio de los todos los pacientes evaluados es 40.11 años. El tiempo de infección de los pacientes evaluados fue un promedio un año y 7 meses. El tiempo de tratamiento con el TARGA consto de un promedio de 20 meses. El 52 % (64 pacientes) de la población estudiada fue algún familiar del titular, ya sea esposa (o), hijo (a) o padres. El género que prevalece en la muestra es masculino con el 63.4 % (78 pacientes). Y la carga viral, el 77.2 % es indetectable (< 400 copias/ ml). El grado encontrado fue una adecuada adherencia al TARGA, con una puntuación de 82.51 y al relacionar el grado de adherencia con las características socio-demográficas no son significativas. Pero si se encontró relación el grado de adherencia con la carga viral.Conclusión: La población estudiada tiene una adecuada adherencia al tratamiento antirretroviral y los 5 factores que mide el cuestionario: cumplimento del tratamiento, antecedentes de la falta de adherencia, interacción médico-paciente, creencias del paciente y estrategia para la toma de medicamentos, tienen muy buena influencia en la adherencia al TARGA. DOI: 10.25176/RFMH.v19.n1.1792

The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is one of the most important food legumes because of its high availability and low cost. It has also been associated with preventing and reducing noncommunicable diseases. Because of this, the application of processing technologies has grown to improve common beans’ nutritional and bioactive profiles. The processing of the raw material directly influences its techno-functional properties. The objective of this work was to demonstrate the advantages of ohmic heating over traditional cooking on common bean flours in regard to their techno-functional characteristics and antinutritional factors. The results of ohmic heating did not show significant differences compared with traditional cooking; however, ohmic heating obtained higher values in foaming capacity and emulsifying. In addition, it did not modify the protein solubility profile and reduced trypsin inhibitors by 25.42 to 57.44%. This suggests that ohmic heating could be an alternative to conventional treatments and reducing processing time, with greater energy efficiency, not presenting nutrient leaching.

The utilization of astaxanthin in food processing is considered to be narrow because of its substandard solubility in aqueous matrices and the instability of chemical compounds during the processing of food and the instability of chemical compounds during the processing of food. The investigation sought to evaluate multilayer emulsions stabilized by ionic interfacial layers of lupin protein isolate (LPI), ι-carrageenan (CA), and chitosan (CHI) on the physical stability of the emulsion as well as the retention of astaxanthin during the spray drying process. Primary emulsion (Pr-E) was prepared by adding LPI on oil droplet surfaces containing astaxanthin. The homogenization pressure and cycles to obtain the Pr-E were investigated. The secondary emulsion (Se-E) and tertiary emulsion (Te-E) were elaborated by mixing CA/Pr-E and CHI/Se-E, respectively. Emulsion stability was assessed under different environmental stresses (pH and NaCl). Astaxanthin retention of emulsions was determined immediately after finishing the spray-drying process. The results showed that Pr-E was stabilized with 1.0% (w/v) of LPI at 50 MPa and three cycles. Se-E and Te-E were obtained with CA/Pr-E and Se-E/CHI of 70/30 and 50/50% (w/w), respectively. The Se-E was the most stable compared to the Pr-E and Te-E when subjected to different pHs; nevertheless, once the NaCl concentration rose, no variations in the ζ-potential of all emulsions studied or destabilization were observed. The Se-E and Te-E derived provided higher astaxanthin retention (>95%) during the spray-drying process compared to Pr-E (around 88%). The results indicated that these astaxanthin multilayer emulsions show considerable potential as a functional ingredient in food products.

Introducción: Se ha notado el ingreso de neonatos con mastitis, cuya procedencia geográfica es diversa, pero parece recaer en determinadas áreas geográficas de la provincia La Habana.Objetivo: Determinar la incidencia y procedencia geográfica de la mastitis neonatal en la provincia La Habana.Material y métodos: Estudio descriptivo, retrospectivo y transversal de neonatos con mastitis, ingresados en los servicios abiertos de Neonatología de los hospitales pediátricos universitarios "Juan Manuel Márquez" y "William Soler", en la provincia de La Habana, durante el año 2013 y primer trimestre del 2014. La información se obtuvo de los expedientes clínicos de los pacientes y los registros estadísticos del departamento de Epidemiología Hospitalaria de la provincia La Habana y esta se procesó mediante estadística descriptiva.Resultados: La incidencia de mastitis neonatal en la provincia de La Habana para el período de estudio fue de 3.56 x 1,000 nacidos vivos. La proporción de casos con mastitis neonatal es mayor para los nacidos en el hospital "Luis Díaz Soto" y procedentes del municipio Habana del Este, con diferencias cuando se compara con cada uno de los otros municipios de la provincia La Habana.Conclusiones: La incidencia de la mastitis neonatal durante el período estudiado en la provincia La Habana indica ser más elevado que lo comúnmente reportado, con un predominio de casos provenientes del municipio Habana del Este y nacidos en el hospital "Luis Díaz Soto", lo cual sugiere que pudieran existir allí condiciones medio-ambientales o de otro tipo, que faciliten la afección. Palabras clave: Mastitis, neonatal, Recién nacido, Infección, infecciones bacterianas, infecciones de tejidos blandos, absceso de la glándula mamaria, incidencia ABSTRACTIntroduction: It is appreciated the admission of neonates with mastitis, whose geographical origin is diverse, but is clustered in determinates geographical areas in La Habana province.Objetive: To determinate the incidence and geographical clustering by hospitals and municipalities from La Habana province of cases with neonatal mastitis.Material and methods: Descriptive, retrospective and transversal study of neonates with mastitis, admitted in the Neonatal open services at the pediatric hospitals "Juan Manuel Márquez" and "William Soler", in Havana province, during the year 2013 and first trimester of 2014. The information was obtained from the clinical charts of these patients and from the statistical records of the Hospital Epidemiology department of La Habana province and it was processed by descriptive statistic.Results: The incidence of neonatal mastitis in Havana province for the studied period was 3.56 x 1,000 live born. The cases proportion with neonatal mastitis was higher for those who were born in the "Luis Díaz Soto" hospital and those who were from the Habana del Este municipality, with differences when it is compared each other municipalities of the Havana province.Conclusions: There incidence of neonatal during the studied period in Havana province indicate to be higher as commonly reported, with predominance of cases from the Habana del Este municipality, and cases born in the "Luis Díaz Soto" hospital, which suggest that may exist there environmental conditions, or other kinds of aspects, that facilitate the affection. Keywords: Neonatal, mastitis, newborn, infection, Bacterial infections, soft tissue infections, breast abscess, incidence

Microbes are suitable candidates to recover and decontaminate different environments from soluble metal ions, either via reduction or precipitation to generate insoluble, non-toxic derivatives. In general, microorganisms reduce toxic metal ions generating nanostructures (NS), which display great applicability in biotechnological processes. Since the molecular bases of bacterial reduction are still unknown, the search for new -environmentally safe and less expensive- methods to synthesize NS have made biological systems attractive candidates. Here, 47 microorganisms isolated from a number of environmental samples were analyzed for their tolerance or sensitivity to 19 metal(loid)s. Ten of them were highly tolerant to some of them and were assessed for their ability to reduce these toxicants in vitro. All isolates were analyzed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, fatty acids composition, biochemical tests and electron microscopy. Results showed that they belong to the Enterobacter, Staphylococcus, Acinetobacter, and Exiguobacterium genera. Most strains displayed metal(loid)-reducing activity using either NADH or NADPH as cofactor. While Acinetobacter schindleri showed the highest tellurite (TeO32-) and tetrachloro aurate (AuCl4-) reducing activity, Staphylococcus sciuri and Exiguobacterium acetylicum exhibited selenite (SeO32-) and silver (Ag+) reducing activity, respectively. Based on these results, we used these bacteria to synthetize, in vivo and in vitro Te, Se, Au, and Ag-containing nanostructures. On the other hand, we also used purified E. cloacae glutathione reductase to synthesize in vitro Te-, Ag-, and Se-containing NS, whose morphology, size, composition, and chemical composition were evaluated. Finally, we assessed the putative anti-bacterial activity exhibited by the in vitro synthesized NS: Te-containing NS were more effective than Au-NS in inhibiting Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes growth. Aerobically synthesized TeNS using MF09 crude extracts showed MICs of 45- and 66- μg/ml for E. coli and L. monocytogenes, respectively. Similar MIC values (40 and 82 μg/ml, respectively) were observed for TeNS generated using crude extracts from gorA-overexpressing E. coli. In turn, AuNS MICs for E. coli and L. monocytogenes were 64- and 68- μg/ml, respectively.

La tortilla se obtiene por medio del proceso tradicional de Nixtamalización. Este proceso tiene dos inconvenientes: producción de efluentes contaminantes y ser discontinuo. La extrusión, ha resuelto la problemática de la generación de efluentes contaminantes, sin embargo, no ha podido sustituir al proceso tradicional de nixtamalización. Esto se debe a que la masa de maíz es un fluido pseudoplástico, el cual cambia su viscosidad en la presencia de velocidades de cizalla que ocurren dentro del extrusor. Con base a lo anterior, el presente trabajo propone el diseño y construcción de un Sistema de Transporte Laminar de Bajo Cizallamiento (STLBC) para la producción de masa para tortilla. Este sistema consiste de dos etapas aisladas térmicamente: Etapa de transporte y de cocimiento. Los resultados mostraron que el prototipo obtenido cumple con las características de cocimiento homogéneo, bajo cizallamiento, no produce efluentes contaminantes, y la masa obtenida, cumple con especificaciones de masa nixtamalizada.

The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the risks involved in the use of Enrofloxacin for Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) or Salmonella Heidelberg (SH) in commercial poultry and determine the effects of a probiotic as an antibiotic alternative. Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the risks involved in the use of Enrofloxacin for SE or SH in commercial poultry. Exp 1 consisted of 2 trials. In each trial, chickens were assigned to one of three groups; control + SE challenged; Enrofloxacin 25 mg/kg + SE; Enrofloxacin 50 mg/kg + SE. Chickens received Enrofloxacin in the drinking water from days 1 to 5 of age. On day 6, all groups received fresh water without any treatment. All chickens were orally gavaged with 107 cfu/chick of SE at 7 days of age and euthanized on 8 days of age. In Exp 2, turkey poults were assigned to one of the three groups; control + SH; probiotic + SH; Enrofloxacin 50 mg/kg + SH. Poults received probiotic or Enrofloxacin in the drinking water from days 1 to 5 of age. On day 6, poults received fresh water without any treatment. Poults were orally gavaged with 107 cfu/poult of SH at 7 days of age. Poults were weighted and humanely killed 24 h post-SH challenge to evaluate serum concentration of FITC-D to evaluate intestinal permeability, metagenomics and SH infection. In both trials of Exp 1, chickens treated with Enrofloxacin were more susceptible to SE organ invasion and intestinal colonization when compared with control non-treated chickens (P < 0.05). In Exp 2, poults treated with 50 mg/kg of Enrofloxacin showed an increase in body weight, however, this group also showed an increase in SH susceptibility, intestinal permeability and lower proportion of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, but with control group had the highest proportion of Proteobacteria. In contrast, poults that received the probiotic had the highest proportion of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, but lowest Proteobacteria. The results of the present study suggest that prophylactic utilization of Enrofloxacin at 5 times the recommended dose in poultry, increases the susceptibility to salmonellae infections, and confirms probiotics may be an

The tellurium oxyanion tellurite (TeO32-) is extremely harmful for most organisms. It has been suggested that a potential bacterial tellurite resistance mechanism would consist of an enzymatic, NAD(P)H-dependent, reduction to the less toxic form elemental tellurium (Te0). To date, a number of enzymes such as catalase, type II NADH dehydrogenase and terminal oxidases from the electron transport chain, nitrate reductases, and dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (E3), among others, have been shown to display tellurite-reducing activity. This activity is generically referred to as tellurite reductase (TR). Bioinformatic data resting on some of the abovementioned enzymes enabled the identification of common structures involved in tellurite reduction including vicinal catalytic cysteine residues and the FAD/NAD(P)+-binding domain, which is characteristic of some flavoproteins. Along this line, thioredoxin reductase (TrxB), alkyl hydroperoxide reductase (AhpF), glutathione reductase (GorA), mercuric reductase (MerA), NADH: flavorubredoxin reductase (NorW), dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase, and the putative oxidoreductase YkgC from Escherichia coli or environmental bacteria were purified and assessed for TR activity. All of them displayed in vitro TR activity at the expense of NADH or NADPH oxidation. In general, optimal reducing conditions occurred around pH 9-10 and 37 °C.Enzymes exhibiting strong TR activity produced Te-containing nanostructures (TeNS). While GorA and AhpF generated TeNS of 75 nm average diameter, E3 and YkgC produced larger structures (> 100 nm). Electron-dense structures were observed in cells over-expressing genes encoding TrxB, GorA and YkgC.

Egg retention (ER) and intrauterine embryonic development (IED) have been considered intermediate steps in the evolution from oviparity to viviparity. Sceloporus aeneus is an oviparous lizard that is closely related to the viviparous species (Sceloporus bicanthalis). The present study addresses the following 2 questions: 1) Are intermediate stages of egg retention (ER and IED) present in populations of Sceloporus aeneus? and 2) Are ER and/or IED explained by elevation, precipitation or phylogenetic effects? Results indicate that in S. aeneus, ER differs among populations. ER was negatively related to altitude and pluvial precipitation, whereas average environmental temperature had no effect on ER or IER. In contrast to previous observations of oviparous species related to viviparous species, populations of S. aeneus with advanced IED are associated with environmental factors such as low elevation and aridity instead of high elevation and cold climate, whereas the comparative analysis shows that there are no significative evolutionary changes throughout the phylogeny, which means that the altitude has no effect on the transition to the evolution of viviparity in S. aeneus-S bicanthalis.La retención de huevos (ER) y el desarrollo embrionario intrauterino (IED) han sido considerados pasos intermedios hacia la viviparidad. Sceloporus aeneus es un lacertilio ovíparo estrechamente relacionado a una especie vivípara (Sceloporus bicanthalis). El presente estudio derivó de las preguntas: ¿El ER y el IED presentes en las poblaciones de S. aeneus son estadios intermedios a la viviparidad? ¿ER y/o IED son explicados por la temperatura, altitud, precipitación pluvial o son un efecto filogenético? En S. aeneus, el ER y el IED fueron diferentes entre poblaciones. Los resultados indicaron que la ER se relacionó negativamente con la altitud y la precipitación pluvial, mientras que no se encontró efecto con la temperatura ambiental. En contraste con observaciones previas en especies emparentadas con las especies vivíparas, los resultados de la presente investigación indican que en las poblaciones de S. aeneus estudiadas, el mayor avance en el IED lo presentaron los organismos que habitan en baja elevación y áreas secas en lugar de alta elevación y climas fríos. Por otro lado, el análisis comparativo mostró que no existen cambios evolutivos significativos en los valores a lo largo de la filogenia, lo que significa que la altitud no tiene un efecto significativo en la transición hacia la viviparidad en Sceloporus aeneus-S. bicanthalis.

El principal propósito de este artículo es presentar la teoría de conjuntos difusos como un instrumento confiable y preciso para medir pobreza, que además ofrece ventajas comparativas respecto a los métodos tradicionalmente empleados para esta tarea. Este artículo también muestra que la metodología de conjuntos difusos es compatible con la información censal (información agrupada) para calcular índices de pobreza. Se presentan los resultados de medir la pobreza para los niveles estatal, municipal y localidad, y se comparan con resultados oficiales. Esta comparación revela que la teoría difusa resuelve algunos de los problemas metodológicos que enfrentan las líneas de pobreza y los índices de marginación, lo que hace de este instrumento una opción útil no solo para medir, sino también para aplicar y evaluar la política pública encaminada a combatir la pobreza.

instantáneas para preparación de frituras de masa y tortillas. Durante el proceso de elaboración de harinas instantáneas la menor variación en color se observó en las muestras adicionadas con cal. La mayor capacidad de absorción de agua correspondió a las muestras procesadas sin cal. La cohesión y adhesión de masas de harinas instantáneas preparadas con cal por cocimiento dieléctrico se sitúan dentro de los valores reportados para muestras de masa de nixtamal y de harinas comerciales de maíz nixtamalizado. El análisis de color en frituras elaboradas con harinas instantáneas preparadas con cocimiento dieléctrico mostraron ligeros cambios con relación a las frituras elaboradas por el proceso tradicional de nixtamalización. Las frituras de tortilla preparadas con harinas instantáneas (adicionadas de cal) con 15 minutos de cocimiento dieléctrico, presentaron valores de DE similares al control. El contenido de humedad de las frituras varió en un rango de 1.5 a 2.8. Las frituras de masa de harinas instantáneas preparadas por cocimiento dieléctrico adicionadas de cal absorbieron la mayor cantidad de aceite, seguidas por el control y finalmente por las muestras de frituras de tortilla. Las frituras de tortilla preparadas con harinas instantáneas (adicionadas con cal) durante 10 y 15 minutos con cocimiento dieléctrico fueron crujientes y suaves. Las harinas instantáneas elaboradas por cocimiento dieléctrico de maíz integral presentan un alto potencial para producir frituras de buenas características funcionales con ahorros substanciales en gasto de agua, tiempos de procesamiento y mayores rendimientos debido al uso integral del grano de maíz.Application of dielectric cooking to produce instant maize flour for corn and tortilla chips. This present work reports on the evaluation of a method for producing of instant flour for corn and tortilla chips based on dielectric cooking (DC). The samples prepared with lime showed a smaller variation in color than those without lime. A greater water absorption capacity was found in the samples processed without lime. The values for cohesion and adhesion of the DC masa prepared with lime are within the range of values previously reported for samples of masa prepared with nixtamal and commercial instant maize flours. The color analyses of chips from DC masa showed slight changes in relation to the chips prepared by the traditional process of nixtamalization. The DC tortilla chips (plus lime) with 15 minutes of DC showed similar values of DE as compared to the control (commercial tortilla chips). The moisture of the DC chips varied in the range from 1.5 to 2.8. The DC tortilla chips with lime absorbed a lower amount of oil than the control sample and the corn chips. In fact, the DC chips absorbed lower amount of oil as compared to the control. The DC tortilla chips with lime and processed for 10 and 15 minutes were crunchy and smooth. Dielectric cooking displays a high potential for corn and tortilla chips with good functional characteristics, giving substantial savings of water, processing time and with higher yields due to the use of the whole grain.