[Analysis of the characteristics of door-to-door advertising sent by supermarkets in the Principality of Asturias (Spain): a cross-sectional study].

BACKGROUND: To analyze which foods and beverages, frequently included in advertising mail delivered by supermarkets in the Principality of Asturias, can be considered essential for consumption by the population, as well as to compare their price with that of essential products. METHODS: Cross-sectional, descriptive study of supermarket sales circulars delivered to seven homes in Asturias (Spain) by four supermarket chains from July to December 2018. Type of product, its classification as essential or non-essential and mean price of the advertised product were registered. RESULTS: The study identified 14,314 products, mostly belonging to the categories: "cakes, pastries, chocolate, sugar, and sweeteners" (15.3?%), "milk and milk derivatives" (9.7?%), "processed meats".and "alcoholic beverages" (8.9?% each) and "ready-made" (8.4?%). Products considered to be non-essential were found to predominate (61.9?%). Significant differences in product type were observed between supermarket chains. Essential products had a lower mean price than the non-essential products, both overall and for each supermarket chain, and was significantly lower for one of them. . CONCLUSIONS: Products which are non-essential from the point of view of health, such as sugar-rich products, processed meats, and alcoholic beverages, dominated the advertising mail delivered door-to-door by supermarkets in the Principality of Asturias. On a positive note, the prices of essential products, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, were, on average, significantly lower than the prices of non-essential products.

Spanish adaptation and validation of the Mobile Application Rating Scale questionnaire.

INTRODUCTION AND AIM: In recent years, numerous health-related apps have appeared on the market, and assessing their quality has become crucial. A very popular tool worldwide, created especially for this purpose, is the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS). However, there are no similar tools in Spanish. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to adapt MARS to the Spanish language and validate the resultant version. METHOD: The design consists of three processes: cross-cultural adaptation, translation, and metric evaluation. 46 mobile applications, 23 of which were for Apple telephones and 23 of which were for telephones running Android, were included in the study. The main objective of these applications was to promote physical activity. The internal factor structure and reliability of MARS were examined. RESULTS: No major differences were observed in the two Spanish translations, which were carried out independently. The blind back-translation, reviewed by the original author of MARS, suggested minor edits. Discrimination indices (item-scale correlation) obtained appropriate results for both raters. The reliability of the scores was found to be appropriate both in terms of internal consistency (α > 0.77), temporal stability (r > 0.72), and inter-rater reliability (IC > 0.76). The correlations between the subscales have shown high values with range between 0.47 and 0.83. CONCLUSION: The Spanish version of MARS was shown to have appropriate metric properties to assess the quality of health apps.

Toward Smaller Aqueous-Phase Plasmonic Gold Nanoparticles: High-Stability Thiolate-Protected ∼4.5 nm Cores.

Most applications of aqueous plasmonic gold nanoparticles benefit from control of the core size and shape, control of the nature of the ligand shell, and a simple and widely applicable preparation method. Surface functionalization of such nanoparticles is readily achievable but is restricted to water-soluble ligands. Here we have obtained highly monodisperse and stable smaller aqueous gold nanoparticles (core diameter ∼4.5 nm), prepared from citrate-tannate precursors via ligand exchange with each of three distinct thiolates: 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid, α-R-lipoic acid, and para-mercaptobenzoic acid. These are characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy for plasmonic properties; Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for ligand-exchange confirmation; X-ray diffractometry for structural analysis; and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy for structure and size determination. Chemical reduction induces a blueshift, maximally +0.02 eV, in the localized surface plasmon resonance band; this is interpreted as an electronic (-) charging of the monolayer-protected cluster (MPC) gold core, corresponding to a -0.5 V change in electrochemical potential.

PAR-1 and PAR-2 Expression Is Enhanced in Inflamed Odontoblast Cells.

Protease-activated receptors (PARs) are G protein-coupled receptors, which are activated by proteolytical cleavage of the amino-terminus and act as sensors for extracellular proteases. We hypothesized that PAR-1 and PAR-2 can be modulated by inflammatory stimulus in human dental pulp cells. PAR-1 and PAR-2 gene expression in human pulp tissue and MDPC-23 cells were analyzed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Monoclonal PAR-1 and PAR-2 antibodies were used to investigate the cellular expression of these receptors using Western blot, flow cytometry, and confocal microscopy in MDPC-23 cells. Immunofluorescence assays of human intact and carious teeth were performed to assess the presence of PAR-1 and PAR-2 in the dentin-pulp complex. The results show for the first time that human odontoblasts and MDPC-23 cells constitutively express PAR-1 and PAR-2. PAR-2 activation increased significantly the messenger RNA expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-9, MMP-13, and MMP-14 in MDPC-23 cells ( P < 0.05), while the expression of these enzymes decreased significantly in the PAR-1 agonist group ( P < 0.05). The high-performance liquid chromatography and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis showed the presence of MMP-13 activity cleaving PAR-1 at specific, noncanonical site TLDPRS42↓F43LL in human dental pulp tissues. Also, we detected a presence of a trypsin-like activity cleaving PAR-2 at canonical site SKGR20↓S21LIGRL in pulp tissues. Confocal microscopy analysis of human dentin-pulp complex showed intense positive staining of PAR-1 and PAR-2 in the odontoblast processes in dentinal tubules of carious teeth compared to intact ones. The present results support the hypothesis of activation of the upregulated PAR-1 and PAR-2 by endogenous proteases abundant during the inflammatory response in dentin-pulp complex.

Amino acid consumption in naïve and recombinant CHO cell cultures: producers of a monoclonal antibody.

Most commercial media for mammalian cell culture are designed to satisfy the amino acid requirements for cell growth, but not necessarily those for recombinant protein production. In this study, we analyze the amino acid consumption pattern in naïve and recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell cultures. The recombinant model we chose was a CHO-S cell line engineered to produce a monoclonal antibody. We report the cell concentration, product concentration, and amino acid concentration profiles in naïve and recombinant cell cultures growing in CD OptiCHO™ medium with or without amino acid supplementation with a commercial supplement (CHO CD EfficientFeed™ B). We quantify and discuss the amino acid demands due to cell growth and recombinant protein production during long term fed batch cultivation protocols. We confirmed that a group of five amino acids, constituting the highest mass fraction of the product, shows the highest depletion rates and could become limiting for product expression. In our experiments, alanine, a non-important mass constituent of the product, is in high demand during recombinant protein production. Evaluation of specific amino acid demands could be of great help in the design of feeding/supplementation strategies for recombinant mammalian cell cultures.

State-of-the-art in downstream processing of monoclonal antibodies: process trends in design and validation.

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are the most important family of biopharmaceutical compounds in terms of market share. At present, 30 mAbs have been approved and are now commercialized for therapeutic purposes. mAbs are typically produced by mammalian cell culture in bioreactors that range in scale of 1-20 m(3) . Regardless of scale, from laboratory to commercial settings, the recovery and purification of mAbs present important challenges. Depending on the scale, the particular product, and the type of production process (bioreactor operation, process time, complexity of the culture media, cell density, etc.), many possible downstream configurations are possible and have been used. In this contribution, we review each type of unit operation that forms a downstream train for mAb production. We provide information regarding typical operation settings and critical variables for centrifugation, ultrafiltration, affinity chromatography, ion exchange chromatography, and viral removal operations. In addition, we discuss some important considerations required for the formulation of drugs based on mAbs.

Use of a Plackett-Burman statistical design to determine the effect of selected amino acids on monoclonal antibody production in CHO cells.

Culture media design is central to the optimization of monoclonal antibody (mAb) production. Although general strategies do not currently exist for optimization of culture media, the combined use of statistical design and analysis of experiments and strategies based on simple material balances can facilitate culture media design. In this study, we evaluate the effect of selected amino acids on the growth rate and monoclonal antibody production of a Chinese hamster ovary DG-44 (CHO-DG44) cell line. These amino acids were selected based on their relative mass fraction in the specific mAb produced in this study, their consumption rate during bioreactor experiments, and also through a literature review. A Plackett-Burman statistical design was conducted to minimize the number of experiments needed to obtain statistically relevant information. The effect of this set of amino acids was evaluated during exponential cell culture (considering viable cell concentration and the specific growth rate as main output variables) and during the high cell-density stage (considering mAb final concentration and specific productivity as relevant output variables). For this particular cell line, leucine (Leu) and arginine (Arg) had the highest negative and positive effects on cell viability, respectively; Leu and threonine (Thr) had the highest negative effect on growth rate, and valine (Val) and Arg demonstrated the highest positive impact on mAb final concentration. Results suggest the pertinence of a two-stage strategy for amino acid supplementation, with a mixture optimized for cell growth and a different amino acid mixture for mAb production at high density.

Kinetic analysis and mathematical modeling of growth and lactic acid production of Lactobacillus casei var. rhamnosus in milk whey.

Lactobacillus casei is a lactic acid bacterium (LAB) that colonizes diverse ecological niches and that has found broad commercial application. The aim of this study was to characterize the kinetics of biomass production, lactic acid production, and substrate consumption of Lactobacillus casei var. rhamnosus cultured in deproteinized milk whey. Batch culture experiments were performed in an instrumented, 2-L, stirred tank bioreactor using different inoculum concentrations (0.5 to 1.0 g/L) and lactose levels (35 to 70 g/L). The time series of experimental data corresponding to biomass growth, lactose consumption, and lactic acid formation were differentiated to calculate the corresponding kinetic rates. Strong exponentially dependent product inhibition effects were evident at low lactic acid concentrations, and lactic acid production rate was partially associated with biomass growth. A mathematical model is presented that reproduces the experimental lactose, biomass, and lactic acid concentration profiles.

Human hematopoietic progenitor cells grow faster under rotational laminar flows.

We report significant and reproducible growth acceleration of human progenitor cells when exposed to rotational flow when compared with stationary conditions. Nonenriched CD34+ umbilical cord derived human hematopoietic progenitor cells were cultured in Petri dishes located at different radial distances with respect to the central axis of a rotating platform. Growth dynamics under 3 or 5 rpm agitation was compared against that observed under typical stationary conditions. Cells cultured at 3 or 5 rpm exhibited (a) the absence of a latency phase, (b) an increase in final cell concentrations by 54-58.5%, and (c) reduced doubling time in their exponential phase by 12-16% in comparison with stationary culture. Cells grown under rotational agitation were confirmed to remain CD34+ by PCR. These results document a significant positive effect of exposure to laminar flow fields on the growth of human hematopoietic progenitor cells.

Production of probiotic biomass (Lactobacillus casei) in goat milk whey: comparison of batch, continuous and fed-batch cultures.

This contribution examines the technical feasibility of producing high added value probiotic biomass from deproteinized and non-supplemented milk whey. The kinetics of growth of Lactobacillus casei in deproteinized goat milk whey was analyzed. Experiments in batch, continuous and fed-batch conditions were conducted in a 3 L fully instrumented bioreactor. Final substrate and biomass concentrations, yields and productivities are reported for different culture strategies. A kinetic analysis was conducted to characterize biomass production, product inhibition effects, and substrate consumption rates. Due to the strong product inhibition, fed-batch cultures at high biomass concentration rendered higher productivity (0.45 g L(-1) h(-1)) than batch and continuous cultures (0.11 g L(-1) h(-1)), complete lactose conversions (<1.0 g of lactose/L at the end of each fed-batch cycle), and a product with higher viable cell counts (2 x 10(10) cell/g of freeze-dried product). Based on our result, high-cell density fed-batch strategies are recommended for commercial production of probiotic L. casei biomass.

Effect of mixing during fermentation in yogurt manufacturing.

In traditional yogurt manufacturing, the yogurt is not agitated during fermentation. However, stirring could be beneficial, particularly for improving heat and mass transport across the fermentation tank. In this contribution, we studied the effect of low-speed agitation during fermentation on process time, acidity profile, and microbial dynamics during yogurt fermentation in 2 laboratory-scale fermenters (3 and 5 L) with different heat-transfer characteristics. Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus were used as fermenting bacteria. Curves of pH, lactic acid concentration, lactose concentration, and bacterial population profiles during fermentation are presented for static and low-agitation conditions during fermentation. At low-inoculum conditions, agitation reduced the processing time by shortening the lag phase. However, mixing did not modify the duration or the shape of the pH profiles during the exponential phase. In fermentors with poor heat-transfer characteristics, important differences in microbial dynamics were observed between the agitated and nonagitated fermentation experiments; that is, agitation significantly increased the observable specific growth rate and the final microbial count of L. bulgaricus.

[Genetic variation and recombination have profound medical implications]. / La recombinaison, moteur de diversité chez les alphaherpèsvirus, a de profondes implications médicales.

In the family Herpesviridae, the subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae contains numerous pathogenic viruses, i.e. herpes simplex and varicella-zoster viruses. These double-stranded DNA viruses exhibit a complex cycle combining lytic and latent infections. Moreover, both intranuclear replication and a sophisticated DNA replication machinery allow an efficient proof-reading mechanism of correction. A low mutation rate is therefore encountered by these viruses. Recombination can be identified as a key element of the genetic biodiversity of alphaherpesviruses, together with mutations. The experimental data recently obtained in the bovine herpesvirus 1 homologous model support the importance of recombination in alphaherpesvirus evolution and its role in the mechanisms involved by the virus to escape from medical tools of prevention and treatment.

The dissociation between the recall of stimulus frequencies and the judgment of contingency allows the placement of the competition effect in the final causal processing stages

In the predictive learning and causal reasoning literature it has beensuggested that the processing of events is under the control of a competitivemechanism. However, little is known about whether the competitivemechanism operates at the encoding or near the response stages. The presentwork suggests that measures based on the recall of frequencies of the cells inthe contingency table could help us in the placement of the competitionprinciple within the processing stages. As the contingency judgment about aconstant symptom-illness relation changed according to the validity of asecond different symptom, we concluded in favour of a competitionmechanism. However, estimated frequencies did not change as a result ofsuch manipulation. This dissociation suggests that the competitivemechanism operates near the response stage rather than at the stimulusencoding period

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Dry granular flows can generate surface features resembling those seen in Martian gullies.

Over the past decade or more, contradictory evidence of Martian climate, indicating that surface temperatures seldom if ever approach the melting point of water at midlatitudes, and geomorphic features, consistent with liquid flows at these same latitudes, have proven difficult to reconcile. In this article, we demonstrate that several features of liquid-erosional flows can be produced by dry granular materials when individual particle settling is slower than characteristic debris flow speeds. Since the gravitational acceleration on Mars is about one-third that on Earth, and since particle settling speeds scale with gravity, we propose that some (although perhaps not all) Martian geomorphological features attributed to liquid flows may in fact be associated with dry granular flows in the presence of reduced gravity.

Attraction of minute particles to invariant regions of volume preserving flows by transients.

We find that tracer material can be concentrated into invariant regions of flows due exclusively to transient effects, as are produced when tracers temporarily become more buoyant than the surrounding fluid. This can occur either as a single event, e.g., if the tracer is initially weakly buoyant, or under periodic forcing, e.g., when external effects (such as solar heating) change the tracer density periodically. We study both cases in experiments, in a model, and in direct numerical simulations of laminar flow in a stirred tank. Focusing occurs for very small tracer size and inertia in flows that are instantaneously strictly volume conserving.

[Phenotype markers in strains of Aeromonas isolated in Cuba from children with an acute diarrheic disease]. / Marcadores fenotípicos en cepas de Aeromonas aisladas en Cuba de niños con enfermedad diarreica aguda.

Twenty-seven cases of Aeromonas isolated from 300 five-years children with acute diarrheal disease (EDA) were studied, with the aim for demonstrating the occurrence of some phenotypical markers associated with enteropathogenicity; among them were lysine decarboxylation, acetil methyl carbinol production, enterotoxigenicity, cytotoxicity and hemolysis. The percentage of analysed strains had two or more of the investigated markers, and 13 (48.1%) lysed the rabbit erythrocytes with titres higher than than 1:16. The presence of markers in Aeromonas hydrophila, Aeromonas sobria, and Aeromonas caviae was demonstrated.