Study of a laboratory-scaled new method for the accelerated continuous ageing of wine spirits by applying ultrasound energy.

During the ageing of brandies, many physicochemical processes take place involving the distilled spirit and the wood of the casks. Because of these reactions, the polyphenolic content of brandies and their content of organic acids increase with the ageing. These reactions are slow, and the ageing of high-quality brandies takes several years. In this paper, the development of a system that uses the circulation of the wine distillate through encapsulated American oak chips and the application of ultrasound energy with the aim of producing aged wine spirits has been carried out, and the influences of the operation variables over the characteristics of the produced drink have been measured. With that proposal, the influence of different powers of ultrasound, and also the influence of the movement of the liquor through oak chips, was determined first. This way, the results show that higher powers of ultrasound, of nearly 40W/L, in addition with the movement of the spirit, improve the extraction of phenolic compounds in a 33.94%, after seven days of ageing. Then, applying Youden and Steiner's experimental design, eight experiments of ageing were performed, and the samples obtained by this new method were analysed to obtain information related to their physicochemical and oenological characterisation in order to determine the experimental conditions that produce the best ageing results. This way, the best spirit produced by this new method of ageing is obtained with a high alcoholic strength of the distilled wine and a high quantity of oak chips, and with room temperature and high flow rate. In addition, the presence of oxygen in the sample and the absence of light increase the quality of the produced spirit. Finally, the application of ultrasound energy in large pulses is related with the improvement of two important ageing markers: the intensity of the colour and the TPI. As a last experiment, we applied this ageing method to five varietal spirits. The sensorial analysis of aged samples showed the aged spirits had better ratings than the initial distilled wine.

[Aphasia in a polyglot: description and neuropsychological course]. / Afasia en un políglota: descripción y evolución neuropsicológica.

We present a case of aphasia due to an ischaemic lesion in the left temporo-occipital region of the brain of a 60 year old right-handed polyglot. Mother tongues: French, Italian, Arabic. Educated at school in English. Languages learnt as an adult: German, Portuguese, Spanish. Language habitually spoken prior to illness: Spanish. His language disorder was of non-fluent type and progressed to an anomic disorder. The non-parallel recovery of languages led to an initial and predominant recovery of English (language at school) followed by French (his first language). This type of non-parallel recovery may be compatible with the inhibition-disinhibition mechanism hypothesis. This would mean that the languages of least recovery are inhibited by raising the threshold of some circuits while still permitting comprehension.

[Focal neuropsychological deterioration by posterior lobar atrophy (posterior cortical dementia)]. / Deterioro neuropsicológico focal por atrofia lobar posterior (demencia cortical posterior). Correlación clinicorradiológica.

A right-handed 59 year old man who presented difficulties in the performance of complex acts (praxic) and spatial disorientation is described. Neurophysical exploration showed deterioration of the capacities linked to perceptive and spatial organization preserving the verbal capacities including the memory. After two years and a half of follow up practically no variation has been observed in his clinical manifestations with no implication of other superior mental function. CAT and MR findings revealed important posterior atrophy with an increase in the occipital loops. SPECT demonstrated cold images due to a bilateral parietal-temporal perfusion deficit. Discussion of the case leads to the needs of unifying the criteria and terminology for these focal degenerative processes.

[Depression in Parkinson's disease and its relation to the cognitive and motor manifestations]. / La depresión de la enfermedad de Parkinson y su relación con las manifestaciones cognitivas y motoras.

Evaluation with the geriatric depression scale carried out in 30 patients with Parkinson's disease who did not present subjective complaint of loss of memory or impairment in superior mental function capable of interfering in daily routine showed a high frequency of depression of 50-70% depending on where the cut-off in the geriatric depression scale was located. Depression in these patients does not significantly relate with either cognitive impairment or the degree of motor incapacity. Neither were depression or anxiety in these patients related with demographic data such as the age of the patient, age at onset of the disease, sex, months of evolution, or education. In contrast, a positive correlation was found between depression and anxiety.

[Field trial of the Cuban recombinant vaccine against hepatitis B (Heberbiovac HB). Study in newborn infants born to AgsHB+ mothers]. / Ensayo de campo de la vacuna recombinante cubana contra la hepatitis B (Heberbiovac HB). Estudio en recién nacidos hijos de madres AgsHB+.

A study was conducted on 106 newborns, whose AgsHB positive mothers received active protection against hepatitis B (83 with the Cuban-produced Heberbiovac HB vaccine and 23 with the Engerix-B vaccine manufactured by S. Kline as control group, following the scheme 0, 1 and 2 months with the first dose administered in the first 12 hours after birth. Samples were taken to study virus B markers at birth (umbilical cord) after 30, 60, 90 and 180 days. Laboratory determinations were carried out by the ELISA technique with diagnostic kits from the firm Organon Tecknica. Ten or more IU/L of anti-HBs present in serum was considered as the lowest protective level. Children were classified according to the AgeHB present in mothers, AgsHB in the umbilical cord and the concentration of Ags HB in maternal serum. 100% of the children who received the control vaccine showed serological evidence of seroconversion to anti HBs with protective titres, and the values of the geometric mean of the titres of antibodies were statistically significant (p < 0.01) in all the extractions, favoring the Cuban vaccine. The efficacy of the two preparations used in this research work was 100%. This study makes it possible to report on a recombinant vaccine against hepatitis B (Heberbiovac HB) which represents the first vaccine of this type produced in Latin America, the efficacy of which was proved in the field trial.

Fisioterapia de las enfermedades respiratorias / Phisiotherapy of the respiratory tract diseases

Se realiza un estudio en el policlínico de Especialidades Pediátricas "Luis Galban Soca" de la provincia de Guantánamo, con el objetivo de valorar el rendimiento global y la eficacia de la rehabilitación respiratoria en niños con enfermedades respiratorias agudas. Se toman los casos desde 1986 hasta 1990,ambos inclusive. La edad de mayor incidencia fue de 1 a 2 años, el sexo predominante, el masculino, y los diagnósticos mayormente encontrados fueron el asma bronquial y las alergias respiratorias. En todos los casos se usó vibradores y puñopercusión, así como ejercicos respiratorios y masoterapia empleándose con mayor frecuencia los dos primeros. Resulta mayormente usado el vibrador y la puñopercusión. La evaluación fue satisfactoria en todos los casos. Se emiten conclusiones y recomendaciones. Se anexas tablas estadísticas e ilustraciones (AU)