Polyphenolic profile, processing impact, and bioaccessibility of apple fermented products.

Health-promoting foods have become increasingly popular due to intensified consumer interest and awareness of illnesses. There is a global market for apple fruits, which are affordable, nutritious, tasty, and produced in large quantities for direct consumption as well as food processing to make derived products. The food matrix of apples is suitable for fermentation, besides containing a high amount of phenolics and polyphenols. Fermentation of apples is one of the most common methods of preserving apple fruit and its byproducts. With different fermentation techniques, apple fruit can be used to make a wide range of products, such as fermented apple juice, cider, liqueurs, apple cider, apple vinegar and fermented apple solids, because it is not only a low-cost and simple method of processing the fruit, but it can also sometimes increase the bioavailability of nutrients and the levels of components that can improve health and sensory quality. To understand the health benefits of food products and how the fermentation process impacts polyphenols, it is also crucial to observe the effects of digestion on polyphenol bioaccessibility. Polyphenolic profile changes can be observed via both in vitro and in vivo digestion methods; however, in vitro digestion methods have the advantage of observing every step of gastrointestinal track effects and have less cost as well. In this review, the polyphenolic profile, processing impact, and bioaccessibility of apple-fermented products is assessed, with most available studies showing polyphenol profiles and bioaccessibility in apple varieties and fermented apple products.

Seaweed polysaccharides: Emerging extraction technologies, chemical modifications and bioactive properties.

Nowadays, consumers are increasingly aware of the relationship between diet and health, showing a greater preference of products from natural origin. In the last decade, seaweeds have outlined as one of the natural sources with more potential to obtain bioactive carbohydrates. Numerous seaweed polysaccharides have aroused the interest of the scientific community, due to their biological activities and their high potential on biomedical, functional food and technological applications. To obtain polysaccharides from seaweeds, it is necessary to find methodologies that improve both yield and quality and that they are profitable. Nowadays, environmentally friendly extraction technologies are a viable alternative to conventional methods for obtaining these products, providing several advantages like reduced number of solvents, energy and time. On the other hand, chemical modification of their structure is a useful approach to improve their solubility and biological properties, and thus enhance the extent of their potential applications since some uses of polysaccharides are still limited. The present review aimed to compile current information about the most relevant seaweed polysaccharides, available extraction and modification methods, as well as a summary of their biological activities, to evaluate knowledge gaps and future trends for the industrial applications of these compounds.Key teaching pointsStructure and biological functions of main seaweed polysaccharides.Emerging extraction methods for sulfate polysaccharides.Chemical modification of seaweeds polysaccharides.Potential industrial applications of seaweed polysaccharides.Biological activities, knowledge gaps and future trends of seaweed polysaccharides.

Valorization of kiwi agricultural waste and industry by-products by recovering bioactive compounds and applications as food additives: A circular economy model.

Currently, agricultural production generates large amounts of organic waste, both from the maintenance of farms and crops (agricultural wastes) and from the industrialization of the product (food industry waste). In the case of Actinidia cultivation, agricultural waste groups together leaves, flowers, stems and roots while food industry by-products are represented by discarded fruits, skin and seeds. All these matrices are now underexploited and so, they can be revalued as a natural source of ingredients to be applied in food, cosmetic or pharmaceutical industries. Kiwifruit composition (phenolic compounds, volatile compounds, vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, etc.) is an outstanding basis, especially for its high content in vitamin C and phenolic compounds. These compounds possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory or antimicrobial activities, among other beneficial properties for health, but stand out for their digestive enhancement and prebiotic role. Although the biological properties of kiwi fruit have been analyzed, few studies show the high content of compounds with biological functions present in these by-products. Therefore, agricultural and food industry wastes derived from processing kiwi are regarded as useful matrices for the development of innovative applications in the food (pectins, softeners, milk coagulants, and colorants), cosmetic (ecological pigments) and pharmaceutical industry (fortified, functional, nutraceutical, or prebiotic foods). This strategy will provide economic and environmental benefits, turning this industry into a sustainable and environmentally friendly production system, promoting a circular and sustainable economy.

Agriculture waste valorisation as a source of antioxidant phenolic compounds within a circular and sustainable bioeconomy.

Planet globalization, population growth and its consequent need to produce large amounts of food, or individual economic benefits and the prioritization of this over environment health, are factors that that have contributed to the development, in some cases, of a linear-producing modern agricultural system. In contrast to traditional and local agriculture, which was based on circular sustainability models, modern agriculture currently produces tons of waste that is accumulated in landfill, creating controversial consequences, instead of being reintroduced into the production chain with a novel purpose. However, these residues from agriculture are rich in bioactive compounds, including phenolic compounds, secondary metabolites that are found naturally in plants, which show antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective and anticancer capacities, among others. Although there are several suitable extractive techniques for isolating these beneficial compounds from agricultural by-products, their industrial application remains without real application value at the industrial scale. The recovery of functional phenolic compounds can be achieved, obtaining products that can be reinserted into the economy as a new raw material. The re-utilization of these compounds not only represents numerous potential applications, such as food and feed additives, functional foods, nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, and so forth, but also represents a favourable measure for the environment, and results in the formation of value-added products. This review summarizes all of the aspects that lead to phenolic compound recovery from agricultural wastes generated in the agro-food industries, and their potential applications within a circular and sustainable bioeconomy.

Impact of Clinical Simulation Training in Transplantation.

INTRODUCTION: The Hospital El Cruce is a high complexity center that performs transplants, both the procurement and the implant of organs and tissues. To deal with the low availability of organs and tissues from cadaveric donors it has been implemented the training through clinical simulation. OBJECTIVE: To assess if continuous training through procurement clinical simulation workshops modifies the production and quality indicators of organ and tissue procurement for transplantation in the hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The workshop focuses on the procurement difficulties as detailed: workshops with high fidelity simulators: detection of potential donor; certification of death; treatment and selection of potential donor; workshops with role play actors; communication of the patient's death; and request for the last will of the deceased. A retrospective study was performed to compare between two periods the procurement activity. These periods defined 30-month before and after the opening of the workshop, as periods 1 and 2. RESULTS: In period 1, 44 patients underwent organ transplantation and 64 patients a tissue transplantation. After training through workshops (period 2), the number of patients increased to 71 for organ transplantation and 116 for tissue transplantation. CONCLUSIONS: Assessment of the two periods indicates that the production and quality indicators of organ and tissue procurement improved in the second period. Continuous training through procurement clinical simulation workshops is highlighted within all tasks carried out in the hospital. Clinical simulation is a motivating factor for the development of this activity in the hospital.

Relaxation dynamics of tryptophan in water: A UV fluorescence up-conversion and molecular dynamics study.

We report on an ultrafast experimental and simulations study of the early relaxation events of photoexcited tryptophan in water. Experimentally, we used fluorescence up-conversion in both polychromatic and single wavelength detection modes in the 300-480 nm range with polarization dependence. We report on the time evolution of the Stokes shift, bandwidth, and anisotropy from tens of femtoseconds to picoseconds. These observables contain signatures of the simultaneous occurrence of intramolecular and solvent-molecule interactions, which we disentangle with the help of nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. We also observe a breakdown of the linear response approximation to describe our results.

Sulfide-binding hemoglobins: Effects of mutations on active-site flexibility.

The dynamics of Hemoglobin I (HbI) from the clam Lucina pectinata, from wild-type sperm whale (SW) myoglobin, and from the L29F/H64Q/V68F triple mutant of SW, both unligated and bound to hydrogen sulfide (H2S), have been studied in molecular dynamics simulations. Features that account for differences in H2S affinity among the three have been examined. Our results verify the existence of an unusual heme rocking motion in unligated HbI that can promote the entrance of large ligands such as H2S. The FQF-mutant partially reproduces the amplitude and relative orientation of the motion of HbI's heme group. Therefore, besides introducing favorable electrostatic interactions with H2S, the three mutations in the distal pocket change the dynamic properties of the heme group. The active-site residues Gln-64(E7), Phe-43(CD1), and His-93(F8) are also shown to be more flexible in unligated HbI than in FQF-mutant and SW. Further contributions to H2S affinity come from differences in hydrogen bonding between the heme propionate groups and nearby amino acid residues.

Unidades de cuidados respiratorios intermedios. Definición y características / Intermediate respiratory intensive care units: definitions and characteristics

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Structural constraints and emergence of sequence patterns in protein evolution.

The aim of this work was to study the relationship between structure conservation and sequence divergence in protein evolution. To this end, we developed a model of structurally constrained protein evolution (SCPE) in which trial sequences, generated by random mutations at gene level, are selected against departure from a reference three-dimensional structure. Since at the mutational level SCPE is completely unbiased, any emergent sequence pattern will be due exclusively to structural constraints. In this first report, it is shown that SCPE correctly predicts the characteristic hexapeptide motif of the left-handed parallel beta helix (LbetaH) domain of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine acyltransferases (LpxA).

Delay model of the circadian pacemaker.

We present a simple and realistic model of the circadian pacemaker that can be interpreted in molecular terms. The model, which consists of a single time-delay differential equation, simulates the expression of a generic clock protein that inhibits its own expression through a feedback mechanism. Despite its simplicity, this model fulfils most of the necessary characteristics of a realistic representation of natural circadian clocks: robust and stable oscillations with circadian free-running periods, typical phase response curves and entrainment to environmental zeitgebers. The present model reduces the molecular mechanism necessary to sustain stable oscillations to its bare bones, suggesting that the essential factor is the time-delayed negative feedback of the oscillating protein on its own expression.

Evolutionary analysis of gamma-carbonic anhydrase and structurally related proteins.

We studied the evolutionary relationships between gamma-carbonic anhydrase (gamma-CA) and a very diverse group of proteins that share the sequence motif characteristic of the left-handed parallel beta-helix (LbetaH) fold. This sequence motif is characterized by the imperfect tandem repetition of short hexapeptide units, which makes it difficult to obtain a reliable alignment based on sequence information alone. To solve this problem, we used a structural alignment of three members of the group with known crystallographic structures as a seed to obtain a reliable sequence alignment. Then, we applied protein maximum-parsimony and maximum-likelihood phylogenetic inference methods to this alignment. We found that gamma-CA belongs to a diverse superfamily of proteins that share the LbetaH domain. This superfamily is composed mainly of acyltransferases. The most remarkable feature of the phylogenetic tree obtained is that its main branches group together functionally related proteins, so that the coarse topology can be rather easily explained in terms of functional diversification. Regarding the main branch of the tree containing gamma-CA, we found that, in addition to the group of its closest relatives that had already been studied, gamma-CA is closely related to the tetrahydrodipicolinate N-succinyltransferases.

Rapid automated determination of adenosine deaminase and lysozyme for differentiating tuberculous and nontuberculous pleural effusions.

The catalytic concentration of pleural adenosine deaminase (ADA) and the ratio of pleural lysozyme (PL) to serum lysozyme (SL) were measured in consecutive patients (49 tuberculous and 179 nontuberculous) with two automated procedures in a Hitachi 717 analyzer. Using sensitivity and specificity curves, we established cutoff values at 33 U/L for ADA and 1.7 for the PL/SL ratio. The sensitivity of ADA activities for tuberculous effusion was 90%, specificity 85%. Combining ADA with the PL/SL ratio enhanced specificity to 99%. However, high values for ADA and lysozyme ratios are not, alone or in combination, sensitive or specific enough to replace pleural biopsy or culture of pleural fluid for the diagnosis of tuberculous empyema.

Computational characterisation of potential RNA-binding sites in arenavirus nucleocapsid proteins.

A nucleocapsid protein of an RNA virus was characterised using computational methods. Similarity searches using standard algorithms and more sensitive methods based on profiles were performed. Also, secondary structure prediction and statistical methods were used. The results show that the protein belongs to a unique well-characterised family, with three regions with potential RNA binding capacity. The amino-terminal region is found to contain a mixed-charge segment similar to proteins that bear nucleic acid-protein interaction capacity. The middle-region has a slight homology to the nucleolar protein Fibrillarin containing an atypical RNP-1 conserved octamer. Finally, the carboxyl-terminal region has a putative zinc-finger.