The Response of Naturally Based Coatings and Citrus Fungicides to the Development of Four Postharvest Fungi.

The tomato (Licopersicon esculentum Mill.) is considered to be one of the products with the highest demand due to its nutritional value; however, it is susceptible to infection by fungi during its pre- and postharvest stages. In this research, three commercial products (1% Citrocover, 1% Citro 80, and 0.002% Microdyn) and two coatings based on 1.0% chitosan/0.1% lime or 0.1% orange essential oils were evaluated in vitro and on Saladette tomatoes that were previously inoculated with four postharvest fungi. The application of the commercial citrus-based product Citrocover was highly effective in reducing the in vitro development of Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium oxysporum, and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, but not Rhizopus stolonifer. The sanitizer Microdyn promoted infections with most fungi. Citrus-based products were effective in reducing infections with A. flavus in the tomatoes during storage. Overall, mycotoxin production was very low for all treatments. The use of commercial citrus-based products and coatings did not alter the weight loss, firmness, or total soluble solid contents of the treated tomatoes. The changes observed were, rather, associated with the normal ripening process of Saladette tomatoes. The commercial citrus-based products satisfactorily controlled the in vitro growth of the fungi Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium oxysporum, and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides.

Impact on Glycemic Variation Caused by a Change in the Dietary Intake Sequence.

This work presents an analysis of the effect on glycemic variation caused by modifying the macronutrient intake sequence in a person without a diagnosis of diabetes. In this work, three types of nutritional studies were developed: (1) glucose variation under conditions of daily intake (food mixture); (2) glucose variation under conditions of daily intake modifying the macronutrient intake sequence; (3) glucose variation after a modification in the diet and macronutrient intake sequence. The focus of this research is to obtain preliminary results on the effectiveness of a nutritional intervention based on the modification of the sequence of macronutrient intake in a healthy person during 14-day periods. The results obtained corroborate the positive effect on the glucose of consuming vegetables, fiber, or proteins before carbohydrates, decreasing the peaks in the postprandial glucose curves (vegetables: 113-117 mg/dL; proteins: 107-112 mg/dL; carbohydrates: 115-125 mg/dL) and reducing the average levels of blood glucose concentrations (vegetables: 87-95 mg/dL; proteins: 82-99 mg/dL; carbohydrates: 90-98 mg/dL). The present work demonstrates the preliminary potential of the sequence in the macronutrient intake for the generation of alternatives of prevention and solution of chronic degenerative diseases, improving the management of glucose in the organism and permeating in the reduction of weight and the state of health of the individuals.

Dynamic of Glucose Homeostasis in Virtual Patients: A Comparison between Different Behaviors.

This work presents a mathematical model of homeostasis dynamics in healthy individuals, focusing on the generation of conductive data on glucose homeostasis throughout the day under dietary and physical activity factors. Two case studies on glucose dynamics for populations under conditions of physical activity and sedentary lifestyle were developed. For this purpose, two types of virtual populations were generated, the first population was developed according to the data of a total of 89 physical persons between 20 and 75 years old and the second was developed using the Monte Carlo approach, obtaining a total of 200 virtual patients. In both populations, each participant was classified as an active or sedentary person depending on the physical activity performed. The results obtained demonstrate the capacity of virtual populations in the generation of in-silico approximations similar to those obtained from in-vivo studies. Obtaining information that is only achievable through specific in-vivo experiments. Being a tool that generates information for the approach of alternatives in the prevention of the development of type 2 Diabetes.

Use of Natural Products on the Control of Aspergillus flavus and Production of Aflatoxins In Vitro and on Tomato Fruit.

Aspergillus flavus affects fresh and dry fruit and vegetable products, and its toxic metabolites, namely aflatoxins, cause serious damage in humans. The objective of this research study was to evaluate the effect of commercial natural products as well as edible and nanostructured chitosan coatings on the development of A. flavus and on the production of aflatoxins in vitro and in tomato. Treatments were as follows: chitosan 1%, chitosan coating, chitosan nanostructured coating, Citrocover 1% (citrus seed extract), Resinadher 0.5% (pine resin extract), mancozeb 2%, and water. The variables were as follows: halo inhibition, spore production, and aflatoxins content. In fruit, the following were evaluated: disease incidence, mycelial growth, and aflatoxin production. An ANOVA (Tukey: p < 0.05) was used. In vitro results showed that Citrocover and Resinadher reduced sporulation (0.2 and 0.9 × 105 spores mL-1, respectively), while chitosan inhibited the production of aflatoxins. With Resinadher and Citrocover, tomato fruit had the lowest incidence, mycelial growth, and aflatoxin production with corresponding values of 0%, 0.0 cm2, and 0.95 ppb, respectively, and 7%, 0.2 cm2, and 1.77 ppb, respectively. The use of Citrocover and Resinadher could be a viable alternative to decrease the development of A. flavus in tomato fruit.

Validation of Serological Antibody Profiles Against Human Papillomavirus Type 16 Antigens as Markers for Early Detection of Cervical Cancer.

Cervical cancer (CC) is the second most frequent neoplasia among women worldwide. Cancer prevention programs around the world have used the Papanicolaou (Pap) smear as the primary diagnostic test to reduce the burden of CC. Nevertheless, such programs have not been effective in developing countries, thus leading to research on alternative tests for CC screening. During the virus life cycle and in the process toward malignancy, different human papillomavirus (HPV) proteins are expressed, and they induce a host humoral immune response that can be used as a potential marker for different stages of the disease. We present a new Slot blot assay to detect serum antibodies against HPV16 E4, E7, and VLPs-L1 antigens. The system was validated with sera from a female population (n = 485) aged 18 to 64 years referred to the dysplasia clinic at the General Hospital in Cuautla, Morelos, Mexico. To evaluate the clinical performance of the serological markers, the sensitivity, specificity, positive, and negative predictive values and receiver-operating characteristic curves (for antibodies alone or in combination) were calculated in groups of lesions of increasing severity. The results showed high prevalence of anti-E4 (73%) and anti-E7 (80%) antibodies in the CC group. Seropositivity to 1, 2, or 3 antigens showed associations of increasing magnitude with CC (odds ratio [OR] = 12.6, 19.9, and 58.5, respectively). The highest association with CC was observed when the analysis was restricted to only anti-E4+E7 antibodies (OR = 187.7). The best clinical performance to discriminate CC from cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2 to 3 was the one for the combination of anti-E4 and/or anti-E7 antibodies, which displayed high sensitivity (93.3%) and moderate specificity (64.1%), followed by anti-E4 and anti-E7 antibodies (73.3% and 80%; 89.6% and 66%, respectively). In addition, the sensitivity of anti-E4 and/or anti-E7 antibodies is high at any time of sexual activity (TSA), which suggests they can be biomarkers for the early detection of CC. The sensitivity of anti-E4 antibodies was low (<10%) when the TSA was <10 years, and it increased up to 100% in relation to the TSA, suggesting that anti-E4 antibodies can be useful as HPV exposure markers at early stages of the disease.

Humoral Immune Response Against Human Papillomavirus as Source of Biomarkers for the Prediction and Detection of Cervical Cancer.

Cervical cancer (CC) is one of the main causes of death among women of reproductive age. Although there are different tests, the disease tends to be diagnosed at late stages. In recent years, the use of complementary tests or sequential diagnostic tests has been implemented. Nevertheless, the results are variable and not conclusive; therefore, more studies for improving the usefulness of these tests in diagnostics are necessary. The human papillomavirus (HPV) infection has been associated with both benign and malignant proliferation of skin and mucosal tissues. Furthermore, some HPV types have been classified as high risk due to their potential to cause cancer, and HPV16 is most frequently associated with this disease. Although between 70% and 80% of precancerous lesions are eliminated by the host's immune system, there is no available test to distinguish between regressive lesions from those that could progress to CC. An HPV infection generates a humoral immune response against L1 and L2 capsid proteins, which can be protective and a response against early proteins. The latter is not a protective response, but these antibodies can be used as markers to determine the stage of the infection and/or the stage of the cervical lesion. Up to now, the humoral immune response resulting from the HPV infection has been used to study the biology of the virus and the efficacy of the HPV vaccines. Although there are no conclusive results regarding the use of these antibodies for diagnosis, we hereby review the actual panorama of the antibody response against the HPV proteins during the development of the disease as well as their possible use as biomarkers for the progression of cervical lesions and of CC.