FTIR-ATR detection method for emerging C3-plants-derivated adulterants in honey: Beet, dates, and carob syrups.

The European Union Publications Office has recently presented a report on the European Union's coordinated action with the Joint Research Centre to determine certain fraudulent practices in the honey sector, in which it has been indicated that 74% of the samples analyzed, imported from China, and 93% of the samples analyzed, imported from Turkey, the two largest honey producers worldwide, presented at least one indicator of exogenous sugar or suspicion of being adulterated. This situation has revealed the critical state of the problem of honey adulteration worldwide and the need to develop analytical techniques for its detection. Even though the adulteration of honey is carried out in a general way with sweetened syrups derived from C4 plants, recent studies have indicated the emerging use of syrups derived from C3 plants for the adulteration of honey. This kind of adulteration makes it impossible to analyze its detection using official analysis techniques. In this work, we have developed a fast, simple, and economical method based on the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy technique, with attenuated total reflectance, for the qualitative, quantitative, and simultaneous determination of beetroot, date, and carob syrups, derived from of C3 plants; whose available bibliography is very scarce and analytically not very conclusive for its use by the authorities. The proposed method has been based on the establishment of the spectral differences between honey and the mentioned syrups at eight different points in the spectral region between 1200 and 900 cm-1 of the mid-infrared, characteristic of the vibrational modes of carbohydrates in honey, which allows the pre-discrimination of the presence or absence of the syrups studied, and their subsequent quantification, with precision levels lower than 2.0% of the relative standard deviation and relative errors lower than 2.0% (m/m).

Honey polyphenols: regulators of human microbiota and health.

A comprehensive review of research over the last decade was conducted to carry out this work. The main objective of this work is to present relevant evidence of the effect of honey intake on the human intestinal microbiota and its relationship with the improvement of various chronic diseases, such as cirrhosis, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and obesity, among others. Therefore, this work focuses on the health-improving honey dietary supplementation implications associated with specific changes in the human microbiota and their biochemical mechanisms to enhance the proliferation of beneficial microorganisms and the inhibition of pathogenic microorganisms. Consumption of honey polyphenols significantly improves people's health conditions, especially in patients with chronic disease. Hence, honey intake unequivocally constitutes an alternative way to enhance health and could be used to prevent some relevant chronic diseases.

Rapid, reliable and easy-to-perform chemometric-less method for rice syrup adulterated honey detection using FTIR-ATR.

The adulteration of honey (Apis mellifera) is a global problem due to its economic, commercial and health implications. The world's leading beekeeping organisation, APIMONDIA, considers that the detection of adulteration in honey is a problem that has not yet been resolved. This evidence of the importance of the intensive development of analytical techniques that allow the unequivocal detection of adulterants in honey, especially those whose use as honey adulterants has recently emerged. This work aims to develop a fast, easy-to-perform, low-cost analytical method to qualitatively and quantitatively determine rice syrup using the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) technique with attenuated total reflectance (ATR) mode without complex mathematical procedures and sophisticated sample preparation. This study involved the analysis of 256 intentionally rice-syrup-adulterated honey samples and 92 pure honey samples of bee multifloral honey from Spain. The method, based strictly on the determination of the absorbance directly from the samples, at 1013 cm-1 The methodology used no need for previous treatments or preparations and demonstrated the scope for the unequivocal detection of rice syrup in adulterated honey containing equal to or higher than 3% (m/m) or more of this adulterant. Using the Exponential Plus Linear model (r = 0.998) shows high accuracy and precision, in terms of relative error (0.32%, m/m) and coefficient of variation (1.4%). The results of this study have led to the establishment of a maximum absorbance threshold of 0.670 for honey without rice syrup.

Urban air quality changes resulting from the lockdown period due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This work aims to quantify potential pollution level changes in an urban environment (Madrid city, Spain) located in South Europe due to the lockdown measures for preventing the SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Polluting 11 species commonly monitored in urban zones were attended. Except for O3, a prompt target pollutant levels abatement was reached, intensely when implanted stricter measures and moderately along those measures' relaxing period. In the case of TH and CH4, it is evidenced a progressive diminution over the lockdown period. While the highest decreasing average changes relapsed on NOx (NO2: - 40.0% and NO: - 33.3%) and VOCs (C7H8: - 36.3% and C6H6: - 32.8%), followed by SO2 (- 27.0%), PM10 (- 19.7%), CO (- 16.6%), CH4 (- 14.7%), TH (- 11.6%) and PM2.5 (- 10.1%), the O3 level slightly raised 0.4%. These changes were consistently dependent on the measurement station location, emphasizing urban background zones for SO2, CO, C6H6, C7H8, TH and CH4, suburban zones for PM2.5 and O3, urban traffic sites for NO and PM10, and keeping variations reasonably similar at all the stations in the case of NO2. Those pollution changes were not translated in variations on geospatial pattern, except for NO, O3 and SO2. Although the researched urban atmosphere improvement was not attributable to meteorological conditions' variations, it was in line with the decline in traffic intensity. The evidenced outcomes might offer valuable clues to air quality managers in urban environments regarding decision-making in favor of applying punctual severe measures for quickly and considerably relieving polluting high load occurred in urban environments. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13762-022-04464-6.

Characterization and Local Emission Sources for Ammonia in an Urban Environment.

Ammonia levels were evaluated in the urban environment of Madrid City, Spain. A total of 110 samplers were distributed throughout the city. Vehicle traffic density, garbage containers and sewers were identified as local emission sources of ammonia. The average ammonia concentrations were 4.66 ± 2.14 µg/m3 (0.39-11.23 µg/m3 range) in the winter and 5.30 ± 1.81 µg/m3 (2.33-11.08 µg/m3 range) in the summer. Spatial and seasonal variations of ammonia levels were evaluated. Hotspots were located in the south and center of Madrid City in both winter and summer seasons, with lower ammonia concentrations located in the north (winter) and in the west and east (summer). The number of representative points that were needed to establish a reliable air quality monitoring network for ammonia was determined using a combined clustering and kriging approach. The results indicated that 40 samplers were sufficient to provide a reliable estimate for Madrid City.

Prevalence of CagA and VacA antibodies in children with Helicobacter pylori-associated peptic ulcer compared to prevalence in pediatric patients with active or nonactive chronic gastritis.

VacA and CagA serological responses were detected in pediatric patients: 44 and 56%, respectively, in peptic ulcer (PU) patients, 33.3 and 44.4% in active chronic gastritis (ACG) patients, and 23.2 and 39.2% in non-ACG patients. Higher seroprevalence to CagA+VacA and to CagA+VacA+35-kDa antigen was found among PU patients. However, a low level of sensitivity and specificity was found for indirect detection of PU patients.

Immunodeficiency associated with anorexia nervosa is secondary and improves after refeeding.

Several studies have addressed the question of starvation effects on immune function by means of changes in lymphocyte subsets, cytokine induction or lymphocyte activation. Anorexia nervosa (AN) patients are severely malnourished and contradictory results have been obtained regarding the accompanying immunodeficiency, including its assignation as a part of the primary nervous disorder. In the present work, an extensive immunological function examination was carried out on 40 AN patients who were compared with a control group of 14 healthy girls. The AN patients were also classified according to their nutritional status (by the Body Mass Index: BMI), this being critical for a better understanding of these secondary immunodeficiency bases. Moreover, another immune system study was performed on five patients after refeeding. Lymphocyte subsets and function, cytokine induction and peripheral blood concentrations, and innate as well as humoral immunity were evaluated. Deregulation in the cytokine network, owing to the interaction of the central nervous (CNS) and immune systems, seems to be the initial immune alteration in AN immunodeficiency but it has not been disproved that the immunodeficiency is a direct consequence of the original psychiatric perturbation. Spontaneous high levels of circulating interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) have been observed; this is probably one of the causes of the anomalies found in the T-cell subpopulations (mainly the naive CD4+CD45RA+ reduction and the cytotoxic CD8+ increase) and T-cell activation status (mainly the down-regulation of the CD2 and CD69 activation pathways). This finally leads to an impairment, not only in T-cell function but also in T-cell to B-cell co-operation. The AN specificity of these results is confirmed by the fact that these immune alterations improve after refeeding and when nutritional status becomes less critical, which also suggests that AN immunodeficiency is indeed secondary to malnutrition.

Interactions between nutrition and immunity in anorexia nervosa: a 1-y follow-up study.

Nutritional status and immunocompetence were evaluated in 15 patients suffering from anorexia nervosa in comparison with a control group (n = 15). After 1 y, data from six phases of the study were evaluated: immediately after admittance to the hospital (AN1), after 1 mo (AN2), after 2 mo (AN3), after 3 mo (AN4), after 6 mo (AN5), and after 1 y, (AN6). Patients recovered weight from AN4 until AN6 although, according to body mass index values, all patients had low weights during the 1-y follow-up. Likewise, leukocyte and lymphocyte values were borderline and lower in patients in all phases tested than in control subjects. All lymphocyte subpopulations were lower in AN1 and AN2 patients (inpatients) than in control subjects, except for CD19 cells, which remained unmodified. There seemed to be a recovery of lymphocyte subsets after hospitalization in AN3 and AN4 patients (outpatients), except for CD57, which remained below control values. However, there was a global decrease of the lymphocyte subsets in AN5 and AN6. Ratios of CD4 to CD8 cells were not altered but the ratio of CD2 to CD19 cells was lower in all phases except AN6. Moreover, cell-mediated immune function was impaired and none of the patients showed normal responses. Thus, despite the slight weight increase found in AN4, AN5, and AN6 and the apparent cell subset recovery after hospitalization, these results suggest a greatly depleted nutritional status that remained during the whole year in all patients.