Search Results (6)

Breast milk is a fluid of vital importance during the first stages of life of the newborn since, in addition to providing nutrients, it also contains cells and molecules of the immune system, which protect the neonate from infection and, at the same time, modulate the establishment of the microbiota. Bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (BPI) is relevant in preventing disease and sepsis in neonates. Therefore, the following work aimed to demonstrate the presence of BPI in the different stages of breast milk and its possible immune functions. Our results demonstrate for the first time the presence of soluble BPI and leukocytes and epithelial cells containing it, primarily in the colostrum stage. Using BPI at concentrations typical of colostrum, we observed that it reduces the growth of two distinct E. coli strains, enhances the uptake of these bacteria by monocytes, and suppresses the secretion of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-8 in infected intestinal cells. These findings suggest that BPI transferred via colostrum from mother to newborn may play a significant role in providing antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory protection during the early stages of life. Full article

Fresh-cut salads are highly appreciated by consumers due to their healthy and convenient nature. Fresh-cut (FC) lettuce is one of the best-selling FC products due to its freshness and low preparation time for salads. However, FC lettuce is very perishable and, in addition, has been recently associated with severe foodborne illness alerts. Alternative natural sanitizing treatments to conventional sodium hypochlorite are needed. The antimicrobial activity of vinegar has been well-known since ancient times. In addition, bioactive compounds from plant byproducts are widely recognized for their antioxidant properties. This work aimed to evaluate the use of a novel and encapsulated vinegar powder enriched with bioactive compounds from fruit byproducts with high antimicrobial and antioxidant properties to preserve the physicochemical (titratable acidity, total soluble solids, weight loss, and color), microbial (psychrophiles, enterobacteria, lactic-acid bacteria, molds, and yeasts), and sensory quality of FC lettuce at 4 °C for up to 10 days. Small to no differences were observed in terms of physicochemical quality (≈0.1% titratable acidity; 2.3–3.3% total soluble solids; <1% weight loss) in comparison to control samples through storage. Vinegar treatments reduced by 2–4 log CFU g⁻¹ the microbial loads after 10 days. In addition, a synergistic sensory antibrowning effect (greener and less yellowish appearance, showing −a* and −b*) between organic acids and the released polyphenols from the encapsulated plant byproduct extracts was observed. Hence, the enriched encapsulated vinegar represents an effective green alternative to conventional sanitizers to maintain the quality of FC lettuce through storage time. Full article

Background: The aim was to diagnose Candida in the oral cavity of subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) using a genotyping technique and compare the results with those from conventional diagnosis by Papanicolaou (Pap) staining. Methods: Palatal mucosa smears were performed on 18 dental care patients diagnosed with T2DM and grade I, II, and III prosthetic stomatitis who met the inclusion criteria; 18 healthy control subjects were also included in the study. Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels were determined from total blood. Using exfoliative cytology, the Pap staining technique was used to diagnose candidiasis. Exfoliative cytology was also used for molecular diagnosis; DNA was obtained for Candida genotyping, and RNA was used for gene expression studies. Results: Clinical patterns indicated that all subjects were positive for Candida; however, Pap analysis revealed only three positive subjects, whereas end-point polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis revealed 15 subjects with some type of Candida. The most common Candida species found were Candida guilliermondii (38.8%), Candida krusei (33.3%), Candida tropicalis, and Candida lusitaniae (22.2%). Interestingly, the coexpression of different species of Candida was found in various patients. In all patients, HbA1c levels were increased. Gene expression analysis showed a significant decrease (p ≤ 0.05) in TLR2 expression in positive subjects, whereas TLR4 expression did not differ significantly among patients. Conclusions: The end-point PCR technique showed better sensitivity for the diagnosis of Candida when compared with the diagnosis by Pap staining. T2DM subjects showed an increased presence of C. guilliermondii that was correlated with decreased TLR2 expression. Full article

High myopia is the most severe and pathological form of myopia. It occurs when the spherical refractive error exceeds –6.00 spherical diopters (SDs) or the axial length (AL) of the eye is greater than 26 mm. This article focuses on early-onset high myopia, an increasingly common condition that affects children under 10 years of age and can lead to other serious ocular pathologies. Through the genetic analysis of 21 families with early-onset high myopia, this study seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the role of genetics in this disease and to propose candidate genes. Whole-exome sequencing studies with a panel of genes known to be involved in the pathology were performed in families with inconclusive results: 3% of the variants found were classified as pathogenic, 6% were likely pathogenic and the remaining 91% were variants of uncertain significance. Most of the families in this study were found to have alterations in several of the proposed genes. This suggests a polygenic inheritance of the pathology due to the cumulative effect of the alterations. Further studies are needed to validate and confirm the role of these alterations in the development of early-onset high myopia and its polygenic inheritance. Full article

This paper studies erosion at the tip of wind turbine blades by considering aerodynamic analysis, modal analysis and predictive machine learning modeling. Erosion can be caused by several factors and can affect different parts of the blade, reducing its dynamic performance and useful life. The ability to detect and quantify erosion on a blade is an important predictive maintenance task for wind turbines that can have broad repercussions in terms of avoiding serious damage, improving power efficiency and reducing downtimes. This study considers both sides of the leading edge of the blade (top and bottom), evaluating the mechanical imbalance caused by the material loss that induces variations of the power coefficient resulting in a loss in efficiency. The QBlade software is used in our analysis and load calculations are preformed by using blade element momentum theory. Numerical results show the performance of a blade based on the relationship between mechanical damage and aerodynamic behavior, which are then validated on a physical model. Moreover, two machine learning (ML) problems are posed to automatically detect the location of erosion (top of the edge, bottom or both) and to determine erosion levels (from 8% to 18%) present in the blade. The first problem is solved using classification models, while the second is solved using ML regression, achieving accurate results. ML pipelines are automatically designed by using an AutoML system with little human intervention, achieving highly accurate results. This work makes several contributions by developing ML models to both detect the presence and location of erosion on a blade, estimating its level and applying AutoML for the first time in this domain. Full article

The aim of this study was to examine, through the roles of peers with regards to diabetes, the relationship between the support perceived by adolescents with diabetes and their peer-group affiliation. This is a descriptive, phenomenological and retrospective study based on a qualitative methodology. In-depth interviews with 15 people aged 18–35 with type 1 diabetes mellitus diagnosed in their childhood or adolescence were carried out. Data was analyzed through the interpretation of general discourses. Peers have considerable influence on adolescents and provide them social support from different roles. The protective role basically offers emotional support and sends reminders of different aspects of the treatment, while the indifferent role does not meddle in any aspect related to the diabetes. Both roles can foster social integration of adolescents with diabetes into the peer group. The offender role creates social conflicts through discrimination and stigma of adolescents with diabetes. These roles appear during the process of socialization of adolescents with diabetes, where commensality and situations of self-monitoring or administering insulin, key aspect of diabetes treatment, are crucial. Peer groups, depending on the role adopted, may offer support or bring a specific conflict regarding diabetes to their adolescent peer. The combination of roles that friends and peer group play with regards to diabetes will determine the degree of socialization and integration of adolescents with diabetes. Full article