•A QuEChERS-GC-MS/MS method was used for the analysis of 38 pesticides in dried fruits.•The original and the two official QuEChERS methods were studied.•The AOAC official method 2007.01 provided the ...best results for dried fruits analysis.•Co-extracted material, linearity, matrix effect and recovery were assayed.•Dried strawberry, blackberry, passion fruit, pineapple and grapes were analysed.
In this work, three versions of the QuEChERS method (original, AOAC 2007.01 and CEN 15662) were evaluated for the extraction of 38 multiclass pesticides from a mixture of five dried fruits: (strawberry, blackberry, passion fruit, pineapple and grapes) prior to their gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry analysis. Among them, the AOAC 2007.01 method provided the best results in terms of lower amount of matrix co-extractives, matrix effect, extraction efficiency and precision. Its application to the analysis of the same pesticides in the individual dried fruits provided good recovery (between 70 and 120%) and relative standard deviation values (<20%) for most pesticides at three spiked levels. Matrix effect assessment revealed the necessity of taking into account such effect. Matrix-matched calibration data were also satisfactory for all analytes and matrices being the R2 ≥ 0.9900 and the lowest calibration level 5 µg/kg, which is lower than the agreed limit set at 10 µg/kg for monitoring purposes in food applications. Three samples of each type were also analysed, finding residues of metalaxyl, chlorpyrifos and iprodione in some of them.
Epidemiological research confirms that the prevalence of suboptimal micronutrient intakes across Europe is an emerging concern in terms of public health. The aim of the present study was to ...investigate the association between a new index of carbohydrate (CHO) quality and micronutrient intake adequacy in the 'Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN)' cohort. The baseline assessment extended from 1999 to March 2012. We assessed 16,841 participants who completed a validated 136-item semi-quantitative FFQ at baseline. We created a new index to evaluate CHO quality for the following four criteria: dietary fibre intake; glycaemic index; whole grains:total grains ratio; solid CHO:total CHO ratio. The subjects were classified into quintiles according to this index. We evaluated the intakes of Zn, I, Se, Fe, Ca, K, P, Mg, Cr and vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, C, A, D, E and folic acid. The probability of intake adequacy was evaluated using the estimated average requirement cut-point approach and the probabilistic approach. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the nutritional adequacy according to the CHO quality index (CQI). Participants in the highest quintile of CQI were found to have the lowest prevalence of inadequacy. A higher quality of CHO intake was found to be associated with a lower risk of nutritional inadequacy in comparison with the lowest quintile of CQI (adjusted OR 0·06, 95 % CI 0·02, 0·16; P for trend < 0·001). A higher CQI was found to be strongly associated with better micronutrient intake adequacy in the young Mediterranean cohort, stressing the importance of focusing nutritional education not only on CHO quantity, but also on quality.
The power generation from renewable power sources is variable in nature, and may contain unacceptable fluctuations, which can be alleviated by using energy storage systems. However, the cost of ...batteries and their limited lifetime are serious disadvantages. To solve these problems, an improvement consisting in the collaborative association of batteries and supercapacitors has been studied. Nevertheless, these studies don't address in detail the case of residential and large-scale photovoltaic systems. In this paper, a selected combined topology and a new control scheme are proposed to control the power sharing between batteries and supercapacitors. Also, a method for sizing the energy storage system together with the hybrid distribution based on the photovoltaic power curves is introduced. This innovative contribution not only reduces the stress levels on the battery, and hence increases its life span, but also provides constant power injection to the grid during a defined time interval. The proposed scheme is validated through detailed simulation and experimental tests.
Folliculocystic and collagen hamartoma (FCCH) is a rare entity with only 18 reported cases worldwide. Of them, most are found in patients diagnosed with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). FCCH has ...distinctive histopathologic features, including collagen deposition in the dermis, perifollicular fibrosis, and comedones with keratin‐containing cysts lined by infundibular epithelium. We report three patients with a definitive TSC clinical diagnosis in whom clinical, histopathologic, and molecular features were studied to establish if there exists a genotype–phenotype correlation. The molecular results showed different heterozygous pathogenic variants (PV) in TSC2 in each patient: NM_000548.4:c.5024C>T, NG_005895.1:c.1599+1G>T, and NM_000548.4:c.2297_2298dup, to our knowledge; the latter PV has not been reported in public databases. The same PVs were identified as heterozygous in the tumor tissue samples, none of which yielded evidence of a TSC2 second hit. Because all FCCH patients with available molecular diagnosis carry a pathogenic genotype in TSC1 or TSC2, we suggest that FCCH should be considered as a new and uncommon diagnostic manifestation in the TSC consensus international diagnostic criteria. The early recognition of FCCH by clinicians could prompt the identification of new TSC cases. Interestingly, our molecular findings suggest that one of the patients described herein is a probable case of somatic mosaicism.
The active forms of Au and Pt in CeO2-based catalysts for the water–gas shift (WGS) reaction are an issue that remains unclear, although it has been widely studied. On one hand, ionic species might ...be responsible for weakening the Ce–O bonds, thus increasing the oxygen mobility and WGS activity. On the other hand, the close contact of Au or Pt atoms with CeO2 oxygen vacancies at the metal–CeO2 interface might provide the active sites for an efficient reaction. In this work, using in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy, we demonstrate that both Au and Pt remain unoxidized during the reaction. Remarkable differences involving the dynamics established by both species under WGS atmospheres were recognized. For the prereduced Pt catalyst, the increase of the conversion coincided with a restructuration of the Pt atoms into cuboctahedrical metallic particles without significant variations on the overall particle size. Contrary to the relatively static behavior of Pt0, Au0 nanoparticles exhibited a sequence of particle splitting and agglomeration while maintaining a zero oxidation state despite not being located in a metallic environment during the process. High WGS activity was obtained when Au atoms were surrounded by oxygen. The fact that Au preserves its unoxidized state indicates that the chemical interaction between Au and oxygen must be necessarily electrostatic and that such an electrostatic interaction is fundamental for a top performance in the WGS process.
There is currently no approved treatment for primary Sjögren's syndrome, a disease that primarily affects adult women. The difficulty in developing effective therapies is -in part- because of the ...heterogeneity in the clinical manifestation and pathophysiology of the disease. Finding common molecular signatures among patient subgroups could improve our understanding of disease etiology, and facilitate the development of targeted therapeutics. Here, we report, in a cross-sectional cohort, a molecular classification scheme for Sjögren's syndrome patients based on the multi-omic profiling of whole blood samples from a European cohort of over 300 patients, and a similar number of age and gender-matched healthy volunteers. Using transcriptomic, genomic, epigenetic, cytokine expression and flow cytometry data, combined with clinical parameters, we identify four groups of patients with distinct patterns of immune dysregulation. The biomarkers we identify can be used by machine learning classifiers to sort future patients into subgroups, allowing the re-evaluation of response to treatments in clinical trials.
Nutritional markers have several advantages for epidemiologic and clinical assays, when compared to dietary data obtained by food frequency questionnaires. Few studies have assessed whether total ...polyphenol (TP) compounds provide a valid biomarker for TP intake. To date, there has been almost no literature describing methods to determine TP in complex matrices such as urine, which have many interfering substances.
We report a rapid Folin–Ciocalteu method to determine TP in urine samples using Oasis
® MAX 96-well plate cartridges for solid phase extraction. These plates allow analysis of a high number of samples at the same time. We performed a prospective, randomized, crossover trial and one cross-sectional study with 60 volunteers from the PREDIMED trial, seeking to evaluate whether the TP in urine were correlated with polyphenol intake and could, therefore, be considered as a marker of intake of these compounds.
The assay was optimized; the sensitivity and the polarity range of urine polyphenols were increased and the detection and quantification limits were significantly reduced. The metabolites in standards solution and urine samples were stable under the storage and handling conditions. In the clinical trial and the cross-sectional study, TP excreted in spot urine samples were positively correlated with TP intake,
r
=
0.48,
P
<
0.01 and
r
=
0.257,
P
=
0.04, respectively.
The methodology described may be used to detect TP in urine samples, employing the high throughput of 96-well microtiter plates and reader. The method is fast and simple and it allows analysis of a large number of samples at the same time.
Purpose
It is difficult to change dietary habits and maintain them in the long run, particularly in elderly people. We aimed to assess whether adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) and ...cardiovascular risk factor were similar in the middle-aged and oldest participants in the PREDIMED study.
Methods
We analyzed participants belonging to the first and fourth quartiles of age (Q1 and Q4, respectively) to compare between-group differences in adherence to the nutritional intervention and cardiovascular risk factor (CRF) control during a 3-year follow-up. All participants underwent yearly clinical, nutritional, and laboratory assessments during the following.
Results
A total of 2278 patients were included (1091 and 1187 in Q1 and Q4, respectively). At baseline, mean ages were 59.6 ± 2.1 years in Q1 and 74.2 ± 2.6 years in Q4. In Q4, there were more women, greater prevalence of hypertension and diabetes, and lower obesity and smoking rates than the younger cohort (
P
≤ 0.001, all). Adherence to the MedDiet was similar in Q1 and Q4 at baseline (mean 8.7 of 14 points for both) and improved significantly (
P
< 0.01) and to a similar extent (mean 10.2 and 10.0 points, respectively) during follow-up. Systolic blood pressure, low density–lipoprotein cholesterol, and body weight were similarly reduced at 3 years in Q1 and Q4 participants.
Conclusion
The youngest and oldest participants showed improved dietary habits and CRFs to a similar extent after 3 years’ intervention. Therefore, it is never too late to improve dietary habits and ameliorate CRF in high-risk individuals, even those of advanced age.
Registration
The trial is registered in the London-based Current Controlled Trials Registry (ISRCTN number 35739639).
Pollination networks are increasingly used to model the complexity of interactions between pollinators and flowering plants in communities. Different methods exist to sample these interactions, with ...direct observations of plant–pollinator contacts in the field being by far the most common. Although the identification of pollen carried by pollinators allows uncovering interactions and increasing sample sizes, the methods used to build pollen‐transport networks are variable and their effect on network structure remains unclear. To understand how interaction sampling influences the structure of networks, we analyzed the pollen found on wild bees from eight communities across Mallorca Island and investigated the differences in pollen loads between bee body parts (scopa vs. body) and sexes. We then assessed how these differences, as well as the uncovered interactions not detected in the field, influenced the structure of wild bee–plant networks. We identified a higher quantity and diversity of pollen in the scopa than in the rest of the female body, but these differences did not lead to differences in structure between plant‐pollination (excluding scopa pollen) and bee‐feeding interaction (including scopa pollen) networks. However, networks built with pollen data were richer in plant species and interactions and showed lower modularity and specialization (H2'), and higher nestedness than visitation networks based on field observations. Female interactions with plants were stronger compared to those of males, although not richer. Accordingly, females were more generalist (low d’) and tended to be more central in interaction networks, indicating their more key role structuring pollination networks in comparison to males. Our study highlights the importance of palynological data to increase the resolution of networks, as well as to understand important ecological questions such as the differences between plant‐pollination and bee‐feeding interaction networks, and the role of sexes in pollination.
This study shows that pollen‐transport networks built with pollen carried by wild bees were richer in plant species and interactions, showed lower modularity and specialization, and higher nestedness compared to visitation networks built with interactions detected in the field. Although female wild bees carried more and more diverse pollen in the scopa than in the rest of the body, this did not lead to strong differences in structure between plant‐pollination (excluding scopa pollen) and bee‐feeding (including scopa pollen) interaction networks. Females were more generalist and tended to be more central in interaction networks compared to males, indicating their more important role structuring networks.
Provegetarian diets (i.e., preference for plant-derived foods but not exclusion of animal foods) have been associated with a reduced risk of long-term weight gain and could be more easily embraced ...than strict vegetarian diets. However, not all plant-derived foods are equally healthy. In the "Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra" (SUN) cohort, we prospectively evaluated the association between different provegetarian food patterns and the incidence of overweight/obesity in 11,554 participants with initial body mass index <25 kg/m
. A provegetarian food pattern (FP) was built by assigning positive scores to plant foods and reverse scores to animal foods. A healthful and an unhealthful provegetarian FP, which distinguished between healthy (fruits/vegetables/whole grains/nuts/legumes/olive oil/coffee) and less-healthy plant foods (fruit juices/potatoes/refined grains/pastries/sugary beverages), were also built. A total of 2320 new cases of overweight or obesity were identified after a median follow-up of 10.3 years. Higher baseline conformity with the overall provegetarian FP was inversely associated with overweight/obesity (HR comparing extreme quintiles: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.75 to 0.96; p-trend: 0.014). This association was stronger for the healthful FP (HR: 0.78; 95% CI: 0.67 to 0.90; p-trend: <0.001) and was not apparent for the unhealthful FP (HR: 1.07; 95% CI: 0.92 to 1.23; p-trend: 0.551). In a large prospective cohort of relatively young adults, better conformity with a healthy provegetarian diet was associated with a reduced long-term risk of overweight/obesity, whereas no consistent trend was found for a FP that emphasized less-healthy plant foods.
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