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Human Embryonic Kidney cells (HEK293) are a popular host for recombinant protein expression and production in the biotechnological industry. This has driven within both, the scientific and the engineering communities, the search for strategies to increase their protein productivity. The present work is inserted into this search exploring the impact of adding sodium acetate (NaAc) into a batch culture of HEK293 cells. We monitored, as a function of time, the cell density, many external metabolites, and the supernatant concentration of the heterologous extra-cellular domain ECD-Her1 protein, a protein used to produce a candidate prostate cancer vaccine. We observed that by adding different concentrations of NaAc (0, 4, 6 and 8 mM), the production of ECD-Her1 protein increases consistently with increasing concentration, whereas the carrying capacity of the medium decreases. To understand these results we exploited a combination of experimental and computational techniques. Metabolic Flux Analysis (MFA) was used to infer intracellular metabolic fluxes from the concentration of external metabolites. Moreover, we measured independently the extracellular acidification rate and oxygen consumption rate of the cells. Both approaches support the idea that the addition of NaAc to the culture has a significant impact on the metabolism of the HEK293 cells and that, if properly tuned, enhances the productivity of the heterologous ECD-Her1 protein.

Desde los inicios de la ocupación española en el Perú en el siglo XVI y tras el proceso de transculturización, una gran variedad de muros, arcos y bóvedas se construyeron con tamaños similares a los ejecutados en la península Ibérica. Al inicio, estas obras fueron hechas con ladrillo, piedra y adobe; sin embargo, con los frecuentes sismos y terremotos que hicieron colapsar gran parte de estas edificaciones, se evidenció la falta de previsión constructiva de los alarifes españoles. Por tanto, se tuvo que recurrir a la quincha, material hecho de entramados de madera rolliza, caña, y cubierta de barro que fuera utilizado en la construcción de viviendas y centros administrativos prehispánicos. La presente investigación muestra los resultados de un trabajo de campo, descriptivo, de revisión bibliográfica completa que tuvo como objetivo demostrar el origen y evolución de las bóvedas de quincha en el Perú; la capacidad sismorresistente del material, así como la eficacia estructural que tuvo en la construcción de las bóvedas y cúpulas de las principales iglesias de Trujillo. Los resultados permiten una mayor comprensión de la arquitectura virreinal y evidencian su utilidad ancestral ante el contexto moderno, así como su estética cautivadora que permite la identificación del trujillano con su patrimonio cultural.

La urgente necesidad de desarrollar y producir vacunas seguras y efectivas para garantizar la reducción de la propagación del coronavirus de tipo 2 causante del síndrome respiratorio agudo severo, hizo que el Centro de Inmunología Molecular y el Instituto Finlay de Vacunas, desarrollaran dos vacunas y un candidato vacunal contra la COVID-19, que tienen como componente la molécula del dominio de unión al receptor (aa 319-541) del virus. Para establecer el proceso productivo, se realizaron experimentos en los posibles pasos del proceso de purificación de la molécula del dominio de unión al receptor (aa 319-541), con vistas a su posterior transferencia tecnológica a escala industrial. Dicha molécula está fusionada con una etiqueta de hexahistidina en su extremo C-terminal y presenta nueve residuos de cisteína en su secuencia que forman cuatro enlaces disulfuros intramoleculares, quedando una cisteína libre que permite obtener dos moléculas: dimérica y monomérica, antígenos que forman parte de las vacunas SOBERANA®02 y SOBERANA®Plus y el candidato vacunal SOBERANA 01. Se determinaron las mejores condiciones de adsorción de las matrices cromatográficas de afinidad por quelatos metálicos, intercambio catiónico y exclusión molecular. Se evaluó el desempeño del proceso a escala piloto y se caracterizó la molécula de acuerdo a sus propiedades físico-químicas y biológicas. Los resultados obtenidos mostraron un 60,02 ± 5,15% de recuperación total de la proteína de interés, con más del 98% de pureza en ambas moléculas, una eficiente remoción de contaminantes y una antigenicidad mayor del 90% referido al monómero control del dominio de unión al receptor con 99% de pureza, lo que demuestra que el proceso establecido es eficiente en la obtención de un producto con la calidad requerida.

The genus Swietenia includes two mahogany species, Swietenia macrophylla (King.), commonly known as Honduran mahogany, and Swietenia mahagoni (L.) Jacq, commonly known as Cuban mahogany. There are reports of morphologically intermediate forms between Cuban and Honduran mahogany that have been localized in some Caribbean islands. The main objective of this research is to distinguish morphologically intermediate forms between the parental species S. mahagoni and S. macrophylla based on leaf morphological characters. Phenotypic data from a total of 357 mahogany trees were collected in the province of Sancti Spiritus, Cuba. Rachis length, petiole length, leaflet length, leaflet width, number of leaflets and number of nerves were evaluated. Morphological descriptor analysis revealed significant differences in the morphometric variables of the evaluated leaves, with rachis length, number of leaflets, leaflet length, petiole length, leaflet width, and number of nerves being significantly higher in S. macrophylla than in S. mahagoni. ANOVA reflected the variance between all leaf morphological parameters evaluated between the two pure species with statistically significant difference. Using the function obtained in the first DC of the two species, the individuals in the mixed stands were classified into 71 morphologically intermediate forms, 45 S. macrophylla and 64 S. mahagoni. In the second DC with the two species and the morphologically intermediate forms, Wilks’ partial lambda indicates that the variable "leaflet length" with 0.67 contributed most to the overall discrimination.

Habitual consumption of highly palatable foods when not in metabolic need (HPF eating) is linked to obesity. High HPF consumption is also linked to mental health disorder (MHD) symptoms. Mindfulness-based interventions are popular treatments for obesity and MHDs, but little is known about the relationship between trait mindfulness and motive-based HPF eating. Therefore, a total of 927 young adults completed a survey that included the Palatable Eating Motives Scale-7 (which identifies Coping-, Reward enhancement-, Social-, and Conformity-eating), the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, and demographic and body mass index (BMI) questions. An MHD questionnaire allowed a comparison of HPF eating between participants with and without various MHDs. Regressions revealed that Coping-eating was independently associated with lower mindfulness and also greater perceived stress, higher BMI, and female sex. Of these variables, only lower mindfulness was independently associated with Reward-, Social-, and Conformity-eating. Coping- and Reward-eating were more frequent in participants with versus without an anxiety disorder, depression, ADD/ADHD, and PTSD. Coping-eating was also more frequent in participants with body dysmorphic disorder. These findings warrant investigations in participants with clinically validated diagnoses for DSM-specific MHDs. Results from such investigations and the uncovered nature of associations between motive-specific HPF eating and trait mindfulness could provide novel targets to improve mindfulness-based interventions for obesity and MHDs.