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Grapes are one of the richest sources of polyphenols in the Mediterranean diet and, therefore, a very good source of antioxidants in the human diet. For practical reasons, in recent years the market for seedless grape varieties has grown exponentially. These varieties are not well characterized yet, and therefore it is necessary to study the changes in composition that these new varieties bring in. Likewise, the effect of digestion on the bioavailability of polyphenols in foods of plant origin is well known, which, consequently, will also affect antioxidant activity and, in general, bioactivity. In this work, we studied the effect of the grape variety on the initial grape composition and on the absorbable fraction, as it would reach the intestine after in vitro digestion. Our results showed that black and red varieties have great potential for increasing the antioxidant content of the diet. Additionally, we have concluded that all polyphenols, with the exception of flavanols, see their bioavailable fraction diminished under in vitro conditions.

Black corn is known for its health-promoting properties, which are due to its high content of bioactive phytonutrients. However, the high temperatures required during the processing of bakery products usually trigger thermal degradation, and therefore, the loss of all labile bioactive compounds. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of baking temperature on the phenolic content (i.e., TPC, TAC and individual phenolics) and antioxidant activity in black corn ( Millo corvo variety) bread. As a result, baking always resulted in a general decrease in TPC, even at 150 °C. In contrast, TAC only decreased when temperatures as high as 180 °C were applied. Some relevant individual phenolics were preserved during the whole process as long as 150 °C was used. In particular, the content of the major anthocyanin, namely, cyanidin-3- O -glucoside, hardly decreased from the raw flour to the final bread. The loss of antioxidant activity of Millo corvo raw flour during bread baking was avoided by heating at 150 °C. These results demonstrate the appropriate temperature to bake Millo corvo corn bread without losing the antioxidant characteristics and health-promoting properties of the starting black corn.

We here study the effect of the pre-harvest application of salicylic acid at two different concentrations on the olive phenolic composition. Influence of the cultivar and harvesting day were considered. As a result, the total phenol content increased significantly, particularly when using 200 mg mL -1 of salicylic acid. However, the free radical scavenging activity was cultivar dependent. For instance, when the olives were harvested on day 3 and treated with 200 mg mL -1 of salicylic acid, the antioxidant activity decreased from 161 to 278 µg mL -1 for Arbequina, whereas it increased from 397 to 258 µg mL -1 for Picual. Generally speaking, oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol contents enhanced with the application of 200 mg mL -1 of salicylic acid. The results found suggest that exogenous salicylic acid is an interesting agronomic practice to enrich olive fruits in antioxidants.

In this paper, an intelligent scheme for detecting incipient defects in spur gears is presented. In fact, the study has been undertaken to determine these defects in a single propeller system of a small-sized unmanned helicopter. It is important to remark that although the study focused on this particular system, the obtained results could be extended to other systems known as AUVs (Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles), where the usage of polymer gears in the vehicle transmission is frequent. Few studies have been carried out on these kinds of gears. In this paper, an experimental platform has been adapted for the study and several samples have been prepared. Moreover, several vibration signals have been measured and their time-frequency characteristics have been taken as inputs to the diagnostic system. In fact, a diagnostic system based on an artificial intelligence strategy has been devised. Furthermore, techniques based on several paradigms of the Artificial Intelligence (Neural Networks, Fuzzy systems and Genetic Algorithms) have been applied altogether in order to design an efficient fault diagnostic system. A hybrid Genetic Neuro-Fuzzy system has been developed, where it is possible, at the final stage of the learning process, to express the fault diagnostic system as a set of fuzzy rules. Several trials have been carried out and satisfactory results have been achieved.

The health awareness recently shown by consumers has led to a demand for health beneficial products. In particular, researchers are currently focusing their studies on the search for foods for cancer prevention activity. In the present work, we study comparatively the effect of two different processing methods on the contents of phenolic compounds (i.e., ellagic acid, myricetin, quercetin and kaempferol) with antioxidant and antitumor properties in strawberry jams. In turn, the results obtained were compared with those of unprocessed fruit. Additionally carcinogenic heat-induced compounds formed by the two jam making methods were evaluated. Decreases of total ellagic acid from 138.4 µg/g to 86.5 µg/g were measured in jam as compared with the intact fruit. Even higher losses of up to 90% of total flavonols were found in strawberry after the jam-making process. A comparison between the two processing methods proved shorter heating periods (around 60 min) even at temperatures as high as 100 °C enabled losses of antioxidant phenolics to be minimized. Carcinogenic heat-induced volatile compounds, mainly Maillard reaction products, were formed as a result of thermal treatment during jam processing. However, shorter heating periods also helped reduce the formation of these harmful compounds. These results are deeply discussed. From a practical standpoint, the processing conditions here proposed can be used by industry to obtain strawberry jam with higher content of antioxidant flavonoids and, at the same time, reduced amounts of carcinogenic compounds.

The protection of sunflower meal (SFM) proteins by treatments with solutions of malic acid (1 M) or orthophosphoric acid (0.67 M) and heat was studied in a 3 × 3 Latin-square design using three diets and three rumen and duodenum cannulated wethers. Acid solutions were applied to SFM at a rate of 400 ml/kg under continuous mixing. Subsequently, treated meals were dried in an oven at 150°C for 6 h. Diets (ingested at 75 g/kg BW0.75) were isoproteic and included 40% Italian ryegrass hay and 60% concentrate. The ratio of untreated to treated SFM in the concentrate was 100 : 0 in the control diet and around 40 : 60 in diets including acid-treated meals. The use of acid-treated meals did not alter either ruminal fermentation or composition of rumen contents and led to moderate reductions of the rumen outflow rates of untreated SFM particles, whereas it did not affect their comminution and mixing rate. In situ effective estimates of by-pass (BP) and its intestinal effective digestibility (IED) of dry matter (DM), CP and amino acids (AAs) were obtained considering both rates and correcting the particle microbial contamination in the rumen using 15N infusion techniques. Estimates of BP and IED decreased applying microbial correction, but these variations were low in agreement with the small contamination level. Protective treatments increased on average the BP of DM (48.5%) and CP (267%), mainly decreasing both the soluble fraction and the degradation rate but also increasing the undegradable fraction, which was higher using orthophosphoric acid. Protective treatments increased the IED of DM (108%) and CP, but this increase was lower using orthophosphoric acid (11.8%) than malic acid (20.7%). Concentrations of AA were similar among all meals, except for a reduction in lysine concentrations using malic acid (16.3%) or orthophosphoric acid (20.5%). Protective treatments also increased on average the BP of all AA, as well as the IED of most of them. Evidence of higher increases for those AA showing a high resistance to degradation in the untreated meal were also observed. The total supply of metabolisable AA was increased by 3.87 times for sulphur-containing AA, whereas that of lysine was increased by 2.5 times, mainly because of lysine losses with heat treatments. These treatments and especially that with malic acid would be useful to increase the protein value of these meals but their combined use with lysine-rich protein concentrates would improve the metabolisable protein profile.

Objective: To analyze the clinical characteristics, treatment, and follow-up of a cohort of 29 patients with Wilson's disease (WD) within the region of Murcia., Patients and Method: We reviewed the medical records of 29 cases of WD (mean age, 20.3 +/- 13.4 years) diagnosed during the last 16 years., Results: The most frequent reason for consultation was upon discovering a high transaminase level in almost half the patients, followed by tremors or dystonia in 17% of patients, respectively. A Kayser-Fleischer ring was observed in 17/29 (58.6%) of patients (100% of patients with pure neurological involvement and 35% of patients with pure clinical hepatic disease; p < 0.001). Blood copper levels not associated with ceruloplasmin as well as cupruria were notably superior in patients with neurological symptoms and in those with liver cirrhosis at the time of diagnosis. Patient clinical symptoms remained stable with D-penicillamine or trientine, or improved during the observation period, for 18 out of 29 patients (62%), while 11 out of 29 patients (38%) got worse., Conclusions: In our region patients with WD are diagnosed at a younger age, and in most cases for hepatic disease. Patients with neurological disease or liver cirrhosis had a high level of free copper not associated to ceruloplasmin and cupruria. The disease had a favorable evolution in all patients but those diagnosed with hepatic disease or advanced neurological disease.

Chiral terpenes in orange juices were examined by solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to study the dependence of their enantiomeric composition on the thermal treatment applied during the industrial manufacture. The experimental conditions used in the isolation and concentration of the compounds of interest produced relative standard deviations ranging from 2.9 to 15.1% when absolute areas were used and from 1.7 to 18.3% when normalized areas were used. Recovery varied between 8.8 and 56.1%, and detection limits ranged from 0.11 to 0.32 microg/ml. The enantiomeric compositions of the majority of the chiral terpenes varied within a reasonably narrow range. Nevertheless, the enantiomeric ratio of two monoterpene alcohols, alpha-terpineol and linalool, exhibited considerable variation according to the thermal treatment used in the manufacture of the juices. Therefore, the knowledge of the enantiomeric composition of alpha-terpineol and linalool might be useful for thermal treatment control purposes.

Chiral terpenes in nonprocessed orange juices of different geographical origins were examined by two different approaches: steam distillation-solvent extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SDE-GC-MS) and solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography (SPME-GC). The two sample preparation techniques were compared with regard to their effectiveness in determining the enantiomeric distributions of chiral compounds. Most target compounds exhibited constant enantiomeric ratios in all juices when either of the two approaches was used. Exceptions were found for terpinen-4-ol and beta-citronellol, whose of enantiomeric purity ratios varied significantly according to the geographical origin of the sample. These results may aid in guaranteeing the authenticity and thus the quality and safety of orange juice. A comparison between the two extraction procedures revealed SPME to be more reliable for stereochemical studies, since harsh experimental conditions that can bring about racemization are not required in such studies.