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Currently the generation of energy in space is of vital importance for research on other planets and moons, as all missions sent are powered by electricity so that they keep all their instruments operating properly and present no short-term problems. For the generation of energy outside the planet earth are presented the power converters which are able to convert thermal energy into electrical energy, currently there are two types of power converters which are dynamic and static, for this work are addressed the static, also called thermoelectric that work from a physical phenomenon called seebeck effect which USES two metals of different composition united, They take advantage of a temperature gradient where one end is kept at a hot temperature and the other at a cold temperature, causing a voltage differential. For a material to be considered thermoelectric and work properly has to have some properties such as the seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity, in this work we study some thermoelectrics used in the aerospace sector which are Bi_2 Te_3, PbTe, SiGe, Skutterudite and BiSbTe Where its thermoelectric properties will be analyzed according to its operating temperature range, the merit figure zt will be calculated, the electrical power generated, the input heat and the output heat, finally a comparative table of the electrical power generated by the static converters and another of its applications in the space sector will be performed. This work provides information on the most used thermoelectrics in the space sector, as well as the physical phenomena involved in static converters.

The latest proposal for nuclear systems for application in space are 4th generation reactors that use liquid metals as coolant. The operating conditions, as well as its safety in these matters, is linked to its thermal and fluid dynamic behavior. This paper presents the estimation of the temperature profile of a sodium-cooled fast reactor from the conduction and convection heat transfer mechanisms. The temperature distribution is analyzed in the area of the fuel and the temperature profile of the coolant in the area of the high conductivity pipes. Is established the analysis of nuclear fuel in a one-dimensional, stationary and with power generation. In the GAP area, the analysis is carried out by natural convection, and finally, the cladding in contact with sodium by forced conduction-convection. As results, it is presented the simulation in Computational Fluid Dynamics to determine the temperature profile due to the behavior of the coolant in the pipe when subjected to a constant flow of heat supplied by the nuclear fuel pellets. The temperature profile will allow us to determine the parameters to establish the operating conditions of secondary power conversion systems.

The Banzhaf value, which determines the power of each agent in a cooperative game, has been used in the literature to analyze fuzzy cooperative situations. In this paper, we propose two Banzhaf val...

Objective The objective of the study was to determine the trend of variables related to tuberculosis (TB) from the Integrated Tuberculosis Research Program (PII-TB) registry of the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR), and to evaluate the PII-TB according to indicators related to its scientific objectives. Method Cross-sectional, population-based, multicenter study of new TB cases prospectively registered in the PII-TB between 2006 and 2016. The time trend of quantitative variables was calculated using a lineal regression model, and qualitative variables using the χy test for lineal trend. Results A total of 6,892 cases with an annual median of 531 were analyzed. Overall, a significant down-ward trend was observed in women, immigrants, prisoners, and patients initially treated with 3 drugs. Significant upward trends were observed in patients aged 40−50 and >50 years, first visit conducted by a specialist, hospitalization, diagnostic delay, disseminated disease and single extrapulmonary location, culture(+), drug susceptibility testing performed, drug resistance, directly observed treatment, prolonged treatment, and death from another cause. The scientific objectives of the PII-TB that showed a significant upward trend were publications, which reached a maximum of 8 in 2016 with a total impact factor of 49.664, numbers of projects initiated annually, presentations at conferences, and theses. Conclusions PII-TB provides relevant information on TB and its associated factors in Spain. A large team of researchers has been created; some scientific aspects of the registry were positive, while others could have been improved.

12 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables.-- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, Tuberculosis (TB) is the most lethal infection among infectious diseases. The specific aim of this study was to establish panels of serum protein biomarkers representative of active TB patients and their household contacts who were either infected (LTBI) or uninfected (EMI-TB Discovery Cohort, Pontevedra Region, Spain). A TMT (Tamdem mass tags) 10plex-based quantitative proteomics study was performed in quintuplicate containing a total of 15 individual serum samples per group. Peptides were analyzed in an LC-Orbitrap Elite platform, and raw data were processed using Proteome Discoverer 2.1. A total of 418 proteins were quantified. The specific protein signature of active TB patients was characterized by an accumulation of proteins related to complement activation, inflammation and modulation of immune response and also by a decrease of a small subset of proteins, including apolipoprotein A and serotransferrin, indicating the importance of lipid transport and iron assimilation in the progression of the disease. This signature was verified by the targeted measurement of selected candidates in a second cohort (EMI-TB Verification Cohort, Maputo Region, Mozambique) by ELISA and nephelometry techniques. These findings will aid our understanding of the complex metabolic processes associated with TB progression from LTBI to active disease, EMI-TB is a European Union Horizon2020-funded action (Grant No. 643558) focused on selecting and developing a novel vaccine candidate for TB

In a cooperative game with a communication structure, a graph describes the communication possibilities of the players, which are represented by the nodes. We introduce a variation of this model by assuming that each edge in the communication graph represents an agent. These agents simply act as intermediaries, but since they are essential for the cooperation and, consequently, for revenue generation, they will claim their share of the profit. We study this new model of games with a communication structure and introduce an allocation rule for these games. The motivation for analyzing this type of problem is based on the construction of a risk index for the different elements of an internal network., This research has been supported by the Andalusian Regional Government under grant FQM-237.

This paper shows the energy analysis of a thermoelectric system coupled to a turbofan engine, which is based on the mathematical modeling of the heat transfer of the system during the cogeneration process using fluid dynamics (CFD). The use of waste heat from a turbofan engine would allow us to increase its efficiency which has both economic (due to fuel savings) and environmental (reduction of polluting gases). The proposed section for the installation of the thermoelectric system is the one that covers the turbine and the nozzle section of the turbofan engine, since they are sections in which there are better operating temperatures, in the order of 600 to 200oC. As results of the CFD simulation you get the distribution of temperatures through the thermoelectric and the difference of electrical potential generated. These results determine the overall efficiency of the system and the electrical energy generated by the waste heat. The energy generated by the thermoelectric system can be used in secondary aircraft systems, such as the lighting system, entertainment, etc. The importance of the analysis lies in increasing the overall efficiency of the engine combustion process, to reduce fuel consumption and the costs associated with it.

In the last decade one of the main opportunity areas of the cooler systems is increase their efficiency; for this, it has been innovating in materials and working fluids mainly. In the last decade one of the main areas of opportunity in refrigeration systems is the reference to increase their efficiency. For this, it has been innovating in materials and fluids of work mainly. In this work, the analysis of the transfer of calories in liquid cooling systems is analyzed by adding nanoparticles. These systems have different industrial and refrigeration applications in electronic systems. In the present work a configuration of the refrigeration system to be used is proposed. The analysis consists of the mathematical mode from the design of the geometry and the trajectory of the flow in the pipeline, in addition to a simulation in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) of the system. The conditions are presented in the results.

Adenoviruses are large (~950 Å) and complex non-enveloped, dsDNA icosahedral viruses. They have a pseudo-T = 25 triangulation number with at least 12 different proteins composing the virion. These include the major and minor capsid proteins, core proteins, maturation protease, terminal protein, and packaging machinery. Although adenoviruses have been studied for more than 60 years, deciphering their architecture has presented a challenge for structural biology techniques. An outstanding event was the first near-atomic resolution structure of human adenovirus type 5 (HAdV-C5), solved by cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) in 2010. Discovery of new adenovirus types, together with methodological advances in structural biology techniques, in particular cryo-EM, has lately produced a considerable amount of new, high-resolution data on the organization of adenoviruses belonging to different species. In spite of these advances, the organization of the non-icosahedral core is still a great unknown. Nevertheless, alternative techniques such as atomic force microscopy (AFM) are providing interesting glimpses on the role of the core proteins in genome condensation and virion stability. Here we summarize the current knowledge on adenovirus structure, with an emphasis on high-resolution structures obtained since 2010.

In this chapter, an overview of the applications of proteomics to food quality and safety in the fishery and aquaculture sectors is presented. The potentiality of proteomics is highlighted with respect to different subjects concerning fish quality and safety. Fish authentication, the study of fish quality changes during storage and processing, fish allergen detection, monitoring of fish microorganisms, dietary management and fish welfare in aquaculture are the main areas where proteomics is being successful applied. Finally, future directions and potential perspectives are also discussed.

9 pages, 1 figure, A workflow for the characterization of food-derived bioactive peptides is described in this chapter. The workflow integrates two consecutive steps: a discovery phase and a protein-based bioinformatic phase. In the first step (discovery phase), a shotgun bottom-up proteomics approach is used to create a reference data set for a selected food proteome. Afterward, in a second step (bioinformatic phase), the reference proteome is subjected to several in silico protein-based bioinformatic analyses to predict and characterize potential bioactive peptides after an in silico human gastrointestinal digestion. Using this workflow, bioactive collagen peptides, antihypertensive, antimicrobial, and antitumor peptides were predicted as potential valuable bioactive peptides from seafood and marine by-products. It is concluded that the combination of the global shotgun proteomic analysis and the analysis by protein-based bioinformatics can provide a rapid strategy for the characterization of new potential food-derived bioactive peptides, his work was supported by the GAIN-Xunta de Galicia Project (IN607D 2017/01) and the Spanish AEI/EU-FEDER (PID2019-103845RB-C21) project. Dr. Mónica Carrera is supported by the Ramón y Cajal contract (Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain)

14 pages, Food proteomics can be defined as the large-scale analysis of the proteins in a particular biological food system. Proteomics includes not only the study of the structure and function of proteins but also the quantification of their abundance, the interactions between them, their intracellular location and the analysis of protein modifications. This powerful -omics methodology is achieving a large impact in the research community of modern food science. In fact, a new discipline called foodomics that studies food and nutrition domains through the application of -omics technologies has been reported. The recent successes of proteomic methodologies make them an encouraging strategy for food science studies, where research institutions, industries, agencies and regulatory laboratories are combining efforts to acquire the needed knowledge of composition, quality and safety on food products. In fact, proteins can act as ideal molecular indicators of a characteristic food/nutritional state or condition in food science. Currently, mass spectrometry (MS), mainly matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight (MALDI-TOF) and electrospray-ion trap (ESI-IT) MS, has been recognized as an indispensable tool to detect multiple features of a complex protein sample for the majority of proteomics studies. Moreover, the bioinformatics treatment of MS data has increased the scale of proteomics tools, representing a powerful strategy for high-throughput protein and peptide identification and quantification

9 pags., 7 figs., 1 tab., Adenovirus minor coat protein VI contains a membrane-disrupting peptide that is inactive when VI is bound to hexon trimers. Protein VI must be released during entry to ensure endosome escape. Hexon:VI stoichiometry has been uncertain, and only fragments of VI have been identified in the virion structure. Recent findings suggest an unexpected relationship between VI and the major core protein, VII. According to the high-resolution structure of the mature virion, VI and VII may compete for the same binding site in hexon; and noninfectious human adenovirus type 5 particles assembled in the absence of VII (Ad5-VII-) are deficient in proteolytic maturation of protein VI and endosome escape. Here we show that Ad5-VII- particles are trapped in the endosome because they fail to increase VI exposure during entry. This failure was not due to increased particle stability, because capsid disruption happened at lower thermal or mechanical stress in Ad5-VII- compared to wild-type (Ad5-wt) particles. Cryoelectron microscopy difference maps indicated that VII can occupy the same binding pocket as VI in all hexon monomers, strongly arguing for binding competition. In the Ad5-VII- map, density corresponding to the immature amino-terminal region of VI indicates that in the absence of VII the lytic peptide is trapped inside the hexon cavity, and clarifies the hexon:VI stoichiometry conundrum. We propose a model where dynamic competition between proteins VI and VII for hexon binding facilitates the complete maturation of VI, and is responsible for releasing the lytic protein from the hexon cavity during entry and stepwise uncoating, We thank the Centro Nacional de Biotecnología and the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas cryoelectron microscopy facility for data acquisition.This work was supported by Grant BFU2016-74868-P, cofunded by the Spanish State Research Agency and the European Regional Development Fund (to C.S.M.); as well as by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness BIO2015-68990-REDT (the Spanish Adenovirus Network, AdenoNet) (to C.S.M.), FIS2017-89549-R, “María de Maeztu” Program for Units of Excellence in R&D (MDM-2014-0377), and FIS2017-90701-REDT (to P.J.d.P.). P.H. was funded by National Institutes of Health Grants CA122677 and AI102577. U.F.G. and M.S. were funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF 31003A_179256/1) and the Swiss National Science Foundation program Sinergia (CRSII5_170929/1). M.M. was funded by Grant BFU2015-70052R (Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and European Regional Development Fund) and the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias, an initiative from the Spanish Institute of Health Carlos III. M.H.-P. is a recipient of a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral contract funded by the Spanish State Research Agency. M.P.-I. holds a predoctoral contract from La Caixa Foundation.

A value for nontransferable utility (NTU) games with fuzzy coalition restrictions is introduced and characterized. In a similar way as the Shapley value for transferable utility (TU) games has been extended in the literature to study games with restricted cooperation, we extend the Shapley NTU value to deal with NTU games in situations in which there are fuzzy dependency relationships among the players.

8 pages, 1 table, 2 figures, Food allergy is considered to be the fourth most important public health problem by the World Health Organization (WHO). As a consequence, accurate, sensitive and fast detection methods for food allergy control and investigation are highly recommendable. In this work, we present a short overview of the applications of the Advanced Proteomics and Systems Biology approaches for the study and control of food allergy. For this purpose, two consecutive proteomics strategies (Discovery and Targeted Proteomics) applied for the study and control of food allergy are reviewed in detail. In addition, from an integrative point of view, the emergence proteomics-based systems biology approaches applied for the study of the mechanisms of food allergy are described. Future directions and new perspectives are also provided, This work was supported by grants from the EU Marie Curie actions (FP7-9 PEOPLE-2012-IEF, ref. 332274) and by the Ramón Areces Foundation (XVII National grant)

The interval Shapley-like value for cooperative interval games was introduced by Han et al. (2012).A theorem of characterization of the interval Shapley-like value was provided in that paper. We show that there is an error in the proof of that theorem. We indicate how to avoid this error and complete the proof.

The concept of restriction, which is an extension of that of interior operator, was introduced to model limited cooperation in cooperative game theory. In this paper, a fuzzy version of restrictions is presented. We show that these new operators, called fuzzy restrictions, can be characterized by the transitivity of the fuzzy dependence relations that they induce. As an application, we introduce cooperative games with fuzzy restriction, which are used to model cooperative situations in which each player in a coalition has a level of cooperation within the coalition. A value for these games is defined and characterized.

We report the case of a 50-year-old female smoker with an 11-year history of seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (rheumatoid factor and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies) receiving triple therapy. She developed pulmonary nodules diagnosed as Langerhans cell histiocytosis by lung biopsy. We found no reported cases of the coexistence of these two diseases. Smoking abstinence led to radiologic resolution without modifying the immunosuppressive therapy.

Serpentinite powdered samples from four different regions were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), SBET and porosity measurements, UV-Vis and Infrared Spectroscopy of the skeletal region and surface OH groups. SEM micrographs of the samples showed a prismatic morphology when the lizardite was the predominant phase, while if antigorite phase prevailed, the particles had a globular morphology. The few fibrous-shaped particles, only observed by SEM and weakly detected by XRD on MO-9C and MO13 samples, were characteristic of the chrysotile phase. All diffraction XRD patterns showed characteristic peaks of antigorite and lizardite serpentine phases, with crystallite sizes in the range 310&ndash, 250 &Aring, and with different degrees and types of carbonation processes, one derived from the transformation of the serpentine, generating dolomite, and another by direct precipitation of calcite. The SBET reached values between 38&ndash, 24 m2∙g&minus, 1 for the samples less crystalline, in agreement with the XRD patterns, while those with a higher degree of crystallinity gave values close to 8&ndash, 9 m2∙g&minus, 1. In the UV region all electronic spectra were dominated by the absorption edge due to O2&minus, &rarr, Si4+ charge transfer transition, with Si4+ in tetrahedral coordination, corresponding to a band gap energy of ca 4.7 eV. In the visible region, 800&ndash, 350 nm, the spectra of all samples, except Donai, presented at least two weak and broad absorptions centred in the range 650&ndash, 800 and 550&ndash, 360 nm, associated with the presence of Fe3+ ions from the oxidation of structural Fe2+ ions in the serpentinites ((MgxFe2+1&minus, x)3Si2O5(OH)4). The relative intensity of the IR bands corresponding to the stretching modes of the OH&rsquo, s groups indicated the prevalence of one of the two phases, antigorite or lizardite, in the serpentinites. We proposed that the different relative intensity of these bands could be considered as diagnostic to differentiate the predominance of these phases in serpentinites.

11 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, Anisakis simplex is a parasitic nematode that can cause anisakiosis and/or allergic reactions in humans. The presence of invasive third-stage larvae (L3) in many different consumed fish species and the fourth-stage larvae (L4) in marine mammals, where L3 can accidentally affect to humans and develop as far as stage L4. World Health Organization and food safety authorities aim to control and prevent this emerging health problem. In the present work, using Tandem Mass Tag (TMT)-based quantitative proteomics we analyzed for the first time the global proteome of two A. simplex development stages, L3 and L4. The strategy was divided into four steps: (a) protein extraction of L3 and L4 development stages, (b) high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU)-assisted trypsin digestion, (c) TMT-isobaric mass tag labeling following by high-pH reversed-phase fractionation, and (d) LC-MS/MS analysis in a LTQ-Orbitrap Elite mass spectrometer. A total of 2443 different proteins of A. simplex were identified. Analysis of the modulated proteins provided the specific proteomic signature of L3 (i.e. pseudocoelomic globin, endochitinase 1, paramyosin) and L4 (i.e. neprilysin-2, glutamate dehydrogenase, aminopeptidase N). To our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive dataset of proteins of A. simplex for two development stages (L3 and L4) identified to date, This work was supported by the Ramón Areces Foundation (XVII National grant), the GAIN-Xunta the Galicia Project (IN607D 2017/01), and as part of the project “Development Program of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn” no. POWR.03.05.00-00-Z310/17

5 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, Proteome changes in the longissimus thoracis bovine muscle in response to pre-slaughter stress were assessed on the basis of two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) data. In this study, the bootstrap resampling statistical technique and a new measure of relative change of the volume of 2-DE protein spots are shown to be more efficient than commonly used statistics to reliably quantify changes in protein abundance in stress response. The data are supplied in this article and are related to “Tackling proteome changes in the longissimus thoracis bovine muscle in response to pre-slaughter stress” by Franco et al.

Hitherto unreported vanadium oxyfluoride VO2F has been synthesized using a solid state reaction at a pressure of 4 GPa and 800 °C. This long awaited vanadium oxyfluoride fills the existing gap of ReO3-type MO2F compounds of Group 5 elements, from which only NbO2F and TaO2F have been known to exist to date. VO2F crystallizes with the VF3-type structure, space group Rc, with a = 5.1226(1) A and c = 13.0686(3) A as determined by powder X-ray diffraction. Highly structured diffuse streaking observed in electron diffraction patterns evidences local O/F ordering. VO2F exhibits two regions upon discharge in a lithium cell, an upper sloped region in the range of 3.9–2.2 V and a lower plateau at 2.15 V. Discharge of VO2F to 1 V provides a gravimetric capacity of 450 mA h g−1. VO2F can reversibly insert up to 1 Li+ per vanadium above 2.15 V without destruction of the host structure, delivering a gravimetric capacity as high as 250 mA h g−1 and pointing to VO2F as a promising intercalation electrode.

15 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, In the present work, we applied a shotgun proteomics approach for the fast and easy characterization of 20 different foodborne strains of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), one of the most recognized foodborne pathogenic bacteria. A total of 644 non-redundant proteins were identified and analyzed via an easy and rapid protein sample preparation procedure. The results allowed the differentiation of several proteome datasets from the different strains (common, accessory, and unique datasets), which were used to determine relevant functional pathways and differentiate the strains into different Euclidean hierarchical clusters. Moreover, a predicted protein-protein interaction network of the foodborne S. aureus strains was created. The whole confidence network contains 77 nodes and 769 interactions. Most of the identified proteins were surface-associated proteins that were related to pathways and networks of energy, lipid metabolism and virulence. Twenty-seven virulence factors were identified, and most of them corresponded to autolysins, N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidases, phenol-soluble modulins, extracellular fibrinogen-binding proteins and virulence factor EsxA. Potential species-specific peptide biomarkers were screened. Twenty-one species-specific peptide biomarkers, belonging to eight different proteins (nickel-ABC transporter, N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidase, autolysin, clumping factor A, gram-positive signal peptide YSIRK, cysteine protease/staphopain, transcriptional regulator MarR, and transcriptional regulator Sar-A), were proposed to identify S. aureus. These results constitute the first major dataset of peptides and proteins of foodborne S. aureus strains. This repository may be useful for further studies, for the development of new therapeutic treatments for S. aureus food intoxications and for microbial source-tracking in foodstuffs., This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity Project AGL2013-48244-R and by the European Regional Development Fund (2007–2013).

A cooperative game consists of a set of players and a characteristic function which determines the maximal gain or minimal cost that every subset of players can achieve when they decide to cooperate, regardless of the actions that the other players take. A permission structure over the set of players describes a hierarchical organization where there are players who need permission from certain other players before they are allowed to cooperate with others. Various assumptions can be made about how a permission structure affects the cooperation possibilities. In the conjunctive approach it is assumed that each player needs permission from all his superiors. This paper deals with fuzzy permission structures in the conjunctive approach. In this model, players could depend partially on other players, that is, they may have certain degree of autonomy. First, we define a value for games with fuzzy permission structure that only takes into account the direct relations among players and provide a characterization for this value. Finally, we study a value for games with fuzzy permission structure which takes account of the indirect relations among players.

14 páginas, 6 figuras, 2 tablas, 1 apéndice, The study innovatively pinpoints target proteins of carbonylation, a key PTM induced by oxidative stress, in the SHROB (genetically obese spontaneously hypertensive) rat model of metabolic syndrome (MetS). Protein carbonylation was assessed by a fluorescence-labeling proteomics approach, and complemented with biometric and biochemical markers of MetS. SHROB and healthy Wistar rats were fed two diets, soybean and linseed oil supplementations, in order to distinguish intrinsic carbonylation of SHROB animals from diet-modulated carbonylation unrelated to MetS. First exploratory data showed similar carbonylation patterns and metabolic conditions in SHROB rats fed soybean and linseed, but different from Wistar animals. A total of 18 carbonylated spots in liver, and 12 in skeletal tissue, related to pathways of lipid (29.6%), carbohydrate (25.9%) and amino acid (18.5%) metabolisms, were identified. In particular, SHROB animals present higher carbonylation in four liver proteins belonging to lipid metabolism, redox regulation and chaperone activity (ALDH2, PDI, PDIA3, PECR), and in the skeletal muscle ALDOA that is involved in muscle dysfunction. Conversely, SHROB rats display lower carbonylation in liver albumin, AKR1C9, ADH1 and catalase. This investigation provides a novel perspective of carbonylation in the context of metabolic disorders, and may be a starting point to characterize new redox pathways exacerbating MetS, This investigation has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Grant AGL2009-12374-C03-01, -02 and -03). The Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation is gratefully acknowledged for the doctoral fellowship to L.M. L.M. also thanks the USC (Spain) for its doctoral program. Xunta de Galicia and European Social Fund are thankfully recognized by the financial support of the postdoctoral “Isidro Parga Pondal” contract to M.P. J.P.-J. thanks the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III for granting her a Sara Borrell postdoctoral contract (CD09/00068)

8 pages, 3 figures, This review is a critical overview of advances in proteomics applied in food technology, which may be classified into two main topics: (i) authentication of food components as a tool to comply with food-labeling regulations and policies; and, (ii) food-technology research, mainly for the development of fast, reliable methods to detect and to identify spoilage and/or pathogenic microorganisms in food and for the study of changes in food components as a consequence of food processing.

A comprehensive overview of the application of proteomics for the assessment of quality and safety in fishery products is presented in this review. For this purpose, two consecutive phases of the proteomics pipeline used in our laboratory (discovery and target-driven stages), are described in detail. The potentiality of this workflow is emphasized using different subjects concerning fish quality and safety. Fish authentication, allergen detection, microorganism contamination and quality changes during storage and processing are the main topics where proteomics is being successful applied. Future directions and new potential perspectives are also provided.

The present study aims to compare two molecular technologies, 16S rRNA sequencing and MALDI-TOF MS, for bacterial species identification in seafood. With this aim, 70 reference strains from culture collections, including important seafood-borne pathogenic and spoilage bacterial species, and 50 strains isolated from commercial seafood products, were analysed by both techniques. Genomic analysis only identified the species of 50% of the isolated strains, proving to be particularly poor at identifying members of the Pseudomonas and Bacillus genera. In contrast, MALDI-TOF MS fingerprinting identified 76% of the strains at the species level. The mass spectral data were submitted to the SpectraBank database (http://www.spectrabank.org), making this information available to other researchers. Furthermore, cluster analysis of the peak mass lists was carried out with the web application SPECLUST and the calculated groupings were consistent with results determined by a phylogenetic approach that is based on the 16S rRNA sequences. However, the MALDI-TOF MS analysis demonstrated more discriminating potential that allowed for better classification, especially for the Pseudomonas and Bacillus genera. This is of importance with respect to the varying pathogenic and spoilage character at the intragenus and intraspecies level. In this sense, MALDI-TOF MS demonstrated to be a competent bacterial typing tool that extends phenotypic and genotypic approaches, allowing a more ample classification of bacterial strains.

14 pages, Fish species substitution is an important concern in international fishery markets due to increases in international trade, per capita seafood consumption, and the production of processed foods. Conventionally, the authentication of commercial fish species is performed by analyzing morphological characters, but this is unfeasible for processed seafood products. Although several DNA and protein molecular markers have been developed over the last two decades, new strategies for fish identification are emerging due to recent developments in proteomic methodologies. This chapter presents a comprehensive overview of the application of proteomics to the identification of commercial fish species. Two sequential phases of the proteomic pipeline that are applied in our laboratory, the discovery phase and the target-driven phase, are presented. The most rapid method (

8 páginas, 7 figuras, 2 tablas, The determination of the geographical origin of food products is relevant to comply with the legal regulations of traceability, to avoid food fraud, and to guarantee food quality and safety to the consumers. For these reasons, stable isotope ratio (SIR) analysis using an isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) instrument is one of the most useful techniques for evaluating food traceability and authenticity. The present study was aimed to determine, for the first time, the geographical origin for all commercial fish species belonging to the Merlucciidae family using SIR analysis of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N). The specific results enabled their clear classification according to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) fishing areas, latitude, and geographical origin in the following six different clusters: European, North African, South African, North American, South American, and Australian hake species, This work was financially supported by a grant from the Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CICyT) (Project AGL2000-0440-P4-02) of Spain

MALDI-TOF MS has proved to be an accurate, rapid, and cost-effective technique for microbial identification in which the spectral fingerprint of an unknown strain can be compared to a database of spectra from reference strains. Most of the existing databases are private and often costly to access, and little spectral information is shared among researchers. The objective of the present communication is to introduce the SpectraBank database (http://www.spectrabank.org), which provides open access MALDI-TOF mass spectra from a variety of microorganisms. This work aims to familiarize readers with the SpectraBank database, from the sample preparation, data collection, and data analysis to how the spectral reference data can be used for microbial species identification. The database currently includes more than 200 MALDI-TOF MS spectra from more than 70 bacterial species and links to the freely available web-based application SPECLUST (http://bioinfo.thep.lu.se/speclust.html) to allow comparisons of the obtained peak mass lists and evaluate phyloproteomic relationships. The SpectraBank database is intended to be expanded by the addition of new spectra from microbial strains, obtained in our laboratory and by other researchers.

6 páginas, 5 tablas, he present study concerns Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) traded as a chilled product. The study was aimed to investigate the effect of including a mixture of organic acids (citric, ascorbic, and lactic) in the icing medium employed during the fish chilled storage. To this end and according to preliminary trials results, an aqueous solution including 0.050% (w/v) of each acid was employed as icing medium; its effect on the microbial activity development in mackerel muscle was monitored for up to 13 d of chilled storage and compared to a counterpart-fish batch kept under traditional water ice considered as control. Results indicated a lower bacterial growth in mackerel muscle subjected to storage in the organic acid-icing system by comparison with control fish. Thus, statistically-significant (P < 0.05) differences between both batches for all 6 microbial groups investigated (aerobes, anaerobes, psychrotrophes, Enterobacteriaceae, lipolytics, and proteolytics) and for 2 chemical indices related to microbial activity development (total volatile bases and trimethylamine) were obtained. The surface wash caused by the melting of the ice during storage and the subsequent antimicrobial effect of such acids on skin microflora of the fish can be invoked as the main reasons for the limited bacterial growth found in the corresponding mackerel muscle., This study was supported by the Secretarıa Xeral de I+D from the Xunta de Galicia (Galicia, Spain) through the Research Project PGIDIT 10 TAL 402001 PR.

15 páginas, 4 tablas, 6 figuras, The rapid identification of food pathogenic and spoilage bacteria is important to ensure food quality and safety. Seafood contaminated with pathogenic bacteria is one of the major causes of food intoxications, and the rapid spoilage of seafood products results in high economic losses. In this study, a collection of the main seafood pathogenic and spoilage Gram-positive bacteria was compiled, including Bacillus spp., Listeria spp., Clostridium spp., Staphylococcus spp. and Carnobacterium spp. The strains, belonging to 20 different species, were obtained from the culture collections and studied by matrixassisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). A reference library was created, including the spectral fingerprints of 32 reference strains and the extracted peak lists with 10–30 peak masses. Genus-specific as well as speciesspecific peak masses were assigned and could serve as biomarkers for the rapid bacterial identification. Furthermore, the peak mass lists were clustered with the web-application SPECLUST to show the phyloproteomic relationships among the studied strains. Afterwards, the method was successfully applied to identify six strains isolated from seafood by comparison with the reference library. Additionally, phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene was carried out and contrasted with the proteomic approach. This is the first time MALDI-TOF MS fingerprinting is applied to Grampositive bacterial identification in seafood, being a fast and accurate technique to ensure seafood quality and safety., This work was funded by project 10PXIB261045PR from Xunta de Galicia and by project AGL2010-19646 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology. The work of K. Bohme and I. C. Fernandez-No is supported by a ‘Maria Barbeito’ and ‘Lucas Labrada’ research contract from Xunta de Galicia.

The new scheelite form of SmCrO4 oxide was obtained by heating the zircon-type SmCrO4 oxide at 4 GPa and 803 K. X-ray diffraction revealed that this scheelite SmCrO4 phase crystallized with tetragonal symmetry, S.G. I41/a and lattice parameters: a=0.50776(3) nm and c=1.15606(2) nm. This structural phase transition from zircon to scheelite involved a decreasing of around 10% in the unit cell volume. Although the Cr-O and Sm-O distances did not change very much in both zircon and scheelite polymorphs, the changes occurred in the bond angles were remarkable that appear to support the proposed reconstructive model to explain this structural zircon-scheelite phase transition. Magnetic susceptibility and magnetization measurements revealed that the scheelite SmCrO4 oxide behaved an antiferromagnetic material, where the Sm3+ and Cr5+ were simultaneously ordered. The estimated Neel temperature, TN, was 16 K and the critical field at 12 K associated with the metamagnetic transition was 3.2 T.

Parvalbumins (PRVB) (11.20-11.55 kDa) are considered the major fish allergens. In this work, we propose a novel strategy for extensive characterization of this group of proteins based on the integration of a classical Bottom-Up proteomics approach with accurate Mr determination by FTICR-MS of intact proteins and selected MS/MS ion monitoring (SMIM) of peptide mass gaps. For each PRVB, mass spectra obtained by LC-ESI-IT-MS/MS from two digests (trypsin, Glu-C) were de novo sequenced manually with help of two programs (PEAKS, DeNovoX). The deduced peptide sequences were arranged and the theoretical Mr for the resulting sequences was calculated. Experimental Mr for each PRVB was measured with high mass accuracy by FTICR-MS (0.05-4.47 ppm). The masses of several missing peptide gaps were estimated by comparing the theoretical and experimentalMr, and the MS/MS spectra corresponding to these ions were obtained by LC-ESI-IT-MS/MS in the SMIM scanning mode. Finally, all peptide sequences were combined to generate the final protein sequences. This approach allowed the complete de novo MS-sequencing of 25 new PRVB isoforms. These new sequences belong to 11 different species from the Merlucciidae family, organisms for which genomes remain unsequenced. This study constitutes the report accounting for the higher number of new proteins completely sequenced making use of MS-based techniques only.