Relationship between Serum Vitamin D Levels and HDL Cholesterol in Postmenopausal Women from Colombian Caribbean.

Background: Previous evidence suggests that metabolic disorders in postmenopausal women could be related with low serum vitamin D levels. For example, vitamin D deficiency has been associated with increased risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), mainly those related with metabolic syndrome.

Objective: To assess the relationship between the serum vitamin D (25-OH-D) levels and the metabolic syndrome markers in postmenopausal women.

[Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D state in healthy children ten year minors old of Barranquilla metropolitan area].

Objetive: To evaluate the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH-D) levels in healthy children under 10 years of the Barranquilla metropolitan area.

Materials And Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study in which serum levels of 25-OH-D were analyzed in 360 healthy children from 2014 to 2015.

Results: The median value of 25-OH-D serum level was 32.

Zinc deficiency: A global problem that affect the health and cognitive development.

The zinc deficiency affects approximately a third of the world population, principally in the developing countries, the rural areas and in the poorest communities, where this micronutrient deficiency is one of the most prevalent risk factor for nutrientrelated diseases. This paper compiles scientific advances about the key role of the essential trace element zinc in the neurogenesis control, brain function and cognitive development. The aim of this work is to generate in health professionals, interest about the zinc deficiency effects in neuro-intellectual development and its negative impact in the cultural, economic and social development of the countries.

Characterization of a novel Lactobacillus species closely related to Lactobacillus johnsonii using a combination of molecular and comparative genomics methods.

Background: Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) constitutes a powerful tool for identification and characterization of bacterial strains. In this study we have applied this technique for the characterization of a number of Lactobacillus strains isolated from the intestinal content of rats fed with a diet supplemented with sorbitol.

Results: Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene, recA, pheS, pyrG and tuf sequences identified five bacterial strains isolated from the intestinal content of rats as belonging to the recently described Lactobacillus taiwanensis species.

Sorbitol production from lactose by engineered Lactobacillus casei deficient in sorbitol transport system and mannitol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase.

Sorbitol is a sugar alcohol largely used in the food industry as a low-calorie sweetener. We have previously described a sorbitol-producing Lactobacillus casei (strain BL232) in which the gutF gene, encoding a sorbitol-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, was expressed from the lactose operon. Here, a complete deletion of the ldh1 gene, encoding the main L-lactate dehydrogenase, was performed in strain BL232.

Regulation of Lactobacillus casei sorbitol utilization genes requires DNA-binding transcriptional activator GutR and the conserved protein GutM.

Sequence analysis of the five genes (gutRMCBA) downstream from the previously described sorbitol-6-phosphate dehydrogenase-encoding Lactobacillus casei gutF gene revealed that they constitute a sorbitol (glucitol) utilization operon. The gutRM genes encode putative regulators, while the gutCBA genes encode the EIIC, EIIBC, and EIIA proteins of a phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent sorbitol phosphotransferase system (PTS(Gut)). The gut operon is transcribed as a polycistronic gutFRMCBA messenger, the expression of which is induced by sorbitol and repressed by glucose.

Dietary supplementation with sorbitol results in selective enrichment of lactobacilli in rat intestine.

A potential prebiotic action has been ascribed to sorbitol, but in vivo evidence of this remains scarce. In the present work, the effect of sorbitol was compared to that of fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) in a rat model. Microbiota changes, particularly in lactobacilli, were analyzed on fecal, colonic and cecal samples.