Granulometric and Geochemical Distribution of Arsenic in a Mining Environmental Liability in a Semi-arid Area.

This study focuses on the "El Lavadero" tailings deposit, a mining environmental liability (MEL) located near the town of San Felipe de Jesús, Sonora, in northwest Mexico. The objective was to determine the total arsenic (As) content, its granulometric and geochemical distribution, as well as its mobilization capacity and bioavailability. The results from oxidized and unoxidized tailings showed low potential of hydrogen (pH) values (2.

Recent Advances in the Extraction and Characterization of Bioactive Compounds from Corn By-Products.

Maize comes in a variety of colors, including white, yellow, red, blue, and purple, which is due to the presence of phytochemicals such as carotenoids, anthocyanins, flavonoids, phytosterols, and some hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives. In Mexico, maize is primarily grown for human consumption; however, maize residues comprise 51-58% of the total maize plant weight (stalks, leaves, ears, and husks) and are mainly used as livestock feed. These residues contain numerous bioactive compounds that interest the industry for their potential health benefits in preventing or treating degenerative diseases.

Quantification of Vitamin A in Edible Oils: Comparison of Portable Device iCheck Chroma3 to High-Performance Liquid Chromatography.

Fortification of edible oil with vitamin A is a widely adopted intervention to minimize the effects of vitamin A deficiency in vulnerable groups and mitigate some of its deleterious consequences. Regulatory monitoring is an important prerequisite to ensure that the fortification program is implemented effectively. Standard laboratory analysis methods for vitamin A in oils to assess adequate addition levels remain expensive and time-consuming.

A palmitoyl transferase chemical-genetic system to map ZDHHC-specific S-acylation.

The 23 human zinc finger Asp-His-His-Cys motif-containing (ZDHHC) S-acyltransferases catalyze long-chain S-acylation at cysteine residues across an extensive network of hundreds of proteins important for normal physiology or dysregulated in disease. Here we present a technology to directly map the protein substrates of a specific ZDHHC at the whole-proteome level, in intact cells. Structure-guided engineering of paired ZDHHC 'hole' mutants and 'bumped' chemically tagged fatty acid probes enabled probe transfer to specific protein substrates with excellent selectivity over wild-type ZDHHCs.

Environmental chemicals change extracellular lipidome of mature human white adipocytes.

Certain environmental chemicals affect the body's energy balance and are known as metabolism disrupting chemicals (MDCs). MDCs have been implicated in the development of metabolic diseases, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. In contrast to their well-known impact on developing adipocytes, MDC effects leading to altered energy balance and development of insulin resistance in mature white adipocytes, constituents of adult adipose tissue, are largely unclear.

Production of a Fungal Punicalagin-Degrading Enzyme by Solid-State Fermentation: Studies of Purification and Characterization.

The present work describes the purification of an enzyme capable of degrading punicalagin. The enzyme was produced by GH1 by solid-state fermentation, and the enzyme production was induced by using ellagitannins as the sole carbon source. The purification steps included the concentration by lyophilization, desalting, anionic exchange, and gel filtration chromatography.

Nematicidal lipopeptides from Bacillus paralicheniformis and Bacillus subtilis: A comparative study.

The aim of this work was to develop a comparative study between Bacillus paralicheniformis TB197 and B. subtilis ATCC 21332 strains in terms of growth, cyclic lipopeptide production, nematicidal activity, and active lipopeptide characteristics. Crude lipopeptide extracts (CLEs) from their fermentation broths were obtained, and their nematicidal activity (NA) was estimated as the mean lethal dose (LD), employing Caenorhabditis elegans.

Positive Family Environment, General Distress, Subjective Well-Being, and Academic Engagement among High School Students Before and During the COVID-19 Outbreak.

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the family dynamics of most people worldwide as well as the mode in which students take classes. The impact of such changes on students' well-being, academic engagement, and general distress remains unknown. Therefore, this study aims to test the structural relations among positive family environment (a measure of Positive Home-Based Parent Involvement [HBI]), subjective well-being (SWB), general distress, and academic engagement, focusing on Mexican high school students.

Influence of culture conditions on ellagitannase expression and fungal ellagitannin degradation.

The role and mechanism of elagitannase is misunderstood because it exhibited different activities due to the low purity or complexity of substrates, and there is no available information about the biochemical, physicochemical and molecular characteristics of the enzyme. This study was aimed to obtain enzymatic extracts by Aspergillus niger GH1 in solid-state fermentation, using dextrose and ellagitannins as inducers of ellagitannase. Protein and bioinformatic analysis were performed to identify the protein sequence expressed in terms of culture conditions.

Au@Ag Core@Shell Nanoparticles Synthesized with Rumex hymenosepalus as Antimicrobial Agent.

In this work, we used a sequential method of synthesis for gold-silver bimetallic nanoparticles with core@shell structure (Au@AgNPs). Rumex hymenosepalus root extract (Rh), which presents high content in catechins and stilbenes, was used as reductor agent in nanoparticles synthesis. Size distribution obtained by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) gives a mean diameter of 36 ± 11 nm for Au@AgNPs, 24 ± 4 nm for gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), and 13 ± 3 nm for silver nanoparticles (AgNPs).

Enzymatic Biotransformation of Pomegranate Ellagitannins: Initial Approach to Reaction Conditions.

Background: Ellagitannase (Ellagitannin acyl hydrolase) is an inducible enzyme with great potential use in food industry since allows the ellagic acid release from ellagitannins.

Objective: In this work, ellagitannase was produced by the fungus GH1 in solid state fermentation using polyurethane foam as solid support and pomegranate husk ellagitannins as sole carbon source and ellagitannase inducer and an initial approach to the enzymatic reaction conditions was reached.

Materials And Methods: Ellagitannase was produced by GH1 in solid state fermentation and the ideal reaction conditions for ellagitannase activity based on ellagic acid quantification as ellagitannins biotransformation product by high performance liquid chromatographic are reported.

Waist circumference percentiles for Hispanic-American children and comparison with other international references.

Introduction: Waist circumference (WC) constitutes an indirect measurement of central obesity in children and adolescents.

Objective: To provide percentiles of WC for Hispanic-American children and adolescents, and compare them with other international references.

Materials And Methods: The sample comprised 13 289 healthy children between 6 and 18 years coming from public schools of middle and low socioeconomic levels in different parts of Argentina, Cuba, Spain, Mexico, and Venezuela.

Native yeasts for alternative utilization of overripe mango pulp for ethanol production.

Mango fruits (Mangifera indica L.) are highly perishable, causing postharvest losses and producing agroindustrial waste. In the present work, native yeasts were used to evaluate ethanol production in overripe mango pulp.

Development of subcutaneous fat in Spanish and Latin American children and adolescents: Reference values for biceps, triceps, subscapular and suprailiac skinfolds.

Subcutaneous fat skinfolds represent a reliable assessment instrument of adiposity status. This study provides current percentile references for four subcutaneous skinfolds (biceps, triceps, subscapular, suprailiac) applicable to children and adolescents in Spain and in Latin American countries where data are scarce. The design consisted of a cross-sectional multicenter study performed with identical methods in 5 countries (Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, Spain and Venezuela).