Determinación de Helicobacter spp. en mucosa gástrica glandular de mulas a través de la prueba de la actividad de la ureasa e histopatología

La información sobre la presentación y los factores predisponentes del síndrome de úlcera gástrica en mulas (SUGM) es escasa en comparación con el síndrome de úlcera gástrica en equinos (SUGE) y asnales. Debido a la naturaleza multifactorial de este síndrome, la helicobacteriosis ha sido estudiada en otras especies. El objetivo fue establecer la presencia de Helicobacter spp. en mucosa gástrica de mulas a través de la prueba rápida de la ureasa (PRU) y de análisis histopatológico. Menos del 27% de las muestras reaccionaron a la PRU, con tiempos prolongados de reacción, y al Agar Urea (prueba de oro), con menor porcentaje de positividad. La histopatología reveló procesos inflamatorios crónicos, sin presencia de bacterias curvoespiraladas. Las PRU no fueron conclusivas en la determinación de Helicobacter spp., comportamiento similar reportado en equinos. Se requieren exámenes diagnósticos específicos y procedimientos complementarios que explore regiones del estómago en consideración del número de muestras representativas.

Perioperative in Intensive Medicine of reconstructive surgery and burned patients

Burned patients may need prolonged admissions in the Intensive Care Service, both for initial care and for the pre and postoperative treatment of the multiple surgeries they require. The initial resuscitation of critically burned patients requires adequate monitoring to calculate the fluid therapy necessary to replenish the losses and ensure tissue perfusion, but without excesses that increase interstitial edema. In addition, monitoring can evaluate the systemic inflammatory response that can lead to shock and organic dysfunctions. After this initial phase we will find a critical patient who requires multiple reinterventions in non-optimal situations, so he will need special care over a long period of time. In addition, the Intensive Care Service offers specific postoperative care for reconstructive surgery and the transplantation of composite tissues (upper limb and face) in which its success depends on a rigorous control through adequate monitoring and treatment.

Effect of freezing on Fossomatic cell counting in ewe milk

Using the Fossomatic method, a total of 10,072 analytical somatic cell count (SCC) observations were carried out on 4760 aliquots taken from 70 individual ewe milk samples with the objective of studying whether freezing showed significant differences of SCC in comparison with refrigeration, according to different analytical conditions. These conditions were four preservation procedures (without preservation, potassium dichromate, azidiol, and bronopol), two storage temperatures (refrigeration and freezing), five milk ages within storage (24 h postcollection in refrigeration, and 24 h, 15, 30, and 60 d postcollection in freezing), two thawing types (rapid and slow), and two analytical temperatures (40 and 60 degrees C). Preservation, storage, and analytical temperature, type of thawing and milk age within storage, and most of the interactions showed a significant effect on the SCC variation. On average, the SCC was lower after freezing than in refrigeration. This effect depended specifically on type of preservation and analytical temperature of milk. The SCC of milk unpreserved or preserved with bronopol or potassium dichromate, and analyzed at 40 degrees C, was not affected by freezing; however, use of azidiol as a preservative before freezing, and heating the milk to 60 degrees C following thawing resulted in significantly decreased SCC. Milk age had little quantitative influence on SCC of thawed milk. The type of thawing (rapid and slow) did not significantly influence SCC of milk analyzed at 40 degrees C. As a result, when using properly handled samples, the Fossomatic method could be used to enumerate SCC in samples frozen over the 60 d.

Fossomatic cell-counting on ewe milk: comparison with direct microscopy and study of variation factors

Using the Fossomatic method (FSCC) a total of 23,003 analytical SCC observations were carried out on 6400 aliquots taken from 80 individual ewe milk samples with the objective of studying the influence of 4 preservation procedures (without preservation, potassium dichromate, azidiol, and bronopol), 2 storage temperatures (ambient and refrigeration), 10 milk ages (3,6,12, and 24h, and 2,3,4,5,7, and 9d postcollection), and two analytical temperatures (40 and 60 degrees C). In addition, each sample was analyzed with direct microscopic method (DMSCC), using 3 different stainings for each sample: methylene blue (MB), May-Grünwald-Giemsa (MGG) and Pyronin Y-methyl green (PGM). This allowed DMSCC and FSCC (at 24 h of age) to be compared. The reference DMSCC from MB staining was a reliable method in ewe milk, though more specific stainings such as MGG and PMG slightly improve the residual standard deviation for repeated SCC. Between DMSCC and FSCC, the highest coefficients of correlation (0.972 to 0.996) corresponded to preserved and refrigerated milk, and the lowest (0.708 to 0.919) to unpreserved and ambient stored aliquots. Except for the unpreserved and ambient stored aliquots, SCC values were similar in all aliquots. Under FSCC, preservation, storage and analytical temperature, milk age, and most of the interactions showed a significant effect on SCC variation. In preserved samples, logSCC values ranged between 5.67 (bronopol) and 5.62 (azidiol). The higest values (5.72) were for unpreserved milk, which showed false overestimation of SCC due to bacterial proliferation. LogSCC was higher at 60 degrees C (5.68) than at 40 degrees C (5.65). The interaction between age, preservation and storage temperature showed no cell degeneration in properly handled samples over the 9 d of study.

Solid-phase microextraction with on-fibre derivatisation applied to the analysis of volatile carbonyl compounds

We have used a fast, sensitive and efficient method for the analysis of volatile carbonyl compounds (saturated aliphatic and unsaturated aldehydes) based on solid-phase microextraction with on-fibre derivatisation. Pentafluorophenylhydrazine was absorbed onto a poly(dimethylsiloxane)/divinylbenzene-coated fibre and exposed to the vapours of aldehyde-containing matrices. The hydrazones formed on the fibre were desorbed into the gas chromatograph injection port and quantified by means of electron-capture detection with high sensitivity (10-90 fmol) and good reproducibility (RSD<10%). The method was applied to the headspace-sampling of volatile carbonyl compounds released during the thermally-induced degradation of sunflower oil.

High-resolution gas-chromatographic analysis of the secondary metabolites obtained by subcritical-fluid extraction from Colombian rue (Ruta graveolens L.)

Subcritical (CO(2)) extraction, carried out in a J&W Scientific High Pressure Soxhlet Extractor, was used to isolate secondary metabolites from leaves, flowers, stems and roots of Colombian rue (Ruta graveolens L.). The various extracts were analyzed by capillary chromatography, on an HP-5 (30 m) column, using nitrogen-phosphorus, flame ionization, and mass selective detection systems. Kováts indexes and mass spectra (electron impact, 70 eV) were employed for compound identification. The extracts from the various parts of rue studied had different compositions. The number of compounds detected at concentrations above 0.01% (w/w) in the extracts from leaves, flowers, stems and roots, was 78, 45, 25 and 24, respectively. 2-Nonanone (8.9%), 2-undecanone (13.4%), chalepensin (13.0%), and geijerene (19.3%) were the main constituents found in the extracts from rue leaves, flowers, stems and roots, respectively. Furanocoumarins, furoquinolines, hydrocarbons and benzodioxol derivatives were the main compound families found in all extracts, at total concentrations between 3.7 and 33.9%, depending on the part of the plant. The extraction method used has low environmental impact and produced solvent-free extracts in good yield with no pigments, waxes, resins, or high-molecular weight compounds which may interfere with the isolation and analysis of the alkaloids responsible for rue's biological activity, which were extracted in relatively high yield.

Comparison of extraction methods and detection systems in the gas chromatographic analysis of volatile carbonyl compounds

High-resolution gas chromatography (HRGC) with electron-capture detection (ECD), nitrogen-phosphorus detection (NPD), flame ionization detection (FID) or with mass spectrometry-selected ion monitoring (MS-SIM) was used in the analysis of volatile carbonyl compounds. Eighteen carbonyl compounds that are typically produced during lipid peroxidation were derivatized quantitatively with pentafluorophenylhydrazine (PFPH) at room temperature, to afford their corresponding water-insoluble hydrazones. These derivatives were extracted into non-polar phases by means of either liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) (hexane) or solid-phase extraction (SPE) on 3 ml C18 octadecyl-bonded phase cartridges. Detection limits of 10(-14) and 10(-12) mol/ml per aldehyde were achieved with the ECD and MS-SIM systems, respectively. The effects of extraction conditions on sensitivity and recovery were determined by performing parallel HRGC-ECD and HRGC-MS-SIM analyses of pentafluorophenylhydrazones of the eighteen compounds under study. Recoveries of 51.4-78.9 +/- 1.2-4.5 and 80.9-98.3 +/- 1.0-3.5% were obtained with LLE and SPE, respectively. The method was applied to the analysis of the volatile carbonyl compounds in various heated vegetable oils (corn, palm or sunflower) and to the analysis of volatile aldehydes in human urine.

A potassium channel toxin from the secretion of the sea anemone Bunodosoma granulifera. Isolation, amino acid sequence and biological activity

A peptide toxin affecting potassium channels was isolated from the sea anemone Bunodosoma granulifera. It facilitates acetylcholine release at avian neuromuscular junctions, competes with dendrotoxin I, a probe for voltage-dependent potassium channels, for binding to synaptosomal membranes of rat brain with a Ki of 0.7 nM and suppresses K+ currents in rat dorsal root ganglion neurones in culture. It represents a new structural type of potassium channel toxin with the sequence V1RCDWFKETA10CRHAKSLGNC20RTSQKYRANC30AKTLQCC37 (M(r) 4275, three disulfides).