Measurement of airborne nicotine, as a marker of secondhand smoke exposure, in homes with residents who smoke in 9 European countries.

OBJECTIVE: Smoke-free policies are effective in preventing secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure, but their adoption at home remains largely voluntary. This study aimed to quantify SHS exposure in homes with residents who smoke in Europe according to households' characteristics, tobacco consumption habits, and national contextual factors. METHODS: Cross-sectional study (March 2017-September 2018) based on measurements of air nicotine inside 162 homes with residents who smoke from nine European countries. We installed passive samplers for seven consecutive days to monitor nicotine concentrations. Through self-administered questionnaires, we collected sociodemographic information and the number of individuals who smoke, smoking rules, frequency, location, and quantity of tobacco use in households. Country-level factors included the overall score in the Tobacco Control Scale 2016, the smoking prevalence, and self-reported SHS exposure prevalence. Nicotine concentrations were analyzed as continuous and dichotomous variables, categorized based on the limit of quantification of 0.02 µg/m3. RESULTS: Overall, median nicotine concentration was 0.85 µg/m3 (interquartile range (IQR):0.15-4.42), and there was nicotine presence in 93% of homes. Participants reported that smoking was not permitted in approximately 20% of households, 40% had two or more residents who smoked, and in 79% residents had smoked inside during the week of sampling. We found higher nicotine concentrations in homes: with smell of tobacco smoke inside (1.45 µg/m3 IQR: 0.32-6.34), where smoking was allowed (1.60 µg/m3 IQR: 0.68-7.63), with two or more residents who smoked (2.42 µg/m3 IQR: 0.58-11.0), with more than 40 cigarettes smoked (2.92 µg/m3 IQR: 0.97-10.61), and where two or more residents smoked inside (4.02 µg/m3 IQR: 1.58-11.74). Household nicotine concentrations were significantly higher in countries with higher national smoking prevalence and self-reported SHS exposure prevalence (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: SHS concentrations in homes with individuals who smoke were approximately twenty times higher in homes that allowed smoking compared to those reporting smoke-free household rules. Evidence-based interventions promoting smoke-free homes should be implemented in combination with strengthening other MPOWER measures.

Synthesis, Experimental and Theoretical Study of Azidochromones.

A series of 2-(haloalkyl)-3-azidomethyl and 6-azido chromones has been synthetized, characterized and studied by theoretical (DFT calculations) and spectroscopic methods (UV-Vis, NMR). The crystal structure of 3-azidomethyl-2-difluoromethyl chromone, determined by X-ray diffraction methods, shows a planar framework due to extended π-bond delocalization. Its molecular packing is stabilized by F···H, N···H and O···H hydrogen bonds, π···π stacking and C-O···π intermolecular interactions. Moreover, AIM, NCI and Hirshfeld analysis evidenced that azido moiety has a significant role in the stabilization of crystal packing through weak intermolecular interactions, where analysis of electronic density suggested closed-shell (CS) interatomic interactions.

Smart Device-Based Notifications to Promote Healthy Behavior Related to Childhood Obesity and Overweight.

Obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century and it is a threat to the life of people according to World Health Organization. In this scenario, family environment is important to establish healthy habits which help to reduce levels of obesity and control overweight in children. However, little efforts have been focused on helping parents to promote and have healthy lifestyles. In this paper, we present two smart device-based notification prototypes to promote healthy behavior with the aim of avoiding childhood overweight and obesity. The first prototype helps parents to follow a healthy snack routine, based on a nutritionist suggestion. Using a fridge magnet, parents receive graphical reminders of which snacks they and their children should consume. The second prototype provides a graphical reminder that prevents parents from forgetting the required equipment to practice sports. Prototypes were evaluated by nine nutritionists from three countries (Costa Rica, Mexico and Spain). Evaluations were based on anticipation of use and the ergonomics of human-system interaction according to the ISO 9241-210. Results show that the system is considered useful. Even though they might not be willing to use the system, they would recommend it to their patients. Based on the ISO 9241-210 the best ranked features were the system's comprehensibility, the perceived effectiveness and clarity. The worst ranked features were the system's suitability for learning and its discriminability.

Using Non-Traditional Interfaces to Support Physical Therapy for Knee Strengthening.

Physical therapy consists mainly in the execution of rehabilitation processes that aim to help overcome injuries, as well as develop, maintain, or restore maximum body movement. Knee rehabilitation is one kind of physical therapy that requires daily exercises which could be considered monotonous and boring by the patients, discouraging their improvement. This is coupled with the fact that most physical therapists assess exercise performance through verbal and visual means with mostly manual measurements, making it difficult to constantly verify and validate if patients perform the exercises correctly. This article describes a physical therapy monitoring system that uses wearable technology to assess exercise performance and patient progress. This wearable device is able to measure and transfer the movement's data from the patient's limb to a mobile device. Moreover, the user interface is a game, which provides an entertaining approach to therapy exercising. In this article, it is shown that the developed system significantly increases daily user engagement in rehabilitation exercises, through a gameplay that matches physical therapy requirements for knee rehabilitation, as well as offering useful quantitative information to therapists.

Minimally Invasive Postero-Inferior Sacroiliac Joint Fusion: Surgical Technique and Procedural Details.

(1) Background: Minimally invasive sacroiliac joint (SIJ) fusion is the preferred surgical intervention to treat chronically severe pain associated with SIJ degeneration and dysfunction. (2) Methods: This paper details the ten-step surgical procedure associated with the postero-inferior approach using the PsiF™ DNA Sacroiliac Joint Fusion System. (3) Results: The posterior surgical approach with an inferior operative trajectory (postero-inferior) utilizes easily identifiable landmarks to provide the safest, most direct access to the articular joint space for transfixing device placement. Implanting the device through the subchondral bone provides maximum fixation and stabilization of the joint by utilizing an optimal amount of cortical bone-implant interface. Approaching the joint from the inferior trajectory also places the implant perpendicular to the S1 endplate at a "pivot point" near the sacral axis of rotation, which addresses the most significant motion of the joint. (4) Conclusions: Further observational data from real-world clinical use are encouraged to further validate this procedure as the surgical preference for minimally invasive SIJ fusion.

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) activation mediates benzo(a)pyrene-induced overexpression of AQP3 and Notch1 in HaCaT cells.

The aim of this study was twofold: (1) evaluate the effect of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) on expression levels of AQP3 and Notch1 genes in HaCaT cells exposed "in vitro" and (2) investigate the possible biological role of assessed genes by bioinformatics methods. Cells were exposed to increasing concentrations of BaP (0.0-4.0 µM) for 1-4 days. After treatments, cell viability and expression levels of AhR, CYP1A1, AQP3, and Notch1 genes were evaluated. The possible biological role of assessed genes was evaluated using bioinformatics tools. Low cytotoxicity in HaCaT cells dosed with BaP was detected. A significant overexpression (p < .05) of CYP1A1, AQP3, and Notch1 was found in exposed HaCaT cells. The gene expression upregulation was dependent on AhR activation. The bioinformatics analysis showed that these genes were enriched in related cancer signaling pathways. The findings suggest that AQP3 and Notch1 are upregulated by AhR activation in HaCaT cells exposed to BaP.

An indoor navigation system for the visually impaired.

Navigation in indoor environments is highly challenging for the severely visually impaired, particularly in spaces visited for the first time. Several solutions have been proposed to deal with this challenge. Although some of them have shown to be useful in real scenarios, they involve an important deployment effort or use artifacts that are not natural for blind users. This paper presents an indoor navigation system that was designed taking into consideration usability as the quality requirement to be maximized. This solution enables one to identify the position of a person and calculates the velocity and direction of his movements. Using this information, the system determines the user's trajectory, locates possible obstacles in that route, and offers navigation information to the user. The solution has been evaluated using two experimental scenarios. Although the results are still not enough to provide strong conclusions, they indicate that the system is suitable to guide visually impaired people through an unknown built environment.

Validation of parameters and protocols derived from chlorophyll a fluorescence commonly utilised in marine ecophysiological studies.

This study documents the first validation of the suitability of the most common parameters and protocols used in marine ecophysiology to characterise photosynthesis by means of chlorophyll a fluorescence tools. We demonstrate that the effective yield of PSII (ΔF /F m ') is significantly underestimated when using short inductions times (≤1 min) following the rapid light curve protocol (RLC). The consequent electron transport rates (ETR) underestimations are species-specific and highly variable with irradiance and the photoacclimatory condition of the sample. Our analysis also questions the use of relative descriptors (relETR), as they not only overestimate photosynthesis, but overlook one of the fundamental components of the photosynthetic response: light absorption regulation. Absorptance determinations were fundamental to characterise the ETR response of low-pigmented seagrass leaves, and also uncovered relevant differences between two coral species and the accclimatory response of a cultured dinoflagellate to temperature. ETR and oxygen evolution determinations showed close correlations for all organisms tested with the expected slope of 4 e- per O2 molecule evolved, when correct photosynthesis inductions and light absorption determinations were applied. However, ETR curves cannot be equated to conventional photosynthetic response to irradiance (P vs E ) curves, and caution is needed when using ETR to characterise photosynthesis rates above photosynthesis saturation (E k ). This validation strongly supports the utility of fluorescence tools, underlining the need to correct two decades of propagation of erroneous concepts, protocols and parameters in marine eco-physiology. We aim also to emphasise the importance of optical descriptions for understanding photosynthesis, and for interpreting fluorescence measurements. In combination with conventional gross photosynthesis (GPS) approaches, optical characterisations open an extraordinary opportunity to determine two central parameters of photosynthesis performance: the quantum yield (φmax ) of the process and its minimum quantum requirements (1/φmax ). The combination of both approaches potentiates the possibilities of chlorophyll a fluorescence tools to characterise marine photosynthesis biodiversity.

Angiotensin-I converting enzyme inhibitory and antioxidant activities of peptide fractions extracted by ultrafiltration of cowpea Vigna unguiculata hydrolysates.

BACKGROUND: Enzymatic proteolysis of food proteins is used to produce peptide fractions with the potential to act as physiological modulators. Fractionation of these proteins by ultrafiltration results in fractions rich in small peptides with the potential to act as functional food ingredients. The present study investigated the angiotensin-I converting enzyme (ACE-I) inhibitory and antioxidant activities for hydrolysates produced by hydrolyzing Vigna unguiculata protein extract as well as ultrafiltered peptide fractions from these hydrolysates. RESULTS: Alcalase(®), Flavourzyme(®) and pepsin-pancreatin were used to produce extensively hydrolyzed V. unguiculata protein extract. Degree of hydrolysis (DH) differed between the enzymatic systems and ranged from 35.7% to 58.8%. Fractionation increased in vitro biological activities in the peptide fractions, with IC(50) (hydrolysate concentration in µg protein mL(-1) required to produce 50% ACE inhibition) value ranges of 24.3-123 (Alcalase hydrolysate, AH), 0.04-170.6 (Flavourzyme hydrolysate; FH) and 44.7-112 (pepsin-pancreatin hydrolysate, PPH) µg mL(-1), and TEAC (Trolox equivalent antioxidant coefficient) value ranges of 303.2-1457 (AH), 357.4-10 211 (FH) and 267.1-2830.4 (PPH) mmol L(-1) mg(-1) protein. CONCLUSION: The results indicate the possibility of obtaining bioactive peptides from V. unguiculata proteins by means of a controlled protein hydrolysis using Alcalase(®), Flavourzyme(®) and pepsin-pancreatin. The V. unguiculata protein hydrolysates and their corresponding ultrafiltered peptide fractions might be utilized for physiologically functional foods with antihypertensive and antioxidant activities.

[NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS FROM MÉXICO IN RELATION WITH THEIR LIFESTYLE]. / ESTADO NUTRICIONAL EN RELACIÓN CON EL ESTILO DE VIDA DE ESTUDIANTES UNIVERSITARIOS MEXICANOS.

INTRODUCTION: the change in lifestyle and nutrition has led to growing obesity; in Mexico there has been significant increase in its prevalence. The problem was thought limited to adult population, but it also affects children, adolescents and young adults. Obesity at an early stage of life, subsequently leads to obesity in adult life. Apparently few attempts with College students have being reported. OBJECTIVES: relate the effect of anthropometry and physical condition with dietary habits, physical activity and smoking addiction in students of a public university of Mexico, in order to establish a diagnosis of their nutritional status. METHODS: one hundred and seventy eight students, were measured obtaining: body weight, height, waist and hip circumference, body composition and blood pressure. A questionnaire to determine their physical activity was applied, a dietary assessment was also collected and socioeconomic status was established. Data were analyzed statistically by the method of least squares. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: individuals classified as over-weighted, with obesity class 1 and class 2, accounted for 48.87% of the total population; more overweight and obesity was found in men compared with women, affecting negatively the value of blood pressure. This deteriorating health was attributable to poor eating habits: skipping breakfast and consumption of fast food. Smoking was revealed as a major risk factor since it adversely affected nutritional status.

Introducción: el cambio en el estilo de vida y la nutrición ha dado lugar a una creciente obesidad; en México se ha registrado un notable incremento en su prevalencia. El problema se creía limitado a la población adulta, pero también está presente en niños, adolescentes y en adultosjóvenes. La obesidad en una etapa inicial de la vida adulta, conlleva a su desarrollo posteriormente. Se han llevado a cabo pocos estudios con estudiantes universitarios. Objetivos: relacionar el efecto de la antropometría y de la condición física con los hábitos alimentarios, la actividad física y el tabaquismo de estudiantes de una universidad pública de México con la finalidad de establecer un diagnóstico del estado nutricional. Métodos: ciento setenta y ocho estudiantes participaron, obteniéndose su peso, altura, circunferencia de la cintura y cadera, composición corporal y presión arterial. Se aplicó un cuestionario para conocer su actividad física, se realizó una evaluación dietética y se estableció su nivel socioeconómico. Los datos se analizaron estadísticamente mediante el método de mínimos cuadrados. Resultados y Discusión: los individuos que se clasificaron en sobrepeso, obesidad clase 1 y obesidad clase 2, representaron el 48.87% del total, observándose más sobrepeso y obesidad en los hombres en comparación con las mujeres, reflejándose en un elevado valor de la presión arterial. Este deterioro en la salud se pudo atribuir a malos hábitos alimentarios como el hecho de no realizar el desayuno, así como dedicarle poco tiempo al consumo de alimentos, adquiriendo comida rápida. El tabaquismo se reveló como un factor de riesgo importante, ya que afectó negativamente al estado nutricional.

Defatted Jatropha curcas flour and protein isolate as materials for protein hydrolysates with biological activity.

Jatropha curcas L. protein hydrolysates were produced by treatment of a non-toxic genotype with Alcalase as well as the digestive enzymes pepsin and pancreatin. The J. curcas protein hydrolysate produced with the pepsin-pancreatin system from protein isolate had the highest TEAC value and was shown to undergo single-electron transfer reactions in the ABTS(+) reduction assay, demonstrating its antioxidant capacity. Testing of antimicrobial activity in the J. curcas protein hydrolysates against seven bacterial pathogens showed no growth inhibitory effect in Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. More ACE-I inhibitory active peptides were produced in the Alcalase hydrolysates obtained from J. curcas protein isolate. The protein hydrolysate obtained with Alcalase from defatted J. curcas flour as well as from the protein isolate showed the highest inhibitory effect of ADP-induced aggregation of human platelets in platelet-rich plasma. It is expected that the information collated will facilitate new applications of proteins present in Jatropha plant.

Effect of Jatropha curcas peptide fractions on the angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitory activity.

Hypertension is one of the most common worldwide diseases in humans. Angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) plays an important role in regulating blood pressure and hypertension. An evaluation was done on the effect of Alcalase hydrolysis of defatted Jatropha curcas kernel meal on ACE inhibitory activity in the resulting hydrolysate and its purified fractions. Alcalase exhibited broad specificity and produced a protein hydrolysate with a 21.35% degree of hydrolysis and 34.87% ACE inhibition. Ultrafiltration of the hydrolysate produced peptide fractions with increased biological activity (24.46-61.41%). Hydrophobic residues contributed substantially to the peptides' inhibitory potency. The 5-10 and <1 kDa fractions were selected for further fractionation by gel filtration chromatography. ACE inhibitory activity (%) ranged from 22.66 to 45.96% with the 5-10 kDa ultrafiltered fraction and from 36.91 to 55.83% with the <1 kDa ultrafiltered fraction. The highest ACE inhibitory activity was observed in F2 (IC50 = 6.7 µg/mL) from the 5-10 kDa fraction and F1 (IC50 = 4.78 µg/mL) from the <1 kDa fraction. ACE inhibitory fractions from Jatropha kernel have potential applications in alternative hypertension therapies, adding a new application for the Jatropha plant protein fraction and improving the financial viability and sustainability of a Jatropha-based biodiesel industry.

Heavy metal quantification in renal tissue of patients in the state of yucatan and its association with urolithiasis.

A possible cause associated with urinary lithiasis (UL) is the bioaccumulation of heavy metals in the kidney. The aim of this study was to evaluate the content of Cu, Pb, and Cd in kidney tissues removed from patients with nephrological problems and associate it with UL. Samples of 50 kidney sections from patients were analyzed. Results were statistically analyzed using a fixed effects model including the overall mean, the effect of the health status of patients (with or without UL), gender (male and female), the interaction between both factors and the random error (NID (0, σ (2))). Cu level was 8.8 ± 4.4 mg/kg (mean ± DS) and 25.5% of samples had levels above normal. Lead content in 97.9% of the samples (3.6 ± 1.5 mg/kg) was above normal. All results of Cd (13.2 ± 16.6 mg/kg) were below the maximum permissible limits. There was no difference in the amount of heavy metals on patients with or without UL (P > 0.05) nor depending on the gender (P > 0.05). It was concluded that there is no apparent relationship between a very elevated level of Cu or Pb in the kidney on the development of UL.