Antioxidant activity and protection against oxidative-induced damage of Acacia shaffneri and Acacia farnesiana pods extracts: in vitro and in vivo assays.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a worldwide public health issue, reaching epidemic condition in developing countries associated to chronic diseases. Oxidative damage is another side effect of obesity. Antioxidant activity from plant components regulates at some extent this imbalance. Main goal of the present study was to determine the antioxidant activity and protection against oxidative-induced damage of Acacia shaffneri (AS) and Acacia farnesiana (AF) pods extracts. METHODS: To evaluated antioxidant activity and radical scavenging capacity of AS and AF extracts, two experiments were performed: 1) pods extracts were challenged against H2O2 using kidney cells in an in vitro assay; and 2) (Meriones unguiculatus) was employed in an in vivo assay to observe the effect of pods extracts on scavenging properties in plasma. RESULTS: Both pods extracts presented an important protective effect on radical scavenging capacity against ABTS• + and DPPH(+), and also in TBARS formation in vitro. Vegetal pods extracts did not induce any pro-oxidative effect when added to kidney cells in DMEM. Cells damage in DMEM with addition of H2O2 was significantly higher than those when vegetal pods extracts were added at 50 (P < 0.05) or 200 ppm (P < 0.001). Plasma scavenging properties presented an important dose-dependent positive effect in those groups where pods extracts were administered. CONCLUSIONS: The antioxidant protection of the acacia pods extracts reported in this study suggests the possible transference of antioxidant components and protective effects to animal products (milk, meat, and by-products) from Acacia pods when this vegetation is included in the diet. In order to evaluate, the possible transference of theirs antioxidant components to animal products, the incorporation of these non-conventional resources to ruminant feeding is a good opportunity of study. Profiling of Acacia farnesiana pods extract is necessary to identify the responsible bioactive compounds of protective properties.

Fatty acid content, health and risk indices, physicochemical composition, and somatic cell counts of milk from organic and conventional farming systems in tropical south-eastern Mexico.

Organic agriculture and livestock farming is claimed to promote animal welfare and can offer animal products with better hygienic-sanitary quality, based on principles of health, ecology, fairness, and care. However, no clear advantages of organic milk (OM) versus conventional milk (CM) from tropical conditions are available. The aims of the study were to determine fatty acid profile, health-promoting (HPI) and thrombogenic (TI) indices, physicochemical composition, and somatic cell counts (SCC) of OM and CM in tropical south-eastern Mexico. Female cross-breed cows (400-600 kg) were employed. CM had larger values of saturated fatty acids (SFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) (63.6 %; 4.57 %) than OM (61.48 %; 4.22 %), while OM resulted in a larger value of monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) (34.3 %) than CM (31.7 %). HPI and TI showed that OM was more favorable than CM. Milk production and physicochemical composition (PC) as well as density had no significant difference, while SCC was significantly lower in OM than in CM on a monthly basis. These results showed that OM promotes a healthful and balanced diet, and is already produced by sustainable ecologic technologies employing traditional agrosilvopastoral management, which is more environmentally friendly and promotes ecological resilience.

Neurodesarrollo y estimulación oportuna en niños de madres indígenas migrantes y no migrantes en Chihuahua, México / Neurodevelopment and timely early stimulationin children of indigenous migrant and non-migrant mothers in Chihuahua, Mexico

El objetivo de este estudio fue comparar características generales y de atención en salud entre menores y sus madres migrantes y no migrantes en indígenas Tarahumaras, en Chihuahua, México. Así mismo, se evaluó la asociación entre el riesgo de retraso en neurodesarrollo en niños y las prácticas de estimulación oportuna. Niños y niñas de entre 12 a 48 meses de edad fueron estudiados en dos grupos: 1) menores de madres migrantes ubicados en asentamientos urbanos en la ciudad de Chihuahua y 2) menores de madres no migrantes residentes en sus localidades de origen. La prevalencia de riesgo de retraso del neurodesarrollo moderado y grave (RNMG) fue mayor en menores de madres migrantes versus no migrantes (75.6%, IC95% [69.5, 80.8] vs 59.8%, [51.4, 67.7], p = .003). La proporción de niños(as) que recibieron una estimulación oportuna favorable (EOF) en casa fue mayor en los menores de madres no migrantes (p < .001). La migración de las madres indígenas hacia asentamientos urbanos estuvo asociada al RNMG en sus hijos(as) (p = .03), así como las prácticas insuficientes de estimulación oportuna (p = .03). La asistencia consistente a sesiones de estimulación temprana del programa de Educación Inicial fue mayor en niños(as) de madres no migrantes (p = .01); y la no asistencia fue predictor del RNMG (p = .02).(AU)

This study aimed to compare the general and health care charac-teristics of young children of migrant and non-migrant mothers from in-digenous Tarahumara communities in Chihuahua, Mexico, and to evaluate the association between child risk for neurodevelopment delay with paren-tal practices of early childhood stimulation. Male and female children aged 12 to 48 months were studied in two groups: 1) children of migrant moth-ers residing in urban settlements and 2) children of non-migrant mothers residing in their native rural localities. Prevalence of the risk of moderate to severe neurodevelopment delay (MSND) was greater in children of mi-grant mothers as compared to non-migrant mothers (75.6%, CI95% [69.5, 80.8] vs.59.8%, [51.4, 67.7], p = .003). The proportion of children who re-ceived adequate and favorable early stimulation (FTES) at home was great-er in children of non-migrant mothers (p < .001). The migration of indige-nous mothers to urban settlements was associated with child MSND (p = .03), as well as to insufficient early stimulation practices (p = .03). Con-sistent attendance at early childhood stimulation sessions through the Ini-tial Education program was greater in children of non-migrant mothers (p = .01), and non-attendance predicted child MSND (p = .02).(AU)