Consumption of Deep-Fried Food and Its Association with Cardiovascular Risk Factors among First-Year Students in a Chilean University.

The increase in the consumption of deep-fried foods (DFFs) from street vendors in Chile affects body weight and health. However, the actual consumption frequency of these types of foods by population and their relationship with cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) is unknown. The consumption frequency of eight DFFs sold in street vendors was obtained through a questionnaire. CVRFs were determined through survey and anthropometric measurements. The prevalence of high values of CVRF was determined regarding gender and frequency of consumption of DFF monthly. 66% of the population consumed DFF more than 4 times monthly; each individual would consume about 4 (3.83) servings/week and with 81% of preference of products sold from street vendors. 89.2% of the population exhibited a family history of CVD. From the means comparison application, although the values obtained from CVRF were mostly within normal ranges at the population level, there were significant differences in CVRF according to gender in body mass index, waist circumference, systolic pressure, and sedentary. The prevalence of elevated values of CVRF according to gender was higher in men than in women in 7 of 12 of the parameters of CVF. The prevalence of elevated values of CVRF according to the frequency of consumption of DFF monthly was higher when students consume DFF more than 4 times monthly. The 12.7% of the population had between 3 or 4 CVRFs and consumed high quantities of DFF, preferably sold by street vendors near the university. This situation is worrying since the caloric and nutritional content is low and could generate a tendency to acquire cardiovascular pathologies in the medium term.

Avocado Oil: Characteristics, Properties, and Applications.

Avocado oil has generated growing interest among consumers due to its nutritional and technological characteristics, which is evidenced by an increase in the number of scientific articles that have been published on it. The purpose of the present research was to discuss the extraction methods, chemical composition, and various applications of avocado oil in the food and medicine industries. Our research was carried out through a systematic search in scientific databases. Even though there are no international regulations concerning the quality of avocado oil, some authors refer to the parameters used for olive oil, as stated by the Codex Alimentarius or the International Olive Oil Council. They indicate that the quality of avocado oil will depend on the quality and maturity of the fruit and the extraction technique in relation to temperature, solvents, and conservation. While the avocado fruit has been widely studied, there is a lack of knowledge about avocado oil and the potential health effects of consuming it. On the basis of the available data, avocado oil has established itself as an oil that has a very good nutritional value at low and high temperatures, with multiple technological applications that can be exploited for the benefit of its producers.

Evaluation of the antigenicity of universal epitopes from PvDBPII in individuals exposed to Plasmodium vivax malaria.

The Duffy-binding protein (PvDBP) mediates invasion of reticulocytes by the malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax. PvDBP has been recognized as a good vaccine candidate due to its ability to induce antibody responses capable of inhibiting target cell invasion after natural infections. For the development of subunit-based vaccines, it is important to identify universal epitopes that could be presented by different HLA-DR alleles to induce effective cellular and humoral immune responses. In this study, the antigenicity of universal epitopes from PvDBPII was evaluated by stimulating peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from individuals with different degrees of P. vivax malaria exposure and distinct HLA-DR alleles. Peptides 1635 and 1638 induced lymphoproliferation and stimulated the production of IL-6 and IFN-γ. The results suggest that conserved peptides binding with high activity to red blood cells and with known affinity to HLA-DR proteins could be good components for a P. vivax vaccine.

Mechanisms of genetically-based resistance to malaria.

Malaria remains one of the most prevalent parasitoses worldwide. About 350 to 500 million febrile episodes are observed yearly in African children alone and more than 1 million people die because of malaria each year. Multiple factors have hampered the effective control of this disease, some of which include the complex biology of the Plasmodium parasites, their high polymorphism and their increasingly high resistance to antimalarial drugs, mainly in endemic regions. The ancient interaction between malarial parasites and humans has led to the fixation in the population of several inherited alterations conferring protection against malaria. Some of the mechanisms underlying protection against this disease are described in this review for hemoglobin-inherited disorders (thalassemia, sickle-cell trait, HbC and HbE), erythrocyte polymorphisms (ovalocytosis and Duffy blood group), enzymopathies (G6PD deficiency and PK deficiency) and immunogenetic variants (HLA alleles, complement receptor 1, NOS2, tumor necrosis factor-α promoter and chromosome 5q31-q33 polymorphisms).

Identification and evaluation of universal epitopes in Plasmodium vivax Duffy binding protein.

Selected PvDBP-derived synthetic peptides were tested in competition assays with HLA molecules in order to identify and evaluate their binding to a wide range of MHC class II molecules. Binding was evaluated as the peptide's ability to displace the biotinylated control peptide (HA(306-318)) and was detected by a conventional ELISA. Thus, one epitope for the HLA-DR1 molecule, two epitopes for the HLA-DR4 molecule, six epitopes for the HLA-DR7 molecule and three epitopes for the HLA-DR11 molecule displaying a high binding percentage (above 50%) were experimentally obtained. The in vitro results were compared with the epitope prediction results. Two peptides behaved as universal epitopes since they bound to a larger number of HLA-DR molecules. Given that these peptides are located in the conserved PvDBP region II, they could be considered good candidates to be included in the design of a synthetic vaccine against Plasmodium vivax malaria.