Authentication of yerba mate according to the country of origin by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) associated with chemometrics.

This study deals with the development of a method for classification of yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) using attenuated total-reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) and multivariate analysis. Fifty-four brands of yerba mate from southern South America were analysed in order to classify the commercialised yerba mate according to the respective country of yerba mate processing. The yerba mate was ground in a cryogenic mill, and the reflectance was directly measured in the region ranging from 4000 to 650 cm(-1). Different pre-processing algorithms and three methods of multivariate analysis were investigated, including principal component analysis (PCA), partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and support vector machine discriminant analysis (SVM-DA). The yerba mate classification was 100% correct when the reflectance spectra were pre-treated (derived at first order, normalised by standard normal variation, smoothed and mean centred) and analysed using the SVM-DA method.

Análisis de la yerba mate elaborada compuesta, comercializada en Asunción y Gran Asunción, Paraguay / Analysis of the elaborate and composed yerba mate, marketed in Asunción and Gran Asunción, Paraguay

RESUMEN: En el presente trabajo se realiza el análisis de las yerba mate elaborada compuesta comercializada en Asunción y Gran Asunción, Paraguay . Se han tomado muestras al azar que se comercializan en supermercados de Asunción y Gran Asunción, 3 lotes distintos (2 muestras/lote) y se han analizado por el método del cuarteo. Como resultado se ha encontrado que se comercializan 3 tipos de yerba mate compuesta (clasificación según NP 3500201): tipo 1, 3 y 4; no se ha encontrado la de tipo 2; y la de mayor ocurrencia ha sido la del tipo 1 con un 53%, seguida de la del tipo 4 con un 26% y la del tipo 3 con un 21%. En cuanto al uso sugerido de estas yerbas, los trastornos digestivos son los de mayor preferencia (42%), seguido del uso como sedante/tranquilizante (16%), como refrescante (1 1%), como expectorante (1 1%), contra espasmos musculares (1 1%), como adelgazante (5%), como energizante (5%), otros usos (5%), mientras que el 26% de las muestras eran yerbas compuestas de tipo 3 sin uso declarado. Una misma yerba compuesta puede estar indicada para varios usos; pero la mayoría solo indican un uso en particular . El fabricante declara 12 especies adicionadas a la yerba mate compuesta elaborada, tanto como hierba adicionada o como esencia; de estas, la "menta", Mentha x piperita, ha sido la especie de mayor ocurrencia (74%) tanto como hierba adicionada como en forma de esencia, seguida del "boldo", Peumus boldus y el "limón", Citrus limon con un 32% cada una, y en tercer lugar el "cedrón", Cymbopogon citratus, Elionorus latiflorus (o Aloysia citriodora?) con un 26%; en menor porcentaje el "burrito", Aloysia polystachya y el "naranjo", Citrus aurantium con un 16% cada uno; las demás especies; "sen", Cassia angustifolia, "cola de caballo", Equisetum arvense; "catuaba", Psidium cinereum; "mburucuja", Passiflora spp.; "eucalipto", Eucaliptus sp. y "té verde", Camelia sinensis en el 5% de las muestras. Palabras clave: yerba mate elaborada compuesta, Ilex paraguariensis, comercializada

Genomic screening in dioecious "yerba mate" tree (Ilex paraguariensis A. St. Hill., Aquifoliaceae) through representational difference analysis.

The "yerba mate" tree, Ilex paraguariensis, is a functionally dioecious crop species with economic relevance in several South American countries. We report a genomic screening accomplished through representational difference analysis (RDA) in male and female I. paraguariensis trees. The aim of the present paper was to investigate the occurrence of sex-related genomic differences in order to develop an early gender detection molecular method that could help reducing energy inputs during the "yerba mate" processing and that could be suitable for breeding programs. An intra-experiment redundancy was detected via SSCP analysis and sequence characterization. Taking together both reciprocal RDA assays, fragments isolated can be discriminated into three main categories. The first category of fragments shows spurious affinities with available deposited sequences and could be considered as specific to I. paraguariensis. The second category comprises sequences identified as organellar or ribosomal plant DNA. Sequences grouped in the third category involve clones akin to conserved domains of retrotransposons (RNaseH, integrases and/or chromodomains) from at least two distinct lineages of Ty3/Gypsy retrotransposons and one from Ty1/Copia retroelements, which in addition are associated to sex determination regions of the Solanaceae, Caricaceae and Salicaceae. A contig sequence was assembled that codes for an integrase core domain and a chromodomain. The phylogenetic analysis of the so-called IPRE (for I. paraguariensis retroelement) integrase domain indicates that it belongs to the Del lineage of the Chromoviridae. This is the first report of mobile elements isolated and detected from the "yerba mate" tree. Although RDA derived fragments, so far tested, have been retrieved from both sexes with similar sequences, association to sex related regions cannot be completely discarded. Implications of present results are further discussed.

Some aspects of mating and fertility in the West Indies

This paper deals with certain problems in fertility analysis in the West Indies that have their origin in 2 characteristics of the populations involved: the diversity of family forms and the imbalance between the sexes. Considerations of the main features of these family types, in terms of a fourfold classification as well as in terms of the threefold classification adopted at recent censuses (single, common law and married), show that many techniques relied on in the study of fertility among European populations are inapplicable to West Indian populations. The limited data available permit only rough estimates of the rates of formation of different types of unions: but these emphasize that formal marriage usually takes place late in the childbearing period, generally after the couple has had one or more children, that the formation of keeper unions begins considerably earlier and that the common law type is a transitional state between the looser keeper union and the state of marriage. There seems to be no chance of studying fertility differentials among the several family types in terms of reproduction rates. Census data however provide 3 measures for this purpose, all of which show that fertility is highest for the married type and lowest for the single or keeper union. These differentials seem to run counter to the more usual pattern of fertility differential which show fertility lowest among groups of high socio-economic standing. Imbalance between the sexes is of importance primarily in the problem of arriving at satisfactory indices of fertility, though it may also have contributed somewhat to the establishment of the pattern of low marriage rates. Wide discrepancies between rates based on males and rates based on females appear, both in respect of fertility levels at given points of time and in respect of fertility trends. These discrepancies seem closely related to the imbalance between the sexes in the reproductive age span. Under these conditions the use of joint G.R.R's clearly offers a more realistic measure of fertility than rates based on either sex (SUMMARY)