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E Ibáñez

Publications and source records attributed to E Ibáñez.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Subcritical water extraction of nutraceuticals with antioxidant activity from oregano. Chemical and functional characterization.

In the present work, oregano leaves (Origanum vulgare L.) are explored as natural source of nutraceuticals with antioxidant activity. To do this, subcritical water extraction (SWE), a new environmentally friendly technique, is employed as extraction procedure and HPLC coupled to DAD is used for the chemical characterization of the extracts. Moreover, the radical scavenging 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method and the determination of the total phenolic content (measured with the Folin test) are applied to evaluate the antioxidant activity of the extracts. The extraction of antioxidants from oregano leaves by SWE is studied considering different temperatures (25, 50, 100, 150 and 200 degrees C) to investigate the selectivity of the process. The highest antioxidant activity is observed for the extract obtained at the highest temperature, 200 degrees C (EC(50) equal to 10 microg/ml). Moreover, the extraction yield was also the highest (54% dry weight) at these extraction conditions. The total phenolic content showed no differences among the different extracts, concluding that the amount of phenolic compounds extracted was similar but the type and structure of the phenolics was different, providing in this way different antioxidant activity. Some compounds could be tentatively identified, proposing some probable chemical structures for some of them, such as flavanones, dihydroflavonols, favonols and flavones.

Antioxidants↗
PubMed2005

Activated bovine cytoplasts prepared by demecolcine-induced enucleation support development of nuclear transfer embryos in vitro.

Demecolcine-induced enucleation (IE) of mouse oocytes has been shown to improve development to term of cloned mice. In this study, we characterized the kinetics and morphological progression of bovine oocytes subjected to IE, and evaluated their ability to support embryo development to the blastocyst stage after nuclear transfer (NT). In vitro matured bovine oocytes were parthenogenetically activated and subsequently exposed to demecolcine at various times post-activation. Onset and duration of demecolcine treatment significantly altered activation and IE frequencies, which varied from 7.1% to 100% and 33.3% to 91.7%, respectively, at 5 hr post-activation. A significant decrease in IE frequencies was observed at 17 hr post-activation (3.4%-46.1%), possibly due to reincorporation of chromosomes into the oocyte after incomplete second polar body (PB) extrusion. Oocytes were reconstructed by NT before (treatment 1) or after (treatment 2) activation and demecolcine treatment, and cultured in vitro. Cleavage (48.1%-54.2%) and blastocyst rates (15.7%-19%) were equivalent for the two treatments, as well as the total cell number in NT blastocysts. Furthermore, most of the blastocysts were completely diploid (treatment 2) or heteroploid but with a majority of diploid nuclei (treatment 1). Our results demonstrate that the IE method can be successfully used to produce enucleated bovine cytoplasts that are competent to support development to the blastocyst stage after NT. This technically simple approach may provide a more efficient method to enhance the success rate of NT procedures. Further studies are needed to improve the in vitro development efficiency and to expand our understanding of the mechanism(s) involved in demecolcine-induced enucleation.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Truffle aroma characterization by headspace solid-phase microextraction.

In the present study, a headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) combined to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) has been used to fully characterize aroma of truffles of different species. A fiber of medium polarity (for flavors) was used to avoid discrimination towards very non-polar and polar volatile compounds. In a previous work, extraction conditions were optimized by means of an experimental design leading to the following conditions that were used in the present study: extraction temperature, 53 degrees C; extraction time, 13.6 min; and equilibrium time, 5 min. A comparison among different truffles species has been established in terms of qualitative and quantitative differences on volatile composition. By using the optimal extraction conditions and GC-MS it was possible to identify 89 compounds in two different truffle species such as Tuber aestivum and Tuber melanosporum. An attempt has been made in order to be able to determine the influence of different geographical origins on the aroma fraction of such fungi.

Ascomycota↗
PubMed2001

Assessment of the proportion of transgene-bearing sperm by fluorescence in situ hybridization: a novel approach for the detection of germline mosaicism in transgenic male founders.

Genetic mosaicism is frequent among transgenic animals produced by pronuclear microinjection. A successful method for the screening of founder animals for germline mosaicism prior to mating would greatly reduce the costs associated with the propagation of the transgenic lines, and improve the efficiency of transgenic livestock production. With this aim, we have devised a simple method to detect integrated transgenes in individual spermatozoa using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The experiments reported here were undertaken to investigate the efficiency of this FISH-based approach to accurately evaluate the proportion of transgene-bearing sperm and to be applied for the detection of potential germline mosaics. Sperm samples from mice homozygous and hemizygous for a beta-lactoglobulin transgene were analyzed in a first set of experiments. A high hybridization efficiency was achieved, and the proportions of transgene-positive sperm cells in both homozygous (94.8-98.2%) and hemizygous (49.8-51.9%) animals were close to the expected frequencies (100 and 50%, respectively). To evaluate the sensitivity of the assay more directly, simulated mosaic samples with 5, 10, 15, 20 and 40% of transgene-bearing spermatozoa were then prepared and analyzed by FISH. Significant differences in the frequency of transgene-positive sperm were observed between all mosaic samples, indicating that even small deviations (5%) from the expected 50% transgene transmission rate in a founder animal could be reliably detected with our assay. Therefore, the method proposed represents a novel approach for the identification of germline mosaic founder males in livestock transgenic projects and a much more economic and faster alternative to breeding.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Endometrial carcinoma: assessment of myometrial invasion with plain and gadolinium-enhanced MR imaging.

The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for evaluating the depth of myometrial invasion, potential sources of pitfalls, and the usefulness of contrast-enhanced series. Eighty-five patients with a pathologic diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma underwent preoperative MRI (plain and contrast-enhanced). Grade of myometrial invasion, presence of junctional zone (JZ), fibromyomas, and tumoral thickness were evaluated by two groups of radiologists blinded to pathologic results. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy of MRI in determining the depth of myometrial invasion were evaluated. The sensitivity/specificity for plain MR was 64.1-64.1/93.5-100 for both observers. Assessing deep myometrial invasion, sensitivity, and NPV improved significantly (P = 0.002, P = 0.003 for both observers) when comparing plain and whole study series. Tumoral thickness (P = 0.16, P = 0.13, for the two observers) and presence or absence of JZ (P = 0.41, P = 0.14) did not influence myometrial invasion assessment. Gadolinium-enhanced series improve the assessment of deep myometrial invasion in endometrial carcinoma. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2000;12:460-466.

Aged↗
PubMed1999

Supercritical fluid extraction and fractionation of different preprocessed rosemary plants.

Two-step supercritical fluid extraction of rosemary leaves at selected conditions of pressure and temperature is proposed to divide the oleoresin into two fractions with different antioxidant activities and essential oil compositions. Rosemary leaves obtained from different sources have been extracted and evaluated in terms of antioxidant activity and essential oil yield and composition. Also, a new device is proposed to improve the performance of the technique in terms of sample collection after SFE.

Antioxidants↗
PubMed1998

A rare 920-kilobase chromosomal inversion mediated by IS1 transposition causes constitutive expression of the yiaK-S operon for carbohydrate utilization in Escherichia coli.

The regulator of the yiaK-S operon, currently assigned a carbohydrate utilization function in Escherichia coli, is inactivated by a genome rearrangement that leads to the constitutive expression of the operon. The yiaK-S constitutive cells acquire the ability to utilize the rare pentose L-lyxose. Restriction analysis and sequencing of the regulator gene indicate that it is disrupted by foreign DNA. The insert consists of a large inverted fragment of DNA of 920 kilobases flanked by two IS1 elements with opposite polarity. One corresponds to that found naturally at min 0.4 of the bacterial chromosome and the other to a new copy transposed into the regulator gene located at min 80.6. This insertion-inversion could be the result of the intramolecular transposition mechanism itself, a gene rearrangement rarely originated by IS1. Alternatively, it could be attributed to the homologous recombination between the IS1 at min 0.4 and the IS1 transposed intermolecularly into the yiaK-S regulator gene. The participation of a rare IS1-mediated inversion in the evolution of a stable phenotype is thus identified.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1998

Dearomatization of Antioxidant Rosemary Extracts by Treatment with Supercritical Carbon Dioxide.

Treatment with supercritical CO(2) is proposed for deodorizing antioxidant rosemary extracts obtained by steam distillation and Soxhlet extraction. The process conditions have been optimized by applying a Taguchi experimental design with the aim of obtaining, at minimum cost, a product with acceptable antioxidant activity as well as minimum rosemary aroma. Variables were selected for their effects on the selective extraction of the compounds responsible for the residual aroma of the rosemary extract. The optimized method allowed 90% dearomatization; no detrimental effects in antioxidant activity or color of the extracts have been observed after supercritical fluid processing.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1997

Cryopreservation of caprine beta-lactoglobulin transgenic mouse embryos.

As an economical and safer alternative to the maintenance of transgenic animals as live stocks, transgenic embryo cryobanks can be generated and maintained indefinitely. Two-cell embryos obtained from four lines of caprine beta-lactoglobulin transgenic mice homozygous for the transgene were cryopreserved, and their response to cryopreservation-related stress was investigated. Significant differences between transgenic lines were found in the viability of frozen/thawed transgenic embryos and also in two-cell embryo production after superovulatory treatment of transgenic females. The results of this study suggest that cryopreservation protocols should be assessed on each transgenic line before the generation of transgenic embryo banks.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Expression of caprine beta-lactoglobulin in the milk of transgenic mice.

A 14.5 kb-long transgene containing the complete caprine beta-lactoglobulin gene transcription unit as well as 6.1 kb and 3.7 kb of the 5'- and 3'-flanking regions, respectively, was microinjected into pronuclear stage mouse embryos. Four lines of transgenic mice were obtained, three of them expressing the transgene in their mammary glands during lactation. Western blot analysis of caprine beta-lactoglobulin in the milk of hemizygous transgenic animals demonstrated the presence of the exogenous protein at concentrations up to 0.5 mg ml-1 of mouse milk.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Early mouse preimplantation development is unaffected by microinjection of metallothionein antibodies.

Polyclonal antibodies that cross-react with rodent metallothionein I (MT I) and metallothionein II (MT II) were microinjected in 1-cell and 2-cell mouse embryos, into either the cytoplasm or the nucleus. Regardless of the experimental treatment, mouse embryo development in vitro was not affected and most of the embryos cleaved normally until the morula stage. The results suggest that metallothionein is not essential for normal mouse early preimplantational development, in agreement with recent studies in mice with inactivated MT I and MT II genes.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Use of a programmed temperature vaporizer for off-line SFE/GC analysis in food composition studies.

A simple procedure is proposed for off-line supercritical fluid extraction and capillary gas chromatography using a programmed temperature vaporizer (PTV) injector. The independent control of flow and temperature of the supercritical fluid is achieved by means of a variable restrictor (i.e., nozzle). The described system combines some advantages of the on-line coupling SFE/GC (high sensitivity and reduced sample handling) and the off-line approach (simpler performance and depressurization outside the chromatographic column). The proposed procedure and the solvent recovery method used to collect the extracted analytes are applied to the analysis of the essential oil obtained from Rosmarinus officinalis L. Also, a comparative study with the extracts obtained by using the simultaneous distillation extraction technique (SDE) is presented.

Chromatography, Gas↗
PubMed1992

Home total parenteral nutrition in a "no-bowel" patient in Spain.

OBJECTIVE: To report a case of a patient with no functional bowel who was receiving home total parenteral nutrition in a country that has had a few professional experiences in this area of therapy. CASE SUMMARY: A woman with a history of scattered colonic polyposis developed a mesenteric tumor that caused intestinal obstruction. Tumor withdrawal required the excision of 1.5 m of jejunum-ileum. Postoperative complications required further surgical intervention and subtotal intestinal resection. Duodenocolic anastomosis was not possible and a high output and permanent fistula remained. DISCUSSION: The complications of home parenteral nutrition addressed in the literature are reviewed. The problems encountered in our patient have been resolved. CONCLUSIONS: After three years of postoperative survival, we believe the quality of life of our patient has increased and the parenteral nutrition team members are much better prepared to manage patients with similar problems.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Clinical selection of infertile patients for laparoscopy.

For a period of time routine hysterosalpingography and laparoscopy were carried out in every patient complaining of more than 2 years of primary infertility. The records of 433 such patients were retrospectively evaluated according to their clinical aspects. Complete agreement between the two diagnostic methods was found in 70.9% of this unselected population. Almost 50% of the population had some abnormalities in either hysterosalpingography or laparoscopy. According to the patient's past history, pelvic examination, and the duration of infertility, the unselected infertile population was classified into a) high risk infertility and b) low risk infertility. High risk infertility patients had (P less than 0.01) greater abnormal findings at both hysterosalpingography and laparoscopy. In this high risk group we recommend early laparoscopy and the postponement of hysterosalpingographic investigation for patients with suspected cornual occlusion or destruction of ampullary rugae (valuable in assessing tubal damage). Low risk infertility patients had (P less than 0.01) low abnormal findings at both hysterosalpingography and laparoscopy, and in these patients hysterosalpingography does not discriminate the group of higher abnormal laparoscopic findings. Hysterosalpingography can be initially indicated as a less invasive investigation in the low risk group. We conclude that clinical data are very valuable in the selection of infertile patients for early or late laparoscopy.

Female↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Seville Quality of Life Questionnaire: historic outlook of its establishment].

We describe how we developed a new instrument for measuring quality of life, the Seville Quality of Life Questionnaire (SQCQ), and the results we obtained when we applied it to a group of schizophrenic patients. The questionnaire was designed by a group of researchers who set out from the premise that the quality of life of schizophrenic patients is perceived differently from that of healthy people, and tried first of all to demarcate the kind of area which is abnormal in these patients. We then devised a set of items which were assessed for clarity and pertinence by a series of experts, and the questionnaire was assembled in the form of a set of statements, response to which is in the form of a Lickert-type 5-stage scale. The finished questionnaire was administered to 279 schizophrenic patients. At the same time, these patients were also evaluated using the AMDP Psychopathology Scale, the positive and negative symptoms evaluation scale (PANS), Lehman's structured quality of life interview (QOLY), Ruiz and Baca's quality of life questionnaire (QLQ), Camberwell's scale of needs analysis (CANr) and the WHO's handicap assessment scale (DDS). These questionnaires were used to judge the different types of validity of the Seville Questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was measured using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (internal consistency: 0,85 scale of favourable aspects, 0,96 scale of unfavourable aspects). As far as validity was concerned, both scales of the questionnaire were found to have a high level of validity. We also examined the extent to which the psychopathological disorders affected the quality of the schizophrenic person's life, the extent to which his/her needs were being met by the health services, and the patient's degree of disability. From the results obtained, we can say that the SQCQ is a reliable and valid instrument, which is sufficiently sensitive to the clinical changes produced in the course of the natural history of the disease. The SQCQ stands out from the other quality of life questionnaires in that it takes into account aspects of the disease which the patient him/herself is aware of as affecting his/her quality of life.

Humans↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Subjective experience and quality of life in schizophrenia].

The term quality of life has been gradually introduced in the field of Psychiatry. This term tries to integrate not only the symptoms in Psychiatric patients, but also other aspects, like individual perceptions, personal expectations, degree of independence, etc., in order to achieve a global understanding of the patient. The are few studies on quality of life in schizophrenia, especially there is a lack of self assessment scales that the patients can fill out about themselves and their psychological environment. The Seville Quality of Life Questionnaire tries to evaluate the subjective experience of patients with schizophrenia about their illness. The Seville Quality of Life Questionnaire also checks the presence or absence of groups of patients with schizophrenia with a better or worst quality of life. We have assessed 222 subjects that meet ICD-10 criteria diagnostic for schizophrenia, with the Seville Quality of Life Questionnaire, the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale specific psychopathology scale and the AMDP system general psychopathology scale. Our results show two clearly differentiate groups: one with better (Group 2: 108 patients) and one with worse (Group 1: 81 patients) quality of life. However, 33 patients could not be included in any of the two groups. In the worse quality of life group the most prominent factors were: lack of cognitive grasp, perplexity, fear of loss of control, and contained hostility. These four factors have a great influence on the worse quality of life. When we compare the Seville Quality of Life Questionnaire data with several the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale scores, we saw that the group of worse quality of life presents higher scores on both Negative and Positive Symptoms of schizophrenia, and also in the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale general psychopathology scale. In the AMDP system general psychopathology scale we saw three groups of significant symptoms in the Seville Quality of Life Questionnaire: 1. Difficult relationships with the external world, 2. Difficulty to understand what it happening (loss of associations); and 3. Affective alterations (ambivalence).Finally, these data suggests that it is probable that the Seville Quality of Life Questionnaire could be able to build a typology of patients with schizophrenia more centred in their pathology that in their psychophatology.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Impact of olanzapine on quality of life of patients with schizophrenia: one-year follow-up with the Seville Quality of Life Questionnaire].

INTRODUCTION: Our objective is to present the impact on quality of life of long-term olanzapine treatment in a significant number of schizophrenics as determined by the Seville Quality of Life Questionnaire (SQLQ), an instrument that addresses the aspects that particularly affect these patients, and to evaluate the sensitivity of this instrument to the changes induced by this treatment. METHODS: Three hundred and seventy two patients with the diagnosis of schizophrenia as per the ICD-10 classification were evaluated in a 1 year prospective study after switching to olanzapine. The SQLQ, Lehman's structured interview and short version of the discapacity assessment scale were used to evaluate patient's subjective experience; in addition, other instruments were used to evaluate psychopathology. RESULTS: Significant increases in the scores of the favorable scale and decreases in the unfavorable scale of the SQLQ were found. There were also significant improvements in quality of life as measured with Lehman's structured interview. This improvement continued until the end of the 1 year follow-up after switching to olanzapine. Both instruments show a good correlation. Changes in psychopathology were also remarkable, including the negative symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The SQLQ has proven to be a sensitive instrument to measure quality of life in schizophrenic patients treated with olanzapine. It focuses on aspects that are relevant for patients that were frequently overlooked by treating physicians. This drug has been proven to have a favorable subjective impact upon patients, besides improving psychopathology.

Adolescent↗