A parasitic infestation is not only the fact that a multicellular organism is living inside another and developing at its expense, but also it is necessary to recognize that there are a large number of host-parasite interactions of intriguing complexity, which are articulated and converted into strategies of two sides in a continuous and interesting war. The study of some soluble and surface antigens of Ascaris, being an important part of the evasion or modulation immune response strategies, it is preponderant to understand the pathogenesis particularities of the parasite and the possible use of some of these antigens as therapeutic targets in the control of this disease and others as asthma, which keeps closeness in terms of the immune mechanisms that mediate them.

Objective: In this study, a Box-Behnken design was employed in order to optimize the concentration of sodium alginate (SA), low acyl gellan (LAG) and glycerol (GLY) as a function of tensile strength (TS) and elongation at break (EB) of the biofilms. Methods: A texturometer Shimadzu model EZ-Test EZ-S was employed to evaluate TS and EB by using constant displacement control with a crosshead speed of 30 mm/min. Rafael E. González-Cuello et al. Results: The regression model developed herein indicates that the selected variables were statistically determinants (p < 0.05) for the studied mechanical properties. The optimal concentration to obtain high TS values (134.38 MPa) were 1.00% (w/v) of SA, 1.00% (w/v) of LAG and 8.00% (v/v) of GLY. However, low values of EB (15.95%) were also obtained using the same concentrations of AS, GBA and GLY. Conclusions: By increasing the concentration of SA and LAG result in highly resistant biofilms with low flexibility while increasing the glycerol concentration and reducing the concentration of biopolymers yielded the opposite effect. The Box-Behnken design is a useful statistical method for improving the mechanical properties studied depending on the final application of the biofilms.

The study aim was to evaluate the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of Muntingia calabura fruits extracts, cultivated in Colombia. The antioxidant activities of the extracts were also examined using diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method. The antibacterial activity of the extracts was evaluated through disc diffusion method. M. calabura fruits extracts were tested against foodborne pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli. Based on the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC), the highest antimicrobial activity was found against S. aureus and B. cereus in comparison with P. aeruginosa and E. coli. It means that the inhibition degrees are different between Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. With respect to the antioxidant activity, high values (IC50 = 83.17 ± 1.8) were obtained. These findings suggest the possibility of use of M. calabura for the active films development for the 882 Omar Fernando Cuadro Mogolln et al. food matrixes conservation. This study reports firstly a high degree of antibacterial and antioxidant activities of M. calabura fruit cultivated in Colombia against foodborne pathogens.

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