L.f. is a palm from the Amazon. Pulp and oil are extracted from its fruits, with a high content of bioactive compounds. This study presents the economic evaluation of two extraction processes: (a) Conventional solvent extraction (CSE) with 80% ethanol for the recovery of phenolic-rich extracts; and (b) Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) followed by CSE to obtain oil and phenolic-rich extracts. The objective of this study was to compare the feasibility of both extraction processes. The economic evaluation and the sensitivity study were evaluated using the SuperPro Designer 9.0® software at an extraction volume of 2000 L. Similar global extraction yields were obtained for both processes; however, 8.4 and 2.4 times more total polyphenol and flavonoid content were extracted, respectively, using SFE+CSE. Cost of manufacturing (COM) was higher in SFE+CSE compared to CSE, USD 193.38/kg and USD 126.47/kg, respectively; however, in the first process, two by-products were obtained. The sensiti... [more]

In this paper, we investigate the problem of species separation in minimal time. Droop model is considered to describe the evolution of two distinct populations of microorganisms that are in competition for the same resource in a photobioreactor. We focus on an optimal control problem (OCP) subject to a five-dimensional controlled system in which the control represents the dilution rate of the chemostat. The objective is to select the desired species in minimal-time and to synthesize an optimal feedback control. This is a very challenging issue, since we are are dealing with a ten-dimensional optimality system. We provide properties of optimal controls allowing the strain of interest to dominate the population. Our analysis is based on the Pontryagin Maximum Principle (PMP), along with a thorough study of singular arcs that is crucial in the synthesis of optimal controls. These theoretical results are also extensively illustrated and validated using a direct method in optimal control (... [more]

(1) Background: Temozolomide (TMZ), an oral alkylating agent, is used to treat malignant gliomas and other difficult-to-treat tumors. TMZ can enter the cerebrospinal fluid p.o. (per os) and does not need hepatic metabolism for activation of its use as a standard chemotherapeutic regimen after surgical resection of malignant glioma of the brain. However, the prognosis remains poor for most patients, and the survival rate is still unsatisfactory. Gallic acid (Ga) is a secondary metabolite existent in numerous plants. Ga shows various bioactivities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer and antimicrobial effects. In this study, the latent enhanced anti-cancer efficacy of Ga in TMZ-treated U87MG cells (a human glioma line) was evaluated. (2) Methods: The U87MG cell line was cultured for 24 h. The cells were incubated with Ga alone, TMZ alone, or their combination for various time points. Cell viability and the drug combination index were evaluated by an XTT-based analysis an... [more]

Long-term stability of the aerobic granular sludge system is essentially based on the microbial community structure of the biomass. In this study, the physicochemical and microbial characteristics of sludge and wastewater treatment performance were investigated regarding formation, maturation, and long-term maintenance of granules in two parallel sequencing batch reactors (SBR), R1 and R2, under identical conditions. The aim was to explore the linkage between microbial community structure of the aerobic granules, their long-term stability, as well as the reproducibility of granulation and long-term stability. The two reactors were operated with a COD concentration of 400 mg/L and a chemical oxygen demand to nitrogen (COD/N) ratio of 4:1 under anoxic−oxic conditions. It was found that although SVI30, sludge size, and distributions in R1 and R2 were different, aerobic granules were formed, and they maintained long-term stability in both reactors for 320 days, implying that a certain leve... [more]

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a cancer with extremely high aggressiveness, malignancy and mortality. Because of all of the poor prognosis features of GBM, new methods should be sought that will effectively cure it. We examined the efficacy of a combination of celastrol and a knockdown of the miR-9-2, miR-17 and miR-19 genes in the human glioblastoma U251MG cell line. U251MG cells were transfected with specific siRNA and exposed to celastrol. The effect of the knockdown of the miRs genes in combination with exposure to celastrol on the cell cycle (flow cytometry) and the expression of selected genes related to its regulation (RT-qPCR) and the regulation of apoptosis and autophagy was investigated. We found a significant reduction in cell viability and proliferation, an accumulation of the subG1-phase cells and a decreased population of cells in the S and G2/M phases, as well as the induction of apoptosis and autophagy. The observed changes were not identical in the case of the silenc... [more]

On-site wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) are primarily monitored using physiochemical factors, including chemical oxygen demand (COD) and residual total suspended solids (TSS), which are indirect measures of the microbial action during the anaerobic digestion process. Changes in anaerobic digester microbial communities can alter the digester performance, but this information cannot be directly obtained from traditional physicochemical indicators. The potential of metagenomic DNA sequencing as a tool for taxonomic and functional profiling of microbial communities was examined in both common conventional and plug flow-type anaerobic digesters (single-pass and recirculating). Compared to conventional digesters, plug flow-type digesters had higher relative levels of sulfate-reducing bacteria (Desulfovibrio spp.) and hydrogenotrophic methanogens (Methanospirillum spp.). In contrast, recirculating anaerobic digesters were enriched with denitrifier bacteria and hydrogenotrophic methanogens... [more]

Rice storage conditions include location, granary depth, storage time, temperature and atmosphere. The fungi community varies during storage, but how these communities change remains unexplored so far. This study collected rice samples from granaries in different horizontal and vertical directions and storage time over two years. High-throughput ITS (Internal Transcribed Spacer) sequencing analysis revealed that Ascomycota (73.81%), Basidiomycota (6.56%) and Mucoromycota (9.42%) were the main Eumycota present during rice storage. The main fungi communities were Aspergillus sp., Fusarium sp., Rhizopus sp., Gibberella sp., Tilletia sp. and Penicillium sp. The contribution of storage time, horizontal orientation and vertical depth effect on fungi community relative abundance were 17.18%, 5.98% and 0.11%, respectively. Aspergillus sp. was the predominant Eubacterium during this process. The horizontal A was mainly occupied by Paraconiothyrium sp. and the location S, had Clavispora sp. Both... [more]

Background: Hinokitiol (β-thujaplicin), isolated from the wood of Chamaecyparis taiwanensis, has a wide variety of biological properties including anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anti-tumor effects. Therefore, hinokitiol has become a frequent additive in oral and other healthcare products. Objectives: Our goal was to determine the anti-tumor activity of hinokitiol on human papillomavirus (HPV) positive (n = 3) and negative (n = 2) cell lines derived from cervical or head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and keratinocyte cell lines (n = 3) transformed spontaneously or with HPV16E6 and E7 oncogenes. Methods: The cell-lines were exposed to hinokitiol at different concentrations (0−200 µM) for 24 h. Cell metabolism, proliferation, and the cell cycle distribution were assessed by MTT- and 3H-thymidine incorporation and flow cytometry. Expressions of p21 and on HPV16E6 and E7 oncogenes were assessed by qPCR. Results: In all carcinoma cell lines, hinokitiol treatment declined t... [more]

In this study, we performed an elaborate adjustment of the structure of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) molecular beacons as probes for detecting nucleic acids. We synthesized the PNA beacons with various numbers of Glu, Lys, and dabcyl (Dab) quenchers in them, and we investigated their fluorescence changes (F1/1/F0) with and without full-match DNA. As the numbers of Glu/Lys or Dab increased, the F1/1/F0 tended to decrease. Among the different beacons, the PNA beacon with one Glu and one Lys (P1Q1) showed the largest F1/1/F0. On the other hand, a relatively large F1/1/F0 was obtained when the number of Glu/Lys and the number of Dab were the same, and the balance between the numbers of Glu/Lys and Dab seemed to affect the F1/1/F0. We also investigated the DNA detection by the prehybrid of P1Q1, which consists of the T790M base sequence, [P1Q1(T790M)], with quencher-modified DNA (Q-DNA). We examined the DNA detection with single-base mismatch by P1Q1(T790M), and we clarified that there was di... [more]

The growing concern about residual antibiotics in the water environment pushes for innovative and cost-effective technologies for antibiotics removal from wastewater. In this context, various microbial electrochemical systems have been investigated as an alternative to conventional wastewater technologies that are usually ineffective for the adequate removal of antibiotics. This review article details the development of stand-alone and hybrid or integrated microbial electrochemical systems for antibiotics removal from wastewater. First, technical features, antibiotics removal efficiencies, process optimization, and technological bottlenecks of these systems are discussed. Second, a comparative summary based on the existing reports was established to provide insights into the selection between stand-alone and hybrid systems. Finally, research gaps, the relevance of recent progress in complementary areas, and future research needs have been discussed.

Due to the diseases that people face today, scientists dedicate a part of their research to the synthesis, characterization, and study of functional compounds for controlled drug delivery. On the one hand, resorcinarenes are macrocycles obtained by condensation reactions of resorcinol and aldehyde. They include an upper and a lower rim functioning with different groups that confer solubility to the macrocycle and favor interactions with other compounds, therefore the hydroxyl groups on the upper rim improve the formation of hydrogen bonds. Additionally, resorcinarenes feature a cavity studied for forming host-guest complexes. SBA-15, on the other hand, is a mesoporous silica characterized by ordered pores in its structure and a large surface area. As a result of its properties, it has been used for several purposes, including absorbents, drug delivery, catalysis, and environmental processes. This review shows the recent advances in synthesis methods, characterization, micelle formation... [more]

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is related to central visual loss in elderly people and, based on the increment in the percentage of the aging population, the number of people suffering from AMD could increase. AMD is initiated by retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cell death, finally leading to neovascularization in the macula lutea. AMD is an uncurable disease, but the symptom can be suppressed. The current therapy of AMD can be classified into four types: device-based treatment, anti-inflammatory drug treatment, anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment, and natural product treatment. All these therapies have adverse effects, however early AMD therapy used with products has several advantages, as it can prevent RPE cell apoptosis in safe doses. Cell death (apoptosis) is caused by various factors, such as oxidative stress, inflammation, carbonyl stress, and a deficiency in essential components for cells, and RPE cell death is related to oxidative stress, inflammation, an... [more]

Biosorption on fungal pellets constitutes a promising way of removing precious metals, which are often present at dilute concentrations in wastewater. Herein, we studied the Ag and Au biosorption by Aspergillus tabacinus and Cladosporium cladosporioides pellets. For A. tabacinus pellets the optimum pH values for the biosorption of Ag and Au were 5 and 4, respectively, while for C. cladosporioides granules, the best-suited values were 3 and 4, respectively. Biosorption kinetics of both metals were also studied at low adsorbate concentrations (1 mg/L) and the pH values mentioned above, and the contact times that allow maximum recovery of the two metals were defined. At the pH values estimated as optimum, A. tabacinus pellets adsorbed greater amounts of Ag than C. cladosporioides pellets, while for Au the opposite occurred. We found that the pseudo-second-order model adequately represents Ag and Au biosorption kinetics under the conditions tested. Due to the growing demand and limited ava... [more]

Background: Bioactive compounds need to resist food processing, be released from the food matrix, and be bioaccessible in the gastrointestinal tract in order to provide health benefits. Bioactive compounds isolated from peach pomace (PP) were encapsulated using four different wall materials to improve their stability and to evaluate the effects of in vitro gastrointestinal digestion, as well as chemometric modeling among obtained encapsulates. Methods: Phenolics and carotenoids content, antioxidant, antihyperglycemic, anti-inflammatory, and cell growth activities were evaluated after gastric and intestinal digestion steps. Chemometrics classification analysis−principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis revealed grouping among encapsulates. Results: The encapsulation of PP bioactive compounds showed a protective effect against pH changes and enzymatic activities along digestion, and thereby contributed to an increase in their bioaccessibility in gastric and intestinal... [more]

To decrease the cost of wastewater treatment at the plant, the Wuzhou Shenguan Protein Enteric Coating Production Plant designed and built an expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB)-ceramic membrane bioreactor reactor (CMBR) process for treating high-concentration organic wastewater with a capacity of 25 m3/d. The EGSB is divided into anaerobic and microaerobic sections. The purpose of the anaerobic section is to substantially degrade COD, and the main functions of the microaerobic section are to coordinate the relationship between hydrolytic acid-producing bacteria, methanogenic bacteria (MBP), and sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and to mitigate the inhibitory effects between them to simultaneously remove COD and sulfate. Anaerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria were added to the CMBR reactor to remove both COD and ammonia nitrogen. The results of the operation showed that more than 99% of the COD was removed by the EGSB-CMBR process, while the removal rates of NH4+-N and SS were greater than... [more]

The present study assessed the metabolites and bioactivities of Micromeria fruticosa plant parts extracted with various solvents (ethanol, n-hexane, and water) through the steeping extraction method. Thereafter, the extracts were analyzed using GC-MS. Moreover, the extracts were tested for their antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antitumor activities. The quali-quantitative analysis of Micromeria fruticosa crude extracts revealed the occurrence of 27 secondary metabolites. Some major bioactives identified were menthone, oleamide, pulegone, and menthol. Numerous antioxidant minerals, viz., Fe, Zn, and Mn, were present. The water extract of leaves exhibited the highest DPPH scavenging activity (89.73%), followed by the water extract of flowers (80.07%) at 100 μg/mL. The stems’ water extract demonstrated greater antimicrobial activity against all the bacteria species tested. The ethanolic leaf and aqueous stem extracts exhibited strong activity against C. albicans and E. coli. Flowers’ aqueo... [more]

Non-thermal technologies allow for the nutritional and sensory properties of foods to be preserved, something that consumers demand. Combining their use with antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) provides potential methods for food preservation that could have advantages over the use of chemical preservatives and thermal technologies. The aim of this review was to discuss the advances in the application of non-thermal technologies in combination with AMPs as a method for microbial inactivation. Published papers reporting studies on the combined use of power ultrasound (US), pulsed electrical fields (PEF), and high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) with AMPs were reviewed. All three technologies show a possibility of being combined with AMPs, generally demonstrating higher efficiency than the application of US, PEF, HHP, and AMPs separately. The most studied AMP used in combination with the three technologies was nisin, probably due to the fact that it is already officially regulated. However, the com... [more]

Carob syrup is one of the most important carob products, which can have applications in pastry and confectionery, as a fruit preservative, but also in the pharmaceutical field because of the antimicrobial activity due to its polyphenol content. Carob syrup is traditionally made through a very time-consuming process, involving solid−liquid extraction in boiling water and concentration at a high temperature (>100 °C), which potentially causes the degradation of the active compounds (i.e., procyanidins or flavonol glycosides). Therefore, in this work, an alternative and less drastic method based on ultrasound technology was proposed to produce carob syrup. Processing conditions (i.e., time, temperature, and liquid−solid ratio) influencing the extraction of total soluble solids (TSS) and total phenolic compounds (TPC) were optimized using a central composite design coupled to response surface methodology. Reliable mathematical models allowed us to predict the highest TSS (24 ± 2 °Brix) and... [more]

The integration of insect-derived extracts in feed and food products has become a field of growing interest in recent years. In this review, we collect different studies carried out on edible insects’ transformation processes and focus on the various treatment operations, extraction technologies, and solvents used in different processing steps. We include an overview of current insights into the different steps of the transformation process: insect reception, killing methods, pretreatments, storage, delipidation, protein extraction, as well as chitin and chitosan extraction. Finally, we reflect on the most important future challenges of this sector.

Coronaviruses have caused devastation in both human and animal populations, affecting both health and the economy. Amidst the emergence and re-emergence of coronaviruses, humans need to surmount the health and economic threat of coronaviruses through science and evidence-based approaches. One of these approaches is through biotechnology, particularly the heterologous production of biopharmaceutical proteins. This review article briefly describes the genome, general virion morphology, and key structural proteins of different coronaviruses affecting animals and humans. In addition, this review paper also presents the different systems in recombinant protein technology such as bacteria, yeasts, plants, mammalian cells, and insect/insect cells systems used to express key structural proteins in the development of countermeasures such as diagnostics, prophylaxis, and therapeutics in the challenging era of coronaviruses.

The large amounts of organic waste thrown into the garbage without any productivity, and the increase in the demand for electrical energy worldwide, has led to the search for new eco-friendly ways of generating electricity. Because of this, microbial fuel cells have begun to be used as a technology to generate bioelectricity. The main objective of this research was to generate bioelectricity through banana waste using a low-cost laboratory-scale method, achieving the generation of maximum currents and voltages of 3.71667 ± 0.05304 mA and 1.01 ± 0.017 V, with an optimal pH of 4.023 ± 0.064 and a maximum electrical conductivity of the substrate of 182.333 ± 3.51 µS/cm. The FTIR spectra of the initial and final substrate show a decrease in the peaks belonging to phenolic compounds, alkanes, and alkenes, mainly. The maximum power density was 5736.112 ± 12.62 mW/cm2 at a current density of 6.501 A/cm2 with a peak voltage of 1006.95 mV. The molecular analysis of the biofilm formed on the ano... [more]

Newcastle disease is a viral infection causing serious economic losses to the global poultry industry. The V protein of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is a pathogenicity determinant having various functions such as the suppression of apoptosis and replication of the NDV. This study was designed to assess the resistance potential of plant flavonoids against the V protein of Newcastle disease virus. Sequence analysis was performed using EXPASY and ProtParam tools. To build the three-dimensional structure of V protein, a homology-modeling method was used. Plant flavonoids with formerly reported therapeutic benefits were collected from different databases to build a library for virtual screening. Docking analysis was performed using the modeled structure of V protein on MOE software. Interaction analysis was also performed by MOE to explain the results of docking. Sequence analysis and physicochemical properties showed that V protein is negatively charged, acidic in nature, and relatively u... [more]

A “foldamer” is an artificial oligomeric molecule with a regular secondary or tertiary structure consisting of various building blocks. A “stapled peptide” is a peptide with stabilized secondary structures, in particular, helical structures by intramolecular covalent side-chain cross-linking. Helical foldamers and stapled peptides are potential drug candidates that can target protein-protein interactions because they enable multipoint molecular recognition, which is difficult to achieve with low-molecular-weight compounds. This mini-review describes a variety of peptide-based foldamers and stapled peptides with a view to their applications in drug discovery, including our recent progress.

The local gas holdup details and behaviors in the cylindrical split airlift column by using an unconventional gamma-ray densitometry (GRD) measurement in non-invasive manner technique was investigated for the first time in this work for such kind of airlift column. With different gas velocities, 1, 2, and 3 cm/s, at three various axial planes (different levels) in z = 3, 60, and 110 cm were studied for local distribution in radial gas holdup profiles. The distribution in gas−liquid phases (air-water system) in the entire split reactor column, in the rising and descending sides, including their behavior in the upper and lower zones of the split plate, were investigated as well. The results of this study showed that approximately all reactor zones had exemplary gas−liquid phases and that there was a large magnitude over both the dividing ring and the top sections. The results further indicated that the distribution of which flow variable in the implementation of the cylindrical split rea... [more]

Paclitaxel (PX), plant alkaloid, is a chemotherapeutic agent intended for treating a wide variety of cancers. The objective of the present study was to formulate and evaluate the anticancer activity of PX loaded into a nanocarrier, mainly PEGylated nanoemulsion (NE) fabricated with myrrh essential oil. Myrrh essential oil has been estimated previously to show respectable anticancer activity. Surface modification of the formulation with PEG-DSPE would help in avoiding phagocytosis and prolong the residence time in blood circulation. Various NE formulations were developed after operating (22) factorial design, characterized for their particle size, in vitro release, and hemolytic activity. The optimized formula was selected and compared to its naked counterpart in respect to several characterizations. Quantitative amount of protein absorbed on the formulation surfaces and in vitro release with and without serum incubation were evaluated. Ultimately, MTT assay was conducted to distinguish... [more]