•Delipidated and phosvitin-free isolated lipovitellins were hydrolysed with trypsin.•Results suggest that the hydrolysate is a valuable source of bioactive peptides.•Two ultrafiltration membranes ...were tested for isolation of the bioactive peptides.•Transmission of peptides was higher at pH 4.0 for both membranes.•More valuable peptides were found in the permeate streams of the cellulose membrane.
The lipoproteins that remain after the extraction of phosvitin from the egg yolk granular fraction possess low industrial applicability. In this study, these lipoproteins were hydrolysed using trypsin, and the bioactivity of the resulting peptides was assessed by in silico analysis. In addition, in order to isolate the most valuable previously detected peptides, their transmission through a polyethersulfone (PES) membrane and a stabilised cellulose (SC) based membrane was also evaluated at several pHs. A pH of 4.0 gave the highest observed transmission of peptides through both membranes for every peptide identified in the permeate streams. Regarding the PES membrane, six peptide sequences detected in the permeate were predicted to be antihypertensive, although only one of them showed a bioactivity score higher than 0.5 according to Peptide Ranker. When the SC membrane was assessed, five peptides with a bioactivity score higher than 0.5 were detected in the permeate streams and eight peptides were predicted as antihypertensive. The in silico analysis performed showed that K.VQWGIIPSWIK.K was the most promising antihypertensive peptide found in the permeates.
Sewage sludge can be treated by anaerobic processes that frequently are followed by physical separation processes. In this work, a high-throughput sequencing technology, based on variation in the ...bacterial 16S rRNA gene, has been used to characterise the bacterial populations present in samples taken from different points of an industrial anaerobic digestion process fed with sewage sludge. Relative abundances of phyla and classes throughout the biological process and the subsequent separation steps were determined. Results revealed that the Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria phyla were the most representative. However, significant changes in relative abundance were detected along treatments, showing the influence of operational parameters on the distribution of microorganisms throughout the process. After anaerobic digestion, phylum Firmicutes doubled its relative abundance, which seems to indicate that the anaerobic conditions and the nutrients favoured its growth, in contrast to other phyla that almost disappeared. After centrifugation, Proteobacteria went preferentially to the solid phase, in contrast to Firmicutes which was the dominant phylum in the liquid phase. After decanting the liquid phase during 45 h, an important growth of Proteobacteria, Spirochaetes and Tenericutes was detected. At class level, only significantly changes were observed for Proteobacteria classes being α-proteobacteria dominant in the digestate, while γ-proteobacteria was the majority since this point to the final steps. To know the changes on the kind and abundance of microbial populations throughout the anaerobic and separation processes is very important to understand how the facilities design and operation conditions can influence over the efficiencies of next biological treatments.
Display omitted
•Microbiota of the digested sewage sludge and subsequent processes was investigated.•Sequencing of the hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene was performed by PGM.•Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were the most representative phyla.•Firmicutes was the predominant phylum in the digestate after anaerobic digestion.•Decantation process had a significant influence on the distribution of the phyla.
The ubiquitous presence of microplastics (MPs) in natural water bodies reflects the global issue regarding these micropollutants. The main problem of MPs lies on the difficulty of removing these ...particles from water during wastewater and drinking water treatments. The release of MPs to the environment in treated wastewater contributed to the dispersion of these micropollutants, which enhances the harmful effect of MPs on fauna and flora. In addition, their presence in tap water entails a potential risk to human health since MPs can be directly consumed. The first step is being able to quantify and characterise these microparticles accurately. In this work, a comprehensive analysis on the presence of MPs in wastewater, drinking water and tap water has been conducted with emphasis on sampling methods, pre-treatment, MP size and analytical methods. Based on literature data, a standard experimental procedure has been proposed with the objective of recommending a methodology that allows the homogenisation of MP analysis in water samples. Finally, reported MP concentrations for influents and effluents of drinking and wastewater treatment plants and tap water have been analysed, in terms of abundance, ranges and average values, and a tentative classification of different waters based on their MP concentrations is proposed.
Display omitted
•Sampling is key to avoid mistakes in the quantification of MPs from wastewater, drinking water and tap water.•There is no consensus on sample pre-treatment at international level to allow comparison of results.•The sensitivity of the analytical technique is critical in order to not underestimate MPs.•Tentative criteria to classify different kinds of waters according to MP pollution have been proposed.•Further investigation is needed in drinking water and more effective treatments for MP removal in WWTPs.
NF-κB and Its Regulators During Pregnancy Gómez-Chávez, Fernando; Correa, Dolores; Navarrete-Meneses, Pilar ...
Frontiers in immunology,
05/2021, Letnik:
12
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The transcriptional factor NF-κB is a nuclear factor involved in both physiological and pathological processes. This factor can control the transcription of more than 400 genes, including cytokines, ...chemokines, and their modulators, immune and non-immune receptors, proteins involved in antigen presentation and cell adhesion, acute phase and stress response proteins, regulators of apoptosis, growth factors, other transcription factors and their regulators, as well as different enzymes; all these molecules control several biological processes. NF-κB is a tightly regulated molecule that has also been related to apoptosis, cell proliferation, inflammation, and the control of innate and adaptive immune responses during onset of labor, in which it has a crucial role; thus, early activation of this factor may have an adverse effect, by inducing premature termination of pregnancy, with bad outcomes for the mother and the fetus, including product loss. Reviews compiling the different activities of NF-κB have been reported. However, an update regarding NF-κB regulation during pregnancy is lacking. In this work, we aimed to describe the state of the art around NF-κB activity, its regulatory role in pregnancy, and the effect of its dysregulation due to invasion by pathogens like Trichomonas vaginalis and Toxoplasma gondii as examples.
The IL-36 subfamily of cytokines has been recently described as part of the IL-1 superfamily. It comprises three pro-inflammatory agonists (IL-36α, IL-36β, and IL-36γ), their receptor (IL-36R), and ...one antagonist (IL-36Ra). Although expressed in a variety of cells, the biological relevance of IL-36 cytokines is most evident in the communication between epithelial cells, dendritic cells, and neutrophils, which constitute the common triad responsible for the initiation, maintenance, and expansion of inflammation. The immunological role of IL-36 cytokines was initially described in studies of psoriasis, but novel evidence demonstrates their involvement in further immune and inflammatory processes in physiological and pathological situations. Preliminary studies have reported a dynamic expression of IL-36 cytokines in the female reproductive tract throughout the menstrual cycle, as well as their association with the production of immune mediators and cellular recruitment in the vaginal microenvironment contributing to host defense. In pregnancy, alteration of the placental IL-36 axis has been reported upon infection and pre-eclampsia suggesting its pivotal role in the regulation of maternal immune responses. In this review, we summarize current knowledge regarding the regulatory mechanisms and biological actions of IL-36 cytokines, their participation in different inflammatory conditions, and the emerging data on their potential role in normal and complicated pregnancies.
Sewage sludge is considered a costly waste, whose benefit has received a lot of attention for decades. In this sense, a variety of promising technologies, such as thermal hydrolysis and wet ...oxidation, are currently employed. Thermal hydrolysis is used as a pretreatment step ahead of anaerobic digestion processes and wet oxidation is intended for the solubilization and partial oxidation of the sludge. Such processes could be utilized for solubilizing polysaccharides, lipids, fragments of them and phosphorus (thermal hydrolysis) or for generating carboxylic acids (wet oxidation). This article compiles the available information on the production of valuable chemicals by these techniques and comments on their main features. Temperature, reaction duration times and sludge characteristics influence the experimental results significantly, but only the first two variables have been thoroughly studied. For thermal hydrolysis, a rise of temperature led to an increase in the solubilized biomolecules, but also to a greater decomposition of proteins and undesirable reactions of carbohydrates with themselves or with proteins. At constant temperature, the amounts of substances that can be recovered tend to become time independent after several minutes. Diluted and activated sludges seem to be more readily hydrolyzable than the thickened and primary ones. For wet oxidation, the dependence of the production of carboxylic acids with temperature and time is not simple: their concentration can increase, decrease or go through a maximum. At high temperatures, acetic acid is the main carboxylic acid obtained. Concentrated, fermented and secondary sludge seem to be more suitable for yielding higher amounts of acid than diluted, undigested and primary ones.
Display omitted
•Thermal hydrolysis solubilizes proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and phosphorus•Wet oxidation mainly produces soluble volatile fatty acids.•Temperature, reaction time and type of sludge determined the obtained products.•There is a lack of product characterization and absence of economic evaluations.
White-rot fungi (WRF) have the ability to synthetize extracellular enzymes that could degrade recalcitrant pollutants. The aim of this work was to evaluate the use of P. chrysosporium to treat a ...biologically and physically pre-treated landfill leachate which high load of refractory compounds (COD>1000 mg/L, BOD5<50 mg/L) in order to reduce COD and colour. Batch tests were carried out at 26 °C and 135 rpm for 15 days. The soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD), soluble biological oxygen demand (sBOD5) and colour, as well as the lignin peroxidase (LiP) and manganese peroxidase (MnP) enzymatic activities were analysed. Besides, the effects of different operating conditions, i.e., pH control, permeate dilution and supplementation, on treatment efficacy were investigated.
The control of pH was shown to be key for fungal treatment. In addition, it was found that the addition of carbon and nitrogen sources improved the enzymatic synthesis and the removals of sCOD and colour. Data here obtained open the possibility of using fungi for reducing the amount of recalcitrant pollutants still present in treated landfill leachates or similar effluents.
Display omitted
•Potential of P. chrysosporium to treat a biologically pretreated leachate is shown.•Addition of carbon and nitrogen and pH control were key to enhance enzyme synthesis.•A 5 g/L concentration of glucose decreased the efficacy of the fungal treatment.•At best, removals of about 40% were achieved for colour and soluble COD.•Fungal treatment has proven to be a hopeful method for highly recalcitrant leachate.
The significant increase in product titers, coupled with the growing focus on continuous bioprocessing, has renewed interest in using precipitation as a low‐cost alternative to Protein A ...chromatography for the primary capture of monoclonal antibody (mAb) products. In this work, a commercially relevant mAb was purified from clarified cell culture fluid using a tubular flow precipitation reactor with dewatering and washing provided by tangential flow microfiltration. The particle morphology was evaluated using an inline high‐resolution optical probe, providing quantitative data on the particle size distribution throughout the precipitation process. Data were obtained in both a lab‐built 2‐stage countercurrent washing system and a commercial countercurrent contacting skid that provided 4 stages of continuous washing. The processes were operated continuously for 2 h with overall mAb yield of 92 ± 3% and DNA removal of nearly 3 logs in the 4‐stage system. The high DNA clearance was achieved by selective redissolution of the mAb using a low pH acetate buffer. Host cell protein clearance was 0.59 ± 0.08 logs, comparable to that based on model predictions. The process mass intensity was slightly better than typical Protein A processes and could be significantly improved by preconcentration of the antibody feed material.
Background
The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is a widely used instrument to assess depression in older adults. The short GDS versions that have four (GDS-4) and five items (GDS-5) represent ...alternatives for depression screening in limited-resource settings. However, their accuracy remains uncertain.
Objective
To assess the accuracy of the GDS-4 and GDS-5 versions for depression screening in older adults.
Methods
Until May 2020, we systematically searched PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Google Scholar; for studies that have assessed the sensitivity and specificity of GDS-4 and GDS-5 for depression screening in older adults. We conducted meta-analyses of the sensitivity and specificity of those studies that used the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) or the International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD-10) as reference standard. Study quality was assessed with the QUADAS-2 tool. We performed bivariate random-effects meta-analyses to calculate the pooled sensitivity and specificity with their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) at each reported common cut-off. For the overall meta-analyses, we evaluated each GDS-4 version or GDS-5 version separately by each cut-off, and for investigations of heterogeneity, we assessed altogether across similar GDS versions by each cut-off. Also, we assessed the certainty of evidence using the GRADE methodology.
Results
Twenty-three studies were included and meta-analyzed, assessing eleven different GDS versions. The number of participants included was 5048. When including all versions together, at a cut-off 2, GDS-4 had a pooled sensitivity of 0.77 (95% CI: 0.70–0.82) and a pooled specificity of 0.75 (0.68–0.81); while GDS-5 had a pooled sensitivity of 0.85 (0.80–0.90) and a pooled specificity of 0.75 (0.69–0.81). We found results for more than one GDS-4 version at cut-off points 1, 2, and 3; and for more than one GDS-5 version at cut-off points 1, 2, 3, and 4. Mostly, significant subgroup differences at different test thresholds across versions were found. The accuracy of the different GDS-4 and GDS-5 versions showed a high heterogeneity. There was high risk of bias in the index test domain. Also, the certainty of the evidence was low or very low for most of the GDS versions.
Conclusions
We found several GDS-4 and GDS-5 versions that showed great heterogeneity in estimates of sensitivity and specificity, mostly with a low or very low certainty of the evidence. Altogether, our results indicate the need for more well-designed studies that compare different GDS versions.
•The use of hydrothermolysis for the recovery of peptides from food wastes has been reviewed.•Slight changes in temperature or reaction time lead to obtain peptides or amino acids.•The optimum ...parameters to obtain the best yields vary greatly in the bibliography reviewed.•The peptides produced could have interesting bioactivities.
Food industry processing wastes are produced in enormous amounts every year, such wastes are usually disposed with the corresponding economical cost it implies, in the best scenario they can be used for pet food or composting. However new promising technologies and tools have been developed in the last years aimed at recovering valuable compounds from this type of materials. In particular, sub-critical water hydrolysis (SWH) has been revealed as an interesting way for recovering high added-value molecules, and its applications have been broadly referred in the bibliography. Special interest has been focused on recovering protein hydrolysates in form of peptides or amino acids, from both animal and vegetable wastes, by means of SWH. These recovered biomolecules have a capital importance in fields such as biotechnology research, nutraceuticals, and above all in food industry, where such products can be applied with very different objectives.
Present work reviews the current state of art of using sub-critical water hydrolysis for protein recovering from food industry wastes. Key parameters as reaction time, temperature, amino acid degradation and kinetic constants have been discussed. Besides, the characteristics of the raw material and the type of products that can be obtained depending on the substrate have been reviewed. Finally, the application of these hydrolysates based on their functional properties and antioxidant activity is described.
PDF
