•Four cheese whey formulated media were evaluated for hyaluronic acid production.•Whey and whey hydrolysate provided the highest biomass and HA productions.•HA concentrations comparable to synthetic ...medium were obtained in cheese whey.•Whey protein is a good low-cost nitrogen source for HA production.•Whey-formulated culture media reduced production costs by 70%.
This study focuses on the optimisation of cheese whey formulated media for the production of hyaluronic acid (HA) by Streptococcus zooepidemicus. Culture media containing whey (W; 2.1g/L) or whey hydrolysate (WH; 2.4g/L) gave the highest HA productions. Both W and WH produced high yields on protein consumed, suggesting cheese whey is a good nitrogen source for S. zooepidemicus production of HA. Polysaccharide concentrations of 4.0g/L and 3.2g/L were produced in W and WH in a further scale-up to 5L bioreactors, confirming the suitability of the low-cost nitrogen source. Cheese whey culture media provided high molecular weight (>3000kDa) HA products. This study revealed replacing the commercial peptone by the low-cost alternative could reduce HA production costs by up to a 70% compared to synthetic media.
It is important to realize that guidelines cannot always account for individual variation among patients. They are not intended to supplant physician judgment with respect to particular patients or ...special clinical situations. IDSA considers adherence to these guidelines to be voluntary, with the ultimate determination regarding their application to be made by the physician in the light of each patient's individual circumstances.
We propose the use of a machine learning algorithm to improve possible COVID-19 case identification more quickly using a mobile phone-based web survey. This method could reduce the spread of the ...virus in susceptible populations under quarantine.
The accumulation of synthetic plastics, mainly from food packaging, is causing a serious environmental problem. It is driving research efforts to the development of biodegradable films and coatings. ...The biopolymers used as raw material to prepare biodegradable films should be renewable, abundant and low-cost. In some cases, they can be obtained from wastes. This review summarizes the advances in polysaccharide-based films and coatings for food packaging. Among the materials studied to develop biodegradable packaging films and coatings are polysaccharides such as cellulose, chitosan, starch, pectin and alginate. These polysaccharides are able to form films and coatings with good barrier properties against the transport of gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide. On the other hand, tensile strength and percentage of elongation are important mechanical properties. Desirable values of them are required to maintain the integrity of the packed food. The tensile strength values showed by polysaccharide-based films vary from each other, but some of them exhibit similar values to those observed in synthetic polymers values. For example, tensile strength values of films based on high amylose starch or chitosan are comparable to those values found in high-density polyethylene films. The values of percentage of elongation are the main concern, which are far from the desirable values found for synthetic polymers. Researchers are studying combinations of polysaccharides with other materials to improve the barrier and mechanical properties in order to obtain biopolymers that could replace synthetic polymers. Functional polymers with antimicrobial properties, as that the case of chitosan, are also being studied.
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•Edible and biodegradable films could be an alternative to synthetic packaging films.•Polysaccharide-based films allow enhancing the shelf-life of ready-to-eat foods.•Polysaccharide-based films are an effective barrier to gas transference.•Polysaccharide-based films have poor water vapour permeability.•Tensile strength is similar to that of synthetic polymers.
Background. Microbiologic cultures, the current gold standard diagnostic method for invasive Candida infections, have low specificity and take up to 2–5 days to grow. We present the results of the ...first extensive multicenter clinical trial of a new nanodiagnostic approach, T2 magnetic resonance (T2MR), for diagnosis of candidemia. Methods. Blood specimens were collected from 1801 hospitalized patients who had a blood culture ordered for routine standard of care; 250 of them were manually supplemented with concentrations from <1 to 100 colony-forming units (CFUs)/mL for 5 different Candida species. Results. T2MR demonstrated an overall specificity per assay of 99.4% (95% confidence interval CI, 99.1%–99.6%) with a mean time to negative result of 4.2 ± 0.9 hours. Subanalysis yielded a specificity of 98.9% (95% CI, 98.3%–99.4%) for Candida albicans/Candida tropicalis, 99.3% (95% CI, 98.7%–99.6%) for Candida parapsilosis, and 99.9% (95% CI, 99.7%–100.0%) for Candida krusei/Candida glabrata. The overall sensitivity was found to be 91.1% (95% CI, 86.9%–94.2%) with a mean time of 4.4 ± 1.0 hours for detection and species identification. The subgroup analysis showed a sensitivity of 92.3% (95% CI, 85.4%–96.6%) for C. albicans/C. tropicalis, 94.2% (95% CI, 84.1%–98.8%) for C. parapsilosis, and 88.1% (95% CI, 80.2%–93.7%) for C. krusei/C. glabrata. The limit of detection was 1 CFU/mL for C. tropicalis and C. krusei, 2 CFU/mL for C. albicans and C. glabrata, and 3 CFU/mL for C. parapsilosis. The negative predictive value was estimated to range from 99.5% to 99.0% in a study population with 5% and 10% prevalence of candidemia, respectively. Conclusions. T2MR is the first fully automated technology that directly analyzes whole blood specimens to identify species without the need for prior isolation of Candida species, and represents a breakthrough shift into a new era of molecular diagnostics. Clinical Trials Registration. NCT01752166.
•Molasses and CSL were tested as culture media to produce HA by S. zooepidemicus.•CSL produced final HA concentrations comparable to synthetic medium.•Molasses-containing media inhibited S. ...zooepidemicus growth and HA production.•The average molecular weight of HA produced in CSL was higher than in CM medium.
Agro-industrial by-products are being explored as alternative low-cost nutrients to produce hyaluronic acid (HA) by Streptococcus zooepidemicus. In this study, we formulated three culture media containing corn steep liquor (CSL) and sugarcane molasses (M), to produce microbial HA using batch bioreactor conditions (pH 6.7, 500rpm and 1vvm aeration). Final HA concentrations of 3.48gL−1 were produced in culture medium containing corn steep liquor (10% v/v) and glucose, being comparable (3.60gL−1) to the control medium containing tryptone and glucose. The use of molasses (10% v/v) as carbon source produced a marked inhibition of S. zooepidemicus growth and HA production due to a low sugar consumption. The HA produced in CSL culture media had a high molecular weight of 3.8×103kDa, greater than HA produced in tryptone-containing medium (3.0×103kDa).
This is the first report achieving HA productions comparable to synthetic a medium in a batch bioreactor using CSL as the main nitrogen source. However, further optimization of culture conditions must be carried out towards using this agricultural by-product for the sustainable industrial production of HA.
We analyse the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) signal of the final Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) data release (DR12). Our analysis is performed in the Fourier space, using the ...power spectrum monopole and quadrupole. The data set includes 1198 006 galaxies over the redshift range 0.2 < z < 0.75. We divide this data set into three (overlapping) redshift bins with the effective redshifts z sub( eff) = 0.38, 0.51 and 0.61. We demonstrate the reliability of our analysis pipeline using N-body simulations as well as ~1000 MultiDark-Patchy mock catalogues that mimic the BOSS-DR12 target selection. We apply density field reconstruction to enhance the BAO signal-to-noise ratio. By including the power spectrum quadrupole we can separate the line of sight and angular modes, which allows us to constrain the angular diameter distance D sub( A)(z) and the Hubble parameter H(z) separately. We obtain two independent 1.6 and 1.5 per cent constraints on D sub( A)(z) and 2.9 and 2.3 per cent constraints on H(z) for the low (z sub( eff) = 0.38) and high (z sub( eff) = 0.61) redshift bin, respectively. We obtain two independent 1 and 0.9 per cent constraints on the angular averaged distance D sub( V)(z), when ignoring the Alcock-Paczynski effect. The detection significance of the BAO signal is of the order of 8... (post-reconstruction) for each of the three redshift bins. Our results are in good agreement with the Planck prediction within ... cold dark matter. This paper is part of a set that analyses the final galaxy clustering data set from BOSS. The measurements and likelihoods presented here are combined with others in Alam et al. to produce the final cosmological constraints from BOSS. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)
Electrons feed into the mitochondrial electron transport chain (mETC) from NAD- or FAD-dependent enzymes. A shift from glucose to fatty acids increases electron flux through FAD, which can saturate ...the oxidation capacity of the dedicated coenzyme Q (CoQ) pool and result in the generation of reactive oxygen species. To prevent this, the mETC superstructure can be reconfigured through the degradation of respiratory complex I, liberating associated complex III to increase electron flux via FAD at the expense of NAD. Here, we demonstrate that this adaptation is driven by the ratio of reduced to oxidized CoQ. Saturation of CoQ oxidation capacity induces reverse electron transport from reduced CoQ to complex I, and the resulting local generation of superoxide oxidizes specific complex I proteins, triggering their degradation and the disintegration of the complex. Thus, CoQ redox status acts as a metabolic sensor that fine-tunes mETC configuration in order to match the prevailing substrate profile.
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•High CoQH2/CoQ ratio induces reverse electron transport under physiological conditions•RET-generated ROS induces partial complex I degradation•Increase in the CIII fraction detached of CI optimizes mETC to consume fatty acids•The CoQH2/CoQ ratio serves as a sensor of respiratory chain efficiency
Guarás et al. show how the mitochondrial electron transport chain (mtETC) is optimized to better oxidize different nutrients or fuels using the reducing status of ubiquinone as a metabolic sensor and ROS generated by complex I by reverse electron transport as an executor.
Invasive fungal infections, especially candidemia and invasive candidiasis, continue to cause substantial morbidity and mortality. In addition, the emergence of drug-resistant
species, notably
and
, ...along with limitations in available treatments, highlights the urgent need for novel, effective antifungal agents.
This review discusses the results of in vitro studies evaluating the spectrum and highlights the pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic properties. It also includes discussions on two key clinical studies that assess safety, tolerability, and efficacy.
Rezafungin has demonstrated comparable efficacy to other echinocandins in two clinical studies and exhibits in vitro activity against a broad range of
species and
spp. It has a favorable safety profile with minimal side effects, and no drug interactions or effects on QT intervals. In contrast to other echinocandins, it demonstrates dose-dependent killing, a prolonged half-life, and low clearance make it suitable for once-weekly dosing, which is supported by clinical trials confirming its efficacy. Rezafungin offers a promising option for the outpatient management of difficult to treat fungal infections. It has become a valuable addition to the antifungal arsenal, with the potential to reduce hospital length of stay and hospitalization costs and combat drug-resistant
species.
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