Application of biological systems and processes employing microbes and algae to Reduce, Recycle, Reuse (3Rs) for the sustainability of circular bioeconomy

The circular bioeconomy has undoubtedly gained global momentum during the last few years. The bioeconomy envisions “3R”, the goal of 3R (Reduce, Recycle, Reuse) is to implement in circular economy preventing excessive and unnecessary wastes. The circular bioeconomy emphasizes the best use of all sorts of available bioresources through the reduction of generated wastes during product formation, recycling of generated wastes, and reuse of valuable by-products and residues. Biotechnology could be useful in utilizing the resources to the optimum and therefore the role of biological agents and bioprocesses is of prime importance. In this review, we highlight the paramount importance of beneficial strains of microorganisms, macro, and microalgae in the bioeconomy. Microorganisms are universally recognized for the notable production of a vast array of secondary metabolites and other functionalities with possible use in various sectors. The application of potential strains in industries and modern agriculture practices could progressively improve the effective yield of food and feed, including fertilization of arid soils, bioconversion of by-products from industrial processes, and agriculture wastes. The valuable properties of specifically selected biological agents typically make them suitable candidates for their efficient contribution to circular bioeconomy without hampering the environment

Gene Expression Profiles of Beta-Cell Enriched Tissue Obtained by Laser Capture Microdissection from Subjects with Type 2 Diabetes

Background: Changes in gene expression in pancreatic beta-cells from type 2 diabetes (T2D) should provide insights into their abnormal insulin secretion and turnover. Methodology/Principal Findings: Frozen sections were obtained from cadaver pancreases of 10 control and 10 T2D human subjects. Beta-cell enriched samples were obtained by laser capture microdissection (LCM). RNA was extracted, amplified and subjected to microarray analysis. Further analysis was performed with DNA-Chip Analyzer (dChip) and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) software. There were changes in expression of genes linked to glucotoxicity. Evidence of oxidative stress was provided by upregulation of several metallothionein genes. There were few changes in the major genes associated with cell cycle, apoptosis or endoplasmic reticulum stress. There was differential expression of genes associated with pancreatic regeneration, most notably upregulation of members of the regenerating islet gene (REG) family and metalloproteinase 7 (MMP7). Some of the genes found in GWAS studies to be related to T2D were also found to be differentially expressed. IGF2BP2, TSPAN8, and HNF1B (TCF2) were upregulated while JAZF1 and SLC30A8 were downregulated. Conclusions/Significance: This study made possible by LCM has identified many novel changes in gene expression tha

Channel estimation and channel tracking for correlated block-fading channels in massive MIMO systems

This paper presents a channel estimation and tracking method for correlated block-fading channels in massive MIMO wireless cellular systems. In order to conserve resources, the proposed algorithm requires the uplink pilot signal only once, at the start of communication. By utilizing the temporal correlation between consecutive Resource Blocks (RBs) and the error correction capability of turbo codes, the channel matrix in subsequent RBs is estimated at the Base Station (BS) itself using the uplink data of current the RB and the estimated channel matrix of previous the RB. Compared to existing blind estimation methods, the proposed method places fewer limitations on the system settings such as the number of BS antennas, the number of users, and the number of coherent channel usage compared to existing blind estimation methods. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm provides better performance for a moderate RB size, a high-order of QAM scheme, and a smaller ratio of the number of BS antennas and mobile terminals (N/K). For a reasonably small N/K (order of 10), the proposed scheme achieves a lower symbol error probability than the conventional pilot-based estimation approach. Keywords: Massive MIMO, Channel estimation, Resource block, Turbo coding, Mobile termina