Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) pathway activation by quercetin in human lens epithelial cells

Quercetin is a dietary bioflavonoid which has been shown to inhibit lens opacification in a number of models of cataract. The objectives of this study were to determine gene expression changes in human lens epithelial cells in response to quercetin and to investigate in detail the mechanisms underlying the responses. FHL-124 cells were treated with quercetin (10 µM) and changes in gene expression were measured by microarray. It was found that 65% of the genes with increased expression were regulated by the hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) pathway. Quercetin (10 and 30 µM) induced a time-dependent increase in HIF-1a protein levels. Quercetin (30 µM) was also responsible for a rapid and long-lasting translocation of HIF-1a from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. Activation of HIF-1 signaling by quercetin was confirmed by qRT–PCR which showed upregulation of the HIF-1 regulated genes EPO, VEGF, PGK1 and BNIP3. Analysis of medium taken from FHL-124 cells showed a sustained dose-dependent increase in VEGF secretion following quercetin treatment. The quercetin-induced increase and nuclear translocation of HIF-1a was reversed by addition of excess iron (100 µM). These results demonstrate that quercetin activates the HIF-1 signaling pathway in human lens epithelial cells

Optimasi Sintesis Karboksi Metil Selulosa (CMC) dari Pelepah Kelapa Sawit Menggunakan Response Surface Methodology (RSM)

Palm midrib contain 89.63 % of cellulose. Cellulose is the main raw material synthesis of carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC). The purpose of this research was to determine the optimum conditions of carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC) synthesis from palm midrib. In this research, the concentration of NaOH, NaMCA weight, and the temperature of carboxymethylation reaction were examined. The response optimized on the CMC was the degree of substitution (DS). The optimum conditions of CMC synthesis from palm midrib cellulose was obtained from 10 % of NaOH, 4.57 g of NaMCA, and the reaction temperature of 46.59 °C. Response Surface Methodology calculation showed that CMC with optimum condition had the degree of substitution (DS) value of 0.83, while in the verification test the DS value was 0.75

Optimization of spray drying process conditions for recombinant stem bromelain

Bromelain is a plant protease with numerous therapeutic, industrial and analytical applications. Spray drying of enzyme often leads to loss of enzymatic activity arising from thermal denaturation. Hence, the design of a suitable drying process should provide a great level of active enzyme. The present study examined the effect of operating parameters of a laboratory spray dryer on powder characteristics, so as to optimize the production of recombinant bromelain expressed in E. coli BL 21-AI. The recombinant enzyme was spray dried from maltodextrin (10 %w/v), CaCl2 (0.2 % w/v) and sodium metabisulphite (2.5 % w/v) solutions using a laboratory-scale Büchi Mini Spray dryer B-290. The process parameters investigated were: drying air inlet temperature (100-120 ºC), drying air volumetric flow rate – given as % of the maximum aspiration rate (80-100 %), feed volumetric flow rate– expressed as % of the maximum pump rate (10-15 %). On the other hand, the activity of bromelain (U/ml) served as the response of the design. Outlet temperature was maintained at 50 oC. All the studied process parameters had significantly affected the characteristics of the powdered bromelain, at a 95% confidence interval. The higher values of coefficient of determination (R2 = 99.95% and adjusted R2 = 99.84%) attained, showed that there is good compliance between the experimental and the theoretical values predicted by the model. Moreover, the graphical representations of the regression equation generated suggested that the examined independent variables interacted significantly. Thus, the corroboration of reality of the optimal conditions and the validity of the model had been ascertained. Consequently, under optimized process conditions, the study had produced powdered bromelain with greater quality in terms of moisture contents, residual activity and product recovery

Statistical analysis of production

Cílem diplomové práce je aplikace statistických metod ve výrobním procesu. Zadáním je popsat a zhodnotit proces lisování, který je součástí výroby pozistorů. První, teoretická část, obsahuje úvod do matematické statistiky, ověřování předpokladů o datech, popis regresní analýzy, analýzy rozptylu a část z teorie plánovaného experimentu. Druhá, praktická část, je zaměřena na navrhování, provedení a vyhodnocení experimentů. Práce je zpracována na základě požadavků společnosti EPCOS s.r.o. Šumperk. K výpočtům je použit statistický program MINITAB Release 14, který je společností podporován.The aim of Master's thesis is to apply statistical methods in production process. The assignment of the thesis is to describe and evaluate pressing process which is the part of posistor production. The first theoretical part contains introduction to the mathematical statistics, verifying assumptions about the data, describing the regression analysis, the analysis of variance and the part of the design of experiment. The second practical part is focused on design, performing and interpreting of experiments. The thesis is developed according to requirements of company EPCOS s.r.o. Šumperk. Statistical program MINITAB Rlease 14, which is supported by company, was used for all computations.

Effects of application parameters, film thickness, and dehydration oven temperature on automotive waterborne basecoat popping

Application parameters: flow rate, target distance, film thickness, and dehydration oven temperature were investigated in relation to automotive waterborne basecoat popping. The study was conducted in three phases using melamine cross-linked acrylic latex basecoat and acrylic acid/epoxy clear coat. All experiments were conducted at the Automotive Research and Development Centre in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. First, a relationship among tip speed, flow rate, and film thickness was established, which was used later to set constant film thickness. The Phase-1 study indicates that flow rate and target distance are not significant in relation to popping. A complementary analysis indicates that film thickness significantly affects popping. Film thickness was also found significant in relation to popping from the Phase-2 study. The Phase-3 study indicates that dehydration oven temperature and film thickness significantly affects popping. Although this study identified the factors causing waterborne basecoat popping,conditions for a pop-free paint surface were not achieved

Production of bioethanol by direct bioconversion of oil-palm industrial effluent in a stirred-tank bioreactor

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of producing bioethanol from palm-oil mill effluent generated by the oil-palm industries through direct bioconversion process. The bioethanol production was carried out through the treatment of compatible mixed cultures such as Thrichoderma harzianum, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Mucor hiemalis, and yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Simultaneous inoculation of T. harzianum and S. cerevisiae was found to be the mixed culture that yielded the highest ethanol production (4% v/v or 31.6 g/l). Statistical optimization was carried out to determine the operating conditions of the stirred-tank bioreactor for maximum bioethanol production by a two-level fractional factorial design with a single central point. The factors involved were oxygen saturation level (pO2%), temperature, and pH. A polynomial regression model was developed using the experimental data including the linear,quadratic, and interaction effects. Statistical analysis showed that the maximum ethanol production of 4.6% (v/v) or 36.3 g/l was achieved at a temperature of 32�C, pH of 6, and pO2 of 30%. The results of the model validation test under the developed optimum process conditions indicated that the maximum production was increased from 4.6% (v/v) to 6.5% (v/v) or 51.3 g/l with 89.1% chemicaloxygen-demand removal

Insecticidal activity of fatty acid-rich Turkish bryophyte extracts against sitophilus granarius (coleoptera: curculionidae)

This work was supported by grants from Cankiri Karatekin University and the State Planning Organization, Turkey (Project No: 2010K120720). The authors would also like to thank Turkish Republic Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, General Directorate of Nature Protection and National Parks for permission to collect the mosses Dicranum scoparium and Hypnum cupressiforme from Ilgaz Mountain National Park. Finally, the authors thank Bianka Martinez for grammatical revision of the manuscript.The composition of fatty acids and insecticidal effects was performed for the Turkish mosses Dicranum scoparium, Hypnum cupressiforme, Polytrichastrum formosum, Homalothecium lutescens and the Turkish liverwort Conocephalum conicum. All structures were determined by means of gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry techniques. The determination of fatty acids was done using a simple and mild method that utilized different solvent extractions ranging from nonpolar to polar solvents (hexane, dichloromethane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol, respectively), and the samples were powdered with and without liquid nitrogen. The correlations between the saturated and unsaturated fatty acid contents depending on the solvent polarity and their crushing process by liquid nitrogen were observed. The insecticidal activity of the bryophytes was analyzed by using the methanol, hexane and esterified methanol extracts. The hexane extracts of Polytrichastrum formosum showed the highest insecticidal activity (70.33%) against Sitophilus granarius. Contact toxicity activities of lauric, myristic and palmitic acids besides single dose studies of the solvent extracts were carried out. The highest mortality rate (53.34%) was obtained from the myristic acid among the tested pure fatty acids. The activities of palmitic and lauric acids were 17.75% and 4.32%, respectively

Karakteristik Transmisi Gelombang Ultrasonik dan Hubungannya dengan Sifat Fisiko-Kimia Buah Naga

Commonly the quality of dragon fruit in Indonesia is determined manually by using visual appearances and it gives un-uniformly results caused by human factors and the judgement is not reflected the internal quality of dragon fruit. Destructive method is usually used to determine the internal quality of dragon fruit that is unsuitable for quality control of fresh dragon fruit. So a non destructive method is required for evaluation the quality of dragon fruit. The objectives of the research were to determine the physico-chemical and ultrasound wave transmission characteristics of super red dragon fruit according to harvesting time, and to study the relationship between ultrasound wave transmission characteristics and physico-chemical characteristics of super red dragon fruit. Super-red dragon fruits were harvested at 30, 32, and 34 days after flower blooms (150 samples) from PT Wahana Cory, Ciapus, Bogor. The results showed that the ultrasound velocity of super red dragon fruit ranged from 614.10 to 680.16 m/s and the attenuation coefficient were 57.32 to 62.40 Neper per meter. The attenuation coefficient was significantly different according to maturity. There were significant correlations between ultrasound parameters (velocity and attenuation coefficient) and physico-chemical of super red dragon fruit (firmness, sugar content, total soluble solid, and total acid)