Autotrophic and Heterotrophic Growth Conditions Modify Biomolecole Production in the Microalga Galdieria sulphuraria (Cyanidiophyceae, Rhodophyta)

Algae have multiple similarities with fungi, with both belonging to the Thallophyte, a polyphyletic group of non-mobile organisms grouped together on the basis of similar characteristics, but not sharing a common ancestor. The main difference between algae and fungi is noted in their metabolism. In fact, although algae have chlorophyll-bearing thalloids and are autotrophic organisms, fungi lack chlorophyll and are heterotrophic, not able to synthesize their own nutrients. However, our studies have shown that the extremophilic microalga Galderia sulphuraria (GS) can also grow very well in heterotrophic conditions like fungi. This study was carried out using several approaches such as scanning electron microscope (SEM), gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), and infrared spectrophotometry (ATR-FTIR). Results showed that the GS, strain ACUF 064, cultured in autotrophic (AGS) and heterotrophic (HGS) conditions, produced different biomolecules. In particular, when grown in HGS, the algae (i) was 30% larger, with an increase in carbon mass that was 20% greater than AGS; (ii) produced higher quantities of stearic acid, oleic acid, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), and ergosterol; (iii) produced lower quantities of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) such as methyl palmytate, and methyl linoleate, saturated fatty acids (SFAs), and poyliunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). ATR-FTIR and principal component analysis (PCA) statistical analysis confirmed that the macromolecular content of HGS was significantly different from AGS. The ability to produce different macromolecules by changing the trophic conditions may represent an interesting strategy to induce microalgae to produce different biomolecules that can find applications in several fields such as food, feed, nutraceutical, or energy production

A mild photochemical approach to the degradation of phenols from olive oil mill wastewater

Photooxidation of cathecol (1) is carried out in aqueous solution at k > 300 nm using different sensitizers: rose bengal (RB), 9,10-dicyanoanthracene (DCA), 2,4,6-triphenylpyrylium tetrafluoroborate (Pyryl). The highest degradation is observed in the UV/RB-sensitized reaction (66% after 15 h of irradiation), mineralization and formation of dimers are the final events. This procedure has been extended to tyrosol (2), caffeic acid (3), vanillic acid (4), 4-hydroxycinnamic acid (5) and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (6) as well as to a mixture of all phenols. A reduced toxicity of the UV/RB-irradiated solutions of cathecol and tyrosol towards alga Ankistrodesmus braunii is also verified

TOWARDS BENZ[A]ANTHRACENE XENOME ELUCIDATION IN PLANTS AND GREEN MICROALGAE

In only 12,000 years the Homo sapiens sapiens has completely modified the face of the Earth. The human pressure on the atmosphere, water and soil has been accelerate from the industrial revolution from which chemicals and energy have been released in the environment. Therefore, chemical environmental pollution and world climate changes are two of the main concerns that modern human must deal. Among chemicals released in the ecosystem the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) have gathered significant environment concerns for their detrimental biological effects, toxicity, mutagenicity, and carcinogenicity. The distribution of PAHs in the three environment compartments is related to the number of fused benzene rings. Two or three benzene rings have been occurring in the atmosphere whereas 5 or more rings are largely bounds in the soil particles. Intermediate, 4-rings, such as benz(a)anthracene (B[a]A) are partitioned between air and soil. The molecular mechanism involved to degrade PAHs into less toxic compounds by bacteria and fungi in soil has been elucidated. On the other hands, the metabolism of PAHs in plant and microalgae remain unknown. Signalling, transport, biotransformation of PAHs to less toxic molecules and compartmentalization are the main steps involved for their detoxification in photosynthetic cell. The expression of genes involved in these xenobiotics detoxification steps constitutes the xenome. The final aim of this work is to determine the B[a]A xenome in plants of tomato and in microalgae. So far, we have assessed the ability of tomato plants to grow in vitro and take up the B[a]A. Tomato seedlings were transplanted to MS medium added with 50 and 100 μg g -1 B[a]A and cultivated for 30 days. The detection of B[a]A in shoots infer a translocation from roots to shoots. However, the content of the PAH in shoots was much lower than in the root apparatus indicating that B[a]A was translocated very little from roots to shoots. The identification of microalgae species B[a]A capable of growing in presence of has been performed on 14 different species belonging to the genera Chlorella, Scenedesmus, Chlamydomonas, Ankistrodesmus, Botriococcus and Selenastrum, with six different concentrations of B[a]A. Four microalgae species showed a growth inhibition percentage less than 50% in a medium containing 43.8 μM B[a]A. The capacity to degrade B[a]A and affect the photosynthetic pigment content has been evaluated in the identified microalgae grown for 21 days in the medium containing B[a]A. The four microalgae strains reached 90% B[a]A degradation. Then, in silico analysis was carried out on C. reinhardtii proteome to identify potential laccase involved in the degradation process. Finally, the response of intracellular and extracellular activity in the absence and presence of the B[a]A was analysed by ABTS and 2,6-DMP assays

Walking the walk: a phenomenological study of long distance walking

Evidence suggests that regular walking can elicit significant psychological benefits although little evidence exists concerning long distance walking. The purpose of this study was to provide detailed accounts of the experiences of long distance walkers. Phenomenological interviews were conducted with six long distance walkers. Data were transcribed verbatim before researchers independently analyzed the transcripts. Participants reported a cumulative effect with positive feelings increasing throughout the duration of the walk. Long distance walking elicited positive emotions, reduced the effects of life-stress, and promoted an increased sense of well-being and personal growth. Results are aligned to theories and concepts from positive psychology

Queer Infrastructures: Objects of and Orientations towards Urban Research Practice

Drawing on Ahmed’s seminal work on queer phenomenology, this intervention proposes the concept of “queer infrastructure”. Queer infrastructure, as we deploy it, reflects both an object of and orientation towards urban research practice. As an object, we discuss the function, use, and practice of (our) queer networks, specifically for research assumed to be unrelated to studies of sexuality and located in the urban African context. Here we centre questions of becoming, affect, and relationality. As an orientation, we discuss what can be “seen” both when entering the field through queer networks and by seeing urban spaces through queerness. In doing so, we suggest that sexuality is always present in urban research, even when not explicitly so

Fintech urbanism in the startup capital of Africa

From innovations in mobile money to bookkeeping devices, the burgeoning of financial-technologies (fintech) in the Global South has been critiqued by scholars concerned with financialization, datafication, and recently, neo-coloniality. While sympathetic to these concerns, this paper argues for a more descriptive, ambivalent, and urban reading of the implications and stakes of this fintech boom. Using Cape Town as a case study, we explore how the city has become and positioned itself as a/the capital of fintech innovation in Africa. With two detailed vignettes that look respectively at the recent histories of business process offshoring in the city and at the cycles of experimentation that via Cape Town bring fintech to the rest of the continent, we make three arguments. First, that the urban state has been instrumental in shaping how fintech lands in cities and how the infrastructures which support it develop. Second, that diverse cultural economies of experimentation engender the worlding practices through which local fintech ecosystems operate. Overall, we suggest that paying attention to these different ways in which fintech is enabled and mobilized by the urban state opens a necessary research agenda into the ambivalence of financial innovation in Africa

Extending the temporal context of ethnobotanical databases: the case study of the Campania region (southern Italy)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ethnobotanical studies generally describe the traditional knowledge of a territory according to a "hic et nunc" principle. The need of approaching this field also embedding historical data has been frequently acknowledged. With their long history of civilization some regions of the Mediterranean basin seem to be particularly suited for an historical approach to be adopted. Campania, a region of southern Italy, has been selected for a database implementation containing present and past information on plant uses.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A relational database has been built on the basis of information gathered from different historical sources, including diaries, travel accounts, and treatises on medicinal plants, written by explorers, botanists, physicians, who travelled in Campania during the last three centuries. Moreover, ethnobotanical uses described in historical herbal collections and in Ancient and Medieval texts from the Mediterranean Region have been included in the database.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>1672 different uses, ranging from medicinal, to alimentary, ceremonial, veterinary, have been recorded for 474 species listed in the data base. Information is not uniformly spread over the Campanian territory; Sannio being the most studied geographical area and Cilento the least one. About 50 plants have been continuously used in the last three centuries in the cure of the same affections. A comparison with the uses reported for the same species in Ancient treatises shows that the origin of present ethnomedicine from old learned medical doctrines needs a case-by-case confirmation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The database is flexible enough to represent a useful tool for researchers who need to store and compare present and previous ethnobotanical uses from Mediterranean Countries.</p

A new hexapeptide from the leader peptide of rMnSOD enters cells through the oestrogen receptor to deliver therapeutic molecules

A 24-amino acid leader peptide of a new human recombinant manganese superoxide dismutase can enter cells and carry molecules. Here, we demonstrated that six of the 24 amino acids penetrate cells through a particular gate represented by a specific amino acid sequence of the oestrogen receptor (ER). We analysed the internalization of the synthetic hexapeptide and the cytotoxic activity of the hexapeptide conjugated to cisplatin on a cell line panel. In most cell lines, the hexapeptide delivered an amount of cisplatin that was 2 to 8 times greater than that released by cisplatin when the drug was used alone. This increased delivery increases the therapeutic index of cisplatin and reduces side effects caused by a high dosage or long-term treatment times. We may consider this hexapeptide a new molecular carrier to deliver molecules with therapeutic activity into ER+ cells for diagnostic purposes and clinical or immune therapy

Original research: Trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder among employees of New York City companies affected by the september 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center

OBJECTIVE: Several studies have provided prevalence estimates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to the September 11, 2001 (9/11) attacks in broadly affected populations, although without sufficiently addressing qualifying exposures required for assessing PTSD and estimating its prevalence. A premise that people throughout the New York City area were exposed to the attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) towers and are thus at risk for developing PTSD has important implications for both prevalence estimates and service provision. This premise has not, however, been tested with respect to DSM-IV-TR criteria for PTSD. This study examined associations between geographic distance from the 9/11 attacks on the WTC and reported 9/11 trauma exposures, and the role of specific trauma exposures in the development of PTSD. METHODS: Approximately 3 years after the attacks, 379 surviving employees (102 with direct exposures, including 65 in the towers, and 277 with varied exposures) recruited from 8 affected organizations were interviewed using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule/Disaster Supplement and reassessed at 6 years. The estimated closest geographic distance from the WTC towers during the attacks and specific disaster exposures were compared with the development of 9/11–related PTSD as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. RESULTS: The direct exposure zone was largely concentrated within a radius of 0.1 mi and completely contained within 0.75 mi of the towers. PTSD symptom criteria at any time after the disaster were met by 35% of people directly exposed to danger, 20% of those exposed only through witnessed experiences, and 35% of those exposed only through a close associate’s direct exposure. Outside these exposure groups, few possible sources of exposure were evident among the few who were symptomatic, most of whom had preexisting psychiatric illness. CONCLUSIONS: Exposures deserve careful consideration among widely affected populations after large terrorist attacks when conducting clinical assessments, estimating the magnitude of population PTSD burdens, and projecting needs for specific mental health interventions