Cashew nut shell liquid: an agricultural by-product with great potential for commercial exploitation in Kenya

Cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) is the main by‐product from cashew nuts processing and is obtained during roasting of the nuts by the oil‐bath method. It may also be obtained through expression of residual shells or solvent extraction of the pulverized shells. Kenya has the potential to produce 200,000 Tonnes of cashew nuts and  5,000 Tonnes of CNSL if all the nuts were to be processed locally and with recovery of the liquid. Currently, the country realizes only about 5‐10% of its nuts production potential. Processing of the nuts has been left to small scale processors who in many cases, burn residue shells as fuel or as waste. This practice pollutes the environment profoundly through emission of thick dark smoke with particulate matter. No CNSL is recovered in Kenya currently. The aim of this review paper is to highlight a number of products which can be manufactured in Kenya based on research initially done at Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute and more recently at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology Recovery of CNSL and its exploitation in Kenya will not only enhance the economic returns to the cashew industry but also contribute significantly to conservation of the environment. It is recommended that further work be done to scale‐up production of CNSL based products and demonstrate feasibility of the same. Production and local processing of the cashew nuts accompanied by recovery of CNSL should be enhanced.Key words: Cashew nuts, CNSL utilization, cashew nut production, Keny

Cardiovascular diseases related to ionizing radiation : the risk of low-dose exposure (Review)

Traditionally, non-cancer diseases are not considered as health risks following exposure to low doses of ionizing radiation. Indeed, non-cancer diseases are classified as deterministic tissue reactions, which are characterized by a threshold dose. It is judged that below an absorbed dose of 100 mGy, no clinically relevant tissue damage occurs, forming the basis for the current radiation protection system concerning non-cancer effects. Recent epidemiological findings point, however, to an excess risk of non-cancer diseases following exposure to lower doses of ionizing radiation than was previously thought. The evidence is the most sound for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cataract. Due to limited statistical power, the dose-risk relationship is undetermined below 0.5 Gy; however, if this relationship proves to be without a threshold, it may have considerable impact on current low‑dose health risk estimates. In this review, we describe the CVD risk related to low doses of ionizing radiation, the clinical manifestation and the pathology of radiation-induced CVD, as well as the importance of the endothelium models in CVD research as a way forward to complement the epidemiological data with the underlying biological and molecular mechanisms

Statistical modelling optimisation of cellulase enzyme immobilisation on functionalised multi-walled carbon nanotubes for empty fruit bunches degradation

Cellulase obtained from the fermentation of sewage treatment plant sludge (STP) by Trichoderma-reesei RUT C-30 was covalently immobilised on functionalised multi-wall carbon nanotubes. Statistical optimisation using the Plackett–Burman design method was implemented to identify parameters with significant effects on the process of immobilisation. The results obtained from this Plackett–Burman design show that three parameters have a significant effect on immobilisation: pH, temperature, and N-ethyl-N-(3-dimethyl aminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) concentration. Based on our Plackett-Burman design results, these parameters were further optimised using a face-centred central composite design. The resulting optimum conditions for cellulase immobilisation, as determined by face-centred central composite design, were pH 4.5, 30°C, and 1 mL of 10mg/mL EDC. The amount of immobilised cellulase was approximately 98% using these optimum conditions. The resulting MWCNT-cellulase composite was further characterized by FTIR and SEM. The FTIR spectrum of MWCNT-cellulase composite showed an amide group peak (O = C-NH) corresponding to cellulase enzyme, which confirms that immobilisation took place

Immobilization of cellulases enzyme on Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) for cellulosic compounds degradation

The fast growing palm oil industry in Malaysia generates, amongst other wastes, Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) which consists of cellulosic materials. It is one of the major sources of Greenhouse Gases (GHG). However, the bioconversion of cellulosic materials in EFB, a renewable biomass, to valuable products will be the solution to the disposal problem and hence minimize the pollution. The bioconversion of cellulosic materials is carried out by using cellulase enzyme, which itself was extracted from sludge, immobilized on functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in the presence of coupling reagent. The process parameters such as reaction temperature, reaction time, pH, and amount of enzyme, CNTs dosage and EDC were optimized by using design expert software. The morphology and the structure of CNTs were characterized by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FSEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Absorption Spectroscopic (FTIR). Firstly, carbon nanotubes were functionalized by acidic treatment. Then, the cellulase enzyme is immobilized on the functionalized (CNTs) in a solution of Nhydroxysuccinimide (NHS) and 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylamino propyl)-carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC). The amount of enzyme attached on (CNTs) will be measured through UV spectrometer to determine the cellulases catalytic activity after immobilization and compare it with the free enzyme. Finally, the immobilized enzyme will be tested in the degradation of cellulosic material of empty fruit bunch (EFB) from palm oil mill effluent

Selected Endothelial Responses after Ionizing Radiation Exposure

Along with the development of novel chemotherapeutic agents, radiation therapy has revolutionized the prognosis of patients with various cancers. However, with a longer life expectancy, radiation treatment-related comorbidity, like cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), becomes an issue for cancer survivors. In addition, exposure to X-rays for medical diagnostics is dramatically increasing at the present times. A pressing question is whether or not exposure to these very low doses can cause health damage. Below 0.5 gray (Gy), an increased risk cannot be evidenced by epidemiology alone, and in vitro and in vivo mechanistic studies focused on the elucidation of molecular signaling pathways are needed. Given the critical role of the endothelium in normal vascular functions, a complete understanding of radiation-induced endothelial dysfunction is crucial. In this way, the current radiation protection system could be refined if needed, making it possible to more accurately assess the cardiovascular risk in the low-dose region. Finally, radiation-induced CVD, like CVD in general, is a progressive disorder that may take years to decades to manifest. Therefore, experimental studies are warranted to fulfill the urgent need to identify noninvasive biomarkers for an early detection and potential interventions—together with a healthy lifestyle—that may prevent or mitigate these adverse effects

Encephalitis, acute renal failure, and acute hepatitis triggered by a viral infection in an immunocompetent young adult: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Cytomegalovirus generally causes self-limited, mild and asymptomatic infections in immunocompetent patients. An aggressive course in immunocompetent healthy patients is unusual.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of an immunocompetent 16-year-old Egyptian boy with encephalitis, acute renal failure, and acute hepatitis triggered by viral infection with a complete recovery following antiviral treatment.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We believe that this case adds to the understanding of the molecular biology, clinical presentation and increasing index of suspicion of many viral infections.</p

Differential response to acute low dose radiation in primary and immortalized endothelial cells

Purpose : The low dose radiation response of primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and its immortalized derivative, the EA.hy926 cell line, was evaluated and compared. Material and methods: DNA damage and repair, cell cycle progression, apoptosis and cellular morphology in HUVEC and EA.hy926 were evaluated after exposure to low (0.05-0.5 Gy) and high doses (2 and 5 Gy) of acute X-rays. Results : Subtle, but significant increases in DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) were observed in HUVEC and EA.hy926 30 min after low dose irradiation (0.05 Gy). Compared to high dose irradiation (2 Gy), relatively more DSB/Gy were formed after low dose irradiation. Also, we observed a dose-dependent increase in apoptotic cells, down to 0.5 Gy in HUVEC and 0.1 Gy in EA.hy926 cells. Furthermore, radiation induced significantly more apoptosis in EA.hy926 compared to HUVEC. Conclusions : We demonstrated for the first time that acute low doses of X-rays induce DNA damage and apoptosis in endothelial cells. Our results point to a non-linear dose-response relationship for DSB formation in endothelial cells. Furthermore, the observed difference in radiation-induced apoptosis points to a higher radiosensitivity of EA.hy926 compared to HUVEC, which should be taken into account when using these cells as models for studying the endothelium radiation response

Automatic Hierarchical Classification of Kelps utilizing Deep Residual Feature

Across the globe, remote image data is rapidly being collected for the assessment of benthic communities from shallow to extremely deep waters on continental slopes to the abyssal seas. Exploiting this data is presently limited by the time it takes for experts to identify organisms found in these images. With this limitation in mind, a large effort has been made globally to introduce automation and machine learning algorithms to accelerate both classification and assessment of marine benthic biota. One major issue lies with organisms that move with swell and currents, like kelps. This paper presents an automatic hierarchical classification method (local binary classification as opposed to the conventional flat classification) to classify kelps in images collected by autonomous underwater vehicles. The proposed kelp classification approach exploits learned feature representations extracted from deep residual networks. We show that these generic features outperform the traditional off-the-shelf CNN features and the conventional hand-crafted features. Experiments also demonstrate that the hierarchical classification method outperforms the traditional parallel multi-class classifications by a significant margin (90.0% vs 57.6% and 77.2% vs 59.0%) on Benthoz15 and Rottnest datasets respectively. Furthermore, we compare different hierarchical classification approaches and experimentally show that the sibling hierarchical training approach outperforms the inclusive hierarchical approach by a significant margin. We also report an application of our proposed method to study the change in kelp cover over time for annually repeated AUV surveys.Comment: MDPI Sensor