Effect of a Debaryomyces hansenii and Lactobacillus buchneri starter culture on Aspergillus westerdijkiae ochratoxin a production and growth during the manufacture of short seasoned dry-cured ham

Recently, specific dry-cured hams have started to be produced in San Daniele and Parma areas. The ingredients are similar to protected denomination of origin (PDO) produced in San Daniele or Parma areas, and include pork leg, coming from pigs bred in the Italian peninsula, salt and spices. However, these specific new products cannot be marked as a PDO, either San Daniele or Parma dry cured ham, because they are seasoned for 6 months, and the mark PDO is given only to products seasoned over 13 months. Consequently, these products are called short-seasoned dry-cured ham (SSDCH) and are not branded PDO. During their seasoning period, particularly from the first drying until the end of the seasoning period, many molds, including Eurotium spp. and Penicillium spp., can grow on the surface and work together with other molds and tissue enzymes to produce a unique aroma. Both of these strains typically predominate over other molds. However, molds producing ochratoxins, such as Aspergillus ochraceus and Penicillium nordicum, can simultaneously grow and produce ochratoxin A (OTA). Consequently, these dry-cured hams may represent a potential health risk for consumers. Recently, Aspergillus westerdijkiae has been isolated from SSDCHs, which could represent a potential problem for consumers. Therefore, the aim of this study was to inhibit A. westerdijkiae using Debaryomyces hansenii or Lactobacillus buchneri or a mix of both microorganisms. Six D. hansenii and six L. buchneri strains were tested in vitro for their ability to inhibit A. westerdijkiae. The strains D. hansenii (DIAL)1 and L. buchneri (Lb)4 demonstrated the highest inhibitory activity and were selected for in situ tests. The strains were inoculated or co-inoculated on fresh pork legs for SSDCH production with OTA-producing A. westerdijkiae prior to the first drying and seasoning. At the end of seasoning (six months), OTA was not detected in the SSDCH treated with both microorganisms and their combination. Because both strains did not adversely affect the SSDCH odor or flavor, the combination of these strains are proposed for use as starters to inhibit OTA-producing A. westerdijkiae

PEMANFAATAN SOLAR DARI HASIL SANTAN KELAPA UNTUK BAHAN BAKAR MESIN DIESEL

The use of cooking oil in Indonesia is increasing day by day and the production of palm oil raw materials is decreasing which causes the price of palm oil to rise. The manufacture of cooking oil and diesel from coconut milk is expected to be a solution in overcoming the decline in palm oil. The purpose of this study was to determine the manufacturing process and quality of cooking oil and diesel from coconut milk. This research uses quantitative methods, while the materials used are coconut milk, catalyst, methanol and caustic soda. The research process, where coconut milk is put into a furnace, then heated from 30oC to 100oC for about 45 minutes, then the coconut milk turns into cooking oil and galendo. The cooking oil is put into the furnace, then heated and alternately input the catalyst, methanol and caustic soda until it runs out, from a temperature of 30oC to 100oC for about 50 minutes. After that let stand for 24 hours, then the cooking oil was turned into diesel and residue. The diesel was tested for its characteristics, burned, and started the 1 cylinder diesel engine. As a result, the diesel passed the testing stage

Direct evidence for efficient ultrafast charge separation in epitaxial WS₂/graphene heterostructures

We use time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (tr-ARPES) to investigate ultrafast charge transfer in an epitaxial heterostructure made of monolayer WS2 and graphene. This heterostructure combines the benefits of a direct-gap semiconductor with strong spin-orbit coupling and strong light-matter interaction with those of a semimetal hosting massless carriers with extremely high mobility and long spin lifetimes. We find that, after photoexcitation at resonance to the A-exciton in WS2, the photoexcited holes rapidly transfer into the graphene layer while the photoexcited electrons remain in the WS2 layer. The resulting charge-separated transient state is found to have a lifetime of ∼1 ps. We attribute our findings to differences in scattering phase space caused by the relative alignment of WS2 and graphene bands as revealed by high-resolution ARPES. In combination with spin-selective optical excitation, the investigated WS2/graphene heterostructure might provide a platform for efficient optical spin injection into graphene

Direct evidence for efficient ultrafast charge separation in epitaxial WS2_2/graphene heterostructure

We use time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (tr-ARPES) to investigate ultrafast charge transfer in an epitaxial heterostructure made of monolayer WS$_2$ and graphene. This heterostructure combines the benefits of a direct gap semiconductor with strong spin-orbit coupling and strong light-matter interaction with those of a semimetal hosting massless carriers with extremely high mobility and long spin lifetimes. We find that, after photoexcitation at resonance to the A-exciton in WS$_2$, the photoexcited holes rapidly transfer into the graphene layer while the photoexcited electrons remain in the WS$_2$ layer. The resulting charge transfer state is found to have a lifetime of $\sim1$\,ps. We attribute our findings to differences in scattering phase space caused by the relative alignment of WS$_2$ and graphene bands as revealed by high resolution ARPES. In combination with spin-selective excitation using circularly polarized light the investigated WS$_2$/graphene heterostructure might provide a new platform for efficient optical spin injection into graphene.Comment: 28 pages, 14 figure

Clustered bottlenecks in mRNA translation and protein synthesis

We construct an algorithm that generates large, band-diagonal transition matrices for a totally asymmetric exclusion process (TASEP) with local hopping rate inhomogeneities. The matrices are diagonalized numerically to find steady-state currents of TASEPs with local variations in hopping rate. The results are then used to investigate clustering of slow codons along mRNA. Ribosome density profiles near neighboring clusters of slow codons interact, enhancing suppression of ribosome throughput when such bottlenecks are closely spaced. Increasing the slow codon cluster size, beyond $\approx 3-4$, does not significantly reduce ribosome current. Our results are verified by extensive Monte-Carlo simulations and provide a biologically-motivated explanation for the experimentally-observed clustering of low-usage codons

Analysis of Narrow-Leaf Lupin Proteins in Lupin-Enriched Pasta by Untargeted and Targeted Mass Spectrometry

The supplementation of different food items with grain legumes and, in particular, with lupin has been demonstrated to provide useful health benefits, especially in the area of cardiovascular disease prevention. In this work, label free quantitative untargeted and targeted approaches based on liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) for investigating the protein profile of three pasta samples containing different percentages of narrow-leaf lupin flour were carried out. The untargeted method permitted the identification of the main acidic globulins (\u3b1-conglutin, \u3b2-conglutin, and \u3b4-conglutin) and the comparison of their profile with raw lupin flour. The targeted method, based on High-performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry HPLC-Chip-Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) mode, allowed the quantification of \u3b3-conglutin, the main hypoglycemic component of lupin protein: its concentration was around 2.25 mg/g in sample A, 2.16 mg/g in sample D, and 0.57 mg/g in sample F

The potential influence of commercial plant nurseries in shaping the urban forest in South Africa

A substantial portion of urban green infrastructure is under private tenure in residents’ and business/corporate gardens. Therefore, the ways that urban residents manage their gardens can influence the type, quantity and quality of ecosystem services and disservices in urban areas. Plant nurseries are a major source of trees for urban residents, and so the types of trees and species that nurseries stock influence the composition of private gardens. Consequently, this study aimed to examine the roles that plant nurseries play in shaping the urban forest in South Africa. To do so, an online and direct questionnaire was used to gather data from 30 nurseries across 19 urban centres in South Africa. The main questions included species selection criteria, customer tree inquiries, best-selling tree species, attitudes towards increasing urban tree cover and diversity and whether they think climate change will affect the selection of species to stock. The results show that there is a strong preference for indigenous trees, which were also most commonly listed as best-sellers. Non-native species that were commonly sold were ones that provided provisioning services, particularly edible fruits. Drought tolerance influenced selection criteria and customer demand. Vachellia spp. and Olea europaea were commonly inquired about and most commonly listed amongst the best-sellers. Nursery owners valued the importance of increasing tree cover and diversity in urban areas, listing many perceived benefits for doing so. We conclude that there is a clear preference for indigenous tree species by customers and nursery owners, which in time could increase the proportion and cover of native species

Phycobiliproteins from Arthrospira Platensis (Spirulina): A New Source of Peptides with Dipeptidyl Peptidase-IV Inhibitory Activity

Arthrospira platensis (spirulina) is a cyanobacterium, which contains mainly two phycobiliproteins (PBP), i.e., C-phycocyanin (C-PC) and allophycocyanin (APC). In this study, PBP were hydrolyzed using trypsin, and the composition of the hydrolysate was characterized by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS. Furthermore, the potential anti-diabetic activity was assessed by using either biochemical or cellular techniques. Findings suggest that PBP peptides inhibit DPP-IV activity in vitro with a dose-response trend and an IC50 value falling in the range between 0.5 and 1.0 mg/mL. A lower inhibition of the DPP-IV activity expressed by Caco-2 cells was observed, which was explained by a secondary metabolic degradation exerted by the same cells

Bogoliubov modes of a dipolar condensate in a cylindrical trap

The calculation of properties of Bose-Einstein condensates with dipolar interactions has proven a computationally intensive problem due to the long range nature of the interactions, limiting the scope of applications. In particular, the lowest lying Bogoliubov excitations in three dimensional harmonic trap with cylindrical symmetry were so far computed in an indirect way, by Fourier analysis of time dependent perturbations, or by approximate variational methods. We have developed a very fast and accurate numerical algorithm based on the Hankel transform for calculating properties of dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates in cylindrically symmetric traps. As an application, we are able to compute many excitation modes by directly solving the Bogoliubov-De Gennes equations. We explore the behavior of the excited modes in different trap geometries. We use these results to calculate the quantum depletion of the condensate by a combination of a computation of the exact modes and the use of a local density approximation

Variation in Wolbachia cidB gene, but not cidA, is associated with cytoplasmic incompatibility mod phenotype diversity in Culex pipiens

Endosymbiotic Wolbachia bacteria are, to date, considered the most widespread symbionts in arthropods and are the cornerstone of major biological control strategies. Such a high prevalence is based on the ability of Wolbachia to manipulate their hosts' reproduction. One manipulation called cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) is based on the death of the embryos generated by crosses between infected males and uninfected females or between individuals infected with incompatible Wolbachia strains. CI can be seen as a modification-rescue system (or mod-resc) in which paternal Wolbachia produce mod factors, inducing embryonic defects, unless the maternal Wolbachia produce compatible resc factors. Transgenic experiments in Drosophila melanogaster and Saccharomyces cerevisiae converged towards a model where the cidB Wolbachia gene is involved in the mod function while cidA is involved in the resc function. However, as cidA expression in Drosophila males was required to observe CI, it has been proposed that cidA could be involved in both resc and mod functions. A recent correlative study in natural Culex pipiens mosquito populations has revealed an association between specific cidA and cidB variations and changes in mod phenotype, also suggesting a role for both these genes in mod diversity. Here, by studying cidA and cidB genomic repertoires of individuals from newly sampled natural C. pipiens populations harbouring wPipIV strains from North Italy, we reinforce the link between cidB variation and mod phenotype variation fostering the involvement of cidB in the mod phenotype diversity. However, no association between any cidA variants or combination of cidA variants and mod phenotype variation was observed. Taken together our results in natural C. pipiens populations do not support the involvement of cidA in mod phenotype variation