Oil Production from Yarrowia lipolytica Po1g Using Rice Bran Hydrolysate

The purpose of this study was to produce microbial oil from Yarrowia lipolytica Po1g grown in defatted rice bran hydrolysate. After removing oil from rice bran by Soxhlet extraction, the bran is subjected to acid hydrolysis with various sulfuric acid concentrations (1–4% v/v), reaction times (1–8 h), and reaction temperatures (60–120°C). The optimal conditions for maximum total sugar production from the hydrolysate were found to be 3% sulfuric acid at 90°C for 6 h. Glucose was the predominant sugar (43.20 ± 0.28 g/L) followed by xylose (4.93 ± 0.03 g/L) and arabinose (2.09 ± 0.01 g/L). The hydrolysate was subsequently detoxified by neutralization to reduce the amount of inhibitors such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and furfural to increase its potential as a medium for culturing Y. lipolytica Po1g. Dry cell mass and lipid content of Y. lipolytica Po1g grown in detoxified defatted rice bran hydrolysate (DRBH) under optimum conditions were 10.75 g/L and 48.02%, respectively

Isolation and characterization of starch from Limnophila aromatica

Starch is one of the digestible natural polymers found in vascular plants. This natural polymer is the primary source of polysaccharides to produce energy for humans. In this work, starch was extracted from the defatted and dephenolated Limnophila aromatica (DFPLA) by using the alkaline method. The DFPLA contains starch with a purity of 70.43 % where 55.1 % of it is the resistant starch. Physicochemical properties of the DFPLA starch such as solubility, morphology, swelling power, crystallinity, gelatinization, retrogradation, decomposition temperature, pasting profile, and surface functional groups were evaluated. The DFPLA starch possesses a mediumamylose content of 23.78 %, and the particle diameters of the starch were varied from 3 to 6 μm. The swelling power and solubility of the DFPLA starch are increasing as the temperature increased, where at 90 �C the swelling power and solubility of the starch is 13.73 g/g and 7.26%, respectively. Starch from DFPLA has a high total dietary fiber (76.28%) which is comparable to that of starch extracted from staple foods. The results indicate that starch from DFPLA possesses good physicochemical properties; this alternative starch may have potential application as a new feedstock for food industries

Effect of extraction solvent on total phenol content, total flavonoid content, and antioxidant activity of Limnophila aromatica

Limnophila aromatic is commonly used as a spice and a medicinal herb in Southeast Asia. In this study, water and various concentrations (50%, 75%, and 100%) of methanol, ethanol, and acetone in water were used as solvent in the extraction of L. aromatica. The antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, and total flavonoid content of the freeze-dried L. aromatic extracts were investigated using various in vitro assays. The extract obtained by 100% ethanol showed the highest total antioxidant activity, reducing power and DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity. The same extract also exhibited the highest phenolic content (40.5 mg gallic acid equivalent/g of defatted L. aromatic) and the highest flavonoid content (31.11 mg quercetin equivalent/g of defatted L. aromatic). The highest extraction yield was obtained by using 50% aqueous acetone. These results indicate that L. aromatica can be used in dietary applications with a potential to reduce oxidative stress

Genomic Mutations of BK Polyomavirus in Patients after Kidney Transplantation: A Cross-Sectional Study in Vietnam

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the SNP sites and determine the BKV genotype circulating in kidney-transplant Vietnamese recipients based on the VP1 gene region. Methods: 344 samples were collected from post-kidney-transplant recipients at the 103 Vietnam Military Hospital to investigate the number of BKV infections. Positive samples with a sufficient virus concentration were analyzed by nested PCR in the VP1 region, sequencing detected genotyping and single-nucleotide polymorphism. Results: BKV infection was determined in 214 patients (62.2%), of whom 11 (5.1%) were diagnosed with BKV-associated nephropathy. Among the 90 BKV-I strains sequenced, 89 (98.88%) were strains of I/b-1 and 1 (1.12%) was strain I/b-2. The 60 BKV-IV strains had a greater diversity of subgroups, including 40% IV/a-1, 1.66% IV/a-2, 56.68% IV/c-1, and 1.16% IV/c-2. Additionally, of 11 cases diagnosed with BKVN, seven belonged to subgroup I/b-1 (63.6%) and four to subgroup IV/c-1 (36.4%). Moreover, 22 specific SNPs that were genotype I or IV were determined in this Vietnamese population. Specifically, at position 1745, for the Vietnamese BKV-IV strains, the SNP position (A→G) appeared in 57/60 samples (95%). This causes transformation of the amino acid N→S. This SNP site can enable detection of genotype IV in Vietnam. It represents a unique evolution pattern and mutation that has not been found in other international strains. Conclusion: The BKV-I genotype was more common than BKV-IV; however, mutations that occur on the VP1 typing region of BKV-IV strains were more frequent than in BKV-I strains

Stepwise Reduction of Mycophenolate Mofetil with Conversion to Everolimus for the Treatment of Active BKV in Kidney Transplant Recipients: A Single-Center Experience in Vietnam

Background: No specific antiviral drug can effectively treat BKV reactivation after kidney transplantation. Thus, we evaluated stepwise-reduced immunosuppression to treat BKV reactivation. Methods: 341 kidney-transplant recipients were monitored for BKV infection (BKV-viremia, BKV-viruria). Positive samples with a significant virus load were nested PCR-genotyped in the VP1 region. In 97/211 patients presenting BKV viremia ≥104 copies/mL and/or BKV viruria ≥107 copies/mL, or BKV-nephropathy immunosuppression (i.e., mycophenolate mofetil [MMF]) was reduced by 50%. If viral load did not decrease within 28 days, MMF dose was further reduced by 25%, although calcineurin-inhibitor (CNI) therapy remained unchanged. If BKV viral load did not decrease within another 28 days, MMF was withdrawn and replaced by everolimus combined with reduced CNIs. Results: Only 41/97 BKV (+) cases completed the 6-month follow-up. Among these, 29 (71%) were in the BKV-I group and 12 (29%) were in BKV-IV. BKV viruria and BKV viremia were significantly decreased from 9.32 to 6.09 log10 copies/mL, and from 3.59 to 2.45 log10 copies/mL (p < 0.001 and p = 0.024, respectively). 11/32 (34.4%) patients were cleared of BKV viremia; 2/32 (6.3%) patients were cleared of BKV in both serum and urine, and 9/9 (100%) only had BKV viruria but did not develop BKV viremia. eGFR remained stable. No patient with BKV-related nephropathy had graft loss. There was a significant inverse relationship between changes in eGFR and serum BKV load (r = −0.314, p = 0.04). Conclusions: This stepwise immunosuppressive strategy proved effective at reducing BKV viral load in kidney transplant recipients that had high BKV loads in serum and/or urine. Renal function remained stable without rejection

International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortiu (INICC) report, data summary of 43 countries for 2007-2012. Device-associated module

We report the results of an International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) surveillance study from January 2007-December 2012 in 503 intensive care units (ICUs) in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. During the 6-year study using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) U.S. National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definitions for device-associated health care–associated infection (DA-HAI), we collected prospective data from 605,310 patients hospitalized in the INICC's ICUs for an aggregate of 3,338,396 days. Although device utilization in the INICC's ICUs was similar to that reported from ICUs in the U.S. in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals: the pooled rate of central line–associated bloodstream infection in the INICC's ICUs, 4.9 per 1,000 central line days, is nearly 5-fold higher than the 0.9 per 1,000 central line days reported from comparable U.S. ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia was also higher (16.8 vs 1.1 per 1,000 ventilator days) as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (5.5 vs 1.3 per 1,000 catheter days). Frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas isolates to amikacin (42.8% vs 10%) and imipenem (42.4% vs 26.1%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (71.2% vs 28.8%) and imipenem (19.6% vs 12.8%) were also higher in the INICC's ICUs compared with the ICUs of the CDC's NHSN