Biocatalysis of Rutin Hexadecanedioate Derivatives: Effect of Operating Conditions on Acylation Performance and Selectivity

Rutin was enzymatically acylated with hexadecanedioic acid, in tert‐amyl alcohol, by an immobilized lipase from Candida antartica “Novozym 435”. The effect of different techniques of water removal, temperature, concentration of rutin and diacid/rutin molar ratio was investigated. The obtained results indicated that drying the media by adding the molecular sieves in the outer loop of the reactor was the most efficient method leading to water content lower than 200 ppm. The highest performances (conversion yield and initial rate) were reached at 90°C, 131 mM of rutin, and 118 mM of acid. Depending on the water content and the diacid/rutin molar ratio, only rutin 4‴‐hexadecanedioate or both rutin 4‴‐hexadecanedioate and dirutin 4‴, 4‴‐hexadecanedioate were synthesized

MORPHOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL VARIABILITY OF LEBANESE CAROB VARIETIES

Morphological variation (pod length, width, thickness, seed number, volume, weight and specific gravity measurements) and chemical composition (protein, sugar, fiber, ash and total phenol content) of nine carob varieties from different regions of Lebanon were investigated. The obtained results showed that these two criteria exhibit significant differences (p<0.05) allowing thus to establish correlations between morphological aspects and location, mainly latitude. Moreover, the principal component analysis (PCA) of the data allowed separating these varieties in two grouped and two ungrouped populations

ACTIVATION OF BUTYRYLCHOLINESTERASE ENZYME BY MAGNESIUM IONS

Human serum Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) is an important enzyme in detoxification with its capacity for hydrolyzing esters. the inhibition of this enzyme lead to ill health. The reaction of enzyme with metals ions have grown in recent years,. in our study we examine the reaction of Mg+2 with normal and toxic form of enzyme .we collected samples as two groups for normal and toxic plasma, treated with different concentration of Mg+2 , compare the reading of plasma cholinesterase before and after treating , there are significant changing for that two groups at certain Mg+2 concentration. this changing may be for the allosteric effect of cholinesterase enzyme , reformation the binding site as its environment changing

ALCOHOL IN DRIVERS FATALLY INJURED IN ROAD ACCIDENTS IN ALBANIA DURING THE YEARS 2010-2012

Aim: To assess the presence of alcohol among Albanian drivers involved in fatal road accidents between 2010 and 2012.Materials and methods: Samples were obtained for 365 drivers involved in road accidents from January 2010 to December 2012. Blood samples have been analyzed foe the presence of ethanol by GC –HS (Gas-Chromatograph Head Space) in the Laboratory of Forensic Toxicology in the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tirana which is the only authorized institution to perform the toxicological investigation of road accidents that happen in Albania.Results: In the final cohort of 365 persons involved in traffic accidents, alcohol were found in concentrations above the legal limit in samples from 45.2% of subjects. BAC exceeded 0.50 g/l mostly in male subjects (98.8%). There were involved in traffic crashes mostly, car drivers (57.9%) and pedestrian (29.1%), consisting 41.9% of fatally cases each group.Conclusion: Males have the chance to crash 18% more than females. [OD: 1.18; CI95%: 1.01-7.76]. Blood alcohol concentrations (0.2 g/l ≥BAC≤ 0.5 g/l) are not an influence factor in fatal road accidents. Subjects whose blood alcohol concentrations have a alcohol blood level equal to (0.5 g/l ≥BAC≤ 1 g/l) have the chance to be involved in a fatal accident 2.2 times more then subjects whose blood alcohol concentration is below 0.2 g/l [OD = 2.2 ; CI 95%; 1.09-4.55]. Subjects with a blood alcohol concentration over > 1 g/l, have the chance to be involved in a fatal accident approximately two times more than a subject with a BAC <0.2g/l. [OD 1,98; CI 95%; (1.23-3.02)]

Artificial neural network for solving the inverse kinematic model of a spatial and planar variable curvature continuum robot

In this paper, neural networks are presented to solve the inverse kinematic models of continuum robots. Firstly, the forward kinematic models are calculated for variable curvature continuum robots. Then, the forward kinematic models are implemented in the neural networks which present the position of the continuum robot’s end effector. After that, the inverse kinematic models are solved through neural networks without setting up any constraints. In the same context, to validate the utility of the developed neural networks, various types of trajectories are proposed to be followed by continuum robots. It is found that the developed neural networks are powerful tool to deal with the high complexity of the non-linear equations, in particular when it comes to solving the inverse kinematics model of variable curvature continuum robots. To have a closer look at the efficiency of the developed neural network models during the follow up of the proposed trajectories, 3D simulation examples through Matlab have been carried out with different configurations. It is noteworthy to say that the developed models are a needed tool for real time application since it does not depend on the complexity of the continuum robots' inverse kinematic models