Bioactivity of tempe by inhibiting adhesion of ETEC to intestinal cells, as influenced by fermentation substrates and starter pure cultures

Soya bean tempe is known for its bioactivity in reducing the severity of diarrhoea in piglets. This bioactivity is caused by an inhibition of the adhesion of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) to intestinal cells. In this paper, we assessed the bioactive effect of soya tempe on a range of ETEC target strains, as well as the effect of a range of cereal and leguminous substrates and starter pure cultures. Soya bean tempe extracts strongly inhibited the adhesion of ETEC strains tested. All tempe made from other leguminous seeds were as bioactive as soya bean tempe, whereas tempe made from cereals showed no bioactivity. Using soya beans as substrate, fermentation with several fungi (Mucor, Rhizopus spp. and yeasts) as well as Bacillus spp. resulted in bioactive tempe, whereas fermentation with lactobacilli showed no bioactivity. The active component is releasedor formed during the fermentation and is not present in microbial biomass and only partly in unfermented substrates. The bioactivity being not specific for a single ETEC strain, makes the bioactive tempe relevant for applications in animal husbandry

First characterization of bioactive components in soybean tempe that protect human and animal intestinal cells against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) infection

Tempe extracts can inhibit the adhesion of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) to intestinal cells and thereby can play a role in controlling ETEC-induced diarrhea. The component responsible for this adhesion inhibition activity is still unknown. This research describes the purification and partial characterization of this bioactive component of tempe. After heating, defatting, and protease treatment, the extracts were found to remain active. However, after treatment with polysaccharide-degrading enzyme mixtures the bioactivity was lost. Ultrafiltration revealed the active component to be >30 kDa. Further purification of the bioactive tempe extracts yielded an active fraction with an increased carbohydrate content of higher arabinose content than the nonactive fractions. In conclusion, the bioactive component contains arabinose and originates from the arabinan or arabinogalactan side chain of the pectic cell wall polysaccharides of the soybeans, which is probably released or formed during fermentation by enzymatic modification

Performance model for “Just-in-Time” problems in real-time multimedia applications

Over the last few years, the use of large-scale multimedia data applications has been growing tremendously, and this growth is not likely to slow down in the near future. Many multimedia applications operate in a real-time environment (e.g., surveillance cameras, iris scans), which must meet strict time constraints, i.e. to analyze video frames at the same rate as a camera produces them. To meet this requirement, Grid computing is rapidly becoming indispensable. However, the variabilities of the software and the hardware in grid environment cause the strong burstiness in the transmission delay of video frames. Because the burstiness is unknown beforehand, it is difficult to determine the right sending moments of video frames. If the time interval between sending two sequential frames is too large, then the service utilization may be low. If use large buffer to guarantee the service utilization, then video frames may be outof- date because of the long waiting time at buffer in the server side. This problem is referred to as “Just-in-time” problem. To solve this problem, it is essential to determine the right sending moments of video frames, properly dealing with the trade-off between the service utilization and the “up-to-date” of video frames. Motivated by this, in this paper we develop an adaptive control method that react to the continuously changing circumstances in grid system so as to obtain the highest service utilization on the one hand and to keep the video frame up-to-date on the other hand. Extensive experimental validation in our DAS-3 testbed and the trace-driven simulation show that our method is indeed highly effective

Evolutionary algorithms for optimal control in fed-batch fermentation processes

In this work, Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) are used to achieve optimal feedforward control in a recombinant bacterial fed-batch fermentation process, that aims at producing a bio-pharmaceutical product. Three diferent aspects are the target of the optimization procedure: the feeding trajectory (the amount of substrate introduced in a bioreactor per time unit), the duration of the fermentation and the initial conditions of the process. A novel EA with variable size chromosomes and using real-valued representations is proposed that is capable of simultaneously optimizing the aforementioned aspects. Outstanding productivity levels were achieved and the results are validated by practice

Differential evolution for the offline and online optimization of fed-batch fermentation processes

The optimization of input variables (typically feeding trajectories over time) in fed-batch fermentations has gained special attention, given the economic impact and the complexity of the problem. Evolutionary Computation (EC) has been a source of algorithms that have shown good performance in this task. In this chapter, Differential Evolution (DE) is proposed to tackle this problem and quite promising results are shown. DE is tested in several real world case studies and compared with other EC algorihtms, such as Evolutionary Algorithms and Particle Swarms. Furthermore, DE is also proposed as an alternative to perform online optimization, where the input variables are adjusted while the real fermentation process is ongoing. In this case, a changing landscape is optimized, therefore making the task of the algorithms more difficult. However, that fact does not impair the performance of the DE and confirms its good behaviour.(undefined

Identification of InuR, a new Zn(II)2Cys6 transcriptional activator involved in the regulation of inulinolytic genes in Aspergillus niger

The expression of inulinolytic genes in Aspergillus niger is co-regulated and induced by inulin and sucrose. We have identified a positive acting transcription factor InuR, which is required for the induced expression of inulinolytic genes. InuR is a member of the fungal specific class of transcription factors of the Zn(II)2Cys6 type. Involvement of InuR in inulin and sucrose metabolism was suspected because of the clustering of inuR gene with sucB, which encodes an intracellular invertase with transfructosylation activity and a putative sugar transporter encoding gene (An15g00310). Deletion of the inuR gene resulted in a strain displaying a severe reduction in growth on inulin and sucrose medium. Northern analysis revealed that expression of inulinolytic and sucrolytic genes, e.g., inuE, inuA, sucA, as well as the putative sugar transporter gene (An15g00310) is dependent on InuR. Genome-wide expression analysis revealed, three additional putative sugar transporters encoding genes (An15g04060, An15g03940 and An17g01710), which were strongly induced by sucrose in an InuR dependent way. In silico analysis of the promoter sequences of strongly InuR regulated genes suggests that InuR might bind as dimer to two CGG triplets, which are separated by eight nucleotides

Circadian Clocks as Modulators of Metabolic Comorbidity in Psychiatric Disorders

Psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder are often accompanied by metabolic dysfunction symptoms, including obesity and diabetes. Since the circadian system controls important brain systems that regulate affective, cognitive, and metabolic functions, and neuropsychiatric and metabolic diseases are often correlated with disturbances of circadian rhythms, we hypothesize that dysregulation of circadian clocks plays a central role in metabolic comorbidity in psychiatric disorders. In this review paper, we highlight the role of circadian clocks in glucocorticoid, dopamine, and orexin/melanin-concentrating hormone systems and describe how a dysfunction of these clocks may contribute to the simultaneous development of psychiatric and metabolic symptoms