RISK ANALYSIS AND IDENTIFICATION OF CRITICAL CONTROL POINTS (CCP) IN PRODUCTION OF NATURAL INTESTINAL CASINGS

Implementation of the HACCP system in enterprises manufacturing natural intestinal casings is topical for ensuring high quality and confidence in safety of manufactured products. The paper examines hazardous factors in production of natural intestinal casings, analyzes risks with assessment of the probability of hazardous factor occurrence. To this end, a Pareto chart was constructed, unacceptable risks were determined, CCPs were revealed using the decision tree, critical control limits were established for each CCP and the requirements for their monitoring were specified. In addition, the paper gives risk analysis for the stage «salting» with expert assessment of the severity of consequences from realization of a certain hazardous factor and the probability of this realization for each risk. The risk of microbial growth due to addition of the insufficient amount of salt was classified as a biological factor with the severity of consequences 3 and the probability of realization 3. The risk of microbial growth due to violation of the temperature-humidity conditions and duration of holding on a site is also a biological factor with the severity of consequences 3 and the probability of realization 2. These stages are assigned to CCPs. Using the Pareto chart, the factors that had the highest effect on safety and quality of natural intestinal casings were grouped; with that, the percentage ratio of the revealed hazardous factors was established: biological/chemical/physical/allergens 65/20/15/0 for the whole technological process.Implementation of the HACCP system in enterprises manufacturing natural intestinal casings is topical for ensuring high quality and confidence in safety of manufactured products. The paper examines hazardous factors in production of natural intestinal casings, analyzes risks with assessment of the probability of hazardous factor occurrence. To this end, a Pareto chart was constructed, unacceptable risks were determined, CCPs were revealed using the decision tree, critical control limits were established for each CCP and the requirements for their monitoring were specified. In addition, the paper gives risk analysis for the stage «salting» with expert assessment of the severity of consequences from realization of a certain hazardous factor and the probability of this realization for each risk. The risk of microbial growth due to addition of the insufficient amount of salt was classified as a biological factor with the severity of consequences 3 and the probability of realization 3. The risk of microbial growth due to violation of the temperature-humidity conditions and duration of holding on a site is also a biological factor with the severity of consequences 3 and the probability of realization 2. These stages are assigned to CCPs. Using the Pareto chart, the factors that had the highest effect on safety and quality of natural intestinal casings were grouped; with that, the percentage ratio of the revealed hazardous factors was established: biological/chemical/physical/allergens 65/20/15/0 for the whole technological process

Universal Character of Breaking of Wormlike Surfactant Micelles by Additives of Different Hydrophobicity

Wormlike surfactant micelles are widely used in various applications including fracturing technology in oil industry, template synthesis of different nanoobjects, micellar copolymerization of hydrophilic and hydrophobic monomers, and so forth. Most of those applications suggest the solubilization of different additives in the micelles. The present paper is aimed at the comparative study of the effect of the solubilization of hydrophobic (n-decane and 1-phenylhexane) and hydrophilic (N-isopropylacrylamide and acrylamide) substances on the rheological properties and structure of the micelles using several complementary techniques including rheometry, small angle neutron scattering, dynamic light scattering, and diffusion ordered NMR spectroscopy. For these studies, mixed micelles of potassium oleate and n-octyltrimethylammonium bromide containing the excess of either anionic or cationic surfactants were used. It was shown that hydrophobic additives are completely solubilized inside the micelles being localized deep in the core (n-decane, 1-phenylhexane) or near the core/corona interface (1-phenylhexane). At the same time, only a small fraction of hydrophilic additives (14% of N-isopropylacrylamide and 4% of acrylamide) penetrate the micelles being localized at the corona area. Despite different localization of the additives inside the micelles, all of them induce the breaking of wormlike micelles with the formation of either ellipsoidal microemulsion droplets (in the case of hydrophobic additives) or ellipsoidal surfactant micelles (in the case of hydrophilic additives). The breaking of micelles results in the drop of viscosity of the solution up to water value. The main result of this paper consists in the observation of the fact that for all the additives under study, the dependences of the viscosity on the volume fraction of additive lie on the same master curve being shifted along the volume fraction axis by a certain factor depending on the hydrophobicity of the added species. Those data are quite useful for various applications of wormlike surfactant micelles suggesting the solubilization of different additives inside them

Contamination of Hospital Surfaces with Bacterial Pathogens under the Current COVID-19 Outbreak

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic remains a global health issue for several reasons, such as the low vaccination rates and a lack of developed herd immunity to the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, as well as its potential inclination to elude neutralizing antibodies. It should be noted that the severity of the COVID-19 disease is significantly affected by the presence of co-infections. Comorbid conditions are caused not only by pathogenic and opportunistic microorganisms but also by some representatives of the environmental microbiome. The presence of patients with moderate and severe forms of the disease in hospitals indicates the need for epidemiological monitoring of (1) bacterial pathogens circulating in hospitals, especially the ESKAPE group pathogens, and (2) the microbiome of various surfaces in hospitals. In our study, we used combined methods based on PCR and NGS sequencing, which are widely used for epidemiological monitoring. Through this approach, we identified the DNA of pathogenic bacteria (Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, CoNS, and Achromobacter spp.) on various surfaces. We also estimated the microbiome diversity of surfaces and identified the potential reservoirs of infections using 16S rRNA profiling. Although we did not assess the viability of identified microorganisms, our results indicate the possible risks of insufficient regular disinfection of surfaces, regardless of department, at the Infectious Diseases Hospital. Controlling the transmission of nosocomial diseases is critical to the successful treatment of COVID-19 patients, the rational use of antimicrobial drugs, and timely decontamination measures

Alcohol-Supported Cu-Mediated F-18-Fluorination of Iodonium Salts under Minimalist Conditions

In the era of personalized precision medicine, positron emission tomography (PET) and related hybrid methods like PET/CT and PET/MRI gain recognition as indispensable tools of clinical diagnostics. A broader implementation of these imaging modalities in clinical routine is closely dependent on the increased availability of established and emerging PET-tracers, which in turn could be accessible by the development of simple, reliable, and efficient radiolabeling procedures. A further requirement is a cGMP production of imaging probes in automated synthesis modules. Herein, a novel protocol for the efficient preparation of F-18-labeled aromatics via Cu-mediated radiofluorination of (aryl)(mesityl) iodonium salts without the need of evaporation steps is described. Labeled aromatics were prepared in high radiochemical yields simply by heating of iodonium [F-18]fluorides with the Cu-mediator in methanolic DMF. The iodonium [F-18]fluorides were prepared by direct elution of F-18(-) from an anion exchange resin with solutions of the corresponding precursors in MeOH/DMF. The practicality of the novel method was confirmed by the racemization-free production of radiolabeled fluorophenylalanines, including hitherto unknown 3-[F-18]FPhe, in 22-69% isolated radiochemical yields as well as its direct implementation into a remote-controlled synthesis unit

Phyllobacterium zundukense sp. nov., a novel species of rhizobia isolated from root nodules of the legume species Oxytropis triphylla (Pall.) Pers.

Gram-negative strains Tri-36, Tri-38, Tri-48T and Tri-53 were isolated from root nodules of the relict legume Oxytropis triphylla (Pall.) Pers. originating from Zunduk Cape (Baikal Lake region, Russia). 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed that the novel isolates were phylogenetically closest to the type strains Phyllobacterium sophorae LMG 27899(T), Phyllobacterium brassicacearum LMG 22836(T), Phyllobacterium endophyticum LMG 26470(T) and Phyllobacterium bourgognense LMG 22837(T) while similarity levels between the isolates and the most closely related strain P. endophyticum LMG 26470(T) were 98.899.5 %. The recA and glnII genes of the isolates showed highest sequence similarities with P. sophorae LMG 27899(T) (95.4 and 89.5 %, respectively) and P. brassicacearum LMG 22836(T) (91.4 and 85.1 %, respectively). Comparative analysis of phenotypic properties between the novel isolates and the closest reference strains P. sophorae LMG 27899(T), P. brassicacearum LMG 22836(T) and P. endophyticum LMG 26470(T) was performed using a microassay system. Average nucleotide identities between the whole genome sequences of the isolates Tri-38 and Tri-48(T) and P. sophorae LMG 27899(T), P. brassicacearum LMG 22836(T) and P. endophyticum LMG 26470(T) ranged from 79.23% for P. endophyticum LMG 26470(T) to 85.74% for P. sophorae LMG 27899(T). The common nodABC genes required for legume nodulation were absent from strains Tri-38 and Tri-48(T), although some other symbiotic nod and fix genes were detected. On the basis of genotypic and phenotypic analysis, a novel species, Phyllobacterium zundukense sp. nov. (type strain Tri-48(T) = LMG 30371(T) = RCAM 03910(T)), is proposed

The Highly Regioselective Synthesis of Novel Imidazolidin-2-Ones via the Intramolecular Cyclization/Electrophilic Substitution of Urea Derivatives and the Evaluation of Their Anticancer Activity

A series of novel 4-(het)arylimidazoldin-2-ones were obtained by the acid-catalyzed reaction of (2,2-diethoxyethyl)ureas with aromatic and heterocyclic C-nucleophiles. The proposed approach to substituted imidazolidinones benefits from excellent regioselectivity, readily available starting materials and a simple procedure. The regioselectivity of the reaction was rationalized by quantum chemistry calculations and control experiments. The anti-cancer activity of the obtained compounds was tested in vitro

Bosea caraganae sp. nov. a new species of slow-growing bacteria isolated from root nodules of the relict species Caragana jubata (Pall.) Poir. originating from Mongolia

Two Gram-stain-negative strains, RCAM04680(T) and RCAM04685, were isolated from root nodules of the relict legume Caragana jubata (Pall.) Poir. originating from the south-western shore of Lake Khuvsgul (Mongolia). The 16S rRNA gene (rrs) sequencing data showed that these novel isolates belong to the genus Bosea and are phylogenetically closest to the type strains Bosea lathyri LMG 26379(T), Bosea vaviloviae LMG 28367(T), Bosea massiliensis LMG 26221(T) and Bosea lupini LMG 26383(T) (the rrs-similarity levels were 98.7-98.8 %). The recA gene of strain RCAM04680(T) showed the highest sequence similarity to the type strain B. lupini LMG 26383(T) (95.4 %), while its atpD gene was closest to that of B. lathyri LMG 26379(T) (94.4 %). The ITS, dnaK and gyrB sequences of this isolate were most similar to the B. vaviloviae LMG 28367(T) (86.8% for ITS, 90.4% for the other genes). The most abundant fatty acid was C-18:1 omega 7c (40.8 %). The whole genomes of strains RCAM04680(T) and RCAM04685 were identical (100% average nucleotide identity). The highest average nucleotide identity value (82.8 %) was found between the genome of strain RCAM04680(T) and B. vaviloviae LMG 28367(T). The common nodABC genes required for legume nodulation were absent in both strains; however, some other symbiotic nol, nod, nif and fix genes were detected. Based on the genetic study, as well as analyses of the whole-cell fatty acid compositions and phenotypic properties, a new species, Bosea caraganae sp. nov. (type strain RCAM04680(T) (=LMG 31125(T)), is proposed

Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 Major Genetic Lineages in Moscow in the Context of Vaccine Prophylaxis

Findings collected over two and a half years of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that the level immunity resulting from vaccination and infection is insufficient to stop the circulation of new genetic variants. The short-term decline in morbidity was followed by a steady increase. The early identification of new genetic lineages that will require vaccine adaptation in the future is an important research target. In this study, we summarised data on the variability of genetic line composition throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in Moscow, Russia, and evaluated the virological and epidemiological features of dominant variants in the context of selected vaccine prophylaxes. The prevalence of the Omicron variant highlighted the low effectiveness of the existing immune layer in preventing infection, which points to the necessity of optimising the antigens used in vaccines in Moscow. Logistic growth curves showing the rate at which the new variant displaces the previously dominant variants may serve as early indicators for selecting candidates for updated vaccines, along with estimates of efficacy, reduced viral neutralising activity against the new strains, and viral load in previously vaccinated patients