A Sustainable Approach for the Downstream Processing of Bacterial Polyhydroxyalkanoates: State-of-the-art and latest developments

Bioplastics have emerged as a platform to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are a family of biodegradable polyesters with large potential in consumer goods and medical applications. These polymers accumulate in prokaryotic microbes and their recovery is a challenging, often under explored, operation. In the past, oil-derived solvents and chemicals have been widely used as extracting agents, compromising the “environmentally-friendly” claim of bioplastics. Furthermore, the large amount of chemicals and solvents required at the industrial level would negatively impact the economics of the process. The present review presents the latest advances in the field of downstream operations for PHA recovery emphasizing those green technologies with scaling-up feasibility. As for the upstream and fermentation stages, the extraction process needs to be carefully optimized to accomplish a competitive production of PHAs

Valorising pasta industry wastes by the scale up and integration of solid-state and liquid-submerged fermentations

Pasta waste has previously been studied in a process to obtain lactic acid through a sequential hydrolysis and fermentation. The process was improved by using enzymes produced via solid-state fermentation of wheat bran in shake flasks. However, the scale-up of the solid-state fermentation is a complex task. In this study, amylase was produced in a home-designed tray bioreactor which allowed to carry out the hydrolysis and fermentation steps at the pilot scale. Due to the efficiency of the solid-state fermentation and the activity of the enzyme, only a small amount (100 g) of wheat bran was required to achieve high yields in a hydrolysis in a 72 L bioreactor (50 L working volume). Overall, the lactic acid yield was 0.68 gLA/gdS, and after the purification, the lactic acid recovered was 55 %, with a total ion concentration of 500 mg/L and an enantiomeric purity of 98.1 % L-LA.11 página

Production and purification of L-lactic acid in lab and pilot scales using sweet sorghum juice

Sweet sorghum juice (SSJ) was evaluated as fermentation substrate for the production of l-lactic acid. A thermophilic Bacillus coagulans isolate was selected for batch fermentations without the use of additional nutrients. The first batch of SSJ (Batch A) resulted on higher lactic acid concentration, yield and productivity with values of 78.75 g·L−1, 0.78 g·g−1 and 1.77 g·L−1 h−1, respectively. Similar results were obtained when the process was transferred into the pilot scale (50 L), with corresponding values of 73 g·L−1, 0.70 g·g−1 and 1.47 g·L−1 h−1. A complete downstream process scheme was developed in order to separate lactic acid from the fermentation components. Coarse and ultra-filtration were employed as preliminary separation steps. Mono- and bipolar electrodialysis, followed by chromatography and vacuum evaporation were subsequently carried out leading to a solution containing 905.8 g·L−1 lactic acid, with an optical purity of 98.9%. The results of this study highlight the importance of the downstream process with respect to using SSJ for lactic acid production. The proposed downstream process constitutes a more environmentally benign approach to conventional precipitation methods

Why fly blind? Event-based visual guidance for ornithopter robot flight

Under licence Creative Commons - Green Open Access (IEEE).The development of perception and control methods that allow bird-scale flapping-wing robots (a.k.a. ornithopters) to perform autonomously is an under-researched area. This paper presents a fully onboard event-based method for ornithopter robot visual guidance. The method uses event cameras to exploit their fast response and robustness against motion blur in order to feed the ornithopter control loop at high rates (100 Hz). The proposed scheme visually guides the robot using line features extracted in the event image plane and controls the flight by actuating over the horizontal and vertical tail deflections. It has been validated on board a real ornithopter robot with real-time computation in low-cost hardware. The experimental evaluation includes sets of experiments with different maneuvers indoors and outdoors.Consejo Europeo de Investigación (ERC) 78824

Free as a Bird: Event-Based Dynamic Sense-and-Avoid for Ornithopter Robot Flight

Autonomous flight of flapping-wing robots is a major challenge for robot perception. Most of the previous sense-and-avoid works have studied the problem of obstacle avoidance for flapping-wing robots considering only static obstacles. This letter presents a fully onboard dynamic sense-and-avoid scheme for large-scale ornithopters using event cameras. These sensors trigger pixel information due to changes of illumination in the scene such as those produced by dynamic objects. The method performs event-by-event processing in low-cost hardware such as those onboard small aerial vehicles. The proposed scheme detects obstacles and evaluates possible collisions with the robot body. The onboard controller actuates over the horizontal and vertical tail deflections to execute the avoidance maneuver. The scheme is validated in both indoor and outdoor scenarios using obstacles of different shapes and sizes. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first event-based method for dynamic obstacle avoidance in a flapping-wing robot.Consejo Europeo de Investigación (ERC) 788247Comisión Europea - Proyecto AERIAL-CORE H2020-2019-871479Ministerio de Universidades FPU19/0469

Fruit flesh volatile and carotenoid profile analysis within the Cucumis melo L. species reveals unexploited variability for future genetic breeding

[EN] BACKGROUNDAroma profile and carotenoids content of melon flesh are two important aspects influencing the quality of this fruit that have been characterized using only selected genotypes. However, the extant variability of the whole species remains unknown. RESULTSA complete view of the volatile/carotenoid profiles of melon flesh was obtained analyzing 71 accessions, representing the whole diversity of the species. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography were used to analyze 200 volatile compounds and five carotenoids. Genotypes were classified into two main clusters (high/low aroma), but with a large diversity of differential profiles within each cluster, consistent with the ripening behavior, flesh color and proposed evolutionary and breeding history of the different horticultural groups. CONCLUSIONOur results highlight the huge amount of untapped aroma diversity of melon germplasm, especially of non-commercial types. Also, landraces with high nutritional value with regard to carotenoids have been identified. All this knowledge will encourage melon breeding, facilitating the selection of the genetic resources more appropriate to develop cultivars with new aromatic profiles or to minimize the impact of breeding on melon quality. The newly characterized sources provide the basis for further investigations into specific genes/alleles contributing to melon flesh quality. (c) 2018 Society of Chemical IndustryWe would like to thank the metabolomics lab at the IBMCP for technical support. This work was supported by ERA-PG project (MELRIP: GEN2006-27773-C2-2-E), Plant KBBE project (SAFQIM: PIM2010PKB-00691), Accion Complementaria ACOMP/2012/173 and ACOMP/2013/141, and Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad AGL2014-53398-C2-2-R & AGL2010-20858 (jointly funded by FEDER).Esteras Gómez, C.; Rambla Nebot, JL.; Sánchez, G.; López-Gresa, MP.; González-Mas, M.; Fernández-Trujillo, J.; Belles Albert, JM.... 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(2013). Flavour profiles of three novel acidic varieties of muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.). Food Chemistry, 139(1-4), 1152-1160. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.01.068Vallone, S., Sivertsen, H., Anthon, G. E., Barrett, D. M., Mitcham, E. J., Ebeler, S. E., & Zakharov, F. (2013). An integrated approach for flavour quality evaluation in muskmelon (Cucumis melo L. reticulatus group) during ripening. Food Chemistry, 139(1-4), 171-183. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.12.042Verzera, A., Dima, G., Tripodi, G., Condurso, C., Crinò, P., Romano, D., … Paratore, A. (2014). Aroma and sensory quality of honeydew melon fruits (Cucumis melo L. subsp. melo var. inodorus H. Jacq.) in relation to different rootstocks. Scientia Horticulturae, 169, 118-124. doi:10.1016/j.scienta.2014.02.008BAI, X., TENG, L., LÜ, D., & QI, H. (2014). Co-Treatment of EFF and 1-MCP for Enhancing the Shelf-Life and Aroma Volatile Compounds of Oriental Sweet Melons (Cucumis melo var. makuwa Makino). Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 13(1), 217-227. doi:10.1016/s2095-3119(13)60372-xChen, H., Cao, S., Jin, Y., Tang, Y., & Qi, H. (2016). The Relationship between CmADHs and the Diversity of Volatile Organic Compounds of Three Aroma Types of Melon (Cucumis melo). Frontiers in Physiology, 7. doi:10.3389/fphys.2016.00254Guo, X., Xu, J., Cui, X., Chen, H., & Qi, H. (2017). iTRAQ-based Protein Profiling and Fruit Quality Changes at Different Development Stages of Oriental Melon. BMC Plant Biology, 17(1). doi:10.1186/s12870-017-0977-7Spadafora, N. D., Machado, I., Müller, C. T., Pintado, M., Bates, M., & Rogers, H. J. (2015). PHYSIOLOGICAL, METABOLITE AND VOLATILE ANALYSIS OF CUT SIZE IN MELON DURING POSTHARVEST STORAGE. Acta Horticulturae, (1071), 787-793. doi:10.17660/actahortic.2015.1071.104Chaparro-Torres, L. A., Bueso, M. C., & Fernández-Trujillo, J. P. (2015). Aroma volatiles obtained at harvest by HS-SPME/GC-MS and INDEX/MS-E-nose fingerprint discriminate climacteric behaviour in melon fruit. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 96(7), 2352-2365. doi:10.1002/jsfa.7350Fredes, A., Sales, C., Barreda, M., Valcárcel, M., Roselló, S., & Beltrán, J. (2016). Quantification of prominent volatile compounds responsible for muskmelon and watermelon aroma by purge and trap extraction followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry determination. Food Chemistry, 190, 689-700. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.06.011Zeinalipour, N., Haghbeen, K., Tavassolian, I., Karkhane, A. A., & Ghashghaie, J. (2017). Enhanced production of 3-methylthiopropionic ethyl ester in native Iranian Cucumis melo L. Group dudaim under regulated deficit irrigation. Journal of Functional Foods, 30, 56-62. doi:10.1016/j.jff.2016.12.019Amaro, A. L., Spadafora, N. D., Pereira, M. J., Dhorajiwala, R., Herbert, R. J., Müller, C. T., … Pintado, M. (2018). Multitrait analysis of fresh-cut cantaloupe melon enables discrimination between storage times and temperatures and identifies potential markers for quality assessments. Food Chemistry, 241, 222-231. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2017.08.050Freilich, S., Lev, S., Gonda, I., Reuveni, E., Portnoy, V., Oren, E., … Katzir, N. (2015). Systems approach for exploring the intricate associations between sweetness, color and aroma in melon fruits. BMC Plant Biology, 15(1). doi:10.1186/s12870-015-0449-xGranell, A., & Rambla, J. L. (2013). Biosynthesis of Volatile Compounds. The Molecular Biology and Biochemistry of Fruit Ripening, 135-161. doi:10.1002/9781118593714.ch6Gur, A., Gonda, I., Portnoy, V., Tzuri, G., Chayut, N., Cohen, S., … Katzir, N. (2016). Genomic Aspects of Melon Fruit Quality. Plant Genetics and Genomics: Crops and Models, 377-408. doi:10.1007/7397_2016_29Ibdah, M., Azulay, Y., Portnoy, V., Wasserman, B., Bar, E., Meir, A., … Katzir, N. (2006). Functional characterization of CmCCD1, a carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase from melon. Phytochemistry, 67(15), 1579-1589. doi:10.1016/j.phytochem.2006.02.009Walter, M. H., Floss, D. S., & Strack, D. (2010). Apocarotenoids: hormones, mycorrhizal metabolites and aroma volatiles. Planta, 232(1), 1-17. doi:10.1007/s00425-010-1156-3Burger, Y., Sa’ar, U., Paris, H., Lewinsohn, E., Katzir, N., Tadmor, Y., & Schaffer, A. (2006). Genetic variability for valuable fruit quality traits in Cucumis melo. Israel Journal of Plant Sciences, 54(3), 233-242. doi:10.1560/ijps_54_3_233Ren, Y., Bang, H., Lee, E. J., Gould, J., Rathore, K. S., Patil, B. S., & Crosby, K. M. (2012). Levels of phytoene and β-carotene in transgenic honeydew melon (Cucumis melo L. inodorus). Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC), 113(2), 291-301. doi:10.1007/s11240-012-0269-8Chayut, N., Yuan, H., Ohali, S., Meir, A., Yeselson, Y., Portnoy, V., … Tadmor, Y. (2015). A bulk segregant transcriptome analysis reveals metabolic and cellular processes associated with Orange allelic variation and fruit β-carotene accumulation in melon fruit. BMC Plant Biology, 15(1). doi:10.1186/s12870-015-0661-8Saladié, M., Cañizares, J., Phillips, M. A., Rodriguez-Concepcion, M., Larrigaudière, C., Gibon, Y., … Garcia-Mas, J. (2015). Comparative transcriptional profiling analysis of developing melon (Cucumis melo L.) fruit from climacteric and non-climacteric varieties. BMC Genomics, 16(1). doi:10.1186/s12864-015-1649-3Fergany, M., Kaur, B., Monforte, A. J., Pitrat, M., Rys, C., Lecoq, H., … Dhaliwal, S. S. (2010). Variation in melon (Cucumis melo) landraces adapted to the humid tropics of southern India. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, 58(2), 225-243. doi:10.1007/s10722-010-9564-6Sánchez, G., Besada, C., Badenes, M. L., Monforte, A. J., & Granell, A. (2012). A Non-Targeted Approach Unravels the Volatile Network in Peach Fruit. 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Patología neurológica en una unidad de cuidados intensivos pediátricos de tercer nivel. Evolución funcional. Nuestra experiencia

Introducción La enfermedad neurológica representa una parte importante en las unidades de cuidados intensivos pediátricos (UCIP) y es causa de morbimortalidad. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la evolución funcional del niño crítico con enfermedad neurológica. Material y método Estudio retrospectivo descriptivo, de niños con enfermedad neurológica ingresados en una UCIP durante 3 años (2012-2014), valorando pronóstico vital y funcional, al alta y al año del ingreso, según las Categorías de estado general y cerebral pediátrico (CEGP-CECP) y la Escala de estado funcional (FSS). Los resultados se comparan con nuestros datos previos (años 1990-1999) y con los del estudio multicéntrico internacional PANGEA. Resultados Se estudió a 266 niños. La mortalidad fue del 3%, sin que los modelos PRISM-II y PIM2 muestren capacidad predictiva. La salud funcional refleja empeoramiento clínicamente significativo al alta de UCIP, en el 30% según CEGP, en el 15% según CECP y en el 5% según FSS. Transcurrido un año, la funcionalidad mejora según CEGP-CECP, pero no según FSS. Los niños sin enfermedad neurológica de base presentan afectación funcional en mayor porcentaje, que se mantiene en el tiempo. Comparada con nuestros datos previos, la mortalidad global y neurocrítica disminuye (5, 60 vs. 2, 1%; p = 0, 0003 y 8, 44 vs. 2, 63%; p = 0, 0014, respectivamente). En relación con el estudio multicéntrico PANGEA, tanto la mortalidad como el empeoramiento funcional cerebral del niño neurocrítico son menores en el estudio actual (1, 05 vs. 13, 32%; p < 0, 0001 y 10, 47 vs. 23, 79%; p < 0, 0001, respectivamente). Conclusiones Alrededor de un tercio de los niños críticos muestran enfermedad neurológica. Un porcentaje importante, sobre todo de niños sin enfermedad neurológica basal, presenta repercusión funcional clínicamente significativa al alta de UCIP y transcurrido un año. La repercusión en el pronóstico funcional del niño crítico apoya la importancia de la neuromonitorización y neuroprotección, medidas necesarias para mejorar la asistencia del niño crítico y la valoración evolutiva de la salud funcional

Valoración funcional tras tratamiento neurointensivo pediátrico. Nueva escala de estado funcional (FSS)

Introducción: La salud funcional, parámetro adecuado de morbilidad, debería constituir un estándar pronóstico de las unidades de cuidados intensivos pediátricos (UCIP), siendo fundamental el desarrollo de escalas para su valoración. Las categorías de estado global y cerebral pediátrico (CEGP-CECP) se han empleado clásicamente en estudios pediátricos; el desarrollo de la nueva Escala de estado funcional (FSS) busca mejorar la objetividad. El objetivo del trabajo es comprobar si la escala FSS es un instrumento válido frente a la clásica CEGP-CECP, y si, incluso, posee mejores cualidades evaluadoras de la funcionalidad neurológica. Pacientes y método: Estudio retrospectivo descriptivo de los 266 niños con enfermedad neurológica ingresados en la UCIP durante 3 años (2012-2014). Se valora su salud funcional al alta y tras un año del ingreso en UCIP, según las categorías CEGP-CECP y la nueva FSS, comparando ambas escalas mediante análisis de correlación (Rho de Spearman). Resultados: La comparación de varianzas de FSSglobal en cada intervalo de CEGP muestra buena correlación para todas las comparaciones (p < 0, 001), excepto en la categoría «5 = coma-vegetativo». La dispersión de FSSglobal aumenta a medida que lo hace la categoría CEGP. La correlación es similar en la versión neurológica de ambas escalas. Discusión: La nueva escala FSS parece ser un método útil para evaluar salud funcional en nuestro medio, tras su comparación con las clásicas categorías CEGP-CECP. La dispersión de los valores de la escala FSS indica falta de precisión del sistema CEGP-CECP, comparado con la nueva escala FSS, más desglosada y objetiva

The coexistence of diabetic retinopathy and diabetic nephropathy is associated with worse kidney outcomes

Up to 50-60% of patients with diabetes have non-diabetic kidney disease (NDKD) on kidney biopsy. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a microvascular complication of diabetes frequently associated with diabetic nephropathy (DN). The objective of the current study was to investigate the kidney outcomes and survival in patients with biopsy diagnoses of DN and NDKD according to the presence of DR. We conducted an observational, multicentre and retrospective study of the pathological findings of renal biopsies from 832 consecutive patients with diabetes from 2002 to 2014 from 18 nephrology departments. The association of DR with kidney replacement therapy (KRT) or survival was assessed by Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses. Of 832 patients with diabetes and renal biopsy, 768 had a retinal examination and 221/768 (22.6%) had DR. During a follow-up of 10 years, 288/760 (37.9%) patients with follow-up data needed KRT and 157/760 (20.7%) died. The incidence of KRT was higher among patients with DN (alone or with NDKD) and DR [103/175 (58.9%)] than among patients without DR [88/216 (40.7%), P <.0001]. The incidence of KRT was also higher among patients with only NDKD and DR than among those without DR [18/46 (39.1%) versus 79/331 (23.9%), P <.0001]. In multivariate analysis, DR or DN were independent risk factors for KRT {hazard ratio [HR] 2.48 [confidence interval (CI) 1.85-3.31], P <.001}. DN (with or without DR) was also identified as an independent risk factor for mortality [HR 1.81 (CI 1.26-2.62), P =.001]. DR is associated with a higher risk of progression to kidney failure in patients with histological DN and in patients with NDKD

The Milky Way Bulge: Observed properties and a comparison to external galaxies

The Milky Way bulge offers a unique opportunity to investigate in detail the role that different processes such as dynamical instabilities, hierarchical merging, and dissipational collapse may have played in the history of the Galaxy formation and evolution based on its resolved stellar population properties. Large observation programmes and surveys of the bulge are providing for the first time a look into the global view of the Milky Way bulge that can be compared with the bulges of other galaxies, and be used as a template for detailed comparison with models. The Milky Way has been shown to have a box/peanut (B/P) bulge and recent evidence seems to suggest the presence of an additional spheroidal component. In this review we summarise the global chemical abundances, kinematics and structural properties that allow us to disentangle these multiple components and provide constraints to understand their origin. The investigation of both detailed and global properties of the bulge now provide us with the opportunity to characterise the bulge as observed in models, and to place the mixed component bulge scenario in the general context of external galaxies. When writing this review, we considered the perspectives of researchers working with the Milky Way and researchers working with external galaxies. It is an attempt to approach both communities for a fruitful exchange of ideas.Comment: Review article to appear in "Galactic Bulges", Editors: Laurikainen E., Peletier R., Gadotti D., Springer Publishing. 36 pages, 10 figure