Environmental assessment of the valorization of glycerol for the production of hyperthermophilic β-glucosidase under a biorefinery approach

Bioethanol production technologies from lignocellulosic biomass are not yet optimized and do not compete economically with first-generation bioethanol production. Strategies have been investigated to produce more active, stable and temperature-tolerant enzymes to be used for biomass hydrolysis such as the hyperthermophilic β-glucosidase produced by Yarrowia lipolytica. The use of this strain offers an additional competitive advantage, as it can use glycerol stream from the biodiesel process as a carbon source. In this way, not only is a by-product of biofuel production used, but the enzyme could be applied in the production of lignocellulosic ethanol, increasing the value chain by closing the bioeconomy cycle. To this end, large-scale process modelling of β-glucosidase production has been developed to collect the inventory data needed for life cycle assessment methodology. The fermentation stage is the largest contributor to environmental impacts, with electricity being the main hotspot identified, contributing more than 50% in most impact categories. Residual glycerol has also been identified as a critical input, with a significant contribution in some categories. To improve the environmental profile, a sensitivity analysis has been carried out considering reductions in electricity and heat consumption, and other alternative oil-based resources for the production of biodiesel. This analysis identified that large environmental reductions could be achieved, which makes the valorization of the glycerol obtained as a side stream of biodiesel production more realistic.This research has been supported by the project Enhancing diversity in Mediterranean cereal farming systems (CerealMed) project funded by PRIMA Programme and FEDER/Ministry of Science and Innovation-Spanish National Research Agency (PCI 2020-111978) and by a project granted by Xunta de Galicia (project ref. ED431 F2016/001). The authors belong to the Galician Competitive Research Group (GRC ED431C 2017/29) and to the Cross-disciplinary Research in Environmental Technologies (CRETUS Research Center, ED431E 2018/01)S

La revolución de la democracia

Indagación de la utilidad y fecundidad historiográfica de la noción Revolución Burguesa a partir del trabajo de François Furet Pensar la Revolución Francesa. El centro de la historiografía es la revolución francesa como la primera experiencia de la democracia. Furet propone una historiografía crítica, conceptual, problematizadora, con aliento analítico y político que ponga en el centro algunos problemas contemporáneos

Environmental and techno-economic assessment on the valorization of vine-side streams to produce resveratrol

One of the most promising alternatives to face the environmental deterioration and handling of waste is the development of biotechnological processes. In this context, the winemaking process of red grapes gives rise to waste streams whose properties are suitable for the biotechnological production of high-value-added products, such as resveratrol, a polyphenol with functional properties. In this research article, vine pruning residues, grape must and wine lees are valorized through precision fermentation, considering its modeling at a real production scale using the SuperPro Designer tool. Besides, economic and environmental assessments provided valuable information on the potential commercialization of the resveratrol based on the proposed valorization process. The results obtained show that the use of grape must residues to produce resveratrol is the most promising alternative from both the techno-economic and environmental perspectives. In conclusion, it could be stated that the bioproduction of resveratrol by precision fermentation using wine-related waste is both sustainable adequate and economically attractive.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 and supported by BIORECER (No 101060684) and STAR4BBS (No 101060588) projects, both being funded by the European Commission HORIZON-CL6-2021-ZEROPOLLUTION-01. A. Arias, G. Feijoo and MT Moreira authors belong to the Galician Competitive Research Group (GRC ED431C 2017/29) and to the Cross-disciplinary Research in Environmental Technologies (CRETUS Research Center, ED431E 2018/01). A. Arias would also like to express her gratitude to the IACOBUS programme for the fellowship provided for the development of one-month research stay at the University of Minho.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Process modeling, environmental and economic sustainability of the valorization of whey and eucalyptus residues for resveratrol biosynthesis

Biomass is one of the renewable resources with the greatest potential, not only because of the possibility of energy recovery but also because of its content in components of interest. In this context, the regions of Galicia and Portugal have large areas of land dedicated to forestry, agriculture and livestock, and the large amount of waste generated represents a cost for the producer. The importance of these facts has aroused great interest in society to focus its interest on improving the current situation while seeking a benefit, both environmental and economic, from existing resources. That is why the integration of biotechnological processes and biorefinery for their valorization are considered key aspects in the way of producing bioproducts and bioenergy. This research article proposes a process for producing resveratrol from whey from the dairy industry and eucalyptus residues from forestry exploitation. In order to evaluate its suitability, a techno-economic analysis and an environmental assessment have been carried out using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The results obtained show the potential of these scenarios both from the economic point of view, by obtaining a minimum sale price of resveratrol to ensure the viability of the process below the market average, and from the environmental point of view, being eucalyptus residues those that result in a lower contribution to the environment per unit of resveratrol produced. Future research should focus on increasing the throughput of the production process to increase its profitability and on reducing energy requirements throughout the process, as these have been the main critical points identified. In addition, following the sensitivity assessment, it has been concluded that opting for renewable energy is the most sustainable option.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Modelling the Contribution of Land Use to Nitrate Yield from a Rural Catchment

The nutrient flow dynamics in rural landscapes are among the basic characteristics of landscape functioning. In this study, the ecohydrological model SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) was applied in a small rural catchment in northwest (NW) Spain to evaluate the contribution of land use on nitrate losses and to assess the relative importance of different pathways by which nitrate is delivered to the drainage network. The model was first calibrated and validated at a monthly time step. The SWAT model performance was satisfactory (R2 > 0.5; Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) > 0.5 and percent bias (PBIAS) < 10%) during both the calibration and validation periods, indicating that SWAT predicted the nitrate discharge accurately. Using the calibrated SWAT model, this study showed that agricultural lands, even though they represent only 30% of the catchment, were main contributor to the nitrate losses accounting for about 77% of the total nitrate yield. The model results also indicated that, irrespective of the land use, groundwater flow is the main pathway for nitrate losses (63%); therefore, appropriate management practices aimed at decreasing nitrate leaching will be key factors in reducing nitrate yield in the study catchment

D'atri spaces of type k and related classes of geometries concerning jacobi operators

In this article we continue the study of the geometry of $k$-D'Atri spaces, $$ $\leq n-1$ ($n$ denotes the dimension of the manifold)$,$ began by the second author. It is known that $k$-D'Atri spaces, $k\geq 1,$ are related to properties of Jacobi operators $R_{v}$ along geodesics, since she has shown that ${\operatorname{tr}}R_{v}$, ${\operatorname{tr}}R_{v}^{2}$ are invariant under the geodesic flow for any unit tangent vector $v$. Here, assuming that the Riemannian manifold is a D'Atri space, we prove in our main result that ${\operatorname{tr}}R_{v}^{3}$ is also invariant under the geodesic flow if $k\geq 3$. In addition, other properties of Jacobi operators related to the Ledger conditions are obtained and they are used to give applications to Iwasawa type spaces. In the class of D'Atri spaces of Iwasawa type, we show two different characterizations of the symmetric spaces of noncompact type: they are exactly the $\frak{C}$-spaces and on the other hand they are $k$ -D'Atri spaces for some $k\geq 3.$ In the last case, they are $k$-D'Atri for all $k=1,...,n-1$ as well. In particular, Damek-Ricci spaces that are $k$-D'Atri for some $k\geq 3$ are symmetric. Finally, we characterize $k$-D'Atri spaces for all $k=1,...,n-1$ as the $\frak{SC}$-spaces (geodesic symmetries preserve the principal curvatures of small geodesic spheres). Moreover, applying this result in the case of 4% -dimensional homogeneous spaces we prove that the properties of being a D'Atri (1-D'Atri) space, or a 3-D'Atri space, are equivalent to the property of being a $k$-D'Atri space for all $k=1,2,3$.Comment: 19 pages. This paper substitute the previous one where one Theorem has been deleted and one section has been adde

Identifying key environmental indicators in the assessment of the proof-of-concept in pigment production from the marine Cyanobacterium cyanobium sp.

Cyanobacteria have long attracted market interest as a source of natural compounds such as pigments with proven bioactivity (carotenoid and phycobiliproteins). The cultivation and extraction processes for such compounds have been developed at different levels, from laboratory trials to photobioreactors on a demonstration scale. Based on this experience, it is possible to propose how the different stages of the process can be improved based on environmental performance indicators. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology allows to identify the hotspots that represent the greatest environmental impacts and to propose strategies to focus on those stages that can be improved. The general environmental indicators have been identified and the results showed that cyanobacteria cultivation has the greatest influence on environmental impact for all scales considered (from 20 L to 100 m3), which is attributed to the energy requirements. The main changes proposed to reduce the impact should focus on the stages of reactor cleaning, culture medium sterilisation and biomass drying. The implementation of these improvement alternatives can reduce the impact of the production and extraction processes by 85%. This work demonstrates how technological development must go hand in hand with impact assessment to make the best decisions in the overall process.A PhD fellowship [SFRH/BD/136767/2018] for author F.P. was granted by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) under the auspices of Programa Operacional Capital Humano (POCH), supported by the European Social Fund and Portuguese funds (MECTES). This work was financially co-supported by Galician Competitive Research Group (GRC ED431C 2017/29) and to the Cross-disciplinary Research in Environmental Technologies (CRETUS Research Center, ED431E 2018/01) and by the strategical funding from FCT (UIDB/04423/2020 and UIDP/04423/2020) to CIIMAR and (UIDB/04469/2020) to CEB.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A new approach for small ruminant lentivirus full genome characterization revealed the circulation of divergent strains

Small Ruminant Lentiviruses (SRLV) include at least 4 viral highly divergent genotypes. Genotypes A and B are widely distributed and genotypes C and E have been recognized in restricted geographic areas. New phylogroups have been identified targeting conserved regions. However, this approach suffers from the potential risk to misamplify highly divergent strains. Pathogenic strains are easily adapted to fibroblastic cells, but non-pathogenic strains isolation may require a different approach. We developed a fast and effective method for SRLV full genome characterization after cell culture isolation. Spleen samples were collected during regular slaughter from sheep and goats in northwestern Italy. Spleen-derived macrophage cultures were monitored for reverse transcriptase activity and RNA was extracted from the supernatant of positive cultures. Using Illumina MiSeq platform 22 new full genome sequences were obtained. The success of this approach is based on the following features: spleen is one of the main target for SRLV persistence; red pulp is a reserve of resident macrophages, the main target for SRLV replication in vivo; RTA is a sensitive assay for any replicating retrovirus; de novo sequencing do not require genetic knowledge in advance.This research was funded by the University of Torino (Ricerca Locale ex60% 2016 grant to SR). RR was supported by Ramo´n y Cajal contract. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewe

A comparative study of dyslipidaemia in men and woman with androgenic alopecia

Several studies have analyzed the relationship between androgenetic alopecia and cardiovascular disease (mainly heart disease). However few studies have analyzed lipid values in men and women separately. This case-control study included 300 patients consecutively admitted to an outpatient clinic, 150 with early onset androgenetic alopecia (80 males and 70 females) and 150 controls (80 males and 70 females) with other skin diseases. Female patients with androgenic alopecia showed significant higher triglycerides values (123.8 vs 89.43 mg/dl, p = 0.006), total cholesterol values (196.1 vs 182.3 mg/dl, p = 0.014), LDL-C values (114.1 vs 98.8 mg/dl, p = 0.0006) and lower HDL-C values (56.8 vs 67.7 mg/dl, p <0.0001) versus controls respectively. Men with androgenic alopecia showed significant higher triglycerides values (159.7 vs 128.7 mg/dl, p = 0.04) total cholesterol values (198.3 vs 181.4 mg/dl, p = 0.006) and LDL-C values (124.3 vs 106.2, p = 0.0013) versus non-alopecic men. A higher prevalence of dyslipidemia in women and men with androgenic alopecia has been found. The elevated lipid values in these patients may contribute, alongside other mechanisms, to the development of cardiovascular disease in patient with androgenic alopecia.YesVarios estudios han analizado la relación entre la alopecia androgenética y las enfermedades cardiovasculares (especialmente las cardiopatías). Sin embargo pocos estudios han analizado los valores de lípidos en hombres y mujeres por separado. Este caso-control de estudio incluyó a 300 pacientes consecutivos ingresados ​​en una clínica para pacientes ambulatorios, 150 con la aparición temprana alopecia androgenética (80 hombres y mujeres 70) y 150 controles (80 hombres y mujeres 70) con enfermedades de la piel. Mujeres con alopecia androgénica mostraron significativamente más altos valores de triglicéridos (123,8 vs 89,43 mg / dl, p = 0,006), valores de colesterol total (196,1 vs 182,3 mg / dl, p = 0,014), los valores de LDL-C (114,1 vs 98,8 mg / dl , p = 0,0006) y más baja los valores de HDL-C (56,8 vs 67,7 mg / dl, p <0,0001) en comparación con los controles, respectivamente. Los hombres con alopecia androgénica mostraron significativamente más altos valores de triglicéridos (159,7 vs 128,7 mg / dl, p = 0,04) el colesterol total valores (198,3 vs 181,4 mg / dl, p = 0,006) y LDL-C los valores (124,3 vs 106,2, p = 0,0013) en comparación con alopecia hombres . Una mayor prevalencia de la dislipidemia en las mujeres y los hombres con alopecia androgénica se ha encontrado. Los valores elevados de lípidos en estos pacientes puede contribuir, junto con otros mecanismos, para el desarrollo de enfermedad cardiovascular en pacientes con alopecia androgénic