Influence of medium design on lovastatin and mevastatin production byAspergillus terreus strains

In order to investigate the influence of medium design on lovastatin and mevastatin production byAspergillus terreus strains, several nitrogen complex sources, such as vegetal flour and peptones of different origin (animal and vegetal) were tested, together with the addition of methionine, an aminoacid that is directly involved in lovastatin biosynthetic pathway. Soybean peptone generally allowed the best lovastatin yields to be achieved (250–280 mg l−1), particularly in the presence of soybean and peanut flours. For mevastatin, the best results (300–320 mg l−1) were obtained at 7 days fermentation with modified base medium (CLD), and at 14 days with standard medium (STD), not being possible in this case to associate the best yield with a defined flour and/or peptone. The results show that lovastatin production is influenced by the presence of soybean peptone and by the addition of methionine; instead, the production of mevastatin appears more strictly strain-associated and not directly dependent on the complex ingredients employed

Defining Kawasaki disease and pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome-temporally associated to SARS-CoV-2 infection during SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Italy: results from a national, multicenter survey

Background: There is mounting evidence on the existence of a Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome-temporally associated to SARS-CoV-2 infection (PIMS-TS), sharing similarities with Kawasaki Disease (KD). The main outcome of the study were to better characterize the clinical features and the treatment response of PIMS-TS and to explore its relationship with KD determining whether KD and PIMS are two distinct entities. Methods: The Rheumatology Study Group of the Italian Pediatric Society launched a survey to enroll patients diagnosed with KD (Kawasaki Disease Group - KDG) or KD-like (Kawacovid Group - KCG) disease between February 1st 2020, and May 31st 2020. Demographic, clinical, laboratory data, treatment information, and patients' outcome were collected in an online anonymized database (RedCAP®). Relationship between clinical presentation and SARS-CoV-2 infection was also taken into account. Moreover, clinical characteristics of KDG during SARS-CoV-2 epidemic (KDG-CoV2) were compared to Kawasaki Disease patients (KDG-Historical) seen in three different Italian tertiary pediatric hospitals (Institute for Maternal and Child Health, IRCCS "Burlo Garofolo", Trieste; AOU Meyer, Florence; IRCCS Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Genoa) from January 1st 2000 to December 31st 2019. Chi square test or exact Fisher test and non-parametric Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney test were used to study differences between two groups. Results: One-hundred-forty-nine cases were enrolled, (96 KDG and 53 KCG). KCG children were significantly older and presented more frequently from gastrointestinal and respiratory involvement. Cardiac involvement was more common in KCG, with 60,4% of patients with myocarditis. 37,8% of patients among KCG presented hypotension/non-cardiogenic shock. Coronary artery abnormalities (CAA) were more common in the KDG. The risk of ICU admission were higher in KCG. Lymphopenia, higher CRP levels, elevated ferritin and troponin-T characterized KCG. KDG received more frequently immunoglobulins (IVIG) and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) (81,3% vs 66%; p = 0.04 and 71,9% vs 43,4%; p = 0.001 respectively) as KCG more often received glucocorticoids (56,6% vs 14,6%; p < 0.0001). SARS-CoV-2 assay more often resulted positive in KCG than in KDG (75,5% vs 20%; p < 0.0001). Short-term follow data showed minor complications. Comparing KDG with a KD-Historical Italian cohort (598 patients), no statistical difference was found in terms of clinical manifestations and laboratory data. Conclusion: Our study suggests that SARS-CoV-2 infection might determine two distinct inflammatory diseases in children: KD and PIMS-TS. Older age at onset and clinical peculiarities like the occurrence of myocarditis characterize this multi-inflammatory syndrome. Our patients had an optimal response to treatments and a good outcome, with few complications and no deaths

Zymomonas mobilis: biomass production and use as a dough leavening agent

Zymomonas mobilis ferments only glucose, fructose and sucrose via the Entner-Doudoroff pathway, providing an equimolar mixture of ethanol and CO2 and theoretically, as for Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the gas evolved can be used to leaven a dough. However, the capability of Z. mobilis to produce CO2 has rarely been exploited. In the present study we first evaluated the growing performance of two Z. mobilis strains (DSMZ 424 and 3580) in a culture medium lacking yeast extract, with added glucose or fructose (20 and 50 g/L) comparatively; the results demonstrated that biomass yield is 50 % higher with glucose. The best conditions were up-scaled, obtaining a biomass yield of 1.3–1.4 g dcw/L in a 14-L fermenter. Leavening trials performed in a model system with the biomass collected from fermenters after 9 or 16 h incubation evidenced that Z. mobilis can leaven a model dough as S. cerevisiae does, and showing a CO2 production rate (9–11 mL g dcw−1 min−1) statistically higher than that of S. cerevisiae (6–7 mL g dcw−1 min−1), especially when using 9-h-grown biomass. Bakery products leavened with Z. mobilis could thus be available to people with adverse responses to the ingestion of bakery food, providing innovation in the area of yeast-free leavened baked goods