Mycoremediation of Benzo[a]pyrene by Pleurotus ostreatus in the presence of heavy metals and mediators

Benzo[a]pyrene is considered as a priority pollutant because of its carcinogenic, teratogenic and mutagenic effects. The highly recalcitrant nature of Benzo[a]pyrene poses a major problem for its degradation. White-rot fungi such as Pleurotus ostreatus can degrade Benzo[a]pyrene by enzymes like laccase and manganese peroxidase. The present investigation was carried out to determine the extent of Benzo[a]pyrene degradation by the PO-3, a native isolate of P. ostreatus, in the presence of heavy metals and ligninolytic enzyme mediators. Modified mineral salt medium was supplemented with 5 mM concentration of different heavy metal salts and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. Vanillin and 2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) (1 and 5 mM) were used to study the effect of mediators. Results indicated that P. ostreatus PO-3 degraded 71.2 % of Benzo[a]pyrene in the presence of copper ions. Moderate degradation was observed in the presence of zinc and manganese. Both biomass formation and degradation were severely affected in the presence of all other heavy metal salts used in the study. Copper at 15 mM concentration supported the best degradation (74.2 %), beyond which the degradation progressively reduced. Among the mediators, 1 mM 2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) supported 78.7 % degradation and 83.6 % degradation was observed under the influence of 5 mM vanillin. Thus, metal ion like copper is essential for better biodegradation of Benzo[a]pyrene. Compared to synthetic laccase mediator like 2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate), natural mediator such as vanillin may play a significant role in the degradation of aromatic compounds by white-rot fungi

Dielectric properties characterization of La- and Dy-doped BiFeO3 thin films

The dielectric response of La- and Dy- doped BiFeO3 thin films at microwave frequencies (up to 12 GHz) has been monitored as a function of frequency, direct current (dc) electric field, and magnetic field in a temperature range from 25 to 300 °C. Both the real and imaginary parts of the response have been found to be non-monotonic (oscillating) functions of measuring frequency. These oscillations are not particularly sensitive to a dc electric field; however, they are substantially dampened by a magnetic field. The same effect has been observed when the volume of the characterized sample is increased. This phenomenon is attributed to the presence of a limited number of structural features with a resonance type response. The exact origin of these features is unknown at present. Leakage current investigations were performed on the whole set of films. The films were highly resistive with low leakage current, thereby giving us confidence in the microwave measurements. These typically revealed ‘N'-type I-V characteristic

Student database access from the web

This project, Database Access through the Web (DAW), implements a database to store academic and general information of graduate students in the Department of Computer Science, CSUSB and provides access to the database from the web. The motivation of the project comes from needs of the Graduate Coordinator, professors and department staff to access through the Internet student information concurrently

FABRICATION OF NANOSTRUCTURES FOR IMPROVED PERFORMANCE OF ELECTROCHEMICAL SENSORS AND FOR REFERENCE COMPENSATION IN LOCALIZED SURFACE PLASMON RESONANCE SENSORS

L‐glutamate is associated with several neurological disorders; thus, monitoring fast dynamics of L‐glutamate is of great importance in the field of neuroscience. Electrode miniaturization demanded by many applications leads to reduced surface area and decreased amounts of immobilized enzymes on coated electrodes. As a result, lower signal‐to‐noise ratios are observed for oxidase‐enzyme based sensors. To increase the signal‐to‐noise ratio we have developed a process to fabricate micro‐ and nano‐ structures on the microelectrode surface. Localized surface‐plasmon resonances (SPR) has been extensively used to design label‐free biosensors that can monitor receptor‐ligand interactions. A major challenge with localized SPR sensors is that they remain highly susceptible to interference because they respond to both solution refractive index changes and surface binding of the target analyte. The key concept introduced in the present work is the exploitation of transverse and longitudinal resonance modes of nanorod arrays to differentiate between bulk refractive index changes and surface interactions. The transverse bulk sensitivity of the localized SPR sensor (107 nm/RIU) remains competitive with typical single mode gold nanosphere SPR sensors. The figure of merit for the device’s cross‐sensitivity (1.99) is comparable to that of typical wavelength‐interrogated propagating SPR sensors with self referencing

India and China: A Comparative Analysis of Mobile Phones in Agriculture

In 2010, China and India were named the first and second largest mobile phone markets in the world based on their number of subscribers. India and China have focused on extending their telecommunication services into rural areas for socio-economic benefits. Both countries liberalized and privatized the industry under different political regimes utilizing different strategies. The aim of this thesis is to examine the collaborative efforts of public and private agencies in India and the role they do in disseminating information to farmers through mobile phones when compared to the government agencies in China that have been created to share that information in order to determine which program is more effective. To answer this question, the thesis compares Indian and Chinese policies and programs enacted to encourage sales and use of mobile phones in the agricultural sector to increase efficiency and encourage growth. As free market principles and private for-profit corporations are generally more efficient than government agencies, this thesis hypothesizes that the policies and development initiatives taken by the Indian government are more successful in disseminating information than the government agency approach followed by China. In response to the above research question, the thesis reveals that while the mobile phone agricultural information service programs have been successful in their respective countries, the programs in India are more reliable and faster in disseminating information to farmers. This is determined because the number of subscribers in India's mobile phone agricultural information service programs grew 37.47% in 4 years, from 2008-2012, versus subscribers to China's agricultural information service programs that grew 21.1% from 2007-2010

Characterization and genetic manipulation of ergot pathway inefficiency in fungi

Ergot alkaloids are mycotoxins that negatively affect humans and animals but also have useful pharmaceutical properties. Ergot alkaloids have been extensively studied in Claviceps purpurea, and also have been reported in other fungi, such as certain Penicillium spp., Aspergillus fumigatus, and several Neotyphodium spp. that are endophytes of grasses. There is a high degree of variation in the production of ergot alkaloids within an individual species and among producers from different taxa, which means different fungi accumulate different profiles of ergot alkaloids rather than a single pathway end product. These varied profiles result, in part, from inefficiency in the pathway which leads to increased accumulation of certain pathway intermediates in addition to the end product of the pathway. These intermediates have different biological activities and provide different benefits to the host than the pathway end products. I conducted a series of experiments to investigate the potential mechanisms by which fungi accumulate different profiles of intermediates and end products. In A. fumigatus, efficiency in completing the pathway varied developmentally. Wild type conidiating cultures containing all cell types involved in conidiation (hyphae, vesicle of conidiophore, phialides of conidiophore, and conidia) accumulated more of the pathway intermediate festuclavine and less of the pathway end product fumigaclavine C than did isolated mature conidia. Such differences also were indicated by studies with a medA mutant, which proliferates phialides. The medA mutant accumulated more pathway intermediates than did the wild type or a complemented medA mutant. A stuA mutant, lacking recognizable conidiophores, produced no detectable ergot alkaloids. Although this variation in alkaloid accumulation indicated a difference in distribution or activity of ergot pathway enzymes, fluorescence associated with the expression of five tested alkaloid pathway genes indicated a similar pattern of expression of each gene in the different cell types. Fluorescence was not observed in young hyphae but was detected at the apices of hyphae as they swelled to form the vesicle of the conidiophore. More fluorescence was observed in mature vesicles, phialides, and conidia. No qualitative differences were observed in cell type-specific expression of different pathway genes, indicating that observed differences in accumulation of intermediates versus end product must be due to quantitative differences in expression or differences in activity of pathway enzymes. In Neotyphodium lolii x Epichloe typhina isolate Lp1, an endophytic symbiont of perennial ryegrass, different ergot alkaloid profiles were observed in different tissues of the host plant. RNA interference (RNAi) and overexpression of the easA gene genetically manipulated the flux of metabolites down the pathway. When compared to wild type, knock-down of easA gene resulted in higher accumulation of a pathway intermediate and a shunt product in comparison to pathway end product. In contrast, over-expression of easA resulted in higher accumulation of the pathway end product and no significant difference in the accumulation of intermediates and shunt products of the pathway. Collectively, my results indicated that the efficiency of the ergot pathway varies at cellular level in A. fumigatus and at the tissue level in Neotyphodium sp. Lp1. Also, in Neotyphodium sp. Lp1, efficiency in the flow of intermediates down the ergot alkaloid pathway can be manipulated by altering the expression of easA.

Improving Virtual Machine Implementation to Simplify Learning by using vCloud Director

VMware vCloud Director is a part of vCloud Suite, and is used to provide an advantage in facilitating remote lab environments for students by hosting a product that allows the user to run virtual machines on dedicated hardware. Educators have been encouraged to develop this tool in higher education systems across the country. For a long time, students and educators have being using the concept of VMware workstations in their lab environments. However, this typically requires students to download and install software, which can be a burden causing issues and problems resulting in loss of class productivity. The purpose of this research is to show how the use of VMware vCloud Director makes it easier for students to concentrate on learning by eliminating the need of installing virtual machine (VM) technology on the students own computer system. Using Franklin-hosted vCloud Director, students can do their assignments without downloading and installing a large amount of software, unlike the current approach. There are currently three courses at Franklin University using the vCloud Director Tool, COMP 204, Principles of Computer Networks, ISEC 325, Network Security and INFA 415, Information Analytics Architecture. Further new applications are planned to continue to improve student learning in courses where VM technology is either already in place or soon will be. *Outstanding Student Poster: 3rd Place Winnerhttps://fuse.franklin.edu/ss2014/1073/thumbnail.jp

Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts Neutralize the Anti-tumor Effect of CSF1 Receptor Blockade by Inducing PMN-MDSC Infiltration of Tumors.

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) contribute to all aspects of tumor progression. Use of CSF1R inhibitors to target TAM is therapeutically appealing, but has had very limited anti-tumor effects. Here, we have identified the mechanism that limited the effect of CSF1R targeted therapy. We demonstrated that carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAF) are major sources of chemokines that recruit granulocytes to tumors. CSF1 produced by tumor cells caused HDAC2-mediated downregulation of granulocyte-specific chemokine expression in CAF, which limited migration of these cells to tumors. Treatment with CSF1R inhibitors disrupted this crosstalk and triggered a profound increase in granulocyte recruitment to tumors. Combining CSF1R inhibitor with a CXCR2 antagonist blocked granulocyte infiltration of tumors and showed strong anti-tumor effects

Comparative analysis of heart failure prediction using machine learning models

Heart failure is a critical health problem worldwide, and its prediction is a major challenge in medical science. Machine learning has shown great potential in predicting heart failure by analyzing large amounts of medical data. Heart failure prediction with the help of machine learning classification algorithms involves the use of models such as decision trees, logistic regression, and support vector machines to identify and analyze potential risk factors for heart failure. By analyzing large datasets containing medical and lifestyle-related variables, these models can accurately predict the likelihood of heart failure occurrence in individuals. In our research, the heart failure prediction and comparison are done using Logistic Regression, KNN, SVM, decision tree and random forest The accurate identification of high-risk individuals enables early intervention and better management of heart failure, reducing the risk of mortality and morbidity associated with this condition. Overall, machine learning algorithms play a major role in improving the accuracy of heart failure risk assessment, allowing for more personalized and effective prevention and treatment strategies