Optimization of the industrial production of bacterial aamylase in Egypt. V. Analysis of kinetic data for enzyme production by two strains of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens

A kinetic study was conducted for a-amylase production process in shake flasks by the wild type strain of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (strain 267) and in the fermentor by the amplified variant of the sameorganism (strain 267CH). a-Amylase was produced concurrently with growth up to about 72 h, after which it continued without increase in biomass and, in the case of strain 267 even after biomassdeclined. Application of logistic, Luedeking-Piret and the modified Luedeking-Piret mathematical models to the kinetic data revealed that a-amylase production in both cases occurred through bothgrowth- and non-growth associated mechanisms and that the amount of enzyme produced through non-growth associated mechanism exceeded that produced through growth associated mechanism by 3.5 and 2.3 fold by strains 267 and 267CH, respectively. Although with both strains substrate consumption continued even after growth leveled, the application of the model revealed that the major portion of substrate consumption occurred during growth but that a considerable amount was also consumed after maximum growth was reached, mainly for enzyme production. In the bioreactor, increasing aeration from 1 to 2 vvm increased the overall specific growth rate, the production rate, thespecific production rate, and the specific substrate consumption rate and also shortened the time necessary for maximum production of both biomass and enzyme. The increase in biomass either by prolonging the incubation time or by increasing aeration was accompanied by an increase in enzyme production. However, even after maximum biomass was reached, enzyme production still continued to increase, under both conditions

Construction of gridshells composed of elastically bent elements and covered by a stretched three-dimensional membrane

This document deals with the gridshells built by the Navier laboratory in the last ten years. The numerical conception is developed, from the draft made by architects up to the final structure. To design a gridshell several numerical tasks have to be performed. The geometry of the gridshell is first considered. Then, an iterative step mixing geometry and mechanical considerations is important. In particular, it is explained how the naturally straight beams are bent to form the final shape. This active bending provides many interests like high stiffness for a light weight structure. After the numerical design of the grid, the geometry of the membrane is drawn from the numerical final geometry of the gridshell. The improvements of gridshells, including safety considerations as well as practical considerations are then developed, trough the four gridshells recently built

Optimization of the industrial production of bacterial alpha amylase in Egypt. IV. Fermentor production and characterization of the enzyme of two strains of Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens

Production of alpha amylase using amplified variants of Bacillus subtilis (strain SCH) and of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (strain 267CH) was conducted in a bioreactor with multiprotein-mineral media. Thetime course of fermentation in a bioreactor revealed that the highest yield (about 8 x 104 U/ml within 60 h) by strain SCH was obtained by applying: 3.5% initial starch, 2% additional starch after 19 h, 3 vvmaeration and 300 rpm agitation. The highest yield (about 19 x 104 U/ml within 100 h) by strain 267CH was obtained by applying: 2.5% initial starch, 2% additional starch after 24 h, 3 vvm aeration, and 300 rpmagitation with the productivity after 60 h reaching only about 14 x 104 U/ml. Production occurred in both the logarithmic and postlogarithmic phases of growth. Maximum consumption of starch and proteinoccurred during the first day of incubation. The optical density peak coincided with enzyme production peak in case of strain SCH and preceded that of enzyme production in case of strain 267CH. The alphaamylase produced by the two strains was shown to be of the liquefying and not the saccharifying type. Both enzymes liquefied starch to a dextrose equivalent of about 15 - 17 at 95oC hence they areclassified among thermostable alpha amylases. They exhibited broad pH and temperature activity profiles. The optimum pH for activity was 4 - 7 for alpha amylase produced by strain SCH and 4 - 8 foralpha amylase produced by strain 267CH while the optimum temperatures for their activities were in the range 37 -75oC at 0.5% starch and in the range 85 - 95oC at 35% starch

Integration of Microwave and Thermographic NDT Methods for Corrosion Detection

Infrastructure health monitoring is an important issue in the transportation industry. For the case of cement-based structures in particular, detection of corrosion on reinforcing steel bars (rebar) is an ongoing problem for aging infrastructure. There have been a number of techniques that have shown promise in this area including microwave nondestructive testing (NDT) and thermography. Thermography is quite advantageous as it is an established method, and can be utilized for large inspection areas with intuitive results. Typical heat sources include induction heating and flash lamps, but these are not without drawbacks. Microwave nondestructive testing has also been successful at detecting corroded rebar, but at the cost of lengthy scan times. This paper presents an investigation into the potential of utilizing aspects of microwave NDT and thermography to create a hybrid NDT method, herein referred to as Active Microwave Thermography (AMT). AMT takes advantage of the electromagnetically lossy nature of corrosion byproducts and uses microwave energy to induce heat in the corrosion. Subsequently, the resultant heat profile is captured using an infrared camera. This paper presents initial simulations and measurements that highlight the potential of AMT to detect corroded rebar

Surfaces roughness effects on the transmission of Gaussian beams by anisotropic parallel plates

Influence of the plate surfaces roughness in precise ellipsometry experiments is studied. The realistic case of a Gaussian laser beam crossing a uniaxial platelet is considered. Expression for the transmittance is determined using the first order perturbation theory. In this frame, it is shown that interference takes place between the specular transmitted beam and the scattered field. This effect is due to the angular distribution of the Gaussian beam and is of first order in the roughness over wavelength ratio. As an application, a numerical simulation of the effects of quartz roughness surfaces at normal incidence is provided. The interference term is found to be strongly connected to the random nature of the surface roughness.Comment: 18 pages, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, volume 36, issue 21, pages 2697 - 270

Use of Biliary Organoids in Cholestasis Research.

Cholangiocytes play a crucial role in the pathophysiology of cholestasis. However, research on human cholangiocytes has been restricted by challenges in long-term propagation and large-scale expansion of primary biliary epithelium. The advent of organoid technology has overcome this limitation allowing long-term culture of a variety of epithelia from multiple organs. Here, we describe two methods for growing human cholangiocytes in organoid format. The first applies to the generation of intrahepatic bile ducts using human induced pluripotent stem cells using a protocol of differentiation that recapitulates physiological bile duct development. The second method allows the propagation of primary biliary epithelium from the extrahepatic ducts or gallbladder. Both protocols result in large numbers of cholangiocyte organoids expressing biliary markers and maintaining key cholangiocyte functions

Identifying metabolites by integrating metabolome databases with mass spectrometry cheminformatics.

Novel metabolites distinct from canonical pathways can be identified through the integration of three cheminformatics tools: BinVestigate, which queries the BinBase gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) metabolome database to match unknowns with biological metadata across over 110,000 samples; MS-DIAL 2.0, a software tool for chromatographic deconvolution of high-resolution GC-MS or liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS); and MS-FINDER 2.0, a structure-elucidation program that uses a combination of 14 metabolome databases in addition to an enzyme promiscuity library. We showcase our workflow by annotating N-methyl-uridine monophosphate (UMP), lysomonogalactosyl-monopalmitin, N-methylalanine, and two propofol derivatives

Cardiovascular disease management in people with diabetes outside North America and Western Europe in 2006 and 2015

Aim: Optimal treatment of cardiovascular disease is essential to decrease mortality among people with diabetes, but information is limited on how actual treatment relates to guidelines. We analysed changes in therapeutic approaches to anti-hypertensive and lipid-lowering medications in people with Type 2 diabetes from 2006 and 2015. Methods: Summary data from clinical services in seven countries outside North America and Western Europe were collected for 39 684 people. Each site summarized individual-level data from outpatient medical records for 2006 and 2015. Data included: demographic information, blood pressure (BP), total cholesterol levels and percentage of people taking statins, anti-hypertensive medication (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin II receptor blockers, thiazide diuretics) and antiplatelet drugs. Results: From 2006 to 2015, mean cholesterol levels decreased in six of eight sites (range: −0.5 to −0.2), whereas the proportion with BP levels > 140/90 mmHg increased in seven of eight sites. Decreases in cholesterol paralleled increases in statin use (range: 3.1 to 47.0 percentage points). Overall, utilization of anti-hypertensive medication did not change. However, there was an increase in the use of angiotensin II receptor blockers and a decrease in angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. The percentage of individuals receiving calcium channel blockers and aspirin remained unchanged. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that control of cholesterol levels improved and coincided with increased use of statins. The percentage of people with BP > 140/90 mmHg was higher in 2015 than in 2006. Hypertension treatment shifted from using angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors to angiotensin II receptor blockers. Despite the potentially greater tolerability of angiotensin II receptor blockers, there was no associated improvement in BP levels.Centro de Endocrinología Experimental y Aplicad