Immobilization of cells by electrostatic droplet generation: a model system for potential application in medicine

The process of electrostatic extrusion as a method for cell immobilization was investigated that could be used for potential applications in medicine. An attempt was made to assess the effects of cell addition and polymer concentration on the overall entrapment procedure, ie, on each stage of immobilization: polymer-cell suspension rheological characteristics, electrostatic extrusion process, and the process of gelation. The findings should contribute to a better understanding of polymer–cell interactions, which could be crucial in possible medical treatments. Alginate–yeast was used as a model system for carrier-cells. The electrostatic extrusion was considered as a complex two-phase flow system and the effects of cell and alginate concentrations on the resulting microbead size and uniformity were assessed. Under investigated conditions, microbeads 50–600 μm in diameter were produced and the increase in both alginate and cell concentrations resulted in larger microbeads with higher standard deviations in size. We attempted to rationalize the findings by rheological characterization of the cell–alginate suspensions. Rheological characterization revealed non-Newtonian, pseudoplastic behavior of cell-alginate suspensions with higher viscosities at higher alginate concentrations. However, the presence of cells even at high concentrations (5×108 and 1×109 cells/mL) did not significantly affect the rheological properties of Na-alginate solution. Lastly, we investigated the kinetics of alginate gelation with respect to the quantity of Ca2+ ions and cell presence. The gelation kinetics were examined under conditions of limited supply with Ca2+ ions, which can be essential for immobilization of highly sensitive mammalian cells that require minimal exposure to CaCl2 solution. The molar ratio of G units to Ca2+ ions of 3.8:1 provided complete crosslinking, while the increase in alginate concentration resulted in prolonged gelation times but higher strength of the resulting gel. The cell presence decreased the rate of network formation as well as the strength of the obtained Ca-alginate hydrogel

Candidiasis, Bacterial Vaginosis, Trichomoniasis and Other Vaginal Conditions Affecting the Vulva

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Host genetic signatures of susceptibility to fungal disease

Our relative inability to predict the development of fungal disease and its clinical outcome raises fundamental questions about its actual pathogenesis. Several clinical risk factors are described to predispose to fungal disease, particularly in immunocompromised and severely ill patients. However, these alone do not entirely explain why, under comparable clinical conditions, only some patients develop infection. Recent clinical and epidemiological studies have reported an expanding number of monogenic defects and common polymorphisms associated with fungal disease. By directly implicating genetic variation in the functional regulation of immune mediators and interacting pathways, these studies have provided critical insights into the human immunobiology of fungal disease. Most of the common genetic defects reported were described or suggested to impair fungal recognition by the innate immune system. Here, we review common genetic variation in pattern recognition receptors and its impact on the immune response against the two major fungal pathogens Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus. In addition, we discuss potential strategies and opportunities for the clinical translation of genetic information in the field of medical mycology. These approaches are expected to transfigure current clinical practice by unleashing an unprecedented ability to personalize prophylaxis, therapy and monitoring for fungal disease.This work was supported by the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013), the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) (IF/00735/2014 to AC, and SFRH/BPD/96176/2013 to CC), the Institut Mérieux (Mérieux Research Grant 2017 to CC), and the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID Research Grant 2017 to AC)

Automatic extraction of ingredient's substitutes

Expert advice on how ingredients can be replaced in recipes is widely available on-line. However, these are general substitution rules, which do not take into account contextual factors such as culture, sensory perception, season, etc. We aim at tuning general rules to particular recipes. From an on-line food encyclopedia we extract explicit substitution rules. We also consider implicit substitution rules, derived by the categorisations in the same source. By applying Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) onto a crawled dataset, we rank ingredients based on their likelihood of being interchangeable, given a recipe. The results show that our statistical approach can approximate manual judgments

Bioethanol production by immobilized Sacharomyces cerevisiae var. ellipsoideuscells

Bioethanol can be produced by fermentation of sugars from various waste agricultural materials. Whichever system for bioethanol production is chosen, the attention must be paid to the overalleconomics and energy consumption. The aim of the present study was to investigate the immobilization of Sacharomyces cerevisiae var. ellipsoideus yeast cells for bioethanol production fromcorn meal hydrolyzates. For this purpose the biocompatible polymers such as polyvinil alcohol (PVA) and Ca-alginate were assessed. The parameters of ethanol fermentation, such as inoculumconcentration in different carriers and the choice of a convenient carrier for the efficient ethanol production were studied. The maximum ethanol concentration of 10.05% (w/w) was obtained in the fermentation of corn meal hydrolyzates by 5% (v/v) of inoculum concentration of the yeast immobilized in Ca-alginate using a method of electrostatic droplet generation. The repeated batch fermentation with the yeast immobilized in Ca-alginate indicated that alginate gels degraded after the second fermentation cycle. PVA carrier exhibited better mechanical properties and stability; however lower ethanol concentrations were achieved during the fermentation

Comparative analysis of the potential probiotic abilities of lactobacilli of human origin and from fermented vegetables

In this study, twelve strains of Lactobacillus plantarum derived from spontaneously fermented vegetables (carrots and beetroot) and traditionally prepared sauerkraut were compared for their potential probiotic abilities with seven Lactobacillus rhamnosus strains of human origin. The tested strains were investigated for some technological properties and in vitro functional characteristics for potential probiotic strains. Selection probiotic criteria included the ability of the strains to withstand conditions similar to the digestive tract, antimicrobial activity against a wide range of intestinal pathogens and sensitivity to antibiotics. The total acidity in milk was generally higher in intestinal strains in relation to plant strains. The ability of the tested strains to survive simulated gastric conditions showed a greater resistance of the human strains at a low pH 2.5 and the presence of pepsin, while in the presence of bile salts and pancreatin, some intestinal strains were more sensitive compared to plant strains. A wide spectrum of antimicrobial activities was observed in all tested strains. Most of the plant strains were resistant to aminoglycosides and vancomycin but sensitive to ampicillin and penicillin, while only some intestinal strains were resistant to these drugs