Efficiency of rice straw lignocelluloses degradability by Aspergillus terreus ATCC 74135 in solid state fermentation

The ability of Aspergillus terreus for the production of cellulolytic enzymes and reduction of lignocellulose contents of rice straw in solid state fermentation was investigated in this study. Results suggested that, 8 days fermentation was appropriate, with enzymes activities as follows: FPase = 410.76 U/gDM, CMCase = 351.96U/gDM, -glucosidase = 16.37 U/gDM, xylanase = 6166.01 U/gDM and amyloglucosidase = 425.04 U/gDM (with maximum 993.71 U/gDM on day 6). In addition, the solid state fermentation significantly (P < 0.01) reduced the concentrations of NDF, ADF, cellulose and hemicellulose in the rice straw by 19.96, 13.8, 16.32 and 32.87%, respectively. The high degradation of the hemicellulose was reflected by the high activity of xylanase enzyme, which hydrolyses xylan in hemicellulose to xylose. Higher reducing sugar and microbial cell mass productions were also obtained after 8 days fermentation. Present data showed that, A. terreus is capable of producing high quantity of cellulolytic enzymes for the reduction of lignocellulose contents of biomass in a shorter incubation time when compared with the previously reported for biological treatment of agricultural by-products using white rot fungi.Key words: Aspergillus terreus, biomass, biological treatment, enzyme activity, solid state fermentation

Effects of Aspergillus niger (K8) on nutritive value of rice straw

The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of solid state fermentation for the improvement of the quality of rice straw as animal feed. Rice straw was fermented using Aspergillus niger (K8) with and without additional nitrogen source (urea). Cellulose, hemicelluloses, organic matter (OM), dry matter (DM), acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) contents of rice straw were determined before and after 10 days of fermentation. Fermentation has significant (P < 0.01) effect on NDF, but not ADF and ADL contents. Addition of urea as nitrogen source significantly reduced (P < 0.01) the NDF and hemicellulose contents of fermented rice straw. Cellulose content of the rice straw was not affected (P > 0.05), but crude protein (CP) increased significantly (P < 0.01) after fermentation. In vitro gas production technique was used to evaluate the effect of the biological treatment on activity of rumen microorganisms. Fermentation of rice straw using A. niger significantly reduced total gas production (P < 0.01), DM disappearance (P < 0.01) and acetate, propionate and  total volatile fatty acids (VFA) production (P < 0.05). Results of the present study showed that solid state fermentation of rice straw using A. niger reduced lignocellulose content, but has negative effect on microbial activity in the rumen ecosystem, presumably due to antagonistic activity of A. niger, or other intermediate products from the fermentation, on the rumen microorganisms.Key words: Aspergillus niger, biomass, solid state fermentation, biological treatment, in vitro gas production

The effect of human mesenchymal stem cell on cigarette smoke-induced alterations of cardiac function and lipid metabolism in rat

Oral PresentationINTRODUCTION: Cigarette smoking is recognised as a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) were reported to attenuate cardiac injury of myocardial infarction. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of bone marrow–derived MSCs (BM-MSC) and induced pluripotent stem …published_or_final_versio

Profiling biomolecules at cell-biomaterial interface by quantitative proteomics

Session: Controlling Microenvironment and Cell Fate: abstract no. 789INTRODUCTION: Implant surface structure and chemistry determines the contacting cell’s fate. Therefore, the fate of those cells directly affect bone-implant incorporation in clinical practice1-5. However, how these chemical and mechanical signals translating to cellular responses are not yet known. The major drawback is a lack of systematic study of cellbiomaterial interaction in terms of protein expression, specifically, at the attachment interface between the cell and biomaterial (adherence surface, AS). Therefore, we have proposed to unbiasedly identify the biomolecules at the interface by proteomics. This method combines the use of a subcellular fractionation with quantitative mass …postprintThe 2010 North America Conference of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS-NA 2010), Orlando, FL., 5-8 December 2010

O bebé que não veio

Este artigo para além de uma breve revisão bibliográfica sobre a infertilidade e o processo FIV (fecundação in vitro) baseia-se no estudo de quatro entrevistas clínicas, feitas a quatro diferentes mulheres que já fizeram mais do que um processo FIV, mas não obtiveram sucesso. Analizámos os pontos em comum e os específicos de cada uma das entrevistadas.This article deside a brief bibliographical review about infertility and the IVF process (in vitro fertilization) is based on forir unic clinic interview to four diferent women that have experienced more than one IVF process but didn't succeed, We've analyse the comon and specific points to each one of the interviewe

Facile Synthesis of High Quality Graphene Nanoribbons

Graphene nanoribbons have attracted attention for their novel electronic and spin transport properties1-6, and because nanoribbons less than 10 nm wide have a band gap that can be used to make field effect transistors. However, producing nanoribbons of very high quality, or in high volumes, remains a challenge. Here, we show that pristine few-layer nanoribbons can be produced by unzipping mildly gas-phase oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotube using mechanical sonication in an organic solvent. The nanoribbons exhibit very high quality, with smooth edges (as seen by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy), low ratios of disorder to graphitic Raman bands, and the highest electrical conductance and mobility reported to date (up to 5e2/h and 1500 cm2/Vs for ribbons 10-20 nm in width). Further, at low temperature, the nanoribbons exhibit phase coherent transport and Fabry-Perot interference, suggesting minimal defects and edge roughness. The yield of nanoribbons was ~2% of the starting raw nanotube soot material, which was significantly higher than previous methods capable of producing high quality narrow nanoribbons1. The relatively high yield synthesis of pristine graphene nanoribbons will make these materials easily accessible for a wide range of fundamental and practical applications.Comment: Nature Nanotechnology in pres

Domain wall brane in squared curvature gravity

We suggest a thick braneworld model in the squared curvature gravity theory. Despite the appearance of higher order derivatives, the localization of gravity and various bulk matter fields is shown to be possible. The existence of the normalizable gravitational zero mode indicates that our four-dimensional gravity is reproduced. In order to localize the chiral fermions on the brane, two types of coupling between the fermions and the brane forming scalar is introduced. The first coupling leads us to a Schr\"odinger equation with a volcano potential, and the other a P\"oschl-Teller potential. In both cases, the zero mode exists only for the left-hand fermions. Several massive KK states of the fermions can be trapped on the brane, either as resonant states or as bound states.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures and 1 table, references added, improved version to be published in JHE

Observation of a ppb mass threshoud enhancement in \psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p}) decay

The decay channel $\psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p})$ is studied using a sample of $1.06\times 10^8$ $\psi^\prime$ events collected by the BESIII experiment at BEPCII. A strong enhancement at threshold is observed in the $p\bar{p}$ invariant mass spectrum. The enhancement can be fit with an $S$-wave Breit-Wigner resonance function with a resulting peak mass of $M=1861^{+6}_{-13} {\rm (stat)}^{+7}_{-26} {\rm (syst)} {\rm MeV/}c^2$ and a narrow width that is $\Gamma<38 {\rm MeV/}c^2$ at the 90% confidence level. These results are consistent with published BESII results. These mass and width values do not match with those of any known meson resonance.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Chinese Physics