A Big World in Small Grain: A Review of Natural Milk Kefir Starters

Milk kefir is a traditional fermented milk product whose consumption is becoming increasingly popular. The natural starter for kefir production is kefir grain, which consists of various bacterial and yeast species. At the industrial scale, however, kefir grains are rarely used due to their slow growth, complex application, bad reproducibility and high costs. Instead, mixtures of defined lactic acid bacteria and sometimes yeasts are applied, which alter sensory and functional properties compared to natural grain-based milk kefir. In order to be able to mimic natural starter cultures for authentic kefir production, it is a prerequisite to gain deep knowledge about the nature of kefir grains, its microbial composition, morphologic structure, composition of strains on grains and the impact of environmental parameters on kefir grain characteristics. In addition, it is very important to deeply investigate the numerous multi-dimensional interactions among different species, which play important roles on the formation and the functionality of grains

Electrooptical Determination of Polarizability for On-Line Viability and Vitality Quantification of Lactobacillus plantarum Cultures

The rapid assessment of cell viability is crucial for process optimization, e.g., during media selection, determination of optimal environmental growth conditions and for quality control. In the present study, the cells' electric anisotropy of polarizability (AP) as well as the mean cell length in Lactobacillus plantarum batch and fed-batch fermentations were monitored with electrooptical measurements coupled to fully automated sample preparation. It was examined, whether this measurement can be related to the cells' metabolic activity, and thus represents a suitable process analytical technology. It is demonstrated that the AP is an early indicator to distinguish between suitable and unsuitable growth conditions in case of a poor energy regeneration or cell membrane defects in L. plantarum batch and fed-batch cultivations. It was shown that the applied method allowed the monitoring of physiological and morphological changes of cells in various growth phases in response to a low pH-value, substrate concentration changes, temperature alterations, exposure to air and nutrient limitation. An optimal range for growth in batch mode was achieved, if the AP remained above 25·10−28 F·m2 and the mean cell length at ~2.5 μm. It was further investigated, in which way the AP develops after freeze-drying of samples, which were taken in different cultivation phases. It was found that the AP increased most rapidly in resuspended samples from the retardation and late stationary phases, while samples from the early stationary phase recovered slowly. Electrooptical measurements provide valuable information about the physiologic and morphologic state of L. plantarum cells, e.g., when applied as starter cultures or as probiotic compounds.DFG, 325093850, Open Access Publizieren 2017 - 2018 / Technische Universität BerlinEC/H2020/643056/EU/Rapid Bioprocess Development/Biorapi

Warp-Innovation Study for Justifying Boost Space Services

Warp-Innovation (WI) challenges innovation teams, academic spin-offs and start-ups on their biz ideas. One important orientation is establishing collaboration amongst proper stakeholders of an eco-system. We therefore engage with strategic partners, following the principle of forming relationships between science, corporates, start-ups, services and investors. Warp-Innovation therefore conducts a study - during 2017 in the German speaking countries and 2018 within Europe - adhering to this setting. Enabling mutual benefits for all parties involved is our credo. At REAL CORP 2017 we may give some insights to this - proud to be there as the conference format addresses multi domains since its very beginning. In here we focus on the study conducted together with selected study partners with the motivation to justify experiences and assumptions in designing Warp-Innovation Bosst Spaces (WIBS) for corporates - several industries, large/medium enterprises, academic institutes focusing on start-ups, the latter ones at any stage; investors - business angels, venture capital, corporate VC; services – incubators, accelerators, co-working spaces, tax, legal consultants etc. It’s vital to differentitate the following: Incubators and Accelerators are organizations, serving start-ups temporarily in bringing up their business faster and more successfully and mostly take equity in doing so. The Warp-Innovation Boost Space is established and operated for large/r organizations - willing to engage with small/er partners – exclusively and permanently - collaboration models to be formed during the course. We are convinced, that enabling a successful relationship between established and emerging organizations can be achieved by involving intermediaries accompanying the process of establishing and operating corporate cooperation programs (which we call Boost Spaces) in order to achieve mutual benefits for all parties involved. We support building up such a corporate accelerator (project phase) - optionally followed by operating it. Several service levels as illustrated are available. Our study results are supposed to enable continuous service improvement and innovation

Continuous bioprocessing in single-use bioreactors: Beyond stirred tank- based solutions

Continuous bio-processing opens up new possibilities for single-use concepts. Several mammalian cell culture processes are operated in continuous operation using perfusion technologies to not only ensure product quality and avoid product degradation, but also to reduce costs and working volumes. In combination with single-use bioreactors, the effects on production costs are even higher. The introduction of single-use bioreactors in continuous operation for microbial applications also reduces the costs of producing microbial molecules, e.g. if previously rarely used co-cultivation systems are applied. Although mainly limited to mammalian cell culture processes, single-use bioreactor concepts have been developed that are also suitable for microbial processes. In addition to stirred tank reactors, two-dimensional rocking bioreactors are well suited for fed-batch and continuous cultivation processes, since no dynamic parts have to be integrated into the bag. Whether for cell cultures or microbial processes, the robustness of the bag material and the quality of the sensors must be ensured during the longer process times in continuous cultivation. Classic electrochemical electrodes, in this case hybrid sensors of a disposable and a reusable part, can be an option to achieve long-lasting operation without compromising data quality. In addition, it is obvious that continuous processes require specific and appropriate monitoring tools to meet regulatory requirements and to detect process disturbances as quickly as possible to adjust dilution rates and product separation cycles. Therefore, the latest advances in optical density measurement and single cell analysis in combination with single-use bioreactor concepts are presented. Some examples are shown of how the construction of a single-use bioreactor including monitoring tools (on line and in line) enables continuous processes with a suitable robust control option in the case of cell culture and microbial cultivation processes. Finally, a cost estimate is made for a specific biosimilar production process to demonstrate the potential of suitable continuous bioprocessing with a single-use bioreactor and downstream processing compared to alternative, conventional concepts. Literature 1. Junne S, Solymosi T, Oosterhuis N, Neubauer P. Cultivation of cells and microorganisms in wave-mixed disposable bag bioreactors at different scales. Chemie-Ingenieur-Technik. 2013;85(1-2). doi:10.1002/cite.201200149. 2. Junne S, Neubauer P. How scalable and suitable are single-use bioreactors? Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2018;53. doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2018.04.003

Information Security Risk Management: In Which Security Solutions Is It Worth Investing?

As companies are increasingly exposed to information security threats, decision makers are permanently forced to pay attention to security issues. Information security risk management provides an approach for measuring the security through risk assessment, risk mitigation, and risk evaluation. Although a variety of approaches have been proposed, decision makers lack well-founded techniques that (1) show them what they are getting for their investment, (2) show them if their investment is efficient, and (3) do not demand in-depth knowledge of the IT security domain. This article defines a methodology for management decision makers that effectively addresses these problems. This work involves the conception, design, and implementation of the methodology into a software solution. The results from two qualitative case studies show the advantages of this methodology in comparison to established methodologies

Serological and Molecular Investigation of Brucella Species in Dogs in Pakistan

Brucellosis is an important bacterial zoonosis caused by B. abortus and B. melitensis in Pakistan. The status of canine brucellosis caused by B. canis remains obscure. In total, 181 serum samples were collected from stray and working dogs in two different prefectures viz. Faisalabad (n = 87) and Bahawalpur (n = 94). Presence of antibodies against B. canis and B. abortus/B. melitensis was determined using the slow agglutination test (SAT) and ELISA, respectively. Real-time PCR was performed to detect and differentiate Brucella DNA at the species level. In Faisalabad, the serological prevalence was found to be 9.2% (8/87) and 10.3% (9/87) by SAT and ELISA, respectively. Only one of the ELISA positive samples (1.15%) yielded amplification for B. abortus DNA. In Bahawalpur, 63.8% (60/94) samples were found positive by SAT; however, none of the samples was positive by ELISA or by real-time PCR. Location, age (≥1 year) and body condition (weak) were found to be associated with B. canis infection, whereas presence of wounds was found to be associated with B. abortus infection only. These findings point towards a risk of transmission from dog to livestock and humans and vice versa. The study expects to draw the attention of concerned authorities towards infection prevention and animal welfare. This study warrants further epidemiological investigation on brucellosis in pet dogs and their owners. To the best of our knowledge, this is first ever report on B. canis and B. abortus in dogs in Pakistan

Quantification of Major Bacteria and Yeast Species in Kefir Consortia by Multiplex TaqMan qPCR

Kefir grains are complex microbial systems of several groups of microorganisms. The identification and quantification of the microbial composition of milk kefirs was described in several studies, which provided an insight into the microbial consortia in this complex ecosystem. Nevertheless, the current methods for identification and quantification are not appropriate for deeper studies on kefir consortia, e.g., population dynamics and microbial interactions in kefir grains. This requires another sensitive and reliable quantitative method. Therefore, this study aims to develop multiplexed qPCR assays to specifically detect and quantify, as an example, several microorganisms of the milk kefir microbial community. Primer-probe sets, which target species-specific genes in six bacteria and five yeasts, were designed, and their sensitivity and specificity to the target species was analyzed in simplex as well as four multiplex qPCR assays. The self-designed multiplex assays were applied for the detection of target bacteria and yeast species in milk kefirs, in both, grain and beverage fractions. Detection of all target microorganisms in simplex and multiplex qPCR was achieved by good linearity, efficiency, repeatability and reproducibility in all assays. When the designed assays were applied on six kefirs, all target microorganisms were detected in different samples, but not all in one kefir sample. The two ubiquitous lactobacilli Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens and Lb. kefiri were present in all six kefirs studied, but were associated with different other yeasts and bacteria. Especially on the yeast community a significant diversity was observed. In general, multiplex TaqMan qPCR as developed here was proven to have high potential for specific identification of target microorganisms in kefir samples and for the first time, eleven target bacteria and yeasts of kefir microbiota were rapidly detected and quantified. This study, thus, provides a fast and reliable protocol for future studies on kefir and other similar microbial ecosystems.DFG, 414044773, Open Access Publizieren 2019 - 2020 / Technische Universität Berli

Automated Transformation of Semi-Structured Text Elements

Interconnected systems, such as electronic health records (EHR), considerably improved the handling and processing of health information while keeping the costs at a controlled level. Since the EHR virtually stores all data in digitized form, personal medical documents are easily and swiftly available when needed. However, multiple formats and differences in the health documents managed by various health care providers severely reduce the efficiency of the data sharing process. This paper presents a rule-based transformation system that converts semi-structured (annotated) text into standardized formats, such as HL7 CDA. It identifies relevant information in the input document by analyzing its structure as well as its content and inserts the required elements into corresponding reusable CDA templates, where the templates are selected according to the CDA document type-specific requirements

Ribose supplementation alone or with elevated creatine does not preserve high energy nucleotides or cardiac function in the failing mouse heart

Background: Reduced levels of creatine and total adenine nucleotides (sum of ATP, ADP and AMP) are hallmarks of chronic heart failure and restoring these pools is predicted to be beneficial by maintaining the diseased heart in a more favourable energy state. Ribose supplementation is thought to support both salvage and re-synthesis of adenine nucleotides by bypassing the rate-limiting step. We therefore tested whether ribose would be beneficial in chronic heart failure in control mice and in mice with elevated myocardial creatine due to overexpression of the creatine transporter (CrT-OE). Methods and Results: Four groups were studied: sham; myocardial infarction (MI); MI+ribose; MI+CrT-OE+ribose. In a pilot study, ribose given in drinking water was bioavailable, resulting in a two-fold increase in myocardial ribose-5-phosphate levels. However, 8 weeks post-surgery, total adenine nucleotide (TAN) pool was decreased to a similar amount (8–14%) in all infarcted groups irrespective of the treatment received. All infarcted groups also presented with a similar and substantial degree of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction (3-fold reduction in ejection fraction) and LV hypertrophy (32–47% increased mass). Ejection fraction closely correlated with infarct size independently of treatment (r2 = 0.63, p<0.0001), but did not correlate with myocardial creatine or TAN levels. Conclusion: Elevating myocardial ribose and creatine levels failed to maintain TAN pool or improve post-infarction LV remodeling and function. This suggests that ribose is not rate-limiting for purine nucleotide biosynthesis in the chronically failing mouse heart and that alternative strategies to preserve TAN pool should be investigated