Synergistic growth of Bacillus and Pseudomonas and its degradation potential on pretreated polypropylene

This study investigated biodegradation of physically pretreated polypropylene (PP) by using two different combinations of microorganisms, namely, Bacillus flexus + Pseudomonas azotoformans(B1) and B. flexus + B. subtilis(B2), for a period of 12 months. The growth rate of (B1) was found to be high throughout the study period, and reached a maximum of 1 × 10¹⁴ colony-forming units (CFU)/mL. At the end of the experiment, the polymers become hydrophilic. Carbonyl indices showed that ultraviolet (UV)-treated polymers started degrading faster than the thermally treated PP. The thermogravimetric analysis also revealed that UV-treated PP exposed to the B. flexus + P. azotoformans combination for 1 year exhibited maximum degradation (22.7%). The gravimetric weight loss method showed 1.95% weight loss followed by 1.45% with B. flexus + B. subtilis. The changes in the carbonyl indices of the polymer through Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) analysis also support the degradation.     

Physicochemical Characterization and In Vitro Digestibility Study of an In Silico Designed Recombinant Protein Enriched with Large Neutral Amino Acids and Lacking Phenylalanine for Phenylketonuria

The Protein Journal - In our previous study, a 3D structure of LNAA66 model protein containing 4–5 α-helices, high large neutral amino acids (LNAA) and lacking phenylalanine was...     

Synergistic effect of relative humidity and temperature on the survival of rhizobia in inoculant carrier

Six strains of Rhizobium , three temperature-tolerant (U1, C13 and A19) and three temperature-sensitive strains (U10, C10 and A4) selected on the basis of previous study were used to screen the synergestic effect of different relative humidities (r.h. 50%, 65% and 90%) and temperatures (28°, 35°, 40° and 45°C) on the survival of rhizobia in inoculant carrier. At a particular temperature all the three r.h.'s were maintained. At a storage temperature of 28° and 35°C, the r.h. had little effect on the population of any of the rhizobial strains tested, but at 40° and 45°C, marked differences were observed and it was concluded that higher r.h. in conjunction with higher temperature resulted in low viable counts. The effect was similar but less obvious with the temperature-tolerant strains. It was found that 50% r.h. at different storage temperatures extended shelf life of rhizobial strains of blackgram, cowpea and arhar crops which were tested in this study in inoculant carrier.     

Discovery of thiazolyl-phthalazinone acetamides as potent glucose uptake activators via high-throughput screening

With the aim to discover orally active small molecules that stimulate glucose uptake, high throughput screening of a library of 5000 drug-like compounds was conducted in differentiated skeletal muscle cells in presence of insulin. N-Substituted phthalazinone acetamide was identified as a potential glucose uptake modulator. Several novel derivatives were synthesized to establish structure activity relationships. Identified lead thiazolyl-phthalazinone acetamide (7114863) increased glucose uptake (EC₅₀ of 0.07 ± 0.02 μM) in differentiated skeletal muscle cells in presence of insulin. Furthermore, 7114863 was superior to rosiglitazone under similar experimental conditions without inducing PPAR-γ agonist activity thus making it a very interesting scaffold.