Sonication-assisted production of biodiesel using soybean oil and supercritical methanol

High temperature and pressure are generally required to produce biodiesel using supercritical methanol. We reduced the harsh reaction conditions by means of sonicating the reaction mixture prior to transesterification using supercritical methanol. Soybean oil was selected as the raw material for transesterification. As soybean oil contains more unsaturated fatty acid triglycerides, the biodiesel degraded more at high temperature. The reactants were sonicated for 60 min at 35 °C prior to transesterification to avoid degradation of the product and to enhance biodiesel yield at temperatures <300 °C. The process parameters were optimized using central composite design. The variables selected for optimization were temperature, time, and the oil to methanol molar ratio. The temperature and oil to methanol molar ratios were varied from 250 to 280 °C and 1:40–1:50, respectively. The reaction time was tested between 4 and 12 min. The biodiesel was analyzed for any possible degradation by gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy and for the wt% of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) obtained. The maximum FAME yield (84.2 wt%) was obtained at a temperature of 265.7 °C, an oil to alcohol molar ratio of 1:44.7, and a time of 8.8 min. The optimum yield was obtained at a pressure of 1,500 psi. The pressure and optimum temperature used to obtain the maximum yield were the lowest reported so far without the use of a co-solvent. Thus, the severity of the supercritical reactions was reduced by adding sonication prior to the reaction.     

All politics is local: the case of Macrocephalon maleo conservation on Sulawesi, Indonesia

The rich biodiversity of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is subject to a high rate of deforestation and other pressures. Its plight is symbolized by the deteriorating conservation status of the maleo, an iconic galliform bird that is both striking in appearance and intimately bound up with local traditions. After a series of international-led projects during the 1980s and early 1990s conservation efforts petered out until recently when there has been an upsurge in local-led concern and action. To capitalize on this a workshop was held in 2010 to share local perceptions, lessons and concerns about the species and these conservation efforts. The workshop was dominated by members of local communities and their elected or traditional representatives, although there was also a wide variety of other stakeholders present, including from national species conservation and local government agencies. Whilst there is a need for more information to underpin the actions necessary to ensure the survival of this species, the overwhelming perception of participants was that continued decentralization of policy making and budgetary responsibility would enhance the conservation efforts for this species (and other elements of biodiversity) considerably. This would allow the upsurge in locally-led conservation activities to be continued and expanded.     

KNApSAcK family databases: integrated metabolite-plant species databases for multifaceted plant research

A database (DB) describing the relationships between species and their metabolites would be useful for metabolomics research, because it targets systematic analysis of enormous numbers of organic compounds with known or unknown structures in metabolomics. We constructed an extensive species-metabolite DB for plants, the KNApSAcK Core DB, which contains 101,500 species-metabolite relationships encompassing 20,741 species and 50,048 metabolites. We also developed a search engine within the KNApSAcK Core DB for use in metabolomics research, making it possible to search for metabolites based on an accurate mass, molecular formula, metabolite name or mass spectra in several ionization modes. We also have developed databases for retrieving metabolites related to plants used for a range of purposes. In our multifaceted plant usage DB, medicinal/edible plants are related to the geographic zones (GZs) where the plants are used, their biological activities, and formulae of Japanese and Indonesian traditional medicines (Kampo and Jamu, respectively). These data are connected to the species-metabolites relationship DB within the KNApSAcK Core DB, keyed via the species names. All databases can be accessed via the website http://kanaya.naist.jp/KNApSAcK_Family/. KNApSAcK WorldMap DB comprises 41,548 GZ-plant pair entries, including 222 GZs and 15,240 medicinal/edible plants. The KAMPO DB consists of 336 formulae encompassing 278 medicinal plants; the JAMU DB consists of 5,310 formulae encompassing 550 medicinal plants. The Biological Activity DB consists of 2,418 biological activities and 33,706 pairwise relationships between medicinal plants and their biological activities. Current statistics of the binary relationships between individual databases were characterized by the degree distribution analysis, leading to a prediction of at least 1,060,000 metabolites within all plants. In the future, the study of metabolomics will need to take this huge number of metabolites into consideration.     

Identifying Optimal Models to Represent Biochemical Systems

Biochemical systems involving a high number of components with intricate interactions often lead to complex models containing a large number of parameters. Although a large model could describe in detail the mechanisms that underlie the system, its very large size may hinder us in understanding the key elements of the system. Also in terms of parameter identification, large models are often problematic. Therefore, a reduced model may be preferred to represent the system. Yet, in order to efficaciously replace the large model, the reduced model should have the same ability as the large model to produce reliable predictions for a broad set of testable experimental conditions. We present a novel method to extract an “optimal” reduced model from a large model to represent biochemical systems by combining a reduction method and a model discrimination method. The former assures that the reduced model contains only those components that are important to produce the dynamics observed in given experiments, whereas the latter ensures that the reduced model gives a good prediction for any feasible experimental conditions that are relevant to answer questions at hand. These two techniques are applied iteratively. The method reveals the biological core of a model mathematically, indicating the processes that are likely to be responsible for certain behavior. We demonstrate the algorithm on two realistic model examples. We show that in both cases the core is substantially smaller than the full model.     

Factors affecting the bioconversion of Philippine tung seed by black soldier fly larvae for the production of protein and oil-rich biomass

A systematic study on the use of Philippine tung (Reutealis trisperma) seed as a substrate for the cultivation of black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) was performed. The characteristics of Reutealis trisperma seed from two different locations: West Java and Papua, were determined. The seed has a relatively high oil (37.6–39.2%, dry weight) and protein content (14.9–28.2%, dry weight). The effect of cake content in the substrate (0–20%, wet weight), moisture content in the substrate (50–70%, wet weight), feeding rate (50–100?mg/larva/d), lighting condition (dark-light) and substrate depth in a rearing container (4–10?cm) was performed. An optimum prepupal biomass productivity of 123.4?g/m²/d was obtained (20%, wet weight of cake content in the substrate, 60%, wet weight of moisture content in the substrate, 100?mg/larva/d, dark, 6?cm substrate depth). The protein and oil content of the biomass were also determined to evaluate the effect of Reutealis trisperma seed as a substrate for the cultivation of black soldier fly larvae to produce protein and oil-rich biomass. The oil content in the biomass was also extracted and the fatty acid composition was identified. The prepupal biomass has a relatively high amount of protein (45%, dry weight) and oil content (26.6%, dry weight) and is suitable for cattle feed application.     

Quantifying killing of orangutans and human-orangutan conflict in Kalimantan, Indonesia

Human-orangutan conflict and hunting are thought to pose a serious threat to orangutan existence in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo. No data existed prior to the present study to substantiate these threats. We investigated the rates, spatial distribution and causes of conflict and hunting through an interview-based survey in the orangutan's range in Kalimantan, Indonesia. Between April 2008 and September 2009, we interviewed 6983 respondents in 687 villages to obtain socio-economic information, assess knowledge of local wildlife in general and orangutan encounters specifically, and to query respondents about their knowledge on orangutan conflicts and killing, and relevant laws. This survey revealed estimated killing rates of between 750 and 1800 animals killed in the last year, and between 1950 and 3100 animals killed per year on average within the lifetime of the survey respondents. These killing rates are higher than previously thought and are high enough to pose a serious threat to the continued existence of orangutans in Kalimantan. Importantly, the study contributes to our understanding of the spatial variation in threats, and the underlying causes of those threats, which can be used to facilitate the development of targeted conservation management.     

Oxidative stress impairs insulin signal in skeletal muscle and causes insulin resistance in postinfarct heart failure

Insulin resistance has been shown to occur as a consequence of heart failure. However, its exact mechanisms in this setting remain unknown. We have previously reported that oxidative stress is enhanced in the skeletal muscle from mice with heart failure after myocardial infarction (MI) (30). This study is aimed to investigate whether insulin resistance in postinfarct heart failure is due to the impairment of insulin signaling in the skeletal muscle caused by oxidative stress. Mice were divided into four groups: sham operated (sham); sham treated with apocynin, an inhibitor of NAD(P)H oxidase activation (10 mmol/l in drinking water); MI; and MI treated with apocynin. After 4 wk, intraperitoneal insulin tolerance tests were performed, and skeletal muscle samples were obtained for insulin signaling measurements. MI mice showed left ventricular dilation and dysfunction by echocardiography and increased left ventricular end-diastolic pressure and lung weight. The decrease in glucose level after insulin load significantly attenuated in MI compared with sham. Insulin-stimulated serine phosphorylation of Akt and glucose transporter-4 translocation were decreased in MI mice by 61 and 23%, respectively. Apocynin ameliorated the increase in oxidative stress and NAD(P)H oxidase activities measured by the lucigenin assay in the skeletal muscle after MI. It also improved insulin resistance and inhibited the decrease of Akt phosphorylation and glucose transporter-4 translocation. Insulin resistance was induced by the direct impairment of insulin signaling in the skeletal muscle from postinfarct heart failure, which was associated with the enhanced oxidative stress via NAD(P)H oxidase.