Effect of acid or enzymatic hydrolysis on ethanol production by Zymomonas mobilis growing on Jerusalem artichoke juice

Summary Ethanol production from the inulin of Jerusalem artichoke byZ. mobilis was studied in batch and continuous fermentations. Both acid or enzymatic hydrolysis were used. In continuous cultures enzymatic hydrolysis showed better results. Ethanol productivities of 17.7 and 29.0 g/l.h were obtained at output concentrationsca 35 g/l (% of conversion 99 and 83; ethanol yield 0.45 g/g). The hydrolysed juice could be used without any nutrient addition.     

Sampling Bias in Roadsides: The Case of Galling Aphids on Pistacia Trees

Sampling along roadsides is convenient and is widely practiced in insect population researches. Ecological conditions in road verges are very different than those prevailing in natural habitats and they affect the annual growth of plants in semi-arid and arid regions. This in turn may improve development, survival and abundance of insects feeding on plants growing in roadsides. These trends may bias the results of sampling. To verify this assertion, we quantified the effects of growing in roadside on annual growth of Pistacia atlantica trees and Pistacia palaestina shrubs and compare two demographic indexes of nine gall-inducing aphid species on trees growing along roads with trees in the open landscape, in Israel. The annual growth of the two host plants was significantly more vigorous in roadsides than away from roads. Tests of Combined Probabilities showed that the likelihood of P. atlantica and P. palaestina to be parasitized by more galls of Fordini species is higher in roadsides than away from roads. Moreover, in the semi-dry regions of Israel, three aphid species on P. atlantica and five species on P. palaestina induced more galls in plants growing along roads than away from roads, while in the rainy Northern region, the difference was not significant between the two habitats. These results indicate a biased evaluation of population size in roadside habitat, which has to be accounted in insect–plant relation researches.     

Agroecosystems and conservation of migratory waterbirds: importance of coastal pastures and factors influencing their use by wintering shorebirds

Coastal pastures are common agroecosystems adjacent to estuarine areas that can provide valuable habitat for wildlife, particularly for migratory shorebirds. Disentangling the factors that influence coastal pasture use by wintering shorebirds will provide new insights into its role for buffering human disturbances and habitat loss in intertidal areas. We examined whether numbers of two shorebirds (Eurasian curlew and Black-tailed godwit) foraging actively on coastal pastures was affected by weather conditions, tidal stage (low/high tide) and number of harvesters at intertidal areas throughout winter. Both species frequently used coastal pastures and most individuals foraged actively there. The average percentage of the total wintering population of curlews and godwits foraging on coastal pastures was 27.4 and 7.8 %, respectively, and was significantly higher during high tide compared to low tide. The number of harvesters on mudflats also had a positive significant effect in explaining the presence of curlews, and to a lesser extent for godwits, on coastal pastures, and accumulated rainfall had a positive effect for both species too. These supratidal areas were consistently used as alternative foraging grounds during low tide by curlews, as well as supplementary foraging areas during high tide by wintering populations of both large shorebirds. By supplementary foraging, wintering curlews, and probably godwits, seemed to compensate for a negative effect of the presence of harvesters on their foraging activity. We recommend managing of those coastal agricultural fields adjacent to intertidal foraging grounds in order to increase the availability of supratidal foraging habitats for declining shorebird populations. These habitats may thus have a beneficial role in sustaining populations of wintering shorebirds, but further studies are needed to estimate if birds can compensate for any shortfall in daily energy budget by supplementary foraging on coastal pastures, thus providing insights into whether they are involved in large-scale population regulation of migratory birds.     

Guideline Adherence in Outpatient Clinics for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Results from a Clinical Audit

Objectives

Previous clinical audits of COPD have provided relevant information about medical intervention in exacerbation admissions. The present study aims to evaluate adherence to current guidelines in COPD through a clinical audit.

Methods

This is a pilot clinical audit performed in hospital outpatient respiratory clinics in Andalusia, Spain (eight provinces with more than 8 million inhabitants), including 9 centers (20% of the public centers in the area) between 2013 and 2014. Cases with an established diagnosis of COPD based on risk factors, clinical symptoms, and a post-bronchodilator FEV₁/FVC ratio of less than 0.70 were deemed eligible. The performance of the outpatient clinics was benchmarked against three guidance documents available at the time of the audit. The appropriateness of the performance was categorized as excellent (>80%), good (60−80%), adequate (40−59%), inadequate (20−39%), and highly inadequate (<20%).

Results

During the audit, 621 clinical records were audited. Adherence to the different guidelines presented a considerable variability among the different participating hospitals, with an excellent or good adherence for symptom recording, MRC or CAT use, smoking status evaluation, spirometry, or bronchodilation therapy. The most outstanding areas for improvement were the use of the BODE index, the monitoring of treatments, the determination of alpha1-antitrypsin, the performance of exercise testing, and vaccination recommendations.

Conclusions

The present study reflects the situation of clinical care for COPD patients in specialized secondary care outpatient clinics. Adherence to clinical guidelines shows considerable variability in outpatient clinics managing COPD patients, and some aspects of the clinical care can clearly be improved.     

rpoB-PCR amplified gene and temporal temperature gradient gel electrophoresis: a rapid tool to analyse bacterial strains representative of cold-smoked salmon microflora

AIM: To evaluate rpoB gene as a biomarker of microbial biodiversity associated to cold-smoked salmon by a novel nested-polymerase chain reaction/temporal temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR/TTGE) technique applied on pure cultures of reference strains. METHODS AND RESULTS: DNA obtained from pure cultures of reference strains was used in a succession of a first PCR amplification of rpoB fragment with degenerated nonclamped primers and a nested-PCR with nondegenerated clamped primers. PCR products were then applied on a TTGE gel in order to analyse strains profile. High quantity of nested-PCR products were obtained for each tested strain and TTGE profiles showed a good separation between the different reference bacteria and an easy way to associate one band to one species. CONCLUSION: The nested-PCR/TTGE technique used in this study is a promising way of investigating bacterial community structure of cold-smoked salmon or other food matrix. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Because of its single copy state leading to single band profiles in TTGE, rpoB constitute a good potential molecular marker for further development of cold-smoked salmon biodiversity analysis.     

Castration reduces motoneuron soma size but not dendritic length in the spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus of wild-type and BCL-2 overexpressing mice

Motoneurons in the spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus (SNB) and their target muscles, bulbocavernosus and levator ani (BC/LA), constitute an androgen-sensitive neuromuscular system. Testosterone regulates SNB soma size, SNB dendritic length, and BC/LA muscle mass in adult male rats. Recent evidence indicates that the cell death-regulatory protein, Bcl-2, may also play a role in adult neural plasticity. The present study examined whether gonadal hormones and/or the Bcl-2 protein influence the morphology of the SNB neuromuscular system in adult B6D2F1 mice. In Experiment 1, adult wild-type and Bcl-2 overexpressing males were castrated and implanted with silastic capsules containing testosterone or left blank. Six weeks after castration, cholera toxin-horseradish peroxidase was injected into the BC muscle to label SNB dendrites. Animals were killed 48 h later, and BC/LA muscle mass, SNB soma size, and SNB dendritic arbors were examined. In Experiment 2, wild-type and Bcl-2 overexpressing males were castrated or sham castrated, implanted with testosterone-filled or blank capsules, and examined 12 weeks later. In both experiments, BC/LA muscle mass and SNB soma size were significantly reduced in castrates receiving blank capsules. Surprisingly, however, there was no effect of hormone manipulation on any of several measures of dendritic length. Thus, the dendritic morphology of SNB motoneurons appears to be relatively insensitive to circulating androgen levels in B6D2F1 mice. Bcl-2 overexpression did not influence BC/LA muscle mass, SNB soma size, or SNB dendritic length, indicating that the morphology of this neuromuscular system and the response to castration are not altered by forced expression of the Bcl-2 protein.     

The tree shrews: adjuncts and alternatives to primates as models for biomedical research

The tree shrews are non-rodent, primate-like, small animals. There is increasing interest in using them to establish animal models for medical and biological research. This review focuses on the use of the tree shrews in in vivo studies on viral hepatitis, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), myopia, and psychosocial stress. Because of the susceptibility of the tree shrews (Tupaia belangeri) and their hepatocytes to infection with human hepatitis B virus (HBV) in vivo and in vitro, these animals have been used to establish human hepatitis virus-induced hepatitis and human HBV- and aflatoxin B1-associated HCC models. As these animals are phylogenetically close to primates in evolution and have a well-developed visual system and color vision in some species, they have been utilized to establish myopia models. Because dramatic behavioral, physiological, and neuroendocrine changes in subordinate male tree shrews are similar to those observed in depressed human patients, the tree shrews have been successfully employed to experimentally study psychosocial stress. However, the tree shrews holds significant promise as research models and great use could be made of these animals in biomedical research.     

Chromatographic purification and properties of a therapeutic human protein C concentrate

Protein C deficiency (inherited and acquired) has a relatively high incidence rate in the general population worldwide. For many years, protein C deficient patients have been treated with fresh frozen plasma, prothrombin complex concentrates, heparin or oral anticoagulants, which all have clinical drawbacks. We report the production process of a highly purified human protein C concentrate from 1500 l of cryo-poor plasma by a four-step chromatographic procedure. After DEAE-Sephadex adsorption, protein C was separated from clotting factors II, VII and IX by DEAE-Sepharose FF and further purified, using a new strategy, by an on-line chromatographic system combining DMAE-Fractogel and heparin-Sepharose CL-6B. In addition, the product was treated against viral risks by solvent-detergent and nanofiltration on 15-nm membranes. The protein C concentrate was essentially free of other vitamin K-dependent proteins. Proteolytic activity was undetectable. Neither activated protein C, prekallikrein activator, nor activated vitamin K-dependent clotting factors were found resulting in good stability of the protein C activity. In vitro and in vivo animal tests did not reveal any sign of potential thrombogenicity. The final freeze-dried product had a mean protein C concentration of 58 IU/ml and a mean specific activity of 215 IU/mg protein, corresponding to over 12000-fold purification from plasma. Therefore, this concentrate appears to be of potential benefit for the treatment of protein C deficiency.