Application of a Chitosan-Immobilized Talaromyces thermophilus Lipase to a Batch Biodiesel Production from Waste Frying Oils

Waste frying oil, which not only harms people’s health but also causes environmental pollution, can be a good alternative to partially substitute petroleum diesel through transesterification reaction. This oil contained 8.8 % of free fatty acids, which cause a problem in a base-catalyzed process. In this study, synthesis of biodiesel was efficiently catalyzed by the covalently immobilized Talaromyces thermophilus lipase and allowed bioconversion yield up to 92 % after 24 h of reaction time. The optimal molar ratio was four to six parts of methanol to one part of oil with a biocatalyst loaded of 25 wt.% of oil. Further, experiments revealed that T. thermophilus lipase, immobilized by a multipoint covalent liaison onto activated chitosan via a short spacer (glutaraldehyde), was sufficiently tolerant to methanol. In fact, using the stepwise addition of methanol, no significant difference was observed from the one-step whole addition at the start of reaction. The batch biodiesel synthesis was performed in a fixed bed reactor with a lipase loaded of 10 g. The bioconversion yield of 98 % was attained after a 5-h reaction time. The bioreactor was operated successfully for almost 150 h without any changes in the initial conversion yield. Most of the chemical and physical properties of the produced biodiesel meet the European and USA standard specifications of biodiesel fuels.     

Antimicrobial,Antioxidant, Anti-Acetylcholinesterase,Antidiabetic, and Pharmacokinetic Properties of Carum carvi L. and Coriandrum sativum L. Essential Oils Alone and in Combination

Herbs and spices have been used since antiquity for their nutritional and health properties, as well as in traditional remedies for the prevention and treatment of many diseases. Therefore, this study aims to perform a chemical analysis of both essential oils (EOs) from the seeds of Carum carvi (C. carvi) and Coriandrum sativum (C. sativum) and evaluate their antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-acetylcholinesterase, and antidiabetic activities alone and in combination. Results showed that the EOs mainly constitute monoterpenes with γ-terpinene (31.03%), β-pinene (18.77%), p-cymene (17.16%), and carvone (12.20%) being the major components present in C. carvi EO and linalool (76.41%), γ-terpinene (5.35%), and α-pinene (4.44%) in C. sativum EO. In comparison to standards, statistical analysis revealed that C. carvi EO showed high and significantly different (p < 0.05) antioxidant activity than C. sativum EO, but lower than the mixture. Moreover, the mixture exhibited two-times greater ferric ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) (IC₅₀ = 11.33 ± 1.53 mg/mL) and equipotent chelating power (IC₅₀ = 31.33 ± 0.47 mg/mL) than the corresponding references, and also potent activity against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) (IC₅₀ = 19.00 ± 1.00 mg/mL), β-carotene (IC₅₀ = 11.16 ± 0.84 mg/mL), and superoxide anion (IC₅₀ = 10.33 ± 0.58 mg/mL) assays. Antimicrobial data revealed that single and mixture EOs were active against a panel of pathogenic microorganisms, and the mixture had the ability to kill more bacterial strains than each EO alone. Additionally, the anti-acetylcholinesterase and α-glucosidase inhibitory effect have been studied for the first time, highlighting the high inhibition effect of AChE by C. carvi (IC₅₀ = 0.82 ± 0.05 mg/mL), and especially by C. sativum (IC₅₀ = 0.68 ± 0.03 mg/mL), as well as the mixture (IC₅₀ = 0.63 ± 0.02 mg/mL) compared to the reference drug, which are insignificantly different (p > 0.05). A high and equipotent antidiabetic activity was observed for the mixture (IC₅₀ = 0.75 ± 0.15 mg/mL) when compared to the standard drug, acarbose, which is about nine times higher than each EO alone. Furthermore, pharmacokinetic analysis provides some useful insights into designing new drugs with favorable drug likeness and safety profiles based on a C. carvi and C. sativum EO mixture. In summary, the results of this study revealed that the combination of these EOs may be recommended for further food, therapeutic, and pharmaceutical applications, and can be utilized as medicine to inhibit several diseases.     

Antibacterial, Anti-Chlamydial, and Cytotoxic Activities of a Marine Snail (Hexaplex trunculus) Phospholipase A2: an In Vitro Study

In order to report pharmacological characterization of marine snail (Hexaplex trunculus) hepatopancreatic phospholipase A₂ (mSDPLA₂), we have talked for the first time the antimicrobial activity against different pathogenic bacterial strains, anti-chlamydial activity as well as its cytotoxic activity against McCoy cell lines. mSDPLA₂, showed a high level of activity towards Gram-positive bacteria as Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Whereas Gram-negative bacteria, unfortunately, exhibited a higher resistance, mSDPLA₂ was also found to have a strong cytotoxic activity, causing significant morphological alterations of the McCoy cell lines surfaces and to be a hinder to the proliferation. Moreover, mSDPLA₂ proved to have a very potent anti-chlamydial activity. Over 95?% inhibition of chlamydial inclusions were obtained at a concentration of 10???g/ml of mSDPLA₂ after 24?h postinfection. Interestingly, at a concentration of 10???g/ml of mSDPLA₂, the proliferation of McCoy cells was not affected. Approximately 50?% inhibition of cell growth was obtained with a concentration of 37???g/mL of mSDPLA₂. mSDPLA₂ could be considered as an excellent candidate for the development of a new anti-infective agent. This enzyme showed significant antimicrobial activities.     

Genetic diversity and haplotype structure of 21 Y‐STRs,including nine noncore loci,in South Tunisian Population: Forensic relevance

Y chromosome STRs (Y‐STRs) are being used frequently in forensic laboratories. Previous studies of Y‐STR polymorphisms in different groups of the Tunisian population identified low levels of diversity and discrimination capacity (DC) using various commercial marker sets. This definitely limits the use of such systems for Y‐STRs genotyping in Tunisia. In our investigation on South Tunisia, 200 unrelated males were typed for the 12 conventional Y‐STRs included in the PowerPlex® Y System. Additional set of nine noncore Y‐STRs including DYS446, DYS456, DYS458, DYS388, DYS444, DYS445, DYS449, DYS710, and DYS464 markers were genotyped and evaluated for their potential in improving DC. Allele frequency, gene diversity, haplotype diversity (HD), and DC calculation revealed that DYS464 was the most diverse marker followed by DYS710 and DYS449 markers. The standard panel of 12 Y‐STRs (DC = 80.5%) and the nine markers were combined to obtain DC of 99%. Among the 198 different haplotypes observed, 196 haplotypes were unique (HD = 99.999). Out of the nine noncore set, six Y‐STRs (DYS458, DYS456, DYS449, DYS710, DYS444, and DYS464) had the greatest impact on enhancing DC. Our data provided putative Y‐STRs combination to be used for genetic and forensic applications.     

Energy Scaling of Compressed Elastic Films –Three-Dimensional Elasticity¶and Reduced Theories

We derive an optimal scaling law for the energy of thin elastic films under isotropic compression, starting from three-dimensional nonlinear elasticity. As a consequence we show that any deformation with optimal energy scaling must exhibit fine-scale oscillations along the boundary, which coarsen in the interior. This agrees with experimental observations of folds which refine as they approach the boundary. We show that both for three-dimensional elasticity and for the geometrically nonlinear Föppl-von Kármán plate theory the energy of a compressed film scales quadratically in the film thickness. This is intermediate between the linear scaling of membrane theories which describe film stretching, and the cubic scaling of bending theories which describe unstretched plates, and indicates that the regime we are probing is characterized by the interplay of stretching and bending energies. Blistering of compressed thin films has previously been analyzed using the Föppl-von Kármán theory of plates linearized in the in-plane displacements, or with the scalar eikonal functional where in-plane displacements are completely neglected. The predictions of the linearized plate theory agree with our result, but the scalar approximation yields a different scaling.     

Purification and characterization of a new Bacillus thuringiensis bacteriocin active against Listeria monocytogenes, Bacillus cereus and Agrobacterium tumefaciens

This study reports on the identification, characterization and purification of a new bacteriocin, named Bacthuricin F103, from a Bacillus thuringiensis strain BUPM103. Bacthuricin F103 production began in the early exponential phase and reached a maximum in the middle of the same phase. Two chromatographic methods based on high performance liquid chromatography and fast protein liquid chromatography systems were used to purify Bacthuricin F103. Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that this bacteriocin had a molecular weight of approximately 11 kDa. It also showed a wide range of thermostability of up to 80 °C for 60 min and a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity over a pH range of 3.0–10.0. This bacteriocin was noted, and for the first time, to exhibit potent antimicrobial activity against Agrobacterium subsp. strains, the major causal agents of crown gall disease in tomato and vineyard crops, and against several challenging organisms in food, such as Listeria monocytogenes and Bacillus cereus. Complete killing with immediate impact on cells was observed within a short period of time. The sequence obtained for Bacthuricin F103 by direct N-terminal sequencing shared considerable homology with hemolysin. Bacthuricin F103 was noted to act through the depletion of intracellular ions, which suggest that the cell membrane was a possible target to Bacthuricin F103.     

Characterization Theorems for the Quantum White Noise Gross Laplacian and Applications

This paper reports on the characterization of the quantum white noise (QWN) Gross Laplacian based on nuclear algebra of white noise operators acting on spaces of entire functions with \(\theta \)-exponential growth of minimal type. First, we use extended techniques of rotation invariance operators, the commutation relations with respect to the QWN-derivatives and the QWN-conservation operator. Second, we employ the new concept of QWN-convolution operators. As application, we study and characterize the powers of the QWN-Gross Laplacian. As for their associated Cauchy problem it is solved using a QWN-convolution and Wick calculus.     

Electrochemical behavior and analytical detection of Imidacloprid insecticide on a BDD electrode using square-wave voltammetric method

A sensitive square-wave voltammetric method for the determination of Imidacloprid(IMD) was developed using electrochemically pretreated boron-doped diamond(BDD) electrode. Aqueous solutions were prepared with Confidor 200 SL as the commercial formulation of IMD. Sodium sulfate(Na_2SO_4) was used as supporting electrolyte. The influence of operating parameters, such as the p H of the medium, frequency, pulse amplitude, scan increment and the concentration of IMD was investigated. An irreversible cathodic peak, corresponding to the reduction of IMD is observed at 1.21 V(vs. SCE) and the electrode reaction was controlled by adsorption. Under optimized conditions, the square-wave reduction peak current was linear over the concentration range of(30–200 μmol L~(-1)) with a detection and quantification limits of 8.60 μmol L~(-1))and 28.67 μmol L~(-1)), respectively. The results were compared with spectrophotometry and HPLC methods under some conditions and found to be in good agreement.To investigate applicability to real samples, the proposed method was applied to the determination of IMD in plum juice.     

One-pot deposition of palladium on hybrid TiO2 nanoparticles and catalytic applications in hydrogenation

One-pot deposition of Pd onto TiO(2) has been achieved through directly contacting palladium(II) salt with nanosized functionalized TiO(2) support initially obtained by sol-gel process using titanium isopropoxide and citric acid. Citrate groups act as functional moieties able to directly reduce the Pd salt avoiding any further reducing treatment. Various palladium salts (Na(2)PdCl(4) and Pd(NH(3))(4)Cl(2)·H(2)O) and titanium to citrate (Ti/CA) ratios (20, 50, and 100) were used in order to study the effect of the nature of the precursor and of the citrate content on the final Pd particle size and catalytic properties of the as-obtained Pd/TiO(2) systems. Characterization was performed using N(2) adsorption-desorption isotherms, ICP-AES, FTIR, XRD, XPS, and TEM. The as-obtained hybrid Pd/TiO(2) catalysts were tested in the selective hydrogenation (HYD) of an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde, i.e. cinnamaldehyde. Citrate-free Pd/TiO(2)-based catalysts present lower selectivity into saturated alcohol. However, citrate-functionalized Pd/TiO(2) catalyst seems to control the selectivity, the particle size and dispersion of Pd NPs leading to high intrinsic activity.