Microbial Application to Improve Olive Mill Wastewater Phenolic Extracts

Olive mill wastewater (OMW) contains valuable and interesting bioactive compounds, among which is hydroxytyrosol, which is characterized by a remarkable antioxidant activity. Due to the health claims related to olive polyphenols, the aim of this study was to obtain an extract from OMW with an increased level of hydroxytyrosol by means of microbial enzymatic activity. For this purpose, four commercial adsorbent resins were selected and tested. The beta-glucosidase and esterase activity of strains of Wickerhamomyces anomalus, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were also investigated and compared to those of a commercial enzyme and an Aspergillus niger strain. The W. anomalus strain showed the best enzymatic performances. The SP207 resin showed the best efficiency in selective recovery of hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol, oleuropein, and total phenols. The bioconversion test of the OMW extract was assessed by using both culture broths and pellets of the tested strains. The results demonstrated that the pellets of W. anomalus and L. plantarum were the most effective in hydroxytyrosol increasing in phenolic extract. The interesting results suggest the possibility to study new formulations of OMW phenolic extracts with multifunctional microorganisms.     

MWCNTs-ZrO2 as a reusable heterogeneous catalyst for the synthesis of N-heterocyclic scaffolds under green reaction medium

A simple, efficient, and facile heterogeneous multi-walled carbon nanotubes-zirconia nanocomposite (MWCNTs-ZrO₂) has been synthesized using natural feedstock coconut juice (água-de-coco do Ceará). The synthesized catalyst was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. The heterogeneous nanocomposite has been used for one-pot synthesis of various N-heterocyclic compounds like pyrazoles, 1,2-disubstituted benzimidazoles, 2-arylbenzazoles, and 2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-ones under green reaction medium at room temperature. This novel method has several advantages, such as short reaction time, simple work-up, excellent yield, and green reaction conditions. The catalyst was recycled up to four times without significant loss in catalytic activity.     

二苯并噻吩在分散型钼催化剂和原位产生的氢存在下的加氢脱硫Ⅲ. 催化剂前身物、硫化氢、一氧化碳和水对反应的影响(英)

研究了水／ 甲苯乳化液中二苯并噻吩（ 硫芴） 在分散型钼酸、磷钼酸和四硫钼酸铵催化剂存在下的加氢脱硫反应． 反应在高压釜中于３４０ ℃及三种不同的气氛即Ｈ２ ，Ｈ２／Ｈ２ Ｏ和ＣＯ／Ｈ２Ｏ（ＣＯ 和Ｈ２Ｏ 经水煤气转换反应（ ＷＧＳＲ） 产生原位氢） 的存在下进行． 用ＧＣ和ＧＣＭＳ鉴定、分析了气体和液体产物的组成． 结果表明： 对硫芴的加氢脱硫反应，在分散型四硫钼酸铵催化剂存在下，原位产生的氢的效果仅比加入的氢气稍好，而在分散型钼酸和磷钼酸催化剂存在下，原位产生的氢远比加入的氢气有效． 实验结果还表明： 硫化氢能显著提高分散型钼酸和磷钼酸催化剂的加氢脱硫活性，但在分散型四硫钼酸铵催化剂存在下，硫化氢能促进加氢反应而抑制氢解反应． 一氧化碳和水均选择性地抑制氢解反应．     

Cigarette smoke extract induced protein phosphorylation changes in human microvascular endothelial cells in vitro

Phosphorylation is the most widely studied posttranslational modification (PTM) and is an important regulatory mechanism used during cellular responses to external stimuli. The kinases and phosphatases that regulate protein phosphorylation are known to be affected in many human diseases. Cigarette smoking causes cardiovascular disease (CVD). Endothelial cells play a pivotal role in CVD initiation and development; however, there have been limited investigations of the specific signaling cascades and protein phosphorylations activated by cigarette smoke in endothelial cells. The purpose of this research was to better understand the differential protein phosphorylation in endothelial cells stimulated with extracts of cigarette smoke total particulate matter (CS-TPM) in vitro. Human microvascular endothelial cells were exposed in vitro to CS-TPM at concentrations that were shown to cause endothelial cell dysfunction. The phosphorylated proteins were isolated using phosphoprotein-specific chromatography, followed by enzymatic digestion and nano-flow capillary liquid chromatography (ncap-LC) coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry. This study putatively identified 94 proteins in human microvascular endothelial cells that were differentially bound to a phosphoprotein-specific chromatography column following exposure to CS-TPM suggesting differential phosphorylation. Pathway analysis has also been conducted and confirmations of several observations have been made using immunoaffinity-based techniques (e.g., Western blotting). Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Highly efficient synthesis of 3-pyrrolyl-indolinones and pyrrolyl-indeno[1,2-b]quinoxalines catalyzed by heteropolyacids

Simple and improved conditions have been found for the synthesis of 3-pyrrolyl-indolinones and pyrrolyl-indeno[1,2-b]quinoxalines by coupling of 4-hydroxyproline with isatins and 11H-indeno[1,2-b]quinoxalin-11-ones using Keggin (H₃PW₁₂O₄₀) and Well-Dawson tungsten heteropolyacids (H₆P₂W₁₈O₆₂).     

Development and characterisation of an XeCl excimer laser-generated soft-X-ray plasma source and its applications

Summary A large-aperture, long-pulse XeCl excimer laser has been used to generate a soft-X-ray plasma source. Several laser optical configurations have been employed to optimise X-ray emission, including positive-branch unstable resonators and injection by seeding the gain region of the laser with a small commercial excimer laser, resulting in power densities in the range 10¹²–10¹⁴ W cm⁻². The characteristics of the plasma source for each different laser configuration and for different target materials are investigated. The most suitable source conditions (spectral energy distribution, time duration, etc.) for specific applications are discussed. Supported by the Royal Society, UK. Supported by INFM, Italy.     

Proton n.m.r. spectra of furo[3,2-c] and furo[2,3-c]thiapyrylium cations,compared with their thieno homologues. Correlations between chemical shifts and charge densities from CNDO/2 and PPP calculations

Significant variations of thiapyrylium chemical shifts, by comparison with their thienohomologues, are shown by ¹H n.m.r. spectra of furo[3,2-c]thiapyrylium and furo[2,3-c]thiapyrylium perchlorates. The observed changes can be ascribed to a different distribution of the electron charge (mainly caused by participation of the 3d orbitals of sulphur in the thienohomologues) and to a different contribution of the ring current; this is shown by MO calculations performed by the CNDO/2 and the coupled Hartree–Fock methods, respectively.     

Some design limitations for large-aperture high-energy per pulse excimer lasers

Summary Some limitation problems for gas discharge excimer lasers, when scaled to a high pulsed energy output with high repetition rate are discussed. As an example, we present some experimental results obtained with an X-ray preionized (10×10×100) cm³ active volume, low-repetition-rate-operated gas discharge XeCl laser system. ENEA student. ENEA guest.