Improvement on Citric Acid Production in Solid-state Fermentation by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aspergillus niger</Emphasis> LPB BC Mutant Using Citric Pulp

Citric acid (CA) production has been conducted through a careful strain selection, physical–chemical optimization and mutation. The aim of this work was to optimize the physical–chemical conditions of CA production by solid-state fermentation (SSF) using the Aspergillus niger LPB BC strain, which was isolated in our laboratory. The parental and mutant strain showed a good production of CA using citric pulp (CP) as a substrate. The physical–chemical parameters were optimized and the best production was reached at 65% moisture, 30 °C and pH 5.5. The influence of the addition of commercial and alternative sugars, nitrogen sources, salts, and alcohols was also studied. The best results (445.4 g of CA/kg of CP) were obtained with sugarcane molasses and 4% methanol (v/w). The mutagenesis induction of LPB BC was performed with UV irradiation. Eleven mutant strains were tested in SSF where two mutants showed a higher CA production when compared to the parental strain. A. niger LPB B3 produced 537.6 g of CA/kg of CP on the sixth day of fermentation, while A. niger LPB B6 produced 616.5 g of CA/kg of CP on the fourth day of fermentation, representing a 19.5% and 37% gain, respectively.     

Effect of Heating Strategy on Power Consumption and Performance of a Pilot Plant Anaerobic Digester

The effect of heating strategy on power consumption and performance of a pilot plant anaerobic digester treating chicken litter, under thermophilic conditions, has been studied. Heating strategy was evaluated using three different spans (0.2 °C, 0.6 °C, and 1.0 °C) for triggering the temperature control system from target temperature (56.7 °C). The hydraulic retention time in the pilot plant digester was in the range of 32 to 37 days, varying the total solids concentration fed from 5% to 6%. The results showed that under the experimental conditions, heating was the most energy-demanding process with 95.5% of the energy used. Increments up to 7.5% and 3.8%, respectively, on mechanical and heating power consumption, were observed as the span, for triggering the temperature control system from target temperature, was increased. Under the experimental conditions studied here, an increment of 30.6% on the global biodigester performance index was observed when a span of 1.0 °C was compared to the one of 0.2 °C.     

A QM/MM Investigation of Thymine Dimer Radical Anion Splitting Catalyzed by DNA Photolyase

On the mend : The repair reaction of the thymine dimer by DNA photolyase (see picture) is studied by hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical dynamics simulations based on the X‐ray structure of the enzyme–DNA complex. The dynamics of splitting of the thymine dimer radical anion within the DNA photolyase active site is characterized. The model includes the protein environment.

     

Blackberry (Rubus spp.): a pH-dependent oral contrast medium for gastrointestinal tract images by magnetic resonance imaging

In this study, seven fruits have been tested on their magnetic properties, paramagnetic metal content and contrast enhancement in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of phantom and in vivo. Magnetic susceptibility was determined for the fruit pulps, as well as the contents of paramagnetic metals; iron, manganese and copper. The total content of these metals was 4.3, 8.6, 11.1, 10.9, 12.3, 8.3 and 29.3 mg/kg of fruit for plum, blueberry, apple (red), pineapple, beet, grape, blackberry, respectively, and with magnetic susceptibility of -2.29+/-0.07, -2.43+/-0.07, -2.13+/-0.07, -1.84+/-0.02, -1.75+/-0.01, -1.78+/-0.06, -2.18+/-0.07 SI, respectively. T(1)- and T(2)-weighted MR images were performed for the seven fruits and water (chi= -9.98 x 10(-3) SI) and in one subject. While there was no correlation between the magnetic susceptibility and contrast enhancement, there is a correlation with the total paramagnetic metal content determined with contrast enhancement in MRI. Thus, blackberry (Rubus spp.) contrast enhancement was the highest among the fruits in T(1)-weighted images. Furthermore, this fruit's contrast enhancement shows to be pH-dependent. These characteristics and the wide availability of the Rubus spp. suggest that it should be implemented as an oral contrast agent in images by MR to assess the function of the gastric section of the GI tract. Furthermore, it has the advantage of being a natural meal, so that it can be well tolerated by the patients and use as much as it is needed without side effects.     

Probing the spin-orbit coupling of nuclear protons

The strong absorption in quasi-free scattering opens a possibility of measuring the spin-orbit coupling of nuclear protons. Cross sections for polarized incoming protons are expected to exhibit pronounced asymmetries, with size and sign depending on the selected momentum and the spin-orbit coupling in the nuclear state involved.     

On the evaluation of the geometrical factors utilized in ligand polarization calculations

The utility of the Ligand polarization model in solving many physical problems in quantum mechanics has been appreciated among scientists during the last years. Problems such as electric dipole strength, vibronic electric dipole strength, optical activity calculations have been carried out within the framework of a dynamic coupling mechanism. Taking advantage of the irreducible tensor method put forward by Griffith in the case of molecular symmetry groups, both the molecular states and relevant operators can be classified in terms of irreducible representations of the molecular group in question, and therefore it is most convenient to express the relevant operators involved in any specific calculation in a symmetry adapted form. As a starting point, we may classify our molecular states and operators in the 0-rotation group and lower symmetry groups may also be studied by using simple correlation properties. Here we aim to deal with d-d and f-f type of transitions, and hence the 2² (electric quadrupole), 2⁴ (electric hexadecapole) and the 2⁶-multipoles are considered in some detail. We have adopted, the octahedral set of functions as given by Griffith to define the 2^itl (l = 2, 4, 6) multipoles and obtain the corresponding geometrical factors for the various irreducible representations.     

Chemometrics-assisted simultaneous determination of atenolol and chlorthalidone in synthetic binary mixtures and pharmaceutical dosage forms

Resolution of binary mixtures of atenolol (ATE) and chlorthalidone (CTD) with minimum sample pre-treatment and without analyte separation has been successfully achieved, using a new and rapid method based on partial least squares (PLS1) analysis of UV spectral data. The simultaneous determination of both analytes was possible by PLS1 processing of sample absorbances between 255 and 300 nm for ATE and evaluation of absorbances in the 253–268 nm region for CTD. The mean recoveries for synthetic samples were 100.3±1.0% and 100.7±0.7% for ATE and CTD, respectively. Application of the proposed method to two commercial tablet preparations in the content uniformity test showed them to contain 103.5±0.8% and 104.9±1.8% ATE respectively, as well as 103.4±1.2% and 104.5±2.2% CTD. Use of this method also allowed the elaboration of dissolution profiles of the drugs in two commercial combined formulation products, through the simultaneous determination of both drugs during the dissolution test. At the dissolution time of 45 min specified by USP XXIV, both pharmaceutical formulations complied with the test.     

ZnO films grown by laser ablation with and without oxygen CVD

In the present work we have studied the properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films grown by laser ablation of ZnO targets under different substrate temperature and background oxygen conditions. The ZnO layers were deposited with a Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) system on pre-nitrided (0001) sapphire (Al₂O₃), using the base line of a Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm. The films were characterized by different structural and optical methods, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), optical transmission spectroscopy, and steady-state photoluminescence (PL). XRD analysis with rocking curves and θ–2θ scans indicates preferential growth along the c-axis direction with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) smaller than 1.5. Low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) showed strong excitonic emission near 3.36 eV between 9 and 65 K.