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Pure cultures of Botryococcus sp. microalgae have great potential for generating huge amounts of algae lipid that can be further converted into biodiesel. Lipids with nanometer in size can be applied to medicine and pharmacy recently. In this study, the effects of light intensity and CO2 concentration on the biomass productivity, lipid content, and lipid productivity of Botryococcus braunii were examined in 21-day intervals. The optimum cultivating conditions for biomass accumulation were 6,000 lux with 0.04% CO2 and 21 days of culturing; this provided the highest biomass productivity of 140.46 mg L(-1) d(-1). The highest lipid productivity of 44.46 mg L(-1) d(-1) occurred at 6,000 lux with 5% CO2 and 21 days of culturing. The maximum specific growth rate (micro(max)) was similar among different concentrations of CO2 (0.682 d(-1) under 12,000 lux at 10% CO2; 0.585 d(-1) under 6,000 lux at 5% CO2). Culturing at 5% or 10% CO2 has been shown to enhance the accumulation of lipids, introducing the possibility of using flue gas as a carbon source. The nanotechnology in this study will be helpful towards research in green science and engineering such as bio-fixation of CO2 and drug delivery systems.

Transformed root cultures of Artemisia annua grown in autoclaved medium show large variations in biomass and artemisinin production regardless of the culture conditions or clonal type. However, using filter-sterilized sugars singly or in combination while holding the carbon level in the medium constant resulted in an unexpected variability in biomass production and artemisinin yield. Autoclaving results in variable hydrolysis of sucrose in the culture medium. Subsequent experiments using combinations of filter-sterilized sugars at a constant total carbon level in the medium showed a stimulation of artemisinin production by glucose. Growth in sucrose was equivalent to growth in fructose and significantly better than in glucose. These results suggest that sugars may be affecting terpenoid metabolism not only as carbon sources, but also as signal molecules.

Reliance on biomass for cooking and heating exposes many women and young children in developing countries to high levels of air pollution indoors. This study investigated the association between household use of biomass fuels for cooking and acute respiratory infections (ARI) in preschool age children (<5 years) in Zimbabwe.Analysis is based on 3559 children age 0-59 months included in the 1999 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS). Children who suffered from cough accompanied by short, rapid breathing during the 2 weeks preceding the survey were defined as having suffered from ARI. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of suffering from ARI among children from households using biomass fuels (wood, dung, or straw) relative to children from households using cleaner fuels (liquid petroleum gas [LPG]/natural gas, or electricity), after controlling for potentially confounding factors.About two-thirds (66%) of children lived in households using biomass fuels and 16% suffered from ARI during the 2 weeks preceding the survey interview. After adjusting for child's age, sex, birth order, nutritional status, mother's age at childbirth, education, religion, household living standard, and region of residence, children in households using wood, dung, or straw for cooking were more than twice as likely to have suffered from ARI as children from households using LPG/natural gas or electricity (OR = 2.20; 95% CI: 1.16, 4.19).Household use of high pollution biomass fuels is associated with ARI in children in Zimbabwe. The relationship needs to be further investigated using more direct measures of smoke exposure and clinical measures of ARI.

In the near future, the year 2050, agricultural production should expand to fulfill the needs of approximately 9.7 billion inhabitants. Such an objective should be harmonized with social, economic, and environmental sustainability aspects to maintain safe food production and food security worldwide. For more than a year, the COVID-19 pandemic has raised and is still strongly disrupting the agro-livestock production sector, similar to several other economic sectors. In this sector, the relationships between suppliers, producers, and consumers should always continue to maintain the activity of the production chain, which are impaired by social distancing decisions taken following the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, a global cross-sectional survey (translated into four languages: Arabic, English, French, and Spanish) was shared with people belonging to the agricultural sector to identify: (1) the role of the agricultural information and communication technologies (ICTs) in agro-livestock farming systems sustainability during the period of COVID-19 pandemic, (2) the need for such technologies in the agricultural sector, and (3) the factors that affect the use of such technologies. The results showed that the most frequently used agricultural ICTs were social media (Facebook and/or WhatsApp; 27.3%) and online platforms and Internet services (26.3%), whereas robotic vehicles and/or drones (6.6%) were less frequently used. During the emergence of the pandemic, the major reasons impacting agro-livestock farming systems’ sustainability were social distancing (30.0%), shortage of labor (17.7%), maintaining precision farm management (14.8%), product marketing (14.2%), access production inputs (7.2%), and others (16.1%). Applying agricultural ICTs solved many obstacles related to the production process, such as maintaining precision farm management (25.6%), product marketing (23.6%), and access production inputs (16.1%). The subgroup analyses of the results considering the degree of country advancement, size of agribusinesses, and role/position of respondents in the farm highlighted the importance of supporting the use, availability, and awareness of agricultural ICTs at least for some groups of people such as those belong to developing countries, laborers, and small-scale agri-business holders. This cross-sectional study highlights the urgent need to turn to and to expand the use of new agricultural ICTs to meet the growing demand for food production in the world and to ensure the resilience and sustainability of farming systems, specifically under unexpected and extreme conditions.

Accumulating evidence suggests that regular moderate consumption of wine can positively influence risk factors associated with cardiovascular health. These effects are often attributed to grape and wine-derived phenolic compounds and their effects on risk factors such as atherosclerosis, for which mechanisms have been clearly identified, such as a decrease in the oxidation of LDL-cholesterol and reduction of oxidative stress, and an increase in nitric oxide and related restoration of endothelial function. In addition, the ethanol component of wine increases HDL-cholesterol, inhibits platelet aggregation, promotes fibrinolysis and reduces systemic inflammation. Scientific research needs to be conducted, however, before we can begin to provide science-based dietary recommendations, although there is sufficient evidence to generally recommend consuming food sources rich in bioactive compounds such as wine in moderation. This narrative review examines published evidence on the cardioprotective effects associated with wine-derived compounds, with a primary focus on the development and progression of atherosclerosis and thrombosis.

AbstractBacterial biofilms are recalcitrant to antibiotic therapy and a major cause of persistent and recurrent infections. New antibody-based therapies may offer potential to target biofilm specific components for host-cell mediated bacterial clearance. For Pseudomonas aeruginosa, human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting the Psl biofilm exopolysaccharide exhibit protective activity against planktonic bacteria in acute infection models. However, anti-Psl mAb activity against P. aeruginosa biofilms is unknown. Here, we demonstrate that anti-Psl mAbs targeting three distinct Psl epitopes exhibit stratified binding in mature in vitro biofilms and bind Psl within the context of a chronic biofilm infection. These mAbs also exhibit differential abilities to inhibit early biofilm events and reduce biomass from mature biofilms in the presence of neutrophils. Importantly, a mAb mixture with neutrophils exhibited the greatest biomass reduction, which was further enhanced when combined with meropenem, a common anti-Pseudomonal carbapenem antibiotic. Moreover, neutrophil-mediated killing of biofilm bacteria correlated with the evident mAb epitope stratification within the biofilm. Overall, our results suggest that anti-Psl mAbs might be promising candidates for adjunctive use with antibiotics to inhibit/disrupt P. aeruginosa biofilms as a result of chronic infection.

A sustainable approach of Desmodesmus sp. GIEC-179: Klebsiella pneumoniae (DUT-XJR-t-1.2) co-culture ratios were optimized to remove tetracycline (TET) from synthetic wastewater. To enhance the tetracycline removal performance, the effect of microalgae-bacterial co-culture ratio, maximum TET concentration, effective inoculum amount, growth temperature and pH were studied. The optimized ratio 1:2 of Desmodesmus sp.: K. pneumoniae showed the optimal removal percentage at the temperature of 25 °C, pH 7 and 10% inoculum amount; and the removal of TET was recorded as 95%. Moreover, this study explored the Desmodesmus sp.: K. pneumoniae (1:2) nutrient (COD, NH4+ and PO43-) exchange relationship and their interaction of TET removal to better understand their fundamental mechanism. According to the results of this study, Desmodesmus sp.: K. pneumoniae co-culture could be a green option for bio-removal of tetracycline from wastewater.