Search

Kombucha is produced by fermenting sweetened tea with symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY). Kombucha is slightly sweet and acidic tea beverage that is popular all over the world due to its refreshing taste and health-promoting active metabolites formed during the fermentation process. Sucrose-sweetened tea is the traditional substrate for kombucha fermentation. However, due to consumers' demand as well as availability of resources, various alternative substrates, such as honey, molasses and coffee, have been used in the production of kombucha over time to promote additional health benefits. Aside from that, kombucha fermentation supplementation, such as with herbs, bee pollen, and lactic acid bacteria, have also been used to develop new novel kombucha, to value-add the biological activities and sensory properties. The activity of Komagataeibacter spp. bacteria results in the formation of a polymeric cellulose pellicle during the kombucha fermentation process. The cellulose produced has a wide range of application in a variety of fields. In this review, conventional and alternative fermentation methods were reviewed to better understand the development of kombucha. • Tea sweetened with sucrose is a traditional substrate for producing kombucha. • Kombucha is fermented using a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. • Kombucha has numerous health benefits due to active metabolites. • Alternative kombucha substrates include other teas and sugars, coffee, fruit juices. • Fermentation with supplementation of novel ingredients enhanced its bioactivities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Bronchoscopy is a commonly used procedure in the context of aspiration in the Intensive Care Unit setting. Despite its ability to remove mucus plug and undigested gastric contents, aspiration of gastric content into the trachea is one of the most feared complications among anesthesiologist. Discussion The scenario is made worst if the aspiration causes acute hypoxemic respiratory failure immediately post intubation. However, in the event of desaturation, the quick decision to proceed with bronchoscopy is a challenging task to the anesthesiologist without knowing the causes. Case presentation We present a case of a 12-year-old boy who had a difficult-to-ventilate scenario post transferring and immediately connected to ventilator in operation theatre (OT) from portable ventilator from the emergency department. She was successfully managed by bronchoscopy. Conclusion Special attention should be given to the difficult-to-ventilate scenario post intubation of traumatic brain injury patient prior to operation. Prompt diagnosis and bronchoscope-assisted removal of foreign body was found to be a successful to reduce morbidity and mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endobronchial Tuberculosis is hazardous in causing circumferential narrowing of tracheobronchial tree despite the eradication of tubercle bacilli in the initial insult from Pulmonary Tuberculosis. They may present as treatment resistant bronchial asthma and pose challenge to airway management in the acute setting. We present a 25 year-old lady who was newly diagnosed bronchial asthma with a past history of Pulmonary Tuberculosis that had completed treatment. She presented with sudden onset of difficulty breathing associated with noisy breathing for 3 days and hoarseness of voice for 6 months. Due to resistant bronchospasm, attempts were made to secure the airway which led to unanticipated difficult intubation and ventilation. Subsequent investigations confirmed the diagnosis of Endobronchial Tuberculosis and patient was managed successfully with anti TB medication, corticosteroids and multiple sessions of tracheal dilatation for tracheal stenosis. This case highlights the unusual cause of difficulty in intubation and ventilation due to Endobronchial Tuberculosis, which required medical and surgical intervention to improve the condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The main aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of ED and the associated socio-demographic and psychological correlates among hypertensive patients from a rural multiethnic community in Malaysia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among hypertensive patients attending rural primary care clinics. The socio-demographic, health characteristics, erectile function and levels of depression, anxiety and stress were recorded and analysed. The International Index of ErectileFunction-5 (IIEF-5) questionnaire and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) were used to assess erectile function and the levels of depression, anxiety and stress, respectively. Results: A total of 253 hypertensive patients comprising 178 (70.4%) Malays, 56 (22.1%) Chinese and 18 (7.5%) Indians participated. The mean age of participants was 59.8±10.62 years. Overall, the prevalence rate of ED was 62%: 90 (35%) with moderate and 69 (27%) with severe ED. The prevalence rate of ED among those aged 65 years or older (83.1%) was significantly higher than those less than 65 years (51.8%), (p<0.001). Higher prevalence rates were also noted among the Chinese (78.6%) compared to Malays (59.6%) and Indians (50%) (p=0.021); lower education level (69.1%) (p=0.026), among hypertensive patients with concomitant diabetes mellitus (70.6%) (p=0.026) and WHR⩾0.9 (31.3%) (p=0.021). However, no significant association was found between depression, anxiety and stress scores with IIEF-5 score. Conclusion: The prevalence rate of ED among Malaysian hypertensive patients is high. The rate increases significantly with age, Chinese ethnicity, concomitant diabetes mellitus, lower education level, WHR and the number of pack years of smoking. ED should be properly recognized and managed in hypertensive patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Landfilling has caused a number of hydrogeological environmental problems due to the migration of the leachate will contaminate the groundwater. The aim of this study is to investigate the migration of leachate in the landfill site to groundwater and surface water using hydrochemical and isotopic (δ 18O and δ 2H) signature. Therefore, the hydrochemistry and isotopic (δ 18O and δ 2H) of each sampling station can be attributing to leachate migration. Multivariate analysis is then used to identify the interaction between leachate, groundwater and surface water. Sample of leachate, groundwater and surface water were analyzed to evaluate the impact of leachates on groundwater through the comparison of their hydrochemical nature. The results show that isotopic observations are supported by Potential Chemical Analysis (PCA) and Hirarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA). Additionally, this joint analysis makes it possible to observe the significance of the migration of leachate towards groundwater and surface water in the landfill vicinity. HCA analysis result reveals 3 clusters divided from 14 sampling points. The first and last cluster indicate there are no significant and mediocre relationship towards leachate due to high linkage distance from Matang Landfill Leachate Meanwhile, the second cluster shows the position of the contaminant that is Matang Landfill Leachate with short linkage distance to the sampling point and this cluster signifies the leachate migration to the sampling point and it shows the similarity of hydrochemical characteristics between sample from the shallow groundwater and leachate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the midst of increasing demand of water for competing uses, it is difficult to meet the entire demand from a single source and it is a challenge to plan and manage the different water resources. Among the two major water resources, surface-groundwater interactions are required for enhanced water resource management in an irrigation canal of the Kerian Scheme. Seepage losses occurred from the irrigation is one of the gain/loss sources for the surface-groundwater. The current study aims to find the hidden shallow aquifer, determine the water gain/loss in an irrigation system, and classify the hydraulic interconnection among aquifer systems using geophysical, water balance, and stable isotope approaches. Resistivity image profiling (RIP) is conducted at six points in the study area due to commonly used for identifying the depth of the shallow aquifer layer and the results are compared against borehole drilling data. Surface-groundwater gain/loss in an irrigation system is a main component for providing the interaction between surface-groundwater and contributes to better water resources management and planning. The stable isotopes approaches is use to trace water movement in hydrology interconnection especially surface-groundwater, is an important task in the environmental field. Thus, the results plotted for both water samples from Kerian Canal and groundwater are linearly similar to those in the Global Meteoric Water Line and the Malaysian Meteoric Water Line which are revealed to come from evaporated samples and this indicates that there is a connection between the surface-groundwater in the canal system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Effects of incorporation of different types of metal oxides on physicochemical properties of ACNFs composites. • ACNFs/MgO exhibits the highest SBET and CO 2 adsorption capacity. • CO 2 adsorption on the resultant ACNFs incorporated metal oxides involved physisorption and chemisorption, simultaneously. Activated carbon nanofibers (ACNFs) incorporated with four different types of metal oxides; magnesium oxide (MgO), manganese dioxide (MnO 2), zinc oxide (ZnO), and calcium oxide (CaO) were successfully prepared via a simple electrospinning and pyrolysis process. Optimum electrospinning and pyrolysis parameters were performed to obtain porous ACNFs composites for CO 2 capture. The porous and textural characteristics of the resultant ACNFs composites were performed using N 2 adsorption isotherms at 77 K, while the features and morphologies were observed using TEM and FE-SEM. The EDX and Raman analysis were used to determine and analyse the elemental composition in the ACNFs. It was observed that ACNFs incorporated MgO (ACNF2) exhibited the largest surface area (413 m2/g) and the highest micropore volume (0.1777 cm3/g) as compared to pristine ACNF (ACNF1) and other ACNFs composites. ACNF2 also possessed the smallest fiber diameter of 357.8 ± 16.7 nm as compared to other samples. The successful incorporation of all metal oxides in electrospun fibers were proven by EDX analysis. All resultant ACNFs exhibited D- and G-peaks in Raman spectra indicating the carbon-based materials structure. As expected, the ACNF2 attained the highest CO 2 adsorption of 60 cm3/g at 298 K as compared to other ACNFs samples which is correspond to N 2 adsorption capacity. The CO 2 adsorption/desorption isotherms of the best composite sample (ACNF2) was measured at three different temperatures (273, 298, and 318 K) at 1 bar through a volumetric adsorption process and this result was compared to ACNF1. It shown that the CO 2 adsorption capacity is inversely proportional to the increasing temperature in which as the adsorption temperature increased, the adsorbed amounts of CO 2 decreased. These results indicated that the incorporation of MgO into ACNFs shows the best improvement in their physicochemical properties for enhanced adsorption performance of CO 2 under practical conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biocatalysis has emerged as a strong tool for the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). In the early twentieth century, whole cell biocatalysis was used to develop the first industrial biocatalytic processes, and the precise work of enzymes was unknown. Biocatalysis has evolved over the years into an essential tool for modern, cost-effective, and sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing. Meanwhile, advances in directed evolution enable the rapid production of process-stable enzymes with broad substrate scope and high selectivity. Large-scale synthetic pathways incorporating biocatalytic critical steps towards >130 APIs of authorized pharmaceuticals and drug prospects are compared in terms of steps, reaction conditions, and scale with the corresponding chemical procedures. This review is designed on the functional group developed during the reaction forming alcohol functional groups. Some important biocatalyst sources, techniques, and challenges are described. A few APIs and their utilization in pharmaceutical drugs are explained here in this review. Biocatalysis has provided shorter, more efficient, and more sustainable alternative pathways toward existing small molecule APIs. Furthermore, non-pharmaceutical applications of biocatalysts are also mentioned and discussed. Finally, this review includes the future outlook and challenges of biocatalysis. In conclusion, Further research and development of promising enzymes are required before they can be used in industry. • Biocatalytic synthesis of chiral alcohols is widely used in pharmaceutical sectors for producing fine chemicals from chiral molecules. • Using green chemistry and mild reaction conditions enhances cost-effectiveness and reduces environmental hazards. • Biocatalysis offers high selectivity in chiral alcohol synthesis, enabling the formation of enantiomerically pure molecules. • Advances in bioprocess engineering, reactor design, and enzyme immobilization enable scalable biocatalytic production of chiral alcohols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The silica particles in rice husk ash are useful to create the roughness required by the superhydrophobic coating on concrete. The superhydrophobic coating was prepared using rice husk ash dispersed in the ethanolic solution containing fluoroalkyl silane, 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyl triethoxy silane (2 vol.%). The ash solution was sprayed on a layer of commercial adhesive coated on the concrete. The water contact angle of 152.3 ± 0.5° on the coated concrete was observed. The cumulative water uptake was reduced as much as 40.38% while the water sorptivity was reduced up to 44.44%. The penetration of water into the coated concrete under the water pressure of 500 kPa was successfully reduced after 72 h, but not fully prevented. The ash coating did not affect the surface hardness or the compressive strength significantly, but the ash coating resulted in a higher ultrasonic velocity due to the reduction of surface porosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a facile approach to produce hydrophobic ceramic hollow fiber membranes (CHFMs) for membrane distillation (MD) desalination using the polymethylhydrosiloxane/tetraethylorthosilicate (PMHS/TEOS) hybrid material. The CHFM was modified via dip-coating with PMHS/TEOS hybrid solution followed by post-coating spinning to facilitate the formation of pores on the coating layer. The effects of ethanol and PMHS concentrations on the coating layer structure and hydrophobicity of the membranes were studied. CHFMs acquired hydrophobic properties after surface modification with the water contact angle values in the range of 108.2° to 124.1°. These membranes showed outstanding direct contact MD (DCMD) desalination performance with salt rejections of >99.98%. A flux of 6.7 L/m2h was achieved by the surface-modified CHFM when treating feed solution with a salinity of 35,000 ppm. [Display omitted] • Use of polymethylhydrosiloxane/tetraethylorthosilicate for hydrophobization of ceramic membrane. • Porous hydrophobic coating structures were prepared via spinning-assisted coating. • The membranes show hydrophobic properties with mechanically stable coating layer. • Post-coating spinning facilitates the pore formation on the coating layer. • Outstanding membrane distillation performance with >99.98% salt rejection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]