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Abstract Potato peel waste (PPW) is an underutilized substrate which is produced in huge amounts by food processing industries. Using PPW a feedstock for production of useful compounds can overcome the problem of waste management as well as cost-effective. In present study, potential of PPW was investigated using chemical and thermochemical treatment processes. Three independent variables i.e., PPW concentration, dilute sulphuric acid concentration and liberation time were selected to optimize the production of fermentable sugars (TS and RS) and phenolic compounds (TP). These three process variables were selected in the range of 5–15 g w/v substrate, 0.8–1.2 v/v acid conc. and 4–6 h. Whole treatment process was optimized by using box-behnken design (BBD) of response surface methodology (RSM). Highest yield of total and reducing sugars and total phenolic compounds obtained after chemical treatment was 188.00, 144.42 and 43.68 mg/gds, respectively. The maximum yield of fermentable sugars attained by acid plus steam treatment were 720.00 and 660.62 mg/gds of TS and RS, respectively w.r.t 5% substrate conc. in 0.8% acid with residence time of 6 h. Results recorded that acid assisted autoclaved treatment could be an effective process for PPW deconstruction. Characterization of substrate before and after treatment was checked by SEM and FTIR. Spectras and micrographs confirmed the topographical variations in treated substrate. The present study was aimed to utilize biowaste and to determine cost-effective conditions for degradation of PWW into value added compounds.

The surface protection of leather supplies is a major concern worldwide due to its susceptibility to microbial growth. Different methods are employed to protect leather, their results ends up with the environmental pollution and human safety issues. Nanoparticles with excellent antimicrobial potential can provide sustainable protection to leather accessories. The present work represented a comprehensive investigation into the preparation and characterization of titanium dioxide-doped zinc oxide (ZnO/TiO2 NPs) nanoparticles and their exploring as a potential antimicrobial agent in the leather industry. ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized through Sol-gel method by the reduction of zinc acetate dihydrate via black cardamom seed's extract and subsequently doped with TiO2. The optical, structural, and morphological features of nanoparticles were thoroughly scrutinized through UV–visible spectroscopy, XRD, FT-IR, and SEM-EDAX. The UV–visible spectrum showed enhanced performance between 300 and 350 nm and various peaks of the FT-IR spectrum, i.e. 3315.53, 1566.20, 1402.25, 1340.53, 1014.56, 921.97, 690.52, and 677.01 cm−1, revealed chemical bonds that prove the correct doping of TiO2 in ZnO nanoparticles. The characteristic peaks obtained from XRD at 2Ө of 32°, 35.5°, 37.2°, 47.9°, 55.6° 63.51°, and 70° intimated to the crystal planes of (100), (002), (101), (102), (110), (103), and (112), respectively. SEM-EDAX images revealed the roughly spherical but agglomerated structure of nanoparticles with size 45.44 nm. Furthermore, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), antimicrobial potential, and anti-biofilm potential analyses of nanoparticles, against all selected microorganisms (Aspergillus niger, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli) provided valuable insights into physical and biological properties of the nanoparticles. The clear zones of inhibition (29–30 mm) against these pathogenic strains showed exceptional antimicrobial action of the ZnO/TiO2 NPs. Overall, these results provide an approachable method to synthesize ZnO/TiO2 nanoparticles and their antimicrobial ability will prove to be beneficial for the protection of leather materials from various microbial contaminations.

Abstract Introduction Amorolfine 5% lacquer is an established topical treatment for fungal infection of the nails. The success of topical therapy for onychomycosis depends on whether the permeated drug concentration in the deep nail bed is retained above the effective antifungal minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). We compared the penetration profile of amorolfine and a new topical formula of terbinafine in human mycotic toenails using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry imaging–Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (MALDI-FTICR) imaging. Methods Amorolfine 5% lacquer and terbinafine 7.8% lacquer were applied to mycotic nails (n = 17); nail sections were prepared, and MALDI-FTICR analysis was performed. Based on the MICs of amorolfine and terbinafine needed to kill 90% (MIC90) of Trichophyton rubrum, the fold differences between the MIC90 and the antifungal concentrations in the nails (the multiplicity of the MIC90) were calculated overall and for the keratin-unbound fractions. Results Both amorolfine and terbinafine penetrated the entire thickness of the nail. The mean concentration across the entire nail section 3 h following terbinafine treatment was 1414 μg/g of tissue (equivalent to 4.9 mM) compared with 780 μg/g (2.5 mM) following amorolfine treatment (not significantly different; p = 0.878). The median multiplicity of the MIC90 was significantly higher in amorolfine- than terbinafine-treated nails overall (191 vs. 48; p = 0.010) and for the keratin-unbound fractions only (7.4 vs. 0.8; p = 0.002). Conclusion In this ex vivo study, MALDI-FTICR demonstrated that, although amorolfine 5% and terbinafine 7.8% had similar distribution profiles, both penetrating from the surface to the nail bed, the concentration of amorolfine in the nail was significantly higher than that of terbinafine relative to their respective MIC90 values. Clinical studies are required to determine whether these effects translate to a clinical difference in treatment success.

Abstract Introduction Onychomycosis is a fungal infection of the nails that can be challenging to treat. Here, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (MALDI-FTICR) imaging was applied to the quantitative analysis of the penetration profile of the antifungal compound, amorolfine, in human mycotic toenails. The amorolfine profile was compared with those of three other antifungals, ciclopirox, naftifine, and tioconazole. Methods Antifungal compounds (amorolfine 5% lacquer, ciclopirox 8% lacquer, naftifine 1% solution, and tioconazole 28% solution) were applied to mycotic nails (n = 42). Nail sections were prepared, and MALDI-FTICR analysis was performed on the sections at a spatial resolution of 70 μm to compare the distribution profiles. Based on the minimum inhibitory concentrations of the four test compounds needed to kill 90% (MIC90) of the fungal organism, Trichophyton rubrum, the fold differences between the MIC90 and the antifungal concentrations in the nails (termed the multiplicity of the MIC90) were calculated for each. Results The penetration profiles indicated higher concentrations of amorolfine and ciclopirox in the deeper layers of the nails 3 h after treatment, compared with naftifine and tioconazole. The mean concentrations across the entire nail sections at 3 h were significantly different among the four antifungals: amorolfine, 2.46 mM; ciclopirox, 0.95 mM; naftifine, 0.63 mM; and tioconazole, 1.36 mM (p = 0.016; n = 8 per compound). The median multiplicity of the MIC90 at 3 h was 191-fold for amorolfine, tenfold for ciclopirox, 52-fold for naftifine, and 208-fold for tioconazole. Conclusion In this study, MALDI-FTICR was successfully applied to the quantitative analysis of antifungal distribution in human mycotic nails. The findings suggest that amorolfine penetrates deeper layers of the nail and accumulates at concentrations far exceeding the MIC needed to exert antimycotic activity.

The production of indigo, primarily used by the denim industry, increases year by year, and is mainly of synthetic origin. The textile industry, on which its production depends, is responsible for 10% of greenhouse gases and 20% of water pollution. However, the source of this pigment/colorant, mainly based on petrochemistry, remains a key issue today. Extracting indigo from plants is becoming a popular answer and requires an understanding and evaluation of the entire process, from raw material to pigment recovery. In this study, the indigotin precursor, indoxyl, derived from the hydrolysis of O-glycosides biomass extracted in water, was oxidized to obtain the desired pigment. This step is the most sensitive, as variations have been observed during this phase. Consequently, the standardization of the oxidation process was established to determine the extract capacity to consistently produce the blue dye pigment. Partial hydrolysis of the O-glycosides, the indoxyl precursors, was identified as a factor causing this yield variability in the obtained extracts. Once the precursors were fully chemically hydrolyzed, plants harvested during summer and during a freezing period showed a similar capacity to produce indigotin, with values of 412 ± 25 ppm and 379 ± 0 ppm, respectively. This result showed that in freezing conditions, the enzymatic material was not available, resulting in the lack of indigotin formation. To address the use of oxidation in an alkaline medium, a spontaneous oxidation method was proposed. This method produced a purer indigotin pigment, with a 21.6% purity compared to 5.9% purity using air-mediated oxidation in an alkaline medium.

The present work focuses on the utilization of potato peel waste for the production of bioethanol. In the present study, extensive screening was undertaken to isolate amylolytic and cellulolytic microbes using starchy biomass. After confirming the chemical composition of potato peel waste (PPW), several trials were performed to enhance the amylase and cellulase production from Bacillus subtilis to hydrolyze the PPW in submerged fermentation. Optimization of physical parameters was performed using both commercial and indigenous media from enzymatically hydrolyzed PPW. Different routes of various combinations were designed to enhance bioethanol production. The maximum ethanol titer of 0.50% and 0.41% was recorded in Route B and A, i.e., separate saccharification and ethanol fermentation and consolidated fermentation. Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) also measured a good ethanol yield of 0.46%. The fermented residual cake was checked for nutritional components and showed a high content of protein and amino acids because of the addition of unicellular yeasts. This cake can be utilized as an animal feed supplement.

Surfactants are amphiphilic molecules with the ability to modify the surface tension between two surfaces. They can be obtained by various methods, the main one being synthetic, from petroleum-based substrates. Their universal use in a wide range of fields has created a global market and, consequently, ecological, and economic expectations for their production. Biocatalyzed processes, involving enzymes, can address this objective with processes complying with the principles of green chemistry: energy saving, product selectivity, monodispersity, and reduction in the use of solvents, with energy eco-efficiency. For example, fatty-acid carbohydrate esters are biobased surfactants that can be synthesized by lipases. In this work, we were interested in the synthesis of D-glucose lauric ester, which presents interesting properties described in the literature, with Aspergillus niger lipase, rarely described with sugar substrates. We optimized the synthesis for different parameters and reaction media. This lipase appeared to be highly selective for 6-O-lauroyl-D-glucopyranose. However, the addition of DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) as a co-solvent displays a duality, increasing yields but leading to a loss of selectivity. In addition, DMSO generates more complex and energy-intensive purification and processing steps. Consequently, a bio-sourced alternative as co-solvent with 2MeTHF3one (2-methyltetrahydrofuran-3-one) is proposed to replace DMSO widely described in the literature.

Species belonging to the genus Bacillus produce many advantageous extracellular enzymes that have tremendous applications on a commercial scale for the textile, detergent, feed, food, and beverage industries. This study aimed to isolate potent thermo-tolerant amylolytic and cellulolytic bacterium from the local environment. Using the Box–Behnken design of response surface methodology, we further optimized the amylase and cellulase activity. The isolate was identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing as Bacillus subtilis QY4. This study utilized potato peel waste (PPW) as the biomaterial, which is excessively being dumped in an open environment. Nutritional status of the dried PPW was determined by proximate analysis. All experimental runs were carried out in 250 mL Erlenmeyer flasks containing acid treated PPW as a substrate by the thermos-tolerant Bacillus subtilis QY4 incubated at 37 °C for 72 h of submerged fermentation. Results revealed that the dilute H2SO4 assisted autoclaved treatment favored more amylase production (0.601 IU/mL/min) compared to the acid treatment whereas high cellulase production (1.269 IU/mL/min) was observed in the dilute acid treatment and was found to be very effective compared to the acid assisted autoclaved treatment. The p-value, F-value, and coefficient of determination proved the significance of the model. These results suggest that PPW could be sustainably used to produce enzymes, which offer tremendous applications in various industrial arrays, particularly in biofuel production.

Carbohydrate-based surfactants are amphiphilic compounds containing hydrophilic moieties linked to hydrophobic aglycones. More specifically, carbohydrate esters are biosourced and biocompatible surfactants derived from inexpensive renewable raw materials (sugars and fatty acids). Their unique properties allow them to be used in various areas, such as the cosmetic, food, and medicine industries. These multi-applications have created a worldwide market for biobased surfactants and consequently expectations for their production. Biobased surfactants can be obtained from various processes, such as chemical synthesis or microorganism culture and surfactant purification. In accordance with the need for more sustainable and greener processes, the synthesis of these molecules by enzymatic pathways is an opportunity. This work presents a state-of-the-art lipase action mode, with a focus on the active sites of these proteins, and then on four essential parameters for optimizing the reaction: type of lipase, reaction medium, temperature, and ratio of substrates. Finally, this review discusses the latest trends and recent developments, showing the unlimited potential for optimization of such enzymatic syntheses.

Potato peel waste (PPW) was utilized as a bio-template for the production of valuable compounds such as reducing sugars (RS), total sugar (TS) and total phenolic compounds (TPC). Two methods of alkali treatments, i.e., chemical (NaOH) and thermochemical (NaOH assisted with autoclaving) processes, were employed for the deconstruction of PPW. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to study the effects of alkali concentration (0.6–1.0 w/v), substrate concentration (5–15 g) and time (4–8 h) on the extraction of RS, TS and TP from PPW. The application of alkali plus steam treatment in Box-Behnken design (BBD) with three levels yielded the optimum releases of RS, TS and TP as 7.163, 28.971 and 4.064 mg/mL, respectively, corresponding to 10% substrate loading, in 0.6% NaOH for 8 h. However, the alkali treatment reported optimum extractions of RS, TS and TP as 4.061, 17.432 and 2.993 mg/mL, respectively. The thermochemical pretreatment was proven a beneficial process as it led to higher productions of TP. FTIR and SEM were used to analyze the deterioration levels of the substrate. The present work was used to explore the sustainable management of PPW, which is a highly neglected substrate bioresource but is excessively dumped in open environment, raising environmental concerns. The cost-effective methods for the breakdown of PPW starch into fermentable sugars might be utilized to extract valuable compounds.

Abstract Over one billion people are currently infected with a parasitic nematode. Symptoms can include anemia, malnutrition, developmental delay, and in severe cases, death. Resistance is emerging to the anthelmintics currently used to treat nematode infection, prompting the need to develop new anthelmintics. Towards this end, we identified a set of kinases that may be targeted in a nematode-selective manner. We first screened 2040 inhibitors of vertebrate kinases for those that impair the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. By determining whether the terminal phenotype induced by each kinase inhibitor matched that of the predicted target mutant in C. elegans, we identified 17 druggable nematode kinase targets. Of these, we found that nematode EGFR, MEK1, and PLK1 kinases have diverged from vertebrates within their drug-binding pocket. For each of these targets, we identified small molecule scaffolds that may be further modified to develop nematode-selective inhibitors. Nematode EGFR, MEK1, and PLK1 therefore represent key targets for the development of new anthelmintic medicines.

Abstract Background Cutaneous adverse drug reactions (CADR) associated with oncology therapy involve 45–100% of patients receiving kinase inhibitors. Such adverse reactions may include skin inflammation, infection, pruritus and dryness, symptoms that can significantly affect the patient’s quality of life. To prevent severe skin damages dose adjustment or drug discontinuation is often required, interfering with the prescribed oncology treatment protocol. This is particularly the case of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor inhibitors (EGFRi) targeting carcinomas. Since the EGFR pathway is pivotal for epidermal keratinocytes, it is reasonable to hypothesize that EGFRi also affect these cells and therefore interfere with the epidermal structure formation and skin barrier function. Methods To test this hypothesis, the effects of EGFRi and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor inhibitors (VEGFRi) at therapeutically relevant concentrations (3, 10, 30, 100 nM) were assessed on proliferation and differentiation markers of human keratinocytes in a novel 3D micro-epidermis tissue culture model. Results EGFRi directly affect basal keratinocyte growth, leading to tissue size reduction and switching keratinocytes from a proliferative to a differentiative phenotype, as evidenced by decreased Ki67 staining and increased filaggrin, desmoglein-1 and involucrin expression compared to control. These effects lead to skin barrier impairment, which can be observed in a reconstructed human epidermis model showing a decrease in trans-epidermal water loss rates. On the other hand, pan-kinase inhibitors mainly targeting VEGFR barely affect keratinocyte differentiation and rather promote a proliferative phenotype. Conclusions This study contributes to the mechanistic understanding of the clinically observed CADR during therapy with EGFRi. These in vitro results suggest a specific mode of action of EGFRi by directly affecting keratinocyte growth and barrier function.

Previously, we reported that the Polo-like kinase PLK-1 phosphorylates the single Caenorhabditis elegans lamin (LMN-1) to trigger lamina depolymerization during mitosis. We showed that this event is required to form a pronuclear envelope scission event that removes membranes on the juxtaposed oocyte and sperm pronuclear envelopes in the zygote, allowing the parental chromosomes to merge in a single nucleus after segregation (Velez-Aguilera et al., 2020). Here, we show that cortical microtubule pulling forces contribute to pronuclear envelopes scission by promoting mitotic spindle elongation, and conversely, nuclear envelopes remodeling facilitates spindle elongation. We also demonstrate that weakening the pronuclear envelopes via PLK-1-mediated lamina depolymerization, is a prerequisite for the astral microtubule pulling forces to trigger pronuclear membranes scission. Finally, we provide evidence that PLK-1 mainly acts via lamina depolymerization in this process. These observations thus indicate that temporal coordination between lamina depolymerization and mitotic spindle elongation facilitates pronuclear envelopes scission and parental genomes unification.

To bring surface hydrophobicity to thermoplastic starch (TPS) materials for food packaging, fatty acid starch esters (FASE), specifically starch tri-laurate, were incorporated into TPS formulations. A total of three different ratios of FASE (2%, 5% and 10%) were added to the TPS formulation to evaluate the influence of FASE onto physico-chemical properties of TPS/FASE blends, i.e., surface hydrophobicity, dynamic vapor sorption (DVS), and tensile behaviors. Blending TPS with FASE leads to more hydrophobic materials, whatever the FASE ratio, with initially measured contact angles ranging from 90° for the 2%-FASE blend to 99° for the 10%-blend. FT-IR study of the material surface and inner core shows that FASE is mainly located at the material surface, justifying the increase of material surface hydrophobicity. Despite this surface hydrophobicity, blending TPS with FASE seems not to affect blend vapor sorption behavior. From a mechanical behavior perspective, the variability of tensile properties of starch-based materials with humidity rate is slightly reduced with increasing FASE ratio (a decrease of maximal stress of 10–30% was observed for FASE ratio 2% and 10%), leading to more ductile materials.

Glycolipids, carbohydrate fatty esters or sugar esters are amphiphilic molecules containing hydrophilic groups bonded to hydrophobic parent structures. Recently, glycolipids have shown their antimicrobial and antitumor capacities. Their surface activity properties have applications in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Sugar esters’ building blocks can be obtained from natural resources and/or be transformed by biochemical pathways for uses as surfactants. Biosurfactants are non-ionic, nontoxic, biodegradable, tasteless, and odourless. The biocatalysis of these molecules involves sustainable, green, and safer methods. The advantages of producing biosurfactants from enzymatic catalysis are the energy economy, high selectivity, production of natural products, reduction of the use of fossil-based solvents and chloride compounds. This review presents the most recent studies concerning the evaluation of the impact of the main parameters and their levels influencing the enzymatic synthesis of glycolipids. Various enzyme catalysed synthetic methods were described. The parameters studied were temperature, reaction time, solvent system, type of biocatalyst, substrates molar ratio proportion and the nature of substrates. This review discusses the influence of different biocatalysts in the conversions of glycolipids; The reactivity from mono to polysaccharides and their interaction with fatty acids of different carbon chain lengths in the presence of specific enzymes; The effect of the solvent polarity, the use of multiple solvents, ionic liquids, supercritical CO2, and solvent-free media in sugar ester conversions; And the optimization of temperature and reaction time in different enzymatic systems.

Scientific research is being compelled to develop highly efficient and cost-effective energy-storing devices such as supercapacitors (SCs). The practical use of SC devices is hindered by their low energy density and poor rate capability due to the binding agents in fabricating electrodes. Herein, we proposed flower-like highly open-structured binder-free ZnCo2O4 micro-flowers composed of nanosheets supported in nickel foam (ZnCoO@NF) with improved rate capability up to 91.8% when current varied from 2 to 20 A·g−1. The ZnCoO@NF electrode exhibited a superior specific capacitance of 1132 F·g−1 at 2 A·g−1 and revealed 99% cycling stability after 7000 cycles at a high current density of 20 A·g−1. The improved performance of the ZnCoO@NF electrode is attributed to the highly stable structure of the micro/nano-multiscale architecture, which provides both the high conduction of electrons and fast ionic transportation paths simultaneously.

Life science has entered the so-called 'big data era' where biologists, clinicians and bioinformaticians are overwhelmed with high-throughput sequencing data. While they offer new insights to decipher the genome structure they also raise major challenges to use them for daily clinical practice care and diagnosis purposes as they are bigger and bigger. Therefore, we implemented a software to reduce the time to delivery for the alignment and the sorting of high-throughput sequencing data. Our solution is implemented using Message Passing Interface and is intended for high-performance computing architecture. The software scales linearly with respect to the size of the data and ensures a total reproducibility with the traditional tools. For example, a 300X whole genome can be aligned and sorted within less than 9 hours with 128 cores. The software offers significant speed-up using multi-cores and multi-nodes parallelization.

Life of sexually reproducing organisms starts with the fusion of the haploid egg and sperm gametes to form the genome of a new diploid organism. Using the newly fertilized Caenorhabditis elegans zygote, we show that the mitotic Polo-like kinase PLK-1 phosphorylates the lamin LMN-1 to promote timely lamina disassembly and subsequent merging of the parental genomes into a single nucleus after mitosis. Expression of non-phosphorylatable versions of LMN-1, which affect lamina depolymerization during mitosis, is sufficient to prevent the mixing of the parental chromosomes into a single nucleus in daughter cells. Finally, we recapitulate lamina depolymerization by PLK-1 in vitro demonstrating that LMN-1 is a direct PLK-1 target. Our findings indicate that the timely removal of lamin is essential for the merging of parental chromosomes at the beginning of life in C. elegans and possibly also in humans, where a defect in this process might be fatal for embryo development.

Life science has entered the so-called 'big data era' where biologists, clinicians and bioinformaticians are overwhelmed with high-throughput sequencing data. While they offer new insights to decipher the genome structure they also raise major challenges to use them for daily clinical practice care and diagnosis purposes as they are bigger and bigger. Therefore, we implemented a software to reduce the time to delivery for the alignment and the sorting of high-throughput sequencing data. Our solution is implemented using Message Passing Interface and is intended for high-performance computing architecture. The software scales linearly with respect to the size of the data and ensures a total reproducibility with the traditional tools. For example, a 300X whole genome can be aligned and sorted within less than 9 hours with 128 cores. The software offers significant speed-up using multi-cores and multi-nodes parallelization.

Edible films and coatings with good mechanical/physical properties are highly required for carrying medical substances and food packaging. So, solvent-cast films of α- or β-chitosan filled with palygorskite, montmorillonite or geopolymer-containing material (GCM), were prepared, and the effects of their clay contents (up to 50 wt.%) on the mechanical/physical properties were assessed. The microstructure of the films was investigated using FT-IR spectroscopy, SEM and thermal analysis. The results showed that, except for the films composed of GCM and β-chitosan, the mechanical properties of the films with limited (up to 5 wt.%) to moderate (5–25 wt.%) amounts of fillers increased as a result of the attractive electrostatic forces formed between the fillers and chitosan functional groups (–NH3+, CH2OH and NHCOCH3). However, due to the occurrence of coarse aggregates, the strength of filler-rich films declined. The addition of fillers led to an increase in porosity and water absorption of the films, but it had irregular effects on their wettability and water vapor transmission rate. These observations as well as the thermal stability of the films were discussed in relation to the characterization results.

Application of polymer-flooding systems in secondary and tertiary oil recovery represents a real challenge for oil industry. In this work, our main objective is to explore possibilities of making use of xanthan-g-polyacrylamide for polymer flooding in a particular Devonian oilfield of medium salinity. The graft polymer was synthesized by using microwave-assisted graft copolymerization reaction of acrylamide on xanthan. The synthesized copolymer with optimized grafting parameters has been characterized by Infrared Spectroscopy and Thermal Analysis (DSC). Rheological analysis by steady shear and oscillatory flow experiments have been subsequently performed for xanthan and grafted xanthan under reservoir conditions. In steady shear, as expected the grafted polymer solutions flow as shear-thinning materials and apparent viscosity showed good fits with Cross’s model. The viscosity losses due to salinity or temperature are more controlled for the grafted xanthan compared to pristine xanthan. When the grafted polymer concentration is increased to 2000 ppm the losses were halved. In oscillatory shear, the copolymer solutions followed a global behavior of semi-dilute entangled systems; furthermore, all dynamic properties were influenced by the brine salinity. Compared to xanthan, the elastic properties of xanthan-g-polyacrylamide solutions have been significantly improved in saline media and the losses in elasticity of grafted polymer solutions are lower.

The capability of some polymers, such as chitosan, to form low cost gels under mild conditions is of great application interest. Ionotropic gelation of chitosan has been used predominantly for the preparation of gel beads for biomedical application. Only in the last few years has the use of this method been extended to the fabrication of chitosan-based flat structures. Herein, after an initial analysis of the major applications of chitosan flat membranes and films and their usual methods of synthesis, the process of ionotropic gelation of chitosan and some recently proposed novel procedures for the synthesis of flat structures are presented.

The hemibiotrophic fungus Zymoseptoria tritici, responsible for Septoria tritici blotch, is currently the most devastating foliar disease on wheat crops worldwide. Here, we explored, for the first time, the ability of rhamnolipids (RLs) to control this pathogen, using a total of 19 RLs, including a natural RL mixture produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 18 bioinspired RLs synthesized using green chemistry, as well as two related compounds (lauric acid and dodecanol). These compounds were assessed for in vitro antifungal effect, in planta defence elicitation (peroxidase and catalase enzyme activities), and protection efficacy on the wheat-Z. tritici pathosystem. Interestingly, a structure-activity relationship analysis revealed that synthetic RLs with a 12 carbon fatty acid tail were the most effective for all examined biological activities. This highlights the importance of the C12 chain in the bioactivity of RLs, likely by acting on the plasma membranes of both wheat and Z. tritici cells. The efficacy of the most active compound Rh-Est-C12 was 20-fold lower in planta than in vitro; an optimization of the formulation is thus required to increase its effectiveness. No Z. tritici strain-dependent activity was scored for Rh-Est-C12 that exhibited similar antifungal activity levels towards strains differing in their resistance patterns to demethylation inhibitor fungicides, including multi-drug resistance strains. This study reports new insights into the use of bio-inspired RLs to control Z. tritici.

Total phenolic compounds (TPC) and the chlorogenic acids content of potato by-product extracts of two hydro alcoholic solvents (methanol, ethanol) and two extraction methods (maceration and heating-assisted extraction) were studied. The content of TPC in the extracts was determined spectrometrically according to the Folin–Ciocalteu procedure and calculated as chlorogenic acid equivalents. Soluble phenolic acids, especially the chlorogenic acids, were performed by HPLC. The antioxidant activity of potato by-product extracts was determined by using the total oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) method. The highest content of TPC was found in raw and lyophilized red waters when using ethanol as a solvent around 57 mg/g fresh weight. Heating-assisted extraction enhances this quantitative increasing. At the given operating conditions, unpeeled potato samples exhibit a higher TPC than peeled ones, showing that TPC are accumulated in skin tissue. The greatest amount of chlorogenic acid (Caffeoyl-Quinic Acids, 3, 4, 5 CQA), mainly the 5-CQA (870 ± 39.66 µg/g WM for wet matter versus DM dry matter), was obtained in the pellets and lyophilized fresh peels (skin vs. flesh). In addition, the greatest amounts of chlorogenic acids were found when potato peels were extracted with methanol. Heating-assisted extraction improved the chlorogenic acid concentration of the potato peel extracts. The total ORAC amounts recorded in the different potato fractions varied between 1500 and 1650 µM TE/g. They were higher than those of some fruits, vegetables, nuts, cereals, and sweet potato cultivar. The good correlation coefficient found between TPC, chlorogenic acids determination, and the ORAC capacity indicates that the TPC can be used as a good indicator of the antioxidant capacity of potato by-products.

The conserved Bora protein is a Plk1 activator, essential for checkpoint recovery after DNA damage in human cells. Here, we show that Bora interacts with Cyclin B and is phosphorylated by Cyclin B/Cdk1 at several sites. The first 225 amino acids of Bora, which contain two Cyclin binding sites and three conserved phosphorylated residues, are sufficient to promote Plk1 phosphorylation by Aurora A in vitro. Mutating the Cyclin binding sites or the three conserved phosphorylation sites abrogates the ability of the N terminus of Bora to promote Plk1 activation. In human cells, Bora-carrying mutations of the three conserved phosphorylation sites cannot sustain mitotic entry after DNA damage. In C. elegans embryos, mutation of the three conserved phosphorylation sites in SPAT-1, the Bora ortholog, results in a severe mitotic entry delay. Our results reveal a crucial and conserved role of phosphorylation of the N terminus of Bora for Plk1 activation and mitotic entry.

Natural rhamnolipids are potential biocontrol agents for plant protection against bacterial and fungal diseases. In this work, we synthetized new synthetic mono-rhamnolipids (smRLs) consisting in a rhamnose connected to a simple acyl chain and differing by the nature of the link and the length of the lipid tail. We then investigated the effects of these ether, ester, carbamate or succinate smRL derivatives on Botrytis cinerea development, symptoms spreading on tomato leaves and immune responses in tomato plants. Our results demonstrate that synthetic smRLs are able to trigger early and late immunity-related plant defense responses in tomato and increase plant resistance against B. cinerea in controlled conditions. Structure-function analysis showed that chain length of the lipidic part and type of acyl chain were critical to smRLs immune activity and to the extent of symptoms caused by the fungus on tomato leaves.

Modeling a Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) sensor response as a chemosensor and not only as just an electronic transducer was performed with COMSOL Multiphysics. For this study, the SAW’s sensing area was functionalized with an ionic imprinted polymer (IIP), designed for the selective detection of lead ions. The idea consists in subdividing the IIP into elementary blocks whose physical properties can be modified separately. Three configurations have been envisaged: the IIP before and after lead ions extraction and the non-imprinted polymer (NIP). The generation of shear-horizontal waves on LiTaO3 piezoelectric substrate is confirmed by recording the displacement amplitude versus time, according to the three space directions. The sensors sensitivity is estimated from the delays induced by the incorporation of the lead ions in the IIP layer. To the best of our knowledge, this approach has never been presented in the literature.

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Life science has entered the so-called ’big data era’ where biologists, clinicians and bioinformaticians are overwhelmed with unprecedented amount of data. High-throughput sequencing has revolutionized genomics and offers new insights to decipher the genome structure. However, using these data for daily clinical practice care and diagnosis purposes is challenging as the data are bigger and bigger. Therefore, we implemented software using Message Passing Interface such that the alignment and sorting of sequencing reads can easily scale on high-performance computing architecture. Our implementation makes it possible to reduce the time to delivery to few minutes, even on large whole-genome data using several hundreds of cores.