Biosurfactants and Their Biodegradability: A Review and Examination

Surfactants are extensively employed in industrial, agricultural, and food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals applications. Chemically produced surfactants cause environmental and toxicological hazards. Recently, considerable research has led to environmentally friendly procedures for the synthesis of several forms of biosurfactants from microorganisms. In comparison to chemical surfactants, biosurfactants have several advantages, such as biodegradability, low toxicity and ease of availability of raw materials. This paper offers an in-depth review of the types of surfactants, the need for bio-surfactants, their types and advantages, especially biodegradability. It also examines the biodegradability of selected four surfactants and finds that the biosurfactant is more easily biodegradable than the chemical surfactants.

Pandemic inequalities: emerging infectious diseases and health equity

The frequency and scale of Emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs) with pandemic potential has been increasing over the last two decades and, as COVID-19 has shown, such zoonotic spill-over events are an increasing threat to public health globally. There has been considerable research into EIDs – especially in the case of COVID-19. However, most of this has focused on disease emergence, symptom identification, chains of transmission, case prevalence and mortality as well as prevention and treatment. Much less attention has been paid to health equity concerns and the relationship between socio-economic inequalities and the spread, scale and resolution of EID pandemics. This commentary article therefore explores socio-economic inequalities in the nature of EID pandemics. Drawing on three diverse case studies (Zika, Ebola, COVID-19), it hypothesises the four main pathways linking inequality and infectious disease (unequal exposure, unequal transmission, unequal susceptibility, unequal treatment) – setting out a new model for understanding EIDs and health inequalities. It concludes by considering the research directions and policy actions needed to reduce inequalities in future EID outbreaks.

Who Walks the Walk and Talks the Talk? Understanding What Influences Sustainability Behaviour in Business and Leisure Travellers

While there is considerable research into what drives tourists to travel sustainably, little has been done to examine business travellers and how they differ from leisure travellers. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by looking to understand these differences and what drives them. Specifically, this paper looked to understand the influence that demographics, travel characteristics, and everyday behaviour (pro-ecological actions, frugal consumption patterns, and altruistic behaviours) have on sustainable travel behaviour, and if these influences held true for both business and leisure travellers. To facilitate this investigation, a quantitative study of 869 Canadian travellers in March of 2020 was undertaken. This research found that demographics and travel characteristics to contribute to the prediction of sustainable travel behaviour, but the greatest prediction power came from everyday behaviour. Beyond confirming that everyday behaviour is still the greatest indicator of sustainable travel domestically or abroad, this research found that this influence does not change whether the travel is for business or leisure.

Orally administered antigen can reduce or exacerbate pathology in an animal model of inflammatory arthritis dependent upon the timing of administration

Currently, treatments for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are focussed on treatment of disease symptoms rather than addressing the cause of disease, which could lead to remission and cure. Central to disease development is the induction of autoimmunity through a breach of self-tolerance. There is considerable research in RA focussed on antigens and approaches to re-establish antigen specific tolerance. A crucial step in this research is to employ appropriate animal models to test prospective antigen specific immunotherapies, preferably in the context of joint inflammation. In this short communication, we use our previously developed model of antigen specific inflammatory arthritis in which OVA-specific TcR tg T cells drive breach of tolerance to endogenous antigens to determine the impact that the timing of therapy administration has upon disease progression. Using antigen feeding to induce tolerance we demonstrate that administration prior to articular challenge results in a reduced disease score as evidenced by pathology and serum antibody responses. By contrast, feeding antigen after articular challenge had the opposite effect and resulted in the exacerbation of pathology. Although preliminary, these data suggest that the timing of antigen administration may be key to the success of tolerogenic immunotherapies. This has important implications for the timing of potential tolerogenic therapies in patients.

Self-assembly of 1-triacontanol onto Layered Doubled Hydroxide Nano-carrier toward Sustainable Growth Regulation of Maize

1-triacontanol has attracted considerable research interest in plant growth regulator field, owing to its physiological effect in seed germination, root growth and photosynthesis enhancement. In this work, a 1-triacontanol modified...

Non-Coding RNA m6A Modification in Cancer: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Targets

Recently, N6-methyl-adenosine (m6A) ribonucleic acid (RNA) modification, a critical and common internal RNA modification in higher eukaryotes, has generated considerable research interests. Extensive studies have revealed that non-coding RNA m6A modifications (e.g. microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, and circular RNAs) are associated with tumorigenesis, metastasis, and other tumour characteristics; in addition, they are crucial molecular regulators of cancer progression. In this review, we discuss the relationship between non-coding RNA m6A modification and cancer progression from the perspective of various cancers. In particular, we focus on important mechanisms in tumour progression such as proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and metastasis, tumour angiogenesis. In addition, we introduce clinical applications to illustrate more vividly that non-coding RNA m6A modification has broad research prospects. With this review, we aim to summarize the latest insights and ideas into non-coding RNA m6A modification in cancer progression and targeted therapy, facilitating further research.

Role of Public Awareness Ensuring the Sustainability of Arsenic Mitigation

Arsenic poisoning is the largest mass poisoning in history. It causes numerous toxic effects to human health which ultimately leads to cancer or Alzheimer’s disease. Nearly 300 million people over 180 countries worldwide are suffering from the arsenic contaminated groundwater more than WHO directed limit. Despite of its potential fatal toxicities, there is no effective treatment for arsenicosis. Cost-effective arsenic removal technology is also a matter of considerable research. This study aimed to summarize the individual and social issues related to arsenic problem and the remedies suggested by different authors to cope with the adverse effects of arsenic. Reported studies emphasized that only mass awareness and mass education can stop the spreading of this disaster. This study will be helpful for future research on the awareness on arsenic contamination and studies on assessing behavior in different context. Policymakers may find it as helpful resource since it describes the problem from grass-roots level. Researchers’ of pharmaceuticals and medicines may be inspired to perform their research in this field.

The Geographies of Artists and Stall holders at Afrikaans Arts Festivals, South Africa

South African arts festivals have been the subject of considerable research, with a focus on the economics, attendee patterns and impacts on local communities. Importantly, numerous role-players (stall holders, artists, festival attendees, amongst others) contribute to the diversity, origin and character of these arts festivals. Despite this, little is known of their mobility, spatiality and geographies. To this end, artists and stall holders across five large Afrikaans Language Arts festivals were interviewed to establish their itineraries, travel behaviours, festival involvement and cultural expression. On this basis, this study hopes to enable a better understanding of the geographies of Afrikaans arts festivals. Results suggest that artists and stall holders contribute significantly to shaping the geographies of these arts festivals as they are the most mobile of all participants. Their mobility creates a shared or communal festival geography – albeit now severely disrupted by COVID-19 – across Afrikaans arts festival boundaries. Unfortunately, this shared geography may also undermine the local flavour, authenticity, and regional diversity of such arts festivals.

“Completely impartial opinion, okay?”

Sponsorships on YouTube – i.e., video creators on YouTube promoting a third-party product or service to their audience – have attracted considerable research interest recently in various disciplines. This multidisciplinary study analyzes it from the perspective of argumentation theory, specifically pragma-dialectics, which offers valuable new insights into the discursive tensions inherent to this type of promotion. These tensions arise between the creator’s relationship with their audience on the one hand, which is built upon ‘parasocial’ evaluations of authenticity and community, and the commercial third party brand on the other. The insights provided by the pragma-dialectic analysis are demonstrated by means of a case study examining a sponsorship segment by YouTuber PewDiePie, which shows that creators can employ specific types of presentational choices and audience adaptation strategically to undercut commitment to the sponsor while furthering the relationship with their viewers.

EFEK GENOTOKSISITAS PADA BAHAN DENTAL ADHESIF

The use of dental adhesive materials in dental practice everyday has raised questions about the biological effects on tissues. Adhesive system has attracted considerable research interest in recent years, dental adhesive will succeed depends on the chemical adhesive, on the appropriate clinical management of materials and the knowledge of morphological changes in dental tissue caused by different bonding procedures. Some studies suggest that the dental adhesive material Genotoxicity have any effect on the network. Genotoxic effects may significantly reduce the potential for tissue repair or cause the development of neoplasia in the long term.