Membrane Applications in the Dairy Industry

The membrane separation process is a promising technique to be employed in the dairy industry. It can be used to treat effluents and for the recovery of molecules of interest to add value to product formulations. The study aspired to present the potential industrial use of membranes for dairy industries. Detailed research for scientific articles on the subject was conducted from the Scopus® scientific database, and the use of wastewater treatment in the dairy industry has increased significantly over the years. The findings presented are expected to provide a valuable theoretical framework for producers and industries related to milk production and whose objective is to optimize production performance and expressive benefits from an economic and environmental viewpoint. Moreover, membrane-based wastewater treatment has low energy demand, high volume recovery, significant water quality, multiple applications of purified water, eco-friendly performance, and favorable future perspectives.

Macromolecular Crowding: a Hidden Link Between Cell Volume and Everything Else

High density of intracellular macromolecules creates a special condition known as macromolecular crowding (MC). One well-established consequence of MC is that only a slight change in the concentration of macromolecules (e.g., proteins) results in a shift of chemical equilibria towards the formation of macromolecular complexes and oligomers. This suggests a physiological mechanism of converting cell density changes into cellular responses. In this review, we start by providing a general overview of MC; then we examine the available experimental evidence that MC may act as a direct signaling factor in several types of cellular activities: mechano- and osmosensing, cell volume recovery in anisosmotic solutions, and apoptotic shrinkage. The latter phenomenon is analyzed in particular detail, as persistent shrinkage is known both to cause apoptosis and to occur during apoptosis resulting from other stimuli. We point to specific apoptotic reactions that involve formation of macromolecular complexes and, therefore, may provide a link between shrinkage and downstream responses.