New Metabolic Health Definition Might Not Be a Reliable Predictor for Mortality in the Nonobese Chinese Population

Background A new metabolic health (MH) definition was proposed recently. We aimed to investigate the association between the new MH definition and all-cause mortality (ACM) in a nonobese Chinese population. Methods A total of 1157 participants with 15-year of follow-up were included for the present analysis. The association between MH and ACM were analyzed by Cox regression models with overlap weighting according to propensity score (PS) as primary analysis. Results At baseline, 920 (79.5%) participants were categorized as MH and 237 (20.5%) participants were categorized as metabolic unhealth (MUH) by this new definition. During follow-up, ACM occurred in 30 participants with mortality rate at 1.85% in MH group and 5.49% in MUH group, respectively. In the crude sample, Kaplan-Meier (K-M) analysis demonstrated a significantly lower ACM in MH group when compared to MUH group (log-rank p = 0.002). However, in multivariable Cox analysis, MH was not significantly associated with reduced ACM when compared to MUH with HR at 0.92 (95% CI: 0.32-2.64, p = 0.875). Moreover, overlap weighting-adjusted K-M analysis showed that the cumulative incidence of ACM was not significantly different between MH and MUH groups (adjusted p = 0.589). In the primary multivariable Cox analysis with overlap weighting, the HR for ACM was 0.70 (95% CI: 0.24-2.06, p = 0.519) in MH group in reference to MUH group. Additional PS analyses yielded similar results. Conclusion The new MH definition was not significantly associated with ACM in non-obese Chinese people. Further investigations are needed.

Silver Ion-Complexation High-Speed Countercurrent Chromatography Coupled with Prep-HPLC for Separation of Sesquiterpenoids from Germacrene A Fermentation Broth

A silver ion high-speed counter-current chromatography ([Ag+]-HSCCC) was developed to separate and purify five sesquiterpenoids from germacrene A fermentation broth. The solvent system was consisted of n-hexane-methanol-silver nitrate (3 mol/L) solution (10:9.5:0.5, v/v). By employing this chromatographic protocol, five sesquiterpenoids named β-elemene (1; 54.1 mg), germacrene A (2; 28.5 mg), γ-selinene (3; 4.6 mg), β-selinene (4; 3.4 mg), and α-selinene (5; 1.3 mg) were obtained successfully from 500 mg extracted crude sample with purities of 97.1%, 95.2%, 98.2%, 96.3% and 98.5%, respectively, combined with preparative HPLC. The results reveal that the addition of metal ion in biphasic solvent system significantly improved the HSCCC separation factor of sesquiterpenoids. Meanwhile, our study also provided an alternate approach to separate the compounds with less polarity, also geometrical isomers and various natural product classes.

Fermentative extraction of Amylase using waste Biomaterials as Substrate

Enzymes are biological molecules that significantly speed up the rate of virtually all of the chemical reactions that takes place within the cells. They are vital for life and serve as a wide range of important functions in the body. Solid state fermentation holds a high potential for the production of enzyme amylase using Aspergillus niger. In this work, different solid substrates such as groundnut shells, coconut coir and Palmyra sprout peels were used for the production of amylase as they are very cheap and also easily available raw materials. Then the maximum enzyme activities were analysed. Results showed that the enzyme activity of for which palmyra sprout peel was used as substrate had maximum activity in both crude sample (0.63µmol/ml.min) and in partially purified sample (1.42µmol/ml.min) and activity was found to be less for groundnut shell as substrate (crude sample 0.36µmol/ml.min) and in (treated sample 0.26µmol/ml.min) and also the specific activity was found to be maximum in palmyra sprout peel (29.2U/mg of protein) and less in groundnut shell (8.6U/mg of protein).

Treatment of wastewater from the dairy industry with Moringa Oleífera using two different methods

Dairy foods represent a large market, grossing more than $125 billion per year worldwide. Dairy effluent has high organic load and therefore must be treated before disposing in the water bodies. Natural coagulants represent a good option for effluent treatment, among which is the Moringa Oleífera (MO) seed. In this sense, the present work experimentally evaluates the effluent treatment efficiency of the dairy industrial effluents using coagulants based on the MO seed, also discussing environmental and economic potentialities of seed planting. Evaluation was carried out by use of the MO seed both directly (comminuted) and in saline solution by Jar Test essay. The COD clarification and removal efficiency of the crude sample was evaluated for different initial turbidity and coagulant volume scenarios. The results showed a high turbidity reduction efficiency (between 97 and 99%) in most of the tests by the direct use of MO seeds. The cropped area required for this application in a dairy industry with processing of 10 m³ of milk per day was 1775 m². The use of MO seed in saline solution did not achieve the same efficiency, indicating the need to optimize the test parameters. The results might to base more extensive discussions of potentialities and limitations of the use of MO seed as a potential coagulant.

Study of the Crude oil Properties of Oily seepages found in South Eastern Nigeria.

ASTM D-270 method was applied in obtaining well-head crude oil samples from Awoba 8T (Rivers State), Odidi 23L, and Odidi 46S (Delta State), Eremor 1L (Bayelsa State) and Oily Seepage samples from Ugwueme (Enugu State) and Anam (Anambra State). The0API gravity value of all the samples were 16.190 and 21.470 for Ugwueme seepage and Eremorcrude respectively, 22.470 for Odidi 46s crudeand 44.700, 43.840 and 34.760 for Anam seepage, Awoba 8t and Odidi 23L crudesrespectively, indicating heavy, medium and light crude oils respectively. All the well-head crudes and oily seepage samples studied in this work are onshore samples except Odidi 46s which is an offshore crude sample. The samples were subjected to liquid-liquid extraction using a mixture of n-hexane and dichloromethane (3:1). The extracted fractions were analyzed using GC-FID. The result of the analyses gave polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) concentrations (mg/kg) of 7106.43 for Awoba 8T crude, 6767.41 for Odidi 23L crude, 5771.20 for Odidi 46S crude, 5191.21 for Eremor crude, 4908.04 for Ugwueme Seepage and 6983.16 for Anam seepage. The predominance of low molecular weight PAHs (LMWPs) over the high molecular weight PAHs (HMWPs) indicate that both the crude oil samples and the oily seepage samples were of Petrogenic Source. However, various ratios were obtained to identify the possible source of PAHs in the crude oil and seepage samples. Mixed sources of pyrogenic and petrogenic PAHs were also discovered with evidence of „pyrolytic‟ input which may suggest some geothermal-mediated processes.

Head-to-head comparison of direct-input RT-PCR and RT-LAMP against RT-qPCR on extracted RNA for rapid SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics

SUMMARYViral pandemics, such as Covid-19, pose serious threats to human societies. To control the spread of highly contagious viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, effective test-trace-isolate strategies require population-wide, systematic testing. Currently, RT-qPCR on extracted RNA is the only broadly accepted test for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics, which bears the risk of supply chain bottlenecks, often exaggerated by dependencies on proprietary reagents. Here, we directly compare the performance of gold standard diagnostic RT-qPCR on extracted RNA to direct input RT-PCR, RT-LAMP and bead-LAMP on 384 primary patient samples collected from individuals with suspected Covid-19 infection. With a simple five minute crude sample inactivation step and one hour of total reaction time, we achieve assay sensitivities of 98% (direct RT-PCR), 93% (bead-LAMP) and 82% (RT-LAMP) for clinically relevant samples (diagnostic RT-qPCR Ct <35) and a specificity of >98%. For direct RT-PCR, our data further demonstrate a perfect agreement between real-time and end-point measurements, which allow a simple binary classification similar to the powerful visual readout of colorimetric LAMP assays. Our study provides highly sensitive and specific, easy to implement, rapid and cost-effective alternatives to diagnostic RT-qPCR tests.

Preparative separation of seven polyphenols from Perillae Folium via pH-zone-refining counter-current chromatography combined with high-speed counter-current chromatography

A separation method using pH-ZRCCC combined with HSCCC was proposed to separate the crude sample of Perillae Folium with different constituents and polarity, and three phenolic acids and four flavonoid glycosides were isolated successfully.

Low-Cost Manually Assembled Open Source Reader for Isothermal Pathogen Detection from Saliva using RT-LAMP: SARS-CoV-2 Use Case

Distributed “Point-of-Care” or “at-Home” testing is an important component for a complete suite of testing solutions. This manuscript describes the construction and operation of a platform technology designed to meet this need. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will be used as the proof-of-concept for the efficacy and deployment of this platform. The technology outlined consists of a one-pot, reverse-transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) chemistry coupled with a low-cost and user-assembled reader using saliva as input. This platform is readily adapted to a wide range of pathogens due to the genetic basis of the reaction. A complete guide to the construction of the reader as well as the production of the reaction chemistry are provided here. Additionally, analytical limit of detection data and the results from saliva testing of SARS-CoV-2, are presented. The platform technology outlined here demonstrates a rapid, distributed, molecular point-of-care solution for pathogen detection using crude sample input.

Prebiotics from energy cane bagasse

Xylooligosaccharides (XOS) is a group of emerging prebiotics that selectively stimulate the growth of advantageous gastrointestinal bacteria benefitting the host’s gut health and functionality. XOS can achieve positive biological effects at low daily doses and low caloric content, properties that are the same or more desirable than the already established prebiotics. XOS are present in plants in very low amounts so there is a great opportunity to isolate XOS with varying degrees of polymerization from the hemicellulose (xylan) fraction of lignocellulosic materials (e.g., bagasse), a source that offers both economic and environmental advantages. In this study, the recovery of XOS by the combined use of activated carbon adsorption, water washing and ethanol desorption from diluted acid pretreated energy cane bagasse hydrolysates was evaluated. The recovered XOS was tested for its prebiotic activity on Bifidobacterium adolescentis ATCC 15703. The final product of extracted XOS from energy cane bagasse (XOS EC Bagasse crude sample) had a purity of 93%, which was comparable to the purities observed with two commercially available XOS prebiotics, CPA (89%) and CPB (93%). XOS EC Bagasse crude sample exhibited prebiotic properties by stimulating the growth of B. adolescentis ATCC 15703 and by producing lactic acid, which were comparable to those observed with the commercial prebiotics.

New Male Specific Markers for Hop and Application in Breeding Program

Male specific DNA sequences were selected from a Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) mapping study to evaluate their suitability for determination of the sex phenotype among young seedlings in a hop (Humulus lupulus L.) breeding program. Ten male specific DArT markers showed complete linkage with male sex phenotype in three crossing families. Following optimization, four were successfully converted into PCR markers and a multiplex PCR approach for their use was developed. Among 197 plants (97 from the world collection; 100 from three segregating families), 94–100% positive correlation with sex phenotypic data was achieved for the single PCR amplification, whereas the multiplex approach showed 100% correlation. To develop a fast and low-cost method, crude sample multiplex PCR was evaluated in 253 progenies from 14 segregating populations without losing accuracy. The study describes, for the first time, the routine application of molecular markers linked to male sex in an intensive Slovenian hop breeding program. The methods described could be employed for screening of sex at the seedling stage in other hop programs worldwide, thereby saving resources for desirable female plants.