State and prospects of modern research in biotechnology of licens as a medicinal raw material

Based on the content analysis of the sources of patent and scientific literature on the biotechnology of lichens as a medicinal raw material, systematized modern information is provided, as well as original experimental data regarding the cultivation of botanical species of lichens of various ecological and geographical groups under controlled conditions. Since ancient times, lichens havebeen used as medicines and are included in the pharmacopoeias of various countries. At present, methodological approaches have been developed for the cultivation of lichens (genera Usnea, Rhinocarpon, Umbilicara ) and their components: phycobiont (genera Nostoc, Chlorella ), mycobiont ( Petrusaria pertiza, Leydea parasema, Alternaria sp.). The main biologically active compounds (usnic acid, lichenin, cetrarin, water-soluble vitamins, calcium oxalate) and the pharmacological effects caused by them (antimicrobial, stimulating appetite, enveloping, anti-inflammatory, anti-burn, regenerating). Biotechnological approaches can be implemented for species cloning, reproduction, creation of a bank of cell cultures of lichens and their components in order to preserve economically valuable producers in an active state and develop technologies for obtaining biomass and pharmacologically valuable biologically active compounds.

A continuum mechanics model for the Fåhræus-Lindqvist effect

The decrease in apparent relative viscosity that occurs when blood is made to flow through a tube whose diameter is less than about 0.3 mm is a well-known and documented phenomenon in physiology, known as the Fåhræus-Lindqvist effect. However, since the historical work of Fåhræus and Lindqvist (Amer. J. Physiol. 96(3): pp. 562–568, 1931), the underlying physical mechanism has remained enigmatic. A widely accepted qualitative explanation was provided by Haynes (Amer. J. Physiol. 198, pp. 1193–1200, 1960) according to which blood flows in microvessels with a core-annulus structure, where the erythrocytes concentrate within a central core surrounded by a plasma layer. Although sustained by observations, this conjecture lacks a rigorous deduction from the basic principles of continuum dynamics. Moreover, relations aimed to reproduce the blood apparent relative viscosity, extensively used in micro-circulation, are all empirical and not derived from the analysis of the fluid mechanical phenomena involved. In this paper, we apply the recent results illustrated in Guadagni and Farina (Int. J. Nonlinear Mech. 126, p. 103587, 2020), with the purpose of showing that Haynes’ conjecture, slightly corrected to make it more realistic, can be proved and can be used to reach a sound explanation of the Fåhræus-Lindqvist effect based on continuum mechanics. We propose a theoretical model for the blood apparent relative viscosity which is validated by matching not only the original experimental data reported by Fåhræus and Lindqvist (Amer. J. Physiol. 96(3), pp. 562–568, 1931), but also those provided by several subsequent authors.

The Advantage of Automatic Peer-Reviewing of 13C-NMR Reference Data Using the CSEARCH-Protocol

A systematic investigation of the experimental 13C-NMR spectra published in Molecules during the period of 1996 to 2015 with respect to their quality using CSEARCH-technology is described. It is shown that the systematic application of the CSEARCH-Robot-Referee during the peer-reviewing process prohibits at least the most trivial assignment errors and wrong structure proposals. In many cases, the correction of the assignments/chemical shift values is possible by manual inspection of the published tables; in certain cases, reprocessing of the original experimental data might help to clarify the situation, showing the urgent need for a public domain repository. A comparison of the significant key numbers derived for Molecules against those of other important journals in the field of natural product chemistry shows a quite similar level of quality for all publishers responsible for the six journals under investigation. From the results of this study, general rules for data handling, data storage, and manuscript preparation can be derived, helping to increase the quality of published NMR-data and making these data available as validated reference material.

A model of exercise-induced changes in metabolism, signaling, and gene expression in skeletal muscle

Skeletal muscle is the principal contributor to exercise-induced changes in human metabolism. Strikingly, although it has been demonstrated that a lot of metabolites accumulating in blood and human skeletal muscle during an exercise activate different signaling pathways and induce expression of many genes in working muscle fibres, the system understanding of signaling-metabolic pathways interrelations with downstream genetic regulation in the skeletal muscle is still elusive. Herein, a physiologically based computational model of skeletal muscle comprising energy metabolism, Ca2+ and AMPK signalling pathways, and expression regulation of genes with early and delayed responses has been developed based on a modular modeling approach. The integrated modular model validated on diverse including original experimental data and different exercise modes provides a comprehensive in silico platform in order to decipher and track cause-effect relationships between metabolic, signaling and gene expression levels in the skeletal muscle.

CORE SIM+ SIMULATIONS OF COLIBRI FUEL RODS OSCILLATION EXPERIMENTS AND COMPARISON WITH MEASUREMENTS

At EPFL, the CROCUS reactor has been used to carry out experiments with vibrating fuel rods. The paper presents a first attempt to employ the measured data to validate CORE SIM+, a neutron noise solver developed at Chalmers University of Technology. For this purpose, the original experimental data are processed in order to extract the necessary information. In particular, detector recordings are scrutinized and detrended, and used to estimate CPSDs of detector pairs. These values are then compared with the ones derived from the CORE SIM+ simulations of the experiments. The main trend of the experimental data along with the values for some detectors are successfully reproduced by CORE SIM+. Further work is necessary on both the experimental and computational sides in order to improve the validation process.

Semiochemicals for management of the southern pine beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae): successes, failures, and obstacles to progress

The southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), is among the most destructive bark beetle pests of pines (Pinaceae) of the southeast and mid-Atlantic United States of America, Mexico, and Central America. Numerous volatile compounds can stimulate or reduce attraction of the beetle, but efforts to incorporate these into effective, practical technologies for pest management have yielded mixed results. Attractants have been incorporated into lures used in monitoring traps that are employed operationally to forecast outbreaks and detect emerging populations. The attraction inhibitor, verbenone, shows efficacy for suppressing southern pine beetle infestations but has not yet been adopted operationally. No effective semiochemical tree protectant has been developed for the beetle. We discuss complexities in the chemical ecology of the beetle that likely have impeded research and development of semiochemical management tools, and we describe basic science gaps that may hinder further progress if not addressed. We also report some supporting, original experimental data indicating (1) that a verbenone device can inhibit the beetle’s response to sources of attractant in a radius of at least several metres, (2) similar olfactory responses by the beetle to both enantiomers of verbenone, and (3) that pheromone background can cause conflicting results in semiochemical field tests.

Electro-membrane separations in biotechnology

Membrane processes are of crucial importance for downstream processing in biotechnology. This is due to their selectivity and the mild operating conditions, enabling to extract target products without damages caused by overheating and chemical agents. Besides the most spread membrane processes like ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis, electrodialysis is very important for removal and extraction of electrically charged products, i. e. anions of organic acids, some antibiotics, etc. The electrodialysis process can be organized in batch or continuous mode. On the other hand, in the electro-crossflow filtration, the transport of target solutes across the membrane is guided by two main driving forces, the transmembrane pressure and the electric potential. This combination enables various possibilities for more selective and efficient downstream processing in biotechnology. This chapter provides a brief overview of recent achievements of electrodialysis in selected bioproducts separations and recovery. A special focus, including original experimental data, is then given to electro-filtration, which is a powerful tool creating new opportunities for performing separations on the basis of both electric charge and particle size differences.

Model of corrosion cracking of irradiated austenitic steels. Part 2. Determination of model parameters and its verification

Based on the analysis and generalization of reference and original experimental data unknown coefficients, parameters and functions in constitutive equations of the model developed in the first part of article have been defined. The model has been verified. The model allows one to predict the dependence σIASCCth (below which SCC does not occur at any time of tests) on neutron dose and to calculate the time of SCC initiation at stresses higher than σIASCCth.

Analytical Semi-Empirical Model for the Prediction of Products Yields at the Fast Pyrolysis of Waste Palm Oil

The interest for vegetable oils, as a source of fuels and chemicals, boosted in the last two decades amid concerns related to oil depletion. The fast pyrolysis is a process of industrial consequences. In the present study, original experimental data in fast pyrolysis are processed in order to find the parameters of ASEM- an analytical semi-empirical model developed by the Clean Combustion Technology Laboratory (CCTL), University of Florida. The parameters, constants and coefficients of the model equation (w, To, D, p and q), were calculated for each main product with satisfactory accuracy and results were compared with other authors�. The results were discussed based on similarities and differences between slow and fast pyrolysis. The conclusion was that ASEM is a valid model which can be applied with confidence in very different process conditions.

Comment on: Synthesis of New Azo Compounds Based on N-(4-Hydroxyphenyl)maleimide and N-(4-Methylphenyl)maleimide. Molecules 2010, 15, 7498–7508

The synthesis of (E)-phenylazo-3-N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)maleimide (1) using a procedure previously reported in Molecules is deemed to be erroneous. A detailed re-investigation of the earlier work suggests that the spectral data for key intermediates and the final product, (1), was mis-assigned. We conclude that compound (1) was not synthesized, but rather an unusual ring opening reaction of the maleimide unit of the starting material, N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)maleimide (2) leading to the generation of (Z)-4-((4-hydroxyphenyl)amino)-4-oxobut-2-enoic acid, (3) was observed instead. Examination of the original experimental data reveals systematic errors in the reporting of all of the combustion microanalytical data. Overall, the present investigation suggests that errors in the interpretation of spectral data, falsification of analytical data and selective editing of experimental results raise questions over the veracity of the work presented in the original paper.