Publications by authors named "Converti A"

Olive mill wastewaters (OMWW) are characterized by a large concentration of pollutants, among which polyphenols represent a large part. This study investigated the effect of different dilutions of a culture medium enriched with olive-derived phenolic compounds on Chlorella vulgaris growth and its ability to degrade each one of them. In particular, polyphenols were precisely identified and quantified by HPLC-DAD analysis, showing high removal efficiency by C.

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pectinase was immobilized on magnetic nanoparticles coated with calcium alginate for pectin hydrolysis in guava juice by a stirred electromagnetic reactor (SER). The average crystallite size estimated by the Scherrer formula was 33.7 nm.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study optimized the production of collagenase and protease enzymes from Aspergillus heteromorphus URM0269 using submerged fermentation with soybean flour as the primary substrate, achieving maximum enzyme production under specific concentrations of substrate and yeast extract.
  • After scaling up the fermentation process in a stirred tank bioreactor, collagenase activity significantly increased while protease activity decreased, highlighting a shift in enzyme production dynamics.
  • The research found that collagenase functions best at 40°C and pH 6.0, indicating its potential use in biotechnology, and also provided thermodynamic parameters that suggest the feasibility of using soybean flour as a sustainable resource for enzyme production.
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Food packaging, which is typically made of paper/cardboard, glass, metal, and plastic, is essential for protecting and preserving food. However, the impact of conventional food packaging and especially the predominant use of plastics, due to their versatility and low cost, bring serious environmental and health problems such as pollution by micro and nanoplastics. In response to these challenges, biotechnology emerges as a new way for improving packaging by providing biopolymers as sustainable alternatives.

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Cardiovascular diseases, resulting from the deposition of clots in blood vessels, are the leading cause of death worldwide. Fibrinolytic enzymatic activity can catalyze blood clot degradation. Findings show that 36 fungal isolates recovered from Caatinga soils have the potential to produce fibrinolytic protease under submerged conditions.

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Cyclodextrins are ring-shaped sugars used as additives in medications to improve solubility, stability, and sensory characteristics. Despite being widespread, Chagas disease is neglected because of the limitations of available medications. This study aims to review the compounds used in the formation of inclusion complexes for the treatment of Chagas disease, analyzing the incorporated compounds and advancements in related studies.

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The high consumption of packaging has led to a massive production of waste, especially in the form of nonbiodegradable polymers that are difficult to recycle. Microbial cellulose is considered a biodegradable, low-cost, useful, ecologically correct polymer that may be joined with other biomaterials to obtain novel characteristics and can, therefore, be used as a raw material to produce packaging. Bagasse, a waste rich in plant cellulose, can be reprocessed and used to produce and reinforce other materials.

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This study aimed to produce, characterize and purify a protease from Aspergillus heteromorphus URM0269. After production by solid fermentation of wheat bran performed according to a central composite design, protease was characterized in terms of biochemical, kinetic, and thermodynamic parameters for further purification by chromatography. Proteolytic activity achieved a maximum value of 57.

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Article Synopsis
  • Hydrogels made of polyacrylamide and methylcellulose, enhanced with propolis, are being developed as a potential alternative for wound dressings due to their unique properties.
  • The study involved synthesizing the hydrogels and characterizing them through various methods, confirming their porous structure, water absorption capability, and good mechanical properties.
  • Results showed that the hydrogels with propolis not only contain beneficial antioxidants but also demonstrate low costs and availability, making them a promising option for treating skin lesions.
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In this study, the oils of açaí, passion fruit, pequi, and guava were submitted to physicochemical analysis to investigate their potential application in the food industry. Gas chromatography associated with mass spectroscopy showed that oleic and linoleic acids are mainly responsible for the nutritional quality of açaí, passion fruit, pequi, and guava oils, which exhibited 46.71%, 38.

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Species belonging to the genus, usually known as "pata-de-vaca", are popularly used to treat diabetes. var. (Ducke) Vaz is among them, of which the leaves are used as a tea for medicinal purposes in the Amazon region.

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The galactomannan-based gel from Cassia grandis seeds was used to incorporate Penicillium sp. UCP 1286 and commercial collagenases. Experiments were carried out according to a 2-full factorial design to identify the most significant parameters for the incorporation process.

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is a foodborne pathogen that contaminates food-processing environments and persists within biofilms on equipment, thus reaching final products by cross-contamination. With the growing demand for clean-label products, the search for natural antimicrobials as biopreservants, such as bacteriocins, has shown promising potential. In this context, this study aimed to evaluate the anti-listerial action of bacteriocins produced by LBM BT2 in an alternative medium containing sugarcane molasses (SCM).

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In this review, the main properties of olive mill solid waste, the primary by-product of olive oil production, and its feasibility as a feedstock for anaerobic digesters operating at laboratory-, pilot- and industrial-scales are discussed in detail. Nutrient addition and thermal pretreatments were found to have the potential to address the challenges arising from the high carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, the low pH, and the high concentration of phenolic compounds. Furthermore, anaerobic co-digestion with different organic feedstocks has been identified as one of the most promising options to solve the aforementioned problems and the seasonality nature of olive waste, while improving the efficiency of anaerobic treatment plants that operate throughout the whole year.

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Background: Extract of ciriguela residue was microencapsulated by spray-drying and freeze-drying using maltodextrin (M), gum arabic (GA) and their mixture (50% M; 50% GA on dry basis) as encapsulating agents. Total phenolic compounds (TPC), antioxidant activity, physicochemical properties, profile of phenolic compounds by HPLC with diode-array detection and storage stability were evaluated.

Results: TPC content of powders ranged from 306.

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Microcapsules of ciriguela peel extracts obtained by ultrasound-assisted extraction were prepared by spray drying, whose results were compared with those of freeze-drying as a control. The effects of spray-drying air temperature, feed flow rate and ratio of encapsulating agents (maltodextrin and arabic gum) were studied. Encapsulation efficiency, moisture content, total phenolic compounds (TPC), water activity, hygroscopicity, solubility, colorimetric parameters, phenolic profile by HPLC/DAD, simulated gastrointestinal digestion and morphology of spray-dried and freeze-dried microcapsules were evaluated, as well as their stability of TPC during 90 days storage at 7 and 25 °C.

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Thermostability is an important and desired feature of therapeutic proteins and is critical for the success or failure of protein drugs development. It can be increased by PEGylation-binding of poly(ethylene glycol) moieties-or glycosylation-post-translational modification to add glycans. Here, the thermostability and thermodynamic parameters of native, PEGylated, and glycosylated versions of the antileukemic enzyme crisantaspase were investigated.

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N-Acetyl-glucosaminidases (GlcNAcases) are exoenzymes found in a wide range of living organisms, which have gained great attention in the treatment of disorders related to diabetes, Alzheimer's, Tay-Sachs', and Sandhoff's diseases; the control of phytopathogens; and the synthesis of bioactive GlcNAc-containing products. Aiming at future industrial applications, in this study, GlcNAcase production by marine Aeromonas caviae CHZ306 was enhanced first in shake flasks in terms of medium composition and then in bench-scale stirred-tank bioreactor in terms of physicochemical conditions. Stoichiometric balance between the bioavailability of carbon and nitrogen in the formulated culture medium, as well as the use of additional carbon and nitrogen sources, played a central role in improving the bioprocess, considerably increasing the enzyme productivity.

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A fibrinolytic enzyme from the microalga Dunaliella tertiolecta was produced under mixotrophic conditions using different corn steep liquor (CSL) concentrations ( 0 ≤ CLS ≤ 0.75%), purified using a combination of salting out and ion-exchange chromatography, and then biochemical characterized. Cultivation of this microalga using 0.

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We have demonstrated that oligodeoxynucleotide IMT504 promotes significant improvement in the diabetic condition in diverse animal models. Based on these results, here we evaluated whether these effects observed in vivo could be due to direct effects on β-cells. We demonstrate by immunofluorescence that IMT504 enters the cell and locates in cytoplasm where it induces GSK-3β phosphorylation that inactivates this kinase.

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Microparticulate systems such as microparticles, microspheres, microcapsules or any particle in a micrometer scale (usually of 1-1000 µm) are widely used as drug delivery systems, because they offer higher therapeutic and diagnostic performance compared to conventional drug delivery forms. These systems can be manufactured with many raw materials, especially polymers, most of which have been effective in improving the physicochemical properties and biological activities of active compounds. This review will focus on the in vivo and in vitro application in the last decade (2012 to 2022) of different active pharmaceutical ingredients microencapsulated in polymeric or lipid matrices, the main formulation factors (excipients and techniques) and mostly their biological activities, with the aim of introducing and discussing the potential applicability of microparticulate systems in the pharmaceutical field.

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The compound 3,10-dihydro-1-cyclopenta[]naphtho[2,3-]furan-5,10-dione (IVS320) is a naphthoquinone with antifungal and antichagasic potential, which however has low aqueous solubility. To increase bioavailability, inclusion complexes with β-cyclodextrin (βCD) and methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MβCD) were prepared by physical mixture (PM), kneading (KN) and rotary evaporation (RE), and their -SARS-CoV-2 and antichagasic potential was assessed. The formation of inclusion complexes led to a change in the physicochemical characteristics compared to IVS320 alone as well as a decrease in crystallinity degree that reached 74.

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Kisspeptin and γ-amino butyric acid (GABA), synthesized in the central nervous system, are critical for reproduction. Both are also expressed in peripheral organs/tissues critical to metabolic control (liver/pancreas/adipose). Many kisspeptin neurons coexpress GABAB receptors (GABABR) and GABA controls kisspeptin expression and secretion.

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was cultivated in MRS medium supplemented or not with polydextrose under different conditions in order to evaluate its effect on cell growth, lactic acid and bacteriocin-like inhibitory substance (BLIS) production. Independent variables were pH (4.0, 5.

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Inulinases are enzymes involved in the hydrolysis of inulin, which can be used in the food industry to produce high-fructose syrups and fructo-oligosaccharides. For this purpose, different strains and substrates were tested for inulinase production by solid-state fermentation, among which URM4658 grown on wheat bran showed the highest activity (15.08 U mL).

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