Prebiotic Effects of α- and β-Galactooligosaccharides: The Structure-Function Relation.

Oligosaccharides containing galactosyl moieties belong to two main groups: raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFO, α-GOS) and lactose-type β-galactooligosaccharides (β-GOS), both well-known for their prebiotic effect. The present review investigates the vast amounts of recent research on the structures of GOS and their beneficial impact. It focuses on the molecular interactions between GOS and probiotics in vitro and in vivo, the enzymology of the processes, and the genetic prerequisites for the synthesis and degradation of GOS by probiotic bacteria.

SimMS: a GPU-accelerated cosine similarity implementation for tandem mass spectrometry.

Motivation: Untargeted metabolomics involves a large-scale comparison of the fragmentation pattern of a mass spectrum against a database containing known spectra. Given the number of comparisons involved, this step can be time-consuming.

Results: In this work, we present a GPU-accelerated cosine similarity implementation for Tandem Mass Spectrometry (MS), with an approximately 1000-fold speedup compared to the MatchMS reference implementation, without any loss of accuracy.

Overview of Developments in the MRCC Program System.

mrcc is a versatile suite of quantum chemistry programs designed for accurate and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. This contribution outlines the general features and recent developments of the package. The most popular features include the open-ended coupled-cluster (CC) code, state-of-the-art CC singles and doubles with perturbative triples [CCSD(T)], second-order algebraic-diagrammatic construction, and combined wave function theory-DFT approaches.

Balancing pH and Pressure Allows Boosting Voltage and Power Density for a H-I Redox Flow Battery.

The decoupled power and energy output of a redox flow battery (RFB) offers a key advantage in long-duration energy storage, crucial for a successful energy transition. Iodide/iodine and hydrogen/water, owing to their fast reaction kinetics, benign nature, and high solubility, provide promising battery chemistry. However, H-I RFBs suffer from low open circuit potentials, iodine crossover, and their multiphase nature.

Direct microbial production of 2,3-Butanediol from inulin by Bacillus velezensis R22 through the synergistic action of membrane and cytoplasmic inulinases.

The present study investigates the natural ability of Bacillus velezensis R22 to produce 2,3-BD from two inulin-rich substrates - insoluble and soluble chicory flour. After complex optimization of the media content and process parameters by consecutive application of Plackett-Burman design and response surface methodology, the strain R22 was capable of producing 71.2 g/L (95.