Tailor-made starch-based adhesives chemically modified with NaOH:urea and their applications on a cellulosic substrate.

Adhesives formulated with native starches have high viscosity, low solids content, poor bond strength and stability due to the starch retrogradation. To overcome this problem, a strategy is the starch treatment with NaOH solution combined with urea, capable of intercalating in the polymeric chains of starch. The aims of this work were to develop adhesives based on chemically modified cassava starch with different NaOH:urea ratios and to study in depth the effect induced by the addition of different concentrations of alkali and urea in the adhesive capacity of formulations that determine their subsequent application in paper-based packaging.

Endotracheal tube biofilm in critically ill patients during the COVID-19 pandemic : description of an underestimated microbiological compartment.

Biofilm (BF) growth is believed to play a major role in the development of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in the intensive care unit. Despite concerted efforts to understand the potential implication of endotracheal tube (ETT)-BF dispersal, clinically relevant data are lacking to better characterize the impact of its mesostructure and microbiological singularity on the occurrence of VAP. We conducted a multicenter, retrospective observational study during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, between March and May 2021.

Lactobacillus plantarum CIDCA 8327: An α-glucan producing-strain isolated from kefir grains.

Lactobacillus plantarum CIDCA 8327 is an exopolysaccharide (EPS)-producer strain isolated from kefir with promising properties for the development of functional foods. The aim of the present study was to characterize the structure of the EPS synthesized by this strain grown in skim milk or semidefined medium (SDM). Additionally, genes involved in EPS synthesis were detected by PCR.

Oral administration of kefiran exerts a bifidogenic effect on BALB/c mice intestinal microbiota.

The activity of kefiran, the exopolysaccharide present in kefir grains, was evaluated on intestinal bacterial populations in BALB/c mice. Animals were orally administered with kefiran and Eubacteria, lactobacilli and bifidobacteria populations were monitored in faeces of mice at days 0, 2, 7, 14 and 21. Profiles obtained by Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) with primers for Eubacteria were compared by principal component analysis and clearly defined clusters, correlating with the time of kefiran consumption, were obtained.

Application of culture-dependent and culture-independent methods for the identification of Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens in microbial consortia present in kefir grains.

The biological and technological characteristics of kefiran as well as its importance in grain integrity led us to analyze the microbial kefir grain consortium with focus on Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens. The presence of L. kefiranofaciens in the nine kefir grains studied was demonstrated by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis.