Development of lactic acid production from coffee grounds hydrolysate by fermentation with Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus.

Unlabelled: Spent coffee grounds (SCG) are commercial waste that are still rich in numerous valuable ingredients and can be further processed into useful products such as coffee oil, antioxidant extract, lactic acid, and lignin. The challenge and innovation is to develop the SCG processing technology, maximizing the use of raw material and minimizing the use of other resources within the sequential process. The presented research is focused on the aspect of biotechnological production of lactic acid from SCG by using the Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus strain isolated from the environment.

Implementing an Environmental Contaminants Deliberation Module in General Chemistry.

Placing chemistry in the context of complex societal issues is one way to help students see the application of fundamental ideas in the general chemistry curriculum. Here, we describe the impact of an in-class deliberation on environmental contaminants, which encourages students to consider different perspectives when addressing the issue of water and soil quality in communities. Student surveys were used to analyze the quality of the deliberation and several key factors regarding student attitudes before and after the activity.

Low Power Compact 3D-Constructed AlScN Piezoelectric MEMS Mirrors for Various Scanning Strategies.

In this paper, the newly developed 3D-constructed AlScN piezoelectric MEMS mirror is presented. This paper describes the structure and driving mechanism of the proposed mirror device, covering its driving characteristics in both quasi-static and resonant scan modes. Particularly, this paper deals with various achievable scan patterns including 1D line scan and 2D area scan capabilities and driving methods to realize each scanning strategy.

Néel Skyrmion Bubbles in LaSrMnRuO Multilayers.

Ferromagnetic LaSrMnRuO epitaxial multilayers with controlled variation of the Ru/Mn content were synthesized to engineer canted magnetic anisotropy and variable exchange interactions, and to explore the possibility of generating a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. The ultimate aim of the multilayer design is to provide the conditions for the formation of domains with nontrivial magnetic topology in an oxide thin film system. Employing magnetic force microscopy and Lorentz transmission electron microscopy in varying perpendicular magnetic fields, magnetic stripe domains separated by Néel-type domain walls as well as Néel skyrmions smaller than 100 nm in diameter were observed.

Rapid Sterility Test Systems in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Applying a Structured Approach to Their Evaluation, Validation and Global Implementation.

The current compendial sterility test has a 14-day incubation time and is often the time-limiting step in the Assess and Release Process of pharmaceutical products. There is an ever-increasing number of technologies available on the market that have benefits in addition to faster Time to Result, such as standardization and automation of readout (eliminating analyst subjectivity) and improved data integrity (including eliminating the need for contemporaneous verification of the result by another analyst). Regulators have been encouraging the pharmaceutical industry to adopt these innovative systems; however, it has taken a considerable time before receiving the first approvals from various health authorities (including both the European Medicines Agency and Food and Drug Administration) for the use of an alternative and rapid sterility test for the release of sterile drug product lots.

A Systematic Approach for the Evaluation, Validation, and Implementation of Automated Colony Counting Systems.

For several years, automated colony counting systems have been available with varying degrees of automation. Ever more sophisticated instruments are now increasingly used in microbiological laboratories of pharmaceutical quality control. In addition to the colony counting device, the instruments are now also equipped with robotic systems performing the entire handling of the petri dishes, e.

Photothermal Bottom-up Graphene Nanoribbon Growth Kinetics.

We present laser-induced photothermal synthesis of atomically precise graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). The kinetics of photothermal bottom-up GNR growth are unravelled by Raman spectroscopy carried out in ultrahigh vacuum. We photothermally drive the reaction steps by short periods of laser irradiation and subsequently analyze the Raman spectra of the reactants in the irradiated area.

One-Pot Aldol Cascade for the Preparation of Isospiropyrans, Flavylium Salts, and bis-Spiropyrans.

We probed tandem aldol condensations of sixteen -hydroxyacetophenones, carrying electron-withdrawing and -donating groups at positions 4 and 5, using five molar equivalents of SiCl in anhydrous ethanol. Substrates carrying electron-withdrawing groups (EWGs) (0 < ∑σ > 0.63) populated the equilibria with isospiropyrans (12-74% yield), while those carrying electron-donating groups (EDGs) (∑σ < -0.

Electronic Inhomogeneity Influence on the Anomalous Hall Resistivity Loops of SrRuO Epitaxially Interfaced with 5d Perovskites.

SrRuO, a 4d ferromagnet with multiple Weyl nodes at the Fermi level, offers a rich playground to design epitaxial heterostructures and superlattices with fascinating magnetic and magnetotransport properties. Interfacing ultrathin SrRuO layers with large spin-orbit coupling 5d transition-metal oxides, such as SrIrO, results in pronounced peaklike anomalies in the magnetic field dependence of the Hall resistivity. Such anomalies have been attributed either to the formation of Néel-type skyrmions or to modifications of the Berry curvature of the topologically nontrivial conduction bands near the Fermi level of SrRuO.

Are Postoperative Clinical Outcomes Influenced by Length of Stay in the Postanesthesia Care Unit?

Purpose: To compare clinical outcomes of patients who required a prolonged length of stay in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) with a control group.

Design: A single-center purposive-sampled retrospective medical record and database audit.

Methods: Patients with prolonged PACU stays were compared to a group of patients whose stay was less than median for outcome measures: rapid response team (RRT) activation, cardiac arrest, unanticipated intensive care unit admissions, and survival to discharge.

Cell-Specific Chemical Delivery Using a Selective Nitroreductase-Nitroaryl Pair.

The utility of small molecules to probe or perturb biological systems is limited by the lack of cell-specificity. "Masking" the activity of small molecules using a general chemical modification and "unmasking" it only within target cells overcomes this limitation. To this end, we have developed a selective enzyme-substrate pair consisting of engineered variants of E.

Encouraging Science Communication through Deliberative Pedagogy: A Study of a Gene Editing Deliberation in a Nonmajors Biology Course.

Deliberative pedagogy encourages productive science communication and learning through engagement and discussion of socio-scientific issues (SSI). This article examines a two-day deliberation module on gene editing that took place in an introductory nonmajors biology course, furthering research on integrating deliberative discussion into the biology classroom. The results demonstrate the benefits of a single, episodic deliberation in the classroom, which can positively encourage active discussion and critical awareness of connections between biology and real-world issues, thus contributing to the development of scientific citizenship.

A review of methods for preventing pancreatic fistula after distal pancreatectomy.

Pancreatic fistula is one of the most severe complications after pancreatic surgeries. The risk of pancreatic fistula after distal pancreatectomy is up to 60%. Effective methods to prevent pancreatic fistula are still sought.

Immunogenicity of Isogenic IgG in Aggregates and Immune Complexes.

A paradox in monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapy is that despite the well-documented tolerogenic properties of deaggregated IgG, most therapeutic IgG mAb induce anti-mAb responses. To analyze CD4 T cell reactions against IgG in various physical states, we developed an adoptive transfer model using CD4+ T cells specific for a Vκ region-derived peptide in the hapten-specific IgG mAb 36-71. We found that heat-aggregated or immune complexes (IC) of mAb 36-71 elicited anti-idiotypic (anti-Id) antibodies, while the deaggregated form was tolerogenic.

Functional Versatility of AGY Serine Codons in Immunoglobulin Variable Region Genes.

In systemic autoimmunity, autoantibodies directed against nuclear antigens (Ags) often arise by somatic hypermutation (SHM) that converts AGT and AGC (AGY) Ser codons into Arg codons. This can occur by three different single-base changes. Curiously, AGY Ser codons are far more abundant in complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) of IgV-region genes than expected for random codon use or from species-specific codon frequency data.

Can round ligament of the liver patch decrease the rate and the grade of postoperative pancreatic fistula?

Unlabelled: The most serious complication after pancreatic surgical procedures is still a postoperative pancreatic fistula. In clinical practice there are various methods to prevent the formation of pancreatic fistula, but none of them is fully efficient. Recently, the role of grafting the round ligament of the liver on the pancreas is emphasized as a promising procedure which reduces the severity and shortens the healing time of postoperative pancreatic fistula.

γδ T Cells Shape Preimmune Peripheral B Cell Populations.

We previously reported that selective ablation of certain γδ T cell subsets, rather than removal of all γδ T cells, strongly affects serum Ab levels in nonimmunized mice. This type of manipulation also changed T cells, including residual γδ T cells, revealing some interdependence of γδ T cell populations. For example, in mice lacking Vγ4(+) and Vγ6(+) γδ T cells (B6.

Synthesis of high contrast fluorescein-diethers for rapid bench-top sensing of palladium.

A new series of palladium sensors based on fluorescein bis(allyl ether) compounds has been designed. We utilized reduced fluoresceins as key synthetic intermediates. These probes exhibit negligible background fluorescence and rapid reaction with palladium, allowing a concentration of <100 ppt to be detected in minutes using a handheld UV lamp.

Drosophila muller f elements maintain a distinct set of genomic properties over 40 million years of evolution.

The Muller F element (4.2 Mb, ~80 protein-coding genes) is an unusual autosome of Drosophila melanogaster; it is mostly heterochromatic with a low recombination rate. To investigate how these properties impact the evolution of repeats and genes, we manually improved the sequence and annotated the genes on the D.

Predominant role for activation-induced cytidine deaminase in generating IgG anti-nucleosomal antibodies of murine SLE.

Serum IgG anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) directed to complexes of DNA and histones are a hallmark of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and reflect a failure in lymphocyte self-tolerance. A prior study utilizing spontaneously autoimmune B6.Nba2 mice deficient in terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) and with heterozygous deficiencies in Jh and Igk loci underscored the importance of somatic hypermutation (SHM) as a major generator of SLE-associated ANA.

γδ T cells affect IL-4 production and B-cell tolerance.

γδ T cells can influence specific antibody responses. Here, we report that mice deficient in individual γδ T-cell subsets have altered levels of serum antibodies, including all major subclasses, sometimes regardless of the presence of αβ T cells. One strain with a partial γδ deficiency that increases IgE antibodies also displayed increases in IL-4-producing T cells (both residual γδ T cells and αβ T cells) and in systemic IL-4 levels.

General parity between trio and pairwise breeding of laboratory mice in static caging.

Changes made in the 8th edition of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals included new recommendations for the amount of space for breeding female mice. Adopting the new recommendations required, in essence, the elimination of trio breeding practices for all institutions. Both public opinion and published data did not readily support the new recommendations.

Combined minimally invasive management of infected pancreatic necrosis: a case report.

Infected necrosis is a potentially fatal complication of necrotizing pancreatitis. Open surgical debridement is the mainstay management of infected pancreatic necrosis. Over the last decade minimally invasive techniques have been increasingly used for the treatment of infected pancreatic necrosis and their results are encouraging.

Functionally responsive self-reactive B cells of low affinity express reduced levels of surface IgM.

Somatic gene rearrangement generates a diverse repertoire of B cells, many which have receptors possessing a range of affinities for self-Ag. Newly generated B cells express high and relatively uniform amounts of surface IgM (sIgM), while follicular (FO) B cells express sIgM at widely varying levels. It is plausible, therefore, that downmodulation of sIgM serves as a mechanism to maintain weakly self-reactive B cells in a responsive state by decreasing their avidity for self-Ag.