Exploring the Valuable Carotenoids for the Large-Scale Production by Marine Microorganisms.

Carotenoids are among the most abundant natural pigments available in nature. These pigments have received considerable attention because of their biotechnological applications and, more importantly, due to their potential beneficial uses in human healthcare, food processing, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. These bioactive compounds are in high demand throughout the world; Europe and the USA are the markets where the demand for carotenoids is the highest.

Effects of the Usage of l-Cysteine (l-Cys) on Human Health.

This review summarizes recent knowledge about the use of the amino acid l-Cysteine (l-Cys) through diet, nutritional supplements or drugs with the aim to improve human health or treat certain diseases. Three databases (PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) and different keywords have been used to create a database of documents published between 1950 and 2017 in scientific journals in English or Spanish. A total of 60,885 primary publications were ultimately selected to compile accurate information about the use of l-Cys in medicine and nutritional therapies and to identify the reported benefits of l-Cys on human health.

as a Potential Microalgal Growth-Promoting Bacterium in the Biosorption of Mercury from Aqueous Solutions.

The use of microalgal biomass is an interesting technology for the removal of heavy metals from aqueous solutions owing to its high metal-binding capacity, but the interactions with bacteria as a strategy for the removal of toxic metals have been poorly studied. The goal of the current research was to investigate the potential of co-immobilized with sp. in polyurethane discs for the biosorption of Hg(II) from aqueous solutions and to evaluate the influence of different Hg(II) concentrations (0.

Soluble transferrin receptor and risk of type 2 diabetes in the obese and nonobese.

Background: Studies evaluating the relationship between soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR), a biomarker inversely related to body iron stores, and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are scarce and inconclusive. Furthermore, sTfR concentrations have been observed to be significantly higher in obese than in nonobese individuals. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the relationship between sTfR and the risk of T2DM in obese and nonobese subjects.

Image segmentation of biofilm structures using optimal multi-level thresholding.

The appreciation of biofilm structures in digital images can be subjective to the observer, and hence it is necessary to analyse the underlying images in useful parameters by means of quantification that is, ideally, free of errors. This paper proposes a combination of techniques for segmentation of biofilm images through an optimal multi-level thresholding algorithm and a set of clustering validity indices, including the determination of the best number of thresholds. The results, which are validated through Rand Index and a quantification process performed in a laboratory, are similar to the quantification and segmentation done by an expert.