Survival of Yersinia enterocolitica and Escherichia coli in spring water

Survival of pure and mixed cultures of Yersinia enterocolitica and Escherichia coli in sterile spring water stored at 4 degrees C was evaluated. Y. enterocolitica increased two or three logs during the first 3 weeks of incubation, and at the end of 64 weeks viable cells in numbers corresponding to the initial inoculum level were still detectable. However, after 1 week of incubation, the number of E. coli in water started to decrease and in 13 weeks time no E. coli was detected. More rapid decrease of E. coli was observed in mixed cultures.     

Design of an Ultrafast G Protein Switch Based on a Mouse Melanopsin Variant

The primary goal of optogenetics is the light-controlled noninvasive and specific manipulation of various cellular processes. Herein, we present a hybrid strategy for targeted protein engineering combining computational techniques with electrophysiological and UV/visible spectroscopic experiments. We validated our concept for channelrhodopsin-2 and applied it to modify the less-well-studied vertebrate opsin melanopsin. Melanopsin is a promising optogenetic tool that functions as a selective molecular light switch for G protein-coupled receptor pathways. Thus, we constructed a model of the melanopsin G_q protein complex and predicted an absorption maximum shift of the Y211F variant. This variant displays a narrow blue-shifted action spectrum and twofold faster deactivation kinetics compared to wild-type melanopsin on G protein-coupled inward rectifying K⁺ (GIRK) channels in HEK293 cells. Furthermore, we verified the in vivo activity and optogenetic potential for the variant in mice. Thus, we propose that our developed concept will be generally applicable to designing optogenetic tools.     

Effects of sodium bicarbonate, vinegar, acetic and citric acids on growth and survival of Yersinia enterocolitica.

The effects of sodium bicarbonate, vinegar, acetic and citric acids on growth and survival of Yersinia enterocolitica in a laboratory medium were investigated. Acetic acid was found to be the most effective agent used, which completely inhibited the growth of the test organism at concentration of 0.156% (v/v) in the media incubated at 22 degrees C for 48 h. The antimicrobial activity of acetic acid and vinegar on the survival of the test bacterium in media incubated at 22 degrees C for 60 min was dependent on the inocula levels.     

An unusual coursing of the facial vein

During the dissections of 50 adult cadavers for educational purposes, we found a 45-year-old male cadaver with an abnormally coursing facial vein which has joined the retromandibular vein at a higher level--in the parotid gland--on the right side of the face. This anomaly has also been detected radiologically.     

Inhibitory effects of anethole and eugenol on the growth and toxin production of Aspergillus parasiticus

The antifungal and antiaflatoxigenic activity of anethole and eugenol which are active components of commonly used spices was studied against two strains of Aspergillus parasiticus. Anethole, up to concentration of 400 μg/ml where complete inhibition was observed, delayed growth and reduced mycelial weight but it showed a stimulative effect on the toxin production of both strains. At a concentration of 300 μg/ml, eugenol inhibited the growth of both strains; levels of eugenol below 200 μg/ml enhanced production of aflatoxin particularly by A. parasiticus NRRL 299.     

Effect of operating parameters on color and COD removal performance of SBR: sludge age and initial dyestuff concentration

Effect of sludge and initial dyestuff concentration on color and COD removal performance of anaerobic-aerobic sequential batch reactor was investigated. Remazol Red RR a vinylsulphonyl (VS) and monochlortriazine (MCT), reactive azo dye was used in the study. Sludge age was varied between thetaC=12 days and thetaC=30 days and dyestuff concentration was between D0=50 and D0=500 mg l(-1). The maximum color and COD removal was obtained as 95% and 70% for D0=60 mg l(-1) and COD0=800 mg l(-1) at 15 days sludge retention time, respectively, and no further improvement was observed when sludge age was increased to 30 days. The main color removal phase in this operation system was the anaerobic phase. Because, the color removal efficiency was already above 95% under anaerobic condition and therefore, the contribution of aerobic phase to color removal was negligible. Increasing dyestuff concentration did not significantly affect the decolorization. It was possible to obtain over 90% dyestuff removal even at D0=500 mg l(-1). SBR system reduces 1000 mg l(-1) initial COD concentrations to about 400 mg l(-1) for dyestuff concentration up to 150 mg l(-1). COD removal efficiency decreased from 70% to 60% by increasing initial dyestuff concentration from 100 to 500 mg l(-1). The results indicated that dyestuff and COD are mainly used by anaerobic organisms and aeration does not improve the performance of SBR system.     

Adsorption behaviour of Cu and Cd onto natural bentonite

The adsorption behaviour of Cu²⁺ and Cd²⁺ onto bentonite was studied as a function of temperature under optimized conditions of amount of adsorbent, particle size, pH, concentration of metals, and shaking time. The adsorption patterns of metal ions onto followed the Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherms. This included adsorption isotherms of single-metal solutions at 298-333 K by batch experiments. The thermodynamic parameters such as variation of enthalpy ΔH, variation of entropy ΔS and variation of Gibbs free energy ΔG were calculated from the slope and intercept of lnK_o vs. 1 / T plots. The adsorptions were endothermic reactions. The results suggested that natural bentonite was suitable as sorbent material for the recovery and adsorption of metal ions from aqueous solutions.     

The survival of E. coli O157:H7, S. Typhimurium and L. monocytogenes in black carrot (Daucus carota) juice

In this study the survival and growth patterns of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella Typhimurium and Listeria monocytogenes in various concentrations of black carrot juice were investigated during incubation period at 4 °C and 37 °C for 7 days. Several parameters, such as juice concentration (%), pH, incubation temperature (°C) and time (days) were found effective on the survival of pathogens tested. Although L. monocytogenes has been found to be the less resistant microorganism to the variable conditions, there were only ca. 1 and 2 log reductions in the number of the cells in the juice samples incubated at 4 °C for 2 and 7 days, respectively. Incubating at low temperature (4 °C) enhanced the survival of test microorganisms.