Luminescent enzymatic flow sensor for d- and l-lactate assay in beer

 A bioluminescent flow sensor, previously developed for the determination of both d- and l-lactate in clinical samples, was utilized to carry out the same assay in beer. The sensor monitored the reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, produced by nylon-immobilized d- and l-lactate dehydrogenase, by means of bacterial bioluminescent enzymes immobilized on a separate nylon coil. The preparation of beer samples was very simple as only a modification of pH and a dilution were necessary. The recoveries ranged from 91% to 104%, and the relative standard deviations at the 1 mmol 1^–1 level were 4.6% and 6.7% for l- and d-lactate respectively. The response was linear in the range 0.1–10 mmol 1^–1 for both d- and l-lactate. The total amount of lactate determined by bioluminescent biosensor (x) and by HPLC (y) showed a very good correlation (y=0.654 x+88.1, n=29, r=0.918). The flow injection system developed allowed the determination of not only the total but also the individual contents of d- and l-lactate in beer, and the timely discovery of the unwanted presence of lactic acid bacteria. Received: 14 January 1999 / Revised version: 29 April 1999     

Permeability model for a woven fabric

The resin transfer molding (RTM) method is used to manufacture composite parts. The reinforcing fibers are placed in a mold cavity and the resin is injected to fill up the empty spaces. After the resin cures, the mold is opened and the part ejected. To predict necessary pressures and filling times and the proper locations for the inlet ports for resin injection and vents for air ejection it is necessary to model the resin infiltration process. A key to this modeling is permeability which characterizes the resistance of fibers to the flow of infiltrating resin. A simplified model for in-plane permeability of fabric reinforcement (preform) is developed here. This model uses lubrication theory for modeling the flow through open pores and Darcy's law for the transverse flow through the reinforcement. Scaling analysis is provided to justify the simplification and to estimate the range of validity for resulting expressions. Extension of the model to cover multi-layered preforms is derived. Boundary conditions and the data necessary to specify the problem geometry are discussed. A numerical experiment is conducted to estimate the influence of the transverse permeability of the preform on the solution. A calculation is provided for the permeability of a plain weave fabric.     

Evaluation of the Antimicrobial Efficacy of N-Acetyl-l-Cysteine,Rhamnolipids, and Usnic Acid—Novel Approaches to Fight Food-Borne Pathogens

In the food industry, the increasing antimicrobial resistance of food-borne pathogens to conventional sanitizers poses the risk of food contamination and a decrease in product quality and safety. Therefore, we explored alternative antimicrobials N-Acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC), rhamnolipids (RLs), and usnic acid (UA) as a novel approach to prevent biofilm formation and reduce existing biofilms formed by important food-borne pathogens (three strains of Salmonella enterica and two strains of Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus). Their effectiveness was evaluated by determining minimum inhibitory concentrations needed for inhibition of bacterial growth, biofilm formation, metabolic activity, and biofilm reduction. Transmission electron microscopy and confocal scanning laser microscopy followed by image analysis were used to visualize and quantify the impact of tested substances on both planktonic and biofilm-associated cells. The in vitro cytotoxicity of the substances was determined as a half-maximal inhibitory concentration in five different cell lines. The results indicate relatively low cytotoxic effects of NAC in comparison to RLs and UA. In addition, NAC inhibited bacterial growth for all strains, while RLs showed overall lower inhibition and UA inhibited only the growth of Gram-positive bacteria. Even though tested substances did not remove the biofilms, NAC represents a promising tool in biofilm prevention.     

Antibacterial and Antifouling Efficiency of Essential Oils-Loaded Electrospun Polyvinylidene Difluoride Membranes

Nanofibers have become a promising material in many industries in recent years, mainly due to their various properties. The only disadvantage of nanofibers as a potential filtration membrane is their short life due to clogging by bacteria in water treatment. The enrichment of nanofibers with active molecules could prevent these negative effects, represented by essential oils components such as Thymol, Eugenol, Linalool, Cinnamaldehyde and Carvacrol. Our study deals with the preparation of electrospun polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF)-based nanofibers with incorporated essential oils, their characterization, testing their antibacterial properties and the evaluation of biofilm formation on the membrane surface. The study of the nanofibers’ morphology points to the nanofibers’ diverse fiber diameters ranging from 570 to 900 nm. Besides that, the nanofibers were detected as hydrophobic material with wettability over 130°. The satisfactory results of PVDF membranes were observed in nanofibers enriched with Thymol and Eugenol that showed their antifouling activity against the tested bacteria Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923. Therefore, these PVDF membranes could find potential applications as filtration membranes in healthcare or the environment.     

Some issues related to the energy sources in the Czech Republic

Although the Czech Republic is a relatively small country it is faced with the problem of balancing energy production against the available resources of energy-producing raw materials. The Czech Republic is atypical of the EU countries because it is one of a few countries that presently exports electric energy and, at the same time, is still producing uranium ores. Resources of all the essential energy-producing raw materials exist in the Czech Republic, though, temporarily, only brown coal and bituminous coal reserves cover the immediate needs of energy production, while uranium ores are sufficient to satisfy the demands for a long period in the future. This paper provides data on the deposits of raw materials useful for energy production in the Czech Republic and their lifetimes, as well as the proportions of different energy sources.     

BH3 Mimetics in Hematologic Malignancies

Hematologic malignancies (HM) comprise diverse cancers of lymphoid and myeloid origin, including lymphomas (approx. 40%), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL, approx. 15%), multiple myeloma (MM, approx. 15%), acute myeloid leukemia (AML, approx. 10%), and many other diseases. Despite considerable improvement in treatment options and survival parameters in the new millennium, many patients with HM still develop chemotherapy-refractory diseases and require re-treatment. Because frontline therapies for the majority of HM (except for CLL) are still largely based on classical cytostatics, the relapses are often associated with defects in DNA damage response (DDR) pathways and anti-apoptotic blocks exemplified, respectively, by mutations or deletion of the TP53 tumor suppressor, and overexpression of anti-apoptotic proteins of the B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL2) family. BCL2 homology 3 (BH3) mimetics represent a novel class of pro-apoptotic anti-cancer agents with a unique mode of action—direct targeting of mitochondria independently of TP53 gene aberrations. Consequently, BH3 mimetics can effectively eliminate even non-dividing malignant cells with adverse molecular cytogenetic alterations. Venetoclax, the nanomolar inhibitor of BCL2 anti-apoptotic protein has been approved for the therapy of CLL and AML. Numerous venetoclax-based combinatorial treatment regimens, next-generation BCL2 inhibitors, and myeloid cell leukemia 1 (MCL1) protein inhibitors, which are another class of BH3 mimetics with promising preclinical results, are currently being tested in several clinical trials in patients with diverse HM. These pivotal trials will soon answer critical questions and concerns about these innovative agents regarding not only their anti-tumor efficacy but also potential side effects, recommended dosages, and the optimal length of therapy as well as identification of reliable biomarkers of sensitivity or resistance. Effective harnessing of the full therapeutic potential of BH3 mimetics is a critical mission as it may directly translate into better management of the aggressive forms of HM and could lead to significantly improved survival parameters and quality of life in patients with urgent medical needs.     

Flexible conversion ratio fast reactors: Overview

Conceptual designs of lead-cooled and liquid salt-cooled fast flexible conversion ratio reactors were developed. The performance achievable by the unity conversion ratio cores of these reactors was compared to an existing supercritical carbon dioxide-cooled (S-CO₂) fast reactor design and an uprated version of an existing sodium-cooled fast reactor. All concepts have cores rated at 2400 MWt. The cores of the liquid-cooled reactors are placed in a large-pool-type vessel with dual-free level, which also contains four intermediate heat exchangers (IHXs) coupling a primary coolant to a compact and efficient supercritical CO₂ Brayton cycle power conversion system. The S-CO₂ reactor is directly coupled to the S-CO₂ Brayton cycle power conversion system. Decay heat is removed passively using an enhanced reactor vessel auxiliary cooling system (RVACS) and a passive secondary auxiliary cooling system (PSACS). The selection of the water-cooled versus air-cooled heat sink for the PSACS as well as the analysis of the probability that the PSACS may fail to complete its mission was performed using risk-informed methodology. In addition to these features, all reactors were designed to be self-controllable. Further, the liquid-cooled reactors utilized common passive decay heat removal systems whereas the S-CO₂ uses reliable battery powered blowers for post-LOCA decay heat removal to provide flow in well defined regimes and to accommodate inadvertent bypass flows. The multiple design limits and challenges which constrained the execution of the four fast reactor concepts are elaborated. These include principally neutronics and materials challenges. The neutronic challenges are the large positive coolant reactivity feedback, small fuel temperature coefficient, small effective delayed neutron fraction, large reactivity swing and the transition between different conversion ratio cores. The burnup, temperature and fluence constraints on fuels, cladding and vessel materials are elaborated for three categories of material - materials currently available, available on a relatively short time scale and available only with significant development effort. The selected fuels are the metallic U-TRU-Zr (10% Zr) for unity conversion ratio and TRU-Zr (75% Zr) for zero conversion ratio. The principal selected cladding and vessel materials are HT-9 and A533 or A508, respectively, for current availability, T-91 and 9Cr-1Mo steel for relatively short-term availability and oxide dispersion strengthened ferritic steel (ODS) available only with significant development.     

Accentuating the rank positions in an agreement index with reference to a consensus order

In this paper, we propose an index that measures the agreement level between an individual opinion and a collective opinion when both are expressed by rankings of a set of alternatives. This index constitutes an interesting weighted version of the well‐known Kendall's ranks correlation index. The originality of the proposed index arises from the fact that it accounts for the relevance of the specific position of the alternatives in an individual order to quantify the agreement level of the individual order with respect to a collective temporary order. The paper also introduces a new consensus measure model. The core of the consensus model is the proposed agreement index. We present an illustrative example to describe the consensus process. We can obtain a faster convergence to a consensus solution using this new index compared to Kendall's index.