In vivo biomodification of lipid-coated carbon nanotubes by Daphnia magna

This study examined the interactions between Daphnia magna and a water-soluble, lysophophatidylcholine coated single-walled carbon nanotube. D. magna were able to ingest the nanotubes through normal feeding behavior and utilize the lysophophatidylcholine coating as a food source. D. magna were able to modify the solubility of the nanotube, likely through digestion of the lipid coating. This study provides evidence of biomodification of a carbon-based nanomaterial by an aquatic organism. The modification significantly altered the physical properties of the nanomaterial in freshwater. Acute toxicity was observed only in the highest test concentrations. These are important findings related to determining the behavior and potential toxicity of coated nanomaterials released into the environment.     

COx-free hydrogen production from ammonia decomposition over sepiolite-supported nickel catalysts

Sepiolite, a clay mineral, was utilized as a support for nickel-based catalysts for CO_x-free hydrogen production from ammonia decomposition. First, the physical and chemical properties of sepiolite were changed by calcining it at temperatures varying from 500 to 1000 °C, then nickel was impregnated on these calcined supports and tested for ammonia decomposition at various temperatures following reduction at 650 °C. Results indicated that even though the catalysts contained almost the same amount of nickel, they showed different hydrogen production performance. Detailed characterization of the catalysts before and after reaction illustrated that the support obtained by calcining sepiolite at 700 °C shows good basic properties with a high surface area offering a high degree of nickel dispersion. These properties lead to promising hydrogen production rates which are on par, if not higher, than most of the nickel-based catalysts prepared on supports, which are either not cheap or require tedious preparation procedures.     

Determination of membrane integrity in onion tissues treated by pulsed electric fields: Use of microscopic images and ion leakage measurements

The influence of electrical field strength and number of pulses on cell rupture of onion tissues was investigated by two different methods to understand the changes in cell viability of plant tissues after pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment. The impact of pulsed electric field parameters on cell integrity of 20 mm diameter, 4 mm thick disks of Sabroso onions (Allium cepa L.) was determined by ion leakage measurements and microscopic method. The effect of treatments on cellular integrity was visualized by neutral red staining of the onion cells. Cell rupture is essential for optimal process design before extraction of desirable compounds and/or drying of plant tissues. Experimental results were obtained for onion disks treated with electrical pulses at field strengths of E ≈ 167 V/cm and 333 V/cm, pulse width of ti = 100 μs, frequency of f = 1 Hz and the number of pulses, n = 1 to 100. At 167 V/cm electric field strength treatment cell rupture was not observed however ion leakage increased and air spaces around cell walls disappeared, most likely due to changes in cell membrane permeability. Irreversible cell rupture occurred at 333 V/cm. Ion leakage values and ruptured cells count were increased with increasing pulse number. 92.2 ± 5.9 % of the onion cells were ruptured after 333 V/cm and 100 pulse treatment. Small plant cells that are located near vascular bundles and upper epidermis showed higher resistance to pulsed electric field treatments.Industrial RelevanceThe aim of this study was to determine the response of plant tissues with different cell type to the pulse electric field treatment. Two different methods, neutral red staining and ion leakage, were used to visualize and determine the cell rupture on onion tissues. Industry may choose one of these methods to evaluate treatment efficiency on the basis of cell rupture; especially ion leakage measurements which require lower investment cost and easy to apply or microscopic method for visualize the cells layer by layer. The paper stresses the importance of cell type, size and distribution of cells were found to the ability to resist cell rupture during pulsed electric field treatment. It is critical to explain overall changes caused by PEF on the structure of plant tissue at a cellular level in order to optimize the quality of PEF processed foods.     

Microbiological and physicochemical properties of farm bulk tank milk and antimicrobial resistance of its dominant bacteria

This study determined the antibiotic resistance of the dominant bacteria in the 85 farm BTMs according to the guidelines recommended by the epidemiological cutoff values in the EUCAST. In addition, some physicochemical and microbiological properties of farm BTMs were investigated. The milk samples were divided into two groups according to their SCC values. The milk samples with higher SCC than 400,000 cells mL⁻¹ were further examined bacteriologically, and the antibiotic resistance of isolates was determined. The average TAMB value was 6.34 log CFU/mL in farm BTM. It was found that high-SCC values did not affect other physicochemical properties of BTM samples, such as fat, protein and total solids, except for lactose content. Seventy-two strains were isolated from 45 bulk milk samples. The most prevalent bacteria were Enterococcus spp. (23.61%). The other isolates were Citrobacter spp. (12.5%), Staphylococcus spp. (12.51%), Serratia spp. (11.12%), Klebsiella spp. (9.72%), Bacillus spp. (9.72%), and Enterobacter spp. (8.33%). In antibiotic resistance analysis, 52.6% of Enterobacterales isolates showed cefoxitin resistance, and nine Enterobacterales isolates were determined as the presumptive ESBL producers. None of them was confirmed as ESBL producers. Moreover, MDR was detected in 83.3% of Enterobacter spp. isolates and all Bacillus spp. isolates. The over and inappropriate use of antibiotics in mastitis treatment may cause antibiotic-resistant microorganisms in milk. It was found that 52.7% of the isolated bacteria were MDR, which could pose a risk to public health and food safety, with the consumer's increasing interest in consuming raw milk.     

Paraoxonase 1-bound magnetic nanoparticles: preparation and characterizations

This is most probably the first time that covalently binding of Human serum paraoxonase 1 (PON1) to superparamagnetic magnetite nanoparticles via carbodiimide activation was investigated and presented in this study. PON1 was purified from human serum using ammonium sulfate precipitation and hydrophobic interaction chromatography (Sepharose 4B, L-tyrosine, 1-Napthylamine) and magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles were prepared by co-precipitation Fe(+2) and Fe(+3) ions in an ammonia solution at room temperature. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the magnetic measurements showed that the nanoparticles are magnetite and superparamagnetic, respectively. Direct measurements by dynamic light scattering revealed that the hydrodynamic size was 16.76 nm with polydispersity index (PDI: 0.234). The analysis of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed that the PON1 was properly bound to magnetic nanoparticles replacing the characteristic band of -NH2 at 1629 cm(-1) with the protein characteristic band at 1744 cm(-1) and 1712 cm(-1). Magnetic measurements determined that PON1-bound nanoparticles have also favorable superparamagnetic properties with zero coercivity and remanence though a slightly smaller saturation magnetization due to the decrease of magnetic moment in the volume friction. The kinetic measurements indicated the PON1-bound nanoparticles retained 70% of its original activity and exhibited an improved stability than did the free enzyme. The PON1 enzyme is seen to be quite convenient to bind superparamagnetic nanoparticles as support material.     

Effects of drying process on antioxidant activity of purple carrots

Purple carrot was analysed for its antioxidant activity by measuring its scavenging effect on 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical. The amount of purple carrot necessary to decrease by 50% the initial DPPH concentration (EC50) was found 30.23 +/- 5.17 (mg sample/mg DPPH). Effects of the dehydration process on the antioxidant activity of purple carrots were also determined after dehydration by using tray drier and microwave+tray drier combination. Purple carrots were cleaned, washed, sorted, sliced, and blanched in water at 98 +/- 1 degree C for 2 min. Then half of the samples were dehydrated in microwave (45 min) and tray drier (105 min) combination, and others were dehydrated in tray drier (150 min) until reaching the constant weight. Raw, blanched and dehydrated purple carrots were compared for their antioxidant activity and total anthocyanin contents, color values (L*, a*, b*, C*, H degrees) and dry matter contents. The antioxidant activity as measured by DPPH, EC50 value ranged from 7.80 to 30.23 of processed and raw carrots where the H degrees values were changed from -3.68 to -23.96 corresponding to a bluish hue.     

Ionising Radiation Promotes Invasive Potential of Breast Cancer Cells: The Role of Exosomes in the Process

Along with the cells that are exposed to radiation, non-irradiated cells can unveil radiation effects as a result of intercellular communication, which are collectively defined as radiation induced bystander effects (RIBE). Exosome-mediated signalling is one of the core mechanisms responsible for multidirectional communication of tumor cells and their associated microenvironment, which may result in enhancement of malignant tumor phenotypes. Recent studies show that exosomes and exosome-mediated signalling also play a dynamic role in RIBE in cancer cell lines, many of which focused on altered exosome cargo or their effects on DNA damage. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding how these changes in exosome cargo are reflected in other functional characteristics of cancer cells from the aspects of invasiveness and metastasis. Therefore, in the current study, we aimed to investigate exosome-mediated bystander effects of 2 Gy X-ray therapeutic dose of ionizing radiation on the invasive potential of MCF-7 breast cancer cells in vitro via assessing Matrigel invasion potential, epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) characteristics and the extent of glycosylation, as well as underlying plausible molecular mechanisms. The findings show that exosomes derived from irradiated MCF-7 cells enhance invasiveness of bystander MCF-7 cells, possibly through altered miRNA and protein content carried in exosomes.     

A network-based shortest route model for parallel disassembly line balancing problem

Disassembly lines should be balanced efficiently to increase productivity of the line and to reduce disassembly costs. This problem is called disassembly line balancing problem (DLBP). The objective of the DLBP is usually to find the minimum number of disassembly workstations required. This study introduces parallel DLBP (PDLBP) with single-product and proposes a network model based on the shortest route model (SRM) for solving PDLBP. The proposed model is illustrated via numerical examples. A comprehensive experiment is also conducted to evaluate problem-specific features of disassembly lines. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study dealing with PDLBP. This paper will present a different point of view regarding DLBP.     

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles: effect of iron oleate precursors obtained with a simple way

The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of different amounts of iron oleate precursor with different oleic acid amounts on the properties of the synthesised nanoparticles by thermal decomposition. The iron oleate precursors which formed from oleic acids in the order of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 g, and 0.1 g iron powder was prepared under 200 °C seperately, using a facile solvothermal method under study. Thermal analysis of iron oleat precursors by a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that the different amount of oleic acid was seen to have an impact on the thermal properties of iron oleat complexes. During the synthesis of nanoparticles, iron oleate complex in 1-hexadecane kept refluxing for 3 h under air atmosphere resulting in the formation of nanoparticles. The fourier transform infrared spectra measurements and the TGA analysis disclosed that nanoparticles were coated with oleic acid. To the X-ray diffraction patterns, all samples are iron oxide nanocrystals and their crystal sizes increased from 6.4 to 9.8 nm with decreasing oleic acid. Also, the sizes of nanoparticles were found to be in same range as confirmed with the surface observation by a transmission electron microscope. The magnetic properties obtained from a vibrating sample magnetometer revealed that all nanoparticles are superparamagnetic at room temperature. Also, their saturation magnetizations were up to 33.2 emu/g. It is seen that the nanoparticles are superparamagnetic with the desired structural and corresponding magnetic properties and therefore, they could be thought to be convenient for biomedical applications as the particles can be transferred to aqueous phase.