The impact of industrial-scale cartridge filtration on the native microbial communities from groundwater

Groundwater is a major source for bottled water, which is increasingly consumed all over the world. Some categories of bottled water can be subjected to treatments such as disinfection prior to bottling. In the current study, we present the quantitative impact of industrial-scale micro-filtration (0.22 microm pore size) on native microbial communities of groundwater and evaluate subsequent microbial growth after bottling. Two separate groundwater aquifers were tested. Flow-cytometric total cell concentration (TCC) and total adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP) analysis were used to quantify microbial abundance. The TCC of the native microbial community in both aquifers was in the range of 10(3)-10(4) cells/ml. Up to 10% of the native microbial community was able to pass through the cartridge filtration units installed at both aquifers. In addition, all samples (either with or without 0.22 microm filtration) showed significant growth after bottling and storage, reaching average final concentrations of 1-3 x 10(5) cells/ml. However, less growth was observed in carbon-free glassware than in standard polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. Furthermore, our results showed that filtration and bottling can alter the microbial community patterns as observed with flow cytometry. The current study established that industrial-scale micro-filtration cannot serve as an absolute barrier for the native microbial community and provided significant insight to the impact of filtration and bottling on microbial concentrations in bottled water.     

Improving accuracy in detecting acoustic onsets.

In current cognitive psychology, naming latencies are commonly measured by electronic voice keys that detect when sound exceeds a certain amplitude threshold. However, recent research (e.g., K. Rastle & M. H. Davis, 2002) has shown that these devices are particularly inaccurate in precisely detecting acoustic onsets. In this article, the authors discuss the various problems and solutions that have been put forward with respect to this issue and show that classical voice keys may trigger several tens of milliseconds later than acoustic onset. The authors argue that a solution to this problem may come from voice keys that use a combination of analogue and digital noise (nonspeech sound) detection. It is shown that the acoustic onsets detected by such a device are only a few milliseconds delayed and correlate highly (up to .99) with reaction time values obtained by visual waveform inspection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Optical and magnetic resonance imaging of cell death and platelet activation using annexin a5-functionalized quantum dots

A quantum-dot-based nanoparticle is presented, allowing visualization of cell death and activated platelets with fluorescence imaging and MRI. The particle exhibits intense fluorescence and a large MR relaxivity (r1) of 3000-4500 mM-1 s-1 per nanoparticle due to a newly designed construct increasing the gadolinium-DTPA load. The nanoparticle is suitable for both anatomic and subcellular imaging of structures in the vessel wall and is a promising bimodal contrast agent for future in vivo imaging studies.     

Nanocrystalline diamond--an excellent platform for life science applications

Nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) has recently been successfully utilized in a variety of life science applications. NCD films are favorable and salubrious substrates for cells during cultivation. Therefore NCD has also been employed in tissue engineering strategies. NCD as reported in this contribution was grown by means of a modified hot-filament chemical vapor deposition technique, which results in less than 3% sp2-hybridization and yields grain sizes of 5-20 nm. After production the NCD surface was rather hydrophobic, however it could be efficiently refined to exhibit more hydrophilic properties. Changing of the surface structure was found to be an efficient means to influence growth and differentiation capacity of a variety of cells. The particular needs for any given cell type has to be proven empirically. Yet flexible features of NCD appear to be superior to plastic surfaces which can be hardly changed in quality. Besides its molecular properties, crystal structural peculiarities of NCD appear to influence cell growth as well. In our attempt to facilitate, highly specialized applications in biomedicine, we recently discovered that growth factors can be tightly bound to NCD by mere physisorption. Hence, combination of surface functionalization together with further options to coat NCD with any kind of three-dimensional structure opens up new avenues for many more applications. In fact, high through-put protein profiling of early disease stages may become possible from serum samples, because proteins bound to NCD can now be efficiently analyzed by MALDI/TOF-MS. Given these results, it is to be presumed that the physical properties and effective electrochemical characteristics of NCD will allow tailoring devices suitable for many more diagnostic as well as therapeutic applications.     

Mixed-species biofilms in the food industry: Current knowledge and novel control strategies

Abstract

Attachment of microorganisms to food contact surfaces and the subsequent formation of biofilms may cause equipment damage, food spoilage and even diseases. Mixed-species biofilms are ubiquitous in the food industry and they generally exhibit higher resistance to disinfectants and antimicrobials compared to single-species biofilms. The physiology and metabolic activity of microorganisms in mixed-species biofilms are however rather complicated to study, and despite targeted research efforts, the potential role of mixed-species biofilms in food industry is still rather unexplored. In this review, we summarize recent studies in the context of bacterial social interactions in mixed-species biofilms, resistance to disinfectants, detection methods, and potential novel strategies to control the formation of mixed-species biofilms for enhanced food safety and food quality.     

Threonine‐Derived Phosphinite‐Oxazoline Ligands for the Ir‐Catalyzed Enantioselective Hydrogenation

A series of chiral phosphinite‐oxazolines was synthesized in four steps starting from carboxylic acids and threonine methyl ester. In the asymmetric hydrogenation of a number of alkenes, iridium complexes of these ligands induced significantly higher enantioselectivities than the corresponding serine‐derived complexes. Enantiomeric excesses of 89 to 99% were obtained for unfunctionalized alkenes with turnover numbers of up to 5000.     

A Generalised Conjugate Residual method for the solution of non‐symmetric systems of equations with multiple right‐hand sides

This paper presents an iterative algorithm for solving non‐symmetric systems of equations with multiple right‐hand sides. The algorithm is an extension of the Generalised Conjugate Residual method (GCR) and combines the advantages of a direct solver with those of an iterative solver: it does not have to restart from scratch for every right‐hand side, it tends to require less memory than a direct solver, and it can be implemented efficiently on a parallel computer. We will show that the extended GCR algorithm can be competitive with a direct solver when running on a single processor. We will also show that the algorithm performs well on a Cray T3E parallel computer. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identification and Affinity Determination of Protein-Antibody and Protein-Aptamer Epitopes by Biosensor-Mass Spectrometry Combination

Analytical methods for molecular characterization of diagnostic or therapeutic targets have recently gained high interest. This review summarizes the combination of mass spectrometry and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor analysis for identification and affinity determination of protein interactions with antibodies and DNA-aptamers. The binding constant (K_D) of a protein–antibody complex is first determined by immobilizing an antibody or DNA-aptamer on an SPR chip. A proteolytic peptide mixture is then applied to the chip, and following removal of unbound material by washing, the epitope(s) peptide(s) are eluted and identified by MALDI-MS. The SPR-MS combination was applied to a wide range of affinity pairs. Distinct epitope peptides were identified for the cardiac biomarker myoglobin (MG) both from monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, and binding constants determined for equine and human MG provided molecular assessment of cross immunoreactivities. Mass spectrometric epitope identifications were obtained for linear, as well as for assembled (“conformational”) antibody epitopes, e.g., for the polypeptide chemokine Interleukin-8. Immobilization using protein G substantially improved surface fixation and antibody stabilities for epitope identification and affinity determination. Moreover, epitopes were successfully determined for polyclonal antibodies from biological material, such as from patient antisera upon enzyme replacement therapy of lysosomal diseases. The SPR-MS combination was also successfully applied to identify linear and assembled epitopes for DNA–aptamer interaction complexes of the tumor diagnostic protein C-Met. In summary, the SPR-MS combination has been established as a powerful molecular tool for identification of protein interaction epitopes.     

How background noise shifts eigenvectors and increases eigenvalues in DTI

Indroduction  The signal-to-noise ratio of in vivo diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is usually very limited, especially if high resolution data is acquired. In a variety of settings, the signal of diffusion weighted images can drop below the background noise level yielding an underestimated diffusion constant. In this work, we report two new artefacts in DTI that are important in this regime. Methods  Both artifacts are described analytically and numerically and are demonstrated in DTI phantoms and in subjects in vivo. Results  First, eigenvectors are systematically shifted towards distinct ‘attractive’ orientations of the gradient scheme. Second, certain eigenvalues can be overestimated due to the underestimation of the measured diffusion, which can result in the misordering of eigenvalues Discussion  We show that these effects are relevant for current clinical settings of DTI.     

Volatilization of the pesticides chlorpyrifos and fenpropimorph from a potato crop

Volatilization of pesticides from crops in the field can be an important emission pathway. In a field experiment with characterization of meteorological conditions, the pesticides chlorpyrifos and fenpropimorph were sprayed onto a potato crop, after which concentrations in the air and on/in the plants were measured. Rates of volatilization were estimated with the aerodynamic profile (ADP), energy balance (EB), relaxed eddy accumulation (REA), and plume dispersion (PD) methods. The volatilization rates obtained with the ADP and EB methods were similar, while some rates obtained with the REA and PD methods in the initial period were lower. Cumulative volatilization of chlorpyrifos during daylight hours (ADP and EB methods) was estimated to be about 65% of the dosage. By far the majority of this volatilization occurred in the first few days. Competing processes at the plant surface had a considerable effect on the dissipation of fenpropimorph, so cumulative volatilization during daylight hours was estimated to be only 7% of the dosage. Plant surface residues were higher than would correspond with the volatilization rate, indicating that penetration into the leaves had occurred.