Screening, immobilization and utilization of whole cell biocatalysts to mediate the ethanolysis of babassu oil

The screening. biomass growth of lipase-producing fungus isolated from different sources and available at URM (University Recife Mycologia). as well as, the immobilization and utilization of the whole cells for the transesterification of babassu oil were investigated. Rhizopus oryzae (URM 3231, 4692), Mucor circinelloides (URM 4140, 4182) and Penicillium citrinum URM 4216 were considered to be good intracellular lipase producers whereas those from Mucor hiemalis URM 4144 and Mucor piriformis URM 4145 were weaker. Fungi biomass containing high lipase activities was immobilized on different biomass support particles (BSPs) and with the exception of Penicillium citrinum URM 4216 all the other fungi strains exhibited high lipase activity (20-50 Ug(-1)) when immobilized in situ using polyurethane foam particles. Transesterification activities of the immobilized whole cells were evaluated in the ethanolysis reaction with babassu oil and the highest performance was attained by M. circinelloides URM 4182 giving 83.22 +/- 3.68% ester yield in less than 96 h reaction. The biocatalyst operational stability was also assessed and an inactivation profile was found to follow the Arrhenius model, revealing values of 26 days and 2.6 x 10(-2)day(-1), for half-life and a deactivation coefficient, respectively. The purified product (biodiesel) exhibited viscosity (6.63 cSt) close to the value to attend specifications by the ASTM 06751 to be used as biofuel. Results are favorable compared with data already reported in the literature and demonstrated that M. circinelloides URM 4182 whole cells is a cheaper biocatalyst that can be used in the biodiesel synthesis. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Diversification in the use of resources by Idarnes species: bypassing functional constraints in the fig-fig wasp interaction

Mutualisms such as the figfig wasp mutualism are generally exploited by parasites. We demonstrate that amongst nonpollinating fig wasps (NPFWs) parasitic on Ficus citrifolia, a species of Idarnes galls flowers and another species feeds on galls induced by other wasps killing their larvae. The galling wasp inserts its ovipositor through the fig wall into the fig cavity. The ovipositor then follows a sinuous path and is introduced through the stigma and style of the flower. The egg is deposited between the integument and nucellus, in the exact location where the pollinating mutualistic wasp would have laid its egg. Gall induction is a complex process. In contrast, the path followed by the ovipositor of the other species is straightforward: attacking a larva within a developed gall poses different constraints. Shifts in feeding regime have occurred repeatedly in NPFWs. Monitoring traits associated with such repeated evolutionary shifts may help understand underlying functional constraints. (c) 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 106, 114122.

Biotechnological Utilization of Biodiesel-Derived Glycerol for the Production of Ribonucleotides and Microbial Biomass

Ten yeast strains were evaluated concerning their capabilities to assimilate biodiesel-derived glycerol in batch cultivation. The influence of glycerol concentration, temperature, pH and yeast extract concentration on biomass production was studied for the yeast selected. Further, the effect of agitation on glycerol utilization by the yeast Hansenula anomala was also studied. The yeast H. anomala CCT 2648 showed the highest biomass yield (0.30 g g(-1)) and productivity (0.19 g L-1 h(-1)). Citric acid, succinic acid, acetic acid and ethanol were found as the main metabolites produced. The increase of yeast extract concentration from 1 to 3 g L-1 resulted in high biomass production. The highest biomass concentration (21 g L-1), yield (0.45 g g(-1)) and productivity (0.31 g L-1 h(-1)), as well as ribonucleotide production (13.13 mg g(-1)), were observed at 700 rpm and 0.5 vvm. These results demonstrated that glycerol from biodiesel production process showed to be a feasible substrate for producing biomass and ribonucleotides by yeast species.

Utilization of fringe projection technique for evaluation of wound dimensions and of healing progress.

Background: The methods used for evaluating wound dimensions, especially the chronic ones, are invasive and inaccurate. The fringe projection technique with phase shift is a non-invasive, accurate and low-cost optical method. Objective: The aim is to validate the technique through the determination of dimensions of objects of known topography and with different geometries and colors to simulate the wounds and tones of skin color. Taking into account the influence of skin wound optical factors, the technique will be used to evaluate actual patients’ wound dimensions and to study its limitations in this application. Methods: Four sinusoidal fringe patterns, displaced ¼ of period each, were projected onto the objects surface. The object dimensions were obtained from the unwrapped phase map through the observation of the fringe deformations caused by the object topography and using phase shift analysis. An object with simple geometry was used for dimensional calibration and the topographic dimensions of the others were determined from it. After observing the compatibility with the data and validating the method, it was used for measuring the dimensions of real patients’ wounds. Results and Conclusions: The discrepancies between actual topography and dimensions determined with Fringe Projection Technique and for the known object were lower than 0.50 cm. The method was successful in obtaining the topography of real patient’s wounds. Objects and wounds with sharp topographies or causing shadow or reflection are difficult to be evaluated with this technique.

A Reappraisal in Sao Paulo, Brazil (2008) of "The Ecology of Medical Care:" The "One Per Thousand's Rule"

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Medical ecology is a conceptual framework introduced in 1961 to describe the relationship and utilization of health care services by a given population. We applied this conception to individuals enrolled in a private health maintenance organization (HMO) in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with the aim of describing the utilization of primary health care, verifying the frequency of various symptoms, and identifying the roles of different health care sources. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional telephone survey among a random sample of people enrolled in a private HMO. We interviewed a random sample of non-pregnant adults over age 18 using 10 questions about symptoms and health care use during the month prior to interview. RESULTS: The final sample consisted of 1,065 participants (mean age 68 years, 68% female). From this sample, 424 (39.8%) reported the presence of symptoms, 311 (29.2%) had a medical office consult, 104 (9.8%) went directly to an emergency medical department, 63 (5.9%) were hospitalized, 22 (2.1%) used complementary medicine resources, seven (0.7%) were referred to home care, and one (0.1%) was admitted to an academic hospital. CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of study participants referred to an academic care center was similar to that observed in previous "medical ecology" studies in different populations.

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF RESOURCE-AWARE BUSINESS PROCESSES USING STOCHASTIC AUTOMATA NETWORKS

In this work, we study the performance evaluation of resource-aware business process models. We define a new framework that allows the generation of analytical models for performance evaluation from business process models annotated with resource management information. This framework is composed of a new notation that allows the specification of resource management constraints and a method to convert a business process specification and its resource constraints into Stochastic Automata Networks (SANs). We show that the analysis of the generated SAN model provides several performance indices, such as average throughput of the system, average waiting time, average queues size, and utilization rate of resources. Using the BP2SAN tool - our implementation of the proposed framework - and a SAN solver (such as the PEPS tool) we show through a simple use-case how a business specialist with no skills in stochastic modeling can easily obtain performance indices that, in turn, can help to identify bottlenecks on the model, to perform workload characterization, to define the provisioning of resources, and to study other performance related aspects of the business process.