Strategies to control outbreaks of influenza, a contagious respiratory tract disease, are focused mainly on prophylactic vaccinations in conjunction with antiviral medications. Currently, several mammalian cell culture-based influenza vaccine production processes are being established, such as the technologies introduced by Novartis Behring (Optaflu) or Baxter International Inc. (Celvapan). Downstream processing of influenza virus vaccines from cell culture supernatant can be performed by adsorbing virions onto sulfated column chromatography beads, such as Cellufine sulfate. This study focused on the development of a sulfated cellulose membrane (SCM) chromatography unit operation to capture cell culture-derived influenza viruses. The advantages of the novel method were demonstrated for the Madin Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell-derived influenza virus A/Puerto Rico/8/34 (H1N1). Furthermore, the SCM-adsorbers were compared directly to column-based Cellufine sulfate and commercially available cation-exchange membrane adsorbers. Sulfated cellulose membrane adsorbers showed high viral product recoveries. In addition, the SCM-capture step resulted in a higher reduction of dsDNA compared to the tested cation-exchange membrane adsorbers. The productivity of the SCM-based unit operation could be significantly improved by a 30-fold increase in volumetric flow rate during adsorption compared to the bead-based capture method. The higher flow rate even further reduced the level of contaminating dsDNA by about twofold. The reproducibility and general applicability of the developed unit operation were demonstrated for two further MDCK cell-derived influenza virus strains: A/Wisconsin/67/2005 (H3N2) and B/Malaysia/2506/2004. Overall, SCM-adsorbers represent a powerful and economically favorable alternative for influenza virus capture over conventional methods using Cellufine sulfate.
Surface and ground water resources are highly sensitive aquatic systems to contaminants due to their accessibility to multiple-point and non-point sources of pollutions. Determination of water quality variables using mathematical models instead of laboratory experiments can have venerable significance in term of the environmental prospective. In this research, application of a new developed hybrid response surface method (HRSM) which is a modified model of the existing response surface model (RSM) is proposed for the first time to predict biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and dissolved oxygen (DO) in Euphrates River, Iraq. The model was constructed using various physical and chemical variables including water temperature (T), turbidity, power of hydrogen (pH), electrical conductivity (EC), alkalinity, calcium (Ca), chemical oxygen demand (COD), sulfate (SO4), total dissolved solids (TDS), and total suspended solids (TSS) as input attributes. The monthly water quality sampling data for the period 2004-2013 was considered for structuring the input-output pattern required for the development of the models. An advance analysis was conducted to comprehend the correlation between the predictors and predictand. The prediction performances of HRSM were compared with that of support vector regression (SVR) model which is one of the most predominate applied machine learning approaches of the state-of-the-art for water quality prediction. The results indicated a very optimistic modeling accuracy of the proposed HRSM model to predict BOD and DO. Furthermore, the results showed a robust alternative mathematical model for determining water quality particularly in a data scarce region like Iraq.
Iron-manganese-doped sulfated zirconia nanoparticles with both Lewis and Brønsted acidic sites were prepared by a hydrothermal impregnation method followed by calcination at 650°C for 5 hours, and their cytotoxicity properties against cancer cell lines were determined. The characterization was carried out using X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Brauner-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area measurements, X-ray fluorescence, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, zeta size potential, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The cytotoxicity of iron-manganese-doped sulfated zirconia nanoparticles was determined using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays against three human cancer cell lines (breast cancer MDA-MB231 cells, colon carcinoma HT29 cells, and hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells) and two normal human cell lines (normal hepatocyte Chang cells and normal human umbilical vein endothelial cells [HUVECs]). The results suggest for the first time that iron-manganese-doped sulfated zirconia nanoparticles are cytotoxic to MDA-MB231 and HepG2 cancer cells but have less toxicity to HT29 and normal cells at concentrations from 7.8 μg/mL to 500 μg/mL. The morphology of the treated cells was also studied, and the results supported those from the cytotoxicity study in that the nanoparticle-treated HepG2 and MDA-MB231 cells had more dramatic changes in cell morphology than the HT29 cells. In this manner, this study provides the first evidence that iron-manganese-doped sulfated zirconia nanoparticles should be further studied for a wide range of cancer applications without detrimental effects on healthy cell functions.
Treatment of vanadium(V) oxide with an ethanol-concentrated sulfuric acid mixture, followed by the addition of an equimolar amount of beta-alanine and sodium hydroxide, and finally raising the pH to 3.9 with sodium carbonate solution, under continuous heating in a water bath and in the presence of air, leads to the polyionic sodium cyclo-[mu(6)-(sulfato-O,O',O'')tris[mu-(beta-alanine-O,O')-mu-oxo]tris(mu-hydroxo-mu-oxo)hexa[oxovanadium(V)]] sulfate tridecahydrate which crystallizes in the monoclinic P2(1)/n space group [a = 9.5192(4), b = 20.1185(9), c = 22.6174(9) A, beta = 97.011(1) degrees; Z = 4]. The crown-shaped polyoxovanadium(V) cluster cation, with carboxylate-bridging amino acid ligands, has an Anderson structure with two unique capping sulfato ligands. Its structural analysis, together with IR, UV-vis, and preliminary data on its solution properties, is presented.
Basal stem rot (BSR), caused by Ganoderma boninense, is the most devastating oil palm disease in South East Asia, costing US$500 million annually. Various soil physicochemical parameters have been associated with an increase in BSR incidences. However, very little attention has been directed to understanding the relationship between soil microbiome and BSR incidence in oil palm fields. The prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial diversities of two coastal soils, Blenheim soil (Typic Quartzipsamment-calcareous shell deposits, light texture) with low disease incidence (1.9%) and Bernam soil (Typic Endoaquept-non-acid sulfate) with high disease incidence (33.1%), were determined using the 16S (V3-V4 region) and 18S (V9 region) rRNA amplicon sequencing. Soil physicochemical properties (pH, electrical conductivity, soil organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, cation exchange capacity, exchangeable cations, micronutrients, and soil physical parameters) were also analyzed for the two coastal soils. Results revealed that Blenheim soil comprises higher prokaryotic and eukaryotic diversities, accompanied by higher pH and calcium content. Blenheim soil was observed to have a higher relative abundance of bacterial taxa associated with disease suppression such as Calditrichaeota, Zixibacteria, GAL15, Omnitrophicaeota, Rokubacteria, AKYG587 (Planctomycetes), JdFR-76 (Calditrichaeota), and Rubrobacter (Actinobacteria). In contrast, Bernam soil had a higher proportion of other bacterial taxa, Chloroflexi and Acidothermus (Actinobacteria). Cercomonas (Cercozoa) and Calcarisporiella (Ascomycota) were eukaryotes that are abundant in Blenheim soil, while Uronema (Ciliophora) and mammals were present in higher abundance in Bernam soil. Some of the bacterial taxa have been reported previously in disease-suppressive and -conducive soils as potential disease-suppressive or disease-inducible bacteria. Furthermore, Cercomonas was reported previously as potential bacterivorous flagellates involved in the selection of highly toxic biocontrol bacteria, which might contribute to disease suppression indirectly. The results from this study may provide valuable information related to soil microbial community structures and their association with soil characteristics and soil susceptibility to Ganoderma.
Baram Delta Operation had been producing oil and gas since 1960's and serious pipelines failure was reported in the year of 2005. The final investigation has concluded that one of the species of bacteria that has been identified to cause microbiologically influenced corrosion, specifically known as sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) was found to be one of the potential contributing factors to the incidents. This work investigates the potential use of ultraviolet (UV) radiation to inhibit the SRB consortium that was cultivated from the crude oil in one of the main trunk lines at Baram Delta Operation, Sarawak, Malaysia. The impact of UV exposure to bio-corrosion conditions on carbon steel coupon in certain samples for 28 days was discussed in this study. The samples were exposed to UV radiation based on variations of parameters, namely: time of UV exposure; and power of UV lamp. The significant changes on the amount of turbidity reading and metal loss of the steel coupon were recorded before and after experiment. The results showed that SRB growth has reduced rapidly for almost 90% after the UV exposure for both parameters as compared to the abiotic samples. Metal loss values were also decreased in certain exposure condition. Additionally, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was performed to observe the biofilm layer formed on the metal surface after its exposure to SRB. The evidence suggested that the efficiency of UV treatment against SRB growth could be influenced by the particular factors studied
Industrial, and municipal wastes are part of the main sources of environmental hazards as well as groundwater and surface water pollutions. If not well composed, treated, and safely disposed, it could permeate through the subsurface lithologies by reaching down to the underground water aquifers, particularly in zones of unprotected aquifer units. Pollutants, most especially the landfills leachates that encompassed organic contaminants, ammonia, nitrates, total nitrogen, suspended solids, heavy metals and soluble inorganic salts, i.e., soluble nitrogen, sulphur compound, sulphate and chlorides, could posed undesirable environmental impacts due to inappropriate disposals that may give rise to gaseous fumes and leachate formations. An electrical resistivity geophysical technique utilizing the RES2D no-invasive, cost-effective and rapid method of data collection was integrated with the 3D Oasis Montaj software to approximate the volume of the generated rectangular prism model of the contaminants delineated from mixtures of the industrial, and municipal wastes plumes to be 312,000 m 3.
A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous quantification of apomorphine and its metabolites apomorphine sulfate and norapomorphine in human plasma for supporting clinical development of a novel apomorphine sublingual thin film (APL) for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Analytes and internal standards (IS) were extracted from human plasma by Oasis HLB SPE cartridge, followed by a reversed phase LC-MS/MS analysis using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) in positive mode (m/z 268 → 237 for apomorphine, 348 → 237 for apomorphine sulfate, and 348 → 237 for norapomorphine). Stable isotope-labeled compounds were used as IS for respective analytes. The validated curve ranges were 0.02-20 ng/mL, 10-1000 ng/mL, and 0.5-20 ng/mL for apomorphine, apomorphine sulfate and norapomorphine, respectively. Extraction recoveries were found to be 73.4 % (apomorphine), 81.1 % (apomorphine sulfate), and 58.6 % (norapomorphine). Established long-term plasma frozen storage stabilities were 504 days at -20 °C and276 days at -60 °C, respectively. The method has been successfully used for analyzing pharmacokinetics (PK) samples collected from a comparative bioavailability study of APL and the marketed apomorphine subcutaneous (s.c.) product Apo-go®. The results demonstrated that the 15-mg APL film administrated via sublingual produced comparable PK characteristics of apomorphine when compared to the commercial product Apo-go (2-mg) via s.c. administration, hence establishing the dose regimen for this sublingual formulation. It was also noticed that the sublingual 15-mg APL film produced a significantly higher apomorphine sulfate metabolite level than the 2-mg s.c. Apo-go, and both treatments yielded a negligible level of norapomorphine metabolite in humans.
Introduction: The compatibility of denture cleanser is crucial in the prevention of failure of adhesion between silicone soft liner and acrylic denture base, thus ensuring the durability of the prosthesis. This scanning electron microscope (SEM) study was to determine the mode of failure and measured the gap formation between silicone soft liners and Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) denture base after immersion in denture cleansers. Methods: A total of 135 specimens of PMMA denture base lined with three different silicone soft liners (GC Reline Soft, Mollosil and Tokuyama Sofreliner Tough) were immersed into denture cleansers (Polident® and Stearadent) daily and stored in distilled water at 37±1°C. Specimens were examined and sectioned at 2.5mm and 5.0mm from the margin after 1 day, 30 days and 90 days before analyzed. Results: No significant difference detected in the mode of failure and gap formation after one-day immersion. Adhesive failure was the commonest failure at the margin after 30 days (71.11%) and after 90 days (95.56%). However, 33.33% of specimens showed mixed failure at 5.0mm sectioned after 90 days. A significant difference of gap formation was demonstrated from Mollosil in Steradent at the margin and at 2.5 mm sectioned after 30 days and after 90 days (p
The hydrochloride, sulphate and ethylcarbonate salts of quinine were given in single oral doses (600 mg base equivalent) to nine healthy male subjects according to a cross-over design. No statistically significant differences were noted in the plasma drug concentration-time profiles although inter- and intra-subject variation in AUC, Cmax and tmax values was appreciable. The ethylcarbonate salt may be preferred for use in paediatric patients because of its neutral taste.
Redox polymerization of acrylonitrile (AN) with ethyl acrylate (EA) and fumaronitrile (FN), as comonomer and termonomer respectively, were carried out using sodium bisulfite (SBS) and potassium persulphate (KPS) as initiators at 40°C. The actual composition of monomers in copolymers and terpolymers has been characterized by gas chromatography (GC). The effects of EA and FN on the glass transition temperature (Tg) and stabilization temperature have been studied by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The degradation behaviour and char yield were obtained by thermogravimetric analysis. Meanwhile, incorporation of 10 mol% of EA in homoPAN system was found to greatly reduce Tg to 66°C as compared to that of the homoPAN (Tg=105°C). The initial cyclization temperature (Ti) was found to be higher (264°C) in comparison to that of homoPAN (246°C). In addition, the incorporation of EA was also shown to reduce the char yield of copolymer to 40%. When FN was incorporated as termonomer, the char yield of poly(AN/EA/ FN) 90/4/6 increased up to 44% after the heat treatment with the lowest Ti (241°C).
The present study aimed to provide an insight of C. jejuni ATCC 33560 phenotype profiles (carbon sources and sensitivity to osmolytes and pH) using Phenotypic MicroArray (PM) system in response to optimal and suboptimal temperature. C. jejuni ATCC 33560 showed utilization carbon sources from amino acids and carboxylates but not from sugars. C. jejuni ATCC 33560 is sensitive to NaCl at 2% and above but showed survival in a wide range of food preservatives (sodium lactate, sodium phosphate, sodium benzoate, ammonium sulphate and sodium nitrate). When incubated at suboptimal temperature, no phenotype loss was observed in carbon source plates. Phenotype loss of C. jejuni ATCC 33560 was observed in sodium chloride (1%), sodium sulphate (2-3%), sodium formate (1%), sodium lactate (7-12%), sodium phosphate pH7 (100mM and 200mM), ammonium sulphate pH8 (50mM), sodium nitrate (60mM, 80mM and 100mM), sodium nitrite (10mM), and growth in pH5. The phenotypic profile from present study will provide a better insight related to survival of C. jejuni ATCC 33560.
Seaweeds survive in marine waters with high sulfate concentration compared to those living at freshwater habitats. The cell wall polymer of Gracilaria spp. which supplies more than 50% of the world agar is heavily sulfated. Since sulfation reduces the agar quality, it is interesting to investigate the effects of sulfate deprivation on the sulfate contents of seaweed and agar, as well as the metabolic pathways of these seaweeds. In this study, two agarophytes G. changii and G. salicornia were treated under sulfate deprivation for 5 days. The sulfate contents in the seaweed/agar were generally lower in sulfate-deprivated samples compared to those in the controls, but the differences were only statistically significant for seaweed sample of G. changii and agar sample of G. salicornia. RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) of sulfate-deprivated and untreated seaweed samples revealed 1,292 and 3,439 differentially expressed genes (DEGs; ≥1.5-fold) in sulfate-deprivated G. changii and G. salicornia, respectively, compared to their respective controls. Among the annotated DEGs were genes involved in putative agar biosynthesis, sulfur metabolism, metabolism of sulfur-containing amino acids, carbon metabolism and oxidative stress. These findings shed light on the sulfate deprivation responses in agarophytes and help to identify candidate genes involved in agar biosynthesis.
Although landfilling is still the most suitable method for solid waste disposal, generation of large quantity of leachate is still considered as one of the main environmental problem. Efficient treatment of leachate is required prior to final discharge. Persulfate (S2O82-) recently used for leachate oxidation, the oxidation potential of persulfate can be improved by activate and initiate sulfate radical. The current data aimed to evaluate the performance of utilizing Al2SO4 reagent for activation of persulfate to treat landfill leachate. The data on chemical oxygen demand (COD), color, and NH3-H removals at different setting of the persulfate, Al2SO4 dosages, pH, and reaction time were collected using a central composite design (CCD) were measured to identify the optimum operating conditions. A total of 30 experiments were performed, the optimum conditions for S2O82-/Al2SO4 oxidation process was obtained. Quadratic models for chemical oxygen demand (COD), color, and NH3-H removals were significant with p-value
The performance of pipeline system used in petroleum industry is crucially declined by natural microbial activities and
demanding extra operational cost. Requirement on high capability of functional substances is attracting worldwide
research interest. The aim of this paper was to study the effectiveness of benzyltriethylammonium chloride (BTC) on
reducing the activity of a consortium bacteria consisting of sulfate-reducing bacteria (C-SRB). C-SRB was isolated from
tropical crude oil and enumeration of this consortium was measured by viable cell count technique. The effectiveness of
BTC was calculated from potentiodynamic polarization method and biofilm analysis was performed by scanning electron
microscope. The viable cell count technique indicated that the maximum growth of C-SRB was approximately 160 trillion
CFU/mL at 7 days incubation period. BTC was capable of reducing biocorrosion activity due to adsorption process and
mitigating SRB species. Biofilm analysis has proven that C-SRB activity is minimized due to less presence of bacterial
growth, extracellular polymeric substances and corrosion product. In conclusion, BTC is capable to inhibit C-SRB activity
on biocorrosion of carbon steel pipeline.
Biodiversity of aquatic insect and physicochemical water quality parameters in Mae Tao and Mae Ku watersheds were
assessed bi-monthly from February 2011 to February 2012. A total of 59 families representing 9 orders were recorded.
At order level, Trichoptera was found at the highest frequency in total abundance (45.75%) followed by Ephemeroptera
(18.06%), Hemiptera (13.45%), Odonata (9.62%), Diptera (8.17%), Coleoptera (4.6%), Megaloptera (0.17%),
Lepidoptera (0.11%) and Plecoptera (0.07%). The family Hydropsychidae was the most prominent and the most abundant
aquatic insect taxa followed by Chironomidae. Water temperature, dissolved oxygen and ammonia-nitrogen were similar
at all sampling stations. Significant variations in pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, sulfate, nitrate-nitrogen
and alkalinity were found at all sampling stations. Taxa richness and diversity index significantly correlated with dissolved
oxygen, sulfate, nitrate-nitrogen and ammonia-nitrogen (p<0.05, p<0.01). Physicochemical data and biological data
showed that mostly the surface water quality in Mae Tao and Mae Ku watersheds were within Type III of The Surface
Water Standard for Agriculture and Water Quality for Protection of Aquatic Resources in Thailand.
In this report, we demonstrate that continuous improvement in XPS instruments and the calibration standards as well
as analysis with standard component-fitting procedures can be used to determine the binding energies of compounds
containing phosphorus and sulfur of different oxidation states with higher confidence. Based on such improved XPS
analyses, the binding energies (BEs) of S2p signals for sulfur of increasing oxidation state are determined to be 166-167.5
eV for S=O in dimethyl sulfoxide, 168.1 eV for S=O2
in polysulfone, 168.4 eV for SO3
in polystyrene sulfonate and 168.8
eV for SO4
in chondroitin sulfate. The BEs of P2p signals show the following values: 132.9 eV for PO3
in triisopropyl
phosphite, 133.3 eV for PO4
in glycerol phosphate, 133.5 eV for PO4
in sodium tripolyphosphate and 134.0 eV for PO4
in sodium hexametaphosphate. These results showed that there are only small increases in the binding energy when
additional oxygen atoms are added to the S-O chemical group. A similar result is obtained when the fourth oxygen or
poly-phosphate environment is added to the phosphorus compound. These BE values are useful to researchers involved
in identifying oxidation states of phosphorus and sulfur atoms commonly observed on modified surfaces and interfaces
found in applications such as biomaterials, super-capacitors and catalysis.
In this study, a two-stage domesticated shear-loop anaerobic contact stabilization (SLACS) system is introduced as a new reactor design to enhance methane productivity with significant reduction in hydrogen sulphide (H2S) synthesis. Due to the rich sulfate content in industrial wastewaters, the initial fermentation phase of anaerobic digestion is highly acidifying and often leads to severe performance losses, digester's instability, and even culture crash. The SLACS system functions as a dissimilatory sulfate reduction - methanogenic reactor consisting of two compartments, a shear-loop anaerobic bed (SLAB) unit and an anaerobic plug flow (APF) unit. The functional role of the SLAB unit is not limited to acidogenesis but also sulfidogenic processes, which curtails H2S generation in the APF unit (methanogenic stage). Experimental observations indicated that pH serves a critical role in the cohabitation of acidogenic and sulfidogenic microbes in the SLAB unit. Although acidogenesis was not influenced by pH within the range of 4.5-6.0, it is vital to stabilize the pH of this unit at 5.4 to establish a steady sulfate reduction of above 75%. The highest desulfurization achieved in this compartment was 88% under a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 4 h. With an average methane productivity of 256 mL g-1 VS, the methanogenic performance of the two-stage domesticated SLACS system shows a 32% methanogenic proficiency higher than that of the one-stage digestion system. Microbial community structure within the system carried out via Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) provided qualitative data on the sludge's sulfidogenic and methanogenic performance.
The herbicide glyphosate is often used to control weeds in agricultural lands. However, despite its ability to effectively kill weeds at low cost, health problems are still reported due to its toxicity level. The removal of glyphosate from the environment is usually done by microbiological process since chemical process of degradation is ineffective due to the presence of highly stable bonds. Therefore, finding glyphosate-degrading microorganisms in the soil of interest is crucial to remediate this glyphosate.Burkholderia vietnamiensisstrain AQ5-12 was found to have glyphosate-degrading ability. Optimisation of biodegradation condition was carried out utilising one factor at a time (OFAT) and response surface methodology (RSM). Five parameters including carbon and nitrogen source, pH, temperature and glyphosate concentration were optimised. Based on OFAT result, glyphosate degradation was observed to be optimum at fructose concentration of 6, 0.5 g/L ammonia sulphate, pH 6.5, temperature of 32 °C and glyphosate concentration at 100 ppm. Meanwhile, RSM resulted in a better degradation with 92.32% of 100 ppm glyphosate compared to OFAT. The bacterium was seen to tolerate up to 500 ppm glyphosate while increasing concentration results in reduced degradation and bacterial growth rate.
The natural zeolite has been modified with sulphate and phosphate. The adsorption of thorium from the aqueous solutions by using the natural and modified zeolites has been investigated via a batch method. The adsorbent samples were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption-desorption (BET), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Modification of natural zeolite with sulphate and phosphate was found to increase its adsorption capacity of thorium but reduced its specific surface area (SBET). The adsorption experiments were expressed by Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevitch (D-R) isotherm models and the results of adsorption demonstrated that the adsorption of thorium onto the natural and modified zeolites correlated better with the Langmuir isotherm model than with the Freundlich isotherm model. The maximum adsorption capacity (Qo) was determined using the Langmuir isotherm model at 25 °C and was found to be 17.27, 13.83, and 10.21 mg/g for phosphate-modified zeolite, sulfate-modified zeolite, and natural zeolite, respectively. The findings of this study indicate that phosphate-modified zeolite can be utilized as an effective and low-cost adsorbent material for the removal of thorium from aqueous solutions.