Betta rubra is an ornamental freshwater fish endemic to northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The B. rubra population has decreased in recent decades, and is classified as an endangered species in the IUCN Red List. This study aims to report for the first time infection by L. cyprinacea in B. rubra harvested from the Aceh Besar region of Indonesia. The fish samples were obtained from the Cot Bira tributaries, Aceh Besar District, Indonesia from January to December 2020. The results showed that the parasite infected 6 out of 499 samples in August and September, with a prevalence and intensity rate of 1% and 2 parasites/fish, respectively. The eyes and pectoral fins were the common infection sites. Despite B. rubra is not an optimal host (small size) for the parasite, this parasite might serve as additional threatening factors for the endangered B. rubra fish population.
This study aimed to optimise potential extraction conditions using response surface methodology (RSM) for yielding maximum levels of total phenolic content (TPC) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH•) scavenging capacity of henna (Lawsonia inermis) stems. The ranges for selected independent variables, namely acetone concentration (20−90%, v/v), extraction time (10−90 min), and extraction temperature (25−45°C) were identified by screening tests. Optimum conditions obtained for extraction of TPC were 47.0% acetone, extraction time of 47.6 min and extraction temperature of 37.3oC. The result also showed that 75.8% acetone, extraction time of 26.2 min and extraction temperature of 41oC yielded the highest DPPH• scavenging capacity. The optimized extraction conditions have resulted in TPC and DPPH• scavenging capacity of 5232.4 mg GAE/100 g DW and 6085.7 mg TE/100 g DW, respectively which similar to the predicted values. Therefore, RSM has successfully optimized the extraction conditions for TPC and radical scavenging capacity of henna stems.
Solvent-extracted Moringa oleifera seed oil was transesterified using immobilized lipase (Lipozyme IM 60) (Novozymes Bagsvaerd Denmark) at 1% (w/w) concentration, shaken at 60oC and 200 rpm for up to 24h. After transesterification, the oil was fractionated with acetone at -18oC and without acetone at 10oC to obtain two fractions, stearin and olein fractions. Incubation of the transesterified oil at 10oC for 24 h resulted in the formation of fat crystals, which settled at the bottom of the flask in sample transesterified for 24 h, while the control (0 h) sample became rather viscous with fat crystals in suspension. Transesterification resulted in a change in the triacylglycerol (TAG) profile of the oil, which in turn affected its solid fat content (SFC) and thermal behavior. The SFC value at 0oC after 24 h of reaction was 10.35% and significantly (P
The objective of this study was to optimise the extraction conditions for phenolic compounds from neem (Azadirachta indica) leaves using response surface methodology (RSM). A central composite rotatable design (CCRD) was applied to determine the effects of acetone concentration (%), extraction time (mins), and extraction temperature ( o C) on total phenolic content (TPC) from neem (Azadirachta indica) leaves. The independent variables were coded at five levels and their actual values were selected based on the results of single factor experiments. Results showed that acetone concentration and extraction time were the most significant (p
Palm oil mill effluent (POME) can be utilised directly as the sole substrate in the anaerobic fermentation of acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) and hydrogen by Clostridium acetobutylicum NClMB13357 in a submerged batch system. Effects of sedimented POME concentration and the initial culture pH on the production of ABE/H were studied. Sedimented POME with 90% v/v (POME90) at pH 5.8 is capable of producing 4.01 g/L ABE with acetone concentration at 1.97 g/L; butanol 1.74 g/L and ethanol 0.3 g/L. The highest concentration of butanol (1.86 g/L) was produced from a culture with initial pH 6.0. The production of hydrogen gas was proportioned to the concentration of POME. The highest hydrogen gas production was at pH 5.5 (31 mL). More than 50% (v/v) of hydrogen gas was produced at different pH except pH 4.5, when only 16% (v/v) or 5 mL of hydrogen was produced.
Superglue in the ear as a foreign body is an uncommon presentation. We report the case of a lady who accidentally instilled superglue directly onto her tympanic membrane and presented five days later. We successfully removed the glue with acetone and managed to preserve the integrity of the tympanic membrane.
In the title complex salt, [Au2{(C6H5)2PCH2P(C6H5)2}]Cl2·(CH3)2C=O·H2O, the dication forms an eight-membered {-PCPAu}2 ring with a transannular aurophilic inter-action [Au⋯Au = 2.9743 (2) Å]. The ring approximates a flattened boat conformation, with the two methyl-ene C atoms lying ca 0.58-0.59 Å above the least-squares plane defined by the Au2P4 atoms (r.m.s. deviation = 0.0849 Å). One Cl(-) anion functions as a weak bridge between the Au(I) atoms [Au⋯Cl = 2.9492 (13) and 2.9776 (12) Å]. The second Cl(-) anion forms two (water)O-H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds about a centre of inversion, forming a centrosymmetric eight-membered {⋯HOH⋯Cl}2 supra-molecular square. Globally, the dications and loosely associated Cl(-) anions assemble into layers lying parallel to the ac plane, being connected by C-H⋯Cl,π(phen-yl) inter-actions. The supra-molecular squares and solvent acetone mol-ecules are sandwiched in the inter-layer region, being connected to the layers on either side by C-H⋯Cl,O(acetone) inter-actions.
Proteases were extracted from starfruit at maturity Index 2 (unripe, light green) and Index 7 (very ripe, orange) and partially purified using acetone and 40% ammonium sulfate precipitations. Higher yield and proteolytic activity were observed for proteases purified using acetone than 40% ammonium sulfate. As for maturity index, yield and protein concentration of proteases from Index 2 were higher than those from Index 7. SDS-PAGE result showed intense bands for acetone proteases while a distinct band at 50 kDa was observed in all the proteases. Enzyme activity decreased during the seven days storage at 4°C with minimum relative activity of 70% achieved for acetone proteases at day seven. This study suggested that acetone precipitation is more effective method for purifying starfruit protease based on the yield and proteolytic activity compared to using 40% ammonium sulphate precipitation. In order to obtain higher protein concentration and proteolytic activity, starfruit at the unripe stage, Index 2 is a better raw material than Index 7 to be used for protease production.
In Southeast Asia, Conopomorpha cramerella (Snellen) which is commonly known as the cocoa pod borer (CPB) moth has been identified as the most detrimental pest of Theobroma cacao L. Apart from the various side effects on human health and non-target organisms, heavily relying on synthetic pyrethroid insecticides to control CPB infestations also increases the environmental contamination risks. Thus, developing biorational insecticides that minimally affect the non-target organism and environment by targeting the insect growth regulation process is needed to manage the pest population. In insects, juvenile hormones (JH) regulate critical biological events, especially metamorphosis, development and reproduction. Since the physiological roles of JH III vary among different organisms, the biochemical properties, especially substrate specificity and analogue inhibition, may also be different. Therefore, studies on the JH III biosynthetic pathway enzymes in both plants and insects are beneficial to discover more effective analogues. Bioinformatic analysis and biochemical characterization of a NADP+ -dependent farnesol dehydrogenase, an intermediate enzyme of the JH III pathway, from C. cramerella (CcFolDH), were described in this study. In addition, the farnesol analogues that may act as a potent analogue inhibitor for CcFolDH ware determined using in vitro enzymatic study. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that CcFolDH shared a close phylogenetic relationship to the honeybee's short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase. The 27 kDa CcFolDH has an NADP(H) binding domain with a typical Rossmann fold and is likely a homotetrameric protein in the solution. The enzyme had a greater preference for substrate trans, trans-farnesol and coenzyme NADP+ . In terms of analogue inhibitor inhibition, hexahydroxyfarnesyl acetone showed the highest inhibition (the lowest Ki ) compared to other farnesol analogues. Thus, hexahydroxyfarnesyl acetone would serve as the most potent active ingredient for future biorational pesticide management for C. cramerella infestation. Based on the bioinformatic analyses and biochemical characterizations conducted in this research, we proposed that rCcFolDH differs slightly from other reported farnesol dehydrogenases in terms of molecular weight, substrate preference, coenzymes utilization and analogue inhibitors selection.
In this work, hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose content of palm kernel cake (PKC) by different types of hydrolytic enzymes was studied to evaluate monomeric sugars released for production of biobutanol by Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4 (ATCC 13564) in acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation. Experimental results revealed that when PKC was hydrolyzed by mixed β-glucosidase, cellulase and mannanase, a total simple sugars of 87.81±4.78 g/L were produced, which resulted in 3.75±0.18 g/L butanol and 6.44±0.43 g/L ABE at 168 h fermentation. In order to increase saccharolytic efficiency of enzymatic treatment, PKC was pretreated by liquid hot water before performing enzymatic hydrolysis. Test results showed that total reducing sugars were enhanced to 97.81±1.29 g/L with elevated production of butanol and ABE up to 4.15±1.18 and 7.12±2.06 g/L, respectively which represented an A:B:E ratio of 7:11:1.
A combinative effect of two or more individual material properties, such as lattice parameters and chemical properties, has been well-known to generate novel nanomaterials with special crystal growth behavior and physico-chemical performance. This paper reports unusually high catalytic performance of AgPt nanoferns in the hydrogenation reaction of acetone conversion to isopropanol, which is several orders higher compared to the performance shown by pristine Pt nanocatalysts or other metals and metal-metal oxide hybrid catalyst systems. It has been demonstrated that the combinative effect during the bimetallisation of Ag and Pt produced nanostructures with a highly anisotropic morphology, i.e., hierarchical nanofern structures, which provide high-density active sites on the catalyst surface for an efficient catalytic reaction. The extent of the effect of structural growth on the catalytic performance of hierarchical AgPt nanoferns is discussed.
The non-selective property of conventional polyurethane (PU) foam tends to lower its oil absorption efficiency. To address this issue, we modified the surface properties of PU foam using a rapid solvent-free surface functionalization approach based on the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method to establish an extremely thin yet uniform coating layer to improve foam performance. The PU foam was respectively functionalized using different monomers, i.e., perfluorodecyl acrylate (PFDA), 2,2,3,4,4,4-hexafluorobutyl acrylate (HFBA), and hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO), and the effect of deposition times (1, 5 and 10 min) on the properties of foam was investigated. The results showed that all the modified foams demonstrated a much higher water contact angle (i.e., greater hydrophobicity) and greater absorption capacities compared to the control PU foam. This is due to the presence of specific functional groups, e.g., fluorine (F) and silane (Si) in the modified PU foams. Of all, the PU/PHFBAi foam exhibited the highest absorption capacities, recording 66.68, 58.15, 53.70, and 58.38 g/g for chloroform, acetone, cyclohexane, and edible oil, respectively. These values were 39.19-119.31% higher than that of control foam. The promising performance of the PU/PHFBAi foam is due to the improved surface hydrophobicity attributed to the original perfluoroalkyl moieties of the HFBA monomer. The PU/PHFBAi foam also demonstrated a much more stable absorption performance compared to the control foam when both samples were reused for up to 10 cycles. This clearly indicates the positive impact of the proposed functionalization method in improving PU properties for oil absorption processes.
Henna plant (Lawsonia inermis) is an Indian medicinal plant used in traditional medicine for the treatment of various diseases, besides its popularity as a natural dye to colour hand and hair. Research in the recent past has accumulated enormous evidence revealing henna plant to be an excellent source of antioxidants such as total phenolics. In this study, the extraction of total phenolics from henna stems was evaluated using the Folin-Ciocalteu assay. A set of single factor experiments was carried out for identifying the optimum condition of each independent variable affecting total phenolic content (TPC) extraction efficiency of henna stems, namely the solvent type, solvent concentration (v/v, %), extraction time (min) and extraction temperature (oC). Generally, high extraction yield was obtained using aqueous acetone (about 40%) as solvent and the extraction yield could further be increased using a prolonged time of 270 min and a higher incubation temperature of 55°C. Under these optimized conditions, the experimental maximum yield of TPC of 5554.15 ± 73.04 mg GAE/100 g DW was obtained.
Antioxidants in seaweeds have attracted increasing interest for its role in protecting human health. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the Total phenolic content (TPC) values and antioxidant activities in red seaweeds Kappaphycus alvarezii and Kappaphycus striatum of different solvent extracts. Total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activities (DPPH scavenging assay and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity assay, TEAC) for both K. alvarezii and K. striatum extracts were determined using different solvents at different concentrations (ethanol: 50%, 70%, 100%; acetone: 50%, 70%, 100%; methanol: 50%, 70%, 100%). The TPC value was measured using the Folin-Ciocalteu’s method. The antioxidant activities were measured by 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay and Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity (TEAC) assay. The highest TPC value of K. alvarezii antioxidant extract was obtained by 50% ethanol extracts while for K. striatum obtained by 50% methanol extract. The highest percentage of DPPH free radical inhibition for K. alvarezii was shown by 50% acetone extract while K. striatum was shown using 50% methanol extract. The highest TEAC value for K. alvarezii was shown by 50% acetone while K. striatum extract was shown by 50% ethanol extract. The TPC values and antioxidant activities of all solvent extracts of K. striatum were significantly higher (p< 0.05) than K. alvarezii antioxidant extracts. The TPC values showed strong correlation (r = 0.797) with TEAC values for K. alvarezii antioxidant extract (p< 0.01). The TEAC values also showed strong correlation (r = 0.735) with percentage of DPPH free radical inhibition for K. alvarezii (p< 0.01). The TPC value, DPPH free radical scavenging assay and TEAC assay for K. striatum extracts showed strong correlation (r> 0.8) with each other (p< 0.01). In summary, K. striatum showed better antioxidant activity and higher TPC value than K. alvarezii.
A Pressurized Liquid Extraction (PLE) method was developed by using conventional High Performance
Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). It was found that all of the PAHs have been successfully extracted with dichloromethane-acetone with high percentage recovery. A high temperature of 180°C gave the highest recovery for fluoranthene (94.4%). Meanwhile, fluorene showed the highest recovery at 150 bar, with 94.6% recovery. It is noted that there is no significant day-to-day difference in the efficiency of the developed method, with the R.S.D. values averaging at 0.02. The optimized conditions applied to the soil samples were analysed using the High Temperature High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HT-HPLC) with chromatographic conditions: Octadecylsilyl-silica (ODSsilica) column (100 mm × 4.6 mm I.D.); mobile phase acetonitrile:water 40:60 (v/v); flow rate 2.5 mL/min; temperature 70°C; UV absorbance 254 nm; injection volume 5µL.
It is crucial to determine several protein-related parameters at the initial stages of proteomic analysis of any biological samples. In this study, crude protein content, total soluble protein, total phenolic content and the SDS-PAGE profile of fifteen varieties of seaweed from Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia were analysed. The crude protein, total soluble protein and total phenolic content of all seaweed samples were in the range of 3.99 to 13.18 % of dry weight, 0.52 to 1.45 mg/mL in acetone dried powder samples and 8.59 to 48.98 mg PGE/g dry weight, respectively. In general, the differences (crude protein, total soluble protein and total phenolic content) among all fifteen varieties of seaweeds were significant (p< 0.05). There was also a strong positive correlation between crude protein and total soluble protein concentration (Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient (r)=0.923; p=0.01) in these fifteen varieties of seaweed. A distinctive protein pattern was observed in the SDS-PAGE gels between three different seaweed classes of green, red and brown colours. All of these results are important in sample preparations (extractions) before furthering proteomic analysis in order to identify and characterize seaweed proteomes.
This research explores the possibility of using fluorescence technique to detect the presence of volatile organic compounds based on a single sensing material. The material used was TiO2 nanoparticles coated with porphyrin dye. The TiO2 nanoparticles colloid is in a sol-gel form synthesized from titanium (IV) ethoxide in ethanol with addition of kalium chloride (KCl) as stabilizer. TiO2 nanoparticles were then coated with porphyrin dye, Manganase (III) 5,10,15,20 tetra (4-pyridyl)-21H, 23H porphine chloride tetrakis (metachloride). The coated nanoparticles were deposited on quartz substrate using self-assembly through dip coating technique. The sensing properties of the thin film toward volatile organic compounds; ethanol, acetone, cyclohexane and 2-propanol were studied using luminescence spectrometer. It was found that the thin film produced different emission spectra peaks for different volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Hence, it eases chemical identification process and potentially be use as fluorescence gas sensor.
Acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) by C. acetobutylicum NCIMB 13357 in an oscillatory flow bioreactor was investigated. Experimental works were conducted in a U-shaped stainless steel oscillatory flow bioreactor at oscillation frequency between 0.45-0.78 Hz and a constant amplitude of 12.5 mm. Fermentations were carried out for 72 hr at 35oC using palm oil mill effluent and reinforced clostridia medium as a growth medium in batch culture. Result of this investigation showed that POME is a viable media for ABE fermentation and oscillatory flow bioreactor has an excellent potential as an alternative fermentation device.
The effect of solvent type in antioxidant compounds extraction from banana tissues was studied. The solvent system used was pure methanol, ethanol, acetone and their aqueous solution at 50% and 70% concentrations. Comparison among three common cultivars of banana in Malaysia (Berangan, Mas and Raja) had been done and their antioxidant activities were determined by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging system, ferric reducing ability in plasma (FRAP)
assays and total phenolic content (TPC) assays. Acetone 70% had the strongest antioxidant compounds extraction power as compared to other solvent. All banana samples were found to be low in primary antioxidant but powerful secondary antioxidant source of fruit. The ascending order of banana cultivars in term of their antioxidant activities in all antioxidant assays carried out were Berangan < Mas < Raja. FRAP-TPC assays were highly correlated (R2>0.70) than FRAP-DPPH
and TPC-DPPH assays due to the same mechanism that occurred in the reaction of FRAP and TPC assays.
Titanium dioxide (TiO2), porphyrin and TiO2 coated with dye porphyrin thin films were prepared on Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) using sol-gel dip coating method and were tested for sensing of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The porphyrin used was 5,10,15,20-tetraphenyl-21H,23H-porphine manganese (III) chloride (MnTPPCl). The sensing sensitivity was based on the change in the fundamental frequency of the QCM upon exposure towards six vapor samples, namely ethanol, acetone, cyclohexane, toluene, o-xylene and 2-propanol. It was found that all the thin films were sensitive towards all the vapors. However, the TiO2 coated MnTPPCl thin film exhibit the most sensitive and has good selectivity property.