Barriers to the Use of Medicinal Mushrooms for Production of Metabolites : The Bjarmin Rushton Story.

Traditionalists are reluctant to leave the technology they and their forefathers knew. To them the new technology based on the stirred tank bioreactor is too removed from the soil the mushroom comes from. On the other hand, there are examples of applications of a bioreactor which support the change from the old to the new technology. In this chapter Bjarmin Rushton, the creator of the well-known medicinal mushroom company Wellness, gives his view of the much talked about difficulties with cultivation in stirred tanks. These problems, are they real or figment of our imagination? Those who read will find out.

Extent of pulmonary thromboembolic disease in patients with COVID-19 on CT: relationship with pulmonary parenchymal disease.

AIM: To report the severity and extent of pulmonary thromboembolic disease (PTD) in COVID-19 patients undergoing computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) in a tertiary centre. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of COVID-19 patients undergoing CTPA over a period of 27 days. The presence, extent, and severity of PTD were documented. Two observers scored the pattern and extent of lung parenchymal disease including potential fibrotic features, as well as lymph node enlargement and pleural effusions. Consensus was achieved via a third observer. Interobserver agreement was assessed using kappa statistics. Student's t-test, chi-squared, and Mann-Whitney U-tests were used to compare imaging features between PTD and non-PTD sub-groups. RESULTS: During the study period, 100 patients with confirmed COVID-19 underwent CTPA imaging. Ninety-three studies were analysed, excluding indeterminate CTPA examinations. Overall incidence of PTD was 41/93 (44%) with 28/93 patients showing small vessel PTD (30%). D-dimer was elevated in 90/93 (96.8%) cases. A high Wells' score did not differentiate between PTD and non-PTD groups (p=0.801). The interobserver agreement was fair (kappa=0.659) for parenchymal patterns and excellent (kappa=0.816) for severity. Thirty-four of the 93 cases (36.6%) had lymph node enlargement; 29/34 (85.3%) showed no additional source of infection. Sixteen of the 93 (17.2%) cases had potential fibrotic features. CONCLUSION: There is a high incidence of PTD in COVID-19 patients undergoing CTPA and lack of a risk stratification tool. The present data indicates a higher suspicion of PTD is needed in severe COVID-19 patients. The concomitant presence of possible fibrotic features on CT indicates the need for follow-up.

Tuberculosis in the pituitary fossa: a common pathology in an uncommon site.

UNLABELLED: Tuberculosis (TB) is an important cause of mortality and morbidity across the world. In 2-5% of all cases of systemic TB, the C is affected, with lesions reported in the meninges, cortex and ventricles. Intrasellar tuberculomas, however, are extremely rare. We report the interesting case of a young female patient who presented with secondary hypothyroidism and hyperprolactinaemia. She was treated successfully for pituitary TB. We also highlight and discuss some interesting (and hitherto unreported) endocrine issues. Radiological and histological features and treatment of pituitary TB are discussed using this case as an example. LEARNING POINTS: Intrasellar TB continues to be a rare presentation, but incidence and prevalence are expected to grow with increasing numbers of multidrug-resistant TB and shrinking geographical boundaries across the world.Pituitary TB can present with features of a typical adenoma, but has certain radiological and histological features that help to differentiate from an adenoma.Patients can present with a variety of endocrine abnormalities at different times.The presence of an intrasellar mass in individuals at a high risk of developing TB, or with a previous history of systemic TB, should prompt the diagnosis of pituitary TB. In such individuals, it may be worth considering a trial of anti-tuberculous therapy, before considering surgery.

Biochemical engineering aspects of solid state bioprocessing.

Despite centuries of use and renewed interest over the last 20 years in solid-state fermentation (SSF) technology, and despite its good potential for a range of products, there are currently relatively few large-scale commercial applications. This situation can be attributed to the complexity of the system: Macroscale and microscale heat and mass transfer limitations are intrinsic to the system, and it is only over the last decade or so that we have begun to understand them. This review presents the current state of understanding of biochemical engineering aspects of SSF processing, including not only the fermentation itself, but also the auxiliary steps of substrate and inoculum preparation and downstream processing and waste disposal. The fermentation step has received most research attention. Significant advances have been made over the last decade in understanding how the performance of SSF bioreactors can be controlled either by the intraparticle processes of enzyme and oxygen diffusion or by the macroscale heat transfer processes of conduction, convection, and evaporation. Mathematical modeling has played an important role in suggesting how SSF bioreactors should be designed and operated. However, these models have been developed on the basis of laboratory-scale data and there is an urgent need to test these models with data obtained in large-scale bioreactors.

Application of Convective Interaction Media (CIM) disk monolithic columns for fast separation and monitoring of organic acids.

The separation of organic acids on the anion-exchange monolithic support, commercially available as Convective Interaction Media (CIM), is presented in this study. It is demonstrated that citric, isocitric, pyruvic, fumaric, malic, and alpha-ketoglutaric acid can be successfully separated using a CIM monolithic column of suitable user-adjustable length. The effect of the mobile phase composition on the separation is investigated. CIM monolithic columns of adjustable length from 3 to 18 mm are compared regarding the resolution and the back pressure. It is shown that the CIM monolithic column of 12 mm in length enables a good separation of all six organic acids within 3 min and exhibits a linear dependence of back pressure versus flow rate. The resolution and the dynamic binding capacity are found to be flow-unaffected. A filtrated sample of bioprocess supernatant is analyzed without previous pretreatment, which indicates the possibility of online monitoring of small molecules during the bioprocess using CIM monolithic columns.

Scale-up of citric acid fermentation by redox potential control

To obtain high citric acid productivity in Aspergillus niger fermentation on beet molasses substrate, a certain redox potential profile with two maxima (260 and 280 mV) and two minima (180 and 80 mV) must be maintained. The most effective regulation of redox potential is by regulation of aeration and agitation. It has been shown that control of redox potential by aeration and agitation is a most successful method for scale-up from 10-L laboratory scale to the 100- and 1000-L pilot-plant scale, even in geometrically dissimilar stirred-tank reactors. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Production of Aspergillus niger pectolytic enzymes by solid state bioprocessing of apple pomace.

The aim of this work was to develop a low cost process for apple pomace utilisation. Accordingly this production of pectynolitic enzymes based on solid state bioprocessing of this actual waste, was developed. Production of pectolytic enzymes of Aspergillus niger, pectinesterase and polygalacturonase as well as the activity of pectolytic enzymatic complex by solid state bioprocessing were studied. The results of preliminary substrate optimization, on open trays in laboratory scale experiments, were transferred to 15 1 horizontal solid state stirred tank reactor (HSS STR). In situ sterilization of solid substrate with periodical mixing was used. Secondary raw material, apple pomace the waste from food and agriculture industry combined with soya flour, wheat bran and simple mineral salts was utilised. Various substrate moistures were studied. Process parameters such as inoculation, influence of mixing, aeration, temperature and moisture content on pectolytic enzymes production were studied. Maximal amounts of 15 g kg-1 of solid medium of polygalacturonase, 200 mg kg-1 pectinesterase at activity up to 900 AJDA U ml-1 of enzyme mixture was obtained on average.