Effect of amino acid fortified mulberry leaves on economic and biological traits of Bombyx mori L.

The demand for silk has been increasing day by day but the average silk production is not enough to meet its demand. In this study, we investigated the effect of amino acid supplemented mulberry feed on the biological and commercial traits of Bombyx mori L. (Lepidoptera; Bombycidae). The silkworm larvae at 5th instar stage were taken and fed with fresh and healthy mulberry leaves coated with Alanine, Glycine and Serine in fourteen different combinations. Results of the current study revealed that the average weight of silkworm larvae and the % ratio of silk gland to body weight on day 7 was significantly (P˂0.05) higher in the group fed with amino acid fortified leaves as compared to the control. The commercial traits of larvae fed with amino acid fortified leaves also improved significantly. The larvae fed with Alanine (1 %) treated mulberry leaves showed the maximum cocoon weight, cocoon length, cocoon width, cocoon shell ratio and fibroin content as compared to the control group. It is evident from the results that the amino acid (particularly alanine) coated mulberry leaves have a positive effect on the commercial and biological traits of Bombyx mori (L.).

Biomolecules based hydrogels and their potential biomedical applications: A comprehensive review.

The need for biocompatible drug carriers has been significantly increased from the past few years. Researchers show great interest in the development of more versatile and sophisticated biomaterials based drug carriers. Hydrogels are beneficial drug carriers and easily release the controlled amount of drug at target site due to its tunable structure. The hydrogels made-up of potent biological macromolecules including collagen, gelatin, fibrin, elastin, fibroin, chitosan, starch, alginate, agarose and carrageenan have been proven as versatile biomaterials. These are three-dimensional polymeric networks, synthesized by crosslinking of hydrophilic polymers. The biological macromolecules based hydrogels containing therapeutic substances are used in a wide range of biomedical applications including wound healing, tissue engineering, cosmetics and contact lenses. However, many aspects related to hydrogels such as the mechanism of cross-linking and molecular entanglement are not clear. So, there is a need to do more research and exploration toward the extensive and cost-effective use of hydrogels. The present review article elaborately discusses the biomolecules based hydrogels and their possible biomedical applications in different fields.

Early Chest Re-Exploration for Excessive Bleeding in Post Cardiac Surgery Patients: Does It Matter?

Introduction Re-explorations after open-heart surgery are often required if the patient is bleeding or shows features of cardiovascular instability and does not improve with conservative measures. Our study aims to determine whether timely re-exploration of patients who are bleeding has an impact on the morbidity and mortality of the patients. Methods A retrospective analysis of 75 patients that underwent open-heart surgery and subsequently underwent chest re-exploration for excessive bleeding between March 2018 and March 2020. Patients who were reopened post-op for indications other than excessive bleeding were excluded. Results A total number of cases were 700, out of which 75 (9.3%) patients were reopened, as compared to the literature, which shows worldwide 2-11% being reopened. Post-operative drain output was 1000ml to 1500ml in 47 (62.7%) and more than 1500ml in 28 (37.3%) patients before they were reopened. In 67 (89.3%) patients, three to five units of blood were transfused, and in eight (10.7%) patients, more than five units of blood were transfused. We believe our mortality in the reopened patients was low, because of timely intervention and early re-exploration, and is probably the reason why our figures land in a higher range (2-11%) of reopened cases (9.3%). Reopening time was less than five hours in 49 (65.3%) patients and less than 10 hours in 26 (34.7%) patients in our study. We tried to minimize the loss of blood and re-explored the patients before they lose excessive blood, the average time for reopening in our study was less than 10 hours. The average intensive care unit (ICU) stay was 4.2 days (range three to six days). Wound infections were reported in one of three patients. There was no mortality in these patients. Surgical site of bleeding was identified in 54 (72%) patients and no particular site was found in 21 (28%) patients. Suggesting that it is common to have a surgical bleeder than coagulopathy induced bleeding in post-cardiac surgery patients Conclusions We believe our low mortality (0%) is due to early reopening in patients who are bleeding excessively after cardiac surgery.

Biosynthesis of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) by the Valorization of Biomass and Synthetic Waste.

Synthetic pollutants are a looming threat to the entire ecosystem, including wildlife, the environment, and human health. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are natural biodegradable microbial polymers with a promising potential to replace synthetic plastics. This research is focused on devising a sustainable approach to produce PHAs by a new microbial strain using untreated synthetic plastics and lignocellulosic biomass. For experiments, 47 soil samples and 18 effluent samples were collected from various areas of Punjab, Pakistan. The samples were primarily screened for PHA detection on agar medium containing Nile blue A stain. The PHA positive bacterial isolates showed prominent orange-yellow fluorescence on irradiation with UV light. They were further screened for PHA estimation by submerged fermentation in the culture broth. Bacterial isolate 16a produced maximum PHA and was identified by 16S rRNA sequencing. It was identified as Stenotrophomonas maltophilia HA-16 (MN240936), reported first time for PHA production. Basic fermentation parameters, such as incubation time, temperature, and pH were optimized for PHA production. Wood chips, cardboard cutouts, plastic bottle cutouts, shredded polystyrene cups, and plastic bags were optimized as alternative sustainable carbon sources for the production of PHAs. A vital finding of this study was the yield obtained by using plastic bags, i.e., 68.24 ± 0.27%. The effective use of plastic and lignocellulosic waste in the cultivation medium for the microbial production of PHA by a novel bacterial strain is discussed in the current study.

Self-Redirection of Metabolic Flux Toward Squalene and Ethanol Pathways by Engineered Yeast.

We have previously reported that squalene overproducing yeast self-downregulate the expression of the ethanol pathway (non-essential pathway) to divert the metabolic flux to the squalene pathway. In this study, the effect of co-production of squalene and ethanol on other non-essential pathways (fusel alcohol pathway, FA) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was evaluated. However, before that, 13 constitutive promoters, like IRA1p, PET9p, RHO1p, CMD1p, ATP16p, USA3p, RER2p, COQ1p, RIM1p, GRS1p, MAK5p, and BRN1p, were engineered using transcription factor bindings sites from strong promoters HHF2p (-300 to -669 bp) and TEF1p (-300 to -579 bp), and employed to co-overexpress squalene and ethanol pathways in S. cerevisiae. The FSE strain overexpressing the key genes of the squalene pathway accumulated 56.20 mg/L squalene, a 16.43-fold higher than wild type strain (WS). The biogenesis of lipid droplets was stimulated by overexpressing DGA1 and produced 106 mg/L squalene in the FSE strain. AFT1p and CTR1p repressible promoters were also characterized and employed to downregulate the expression of ERG1, which also enhanced the production of squalene in FSE strain up to 42.85- (148.67 mg/L) and 73.49-fold (255.11 mg/L) respectively. The FSE strain was further engineered by overexpressing the key genes of the ethanol pathway and produced 40.2 mg/mL ethanol in the FSE1 strain, 3.23-fold higher than the WS strain. The FSE1 strain also self-downregulated the expression of the FA pathway up to 73.9%, perhaps by downregulating the expression of GCN4 by 2.24-fold. We demonstrate the successful tuning of the strength of yeast promoters and highest coproduction of squalene and ethanol in yeast, and present GCN4 as a novel metabolic regulator that can be manipulated to divert the metabolic flux from the non-essential pathway to engineered pathways.