Valorization of coffee bean processing waste for bioethanol production: comparison and evaluation of mass transfer effects in fermentations using free and encapsulated cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Coffee husk, an agricultural waste abundant in carbohydrates and nutrients, is typically discarded through landfills, mixed with animal fodder, or incinerated. However, in alignment with sustainable development principles, researchers worldwide are exploring innovative methods to harness the value of coffee husk, transforming it into profitable products. One such avenue is the biotechnological approach to bioethanol production from agricultural wastes, offering an eco-friendly alternative to mitigate the adverse effects of fossil fuels. This study delves into the feasibility of utilizing coffee husk as a substrate for bioethanol production, employing and comparing various hydrolysis methods. The enzymatic hydrolysis method outshone thermochemical and thermal approaches, yielding 1.84 and 3.07 times more reducing sugars in the hydrolysate, respectively. In examining bioethanol production, a comparison between free and encapsulated cells in enzyme hydrolysate revealed that free-cell fermentation faced challenges due to cell viability issues. Under specific fermentation conditions, bioethanol yield (0.59 and 0.83 g of bioethanol/g of reducing sugar) and productivity (0.1 and 0.12 g/L h) were achieved for free and encapsulated cells, respectively. However, it was noted that bioethanol production by encapsulated cells was more significantly influenced by internal mass transfer effects, as indicated by the Thiele modulus and effectiveness factor. In conclusion, our findings underscore the potential of coffee husk as a valuable substrate for bioethanol production, showcasing its viability in contributing to sustainable and eco-friendly practices.

Utility of Dermoscopy in Cutaneous Small Vessel Vasculitis: Preliminary Observations from a Study of 30 Cases.

Background: Dermoscopy is a non-invasive diagnostic technique that provides an added advantage to the routine clinical diagnostic exercise. Role of dermoscopy in cutaneous small vessel vasculitis has not been explored well. Objective: This study was intended to delineate the dermoscopic features of cutaneous small vessel vasculitis and to correlate them with histopathological findings of the disease. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving 30 patients with cutaneous small vessel vasculitis confirmed by histopathology and direct immunofluorescence. In each patient, dermoscopic features of early/evolving and established lesions were recorded. Dermoscopic-histopathological correlation was assessed for established lesions. Results: On dermoscopy, the early/evolving lesions showed a dull red background in all the 30 (100%) patients, red globules in 8 (26.7%), and red dots in 4 (13.30%) patients. The established lesions showed red background in 28 (93.3%) patients, white and yellow structureless areas in 19 (63.33%) patients each, red globules in 18 (60%), and red dots in 16 (53.3%) patients. A statistically significant association between red globules and red blood cell extravasation was noted (P-0.01). White and yellow structureless areas also showed a statistically significant association between sparse (P-0.023) and dense (P-0.007) perivascular infiltrates, respectively. Conclusion: Dermoscopy of cutaneous small vessel vasculitis exhibits fairly reliable and reproducible features correlating well with histopathological aspects of the disease. Hence, inclusion of dermoscopy in the clinical diagnostic protocol for cutaneous small vessel vasculitis is beneficial in complementing the clinical diagnosis and in differentiating from other inflammatory purpuras.

Maternal depression, parental attributions, and adolescent psychopathology: An evaluation using observational and video-mediated recall methods.

Parenting styles associated with maternal depression are a risk factor for adolescent psychopathology, and maternal attributional styles may be a key mechanism in this relationship. Mother-adolescent dyads (N = 180; 96 male; ages 10-15) completed in-person interactions and then the mothers participated in a video-mediated recall procedure to assess maternal attributions. Maternal depression was associated with negative attributions. Negative attributions were associated with low parental acceptance, aggressive parenting, and low positive parenting. Positive maternal attributions were associated with less aggressive parenting, and more positive parenting during one interaction task. Adolescent externalizing behaviors were associated with negative attributions. Future research should evaluate whether maternal attributions mediate the association between maternal depression and both parenting behaviors and adolescent mental health.

The Value of Mechanistic Experiments to Target the Shared Neural Circuitry of Parenting and Addiction: The Potential for Video Feedback Interventions.

Certain neural processes that underlie addiction are also central to parenting, notably stress and reward. Parenting interventions that incorporate the unique context of caregivers with addiction have demonstrated some success: However, real-world implementation of evidence-based interventions can be difficult with this population. Video feedback interventions are an especially promising approach to reach parents who experience barriers to participation, particularly caregivers with addiction. A translational neuroscientific approach to elucidating the mechanisms of change in these interventions will aid the delivery and success of this method and advance theory surrounding parenting in the context of addiction. Along these lines, we provide an example of one video feedback intervention, Filming Interactions to Nurture Development, that will serve as such a mechanistic experiment.

Oral health status and treatment needs of children with special health care needs in rural and urban areas of Hyderabad - A cross sectional study.

AIM: The aim of the cross-sectional study was to ascertain the oral health status and treatment needs of special health care need children of age group 3-16 years in rural and urban areas of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. MATERIALS AND METHOD: To assess and compare the caries status, oral health status, oral hygiene measures, diet and treatment needs in rural and urban population. The data collected was processed and analyzed using the SPSS statistical software program. RESULTS: Among 1000 subjects in rural and urban population highly significant difference was observed for Oral hygiene aids (P < 0.003) and for DMFT (P < 0.008) and no significant difference for dmft (P > 0.26). OHIs status showed no difference in primary and permanent in both rural and urban population (P > 1). Filled and missed were in DMFT, dmft was very low even though there were carious tooth in study population. Most of the children in rural and urban population required varied treatment needs like oral prophylaxis, restoration, pulp therapy, crowns and extractions. CONCLUSION: High prevalence of dental caries and the need for restorative care was noted in these children emphasizing the necessity of change of attitude towards oral health and improved oral care by repeated counselling of parents by primary health care physicians.

Studies on clinical anatomy of the maxillofacial and mandibular regions of the Madras Red sheep (Ovis aries) in India.

BACKGROUND: The present study aimed to study the clinical anatomy of the maxillofacial and mandibular regions of the Madras Red sheep through the morphometric analysis of some clinically important parameters pertaining to the regional anaesthesia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted in 20 male and 20 female adult Madras Red sheep around 20-25 kg body weight. Eleven parameters re- lated to the clinical regional anaesthesia of the maxillofacial and the mandibular regions were recorded. RESULTS: The distance between the facial tuberosity to the infraorbital canal was 2.25 ± 0.14 cm in males and 2.14 ± 0.15 cm in females. The distance from the infraorbital canal to the root of the alveolar tooth was 1.73 ± 0.28 cm in males and 1.73 ± 0.13 cm in females. The length and height of the mandibles were 15.37 ± 0.56 cm, 9.00 ± 0.24 cm and in males 14.53 ± 0.24 cm, 9.68 ± 0.16 cm in females, respectively. The maximum height of the mandible to the coro- noid process, width or height of the mandibular foramen and the distance from the condyloid process to the base of the mandible were recorded as 9.0 ± 24, 0.82 ± 0.05, 6.68 ± 0.19 cm in males and 9.68 ± 0.16, 0.83 ± 0.04, 6.25 ± ± 0.28 cm in females, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The present study revealed that most of the parameters showed statistically significant difference between the sexes i.e. the males had higher values. However, from the practical point of view, these differences were meagre. The results were discussed with regard to their clinical applications in various regional anaesthesia performed in maxillofacial and mandibular regions of the Madras Red sheep.

Management of predicted difficult airway with conventional techniques in an infant with rhabdomyosarcoma of the upper lip.

In paediatric patients, airway management can be challenging due to unique anatomical and physiological variations. Hence, a thorough history, examination and pre-operative planning are essential in securing difficult airway in paediatrics. We report a case of a 7-month-old infant with rhabdomyosarcoma of the upper lip with anticipated difficult airway. The airway was managed with three different conventional techniques (modified nasal trumpet, supraglottic airway and direct laryngoscopy) for three different procedures in the same infant. The procedures were uneventful and recovery was good. This case report emphasises the use of conventional techniques in the management of difficult airway.

Photon up-conversion increases biomass yield in Chlorella vulgaris.

Photon up-conversion, a process whereby lower energy radiations are converted to higher energy levels via the use of appropriate phosphor systems, was employed as a novel strategy for improving microalgal growth and lipid productivity. Photon up-conversion enables the utilization of regions of the solar spectrum, beyond the typical photosynthetically active radiation, that are usually wasted or are damaging to the algae. The effects of up-conversion of red light by two distinct sets of up-conversion phosphors were studied in the model microalgae Chlorella vulgaris. Up-conversion by set 1 phosphors led to a 2.85 fold increase in biomass concentration and a 3.2 fold increase in specific growth rate of the microalgae. While up-conversion by set 2 phosphors resulted in a 30% increase in biomass and 12% increase in specific intracellular neutral lipid, while the specific growth rates were comparable to that of the control. Furthermore, up-conversion resulted in higher levels of specific intracellular reactive oxygen species in C. vulgaris. Up-conversion of red light (654 nm) was shown to improve biomass yields in C. vulgaris. In principle, up-conversion can be used to increase the utilization range of the electromagnetic spectrum for improved cultivation of photosynthetic systems such as plants, algae, and microalgae.

Stress induced lipid production in Chlorella vulgaris: relationship with specific intracellular reactive species levels.

Microalgae have significant potential to be an important alternative energy source, but the challenges to the commercialization of bio-oil from microalgae need to be overcome for the potential to be realized. The application of stress can be used to improve bio-oil yields from algae. Nevertheless, the understanding of stress effects is fragmented due to the lack of a suitable, direct quantitative marker for stress. The lack of understanding seems to have limited the development of stress based strategies to improve bio-oil yields, and hence the commercialization of microalgae-based bio-oil. In this study, we have proposed and used the specific intracellular reactive species levels (siROS) particularly hydroxyl and superoxide radical levels, separately, as direct, quantitative, markers for stress, irrespective of the type of stress induced. Although ROS reactions are extremely rapid, the siROS level can be assumed to be at pseudo-steady state compared to the time scales of metabolism, growth and production, and hence they can be effective stress markers at particular time points. Also, the specific intracellular (si-) hydroxyl and superoxide radical levels are easy to measure through fluorimetry. Interestingly, irrespective of the conditions employed in this study, that is, nutrient excess/limitation or different light wavelengths, the cell concentrations are correlated to the siROS levels in an inverse power law fashion. The composite plots of cell concentration (y) and siROS (x) yielded the correlations of y = k1 · x(-0.7) and y = k2 · x(-0.79) , for si-hydroxyl and si-superoxide radical levels, respectively. The specific intracellular (si-) neutral lipid levels, which determine the bio-oil productivity, are related in a direct power law fashion to the specific hydroxyl radical levels. The composite plot of si-neutral lipid levels (z) and si-hydroxyl radical level (x) yielded a correlation of z = k3 · x(0.65) . More interestingly, a nutrient shift caused a significant change in the sensitivity of neutral lipid accumulation to the si-hydroxyl radical levels.

Paraoxonase: Its antiatherogenic role in chronic renal failure.

Paraoxonase (PON) is an aryldialkylphosphatase, which reversibly binds and hydrolyzes organophosphates. The PON family has three members (PON1, PON2 and PON3); they share structural properties and enzymatic activities. PON1 is shown to reside over high density lipoprotein (HDL) and has both antioxidant and antiatherogenic functions. Function of PON2 and PON3 are speculative and still under research. Several methodologies were developed over the years to determine the activity and mass of PON1, of which spectrophotometer-based methods using certain chemicals as substrate predominate. Several studies have shown decreased levels of PON1 in chronic renal failure (CRF) patients, particularly those on hemodialysis. The role of PON1 in development of cardiovascular disease has drawn considerable attention in recent years. Several authors have shown decreased levels of HDL and PON1 activity in CRF patients on hemodialysis and reported this to be a risk factor in the development of CVD. Enhancement or maintenance of the PON1 activity may prevent development of CVDs and its consequences in patients on hemodialysis.

Screening of selected single and polyherbal Ayurvedic medicines for Antibacterial and Antifungal activity.

The present study deals with antimicrobial activity of ayurvedic drugs containing single herb (Amalaki Choorna and Yastimadhu Choorna) and combination of herbs (DN-90 and Asanadi Kwatha Choorna). Disc diffusion method was used to assess antibacterial activity and antifungal activity was tested using Poison food technique. Absence of bacterial growth around the discs impregnated with the aqueous extracts of drugs and reduction of fungal growth in poisoned plates indicated antimicrobial activity. Further, the results of antibacterial activity of Amalaki choorna were comparable with standard drug Streptomycin. Asanadi Kwatha Choorna inhibited bacteria to more extent than Yastimadhu choorna and DN-90. Among fungi tested, more antifungal activity was observed against Mucor sp. The antimicrobial activity of drugs tested could be due to active principles present in them.

Synthesis of aryl semicarbazones as potential anticonvulsant agents.

A series of 4-ethoxyphenyl semicarbazones (1-10) have been synthesized using an appropriate synthetic route and characterized by elemental analyses and spectral data. The anticonvulsant activity of all the synthesized compounds was evaluated against maximal electroshock induced seizures (MES) and subcutaneous pentylenetetrazole (scPTZ) induced seizure models in mice. The neurotoxicity was assessed using the rotorod method. All the test compounds were administered at doses of 30, 100, and 300 mg/kg body weight and the anticonvulsant activity was noted at 0.5 and 4 h time intervals after the drug administration. Among the compounds tested, compounds except 3, 4 and 10 showed protection from seizures in both the animal models. Compounds 6 and 8 were found to increase gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels in the medulla oblongata region of the rat brain.