Waste cooking oil and molasses for the sustainable production of extracellular lipase by Saitozyma flava.

Organic waste valorization is one of the principal goals of the circular economy. Bioprocesses offer a promising approach to achieve this goal by employing microorganisms to convert organic feedstocks into high value products through their metabolic activities. In this study, a fermentation process for yeast cultivation and extracellular lipase production was developed by utilizing food waste. Lipases are versatile enzymes that can be applied in a wide range of industrial fields, from detergent, leather, and biodiesel production to food and beverage manufacturing. Among several oleaginous yeast species screened, Saitozyma flava was found to exhibit the highest secreted lipase activity on pNP-butyrate, pNP-caproate, and pNP-caprylate. The production medium was composed of molasses, a by-product of the sugar industry, which provided nutrients for yeast biomass formation. At the same time, waste cooking oil was employed to induce and enhance extracellular lipase production. After 48 h of process, 20 g/L of yeast biomass and 150 mU/mgdw of lipase activity were achieved, with a productivity of 3 mU/mgdw /h. The purified lipase from S. flava showed optimal performances at temperature 28°C and pH 8.0, exhibiting a specific activity of 62 U/mg when using p-NPC as substrate.

Synthesis and Assessment of the In Vitro and Ex Vivo Activity of Salicylate Synthase (Mbti) Inhibitors as New Candidates for the Treatment of Mycobacterial Infections.

Tuberculosis (TB) causes millions of deaths every year, ranking as one of the most dangerous infectious diseases worldwide. Because several pathogenic strains of M. tuberculosis (Mtb) have developed resistance against most of the established anti-TB drugs, new therapeutic options are urgently needed. An attractive target for the development of new anti-TB agents is the salicylate synthase MbtI, the first enzyme of the mycobacterial siderophore biochemical machinery, absent in human cells. In this work, a set of analogues of 5-(3-cyanophenyl)furan-2-carboxylic acid (I), the most potent MbtI inhibitor identified to date, was synthesized, characterized, and tested to further elucidate the structural requirements for achieving an efficient MbtI inhibition and potent antitubercular activity. The structure-activity relationships (SAR) discussed herein evidenced the importance of the side chain linked to the phenyl moiety to improve the in vitro antimycobacterial activity. In detail, 1f emerged as the most effective analogue against the pathogen, acting without cytotoxicity issues. To deepen the understanding of its mechanism of action, we established a fluorescence-based screening test to quantify the pathogen infectivity within host cells, using MPI-2 murine cells, a robust surrogate for alveolar macrophages. The set-up of the new assay demonstrates significant potential to accelerate the discovery of new anti-TB drugs.

Recycling industrial food wastes for lipid production by oleaginous yeasts Rhodosporidiobolus azoricus and Cutaneotrichosporon oleaginosum.

BACKGROUND: Microbial lipids have been emerging as a sustainable alternative to vegetable oils and animal fat to produce biodiesel and industrial relevant chemicals. The use of wastes for microbial processes can represent a way for upgrading low value feedstock to high value products, addressing one of the main goals of circular economy, the reduction of wastes by recycling. Two oleaginous yeasts, Rhodosporidiobolus azoricus and Cutaneotrichosporon oleaginosum, were used in this study to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach. RESULTS: In this study wastes from industrial food processing, as pumpkin peels and syrup from candied fruits manufacture, were used for yeast cultivation and for lipids production. Evaluation of growth and sugar consumption revealed marked differences between the yeasts in capacity to utilize the main sugars present in the feedstock. In particular, we observed an unexpected limitation in glucose metabolism on mineral defined media by R. azoricus. Both species showed ability to grow and accumulate lipids on media exclusively composed by undiluted pumpkin peel hydrolysate, and R. azoricus was the best performing. By a two-stage process carried out in bioreactor, this species reached a biomass concentration of 45 g/L (dry weight) containing 55% of lipids, corresponding to a lipid concentration of 24 g/L, with a productivity of 0.26 g/L/h and yield of 0.24 g lipids per g of utilized sugar. CONCLUSIONS: Wastes from industrial food processing were sufficient to completely support yeast growth and to induce lipid accumulation. This study provides strong evidence that the concept of valorisation through the production of lipids from the metabolism of nutrients present in agro-industrial wastes by oleaginous yeasts is promising for implementation of biotechnological processes in a circular economy contest.

A Comparative Analysis of Shoes Designed for Subjects with Obesity Using a Single Inertial Sensor: Preliminary Results.

Walking remains a highly recommended form of exercise for the management of obesity. Thus, comfortable and adequate shoes represent, together with the prescription of a safe adapted physical activity, an important means to achieve the recommended physical activity target volume. However, the literature on shoes specific for obese individuals is inadequate. The aim of the present study was to compare the performance of shoes specifically designed for subjects with obesity with everyday sneakers during instrumented 6-min walking test and outdoor 30-min ambulation in a group of subjects with obesity using a single wearable device. Twenty-three obese individuals (mean age 58.96 years) were recruited and classified into two groups: deconditioned (n = 13) and non-deconditioned patients (n = 10). Each participant was evaluated with his/her daily sneakers and the day after with shoes specifically designed for people with obesity by means of a questionnaire related to the comfort related to each model of shoes and instrumentally during the i6MWT and an outdoor walking test. The results showed that the specifically designed shoes displayed the higher score as for comfort, in particular in the deconditioned group. During the i6MWT, the distance walked, and step length significantly increased in the deconditioned group when specifically designed shoes were worn; no significant changes were observed in the non-deconditioned individuals. The deconditioned group displayed longer step length during the outdoor 30-min ambulation test. In the non-deconditioned group, the use of specific shoes correlated to better performance in terms of gait speed and cadence. These data, although preliminary, seem to support the hypothesis that shoes specifically conceived and designed for counteracting some of the known functional limitations in subjects with obesity allow for a smoother, more stable and possibly less fatiguing gait schema over time.

Effect of Obesity on Knee and Ankle Biomechanics during Walking.

The purpose of this retrospective study was to quantify the three-dimensional knee and ankle joint kinematics and kinetics during walking in young participants with different degrees of obesity and to identify the associated effects by stratifying the obese participants according to their BMI. Thirty-two young obese individuals (mean age 30.32 years) and 16 normal-weight age-matched individuals were tested using 3D gait analysis. Analysis of kinematic and kinetic data revealed significant differences in mechanics at knee and ankle joints in all the evaluated planes of movement. Compared to the healthy-weight participants, obese adults demonstrated less knee flexion, greater knee ab-adduction angle during the entire gait cycle and abnormalities at the knee flex-extension moment. At the ankle joint, reduced range of motion was observed together with a lower peak of ankle plantarflexor moment and power during terminal stance. These results provide insight into a potential pathway by which obesity predisposes a healthy adult for increased risk of osteoarthritis.

Anthropomorphic Capital and Commonwealth Value.

In this essay, we intend to analyze the process of accumulation of contemporary capitalism, in which the regime of valorization derive from the notion of "common" a "results of social production that are necessary for social interaction and further production, such as knowledges, languages, information affect, and so forth" (Hardt and Negri, 2009) and from its expropriation. When we deal with the concept of "common," the reference is made to a heterogeneous category. In this text we refer to two modalities of expression of the "common:" the digital common (section network value) and the common of social reproduction (section social reproduction value or the economy of the interiority and anthropomorphic capital). Regarding the first case study, the concept of "network value" is investigated and defined as a product of individual life in a relational context increasingly controlled and subsumed by the social media and big data industry. Regarding the second, we discuss how the activity of social reproduction of individuals is today central in the process of accumulation of the economy. "Social reproduction" is a useful concept to investigate what we call the "anthropomorphic capital," that is the capacity by the contemporary labor organizations to capture and make productive the essence of today's life and its complexity. In short, it transpires better and better how all activities are productive, i.e., accumulation generators. We observe the apparent paradox of a generalization of surplus value in the era of the decline of waged employment and with it a tension of capital contemporary to the general mortification of living labor. In fact, we note how capital claims to transform the human being into capital itself, explicitly assuming the whole of human existence as a field from which accumulation can be generated (human being, enterprise or human capital). This is what, at this point, we call anthropomorphic capital or the economy of interiority. In the last section, we report some results of an empirical research "Commonfare-Pie News," able to underline how life is more and more subsumed to the logic of capitalistic valorization, to the point that today we can speak not only of the subsumption of labor to capital but of a real life subsumption.