Improved deinking and biobleaching efficiency of enzyme consortium from Thermomyces lanuginosus VAPS25 using genetic Algorithm-Artificial neural network based tools.

The present study reports the combined enzymatic production efficiency of thermophilic fungus Thermomyces lanuginosus VAPS25 using a combinatory artificial intelligence-based tool, resulting in 2.7 IU/ml, 5.2 IU/ml, and 18.85 U/ml activity of endoglucanase, amylase, and lipase, respectively with good thermostability at 90 °C (pH 8-10). Interestingly, the metal ions viz. Cu2+ and Mg2+ increased the endoglucanase activity to 5 folds, i.e.,5.6 IU/ml compared to control. Further, the amylase and lipase activity was also enhanced by Fe2+ and Co2+ to 5.4 IU/ml and 19.57 U/ml, respectively. Additionally, the deinking efficiency was improved by 68.9%, 42.7%, and 52.8% by endoglucanase, amylase, and lipase, respectively, while the consortium increased the deinking efficiency to 72.7%. The bio-bleached paper strength parameters such as burst index, breaking length, tear index, and tensile index of sheets were significantly improved by 1.38%, 13.54%, 7.54%, and 20.88%, respectively. These enzymes at an industrial scale would help develop an economical paper recycling process.

Eco-friendly bleaching of sugarcane bagasse with crude xylanase and pectinase enzymes to reduce the bleaching effluent toxicity.

Bio-bleaching effect on bagasse pulp using xylano-pectinolytic enzymes produced by a bacterial species was studied in order to evaluate the potential of these enzymes in paper industry. In this study, action of enzymes was maximum with xylanase/pectinase dose 7/1.75 IU/g, pulp consistency 1:12.5 g/L, pH 8.5, temperature 50° C and 180 min of treatment time. Under the optimized bio-bleaching conditions, removal of reducing sugars (6.15±0.05 mg/L), brightness (16.08%), whiteness (25.54%) and release of chromophores (hydrophobic and phenolic compounds and lignin impurities) were maximum, along with decrease in kappa number (26.28%), and yellowness (27.88%) values were obtained. Improvement in the various physical properties like breaking length (10.28%), burst index (29.55%), tear index (5.02%), double fold (14.89%), Gurley porosity (15%) and viscosity (8.6%), along with the reduction of chlorine dioxide dose by 27%, was also observed. There is also reduction in COD and BOD values of bio-bleached effluents by 27.62% and 20.52%, respectively. This is the first report on bio-bleaching of bagasse pulp using xylano-pectinolytic enzymes.

A study elucidating the relation between cellulose dissolution and crystallinity after cellulase treatment at different doses.

Cellulose is the most abundant renewable resource which has found a diverse range of applications. Cellulose dissolution is a significant property for manufacturing man-made cellulosic fiber through viscose process. Crystalline microfibrillar structure and relatively high ordered packing of polymeric chains contribute to recalcitrance and poor reactivity of cellulose. One of the most common methods to improve cellulose dissolution is cellulase treatment. Herein, cellulase treatment at different doses was studied to explore the correlation of cellulose dissolution with crystallinity. Pulp showed improvement in Fock reactivity and other properties related to viscose application. But contrary to previous studies, cellulose crystallinity as determined by XRD and FTIR did not correlate with Fock reactivity at a higher dose of cellulase. The results indicated some complex mechanism to be involved between the cellulose dissolution and crystallinity than a simple negative correlation. Cellulase treatment at 150 HCU/g resulted in the upgraded pulp suitable for viscose application.

Partial purification of bacterial cellulo-xylanolytic enzymes and their application in deinking of photocopier waste paper.

The potential of alkaline cellulo-xylanolytic enzymes from non-pathogenic Bacillus subtilis strain was tested for deinking of photocopier waste paper. Cellulase and xylanase play a crucial role in deinking of different types of waste paper. Partial purification of cellulo-xylanolytic enzymes was carried out using ultrafiltration followed by ammonium sulfate precipitation. The ultrafiltered enzyme was used for deinking the photocopier waste paper along with chemical deinking. An enzyme dose of 0.6 IU/g and reaction time of 60 min for ultrafiltered cellulo-xylanolytic enzyme significantly increased deinking efficiency, tear index (9.52%) and folding endurance (5±2%) as compared to chemical deinking. There was improvement in strength properties such as tear index and double-fold along with freeness of pulp (18%). There was slight decrease in tensile index (0.6%) and burst index (16%) while ISO brightness remained unaffected. Enzymatic deinking (74.3%) by ultrafiltered cellulo-xylanolytic from Bacillus subtilis was found significant over conventional chemical deinking.

Potential of crude xylano-pectinolytic enzymes in bleaching of rice straw pulp for improving paper quality and reducing toxic effluent load generation.

The objective of this study was to check the potential of crude xylano-pectinolytic enzymes in bleaching of rice straw pulp, in order to reduce the toxic waste load for managing the environmental pollution. The xylano-pectinolytic enzymatic bleaching step for delignification was found to be most effective at pulp consistency 1:10 g/ml, xylanase:pectinase dose of 9:4 IU/ml, pH 8.5 and treatment time 180 min at temperature of 55 °C, and resulted in lowering of kappa number of the rice straw pulp by 15.29%. In subsequent bleaching stages, this enzymatic pre-bleaching treatment also resulted in 30% reduction of active chlorine dioxide dose without any loss of optical properties. Significant improvement in various physical properties of the enzymes treated pulp, tear index (15.43%), breaking length (11.11%), double fold number (25.92%), burst index (9.88%) and viscosity (13.63%), and Gurley porosity (39.86%) was also noticed. This approach resulted in reduction of BOD and COD values by 21.07% and 26.57%, respectively. This is the first study on the use of crude xylano-pectinolytic enzymes for bio-bleaching of rice straw pulp.

Ternary nano-biocomposite films using synergistic combination of bacterial cellulose with chitosan and gelatin for tissue engineering applications.

Ternary nano-biocomposite films of bacterial cellulose-chitosan-gelatin (BC-C-G) were fabricated by immersing the BC pellicles into chitosan and gelatin mixture and subsequently freeze-drying. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the nano-biocomposite films revealed the presence of interconnected pores, with fibre diameter 20-150 nm. The composite films have a porosity of 95.3%, and showed good hydrophilicity with swelling ratio of 19 ± 1.8 and in vitro degradability. X-ray diffraction, attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis results showed some interactions among the molecules of BC, gelatin, and chitosan within the film. The composite film offered good matrix for adhesion and proliferation of L929 fibroblasts cells as indicated by the cell attachment study, FE-SEM of cell-film constructs and cytocompatibility assay. Thus, the nano-biocomposite films of BC-C-G could be of paramount importance as tissue engineering scaffold. The "all-natural" ternary polymer composite films of BC-C-G have not been evaluated before for biomedical applications.

Detailed Arterial Anatomy and Its Anastomoses of the Sphenoid Ridge and Olfactory Groove Meningiomas with Special Reference to the Recurrent Branches from the Ophthalmic Artery.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Detailed arterial anatomy of the sphenoid ridge and olfactory groove meningiomas is complicated due to the fine angioarchitecture and anastomoses between each feeder. Herein, we present details of the arterial anatomy and the relationships of feeders in these lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included 20 patients admitted to our department between April 2015 and March 2020. Conditions of subjects consisted of 16 sphenoid ridge meningiomas and 4 olfactory groove meningiomas. We mainly analyzed arterial anatomy using 3D rotational angiography and slab MIP images of these lesions. We also analyzed the anastomoses of each feeder. RESULTS: We found that 19 (95%), 15 (75%), and 15 (75%) lesions had feeders from the ophthalmic, internal carotid, and external carotid arteries, respectively. As feeders from the ophthalmic artery, recurrent meningeal arteries were involved in 18 lesions (90%). Fifteen lesions (75%) had anastomoses between each feeder. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the meningiomas in the sphenoid ridge and olfactory groove had feeders from the ophthalmic and internal carotid arteries. There were various anastomoses between each feeder. This is the first report to demonstrate the detailed arterial anatomy and frequency of recurrent branches from the ophthalmic artery and their anastomoses using detailed imaging techniques.

Facile chemo-refining approach for production of micro-nanofibrillated cellulose from bleached mixed hardwood pulp to improve paper quality.

Micro-nanofibrillated cellulose was prepared using bleached mixed hardwood pulp by a low energy consuming chemo-refining approach having potential to be implemented easily in paper industry. Bleached mixed hardwood pulp was pretreated with sodium meta-periodate and sodium chlorite and micro-nanofibrillated by using refining in Valley beater. Scanning electron microscopy images of prepared micro-nanofibrillated cellulose showed 87 % fibre distribution in nano range, 4.47 ±â€¯0.5 g/g water retention value and 2.13 ±â€¯0.1 meq/100 g carboxyl content. Carboxylation effect of given chemical pretreatment was further confirmed by FTIR analysis. Paper handsheets, having bleached mixed hardwood pulp and prepared micro-nano-fibrillated cellulose, resulted in about 5% lower bulk with 27 %, 32 % and 87 % higher breaking length, burst factor and double fold, respectively than control (without nano-fibrillated cellulose). Prepared micro-nanofibrillated cellulose addition didn't show negative effect on pulp drainability (33 °SR). This work showed that micro-nanofibrillated cellulose might also be prepared using conventional routes of paper industry to improve paper properties.

Polyacrylamide stabilized alkenyl succinic anhydride emulsion as sizing agent for various cellulosic pulps and fillers.

Cellulosic fiber is hydrophilic in nature and making it hydrophobic represents a process called sizing in papermaking. Alkenyl succinic anhydride (ASA) sizing is dominating over other sizing processes due to its high reactivity and economy. The shelf life of conventionally used cationic starch (CS) stabilized ASA emulsion is 20-25 min. In our previous study, the ASA emulsion was found to be stable up to 4 h using anionic polyacrylamide (APAM) as stabilizer. Present communication was aimed to utilize, the APAM stabilized ASA emulsion with most commonly utilized cellulosic pulps (mixed hardwood, bagasse and recycled) and fillers to assist its commercial utilization in papermaking. APAM stabilized ASA emulsion facilitated back water utilization with improved sizing degree unlike CS based ASA emulsion. Lower amount of ASA sizing was required in bagasse pulp compared to other pulps which might be attributed to low crystallinity ratios and hydrogen bond energy.

Fabrication of natural-origin antibacterial nanocellulose films using bio-extracts for potential use in biomedical industry.

This study explores the modification of bacterial nanocellulose (BNC), produced in fermented tea medium with bio-extracts from herbal plants, to produce entirely natural antibacterial nanocellulose films. The antibacterial property was imparted by impregnating the synthesized BNC into bio-extracts of Terminalia arjuna (arjuna), Azadirachta indica (neem), Withania somnifera (ashwagandha), Tinospora cordifolia (giloy), and Murraya koenigii (curry leaves). FE-SEM analysis of modified BNC films revealed the presence of cloudy layer of bio-extracts over the BNC nanofibrous network. The modified BNC production was confirmed by ATR-FTIR. The modified BNC showed tremendous antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Aerococcus viridians (A. viridans). T. arjuna modified BNC showed the highest antibacterial activity against E. coli and A. viridans with inhibition zone of 27.08 mm and 26.34 mm, respectively, while M. koeniggi modified BNC showed the lowest antibacterial activity for both E. coli and A. viridans with inhibition zone of 14 mm and 14.2 mm, respectively. The water retention, moisture content and porosity values reflect highly hydrophilic nature of BNC films and their well suitability for varied biomedical applications like antibacterial wound dressings, herbal biomasks, scaffoldings, etc. The modification of BNC films with the bio-extracts used in this study has not been reported previously.

Bacterial nanocellulose: Present status, biomedical applications and future perspectives.

Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) has emerged as a natural biopolymer of significant importance in diverse technological areas due to its incredible physicochemical and biological characteristics. However, the high capital investments, production cost and lack of well-organized scale-up processes resulting in low BNC production are the major impediments need to be resolved. This review enfolds the three different and important portions of BNC. Firstly, advancement in production technologies of BNC like cell-free extract technology, static intermittent fed batch technology and novel cost-effective substrates that might surmount the barriers associated with BNC production at industrial level. Secondly, as BNC and its composites (with other polymers/nanoparticles) represents the utmost material of preference in current regenerative and diagnostic medicine, therefore recently reported biomedical applications of BNC and functionalized BNC in drug delivery, tissue engineering, antimicrobial wound healing and biosensing are widely been focused here. The third and the most important aspect of this review is an in-depth discussion of various pitfalls associated with BNC production. Recent trends in BNC research to overcome the existing snags that might pave a way for industrial scale production of BNC thereby facilitating its feasible application in various fields are highlighted.

Biotransformation of fermented black tea into bacterial nanocellulose via symbiotic interplay of microorganisms.

Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC), a natural origin biopolymer with multi-dimensional applications has captured a great deal of attention owing to its implausible properties. However, low yield of BNC accompanied with high production cost is challenging its usage in various technological applications. In this study, BNC production has been reported utilizing fermented black tea broth brewed from fresh tea leaves (FBTBF) as well as from used tea leaves (FBTBU) as a cost-effective and high-quality BNC yielding medium. The symbiotic combination of bacteria and yeasts (SCOBY) was exploited here to bring fermentation in tea broth. The production yields on dry weight basis were 13.3 g L-1 in FBTBF and 12.8 g L-1 in FBTBU, obtained with 60 g L-1 of glucose in 20 days. The conversion yields of 0.32 and 0.31 g BNC/g sugar were obtained with both the tea broths. The study of produced pellicle using ATR-FTIR, FE-SEM and XRD confirmed its structural, morphological and chemical nature similar to that of BNC. Thus, fermented black tea broth appears to be a potential medium for BNC production. The use of fermented tea broth for the industrial scale production of BNC might significantly reduce its production cost.

Effect of incorporation of ozone prior to ECF bleaching on pulp, paper and effluent quality.

The pulp and paper industry is highly dependent on forest and water resources. It has more concerns on fair utilization of these resources and their conservation for its further expansion. Present study emphasizes on the use of rice straw (agro waste) in papermaking to protect wood based resources. It further deals with ozone bleaching (Z) prior to elemental chlorine free bleaching that proved to be significant in terms of reducing the effluent load specially the reduction in toxic, recalcitrant and carcinogenic compounds. Z based sequences resulted in pulp brightness of ∼85% that was 3.6% higher than the elemental chlorine free bleaching. Bleached pulps of Z based sequences were found to be having better strength properties than elemental chlorine based sequence and thus may be adopted as improved bleaching technology. The analysis of handsheets prepared after pulp bleaching was performed using X-Ray diffraction, ATR-FTIR and SEM. Incorporating ozone stage resulted in marked reduction of 58% and 63% in total solids in bleaching wastewater. Reduction of more than 80% in BOD, COD and adsorbable organic halides was achieved in Z based bleaching in comparison to chlorine bleaching. The amount of chlorophenols, guaiacols, catechols, vanillins and syringols became negligible (approx. 90% reduction) in effluents of Z based bleaching sequences. The chlorine dioxide followed by peroxide bleaching after Z stage was found to be the most promising to reduce the effluent load.

Bacterial cellulase treatment for enhancing reactivity of pre-hydrolysed kraft dissolving pulp for viscose.

To improve the process economy of reactivity improvement, crude cellulase from Bacillus subtilis was employed for the treatment and significant dissolving pulp properties were analyzed. With increase in enzyme dose from 0.25 to 2 U/g o.d. pulp, improvement in Fock reactivity and alkali solubilities (S10 and S18) were observed with simultaneous reduction in viscosity and yield. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to observe the molecular level effects on dissolving grade pulp. The most suitable cellulase dose for reactivity improvement with lowering of viscosity was 0.25 U/g o.d. pulp. With increases in enzyme dose, alkali solubilities (S10 and S18) of dissolving pulp showed continuous increment, while alpha-cellulose of pulp showed reduction due to chain scission of long cellulose fiber fraction.

Brevibacillus parabrevis MTCC 12105: a potential bacterium for pulp and paper effluent degradation.

A gram positive, rod shaped, bacterium was isolated from pulp and paper mill sludge and characterized as Brevibacillus parabrevis (MTCC 12105) by biochemical tests and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. CD and EOP stage wastewater, collected from a leading pulp and paper mill situated in North India, was used for degradation study. Wastewater degradation efficiency of the bacterial isolate was evaluated by Flask study in batch mode and Reactor study in semi continuous mode. The isolated bacterium showed a considerable reduction of the colour (59%), chemical oxygen demand (62%) and lignin (53.8%) content of Kraft paper mill effluent at 37 °C after 5 days. During reactor study it reduced 42.6% Lignin, 51.6% Colour and 60.3% COD (chemical oxygen demand) of the wastewater at 48 h RT (retention time). The isolate was deposited at MTCC Chandigarh, India with an accession no. MTCC 12105.

Improvement in rice straw pulp bleaching effluent quality by incorporating oxygen delignification stage prior to elemental chlorine-free bleaching.

Environmental degradation by industrial and other developmental activities is alarming for imperative environmental management by process advancements of production. Pulp and paper mills are now focusing on using nonwood-based raw materials to protect forest resources. In present study, rice straw was utilized for pulp production as it is easily and abundantly available as well as rich in carbohydrates (cellulose and hemicelluloses). Soda-anthraquinone method was used for pulp production as it is widely accepted for agro residues. Bleaching process during paper production is the chief source of wastewater generation. The chlorophenolic compounds generated during bleaching are highly toxic, mutagenic, and bioaccumulative in nature. The objectives of study were to use oxygen delignification (ODL) stage prior to elemental chlorine-free (ECF) bleaching to reduce wastewater load and to study its impact on bleached pulp characteristics. ODL stage prior to ECF bleaching improved the optical properties of pulp in comparison to only ECF bleaching. When ODL stage was incorporated prior to bleaching, the tensile index and folding endurance of the pulp were found to be 56.6 ± 1.5 Nm/g and 140, respectively, very high in comparison to ECF alone. A potential reduction of 51, 57, 43, and 53% in BOD3, COD, color, and AOX, respectively was observed on adding the ODL stage compared to ECF only. Generation of chlorophenolic compounds was reduced significantly. Incorporation of ODL stage prior to bleaching was found to be highly promising for reducing the toxicity of bleaching effluents and may lead to better management of nearby water resources. Graphical abstract ᅟ.

Expression and Characterization of HA1 Protein of Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza Virus for Use in a Serodiagnostic Assay.

The hemagglutinin ectodomain (HA1 subunit) from highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) isolate (A/chicken/Vietnam/14/2005) was cloned and expressed using a baculovirus expression vector. Biosynthesis, glycosylation and secretion of the HA1 proteins, with natural or a melittin signal peptide at the N-terminus and a six-histidine (6xHis) tag at the C-terminus, were examined in insect cells. A 40-kDa unglycosylated precursor and a fully processed, mature form of the HA1 protein migrated around 52 kDa were detected by SDS-PAGE and confirmed by Western blot using H5N1-specific antibody. Treatment of tunicamycin and peptide-N-glycosidase F (PNGase F) further revealed that the recombinant HA1 proteins produced in insect cells were indeed glycosylated with N-linked oligosaccharide side chains. Time-course experiments showed that substitution of the HA natural sequence with the signal sequence from honeybee melittin promoted a high level of expression and efficient secretion of the HA1. A high yield, 37 µg/ml, of HA1 protein was obtained from recombinant baculovirus-infected cell culture supernatant. In addition, the cell surface expression of rHA1 was detected by indirect immunofluorescent staining and showed biological activity on hemadsorption assays. Recombinant HA1 protein-based ELISA was evaluated and appeared to be sensitive and specific for the rapid detection of H5 subtype-specific antibodies in serum samples. No cross-reactivity to antibodies from 15 other influenza A subtypes was detected. Taken together, the newly developed recombinant HA1-based ELISA could offer an alternative to other diagnostic approaches for the specific detection of H5 avian influenza virus infection.

Pretreatment with xylanase and its significance in hemicellulose removal from mixed hardwood kraft pulp as a process step for viscose.

The upturn of viscose fiber market has triggered an augmented dissolving pulp usage over the last decade. Dissolving pulp is feasible to obtain from kraft pulp after two essential steps including hemicellulose removal and subsequent pulp activation. Prerequisite of conversion being hemicellulose reduction can be gently done by using xylanase treatment prior to alkali extraction. Herein, the significance of xylanase treatment and the optimum xylanase dose required in conjunction with subsequent alkali extraction was investigated. An increase in xylanase dose prior to alkali extraction had no significant effect on pentosans while the Fock reactivity and viscosity both improved at the dose of 50AXU/g. Also, alkali extraction without xylanase pretreatment resulted in decreased Fock reactivity, alpha cellulose, brightness and viscosity of paper grade pulp. A moderate dose of xylanase prior to alkali extraction can thus be used to facilitate the hemicellulose removal while simultaneously protecting the native structure of cellulose.

A survey of solitary deaths in Japan for shortening postmortem interval until discover.

Recently in advanced nations, the number of solitary households is increasing. Data from Japanese population survey in 2010 showed that the percent of solitary households was 32.4% and that was the largest category of household types. The Japanese government regards solitary death as important problem, but a useful survey on solitary death has not been performed. We have focused on the postmortem interval until discovery of the death as a measure of solitary deaths. We conducted a survey of 582 forensic autopsy cases in the Osaka medical examiner's office over three years, from April in 2010 till March in 2012. We excluded suicide cases. We collected data on the, gender, age, postmortem interval (PMI) until discovery, family structure, situation of discovery of the body, cause of death, and the time interval from the last hospital visit. Here, we found that people who had high risk of solitary death ranged in, age from 60 to 69 which is the age of retirement for many people. In order to prevent solitary death, we suggest that people who live alone should take better care of themselves and participate in a community setting after their retirement. We can show that the recent efforts of the Japanese government for reducing solitary death had been working well. The government care givers take care of the person living alone almost like their own family. We also suggest that the people who unfortunately do not have any home care should subscribe to a newspaper for shortening the PMI.