Assessing antibiotic residues in sediments from mangrove ecosystems: A review.

Antibiotics' widespread and abusive use in aquaculture and livestock leads to extensive environmental dissemination and dispersion, consequently increasing antibiotic-resistant bacteria in marine ecosystems. Hence, there is an increased need for efficient methods for identifying and quantifying antibiotic residues in soils and sediments. From a review of the last 20 years, we propose and compare different chromatographic techniques for detecting and quantifying antibiotics in sediment samples from marine ecosystems, particularly in mangrove forest sediments. The methods typically include three stages: extraction of antibiotics from the solid matrix, cleaning, and concentration of samples before quantification. We address the leading causes of the occurrence of antibiotics in marine ecosystem sediments and analyze the most appropriate methods for each analytical stage. Ultimately, selecting a method for identifying antibiotic residues depends on multiple factors, ranging from the nature and physicochemical properties of the analytes to the availability of the necessary equipment and the available resources.

Analyzing Current Trends and Possible Strategies to Improve Sucrose Isomerases' Thermostability.

Due to their ability to produce isomaltulose, sucrose isomerases are enzymes that have caught the attention of researchers and entrepreneurs since the 1950s. However, their low activity and stability at temperatures above 40 °C have been a bottleneck for their industrial application. Specifically, the instability of these enzymes has been a challenge when it comes to their use for the synthesis and manufacturing of chemicals on a practical scale. This is because industrial processes often require biocatalysts that can withstand harsh reaction conditions, like high temperatures. Since the 1980s, there have been significant advancements in the thermal stabilization engineering of enzymes. Based on the literature from the past few decades and the latest achievements in protein engineering, this article systematically describes the strategies used to enhance the thermal stability of sucrose isomerases. Additionally, from a theoretical perspective, we discuss other potential mechanisms that could be used for this purpose.

Aplicación del Análisis de Componentes Principales en el proceso de fermentación de un anticuerpo monoclonal / Application of Principal Components Analysis in the fermentation process of a monoclonal antibody

En el Centro de Inmunología Molecular (La Habana, Cuba) se produce un anticuerpo monoclonal terapéutico que ha encontrado una efectiva aplicación en el tratamiento de pacientes aquejados de cáncer de cabeza y cuello. Dada la gran variabilidad que ha tenido la concentración de este anticuerpo en la etapa de fermentación industrial de la planta donde es producido, se hizo necesaria la aplicación de una técnica de análisis multivariante como el Análisis de Componentes Principales, con el fin de reducir la dimensionalidad de los datos y de explicar las principales fuentes de variabilidad del proceso. Para llevar a cabo el Análisis de Componentes Principales mediante el programa THE UNSCRAMBLER se partió de la determinación de los parámetros críticos de la etapa de fermentación a través de un modelo de riesgo basado en matriz de entradas y salidas empleando los datos de la campaña realizada en el año 2014. Como resultado se obtuvo que dos componentes principales logran explicar más del 99 por ciento de la varianza total, y se logró definir cuáles son los parámetros críticos que mayor aporte tienen a la variabilidad del proceso de fermentación. Dichos resultados corroboraron experiencias prácticas de especialistas de la planta y permitieron dar recomendaciones a considerar en el Plan de Verificación Continuada del Proceso, como proponer la inclusión en la estrategia de control del proceso a la temperatura, la velocidad de agitación, el oxígeno disuelto y el tiempo de duración del cultivo(AU)

In the Center of Molecular Immunology (Havana, Cuba) an effective therapeutic monoclonal antibody against head and neck cancer is produced. Given the great variability of the concentration of this antibody in the industrial fermentation stage of the plant, it became necessary to apply a multivariate analysis technique such as the Principal Component Analysis, in order to reduce data dimensionality and to explain the main sources of variability of the process. In order to carry out the Principal Component Analysis through the software THE UNSCRAMBLER, the determination of the critical parameters of the fermentation stage through a risk model based on input and output matrix using data from the campaign of the year 2014 was carried out. As a result, two main components were able to explain more than 99 percent of the total variance, and it was possible to define the critical parameters that have the greatest contribution to the variability of the fermentation process. These results corroborated the practical experiences of specialists of the plant and allowed to give recommendations to consider in the Plan of Continuous Verification of the Process as proposing the inclusion in the strategy of control of the process the variables temperature, the speed of agitation, dissolved oxygen and the culture duration(AU)