Deep Physical-Chemical Purification of Gas Medium in Artificial Ecosystems.

The results of experiments on application of a newly developed facility for oxidation of volatile organic compounds on a platinum catalyst are presented. The feasibility of using this method in artificial ecosystems as a whole and in mass exchange of closed biological-technical life support systems in particular is shown. The possibility of deep purification of gas emitted from the reactor of physical-chemical processing of organic wastes is demonstrated. Wheat growing experiment on using the facility for oxidation of volatile organic compounds in a sealed chamber was performed. No adverse effect of probable toxic oxidation products on wheat plants during a 4-day experiment was determined.

[Investigation of the iron-binding capacity of the bovine lactoferrin].

In this work, studies were carried out to obtain and determine the iron-binding ability of lactoferrin isolated from milk of Holstein-Friesian (black-and-white) breed of cows, which is the main stock of the Russian cattle herd (CH). Aim of the study was to obtain lactoferrin and determine its iron-binding capacity for substantiating the raw material resources of its industrial production as an easily digestible source of ferrous iron for the production of dietary supplements and/or specialized foods. MATERIAL AND METHODS: To optimize the production of lactoferrin in the conditions of dairy enterprises, we used a method of lactoferrin isolation from cow's milk in its own modification, which consisted in the degreasing of whole milk by centrifugation and double cation-exchange chromatography with successive application of the following sorbents: CM-cellulose (CM-52) and Macro-Prep High Q Support. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The developed modification of the method of chromatographic production of lactoferrin has shown its effectiveness and availability for production at domestic dairy enterprises. The purity of lactoferrin is about 95%, and the content is about 74 µg/cm3. Iron-binding capacity was determined in apo- and holoforms of lactoferrin. The ability of saturation of apolactoferrin with iron has been shown. CONCLUSION: The new obtained factual material allows us to express the prerequisites for further research to justify the possibility of using the iron-saturated form of hololactoferrin of cow milk of the Holstein-Frisian breed as a domestic raw material for dietary supplements and specialized foods.

Incorporation of mineralized human waste and fish waste as a source of higher plant mineral nutrition in the BTLSS mass exchange.

The present study deals with the development of the principles and conditions of fish waste mineralization using the method of wet combustion with hydrogen peroxide in alternating electromagnetic field and describes testing mineralized human waste and fish waste as sources of nutrients for plants in the biotechnical human life support system (BTLSS). The study shows that mineralization of fish waste in the wet combustion reactor should be performed in the presence of readily oxidized organic matter, represented by human waste, as an activator of oxidation. Re-mineralization of the sediment in the mixture of hydrogen peroxide and nitric acid in the wet combustion reactor converts mineral elements bound in the sediment into the form available to plants. Using mineralized fish waste as an additional source of mineral elements in the nutrient solutions for growing plants based on mineralized human waste is a way to reduce the amounts of mineral elements added to the solution to replenish it, enabling fuller closure of material loops in the BTLSS.

[Use of the ion-exchange substrate to optimize mineral nutrition of plants within a bio-engineering life support system with a high level of closure].

Purpose of the work was to test manageability of nutrient solutions containing mineralized human exometabolites by using an ion-exchange substrate (IES) for cultivating wheat in a bio-engineering life support system with a high level of closure. Object of the investigation was wheat Triticum aestivum L. (Lysovsky cv. l. 232). Crops were raised on clayite in a growth chamber of a hydroponic conveyor system under continuous light. Correction of nutrient solution was to lift the limits of crop supply with minerals. The experimental crop grew in nutrient solution with immersed IES "BIONA-312"; nutrient solution for the control crop was corrected by adding mineral salts. Solution correction did not have a noteworthy effect on the yield, CO2-gas exchange or mineral composition of wheat plants. IES makes simple the technology of plant cultivation on solutions enriched with human exometabolites.

[Antioxidant activity of cationic whey protein isolate].

The process of lipid peroxidation (LPO) in biological membranes of cells is carried out by free radical mechanism, a feature of which is the interaction of radicals with other molecules. In this work we investigated the antioxidant activity of cationic whey protein isolate, obtained by the cation-exchange chromatography on KM-cellulose from raw cow's milk, in vitro and in vivo. In biological liquids, which are milk, blood serum, fetal fluids, contains a complex of biologically active substances with a unique multifunctional properties, and which are carrying out a protective, antimicrobial, regenerating, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, regulatory and others functions. Contents of the isolate were determined electrophoretically and by its biological activity. Cationic whey protein isolate included lactoperoxidase, lactoferrin, pancreatic RNase, lysozyme and angeogenin. The given isolate significantly has an antioxidant effect in model experimental systems in vitro and therefore may be considered as a factor that can adjust the intensity of lipid oxidation. In model solutions products of lipid oxidation were obtained by oxidation of phosphatidylcholine by hydrogen peroxide in the presence of a source of iron. The composition of the reaction mixture: 0,4 mM H2O2; 50 mcM of hemin; 2 mg/ml L-alpha-phosphatidylcholine from soybean (Sigma, German). Lipid peroxidation products were formed during the incubation of the reaction mixture for two hours at 37 degrees C. In our studies rats in the adaptation period immediately after isolation from the nest obtained from food given orally native cationic whey protein isolate at the concentration three times higher than in fresh cow's milk. On the manifestation of the antioxidant activity of cationic whey protein isolate in vivo evidence decrease of lipid peroxidation products concentration in the blood of rats from the experimental group receipt whey protein isolate in dos 0,6 mg/g for more than 20% (p<0,05) with oral feeding. Thus, significantly cationic whey protein isolate has an antioxidant effect in model experimental systems, and so can be considered as a factor that can regulate the intensity of lipid oxidation.

[Possible ways to include human exometabolites in the turnover of biological life support system].

Purpose of the investigation was to study feasibility to include solid and liquid human discharges in the turnover of bioregenerative life support systems for physical/chemical and biological treatment. Human exometabolites were mineralized by way of wet process in hydrogen peroxide in alternating electromagnetic field. The resultant solutions were used to water plants cultivated on a soil-like substrate or haydite. Given that urea as a source of nitrogen for BLSS is undesirable, in one of the experiments mineralization was followed by enzymatic urea decomposition with soybean flour urease. The experiments showed no difference in the productivity of plants cultivated on a standard mineral medium and with the use of mineralized exometabolites.

Some methods for human liquid and solid waste utilization in bioregenerative life-support systems.

Bioregenerative life-support systems (BLSS) are studied for developing the technology for a future biological life-support system for long-term manned space missions. Ways to utilize human liquid and solid wastes to increase the closure degree of BLSS were investigated. First, urine and faeces underwent oxidation by Kudenko's physicochemical method. The products were then used for root nutrition of wheat grown by the soil-like substrate culture method. Two means of eliminating sodium chloride, introduced into the irrigation solution together with the products of urine oxidation, were investigated. The first was based on routine electrodialysis of irrigation water at the end of wheat vegetation. Dialysis eliminated about 50% of Na from the solution. This desalinization was performed for nine vegetations. The second method was new: after wheat cultivation, the irrigation solution and the solution obtained by washing the substrate containing mineral elements not absorbed by the plants were used to grow salt-tolerant Salicornia europaea L. plants (saltwort). The above-ground biomass of this plant can be used as a food, and roots can be added to the soil-like substrate. Four consecutive wheat and Salicornia vegetations were cultivated. As a result of this wheat and Salicornia cultivation process, the soil-like substrate salinization by NaCl were considerably decreased.

Influence of high concentrations of mineral salts on production process and NaCl accumulation by Salicornia europaea plants as a constituent of the LSS phototroph link.

Use of halophytes (salt-tolerant vegetation), in a particular vegetable Salicornia europaea plants which are capable of utilizing NaCl in rather high concentrations, is one of possible means of NaCl incorporation into mass exchange of bioregenerative life support systems. In preliminary experiments it was shown that S. europaea plants, basically, could grow on urine pretreated with physicochemical processing and urease-enzyme decomposing of urea with the subsequent ammonia distillation. But at the same time inhibition of the growth process of the plants was observed. The purpose of the given work was to find out the influence of excessive quantities of some mineral elements contained in products of physicochemical processing of urine on the production process and NaCl accumulation by S. europaea plants. As the content of mineral salts in the human liquid wastes (urine) changed within certain limits, two variants of experimental solutions were examined. In the first variant, the concentration of mineral salts was equivalent to the minimum salt content in the urine and was: K - 1.5 g/l, P - 0.5 g/l, S - 0.5 g/l, Mg - 0.07 g/l, Ca - 0.2 g/l. In the second experimental variant, the content of mineral salts corresponded to the maximum salt content in urine and was the following: K - 3.0 g/l, P - 0.7 g/l, S - 1.2 g/l, Mg - 0.2 g/l, Ca - 0.97 g/l. As the control, the Tokarev nutrient solution containing nitrogen in the form of a urea, and the Knop nutrient solution with nitrogen in the nitrate form were used. N quantity in all four variants made up 177 mg/l. Air temperature was 24 degrees C, illumination was continuous. Light intensity was 690 micromoles/m2s of photosynthetically active radiation. NaCl concentration in solutions was 1%. Our researches showed that the dry aboveground biomass of an average plant of the first variant practically did not differ from the control and totaled 11 g. In the second variant, S. europaea productivity decreased and the dry aboveground biomass of an average plant totaled 8 g. The increase of K quantity in the experimental solutions resulted in an elevated content of the element in the plants. The increase of K uptake in the second experimental variant was accompanied by a 30-50% decrease of Na content in comparison with the other variants. Comparative Na content in the other variants was practically identical. N, Mg and P content in the control and experimental variants was also practically identical. The increase of S quantity in the second experimental variant also increased S uptake by the plants. But Ca quantity, accumulated in aboveground plants biomass in the experimental variants was lower than in the control. NaCl uptake by plants, depending on the concentration of mineral salts in the experimental solutions, ranged from 8 g (maximum salt content) up to 15 g (minimum salt content) on a plant growth area that totaled 0.032 m2. Thus, high concentrations of mineral salts simulating the content of mineral salts contained in urine did not result in a significant decrease of S. europaea productivity. The present work also considers the influence of higher light intensity concentrations on productivity and NaCl accumulation by S. europaea plants grown on experimental solutions with high salt content.

[Milk ultrafiltrate as a promising source of angiogenin]. / Molochnyi ul'trafil'trat--perspektivnyi istochnik angiogenina.

The use of membrane technologies in the production of soft cheese (children's food) is associated with the appearance of up to 80% of angiogenin in the ultrafiltrate. An electrophoretically homogeneous preparation of angiogenin (MW approximately 17 kDa) was obtained from milk ultrafiltrate by two-stage ion-exchange chromatography. The yield of the angiogenin was approximately 60%, which corresponds to a 586-fold purification of the raw material. The obtained preparation retained stability in the course of lyophilization and could be stored at 4 degrees C for a long time without decomposition.

[Immunoenzyme analysis of angiogenin in cow's milk]. / Immunofermentnyi analiz angiogenina v moloke korov.

Competitive enzyme immunoassay based on polyclonal antibodies can be used for determining the content of angiogenin in milk. These polyclonal antibodies had no cross-reactions with ribonuclease or other milk whey proteins. Milk angiogenin levels in samples taken fvom animals of a separate population varied from 2.09 to 4.85 mg/l. Unlike cow milk productivity, the number of calvings affects the milk angiogenin content.

[Determination of angiogenin in cow's milk based on a competitive test "pancreatic RNAase/placental inhibitor of RNAase--angiogenin"]. / Opredelenie angiogenina v korov'em moloke na osnove konkurentnoi proby "pankreaticheskaia RNKaza/platsentarnyi ingibitor RNKazy-- angiogenin".

Contents of active factor of blood vessel growth angiogenin was analyzed in cow's milk by the method of competitive test in system "pancreatic RNAase/placental inhibitor of RNAase-angiogenin". High level of RNAase in milk limits using this test. To avoid this limitation the method of RNAase elimination from milk was elaborated.

[Purification of angiogenin from cow's milk]. / Ochistka angiogenina iz korov'evo moloka.

A new method for the purification of bovine angiogenin is proposed which is based on the use of CM-cellulose, CM-Toyopearl, and Butyl-Toyopearl. Electrophoretically homogeneous protein was obtained with a 49% yield and 12,000-fold purification.

[Quantitative determination of cattle angiogenin]. / Kolichestvennoe opredelenie angiogenina byka.

Polyclonal antibodies to a milk antigen were obtained by a standard immunization procedure. The possibility was demonstrated to use the peroxidase-antibody conjugate in a competitive immunoenzymatic test. The minimal amount of the antigen determined by this method is 10 ng/ml.