Pereskia aculeata Miller commonly known as “ora-pro-nobis” has been used extensively in folclore medicine. Plant belongs to the family Cactacea and it is found in the Brazil (reaching Bahia and Rio Grande do Sul states). The purpose was to evaluate the effects of plant on biochemical and corporal profiles of Wistar rats. The 80 animals were divided randomly into 4 groups by sex (n = 10 females ...

Ionic liquids (ILs) have emerged as attractive solvents for lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment in the production of biofuels and chemical feedstocks. However, the high cost of ILs is a key deterrent to their practical application. Here, we show that acetate based ILs are effective in dramatically reducing the recalcitrance of corn stover toward enzymatic polysaccharide hydrolysis even at load...

Cellulase enzymes contribute a major fraction of the total cost for biological conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to fuels and chemicals. Although a several fold reduction in cellulase production costs and enhancement of cellulase activity and stability have been reported in recent years, sugar yields are still lower at low enzyme doses than desired commercially. We recently reported that he...

paratus. In activity 2, students can use the equipment used by hobby winemakers – a vinometer – to measure the alcohol content of the must and wine. 3. A well balanced wine needs a certain amount of fruit acid; the total acid content is a very important measure, because it directly affects the flavour. In activity 3, the acid content is determined by pH titration. Four further activitiesw2 can ...

Lignocellulosic bioethanol is an important renewable fuel for transportation purpose. Commercial production of lignocellulosic bioethanol mainly depends on cost of cellulase production, efficient pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis process. In the present study cellulase production from Aspergillus niger under submerged fermentation (SmF) was optimized using coconut water as natural medium. M...

Flybrella is a lightweight inexpensive trap that can be suspended like an upside-down umbrella in prominent locations where house flies, Musca domestica L., rest. It consists of a solid, cylindrical backbone to which is attached a perforated transparent tube, or baffle, with a commercial sugar/toxicant strip affixed inside. Centered directly beneath the tube and also attached to the backbone is...

BACKGROUND In the food industry, the use of pectinase preparations with high pectin esterase (PE) activity leads to the release of methanol, which is strictly regulated in food products. Herein, a pectin-degrading enzyme (PDE) complex exhibiting low PE activity of three Aspergillus sojae ATCC 20235 mutants (M3, DH56 and Guserbiot 2.230) was investigated. Production of exo-/endo-polygalacturonas...

OBJECTIVE Increasing trends in the consumption of commercial sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) have occurred in parallel with rising levels of obesity in Latin America, but data showing the relationship between these SSB and obesity are limited. The current study examined the association between commercial and traditional SSB and measures of adiposity in Costa Rica. DESIGN A cross-sectional ana...

The effects of four sugar beet cultivars (Anaconda, Rozier, Evelina and Flores) on the life table parameters of beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Lep.: Noctuidae) were evaluated at 26 ± 1 °C, 60 ± 5% relative humidity and a photoperiod of 16: 8 h (L: D). The highest gross and net fecundity rates were obtained on Anaconda (2573.31 ± 27.78 and 1576.31 ± 16.65 eggs/female, respectively). The net r...

the purpose of this research was to design a semi-industrial culture medium to obtain the maximum biomass production from bacterium bacillus subtilis utb96. in the first step, in order to reduce the cost of culture medium components, commercial products and industrial by products including, sugar beet molasses, sugar cane molasses, potato waste water and milk serum as carbon sources and corn st...