The effects of hydroalcoholic extract of Peganum harmala seeds (EPS) on spontaneous rhythmic contractions of isolated rat uterine was investigated in this study. EPS was tested on the isolated uterus and endometrium free (i.e. stripped myometrium) preparations. EPS was found to exhibit significant spontaneous contractions of the uterus and stripped myometrium relative to the solv...

Background: Bacterial Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPS) are environmental friendly and versatile polymeric materials that are used in a wide range of industries such as: food, textile, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. To make the production process of the EPS cost-effective, improvements in the production yield is required which could be implemented through application of processes such a...

Exopolysaccharides (EPS) of fungal origin have attracted special attention from researchers due to their multifarious applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries. In the present study, optimization of the process parameters for the production of exopolysaccharide by Schizophyllum commune AGMJ-1 was studied using one factor at a time (OFAT) method, Plackett-Burman design (PBD) and res...

An endophytic bacterium was isolated from the Chinese medicinal plant Artemisia annua L. The phylogenetic and physiological characterization indicated that the isolate, strain SZ-1, was Bacillus cereus. The endophyte could produce an exopolysaccharide (EPS) at 46 mg/L. The 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydracyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity of the EPS reached more than 50% at 3-5 mg/mL. The EPS was...

Biomass characteristics and membrane performances in the MBRs operated at a high flux of 30 L/m(2) h under different SRTs (10, 30 days, and infinity) were monitored. Results showed that more serious cake-fouling happened in the SRT-infinity MBR, which correlated with the activated sludge characteristics such as smaller floc size and greater EPS amount. DGGE analysis indicated that the microbial...

The influence of sludge properties in SMEBR and conventional MBR pilot systems on membrane fouling was investigated. Generated data were analyzed using statistical analysis Pearson's product momentum correlation coefficient (r(p)). Analysis showed that TMP had strong direct (r(p)=0.9182) and inverse (r(p)=-0.9205) correlations to mean particle size diameter in MBR and SMEBR, respectively. TMP i...

Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs), products from modern nanotechnologies, can potentially impact the marine environment to pose serious threats to marine ecosystems. However, the cellular responses of marine phytoplankton to ENPs are still not well established. Here, we investigate four different diatom species (Odontella mobiliensis, Skeletonema grethae, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, Thalassiosira ...

The strong ropy character of the Scandinavian fermented milk viili is conferred by the exopolysaccharides (EPS) produced by lactococcal strains. These biopolymers can be responsible for some health benefits. We have assessed the influence of the EPS fraction isolated from commercial viili on the adhesion of some probiotics and pathogens to human intestinal mucus. Concentrations of viili EPS gre...