Search results for "BIOPOLYMERS"
showing 10 items of 76 documents
Recovery of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) from wastewater : a review
2020
Abstract Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biopolyesters accumulated as carbon and energy storage materials under unbalanced growth conditions by various microorganisms. They are one of the most promising potential substitutes for conventional non-biodegradable plastics due to their similar physicochemical properties, but most important, its biodegradability. Production cost of PHAs is still a great barrier to extend its application at industrial scale. In order to reduce that cost, research is focusing on the use of several wastes as feedstock (such as agro-industrial and municipal organic waste and wastewater) in a platform based on mixed microbial cultures. This review provides a critical…
Ecological effects of aquaculture on living and non-living suspended fractions of the water column: a meta-analysis.
2006
The effects of aquaculture on the ecology of the water column have been extensively studied in the last two decades. However, to date, it has not been possible to extrapolate homogeneous information from the peer-reviewed literature. In the present study, 68 peer-reviewed articles were analysed and about 1087 study cases were used to test whether worldwide cultivations of aquatic organisms (shrimps, fish, bivalves and polyculture) have a differential effect on living and non-living fractions of the water column (suspended matter, chlorophyll-a, particulate organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, bacteria and plankton). Meta-analysis feasibility depends on obtaining an estimate of the effec…
Hybrid Biopolymer and Lipid Nanoparticles with Improved Transfection Efficacy for mRNA
2020
Cells 9(9), 2034 (1-19) (2020). doi:10.3390/cells9092034
Active biopackaging produced from by‐products and waste from food and marine industries
2021
The agro‐food industry cannot today do without packaging to preserve and above all market its products. Plastic materials coming mainly from petrochemicals have taken a predominant place in the food packaging sector. They have become indispensable in many sectors, from fresh to frozen products, from meat and dairy products to fruit and vegetables or almost‐ready meals. Plastics are cheap, their lightness reduces transport costs, and their convenience is fundamental for out‐of‐home catering. However, plastics pose serious end‐of‐life issues. The development of materials that are more respectful of the consumer and the environment has become a major issue. In addition, the agro‐food industrie…
Biodegradable nano-polymers as delivery vehicles for therapeutic small non-coding ribonucleic acids.
2016
Nowadays, small non-coding Ribo Nucleic Acids (sncRNAs) such as siRNA, miRNA and shRNA are extremely serving to gene regulation. They are involved in many biological processes and in an increasing number of studies regarding a variety of application of sncRNAs toward human health and relieving diseases ranging from metabolic disorders to those involving various organ systems as well as different types of cancer. One of the most severe limitations for applying RNA interference technology is the absence of safe and effective carriers for in vivo delivery, including localizing the molecules to a specific site of interest and sustaining the presentation of the payloads for a controlled period o…
Modulating disease-relevant tau oligomeric strains by small molecules
2020
The pathological aggregation of tau plays an important role in Alzheimer's disease and many other related neurodegenerative diseases, collectively referred to as tauopathies. Recent evidence has demonstrated that tau oligomers, small and soluble prefibrillar aggregates, are highly toxic due to their strong ability to seed tau misfolding and propagate the pathology seen across different neurodegenerative diseases. We previously showed that novel curcumin derivatives affect preformed tau oligomer aggregation pathways by promoting the formation of more aggregated and nontoxic tau aggregates. To further investigate their therapeutic potential, we have extended our studies o disease-relevant bra…
Modelling of proton and metal exchange in the alginate biopolymer.
2005
Acid-base behaviour of a commercial sodium alginate extracted from brown seaweed (Macrocystis pyrifera) has been investigated at different ionic strengths (0.1or=I/mol l(-1)or=1.0) and in different supporting electrolytes (Et4NI, NaCl, KCl, LiCl, NaCl+MgCl2), with the aim of examining the influence of ionic medium on the proton-binding capacity and of quantifying the strength of interaction with light metal ions in the perspective of speciation studies in natural aqueous systems. Potentiometric ([H+]-glass electrode) and titration calorimetric data were expressed as a function of the dissociation degree (alpha) using different models (Henderson-Hasselbalch modified, Högfeldt three parameter…
In vitro Antifungal Activity of Biopolymeric Foam Activated with Carvacrol
2020
Background: Active packaging represents a defining strategy to improve food quality and safety of the packaged foods. This study aimed to evaluate the in vitro ability of commercial biopolymeric foams, namely Mater-Bi (MB), activated with 20% of carvacrol, to develop a completely biodegradable and compostable packaging to inhibit the growth of spoilage and pathogenic yeasts.
 Methods: MB foams, with and without carvacrol, were produced by melt mixing and the foaming process was performed in a laboratory press. The antifungal activity of foams containing carvacrol was tested applying the disk diffusion method. Statistical analysis was done using XLStat software version 7.5.2 for Excel.&…
Natural Compounds as Sustainable Additives for Biopolymers
2020
In the last few decades, the interest towards natural compounds, coming from a natural source and biodegradable, for biopolymers is always increasing because of a public request for the formulation of safe, eco-friendly, and sustainable materials. The main classes of natural compounds for biopolymers are: (i) naturally occurring fillers (nFil), such as nano-/micro- sized layered alumino-silicate: halloysite, bentonite, montmorillonite, hydroxyapatite, calcium carbonate, etc.; (ii) naturally occurring fibers (nFib), such as wood and vegetable fibers; (iii) naturally occurring antioxidant molecules (nAO), such as phenols, polyphenols, vitamins, and carotenoids. However, in this short review, …
Polyelectrolyte properties of filamentous biopolymers and their consequences in biological fluids.
2014
Anionic polyelectrolyte filaments are common in biological cells. DNA, RNA, the cytoskeletal filaments F-actin, microtubules, and intermediate filaments, and polysaccharides such as hyaluronan that form the pericellular matrix all have large net negative charge densities distributed over their surfaces. Several filamentous viruses with diameters and stiffnesses similar to those of cytoskeletal polymers also have similar negative charge densities. Extracellular protein filaments such collagen, fibrin and elastin, in contrast, have notably smaller charge densities and do not behave as highly charged polyelectrolytes in solution. This review summarizes data that demonstrate generic counterion-…