Search results for: green fluorescent protein

Authors: Gulay Oncu Ince, Sibel Karakaya

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Food is a worldwide concern. Among the factors that have influences on human health, food, nutrition and life style have been regarded as the most important factors since they can be intervened. While some parts of the world has been faced with food shortages and hence, chronic metabolic diseases, the other part of the world have been emerged from over consumption of food. Both situations can result in shorter life expectancy and represent a major global health problem. Hunger, satiety and appetite sensation form a balance ensures the operation of feeding behavior between food intake and energy consumption. Satiety is one of the approaches that is effective in ensuring weight control and avoid eating more in the postprandial period. By manipulating the microstructure of food macro and micronutrient bioavailability may be increased or reduced. For the food industry appearance, texture, taste structural properties as well as the gastrointestinal tract behavior of the food after the consumption is becoming increasingly important. Also, this behavior has been the subject of several researches in recent years by the scientific community. Numerous studies have been published about changing the food matrix in order to increase expected impacts. In this study, yogurts were enriched with caseinomacropeptide (CMP), whey protein (WP), CMP and sodium alginate (SA), and WP + SA in order to produce goat yogurts having different food matrices. SDS Page profiles of the samples after in vitro digestion and viscosities of the stomach digesta at different share rates were determined. Energy values were 62.11kcal/100 g, 70.27 kcal/100 g, 70.61 kcal/100 g, 71.20 kcal/100 g and 71.67 kcal/100 g for control, CMP added WP added, WP + SA added, and CMP + SA added yogurts respectively. The results of viscosity analysis showed that control yogurt had the lowest viscosity value and this was followed by CMP added, WP added, CMP + SA added and WP + SA added yogurts, respectively. Protein contents of the stomach and duedonal digests of the samples after subjected to two different in vitro digestion methods were changed between 5.34-5.91 mg protein / g sample and 16.93-19.75 mg protein /g of sample, respectively. Viscosity measurements of the stomach digests showed that CMP + SA added yogurt displayed the highest viscosity value in both in vitro digestion methods. There were differences between the protein profiles of the stomach and duedonal digests obtained by two different in vitro digestion methods (p<0.05).

Keywords: caseinomacropeptide, protein profile, whey protein, yogurt

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Authors: Cara Williams

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In 2006, the UK Labour government published a Green Paper introducing Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) as a replacement for Incapacity Benefit (IB), as well as a new Work Capability Assessment (WCA); signalling a controversial political and economic shift in disability welfare policy. In 2016, the Conservative government published Improving Lives: The Work, Health, and Disability Green Paper, as part of their social reform agenda, evidently to address the ‘injustice’ of the ‘disability employment gap’. This paper contextualises ESA in the wider ideology and rhetoric of ‘welfare to work’, ‘dependency’ and ‘responsibility’. Using the British ‘social model of disability’ as a theoretical framework, the study engages in a critical discourse analysis of these two Green Papers. By uncovering the medicalised conceptions embedded in the texts, the analysis has revealed ESA is linked with late capitalisms concern with the ‘disability category’.

Keywords: disability, employment, social security, welfare

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Authors: Andres Manuel Garcia Lamparte, Rocio Losada Iglesias, Marcos BoullóN Magan, David Miranda Barros

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The biodiversity strategy of the European Union for 2030, mentions climate change as one of the key factors for biodiversity loss and considers green infrastructure as one of the solutions to this problem. In this line, the European Commission has developed a green infrastructure strategy which commits members states to consider green infrastructure in their territorial planning. This green infrastructure is aimed at granting the provision of a wide number of ecosystem services to support biodiversity and human well-being by countering the effects of climate change. Yet, there are not too many tools available to delimit green infrastructure. The available ones consider the potential of the territory to provide ecosystem services. However, these methods usually aggregate several maps of ecosystem services potential without considering possible trade-offs. This can lead to excluding areas with a high potential for providing ecosystem services which have many trade-offs with other ecosystem services. In order to tackle this problem, a methodology is proposed to consider ecosystem services trade-offs in the objective function of a simulated annealing algorithm aimed at delimiting green infrastructure multifunctional buffer areas. To this end, the provision potential maps of the regulating ecosystem services considered to delimit the multifunctional buffer areas are clustered in groups, so that ecosystem services that create trade-offs are excluded in each group. The normalized provision potential maps of the ecosystem services in each group are added to obtain a potential map per group which is normalized again. Then the potential maps for each group are combined in a raster map that shows the highest provision potential value in each cell. The combined map is then used in the objective function of the simulated annealing algorithm. The algorithm is run both using the proposed methodology and considering the ecosystem services individually. The results are analyzed with spatial statistics and landscape metrics to check the number of ecosystem services that the delimited areas produce, as well as their regularity and compactness. It has been observed that the proposed methodology increases the number of ecosystem services produced by delimited areas, improving their multifunctionality and increasing their effectiveness in preventing climate change impacts.

Keywords: ecosystem services trade-offs, green infrastructure delineation, multifunctional buffer areas, climate change

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Authors: Namfon Samsalee, Rungsinee Sothornvit

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Turmeric is a natural plant herb and generally extracted as essential oil and widely used in food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical products including insect repellent. However, turmeric oil is a volatile essential oil which is easy to be lost during storage or exposure to light. Therefore, biopolymers such as protein and polysaccharide can be used as wall materials to encapsulate the essential oil which will solve this drawback. Approximately 60% plasma from porcine blood contains 6-7% of protein content mainly albumin and globulin which can be a good source of animal protein at the low-cost biopolymer from by-product. Microencapsulation is a useful technique to entrap volatile compounds in the biopolymer matrix and protect them to degrade. The objective of this research was to investigate the different ratios of two biopolymers (PPP and maltodextrin; MD) as wall materials at 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and 0:100 at a fixed ratio of wall material: core material (turmeric oil) at 3:1 (oil in water) on the qualities of microencapsulated powder using freeze drying. It was found that the combination of PPP and MD showed higher solubility of microencapsules compared to the use of PPP alone (P < 0.05). Moreover, the different ratios of wall materials also affected on color (L*, a* and b*) of microencapsulated powder. Morphology of microencapsulated powder using a scanning electron microscope showed holes on the surface reflecting on free oil content and encapsulation efficiency of microencapsules. At least 50% of MD was needed to increase encapsulation efficiency of microencapsulates rather than using only PPP as the wall material (P < 0.05). Microencapsulated turmeric oil powder can be useful as food additives to improve food texture, as a biopolymer material for edible film and coating to maintain quality of food products.

Keywords: microencapsulation, turmeric oil, porcine plasma protein, maltodextrin

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Authors: Faheem Ur Rehman, Muhammad Khalil Khan, Miao Qing

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This study investigated the asymmetric links and portfolio strategies between green bonds and the markets of three different cryptocurrencies, i.e., green, Islamic, and conventional, using data from January 1, 2018, to April 8, 2022, and employing asymmetric TVP-VAR model to quantify risk spillovers in the network analysis. In addition, we use the minimum variance, minimum correlation, and minimum connectedness methodologies to assess the portfolio implications. The results of the asymmetric dynamic connectedness index (TCI) model show that by adopting cryptocurrencies for digital finance, risk spillovers are found to be reduced. The findings of net directional connectedness demonstrate that during the study period, green bonds consistently get return spillovers from all other network variables. Positive return spillovers are bigger in magnitude than negative ones. These results imply that the influence of the green bond market on the cryptocurrency markets is decreasing. Positive return spillovers generate higher connectedness values for (HG, BNB, and TRX) coins and persistent net recipients in the specific network. On the other hand, Cardano and ADA coins are persistent net transmitters in the system. XLM and MIOTA's responsibilities shift over time, and there is evidence of asymmetry when both positive and negative returns are considered. According to the pairwise portfolio weights, BNB vs. BTC has the largest portfolio weights in the system, followed by BNB vs. Ethereum, suggesting the best investment strategies in the network.

Keywords: asymmetric TVP-VAR, global sustainable index, cryptocurrency, portfolios

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Authors: Agnieszka Fryźlewicz, Jowita Kras, Mikołaj Sadowski, Agnieszka Łapczuk-Krygier, Agnieszka Kącka-Zych Radomir Jasiński

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Nicotines are a group of compounds containing conjugated pyridine and pyrrolidine molecular segments. They are widely applied in medicine, pharmacy, and agriculture. Namely as researched treatment of Alzheimer, depression, Parkinson's, Tourette syndrome, general nervous and mental disorders. Furthermore, nicotine itself is used as a stimulant, animal repellent and was widely applied as an insecticide. In our work, we obtained nicotine analogues with possible applications in agriculture. The synthesis employed [3+2] cycloaddition (32CA) reactions, occurring between pirydyl-functionalised nitrones and conjugated nitroalkenes, that allowed us to fully regio- and stereoselectively obtain product. Moreover, cycloaddition reaction realizes rapidly in mild conditions with the full atomic economy, thus fitting into “green chemistry” trends.

Keywords: nicotine, isoxazolidine, 1-3-dipolar cycloaddition, green chemistry, biological and pharmacological activity

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Authors: Behbood Maashkar

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One of the principles for societies’ development is the requirement to consider past experiences. Man should always take advantage of the predecessor’s experiences and analyze their works and methods. The predecessors have had a more friendly relationship with nature and their lives less damaged the nature, and it is one of the elements of green building. One of the things the ancients have observed in regard to green building in their houses, stores, sacred places, etc. was using wind-catchers as an air conditioning and cooling system which can be considered as the first foundations of green building. In designing houses Iranian architects have paid a great attention to the factor of making use of more shaded area in hot season and insulation of wall and ceiling against influence of hot weather and also air circulation inside the building. In order to circulate the air inside closed spaces and decrease the temperature, they have considered different winds which blow in Iran and its effective power, and in order to make use of it they invented wind catcher. Direction of wind blow and its height from the earth as well as the time and duration of wind blow and other factors have been effective in making different types of wind catchers. Using wind catchers has been and is prevalent mainly in central and south regions of Iran, coastal areas of Persian Gulf, and Khorasan, especially in cities like Yazd, Kashan, Bam, Abarghoo, Jahrom, and Tabas.

Keywords: environment pollution, green building, Iran, wind catchers

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Authors: Ava Faridi, Pouya Faridi, Aleksandr Kakinen, Ibrahim Javed, Thomas P. Davis, Pu Chun Ke

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Human islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) is a hormone associated with glycemic control and type 2 diabetes. Biophysically, the chirality of IAPP fibrils has been little explored with respect to the aggregation and toxicity of the peptide. Biochemically, it remains unclear as for how protein expression in pancreatic beta cells may be altered by cell exposure to the peptide, and how such changes may be mitigated by nanoparticle inhibitors for IAPP aggregation. In this study, we first demonstrated the elimination of the IAPP nucleation phase and shortening of its elongation phase by silica nanoribbons. This accelerated IAPP fibrillization translated to reduced toxicity, especially for the right-handed silica nanoribbons, as revealed by cell viability, helium ion microscopy, as well as zebrafish embryo survival, developmental and behavioral assays. We then examined the proteomes of βTC6 pancreatic beta cells exposed to the three main aggregation states of monomeric, oligomeric and amyloid fibrillar IAPP, and compared that with cellular protein expression modulated by graphene quantum dots (GQDs). A total of 29 proteins were significantly regulated by different forms of IAPP, and the majority of these proteins were nucleotide-binding proteins. A regulatory capacity of GQDs against aberrant protein expression was confirmed. These studies have demonstrated the great potential of employing nanomaterials targeting the mesoscopic enantioselectivity and protein expression dysregulation in pancreatic beta cells.

Keywords: graphene quantum dots, IAPP, silica nanoribbons, protein expression, toxicity

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Authors: Annisa Amalina, Lintang Sekar Sari, Khairunnisa Salsabila, Astya Gema Ramadhan, M. Fatkhi, Andani Eka Putra

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Gonorrhea is one of the sexually transmitted diseases by genito-genital, oro-genital and anogenital. Gonorrhea disease will cause complications if not treated properly. The diagnostic tool that has been used nowadays is microscopic. Thus a rapid diagnostic tool for gonorrhea is required, using polyclonal antibodies. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of injections of intravenous, subcutaneous and intracutaneous crude protein gonorrhea. The research method used in this research is experimental explorative. This research was conducted in Molecular Microbiology Laboratory of Faculty of Medicine, Andalas University for 3 months from April to June 2017. This study used 3 groups of rabbit with intravenous, subcutaneous, and intracutaneous injections. Each group was treated on days 1, 7, 21, and 28 with crude protein injection. After that, the examination of antibody levels held by using ELISA, followed by the antibody comparative tests contained in all three groups. The results examined by One Way ANOVA test on SPSS 21 and showed that there is no significant difference between intravenous, subcutaneous, and intracutaneous use p=0.69 (p < 0.05). However, there is an increased level (0.047 to 1.171) in antibodies from day 1 to day 14. In addition, subcutaneous use is preferred because it has minimal side effects compared to intravenous and intracutaneous use.

Keywords: crude protein, Neisseria gonorrhea, polyclonal antibodies, subcutaneous

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Authors: Gagan Dhawan

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Mycobacterium tuberculosis was described as ‘captain of death’ with an inherent property of multiple drug resistance majorly caused by the competent mechanism of efflux pumps. In this study, various open source tools combining chemo-informatics with bioinformatics were used for efficient in-silico drug designing. The efflux pump, Rv1218c, belonging to the ABC transporter superfamily, which is predicted to be a tetronasin-transporter in M. tuberculosis was targeted. Recent studies have shown that Rv1218c forms a complex with two more efflux pumps (Rv1219c and Rv1217c) to provide multidrug resistance to the bacterium. The 3D structure of the protein was modeled (as the structure was unavailable in the previously collected databases on this gene). The TMHMM analysis of this protein in TubercuList has shown that this protein is present in the outer membrane of the bacterium. Virtual screening of compounds from various publically available chemical libraries was performed on the M. tuberculosis protein using various open source tools. These ligands were further assessed where various physicochemical properties were evaluated and analyzed. On comparison of different physicochemical properties, toxicity and docking, the ligand 2-(hydroxymethyl)-6-[4, 5, 6-trihydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl) tetrahydropyran-3-yl] oxy-tetrahydropyran-3, 4, 5-triol was found to be best suited for further studies.

Keywords: drug resistance, efflux pump, molecular docking, virtual screening

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Authors: Shreya Ghosh, Akansha Garg, Chayanika Kala, Ashwani Kumar Thakur

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Background: Granuloma formation is one of the characteristic features of tuberculosis. Besides, chronic inflammation underlying tuberculosis is often indicated by an increase in the concentration of serum amyloid A (SAA) protein. The connection between tuberculosis and SAA-driven secondary amyloidosis is well documented. However, SAA-derived amyloid deposition start sites are not well understood in tuberculosis and other chronic inflammatory conditions. It was hypothesized that granuloma could be a potential site for an amyloid deposition because both SAA protein and proteases that cleave SAA into aggregation-prone fragments are reported to be present in the granuloma. Here the authors have shown the presence of SAA-derived amyloid deposits in the granuloma of tuberculosis patients. Methodology: Over a period of two years, tuberculosis patients were screened, and biopsies were collected from the affected organs of the patients. The gold standard, Congo red dye staining, was used to identify amyloid deposits in the tissue sections of tuberculosis patients containing granulomatous structure. Results: 11 out of 150 FFPE biopsy specimens of tuberculosis patients showed eosinophilic hyaline-rich deposits surrounding granuloma. Upon Congo red staining, these deposits exhibited characteristic apple-green birefringence under polarized light, confirming amyloid deposits. Further, upon immunohistochemical staining with anti-SAA, the amyloid enriched areas showed positive immunoreactivity. Conclusion: In this pilot study, we have shown that granuloma can be a potential site for serum amyloid A-derived amyloid formation in tuberculosis patients. Moreover, the presence of amyloid gave significant cues that granuloma might be a probable amyloid deposition start in tuberculosis patients. This study will set a stage to expand the clinical and fundamental research in the understanding of amyloid formation in granuloma underlying tuberculosis and chronic inflammatory conditions.

Keywords: amyloid, granuloma, periphery, serum amyloid A, tuberculosis

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Authors: Hui-Qin Xu, Xing Lv, Yu-Han Tao

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The depth study aimed on the mechanism of morroniside in protecting diabetic nephropathy. The diabetic mice models with blood glucose above 15mmol/L were divided into model, aminoguanidine, metformin, captopril, morroniside low-dose, and morroniside high-dose groups. And normal group was set simultaneously. All groups were fed with high AGEs food except normal group. Each group was intragastric administration of the corresponding medicine except model and normal groups. After 12 weeks, all the indictors were measured. It showed that the morroniside could reduce blood glucose significantly, urinary protein, serum urea nitrogen, creatine, pathological changes, AGEs levels, renal cortex RAGE mRNA and RAGE protein expression levels; increase food consumption, water intake, urine volume, insulin secretion. As a conclusion, morroniside from cornus officinalis can protect renal in diabetic mice, its mechanism may be related to the proliferation of islet cells, rectify glycometabolism, reduce serum and kidney AGEs content, and descend renal RAGEmRNA and RAGE protein expression levels.

Keywords: cornus officinalis, diabetic nephropathy, morroniside, RAGE protein

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Authors: Mateen A. Khan, Elizabeth J. Theil, Dixie J. Goss

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Cellular iron homeostasis is accomplished by the coordinated regulated expression of iron uptake, storage, and export. Iron regulate the translation of ferritin and mitochondrial aconitase iron responsive element (IRE)-mRNA by interaction with an iron regulatory protein (IRPs). Iron increases protein biosynthesis encoded in iron responsive element. The noncoding structure IRE-mRNA, approximately 30-nt, folds into a stem loop to control synthesis of proteins in iron trafficking, cell cycling, and nervous system function. Fluorescence anisotropy measurements showed the presence of one binding site on IRP1 for ferritin and mitochondrial aconitase IRE-mRNA. Scatchard analysis revealed the binding affinity (Kₐ) and average binding sites (n) for ferritin and mitochondrial aconitase IRE-mRNA were 68.7 x 10⁶ M⁻¹ and 9.2 x 10⁶ M⁻¹, respectively. In order to understand the relative importance of equilibrium and stability, we further report the contribution of electrostatic interactions in the overall binding of two IRE-mRNA with IRP1. The fluorescence quenching of IRP1 protein was measured at different ionic strengths. The binding affinity of IRE-mRNA to IRP1 decreases with increasing ionic strength, but the number of binding sites was independent of ionic strength. Such results indicate a differential contribution of electrostatics to the interaction of IRE-mRNA with IRP1, possibly related to helix bending or stem interactions and an overall conformational change. Selective destabilization of ferritin and mitochondrial aconitase RNA/protein complexes as reported here explain in part the quantitative differences in signal response to iron in vivo and indicate possible new regulatory interactions.

Keywords: IRE-mRNA, IRP1, binding, ionic strength

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Authors: Alireza Jafarzadeh, Bahram Amu-Oqhli Tabrizi, Hadi Khayat Nouri, Arash Khaki

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30 head of adult Vistar rats were chosen to evaluate the chronic narcotic effects of crack on some biochemical parameters. The rats weighted approximately 200 to 250 g. They were divided into 5 groups of 6 and were housed in identical condition in terms of food and ambience. Rats were maintained at 12 hours light and 12 hours darkness. Rats were injected 7.8 mg/kg BW crack intraperitoneally. The groups one to four received daily medication for one to four weeks respectively. The control groups were injected identical dose of saline. The blood was taken from control and test groups then serum was separated from. Serum biochemical parameters of amylase, lipase, triglycerides, cholesterol, HDL, LDL, VLDL, protein and albumin were measured by diagnostic kits. Serum protein and albumin levels did not show statistically significant changes. Serum lipase and amylase showed significant changes both of which were increased. The serum levels of cholesterol, LDL and HDL demonstrated no significant changes. Triglycerides values showed a significant increase in serum. Serum VLDL in groups 3 and 4 exhibited significant changes compare to other groups.

Keywords: albumin, amylase, cholesterol, crack, HDL, LDL, lipase, protein, rat, triglycerides, VLDL

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Authors: Mahnaz Jafari, Parisa Izadpanahi, Francesco Mancini, Muhammad Qureshi

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The advancement in Information Technology (IT) has been an intrinsic element in the developments of the 21st century bringing benefits such as increased economic productivity. However, its widespread application has also been associated with inadvertent negative impacts on society and the environment necessitating selective interventions to mitigate these impacts. This study responded to this need by developing a Green IT Rating Tool (GIRT) for higher education institutions (HEI) in Australia to evaluate the sustainability of IT-related practices from an environmental, social, and economic perspective. Each dimension must be considered equally to achieve sustainability. The development of the GIRT was informed by the views of interviewed IT professionals whose opinions formed the basis of a framework listing Green IT initiatives in order of their importance as perceived by the interviewed professionals. This framework formed the base of the GIRT, which identified Green IT initiatives (such as videoconferencing as a substitute for long-distance travel) and the associated weighting of each practice. The proposed sustainable Green IT model could be integrated into existing IT systems, leading to significant reductions in carbon emissions and e-waste and improvements in energy efficiency. The development of the GIRT and the findings of this study have the potential to inspire other organizations to adopt sustainable IT practices, positively impact the environment, and be used as a reference by IT professionals and decision-makers to evaluate IT-related sustainability practices. The GIRT could also serve as a benchmark for HEIs to compare their performance with other institutions and to track their progress over time. Additionally, the study's results suggest that virtual and cloud-based technologies could reduce e-waste and energy consumption in the higher education sector. Overall, this study highlights the importance of incorporating Green IT practices into the IT systems of HEI to contribute to a more sustainable future.

Keywords: green information technology, international higher-educational institution, sustainable solutions, environmentally friendly IT systems

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Authors: Jeong Hwan Joo, Keun Pil Kim

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During meiosis, meiotic recombination is initiated by Spo11-mediated DSB formation and exonuclease-mediated DSB resection occurs to expose single stranded DNA formation. RPA is further required to inhibit secondary structure formation of ssDNA that can be formed Watson-Crick pairing. Rad51-Dmc1, RecA homologs in eukaryote and their accessory factors involve in searching homolog templates to mediate strand exchange. In this study, we investigate the recombinational roles of replication protein A (RPA), which is heterotrimeric protein that is composed of RPA1, RPA2, and RPA3. Here, we investigated meiotic recombination using DNA physical analysis at the HIS4LEU2 hot spot. In rfa1-119 (K45E, N316S) cells, crossover (CO) and non-crossover (NCO) products reduced than WT. rfa1-119 delayed in single end invasion-to-double holiday junction (SEI-to-dHJ) transition and exhibits a defect in second-end capture that is also modulated by Rad52. In the further experiment, we observed that in rfa1-119 mutant, RPA could not be released in timely manner. Furthermore, rfa1-119 exhibits failure in the second end capture, implying reduction of COs and NCOs. In this talk, we will discuss more detail how RPA involves in chromatin axis association via formation of axis-bridge and why RPA is required for Rad52-mediated second-end capture progression.

Keywords: homolog interaction, meiotic recombination, replication protein A, RPA1

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Authors: Daina Jonkus, Solvita Petrovska, Dace Smiltina, Lasma Cielava

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The beta-lactoglobulin and kappa-casein are milk proteins which are important for milk composition. Cows with beta-lactoglobulin and kappa-casein gene BB genotypes have highest milk crude protein and fat content. The aim of the study was to determinate the frequencies of milk protein gene polymorphisms in local Latvian Brown (LB) cows breed and analyze the influence of beta-lactoglobulin and kappa-casein genotypes to milk productivity traits. 102 cows’ genotypes of milk protein genes were detected using Polymerase Chain Reaction and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and electrophoresis on 3% agarose gel. For beta-lactoglobulin were observed 2 types of alleles A and B and for kappa-casein 3 types: A, B and E. Highest frequency in beta-lactoglobulin gene was observed for B allele – 0.926. Molecular analysis of beta-lactoglobulin gene shows 86.3% of individuals are homozygous by B allele and animals are with genotypes BB and 12.7% of individuals are heterozygous with genotypes AB. The highest milk yield 4711.7 kg was for 1st lactation cows with AB genotypes, whereas the highest milk protein content (3.35%) and fat content (4.46 %) was for BB genotypes. Analysis of the kappa-casein locus showed a prevalence of the A allele – 0.750. The genetic variant of B was characterized by a low frequency – 0.240. Moreover, the frequency of E occurred in the LB cows’ population with very low frequency – 0.010. 54.9 % of cows are homozygous with genotypes AA, and only 4.9 % are homozygous with genotypes BB. 32.8 % of individuals are heterozygous with genotypes AB, and 2.0 % are with AE. The highest milk productivity was for 1st lactation cows with AB genotypes: milk yield 4620.3 kg, milk protein content 3.39% and fat content 4.53 %. According to the results, in local Latvian brown there are only 2.9% of cows are with BB-BB genotypes, which is related to milk coagulation ability and affected cheese production yield. Acknowledgment: the investigation is supported by VPP 2014-2017 AgroBioRes Project No. 3 LIVESTOCK.

Keywords: beta-lactoglobulin, cows, genotype frequencies, kappa-casein

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Authors: Ammar Alrefaei

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The COVID-19 pandemic changed human life. The vast majority of the COVID effect was on the healthcare sector, but its impact on the global economy cannot be denied. In the field of environment, the pandemic may have a more significant impact on the environment than all environmental activity and policies of recent years. The pandemic consequences for the environment may be far more unpredictable than one might assume. In view of this, it is imperative for legislators from different states to be prepared to apply adequate measures to counteract such consequences. This article aimed to examine the obstacles to implementing effective environmental policies after the COVID-19 pandemic using different examples from different countries. Also, how adopting new initiatives, such as the Saudi Green Initiative and the Middle East Green Initiative, can help policymakers and legislators adopt new laws and policies. In addition, this paper reviewed the developing dangers to environmental protection after the pandemic and analyzed the major challenges to instrument active environmental policies during COVID-19 and in the world after COVID.

Keywords: environmental policy, environment law, green initiative, COVID 19

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Authors: Ubaid Ur Rahman, Waqar Younas, Sooraj Kumar Chhabira

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Environmentally sustainable building construction has experienced significant growth during the past 10 years at international level. This paper shows that the conceptual framework adopts sustainability techniques in construction to develop environment friendly building called green building. Waste occurs during the different construction phases which causes the environmental problems like, deposition of waste on ground surface creates major problems such as bad smell. It also gives birth to different health diseases and produces toxic waste agent which is specifically responsible for making soil infertile. Old recycled building material is used in the construction of new building. Sustainable construction is economical and saves energy sources. Sustainable construction is the major responsibility of designer and project manager. The designer has to fulfil the client demands while keeping the design environment friendly. Project manager has to deliver and execute sustainable construction according to sustainable design. Steel is the most appropriate sustainable construction material. It is more durable and easily recyclable. Steel occupies less area and has more tensile and compressive strength than concrete, making it a better option for sustainable construction as compared to other building materials. New technology like green roof has made the environment pleasant, and has reduced the construction cost. It minimizes economic, social and environmental issues. This paper presents an overview of research related to the material use of green building and by using this research recommendation are made which can be followed in the construction industry. In this paper, we go through detailed analysis on construction material. By making suitable adjustments to project management practices it is shown that a green building improves the cost efficiency of the project, makes it environmental friendly and also meets future generation demands.

Keywords: sustainable construction, green building, recycled waste material, environment

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Authors: Banafsheh Aghamohammadi, Masoud Honarvar, Babak Ghiassi Tarzi

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Usage of different components has been considered to improve the quality and nutritional properties of cakes in recent years. The effects of applying some sweeteners, instead of sugar, have been evaluated in cakes and many bread formulas up to now; but there has not been any research about the usage of by-products of sugar factories such as Wash and Green-A Syrups in cake formulas. In this research, the effects of substituting 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of sugar with Wash and Green-A Syrups on some dough and cake properties, such as pH, viscosity, density, volume, weight loss, moisture, water activity, texture, staling, color and sensory evaluations, are studied. The results of these experiments showed that the pH values were not significantly different among any of the all cake batters and also most of the cake samples. Although differences among viscosity and specific gravity of all treatments were both significant and insignificant, these two parameters resulted in higher volume in all samples than the blank one. The differences in weight loss, moisture content and water activity of samples were insignificant. Evaluating of texture showed that the softness of most of samples is increased and the staling is decreased. Crumb color and sensory evaluations of samples were also affected by the replacement of sucrose with Wash and Green-A Syrups. According to the results, we can increase the shelf life and improve the quality and nutritional values of cake by using these kinds of syrups in the formulation.

Keywords: cake, green-A syrup, quality tests, sensory evaluation, wash syrup

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Authors: Purva Mishra, Rajesh Potlia, Kuljeet Singh Sandhu

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The role of glycyl residues in the protein structure has lingered within the research community for the last several decades. Glycyl residue is the only amino acid that is achiral due to the lack of a side chain and can, therefore, exhibit Ramachandran conformations that are disallowed for L-amino acids. The structural and functional significance of glycyl residues with L-disallowed conformation, however, remains obscure. Through statistical analysis of various datasets, we found that the glycyls with L-disallowed conformations are over-represented at disease-associated sites and tend to be evolutionarily conserved. The mutations of L-disallowed glycyls tend to destabilize the native conformation, reduce protein solubility, and promote inter-molecular aggregations. We uncovered a structural motif referred to as “β-crescent” formed around the L-disallowed glycyl, which prevents β-sheet aggregation by disrupting the alternating pattern of β-pleats. The L-disallowed conformation of glycyls also holds predictive power to infer the pathogenic missense variants. Altogether, our observations highlight that the L-disallowed conformation of glycyls is selected to facilitate native folding and prevent inter-molecular aggregations. The findings may also have implications for designing more stable proteins and prioritizing the genetic lesions implicated in diseases.

Keywords: Ramachandran plot, β-sheet, protein stability, protein aggregation

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Authors: Mohamed M. Alsull

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In the present study, two microalgae species “Nannochloropsis sp. and Tetraselmis sp.” isolated from Penang National Park coastal waters, Malaysia; were cultivated under combined various laboratory conditions “salinity, light, nitrogen limitation and starvation”. Growth rate, dry weight, chlorophyll a content, total lipid and protein contents, were estimated at mid exponential growth phase. Both Nannochloropsis sp. and Tetraselmis sp. showed remarkable decrease in growth rate, chlorophyll a content and protein content companied with increase in lipid content under nitrogen limitation and starvation conditions. Maintaining Nannochloropsis sp. under salinity 15‰ caused only significant decrease in total protein content; while Tetraselmis sp. grown at the same salinity caused decrease in the growth rate, chlorophyll a, dry weight and total protein content only when nitrogen was available.

Keywords: biochemical composition, light, microalgae, nitrogen limitation, salinity

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Authors: Sandra Rafael, Bruno Vicente, Vera Rodrigues, Carlos Borrego, Myriam Lopes

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Air pollution is an environmental and social issue at different spatial scales, especially in a climate change context, with an expected decrease of air quality. Air pollution is a combination of high emissions and unfavourable weather conditions, where wind speed and wind direction play a key role. The urban design (location and structure of buildings and trees) can both promote the air pollutants dispersion as well as promote their retention within the urban area. Today, most of the urban areas are applying measures to adapt to future extreme climatic events. Most of these measures are grounded on nature-based solutions, namely green roofs and green areas. In this sense, studies are required to evaluate how the implementation of these actions will influence the wind flow within the urban area and, consequently, how this will influence air pollutants' dispersion. The main goal of this study was to evaluate the influence of a set of urban morphologies in the wind conditions and in the dispersion of air pollutants, in a built-up area in Portugal. For that, two pollutants were analysed (NOx and PM10) and four scenarios were developed: i) a baseline scenario, which characterizes the current status of the study area, ii) an urban green scenario, which implies the implementation of a green area inside the domain, iii) a green roof scenario, which consists in the implementation of green roofs in a specific area of the domain; iv) a 'grey' scenario, which consists in a scenario with absence of vegetation. For that, two models were used, namely the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) and the CFD model VADIS (pollutant dispersion in the atmosphere under variable wind conditions). The WRF model was used to initialize the CFD model, while the last was used to perform the set of numerical simulations, on an hourly basis. The implementation of the green urban area promoted a reduction of air pollutants' concentrations, 16% on average, related to the increase in the wind flow, which promotes air pollutants dispersion; while the application of green roofs showed an increase of concentrations (reaching 60% during specific time periods). Overall the results showed that a strategic placement of vegetation in cities has the potential to make an important contribution to increase air pollutants dispersion and so promote the improvement of air quality and sustainability of urban environments.

Keywords: air pollutants dispersion, wind conditions, urban morphologies, road traffic emissions

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Authors: Sena Su, Burak Ozbek, Yesim M. Sahin, Sevil Yucel, Dilek Kazan, Faik N. Oktar, Nazmi Ekren, Oguzhan Gunduz

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In recent years, protein, lipid or polysaccharide-based polymers have been used in order to develop biodegradable materials and their chemical nature determines the physical properties of the resulting films. Among these polymers, proteins from different sources have been extensively employed because of their relative abundance, film forming ability, and nutritional qualities. In this study, the biodegradable composite nanofiber films based on fish sarcoplasmic protein (FSP) were prepared via electrospinning technique. Biodegradable polycaprolactone (PCL) was blended with the FSP to obtain hybrid FSP/PCL nanofiber mats with desirable physical properties. Mixture solutions of FSP and PCL were produced at different concentrations and their density, viscosity, electrical conductivity and surface tension were measured. Mechanical properties of electrospun nanofibers were evaluated. Morphology of composite nanofibers was observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Moreover, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) studies were used for analysis chemical composition of composite nanofibers. This study revealed that the FSP based nanofibers have the potential to be used for different applications such as biodegradable packaging, drug delivery, and wound dressing, etc.

Keywords: edible film, electrospinning, fish sarcoplasmic protein, nanofiber

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Authors: Slimane Mokrani, Nabti El hafid

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Description of the subject: Currently, several efforts focus on the study of biodiversity, microbial biotechnology, and the use of ecological strategies. Objectives: The aim of this present work is to determine the functional diversity of bacteria in rhizospheric and non-rhizospheric soils of different plants. Methods: Bacteria were isolated from soil and identified based on physiological and biochemical characters and genotypic taxonomy performed by 16S rDNA and BOX-PCR. As well as the characterization of various PGPR traits. Then, they are tested for their effects on the stimulation of seed germination and the growth of Phaseolus vulgaris L. As well as their biological control activities with regard to the phytopathogenic bacterial isolate Xapf. Results and Discussion: The biochemical and physiological identification of 75 bacterial isolates made it possible to associate them with the two groups of fluorescent Pseudomonas (74.67%) and non-fluorescent Pseudomonas (25.33%). The identification by 16S rDNA of 27 strains made it possible to attribute the majority of the strains to the genus Pseudomonas (81.48%), Serratia (7.41%) and Bacillus (11.11%). The bacterial strains showed a high capacity to produce IAA, siderophores, HCN and to solubilize phosphate. A significant stimulation of germination and growth was observed by applying the Pseudomonas strains. Furthermore, significant reductions in the severity and intensity of the disease caused caused by Xapf were observed. Conclusion: The bacteria described in this present study endowed with different PGPR activities seem to be very promising for their uses as biological control agents and bio-fertilization.

Keywords: biofertilization, biological control, phaseolus vulgaris L, pseudomonas, Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. phaseoli var. fuscans and common blight

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Authors: Hawbash Jalil

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In this study, the effects of whey protein based films on various properties of kashar cheese were examined. In the study, edible film solutions based on whey protein isolate, whey protein isolate + transglutaminase enzyme and whey protein isolate + chitosan were produced and Kashar cheese samples were coated with these films by dipping method and stored at +4 ºC for 60 days. Chemical, microbiological and textural analyzes were carried out on samples at 0, 30 and 60 days of storage. As a result of the study, the highest dry matter and total nitrogen values were obtained from uncoated control samples This is an indication that the coatings limit water vapor permeability. The highest acidity and pH values obtained from the samples as storage results were 3.33% and 5.86%, respectively, in the control group samples. Both acidity and pH rise in these groups, is a consequence of the buffering of pH changes of hydrolsis products which are as a result of proteolysis occurring in the sample. Nitrogen changes and lipolysis values, which are indicative of the degree of hydrolysis of proteins and triglycerides in kashar cheese, were generally higher in the control group This result is due to limiting the micro organism reproduction by limiting the gas passage of the coatings. Hardness and chewiness values of the textural properties of the samples were significantly reduced in uncoated control samples compared to the coated samples due to maturation. The chitosan film coatings used in the study limited the development of mold yeast until the 30th day but after that did not yield successful results in this respect.

Keywords: chitosan, edible film, transglutaminase, whey protein

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Authors: Arfan Ali, Idrees Ahmad Nasir

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The critical evaluation of tolerance in tomato plants against the induced saline soil were assessed by transcript analysis of genes coding for products potentially involved in stress tolerance. A reverse transcriptase PCR experiment was performed with Hsp90-1, MT2, and GR1like protein genes using RNA isolated from different tissues of tomato plants. Four strains of Bacillus magisterium were inoculated with 100 Mm & 200 Mm concentrations of salt. Eleven treatments each ten replica pots were installed in green house experiment and the parameters taken into account were morphological (length, weight, number of leaves, leaf surface area), chemical (anthocyanin, chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b, carotenoids) and biological (gene expression). Results bare a response i.e. highest response of MT2 like gene was at 24 hpi and the highest levels of GR1 like protein transcript accumulation were detected at 36 hpi. The chemical and morphological parameters at diverse salt concentrations bequeath superlative response amongst strains which candidly flank on Zm7 and Zm4. Therefore, Bacillus magisterium Zm7 strains and somehow Zm4 strain can be used in saline condition to make plants tolerant. The overall performance of strains Zm7, Zm6, and Zm4 was found better for all studied traits under salt stress conditions. Significant correlations among traits root length, shoot length, number of leaves, leaf surface area, carotenoids, anthocyanin, chlorophyll-a and chlorophyll-b were found and suggested that the salt tolerance in tomato may be improved through the use of PGPR strains.

Keywords: Bacillus magisterium, gene expression glutathione reductase, metallothionein, PGPR, Rhizobacteria, saline

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Authors: Raziyeh Teimouri, Sadasivam Karuppannan, Alpana Sivam, Ning Gu

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Urban Green Space (UGS) is one of the most critical components of urban systems to create sustainable cities. UGS has valuable social benefits that closely correlate with people's life quality. Studying social sustainability factors that can be achieved by green spaces is required for optimal UGS planning to increase urban social sustainability. This paper aims to identify key factors that enhance urban social sustainability through UGS planning. To reach the goal of the study international experts’ survey has been conducted. According to the results of the survey analysis, factors of proper distribution, links to public transportation, walkable access, sense of place, social interactions, public education, safety and security, walkability and cyclability, physical activity and recreational facilities, suitability for all ages, disabled people, women, and children are among the key factors that should consider in UGS planning programs to promote urban social sustainability.

Keywords: UGS, planning, social sustainability, key factors

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Authors: Lazhar mouloud, Chemat Zoubida, Ouhoumna Faiza

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The main objective of this study, concerns the modeling of breakthrough curves obtained in the adsorption column of malachite green into alginate-encapsulated aluminium pillared clay in fixed bed according to various operating parameters such as the initial concentration, the feed rate and the height fixed bed, applying mathematical models namely: the model of Bohart and Adams, Wolborska, Bed Depth Service Time, Clark and Yoon-Nelson. These models allow us to express the different parameters controlling the performance of the dynamic adsorption system. The results have shown that all models were found suitable for describing the whole or a definite part of the dynamic behavior of the column with respect to the flow rate, the inlet dye concentration and the height of fixed bed.

Keywords: adsorption column, malachite green, pillared clays, alginate, modeling, mathematic models, encapsulation.

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Authors: Mohammad Javad Esmaeili

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Background: Coagulopathy is one of the complications with end stage renal disease with high prevalence in the world. Thromboelastogram is adynamic test for evaluation of coagulopathy and we have compared our patient's coagulation profiles with the results of TEG. Material and methods: In this study 50 patients with ESRD who were on regular hemodialysis for at least 6 months was selected with simple sampling and their coagulation profile was done with blood sampling and also TEG was done for every patient. Data were analyzed with SPSS and P<0.05 consider significant. Results: Protein s, Protein c and Antithrombin III deficiency was detected in 32%, 16% and 20% of patients and activated protein c resistance was abnormal in 2% of patients. In TEG, R time in 49% and K in 22/5% of patients was lower than normal and a-angle in 26% and maximum amplitude in 36% of patients was upper than normal (Hypercoagulable state). PS with R and ATIII with K have correlation. Conclusion: R time and K in TEG can be a suitable screening test in patients with suspicious to PS and ATIII deficiency.

Keywords: thromboelastography, chronic kidney disease, Coagulating disorder, hemodialysis

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