The 10 most recently published documents
AbstractPresynaptic homeostatic plasticity (PHP) adaptively enhances neurotransmitter release following diminished postsynaptic glutamate receptor (GluR) functionality to maintain synaptic strength. While much is known about PHP expression mechanisms, postsynaptic induction remains enigmatic. For over 20 years, diminished postsynaptic Ca2+ influx was hypothesized to reduce CaMKII activity and enable retrograde PHP signaling at the Drosophila neuromuscular junction. Here, we have interrogated inductive signaling and find that active CaMKII colocalizes with and requires the GluRIIA receptor subunit. Next, we generated Ca2+-impermeable GluRs to reveal that both CaMKII activity and PHP induction are Ca2+-insensitive. Rather, a GluRIIA C-tail domain is necessary and sufficient to recruit active CaMKII. Finally, chimeric receptors demonstrate that the GluRIIA tail constitutively occludes retrograde homeostatic signaling by stabilizing active CaMKII. Thus, the physical loss of the GluRIIA tail is sensed, rather than reduced Ca2+, to enable retrograde PHP signaling, highlighting a unique, Ca2+-independent control mechanism for CaMKII in gating homeostatic plasticity.
Wenn eine terminale Sterilisation nicht möglich ist, werden sterile Arzneimittel unter aseptischen Bedingungen hergestellt. Hierbei werden zum Schutz des Produkts vielfältige Maßnahmen zur Kontaminationskontrolle kombiniert. Den äußerst hohen Maßstäben an die Produktionsräume, -anlagen und -prozesse wird mit weitreichenden qualitätssichernden Instrumenten begegnet. Dabei ist es besonders wichtig, die Gefahr, die vom größten Kontaminationsfaktor – dem Personal – ausgeht, zu minimieren.
AbstractVoice assistants are potentially helpful when working in a scientific laboratory. A big challenge is the extremely specific use of language in every laboratory. As with any voice assistant, another concern is data security. Here, we present Rainbow—an open source voice user interface (VUI) for scientific laboratories, that is adaptable to any Windows PC with Internet access. We used Google Translate Site (GTS) as a voice input and output system to ensure communication to the user. The scripting language AutoIt controls GTS, executes all actions and builds the VUI. Rainbow performs tasks from three different areas—general Microsoft Windows tasks, lab-specific tasks, and device-specific tasks. We achieved significantly higher speech recognition accuracy with our VUI than with GTS alone (91.3% versus 85.1%). Because of Rainbow's architecture, it is possible to improve the voice assistant in terms of functionality and accuracy, allowing each laboratory to optimize its own Rainbow system in a user-friendly way. In a test setup, this led to a speech recognition accuracy of 98.6%. Taken together, Rainbow provides an opportunity for every scientist to implement highly specific scientific terms and tasks to this open source voice assistant system in a very user-friendly way.
Curcumin is a biopharmaceutical classification system (BCS) class IV substance with many potential therapeutic effects. However, like many other BCS IV active pharmaceutical ingredients, complex formulations are needed to guarantee a sufficiently high bioavailability. A not-so-well-known delivery system is a suspoemulsion (SE). SEs are emulsions with a crystalline API in continuous or dispersed phases. This study aimed to produce curcumin-loaded o/w suspoemulsions with the particle in the oil phase for, e.g., encapsulation or triggered release effects. The particles need to be smaller than the emulsion droplet size to attain high encapsulation efficiencies (EE) in the oil phase. Sonofragmentation and bead milling were tested for their ability to produce these nanocrystals in different dispersion media. It was discovered that production in miglyol was the best fit for the needed application of the crystals in SEs. Around 85% (by volume) of the particles produced with bead milling were smaller than the droplet size of about 5 µm. In contrast, only 23% of the sonofragmentated particles were below the diameter of those droplets. This oily suspension was then used to successfully produce hydrogel-based o/w suspoemulsions. In the second part of this study, we investigated different methods for determining encapsulation efficiency, but none of the methods accurately and satisfactorily resolved the encapsulation efficiency. Finally, the suspoemulsions could not be macroscopically distinguished from one another and were physically stable. In summary, we showed that stable hydrogel-based curcumin-loaded o/w suspoemulsions could be produced.
Olive byproducts and their bioactive compounds as a valuable source for food packaging applications
(2022)
AbstractAmong the most important agro‐industrial activities in the Mediterranean basin, olive oil production has a high impact on the economy of many Mediterranean countries. However, olive oil extraction generates huge quantities of byproducts, including leaves, pomace residues, stones and wastewater, which have severe environmental impacts mainly because of their phytotoxicity and great organic content. Olive oil byproducts are regarded as inexpensive and abundant raw materials rich in bioactive compounds with high and varied health‐related activities. Several phenolic compounds and terpenoids were recovered from olive byproducts using different conventional and advanced extraction methods due to their potential to be used in food, packaging, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Recently, the use of olive byproducts and their functional compounds to enhance the functional properties of packaging systems was investigated as a sustainable strategy for food preservation, fostering the sustainability of the olive‐oil chain, and promoting circular economy. In this framework, the main goals of this review are to summarize the main bioactive compounds in olive byproducts, to review the main advancements in their extraction, purification, and characterization, and finally to discuss their applications in food packaging systems as well as safety‐related aspects.
Abstract
The development of two competitive real-time PCR assays for the quantitative detection of trace amounts of two major food allergens, peanut and soybean, is reported. In order to achieve very low detection levels for both allergens, we established PCR primers and probes targeting mitochondrial DNA sequences. We were able to demonstrate that this approach led to an increase in detection sensitivity in the range of at least 1 order of magnitude compared with published assays targeting nuclear DNA. Furthermore, we generated corresponding competitor molecules, which were used as internal standards to compete with matrix effects that are evident during DNA extraction and PCR amplification in heterogeneous analytical matrixes like food. According to the recently described competitive quantitative PCR method published by Holzhauser et al. (2014), we performed threshold calibration against milk powder spiked with 10 ppm peanut and soy. Matrix-independent quantitative determination of peanut and soy could be demonstrated for three different calibrated food matrix standards in a range between 1 and 100 ppm. The data presented indicate that both assay concepts are powerful analytical tools for the quantitative detection of trace amounts of peanut and soy in commercial food products.
GMP-Monitoringsysteme
(2023)
Der Leitgedanke des Quality Risk Managements findet in Form der neu eingeführten Contamination Control Strategy (CCS) Einzug in den Annex 1. Das Monitoring ist dabei ein wesentlicher Bestandteil der CCS. Durch den neuen Annex 1 ergeben sich regulatorische Neuerungen wie das Trending generierter Monitoring-Daten, das mikrobiologische Monitoring der Reinraumbekleidung sowie die Ermöglichung alternativer Schnelltestmethoden im Bereich “viable particles“.
Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) has been intended as an encouraging biopolymer for packaging purposes. Nevertheless,
PLA-based films suffer from low gas barrier properties, which restrict their applications. Here, we report a facile
fabrication of multi-component coating via layer deposition of cinnamaldehyde (CIN)-doped chitosan/poly(vinyl
alcohol)/fish gelatin (CPF) on PLA surfaces. Different PLA/CPF ratios (100:0, 77.5:22.5, 55:45, 32.5:67.5, and
0:100) were tested, whereas the PLA55:CPF45 was selected for loading of CIN. The surface and morphology
analyses of the bilayers verify that CPF layers are successfully coated on the PLA surfaces. This design improved
the mechanical strength and water barrier of CPF films and simultaneously enhanced the ductility of PLA films. By deposition of CIN-doped CPF layer on a PLA substrate, the oxygen permeability decreased from 28.92 to 0.238 cm3 mm/m2 day bar, approximately 122 times lower than that of bare PLA. CIN loadings in the CPF layer endowed bilayer films with antioxidant/antimicrobial activity.
Die Themen Energie(krise), Fachkräftemangel und technologische Neuerungen prägen die Schlagzeilen unserer Zeit. Diesen Heraus- forderungen und Veränderungen muss auch die Reinraumtechnik begegnen. Die hier beschriebenen Ansätze zur energieoptimierten Reinraumsteuerung, Attraktivitätssteigerung des Reinraums als Arbeitswelt und Nutzung smarter Technologien im Bereich Reinraumkleidung zeigen hierfür exemplarische Wege auf und/oder liefern Gedankenanstöße für die
aktive Gestaltung der Reinraumwelt von morgen.