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Running Costs (running + cost)
Selected AbstractsCE-TOF MS analysis of complex protein hydrolyzates from genetically modified soybeans , A tool for foodomicsELECTROPHORESIS, Issue 7 2010Carolina Simó Abstract A CE-TOF MS proteomic approach was applied for the analysis of hydrolyzates from complex soybean protein mixtures. After CE-TOF MS method development, the new approach provided the simultaneous analysis of more than 150 peptides from the soybean protein fraction soluble in ACN-water (80/20,v/v). The method is fast (about 30,min of analysis per sample) and is characterized by a relatively low running cost. The approach was used to study the substantial equivalence between a genetically modified variety of soybean compared with its traditional counterpart. No significant differences were found between the two studied soybeans based on the protein fraction studied. The capacity of the CE-TOF MS method to analyze complex mixtures of peptides in short times opens interesting possibilities in the growing Foodomics area. [source] Investigating the microbial inactivation efficiency of a 25 L batch solar disinfection (SODIS) reactor enhanced with a compound parabolic collector (CPC) for household use,JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 8 2010Eunice Ubomba-Jaswa Abstract BACKGROUND: A simple point-of-use solar disinfection (SODIS) reactor was designed to treat 25 L of water and was constructed from a methacrylate tube placed along the linear focus of a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) and mounted at 37° inclination. Experiments were carried out over a 7 month period by seeding a 106 CFU mL,1 concentration of Escherichia coli K-12 in 25 L of well water or turbid water to mimic field conditions and determine the microbial effectiveness of the reactor. RESULTS: During periods of strong sunlight, complete inactivation of bacteria occurred in under 6 h, even with water temperatures < 40 °C. Under cloudy and low solar intensity conditions, prolonged exposure was needed. Turbid water (100 NTU) was disinfected in 7 h with water temperatures > 50 °C. No regrowth of bacteria occurred within 24 h and 48 h following solar disinfection. The construction cost of this prototype reactor was approximately US$ 200 but with an expected lifetime of 10 years, the running cost of the reactor is expected to be US$ 0.002 L,1. CONCLUSION: This study confirms that significant water disinfection can be achieved using a low cost CPC-enhanced 25 L batch SODIS reactor. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry [source] Development of a single-tube PCR-pyrosequencing method for the simultaneous and rapid detection of four variant alleles of CYP2C9 gene polymorphismJOURNAL OF CLINICAL PHARMACY & THERAPEUTICS, Issue 2 2008Y. Okada MS Summary Background and Objective:, CYP2C9 is a polymorphic enzyme that has been reported to metabolize several clinically useful drugs such as warfarin, phenytoin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. We designed a rapid single-tube multiplex assay to detect four variant alleles of the CYP2C9 in a single polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and a single pyrosequencing reaction. Methods:, A multiplex PCR was designed to amplify two fragments simultaneously, one containing 430C>T (CYP2C9*2) polymorphism and other containing 1075A>C (CYP2C9*3), 1076T>C (CYP2C9*4) and 1080C>G (CYP2C9*5) polymorphisms. Results:, Four variants of the CYP2C9 gene could be simultaneously detected using only two varieties of pyrosequencing primers in a single-tube. The success rate for the four SNPs (*2, *3,*4 and *5) was high. Genotypes obtained by the multiplex reaction were 100% concordant with genotypes obtained using direct DNA sequencing (n = 96). The analysis time was halved, compared with existing simplex pyrosequencing. The system allowed high-throughput analysis of over 384 samples per hour. Discussion:, Our method reduces running cost and halves analysis time, compared to simplex pyrosequencing. Another advantage of this method is that it analyses and determines multiple bases around the polymorphic site thereby reducing the possibility of scoring a truncated PCR product. [source] Nano-sized bacterial magnetic particles displaying pyruvate phosphate dikinase for pyrosequencingBIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOENGINEERING, Issue 1 2009Tomoko Yoshino Abstract There is a high demand for inexpensive and high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies in molecular biology and applied biosciences. In this study, novel nano-sized magnetic particles displaying enzymes for pyrosequencing, a rather novel bioluminometric DNA sequencing method based on the sequencing-by-synthesis principle by employing a cascade of several enzymatic reactions, was developed. A highly thermostable enzyme, pyruvate phosphate dikinase (PPDK) which converts PPi to ATP was successfully expressed onto bacterial magnetic particles (BacMPs) using a novel protein display system of Magnetospirillum magneticum AMB-1. The enzymatic stability of BacMPs displaying PPDK (PPDK-BacMPs) to pH and temperature was evaluated and its broad range of properties was shown. Subsequently, PPDK-BacMPs were applied in pyrosequencing and a target oligonucleotide was successfully sequenced. The PPDK enzyme displayed on BacMPs was shown to be recyclable in each sequence reaction as they can be manipulated by magnetic force. It was concluded that nano-sized PPDK-BacMPs are useful for the scale down of pyrosequencing reaction volumes, thus, permitting high-throughput. The recycling of enzymes was also shown to be promising and applicable for the development of an inexpensive DNA sequencing at a low running cost. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2009;103: 130,137. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] The Economics of Landmine Clearance in AfghanistanDISASTERS, Issue 1 2002Geoff Harris This paper presents an economic evaluation of landmine clearance in Afghanistan. The main benefits comprise increased agricultural output, saved transport time and running costs, saved human casualties and the saved costs of supporting refugees and displaced persons. An investment of US$100 million between 1988 and 1998 is estimated to provide annual benefits of $50.3 million per annum between 1999 and 2008. This translates into net present values of between $935 and $1,744 million, depending on the rate of discount used. This contrasts with the negative NPVs estimated for several other countries. [source] Determination of DNA methylation by COBRA: A comparative study of CGE with LIF detection and conventional gel electrophoresisELECTROPHORESIS, Issue 17 2009Simon Goedecke Abstract DNA methylation as an epigenetic modification of the human genome is under emphatic investigation. Several studies have demonstrated a role of DNA methylation in oncogenesis. In conjunction with histone modifications, DNA methylation may cause the formation of heterochromatin and thus mediate the inactivation of gene transcription. It is important to develop methods that allow for an accurate quantification of the amount of DNA methylation in particular DNA regions, to gain information concerning the threshold of methylation levels necessary for gene inactivation. In this article, a CGE method with on-column LIF detection using SYBR Green is compared with a conventional slab-gel electrophoresis. We thus investigate the validity to analyze DNA methylation in the samples of a combined bisulfite restriction analysis. It is demonstrated that CGE is superior to gel electrophoresis in means of linearity, precision, accuracy, automatization (high throughput), and sample consumption. However, gel electrophoresis is easier to perform (simple devices, no PC usage), and the running costs are comparatively low. A further advantage of CGE is the sparse use of toxic compounds (MeOH and SYBR Green), whereas gel electrophoresis is performed in polyacrylamide gels with ethidium bromide staining. [source] Hydrodynamic behaviour of a full-scale anaerobic contact reactor using residence time distribution techniqueJOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 5 2009Isabel Capela Abstract BACKGROUND: The knowledge of the fluid pattern of full-scale anaerobic reactors is of fundamental importance for the optimisation of biological processes. High solids concentrations often lead to inefficient mixing conditions, which may reduce treatment capacity due to heterogeneity within the biomass. RESULTS: The hydrodynamic characteristics of a full-scale anaerobic contact reactor treating evaporator condensate from a sulphite pulp mill were investigated. The methodology applied was based on the residence time distribution (RTD) technique using lithium as a tracer. Different non-ideal hydraulic flow models were tested and the best model fitting RTD data was the Gamma distribution model with by-pass. It was concluded that the full-scale bioreactor presents a good degree of mixing with about 22% of non-effective volume due to the presence of high amounts of inorganic materials. CONCLUSION: As a result of this study it was possible to both improve the full-scale bioreactor performance and decrease the running costs by changes in the plant operation strategies which allowed reduction of the huge amount of inorganic materials contributing to the non-effective volume. The methodology is simple and results from a unique RTD experiment and confirms the importance of considering mixing characteristics when assessing complex full-scale treatment processes. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry [source] Do individual branches of immune defence correlate?OIKOS, Issue 2 2003A comparative case study of scavenging, non-scavenging birds Costs of immunity are widely believed to play an important role in life history evolution, but most studies of ecological immunology have considered only single aspects of immune function. It is unclear whether we should expect correlated responses in other aspects of immune function not measured, because individual branches of immune defence may differ in their running costs and thus may compete unequally for limiting resources, resulting in negatively correlated evolution. In theory such selection pressure may be most intense where species are hosts to more virulent parasites, thus facing a higher potential cost of parasitism. These issues are relatively unstudied, but could influence the efficacy of attempting to estimate the scale and cost of host investment in immune defence. Here, in a comparative study of birds we found that species that scavenge at carcasses, that were hypothesised to be hosts to virulent parasites, had larger spleens for their body size and higher blood total leukocyte concentrations (general measures of immune function) than non-scavengers. These results support the hypothesis that scavengers are subject to strong parasite-mediated selection on immune defences. However, measures of specific branches of immune function revealed that scavengers had a relatively lower proportion of lymphocytes than phagocytic types of leukocytes, suggesting robust front line immune defences that could potentially reduce the need for mounting relatively energetically costly lymphocyte-dependent immune responses. Following experimental inoculation, scavengers produced significantly larger humoral immune responses, but not cell-mediated immune responses, than non-scavengers. However, the sizes of cell-mediated and humoral immune responses were not correlated across species. These results suggest that single measures of immune defence may not characterise the overall immune strategy, or reveal the likely costs involved. [source] The TEG® vs the ROTEM® thromboelastography/thromboelastometry systemsANAESTHESIA, Issue 2 2009G. N. B. Jackson Summary We have evaluated the TEG® thromboelastograph and the ROTEM® thromboelastometer, two point-of-care devices that measure blood coagulation. During a one-week period, seven consultant anaesthetists, one consultant haematologist, one associate specialist anaesthetist and two senior trainee anaesthetists were trained by the manufacturers and set up, calibrated and used both systems, after which their views were obtained and specific technical/support information was sought from the manufacturers using a questionnaire. Although the devices shared common features, they differed in complexity and aspects of ease of use, and in their purchase and running costs. [source] | |||||||||||||