Integration of Stalk Destruction Methods for the Glyphosate Herbicide-Resistant Cotton

The increase in geographical areas used for cultivation of transgenic glyphosate herbicide-resistant cotton has hindered the stalk destruction, compromised the phytosanitary break implementation and consequently increased the population of insect pests and cotton plant pathogens. This study evaluated the efficiency of the combining mechanical and chemical methods in the destruction of transgenic cotton stalk resistant to the glyphosate herbicide. Two experiments were carried out in 2015 and 2016 in Primavera do Leste,-Mato Grosso, Brazil and Luís Eduardo Magalhães, Bahia, Brazil, respectively. The study evaluated different mechanical destruction equipment in combination with the chemical methods. In each environment, a randomized block experiment with four replications was employed. The results of the experiments indicated that the mechanical destruction increased the control efficiency by at least 10% when compared to chemical destruction of the cotton stalk. Chemical destruction with herbicides combined with mechanical destruction methods does not increase the control efficiency of cotton stalks destruction. Furthermore, the application of hormonal herbicides following the mechanical shredding of cotton stalks does not increase the control efficiency of glyphosate-resistant cotton stalk.

The Influence of Hydrogen Passivation on Conductive Properties of Graphene Nanomesh—Prospect Material for Carbon Nanotubes Growing

Graphene nanomesh (GNM) is one of the most intensively studied materials today. Chemical activity of atoms near GNM’s nanoholes provides favorable adsorption of different atoms and molecules, besides that, GNM is a prospect material for growing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on its surface. This study calculates the dependence of CNT’s growing parameters on the geometrical form of a nanohole. It was determined by the original methodic that the CNT’s growing from circle nanoholes was the most energetically favorable. Another attractive property of GNM is a tunable gap in its band structure that depends on GNM’s topology. It is found by quantum chemical methods that the passivation of dangling bonds near the hole of hydrogen atoms decreases the conductance of the structure by 2–3.5 times. Controlling the GNM’s conductance may be an important tool for its application in nanoelectronics.

Lipases as Effective Green Biocatalysts for Phytosterol Esters’ Production: A Review

Lipases are versatile enzymes widely used in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food industries. They are green biocatalysts with a high potential for industrial use compared to traditional chemical methods. In recent years, lipases have been used to synthesize a wide variety of molecules of industrial interest, and extraordinary results have been reported. In this sense, this review describes the important role of lipases in the synthesis of phytosterol esters, which have attracted the scientific community’s attention due to their beneficial effects on health. A systematic search for articles and patents published in the last 20 years with the terms “phytosterol AND esters AND lipase” was carried out using the Scopus, Web of Science, Scielo, and Google Scholar databases, and the results showed that Candida rugosa lipases are the most relevant biocatalysts for the production of phytosterol esters, being used in more than 50% of the studies. The optimal temperature and time for the enzymatic synthesis of phytosterol esters mainly ranged from 30 to 101 °C and from 1 to 72 h. The esterification yield was greater than 90% for most analyzed studies. Therefore, this manuscript presents the new technological approaches and the gaps that need to be filled by future studies so that the enzymatic synthesis of phytosterol esters is widely developed.

Effect of uncontrolled fermentation and soaking on antinutrients of Tacca leontopetaloides (L) Kuntze (Taccaceae) tuber flour

Soaking and fermentation are two food technologies that are used by households or agro-industrial establishments. These practices aim at improving food nutritional acceptability and sensorial parameters. Tacca leontopetaloides tuber was used to study alleviation of antinutrients by solubilization and leaching through soaking, or by enzymatic degradation through fermentation. Soaking has lasted 72 hrs, and fermentation 48 hrs. Chemical methods have been used to determinate antinutrient levels in processed and unprocessed T. leontopetaloides tubers slices. A statistical analysis by means of XLSTAT was purchased for principal components and correlations between variables. Results show that the major antinutrients have exhibited resistance to microbial enzymes during fermentation or to solubilization in water. Levels of most antinutrients have increased instead of lowering when tacca tuber slices were soaked or fermented. The increase of components during soaking and fermentation is linked to the decrease of soluble components in T. leontopetaloides slices. Phytate is an antinutrient which resists to both food technologies, and saponins can be leached by 43.4 % through soaking or by 50.7 % during fermentation. These powerful antinutrients in T. leontopetaloides tuber necessitate food technologies combinations to eliminate them. Further investigations are necessary to succeed in antinutrient levels alleviation in T. leontopetaloides tuber.

Vliv rodičovských charakteristik na výběr partnera

The aim of this report is to present the research project „Effect of parental characteristics on mate choice“ supported by the Czech Science Foundation (GA18–15168S). It is a multidisciplinary project involving not only psychological but also biological and chemical methods, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of the studied phenomenon. The main aim of the project is to investigate whether people choose mates similar to their opposite-sex parents in the face, body odor, voice, temperament, and personality.

Chemical and sensory characteristics in the selection of bourbon genotypes

The evaluation of coffee quality in Brazil for commercialization is conducted mainly through sensory analysis, also known as the "cup test", in which professional tasters evaluate and score various attributes. The adoption of chemical methods could complement the sensory classification of beverages, if correlations between these chemical and sensory analyses exist, making classification less subjective. This work aimed to identify the relationships between the chemical and sensorial traits of coffee-beverage quality and to evaluate the use of these traits as criteria for the selection of Bourbon cultivars. Twenty coffee genotypes from the first three harvests across five municipalities of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil were evaluated. The genotypic values, predicted for each genotype, were used to determine the index based on the sum of ranks from Mulamba and Mock. The genetic correlations among the evaluated traits were also estimated. The presented evaluations were not able to efficiently detect genetic and phenotypic relationships between the chemical and sensorial characteristics of drink quality, but as selection criteria for generation advancement in the beverage quality, it is possible to use these characteristics. Bourbon Amarelo LCJ 9-IAC, Bourbon Amarelo-Procafé, Bourbon Amarelo-Boa Vista, Bourbon Vermelho-São João Batista, and Bourbon Amarelo-Samambaia were the genotypes with the most promising cup quality in the studied regions. Through the selection of these five genotypes, the selection gain was 1.65% for sensory score for beverage quality, when the interaction among the studied environments was removed. The heritability was 92% for improving this trait.

Applying Different Chemical Methods to Develop an Efficient Acellular Rat Uterine Tissue Matrix

The full text of this preprint has been withdrawn by the authors due to author disagreement with the posting of the preprint. Therefore, the authors do not wish this work to be cited as a reference. Questions should be directed to the corresponding author.