Search results for: biological activity
-
Application of 3D- printed hydrogels in wound healing and regenerative medicine
PublicationHydrogels are three-dimensional polymer networks with hydrophilic properties. The modifiable properties of hydrogels and the structure resembling living tissue allow their versatile application. Therefore, increasing attention is focused on the use of hydrogels as bioinks for three-dimensional (3D) printing in tissue engineering. Bioprinting involves the fabrication of complex structures from several types of materials, cells,...
-
Cannabinoids: Challenges, opportunities and current techniques towards its extraction and purification for edibles
PublicationDue to the multiple health benefits associated with the consumption of cannabinoids, there is a current trend on continuing to explore their biological properties. Cannabidiol (CBD) is likely to be the most investigated endocannabinoid from the cannabis plant. Unfortunately, the purification of CBD from its natural source and psychotropic analogue (tetrahydrocannabinol, THC) is timely challenging for the research community based...
-
Analysis of MArkers of Exposure to Constituents of Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS)
PublicationTobacco smoke is a complex mixture of more than 4000 chemical compounds, many of which are harmful to human health. These compounds belong to various chemical classes, including amides, imides, lactams, carboxylic acids, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, phenols, amines, hydrocarbons, ethers, and inorganic compounds. There are three types of tobacco smoke streams: the mainstream, the sidestream, and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)....
-
Non invasive optical cellular imaging in humans.
PublicationOne of the most appealing and still unsolved problems in biological and medical imaging is the possibility of noninvasive visualization of tissue in vivo with an accuracy of microscopic examination. A major difficulty to solve in biomedical imaging is a degradation of image quality caused by the presence of optical inhomogeneity of tissue. Is there any chance to develop a microscopic method that allows non-invasive observation...
-
Bioterrorism — characteristics and possibilities of prevention
PublicationIn the paper bioterrorist threats have been presented. Historical background and possible methods of attacks have been described. The most dangerous pathogens and disease entities have been classified. Selected methods of detection and identification of biological weapon have been presented. The wireless system for threats monitoring — developed at Gdansk University of Technology — has been described.
-
Application, design and operation of constructed wetland systems: case studies of systems in the Gdańsk region, Poland
PublicationDifferences in operation result from physical, chemical and biological conditions, which directly influence transformations in the whole aquatic-matrix-plants environment. Depending on the quantity of inflowing organic matter load and the rate of biochemical processes, the contaminations could be removed or/and retuned in the system. From this point of view the facility should be designed and operated in such way that the highest...
-
Novel chalcone-derived pyrazoles as potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer
PublicationLung cancer is considered to account for approximately one-fifth of all malignant tumor-related deaths worldwide and is therefore one of the most lethal malignancies. Pyrazole scaffold possesses a wide range of biological and pharmacological activities, which play important roles in medicinal chemistry. The present study reports the synthesis and in vitro biological characterization of nine pyrazoles derived from chalcones as potential...
-
Stochastic optimisation algorithm for optimisation of controller parameters for control of dissolved oxygen in wastewater treatment plant
PublicationWastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are very important facilities for mankind. They enable the removal and neutralisation of man-made pollutants. Therefore, it is important for wastewater treatment plants to operate as efficiently as possible so that the level of pollutants in the treated wastewater meets specific requirements. This paper concerns the design of a hierarchical nonlinear adaptive control system for dissolved oxygen...
-
Determination of cyanide in urine and saliva samples by ion chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection
PublicationCommonly known as a highly toxic chemical, cyanide is also an essential reagent for many industrial processes. It naturally occurs in plant seeds as a cyanogenic glycosides. Another relatively common mode of cyanide exposure is inhalation of environmental tobacco smoke. This study concerns importance to determine cyanide ion in human biological samples. Urine and saliva samples were collected healthy volunteers exposed to tobacco...
-
Bioelectronic nose: Current status and perspectives
PublicationA characteristic feature of human and animal organs of smell is the ability to identify hundreds of thousands of odours. It is accompanied by particular smell sensations, which are a basic source of information about odour mixture. The main structural elements of biological smell systems are the olfactory receptors. Small differences in a structure of odorous molecules (odorants) can lead to significant change of odour, which is...
-
Inhibition of amyloid fibril formation of hen egg white lysozyme by trimethylamine N-oxide at low pH
PublicationIn vitro inhibition of the formation of fibrous aggregates of proteins (amyloids) has gained increasing attention due to the number of diseases associated with protein misfolding and fibrillation. An interesting group of compounds for which pronounced activity against this phenomenon can be expected consists of low molecular weight substances (osmolytes) which have the ability to change protein stability. Here we investigate the...
-
Modelling of Graphene Field-Effect Transistor for lectronic sensing applications
PublicationA top-gated Graphene Field-Effect Transistor (GFET) suitable for electronic sensing applications was modelled. The applied simulation method reproduces correctly the output transfer GFET characteristics and allows to investigate doping effect caused by different physical, chemical or biological factors. The appearance of additional charge in the system results in the shift of the current-voltage characteristic. This feature could...
-
An insight into the mixed quantum mechanical-molecular dynamics simulation of a ZnII-Curcumin complex with a chosen DNA sequence that supports experimental DNA binding investigations
PublicationAn important aspect of research pertaining to Curcumin (HCur) is the need to arrest its degradation in aqueous solution and in biological milieu. This may be achieved through complex formation with metal ions. For this reason, a complex of HCur was prepared with ZnII, that is not likely to be active in redox pathways, minimizing further complications. The complex is monomeric, tetrahedral, with one HCur, an acetate and a molecule...
-
Microscopic examination of the texture of paper products
Open Research DataAtomic force microscopy (AFM) can be used to study the state of the paper fibers with the aim of providing qualitative and semi-quantitative information on degradation and aging. The work [1] reports the results of tests of various paper products subjected to deliberate aging processes under the influence of various factors. Chemical and biological...
-
Imaging of biological samples: the ant Lasius Niger
Open Research DataThe world of arthropods continues to amaze researchers today. An example may be a relatively new report by a group of scientists on structures found in ant shells [1] Although calcareous anatomical structures have evolved in various groups of animals, little has been known so far about the occurrence of this type of form in insects. The authors of the...
-
Fingerprint structure studies with semi-contact AFM
Open Research DataThe work [1] presents many, sometimes even surprising examples of the use of atomic force microscopy in modern forensics. Some of them are projectile tests using the characteristic scratch patterns created by the firing pin on the primer. There are more and more suggestions in the literature for the use of atomic force microscopy in dactyloscopy [2]....
-
Fabrication of Composite Polyurethane/Hydroxyapatite Scaffolds Using Solvent-Casting Salt Leaching Technique
PublicationScaffolds are porous three-dimensional structures which are used to fill bone losses and make them possible to cells to grow. Many different structural and biological properties are required from them: porosity, mechanical strength and biocompability. The present research is aimed at development of composite polyurethane/hydroxyapatite scaffolds by using the solvent-casting salt leaching method. The SEM examinations were applied...
-
Combinated treatment of landfill leachates with wastewater in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR)
PublicationSanitary landfill leachates are treated usually by multistage systems using physical, chemical and biological processes. One of the most economic and efficient method is combined treatment of landfill leachates with municipal wastewater in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR. The main advantage of such co-treatment is that landfill leachates variability (in quality and quantity) do not influence the effectiveness of biological processes....
-
Recent applications and future prospects of magnetic biocatalysts
PublicationMagnetic biocatalysts combine magnetic properties with the catalytic activity of enzymes, achieving easy recovery and reuse in biotechnological processes. Lipases immobilized by magnetic nanoparticles dominate. This review covers an advanced bibliometric analysis and an overview of the area, elucidating research advances. Using WoS, 34,949 publications were analyzed and refined to 450. The prominent journals, countries, institutions, and...
-
Cold plasma treatment of tannic acid as a green technology for the fabrication of advanced cross-linkers for bioactive collagen/gelatin hydrogels
PublicationTannic acid (TA) is a natural compound studied as the cross-linker for biopolymers due to its ability to form hydrogen bonds. There are different methods to improve its reactivity and effectiveness to be used as a modifier for biopolymeric materials. This work employed plasma to modify tannic acid TA, which was then used as a cross-linker for fabricating collagen/gelatin scaffolds. Plasma treatment did not cause any significant...
-
A biochemical multi-species quality model of a drinking water distribution system for simulation and design
PublicationDrinking Water Distribution Systems (DWDSs) play a key role in sustainable development of modern society. They are classified as critical infrastructure systems. This imposes a large set of highly demanding requirements on the DWDS operation and requires dedicated algorithms for on-line monitoring and control to tackle related problems. Requirements on DWDS availability restrict the usability of the real plant in the design phase....
-
Bioelectronic tongue: Current status and perspectives
PublicationIn the course of evolution, nature has endowed humans with systems for the recognition of a wide range of tastes with a sensitivity and selectivity which are indispensable for the evaluation of edibility and flavour attributes. Inspiration by a biological sense of taste has become a basis for the design of instruments, operation principles and parameters enabling to mimic the unique properties of their biological precursors. In...
-
Green Polymer Nanocomposites for Skin Tissue Engineering
PublicationFabrication of an appropriate skin scaffold needs to meet several standards related to the mechanical and biological properties. Fully natural/green scaffolds with acceptable biodegradability, biocompatibility, and physiological properties quite often suffer from poor mechanical properties. Therefore, for appropriate skin tissue engineering and to mimic the real functions, we need to use synthetic polymers and/or additives as complements...
-
Metal enhanced fluorescence of flavin mononucleotide using new plasmonic platform
PublicationNew plasmonic platform was successfully obtained to investigate the increase of fluorescence intensity of a fluorophore in the presence of silver nanoparticles. A flavin mononucleotide, was selected by us as a fluorophore for this study as a very important biological compound playing a key role in many biochemical process. Plasmonic platforms were characterized by means of luminescence spectroscopy. Flavin mononucleotide deposited...
-
The use of various species of fungi in biofiltration of air contaminated with odorous volatile organic compounds
PublicationAir pollution with odorous compounds is a significant social and environmental problem. This paper presents biological deodorization methods. The attention is focused on the application of biotrickling filters for air deodorization. Principles of their operation are discussed, indicating the key role of the selection of microorganisms responsible for the degradation of odorous compounds. A literature overview of the used fungal...
-
Conducting polymer films for biodegradable metallic cardiovascular stents
PublicationIn recent years, there is increasing interest to create biodegradable metallic cardiovascular stents instead of using their permanent form. The most interesting materials for this purpose are iron and its alloys. However, in order to use it in clinical application, their degradation rate and biological performance need to be optimized. One promising solution is coating the metal with conducting polymer films. In this work, short...
-
Prenatal exposure to substance of abuse: A worldwide problem
PublicationSubstance abuse during pregnancy is an important public health issue affecting the mother and the growing infant. Preterm labor, miscarriage, abruption and postpartum hemorrhage are obstetric complications which have been associated with women who are dependent on abused substances. Moreover, women are also at an increased risk of medical problems such as poor nutrition, anemia, urinary tract infections as well as sexually transmitted...
-
The experimental evaluation and modeling of SBR removing nutrients under varied aeration conditions
PublicationSequencing batch reactors (SBR) are mainly characterized by sequential process phases of fill, react, settle, decant and idle periods that allow considerable flexibility in the design and operation in different conditions. This flexibility and the unique features of SBRs used to wastewater treatment by activated sludge systems operated in laboratory scale, allow not only conducting experiments for the standard conditions but also...
-
The use of fungi in biofiltration to remove hydrophobic volatile organic compounds
PublicationThe growing importance placed on air quality by environmental regulations and public opinion necessitate the minimization and removal of volatile organic compound emissions (VOCs), including odours. The removal of hydrophobic VOCs from the air by biological methods remains a major technical challenge (despite its importance in the shift to green engineering). A potential solution to this challenge is the use of fungi in biofiltration....
-
Hierarchical dissolved oxygen control for activated sludge processes
PublicationA hierarchical controller for tracking the dissolved oxygen reference trajectory in activated sludge processes is proposed and investigated. The removal of nitrogen and phosphorous from wastewater is considered. Typically, an aeration system itself is a complicated hybrid nonlinear dynamical system with faster dynamics compared to the internal dynamics of the dissolved oxygen in a biological reactor. It is a common approach to...
-
Porównanie efektywności biologicznego usuwania związków biogennych w procesach MUCT i A2/O na przykładzie oczyszczalni w Gdańsku
PublicationThis paper presents a comparison of the efficiency of nutrient removal in two different technological systems functioning in WWTP in Gdansk. The upgrade was necessary in order to adjust the parameters of wastewater treatment to more stringent requirements for Total Nitrogen removal (Total Nitrogen concentration < 10 mg/L). Since 2012 the biological treatment line has operated based on modified A2/O process instead of MUCT process....
-
Coherent-wave Monte Carlo method for simulating light propagation in tissue
PublicationSimulating propagation and scattering of coherent light in turbid media, such as biological tissues, is a complex problem. Numerical methods for solving Helmholtz or wave equation (e.g. finite-difference or finite-element methods) require large amount of computer memory and long computation time. This makes them impractical for simulating laser beam propagation into deep layers of tissue. Other group of methods, based on radiative...
-
Clonal selection algorithm for vehicle routing
PublicationOver the years several successful computing techniques have been inspired by biological mechanisms. Studies of the mechanisms that allow the immune systems of vertebratesto adapt and learn have resulted in a class of algorithms called artificial immune systems. Clonal selection is a process that allows lymphocytes to launch a quick response to known pathogens and to adapt to new, previously unencountered ones. This paper presents...
-
Electrochemical glucose sensor based on the glucose oxidase entrapped in chitosan immobilized onto laser-processed Au-Ti electrode
PublicationThe study on novel electrode material composed of structured titanium foil with embedded Au nanoparticles and modified with chitosan with entrapped glucose oxidase is presented. To confirm the successful immobilization of glucose oxidase FT-IR analysis was performed. The response of electrodes were tested towards glucose in the presence of different interference compounds and biological fluids. The prepared material exhibits excellent...
-
Sample Preparation in Foodomics: Miniaturized Solid-Phase Extraction
PublicationAnalytical chemists face a challenge to bring comprehensive information on a given food and biological sample by using the best available analytical techniques and meet the requirements of sustainable development and green chemistry at the same time. A key objective of this chapter is to review selected literature data on the utilization of solid-phase extraction techniques with special attention to their miniaturized modes in...
-
Modifiers for Medical Grade Polymeric Systems used in FDM 3D Printing - Short Review
PublicationFDM 3D printing could find an application in the wide range of biomedical applications. Unfortunately, the quantity of polymeric biomaterials suitable to processing into filaments is limited. The most frequently used biomaterials for medical constructs such as bone grafts, soft tissue scaffolds or another DDS include PCL, PLA, PVA, HPC, EVA copolymer, EC and TPUs. Various modifiers such as TCP, HA, TEC, MMC could be applicated...
-
Fluoroaromatic substituents attached to carbon nanotubes help to increase oxygen concentration on biocathode in biosensors and biofuel cells
PublicationBased on the known ability of perfluorodecalin/perfluorohydrocarbons to enhance oxygen solubility we modified oxygen sensitive biocathode by adding perfluorinated components to the catholite. This procedure improved the efficiency of the oxygen sensitive cathodes. Glassy carbon electrodes covered with single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with covalently bonded perfluoroaromatic groups were shown to be more sensitive to oxygen,...
-
Chlorinated solvents in a petrochemical wastewater treatment plant: Anassessment of their removal using self-organising maps
PublicationThe self-organising map approach was used to assess the efficiency of chlorinated solvent removal frompetrochemical wastewater in a refinery wastewater treatment plant. Chlorinated solvents and inorganicanions (11 variables) were determined in 72 wastewater samples, collected from three different purificationstreams. The classification of variables identified technical solvents, brine from oil desalting andrunoff sulphates as pollution...
-
Modeling nitrous oxide production by a denitrifying-enhancedbiologically phosphorus removing (EBPR) activated sludge in thepresence of different carbon sources and electron acceptors
PublicationIn this study, the IWA Activated Sludge Model No. 2d (ASM2d) was expanded to identify the most important mechanisms leading to the anoxic nitrous oxide (N2O) production in the combined nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) removal activated sludge systems. The new model adopted a three-stage denitrification concept and was evaluated against the measured data from one/two-phase batch experiments carried out with activated sludge withdrawn...
-
Modelling charge transfer processes in C2+ -tetrahydrofuran collision for ion-induced radiation damage in DNA building blocks
PublicationInvestigations of collision-induced processes involving carbon ions and molecules of biological interest in particular DNA building blocks, are crucial to model the effect of radiation on cells in order to improve medical treatments for cancer therapy. Using carbon ions appears to be one of the most efficient ways to increase biological effectiveness to damage cancerous cells by irradiating deep-seated tumors. Therefore, interest...
-
Respiration rate estimation for model predictive control of dissolved oxygen in wastewater treatment plant
PublicationRespiration rate is very important parameter for biological processes in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The sequential algorithm for estimate the respiration rate is proposed and investigated. The Kalman filter (KF) is used. Simulation tests for the benchmark WWTP are presented.Respiracja jest bardzo ważnym parametrem dla prawidłowego przebiegu procesów biologicznych w oczyszczalni ścieków. W artykule przedstawiono i zbadano...
-
Increasing the lifetime of engineering structures through the use of composite laggings
PublicationThe use of composite laggings prevents concrete (chemical and biological) corrosion. Columns coated with composite or reinforced composite are more resistant to negative environmental impact on concrete or steel. The mechanical properties of the reinforced casing also cause that these types of columns are more resistant to lateral forces. The applied casing limits carbonization of concrete and cyclical freezing and thawing with...
-
Influence of composition of raw wastewater on removal of nitrogen compounds in multistage treatment wetlands
PublicationInfluence of composition of raw wastewater on the efficiency of organic matter and nitrogen removal in multistage treatment wetlands has been examined. Commonly used indicators, like COD/BOD5 and BOD5/TN ratio, determining wastewater susceptibility to biodegradation in conventional treatment technologies were assessed. It was confirmed that multistage treatment wetland may be used for treatment of wastewater with high loads of...
-
Mathematical analysis of a generalised p53-Mdm2 protein gene expression model
PublicationWe propose the generalisation of the p53-Mdm2 protein gene expression model introduced by Monk (2003). We investigate the stability of a unique positive steady state and formulate conditions which guarantee the occurrence of the Hopf bifurcation. We show that oscillatory behaviour can be caused not only by time lag in protein transcription process, but also can be present in the model without time delay. Moreover, we investigate...
-
Thermal imaging in automatic rodent’s social behaviour analysis
PublicationLaboratory rodent social behaviour analysis is an extremely important task for biological, medical and pharmacological researches. In this work thermal images features that facilitate analysis are presented. Methods to distinguish objects on the basis of thermal distribution are tested. Actions of grooming or biting one rodent by another - important social behaviour incidents - are clearly visible...
-
Assembly of Lipopolysaccharide in Escherichia coli Requires the Essential LapB Heat Shock Protein
PublicationHere, we describe two new heat shock proteins involved in the assembly of LPS in Escherichia coli, LapA and LapB (lipopolysaccharide assembly protein A and B). lapB mutants were identified based on an increased envelope stress response. Envelope stress responsive pathways control key steps in LPS biogenesis and respond to defects in the LPS assembly. Accordingly, the LPS content in ΔlapB or Δ(lapA lapB) mutants was elevated, with...
-
Social Differentiation of the Perception and Human Tissues Donation for Research Purposes.
PublicationThe willingness to donate human biological material for research purposes is shaped by socio-cultural factors; however, there is a lack of studies analysing the social perception of different human tissues, which may affect such willingness. This study aimed to distinguish different sociocultural categories of human tissues and types of potential donors based on their willingness to donate material. Quantitative research was...
-
Up-to-date strategies and future trends towards the extraction and purification of Capsaicin: A comprehensive review
PublicationBackground According to the current need of manufacturing healthier products, food companies are seeking specific biomolecules that may offer additional added value (i.e., biological activities) to the new food formulations. Capsaicin, as the pungent ingredient of chili peppers, has become so far one of the target biomolecules explored since the 1950s. There is evidence demonstrating that capsaicin exhibits important biological...
-
A systematic review on cellular responses of Escherichia coli to nonthermal electromagnetic irradiation
PublicationInvestigation of Escherichia coli under electromagnetic fields is of significance in human studies owing to its short doubling time and human‐like DNA mechanisms. The present review aims to systematically evaluate the literature to conclude causality between 0 and 300 GHz electromagnetic fields and biological effects in E. coli. To that end, the OHAT methodology and risk of bias tool were employed. Exponentially growing cells exposed...
-
Preparation, characterization, and manufacturing of new polymeric materials for 3D printing for medical applications
PublicationThis work concerns the synthesis, formation, and characteristics of new filaments for 3D printing in FDM™/FFF technology for medical purposes. Two types of filaments were developed, i.e. degradable polyurethane and biodegradable polylactide-starch. The influence of the 3D printing process on selected filament properties was investigated. A detailed analysis of the filament formation process by the extrusion method was carried out,...