Purpose: We investigated the feasibility of a large-scale epidemiological study on reproductive effects of intermediate frequency (IF) magnetic field (MF) exposure among cashiers working near electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems. Materials and methods: The study cohort included 4157 women who had worked as cashiers in supermarkets with EAS devices (considered as exposed) or grocery stores without EAS devices (considered as unexposed) between 2008 and 2015. 536 births and 38 miscarriages occurred among these women during the study period, based on information from nationwide health registries. Measurements were also performed to characterize the MF exposure of cashiers. Results: Cashiers were found to be exposed to 8.2 MHz MFs only when passing by the gates at short distance. Static fields of about 0.1 mT were observed at cashier’s seat. Extremely low frequency MFs were higher at stores without EAS devices. No differences on the risk of miscarriage, reduced birth weight or preterm birth were observed between cashiers in different store types. Conclusions: Any further studies should attempt to include study subjects working near EAS systems that produce stronger IF MFs at kHz frequencies. Exposure to ELF MFs should be assessed as a possible confounding factor.

Cellulosic biomass is considered an important and sustainable source of renewable energy, which needs a complex mixture of different enzymes for its degradation. After amylase, cellulases are the second most important enzymes, gain more importance due to their broad range of applications at the industrial level, and are considered more economical and environmentally friendly; researchers have focused more on the production of cellulase with its higher expression rate and low cost. Pichia pastoris, a methylotrophic yeast strain, has a more effective and well-established system for the production of heterologous proteins, particularly for industrial enzymes. Moreover, its readily achievable high-density fermentation, high capacity for protein secretion, tractable genetic modifications, typical post-transcriptional modifications, and strong regulated promoters makes it superior to other expression systems. In this review, we address the P. pastoris expression system including protein expression platforms, plasmids, and cellular metabolism quantification as a potential candidate for heterologous protein production, particularly for cellulase enzymes.

Dental caries is a biofilm-mediated, sugar-driven, multifactorial, dynamic disease that results in the phasic demineralization and remineralization of dental hard tissues. Despite scientific advances in cariology, dental caries remains a severe global concern. The aim of this study was to determine the optimization of microbial and molecular techniques for the detection of cariogenic pathogens in dental caries patients, the prevalence of cariogenic bacteria on the basis of socioeconomic, climatological, and hygienic factors, and in vitro evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of selected synthetic antibiotics and herbal extracts. In this study, oral samples were collected from 900 patients for bacterial strain screening on a biochemical and molecular basis. Plant extracts, such as ginger, garlic, neem, tulsi, amla, and aloe vera, were used to check the antimicrobial activity against the isolated strains. Synthetic antimicrobial agents, such as penicillin, amoxicillin, erythromycin, clindamycin, metronidazole, doxycycline, ceftazidime, levofloxacin, and ciprofloxacin, were also used to access the antimicrobial activity. Among 900 patients, 63% were males and 37% were females, patients aged between 36 and 58 (45.7%) years were prone to disease, and the most common symptom was toothache (61%). For oral diseases, 21% used herbs, 36% used antibiotics, and 48% were self-medicated, owing to sweets consumption (60.66%) and fizzy drinks and fast food (51.56%). Staphylococcus mutans (29.11%) and Streptococcus sobrinus (28.11%) were found as the most abundant strains. Seven bacterial strains were successfully screened and predicted to be closely related to genera S. sobrinus, S. mutans, Actinomyces naeslundii, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Eubacterium nodatum, Propionibacterium acidifaciens, and Treponema Pallidum. Among plant extracts, the maximum zone of inhibition was recorded by ginger (22.36 mm) and amla (20.01 mm), while among synthetic antibiotics, ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin were most effective against all microbes. This study concluded that phyto extracts of ginger and amla were considered suitable alternatives to synthetic antibiotics to treat dental diseases.

Ankistrodesmus sp, has been comprehensively studied for their potential in the production of biodiesel due to their biomass productivity and high lipid content. This study examined the biomass productivity, and concentration, lipid productivity, and concentration, and lipid contents of Ankistrodesmus sp. IFRPD 1061 under several phosphorus concentrations. The optimum conditions were attained at 0.12 g/L KH₂PO₄. The highest lipid content reached to 35.950 ± 4.253% (w/w) in 22 days cultivation. An open pond cultivation system was used with the addition of 10 mM sodium acetate on every fourth day (0, 4, 8 and 12) of cultivation and KH₂PO₄ on twelfth day of cultivation. The obtained biomass productivity and concentration, lipid productivity and concentration and lipid content were 0.709 ± 0.027 g/L, 48.304 ± 1.894 mg/L/day, 0.214 ± 0.004 g/L 14.550 ± 0.215 mg/L/day and 30.154 ± 1.627% (w/w) in 14 days of cultivation, respectively. The results exhibited that addition of 10 mM sodium acetate and KH₂PO₄ may enhance lipid accumulation within algae cells in an open pond cultivation system.

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are widely used to produce various food products, adding flavor, texture, and health benefits. The bacteria are commonly grown on expensive nutrients like glucose, sucrose, and yeast extracts, which makes them commercially unappealing. In the current study, Lactobacillus acidophilus TISTR 1338 culture was studied using spent cell yeast as a nitrogen source and molasses as a carbon source. The drying process used to create starter cultures of Lactobacillus acidophilus TISTR 1338 was vacuum drying. After vacuum drying, this bacterium had a survival rate of 8.08 log CFU/g. The dried strain survived for four months at 37 °C. With wasted cells at 0.5%, molasses concentration at 11% at 2.14 109 CFU/mL at 22 h, precise growth rate at 0.39 h⁻¹, and yield cell mass at 1.67 1011 CFU/g sugar, yeast produced the maximum cell mass. The lower viability of the tested strain was induced by a higher temperature during this prolonged storage. Meanwhile, dehydrated starter culture was subjected to accelerated storage testing at 50, 60, and 70 °C. To determine the vacuum-dried Lactobacillus acidophilus TISTR 1338′s long-term storage viability, a temperature-dependent prophecy model was created. Molasses and spent cell yeast serve as promising carbon and nitrogen sources when optimized conditions are employed. The study also suggests that vacuum drying is a promising method for producing dried cells suitable for non-refrigerated storage conditions.