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Summary The neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin play a central role in the feeling of happiness. Throughout the history of mankind, new chemical substances which positively affect happiness kept being produced in ever higher concentrations and quantities. All these substances have disadvantages, especially in longterm use and bring only deceptive happiness. By no means, however, the acutely more toxic substances claim the most victims. The attempt is to avoid the use of artificially added happy drugs and stimulants and to rely on natural hormones of happiness instead or to reduce consumption and make use of the body's own substances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydroxyapatite (Hap) is one of the most important calcium phosphate bioceramics applied to bone tissue regeneration. Synthesizing Hap nanoparticles from easily accessible and low-cost alternative sources of calcium precursors remains a challenge, as well as defining an ideal and reproducible synthesis route without using additives to control the pH of the reaction and entirely performed at room temperature. This study proposes a route for the synthesis of hydroxyapatite by the sol-gel method without the addition of additives for pH control, carried out at room temperature. The Hap samples were characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM, and BET. The synthesized Hap presented a spherical morphology without the formation of unwanted phases or residues. Samples calcined at 600 and 750 °C resulted in stoichiometric hydroxyapatite with 100% purity and average particle sizes of 24 and 53 nm, respectively. On the other hand, the samples calcined at 900 and 1050 °C presented a specific content of β-calcium phosphate and average particle sizes of 118 and 732 nm, respectively. Acute toxicity was evaluated by Artemia salina nauplii instar I and II for 24 and 48 h of exposure. The tests were conducted on 10, 100, and 1000 ppm of Hap dissolutions. The highest death rate and more significant morphological alterations were observed in A. salina nauplii instar II, exposed to Hap at a concentration of 1000 ppm for 48 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pyrolysis of cellulose powder granules impregnated with an aqueous solution of saccharose and palladium nitrate gave granular Pd/C carbons with 1–9 wt % metal. It was shown by X-ray diffraction analysis and electronic microscopy that palladium is present in the carbon matrix in the form of Pd(0) nanoparticles with sizes of 10–30 nm in the main fraction (~95%). Palladium nanoparticles are localized inside the saccharose carbonizate layer and on its surface. An IR spectral study showed that pyrolysis of the cellulose–saccharose powder composite in the presence of palladium nitrate leads to the appearance of ester groups in the carbonizate. An increase in the palladium nitrate content in the cellulose powder leads to lower yields of the carbonizate and larger metal nanoparticles in carbon. The specific catalytic activity of nanoparticles in the model decomposition reaction of hydrogen peroxide was found to be the same for all palladium-containing carbons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overstimulation of pancreatic β-cells can lead to dysfunction and death, prior to the clinical manifestations of type 2 diabetes (T2D). The excessive consumption of carbohydrates induces metabolic alterations that can affect the functions of the β-cells and cause their death. We analyzed the role of p53 in pancreatic β cell death in carbohydrate-supplemented Sprague Dawley rats. For four months, the animals received drinking water containing either 40% sucrose or 40% fructose. The glucose tolerance test was performed at week 15. Apoptosis was assessed with the TUNEL assay (TdT-mediated dUTP-nick end-labeling). Bax, p53, and insulin were assessed by Western blotting, immunofluorescence, and real-time quantitative PCR. Insulin, triacylglycerol, and serum glucose and fatty acids in pancreatic tissue were measured. Carbohydrate consumption promotes apoptosis and mobilization of p53 from the cytosol to rat pancreatic β-cell mitochondria before blood glucose rises. An increase in p53, miR-34a, and Bax mRNA was also detected (P < 0.001) in the sucrose group. As well as hypertriglyceridemia, hyperinsulinemia, glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, visceral fat accumulation, and increased pancreatic fatty acids in the sucrose group. Carbohydrate consumption increases p53 and its mobilization into β-cell mitochondria and coincides with the increased rate of apoptosis, which occurs before serum glucose levels rise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accelerated increase in energy consumption by human activity has generated an increase in the search for new energies that do not pollute the environment, due to this, microbial fuel cells are shown as a promising technology. The objective of this research was to observe the influence on the generation of bioelectricity of sucrose, with different percentages (0%, 5%, 10% and 20%), in papaya waste using microbial fuel cells (MFCs). It was possible to generate voltage and current peaks of 0.955 V and 5.079 mA for the cell with 20% sucrose, which operated at an optimal pH of 4.98 on day fifteen. In the same way, the internal resistance values of all the cells were influenced by the increase in sucrose, showing that the cell without sucrose was 0.1952 ± 0.00214 KΩ and with 20% it was 0.044306 ± 0.0014 KΩ. The maximum power density was 583.09 mW/cm2 at a current density of 407.13 A/cm2 and with a peak voltage of 910.94 mV, while phenolic compounds are the ones with the greatest presence in the FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) absorbance spectrum. We were able to molecularly identify the species Achromobacter xylosoxidans (99.32%), Acinetobacter bereziniae (99.93%) and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (100%) present in the anode electrode of the MFCs. This research gives a novel use for sucrose to increase the energy values in a microbial fuel cell, improving the existing ones and generating a novel way of generating electricity that is friendly to the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of organic waste as fuel for energy generation will reduce the great environmental problems currently caused by the consumption of fossil sources, giving agribusiness companies a profitable way to use their waste. In this research, tomato waste with different percentages of sucrose (0-target, 5, 10, and 20%) was used in microbial fuel cells manufactured on a laboratory scale with zinc and copper electrodes, managing to generate maximum peaks of voltage and a current of 1.08 V and 6.67 mA in the cell with 20% sucrose, in which it was observed that the optimum operating pH was 5.29, while the MFC with 0% (target) sucrose generated 0.91 V and 3.12 A on day 13 with a similar pH, even though all the cells worked in an acidic pH. Likewise, the cell with 20% sucrose had the lowest internal resistance (0.148541 ± 0.012361 KΩ) and the highest power density (224.77 mW/cm2) at a current density of 4.43 mA/cm2, while the MFC with 0% sucrose generated 160.52 mW/cm2 and 4.38 mA/cm2 of power density and current density, respectively, with an internal resistance of 0.34116 ± 0.2914 KΩ. In this sense, the FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy) of all the substrates used showed a high content of phenolic compounds and carboxylate acids. Finally, the MFCs were connected in a series and managed to generate a voltage of 3.43 V, enough to light an LED (green). These results give great hope to companies and society that, in the near future, this technology can be taken to a larger scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To study the metabolic effects of fructose, glucose and saccharose in a moderate dose by analyzing changes of blood indicators, pancreas inflammation, liver fat accumulation and intestinal microbiota in normal Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Subjects and methods: Six-week-old rats were assigned to four groups (n = 10), which were gavaged with normalsaline (Con), glucose dissolved in normal saline (Glu), saccharose-glucose dissolved in normal saline (Sac), and fructose dissolved in normal saline (Fru) for 20 weeks. Results: No significant differences in body weight and blood parameters including total cholesterol (TC), total triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), lipase (LPS) and free fatty acid (FFA) among the Con, Glu, Sac and the Fru group. The fructose can significantly (P < 0.05) decrease fasting and postprandial blood glucose increase compared to glucose, and the risk of pancreas inflammation and liver fat accumulation induced by fructose is lower than glucose in rats. We found there were no significant differences in intestinal microbial diversity. At the family level, rats in the Glu group had a relatively higher abundance of Peptostreptococcaceae and rats in the Fru group had a relatively higher abundance of Bacteroidaceae. Moreover, the proportions of Peptostreptococcaceae romboutsia and Staphylococcus lentus in the Glu group were significantly higher than in the Fru group, while the proportions of Lachnospira; Lachnospiraceae blautia, Bacteroides and Cellulosilyticus in the Fru group were significantly higher than in the Glu group. The concentration of isobutyric acid was relatively lower in all the sugar treated groups than in the Con. A significant decrease in isobutyric acid was found on comparing the Fru group to the Con group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Fructose, glucose and sucrose made no significant changes on rats in body weight, blood indicators, organ index and bacterial diversity. Moreover, fructose can potentially attenuate fasting and postprandial blood-glucose increase, pancreas inflammation and liver-fat accumulation when compared to glucose in mild doses. The relative abundance of six kinds of bacterial genera was found significantly different between rats fed on fructose and glucose.

Abaca banana (Musa textilis Nee.) is one of the economic fiber plants. The Abaca banana plantation can contribute to agricultural sustainability by efficiently managing inputs like soil, water, chemicals, and seedlings and adopting good practices for harvesting and postharvest activities. The lack of abaca banana supply has encouraged the expansion of abaca banana plantations. To support the availability of plant material, propagation by tissue culture technique becomes a reasonable alternative for mass production. This research aimed to study the responses of shoot production of abaca banana as a result of the effect of types of various charcoal and saccharose at Murashige and Skoog medium through in vitro method. Results showed that the addition of 2 g/l norit and 30 g/l saccharose significantly increased the number of leaves, the length of the planlet, and the number and length of the roots.

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ABSTRACT Spatial variability evaluation of qualitative attributes can be used as an excellent strategy to design forms of intervention that result in better crop profitability for some agricultural crops, for example, sugarcane. Based on the assumption that qualitative attributes of sugarcane present spatial variability and their distributions along the stems are uniform in different varieties, this study aimed to evaluate the distributions of the qualitative parameters of different sugarcane varieties and the spatial variability of these attributes in a commercial field. Samples of nine varieties were collected for laboratory quality analysis, and the Brix parameter was analyzed by a digital refractometer. The analysis of variance, the Tukey test, and geoestatistcs were the statistical analyses applied to the dataset. The maps were generated using 91 sample results from the laboratory analysis of the 16.6 ha field. It was found that, in the harvest period, there was no significant difference in Brix content along the sugarcane stems. Therefore, we can conclude that the Brix content along the sugarcane stems does not change in the harvesting period, and the ideal sampling size to better represent the factors affecting sugarcane qualitative attributes is six points per hectare.

The accelerated increase in energy consumption by human activity has generated an increase in the search for new energies that do not pollute the environment, due to this, microbial fuel cells are shown as a promising technology. The objective of this research was to observe the influence on the generation of bioelectricity of sucrose, with different percentages (0%, 5%, 10% and 20%), in papaya waste using microbial fuel cells (MFCs). It was possible to generate voltage and current peaks of 0.955 V and 5.079 mA for the cell with 20% sucrose, which operated at an optimal pH of 4.98 on day fifteen. In the same way, the internal resistance values of all the cells were influenced by the increase in sucrose, showing that the cell without sucrose was 0.1952 ± 0.00214 KΩ and with 20% it was 0.044306 ± 0.0014 KΩ. The maximum power density was 583.09 mW/cm2 at a current density of 407.13 A/cm2 and with a peak voltage of 910.94 mV, while phenolic compounds are the ones with the greatest presence in the FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) absorbance spectrum. We were able to molecularly identify the species Achromobacter xylosoxidans (99.32%), Acinetobacter bereziniae (99.93%) and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (100%) present in the anode electrode of the MFCs. This research gives a novel use for sucrose to increase the energy values in a microbial fuel cell, improving the existing ones and generating a novel way of generating electricity that is friendly to the environment.

The use of organic waste as fuel for energy generation will reduce the great environmental problems currently caused by the consumption of fossil sources, giving agribusiness companies a profitable way to use their waste. In this research, tomato waste with different percentages of sucrose (0-target, 5, 10, and 20%) was used in microbial fuel cells manufactured on a laboratory scale with zinc and copper electrodes, managing to generate maximum peaks of voltage and a current of 1.08 V and 6.67 mA in the cell with 20% sucrose, in which it was observed that the optimum operating pH was 5.29, while the MFC with 0% (target) sucrose generated 0.91 V and 3.12 A on day 13 with a similar pH, even though all the cells worked in an acidic pH. Likewise, the cell with 20% sucrose had the lowest internal resistance (0.148541 ± 0.012361 KΩ) and the highest power density (224.77 mW/cm2) at a current density of 4.43 mA/cm2, while the MFC with 0% sucrose generated 160.52 mW/cm2 and 4.38 mA/cm2 of power density and current density, respectively, with an internal resistance of 0.34116 ± 0.2914 KΩ. In this sense, the FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy) of all the substrates used showed a high content of phenolic compounds and carboxylate acids. Finally, the MFCs were connected in a series and managed to generate a voltage of 3.43 V, enough to light an LED (green). These results give great hope to companies and society that, in the near future, this technology can be taken to a larger scale.

For the first time, a novel approach has been developed to fabricate 3D nanoporous Graphene for desalination application. The new approach consists of reducing Graphene Oxide in the presence of saccharose using hydrothermal and microwave combustion routes. The synthesized 3D nanoporous Graphene provides a higher specific surface area than other 3D Graphene synthesized in different ways reported in literatures. In desalination applications, the salt rejection capacity is considerably higher than activated carbon or different carbon-based materials.The filtered solution conductivity has two orders lower than the feeding solution and stays in the acceptable drinking water range. This excellent result can be explained by the remaining oxygen functional groups, the defects formed during the reduction process, the large specific surface area, and the nanopore of the obtained 3D nanoporous Graphene.

Sucrose drink induced obesity and metabolic syndrome in human and animal models. However, age-specific metabolic effects of sucrose beverages are not clear yet. The purpose of this study was then to investigate changes in plasma biochemical parameters, oxidative stress markers, as well as lipid and redox contents and lipolytic activities in insulin target organs (liver, adipose tissue) in sucrose drinking rats at 10% and 30% during one month (day 30) and three months (day 90). Our results emphasized that sucrose drink induced obesity, adipose tissue accumulation with hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, liver steatosis, alterations in lipases activities and oxidative stress. These metabolic alterations were worsened by the amount of sucrose in the drink (30% versus 10%). The changes were apparent in young rats at day 30 and persisted until adulthood at day 90. Adult rats presented more sucrose-induced-metabolic abnormalities. In conclusion, sucrose drink induced an early increase in metabolic syndrome components. These data indicate the need of corrective nutritional intervention for young people and also for adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The level of sugars content in sweet cherry fruit depends on many factors. However, the decisive influence of weather factors is noted. In view of this, the issue of predicting the sugars content in sweet cherry fruit depending on the share of weather factors is relevant for further improvement of transportation technology, storage and processing. It has been established that according to sugars content and to the variability of their formation the most perspective from the technological point of view were varieties: Zabuta (12.47%), Dachnytsia (15.60%), Krupnoplidna (14.35%). Low and medium variabilities of the selected varieties according to the investigation years were established (VÑ€ = 8.6%-13.0%). It has been shown that weather conditions had dominating effects on sugars accumulation for all varieties groups irrespective of the ripening period. According to the results of a two-factors dispersion analysis it is expedient to prognosticate the sugars content in sweet cherry fruits by medium values for a particular group of sorts but not for each pomological sort. In the course of the work the average and strong correlation dependence between 14 weather factors (Ð¥Ñ-, i = 1..14) and the sugars content for sweet cherries of early, medium, and late ripening period (|rYjXi| ≥ 0.55, i = 1. .14, j = 1. .3) were defined. The ranges of share of weather factors participation that have the maximum influence on sugars fund formation in sweet cherry fruit are established (Î"i 9.50% to 30.99%). Based on regression analysis, it is substantiated that the sugars accumulation in sweet cherry fruit, regardless of the ripening period, is most influenced by weather conditions of the blossoming period, the last month of fruit formation and thermal parameters and humidity index at the stage of fruit picking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In presented paper, influence of temperature, precursor concentration and different hydroxides on properties of activated carbon obtained from saccharose were investigated. The samples were prepared by hydrothermal treatment and activated using KOH, NaOH and LiOH. Two saccharose concentrations (0.5, 1.0 mol/dm3) and three temperatures (160, 200, 240 ºC) were changed in hydrothermal treatment. Activation processes were performed at 750ºC under N2 atmosphere. Samples were characterized by X-ray powder diffractometry, elemental analysis, N2 adsorption-desorption measurements, Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy and thermal analysis. The obtained samples were tested for potential application in dyes removal from water solutions. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. III45005, Grant no. III45012 and Grant no. TR34013]

In addition to saccharose, sugar beet root contains a lignocellulosic fraction, which is not used in the process of sugar production and remains in sugar beet pulp. There is a great interest in using the polysaccharides (cellulose, hemicellulose) present in this raw material for the production of bioethanol. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of the enzymatic treatment of sugar beet biomass on the hydrolysis of the cellulose and hemicellulose present in its cell walls, as well as its effect on the efficiency of alcoholic fermentation of saccharose and sugars liberated from structural polysaccharides. Its effect on the efficiency of the process of inoculating the fermentation medium with a monoculture or a co-culture of yeast strains fermenting hexose and pentose sugars was also investigated. Our results reveal that in order to enable the utilization of all fermentable sugars in the sugar beet root biomass (saccharose as well as monosaccharides bound in structural polysaccharides), initial enzymatic treatment should be applied, followed by alcoholic fermentation using sequential inoculation with a co-culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia stipitis. These conditions ensure the utilization of hexoses and pentoses (xylose) in alcoholic fermentation, thus enabling the production of 9.9±0.4 kg of ethanol from 100 kg of sugar beet biomass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]