Bio Technology

Kaolin plays a very signi?cant role in the industrial aspects of life and new ones are still being discovered. It is a unique industrial mineral and very widely utilized in industry and its usage is in?uenced by its functional properties. However, the Egyptian kaolin is hard and massive. It is also low grade so that it needs beneficiation to be suitable for different industries. The kaolin used in most of the industrial applications should have very fine size distribution (80-90% by weight below 2 µm) and should be of high quality especially for applications like plastics, paints, paper industry, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. Moreover, great attention in recent years has been paid to the industrial applications of intercalated nano-composites where kaolin or clays are extensively used. Therefore, new technologies must be developed to achieve good separation, especially when treating these finely disseminated particles. One of such recent technologies is the bio-processing where micro-organisms could be used for removing these coloring materials. In this paper, the role of micro-organisms on the surface properties of the kaolin single mineral has been studied through zeta potential and adhesion measurements as well as the adsorption experiments. Complete characterization of both single mineral and bacteria isolated from its surface has been done using XRD, SEM, and FTIR as well as morphological and biochemical identification of bacterial isolates.

Banana pulp and peel were analysed for their major nutrient contents, phytochemical constituents namely phenol and flavanoid, antioxidant and anti-hemolytic activity. The selected variety was Sirumalai banana variety. The result revealed the presence of nutrient constituent comprising moisture (71.12±0.03% for pulp and 6.03±0.05% for peel); ash (06.57±0.07% for pulp and 08.52±0.01% for peel); Carbohydrate (41.82±0.09% for pulp and 25.31±0.04% for peel); protein (07.62±1.02% for pulp and 03.23±0.015% for peel); fat (11.91±0.28% for pulp and 0.986±0.02% for peel) and fiber (22.78±0.12% for pulp and 23.24±0.01% for peel). Phenol content of pulp and peel were found to be 0.98±0.09mg/g and 0.52±0.11mg/g respectively. Flavanoid content of pulp and peel were found to be 29.92±0.24 mg/g and 22.76±0.07 mg/g respectively. Antioxidant activity of the banana variety was analysed by DPPH and hydroxyl scavenging activity. DPPH scavenging percentage of pulp and peel was found to be 81.72±0.06% and 71.95±0.21%. Hydroxyl scavenging percentage of pulp and peel was found to be 70.04±0.13% and 58.98±0.17%. Percentage anti-hemolytic activity of Sirumalai pulp ranged from 31.18±0.01% to 76.22±0.16; peel ranged from 24.31±0.02% to 64.69±0.04% at a concentration of 100-500 mg/ml. The results revealed that banana pulp and peel consist of essential chemical constituents that have good antioxidant and anti-hemolytic activity.

Alterations in mineral metabolism has been observed in all patients suffering from kidney disorders. While elevations in urea and creatinine values are definitely suggestive of renal disease, alterations in minerals metabolism is a secondary findings in all such cases. The metabolism of major macro divalent metals calcium and magnesium along with phosphorus are altered significantly and elevation in the level of one of the analytes always decreases the other. In the past, numerous publications have been carried out in this field, but only very few studies have been done to find out the associations between the analytes. This paper present the clinical usefulness of measuring all three analytes in patients suffering from kidney related disorders.