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Microbial Biotechnology May 2008The production of biofuels via microbial biotechnology is a very active field of research. A range of fuel molecule types are currently under consideration: alcohols,... (Review)
Review
The production of biofuels via microbial biotechnology is a very active field of research. A range of fuel molecule types are currently under consideration: alcohols, ethers, esters, isoprenes, alkenes and alkanes. At the present, the major alcohol biofuel is ethanol. The ethanol fermentation is an old technology. Ongoing efforts aim to increase yield and energy efficiency of ethanol production from biomass. n-Butanol, another microbial fermentation product, is potentially superior to ethanol as a fuel but suffers from low yield and unwanted side-products currently. In general, biodiesel fuels consist of fatty acid methyl esters in which the carbon derives from plants, not microbes. A new biodiesel product, called microdiesel, can be generated in engineered bacterial cells that condense ethanol with fatty acids. Perhaps the best fuel type to generate from biomass would be biohydrocarbons. Microbes are known to produce hydrocarbons such as isoprenes, long-chain alkenes and alkanes. The biochemical mechanisms of microbial hydrocarbon biosynthesis are currently under study. Hydrocarbons and minimally oxygenated molecules may also be produced by hybrid chemical and biological processes. A broad interest in novel fuel molecules is also driving the development of new bioinformatics tools to facilitate biofuels research.
Topics: 1-Butanol; Bacteria; Biofuels; Ethanol; Fatty Acids; Fungi; Industrial Microbiology; Science
PubMed: 21261841
DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-7915.2007.00020.x -
Alcohol Health and Research World 1998Long-term alcohol consumption can interfere with bone growth and replacement of bone tissue (i.e., remodeling), resulting in decreased bone density and increased risk of... (Review)
Review
Long-term alcohol consumption can interfere with bone growth and replacement of bone tissue (i.e., remodeling), resulting in decreased bone density and increased risk of fracture. These effects may be exerted directly or indirectly through the many cell types, hormones, and growth factors that regulate bone metabolism. Alcohol consumption during adolescence reduces peak bone mass and can result in relatively weak adult bones that are more susceptible to fracture. In adults, alcohol consumption can disrupt the ongoing balance between the erosion and the remodeling of bone tissue, contributing to alcoholic bone disease. This imbalance results in part from alcohol-induced inhibition of osteoblasts, specialized cells that deposit new bone. Some evidence suggests that moderate drinking may decrease the risk of fracture in postmenopausal women.
Topics: Alcohol Drinking; Animals; Bone and Bones; Ethanol; Humans
PubMed: 15706795
DOI: No ID Found -
Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental... Sep 2017Low sensitivity (LS) to alcohol's acute effects is a known risk factor for heavy drinking and its negative consequences. However, LS could be protective due to LS...
BACKGROUND
Low sensitivity (LS) to alcohol's acute effects is a known risk factor for heavy drinking and its negative consequences. However, LS could be protective due to LS drinkers being less impaired at a given level of consumption. Here, we tested whether LS is associated with differences in men's and women's reports of alcohol-related regretted sex.
METHODS
Eight hundred and one young adults (393 women) aged 21 to 35 (M = 23.11 years) recruited for a study of alcohol's effects on cognition completed self-report measures of alcohol sensitivity, typical alcohol use, and alcohol consequences (including regretted sex).
RESULTS
Participants whose alcohol sensitivity scores classified them as LS were more likely to experience alcohol-related regretted sex than were high-sensitivity (HS) participants. However, when controlling for typical alcohol use and experience of alcohol consequences in general, alcohol sensitivity was negatively associated with risk of alcohol-related regretted sex, but only among women.
CONCLUSIONS
At a given level of consumption, and controlling for experience of alcohol consequences other than regretted sex, reduced sensitivity to certain effects of alcohol may be a protective factor for women against risk for alcohol-related regretted sexual situations. This study provides insight on the unique risks of drinking among LS and HS women.
Topics: Adult; Alcohol Drinking; Alcoholic Intoxication; Central Nervous System Depressants; Cognition; Emotions; Ethanol; Female; Humans; Male; Self Concept; Sexual Behavior; Surveys and Questionnaires; Unsafe Sex; Young Adult
PubMed: 28797135
DOI: 10.1111/acer.13447 -
The Journal of Physical Chemistry. B Apr 2015Water plays an important role in weak associations of small drug molecules with proteins. Intense focus has been on binding-induced structural changes in the water...
Water plays an important role in weak associations of small drug molecules with proteins. Intense focus has been on binding-induced structural changes in the water network surrounding protein binding sites, especially their contributions to binding thermodynamics. However, water is also tightly coupled to protein conformations and dynamics, and so far little is known about the influence of water-protein interactions on ligand binding. Alcohols are a type of low-affinity drugs, and it remains unclear how water affects alcohol-protein interactions. Here, we present alcohol adsorption isotherms under controlled protein hydration using in situ NMR detection. As functions of hydration level, Gibbs free energy, enthalpy, and entropy of binding were determined from the temperature dependence of isotherms. Two types of alcohol binding were found. The dominant type is low-affinity nonspecific binding, which is strongly dependent on temperature and the level of hydration. At low hydration levels, this nonspecific binding only occurs above a threshold of alcohol vapor pressure. An increased hydration level reduces this threshold, with it finally disappearing at a hydration level of h ≈ 0.2 (g water/g protein), gradually shifting alcohol binding from an entropy-driven to an enthalpy-driven process. Water at charged and polar groups on the protein surface was found to be particularly important in enabling this binding. Although further increase in hydration has smaller effects on the changes of binding enthalpy and entropy, it results in a significant negative change in Gibbs free energy due to unmatched enthalpy-entropy compensation. These results show the crucial role of water-protein interplay in alcohol binding.
Topics: Adsorption; Animals; Cattle; Entropy; Ethanol; Models, Molecular; Protein Binding; Protein Conformation; Serum Albumin, Bovine; Temperature; Trifluoroethanol; Water
PubMed: 25856773
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.5b00378 -
Ultrasonics Sonochemistry Mar 2020In this paper, in order to investigate the effects of ultrasound irradiation on the higher alcohols of wines, the parameters including ultrasound time, temperature and...
In this paper, in order to investigate the effects of ultrasound irradiation on the higher alcohols of wines, the parameters including ultrasound time, temperature and power were optimized by the response surface methodology, and the model wine solution was employed to explore the mechanism of ultrasonically decreasing the higher alcohols. The results indicate that the maximum decreasing of higher alcohols could be obtained under the ultrasound conditions of 30 min, 30 °C and 150 W, and the final content was 306.75 mg/L with the reduction rate of 40.44%, suggesting a modification of wine quality due to the negative effects of excessive contents on wine. Regarding the results of model wine, it indicates that the decrease could be definitely affected by factors, such as tartaric acid and ions in wine, which might be attributed to the free radicals generated from ultrasound cavitation and its subsequent reactions. In summary, all the results may help to understand the effects of ultrasound irradiation on improving the sensory properties of wine by decreasing the higher alcohols.
Topics: Ethanol; Models, Theoretical; Sonication; Wine
PubMed: 31670251
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2019.104813 -
The European Journal of Neuroscience Sep 2022The neurochemical mechanisms underlying motor memory consolidation remain largely unknown. Based on converging work showing that ethyl alcohol retrogradely enhances...
The neurochemical mechanisms underlying motor memory consolidation remain largely unknown. Based on converging work showing that ethyl alcohol retrogradely enhances declarative memory consolidation, this work tested the hypothesis that post-learning alcohol ingestion would enhance motor memory consolidation. In a within-subject and fully counterbalanced design, participants (n = 24; 12M; 12F) adapted to a gradually introduced visual deviation and ingested, immediately after adaptation, a placebo (PBO), a medium (MED) or high (HIGH) dose of alcohol. The alcohol doses were bodyweight- and gender-controlled to yield peak breath alcohol concentrations of 0.00% in the PBO, ~0.05% in the MED and ~0.095% in the HIGH condition. Retention was evaluated 24 h later through reach aftereffects when participants were sober. The results revealed that retention levels were neither significantly nor meaningfully different in both the MED and HIGH conditions as compared to PBO (all absolute Cohen's d values < ~0.2; small to negligible effects), indicating that post-learning alcohol ingestion did not alter motor memory consolidation. Given alcohol's known pharmacological GABAergic agonist and NMDA antagonist properties, one possibility is that these neurochemical mechanisms do not decisively contribute to motor memory consolidation. As converging work demonstrated alcohol's retrograde enhancement of declarative memory, the present results suggest that distinct neurochemical mechanisms underlie declarative and motor memory consolidation. Elucidating the neurochemical mechanisms underlying the consolidation of different memory systems may yield insights into the effects of over-the-counter drugs on everyday learning and memory but also inform the development of pharmacological interventions seeking to alter human memory consolidation.
Topics: Alcohol Drinking; Eating; Ethanol; Humans; Learning; Memory Consolidation; Motor Skills
PubMed: 35841189
DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15772 -
Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) 2008The purpose of this review article is to prove the damage that alcohol causes to the respiratory system. We will make a brief review of alcohols history in the course of... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study Review
The purpose of this review article is to prove the damage that alcohol causes to the respiratory system. We will make a brief review of alcohols history in the course of the centuries till nowadays. The problem of addiction to alcohol (alcoholism) will be examined for several countries. Alcohol's metabolism is another topic to be discussed parallel to its pharmacological action. In addition, alcohol's impact on the respiratory system varies from damaging the mucociliary system to the regulation of breathing and from the sleep apnea syndrome to diffusion disorders. "Alcoholic lung disease" constitutes a syndrome despite the fact that the damage of the lung due to concurrent smoking and drug use is often indistinguishable.
Topics: Adult; Alcohol Drinking; Alcoholism; Animal Experimentation; Animals; Bible; Ethanol; Female; Greece; Guinea Pigs; History, 15th Century; History, Ancient; History, Medieval; Humans; Lung Diseases; Male; Mice; Rabbits; Respiratory System; Smoking; Substance-Related Disorders; Syndrome
PubMed: 18971602
DOI: No ID Found -
Research in Microbiology May 1990The antibacterial properties of phenolic compounds and aromatic alcohols (growth inhibition, lethal effect and cytological damage) were investigated. The role of protein...
The antibacterial properties of phenolic compounds and aromatic alcohols (growth inhibition, lethal effect and cytological damage) were investigated. The role of protein and RNA synthesis in the bactericidal action was also determined. All compounds tested demonstrated lethal properties and the ability to alter membranes, especially in Gram-negative bacteria. Efficacious concentrations, however, varied greatly among the compounds. These data corroborate previous findings which suggest that the mechanism of action of these compounds is related to their lipophilia. Moreover, since it was demonstrated that the lethal effect of two aromatic alcohols (phenethyl alcohol and benzyl alcohol) stops when protein synthesis is inhibited, it is likely that both possess specific mechanisms of action.
Topics: Anti-Infective Agents, Local; Bacterial Proteins; Benzyl Alcohol; Benzyl Alcohols; Benzyl Compounds; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Enterobacteriaceae; Escherichia coli; Ethanol; Ethylene Glycols; In Vitro Techniques; Phenols; Phenylethyl Alcohol; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; RNA, Bacterial; Staphylococcus aureus; Terpenes
PubMed: 1697976
DOI: 10.1016/0923-2508(90)90075-2 -
Angewandte Chemie (International Ed. in... Dec 2022Iodide-bound ruthenium-JOSIPHOS complexes catalyze the redox-neutral C-C coupling of primary alcohols with methylallene (1,2-butadiene) or 1,3-butadiene to form products...
Iodide-bound ruthenium-JOSIPHOS complexes catalyze the redox-neutral C-C coupling of primary alcohols with methylallene (1,2-butadiene) or 1,3-butadiene to form products of anti-crotylation with good to excellent levels of diastereo- and enantioselectivity. Distinct from other methods, direct crotylation of primary alcohols in the presence of unprotected secondary alcohols is possible, enabling generation of spirastrellolide B (C9-C15) and leucascandrolide A (C9-C15) substructures in significantly fewer steps than previously possible.
Topics: Ruthenium; Butadienes; Hydrogen; Stereoisomerism; Alcohols; Catalysis; Ethanol; Molecular Structure
PubMed: 36201364
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202212814 -
Biophysical Journal Jan 2017Although the effects of ethanol on protein receptors and lipid membranes have been studied extensively, ethanol's effect on vesicles fusing to lipid bilayers is not...
Although the effects of ethanol on protein receptors and lipid membranes have been studied extensively, ethanol's effect on vesicles fusing to lipid bilayers is not known. To determine the effect of alcohols on fusion rates, we utilized the nystatin/ergosterol fusion assay to measure fusion of liposomes to a planar lipid bilayer (BLM). The addition of ethanol excited fusion when applied on the cis (vesicle) side, and inhibited fusion on the trans side. Other short-chain alcohols followed a similar pattern. In general, the inhibitory effect of alcohols (trans) occurs at lower doses than the excitatory (cis) effect, with a decrease of 29% in fusion rates at the legal driving limit of 0.08% (w/v) ethanol (IC = 0.2% v/v, 34 mM). Similar inhibitory effects were observed with methanol, propanol, and butanol, with ethanol being the most potent. Significant variability was observed with different alcohols when applied to the cis side. Ethanol and propanol enhanced fusion, butanol also enhanced fusion but was less potent, and low doses of methanol mildly inhibited fusion. The inhibition by trans addition of alcohols implies that they alter the planar membrane structure and thereby increase the activation energy required for fusion, likely through an increase in membrane fluidity. The cis data are likely a combination of the above effect and a proportionally greater lowering of the vesicle lysis tension and hydration repulsive pressure that combine to enhance fusion. Alternate hypotheses are also discussed. The inhibitory effect of ethanol on liposome-membrane fusion is large enough to provide a possible biophysical explanation of compromised neuronal behavior.
Topics: Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Ethanol; Exocytosis; Lipid Bilayers; Liposomes; Membrane Fluidity; Membrane Fusion
PubMed: 28076803
DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2016.11.3205