Ecolab

About: Ecolab is a company organization based out in Northwich, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Alkyl & Corrosion. The organization has 2860 authors who have published 3193 publications receiving 51478 citations. The organization is also known as: Economics Laboratory.

Detergent composition and method for removing soil

Abstract: The invention relates to a highly alkaline or mildly alkaline detergent composition having enhanced cleaning properties. The detergent combines a source of alkalinity and a blend of nonionic surfactants that enhances cleaning starchy soils. The blend of nonionic surfactants preferably includes an alkyl polyglycoside surfactant and a silicon surfactant having a hydrophobic silicon group and a pendant hydrophilic group. Preferably, the blend of nonionic surfactants includes a surfactant having a hydrophobic group and an ethylene oxide residue containing group and a polymer additive. A method for removing soil from an article is provided.

Rinse aid for plasticware

Abstract: A rinse aid composition for use on plasticware is herein described which requires lower concentration of conventional hydrocarbon surfactants, exhibits adequate sheeting on the plasticware and acceptable drying time which prior rinse aids have failed to provide without special handling. The compositions described contain hydrocarbon surfactants and a polyether or polybetaine polysiloxane copolymer surfactant alone or in combination with a fluorinated hydrocarbon surfactant. The composition may be formulated as a solid or liquid suitable for dilution to form an aqueous rinse used to contact the plasticware in a warewashing machine.

Understorey environments influence functional diversity in tank‐bromeliad ecosystems

Abstract: 1. A substantial fraction of the freshwater available in neotropical forests is impounded within the rosettes of bromeliads that form aquatic islands in a terrestrial matrix. The ecosystem functioning of bromeliads is known to be influenced by the composition of the contained community but it is not clear whether bromeliad food webs remain functionally similar against a background of variation in the understorey environment. 2. We considered a broad range of environmental conditions, including incident light and incoming litter, and quantified the distribution of a very wide range of freshwater organisms (from viruses to macroinvertebrates) to determine the factors that influence the functional structure of bromeliad food webs in samples taken from 171 tank-bromeliads. 3. We observed a gradient of detritus-based to algal-based food webs from the understorey to the overstorey. Algae, rotifers and collector and predatory invertebrates dominated bromeliad food webs in exposed areas, whereas filter-feeding insects had their highest densities in shaded forest areas. Viruses, bacteria and fungi showed no clear density patterns. Detritus decomposition is mainly due to microbial activity in understorey bromeliads where filter feeders are the main consumers of microbial and particulate organic matter (POM). Algal biomass may exceed bacterial biomass in sun-exposed bromeliads where amounts of detritus were lower but functional diversity was highest. 4. Our results provide evidence that tank-bromeliads, which grow in a broad range of ecological conditions, promote aquatic food web diversity in neotropical forests. Moreover, although bromeliad ecosystems have been categorised as detritus-based systems in the literature, we show that algal production can support a non-detrital food web in these systems.

The small RNA diversity from Medicago truncatula roots under biotic interactions evidences the environmental plasticity of the miRNAome

Abstract: Legume roots show a remarkable plasticity to adapt their architecture to biotic and abiotic constraints, including symbiotic interactions. However, global analysis of miRNA regulation in roots is limited, and a global view of the evolution of miRNA-mediated diversification in different ecotypes is lacking. In the model legume Medicago truncatula, we analyze the small RNA transcriptome of roots submitted to symbiotic and pathogenic interactions. Genome mapping and a computational pipeline identify 416 miRNA candidates, including known and novel variants of 78 miRNA families present in miRBase. Stringent criteria of pre-miRNA prediction yield 52 new mtr-miRNAs, including 27 miRtrons. Analyzing miRNA precursor polymorphisms in 26 M. truncatula ecotypes identifies higher sequence polymorphism in conserved rather than Medicago-specific miRNA precursors. An average of 19 targets, mainly involved in environmental responses and signalling, is predicted per novel miRNA. We identify miRNAs responsive to bacterial and fungal pathogens or symbionts as well as their related Nod and Myc-LCO symbiotic signals. Network analyses reveal modules of new and conserved co-expressed miRNAs that regulate distinct sets of targets, highlighting potential miRNA-regulated biological pathways relevant to pathogenic and symbiotic interactions. We identify 52 novel genuine miRNAs and large plasticity of the root miRNAome in response to the environment, and also in response to purified Myc/Nod signaling molecules. The new miRNAs identified and their sequence variation across M. truncatula ecotypes may be crucial to understand the adaptation of root growth to the soil environment, notably in the agriculturally important legume crops.

Control of Listeria spp. by Competitive-Exclusion Bacteria in Floor Drains of a Poultry Processing Plant

Abstract: In previous studies workers determined that two lactic acid bacterium isolates, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis C-1-92 and Enterococcus durans 152 (competitive-exclusion bacteria [CE]), which were originally obtained from biofilms in floor drains, are bactericidal to Listeria monocytogenes or inhibit the growth of L. monocytogenes both in vitro and in biofilms at 4 to 37 degrees C. We evaluated the efficacy of these isolates for reducing Listeria spp. contamination of floor drains of a plant in which fresh poultry is processed. Baseline assays revealed that the mean numbers of Listeria sp. cells in floor drains sampled on six different dates (at approximately biweekly intervals) were 7.5 log(10) CFU/100 cm(2) for drain 8, 4.9 log(10) CFU/100 cm(2) for drain 3, 4.4 log(10) CFU/100 cm(2) for drain 2, 4.1 log(10) CFU/100 cm(2) for drain 4, 3.7 log(10) CFU/100 cm(2) for drain 1, and 3.6 log(10) CFU/100 cm(2) for drain 6. The drains were then treated with 10(7) CE/ml in an enzyme-foam-based cleaning agent four times in 1 week and twice a week for the following 3 weeks. In samples collected 1 week after CE treatments were applied Listeria sp. cells were not detectable (samples were negative as determined by selective enrichment culture) for drains 4 and 6 (reductions of 4.1 and 3.6 log(10) CFU/100 cm(2), respectively), and the mean numbers of Listeria sp. cells were 3.7 log(10) CFU/100 cm(2) for drain 8 (a reduction of 3.8 log(10) CFU/100 cm(2)), <1.7 log(10) CFU/100 cm(2) for drain 1 (detectable only by selective enrichment culture; a reduction of 3.3 log(10) CFU/100 cm(2)), and 2.6 log(10) CFU/100 cm(2) for drain 3 (a reduction of 2.3 log(10) CFU/100 cm(2)). However, the aerobic plate counts for samples collected from floor drains before, during, and after CE treatment remained approximately the same. The results indicate that application of the two CE can greatly reduce the number of Listeria sp. cells in floor drains at 3 to 26 degrees C in a facility in which fresh poultry is processed.