SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF SCIENCES

Background: Scientific conferences play a vital role in knowledge exchange and collaboration across disciplines. Building on the success of its 2022 inaugural event, the Second Southern Science Conference (SSCON 2024) aimed to expand international scientific collaboration while addressing contemporary challenges in sustainability and research methodology. Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of a hybrid conference format in facilitating global scientific collaboration and to showcase cutting-edge research across multiple disciplines, with particular emphasis on sustainability and technological innovation in Latin America. Methods: The conference implemented a hybrid format combining in-person and virtual attendance. Over three days, 38 lectures were presented by renowned researchers, covering key topics including materials science, environmental sustainability, chemical processes, and regional development. Participation metrics and collaboration patterns were analyzed to assess the conference's impact. Results: The conference achieved significant participation with 242 contributing authors from 13 countries across four continents. Notable research presentations included advances in laser surface modification techniques, geotechnology applications in biofuel production, sustainable silica synthesis from biomass, and green valorization of tropical seeds. The conference produced 66 approved papers, with most involving 2-5 collaborators. Discussion: The hybrid format proved effective in removing geographical barriers and promoting global engagement. The strong representation from Latin American institutions highlighted the region's growing influence in international scientific discourse. Key research presentations demonstrated innovative approaches to sustainability challenges, particularly in waste utilization and environmental technology. Conclusion: SSCON 2024 successfully evolved from its predecessor, demonstrating the effectiveness of hybrid conferencing in fostering international scientific collaboration. The conference established itself as a vital platform for knowledge exchange, particularly in sustainability and technological innovation, while identifying areas for future improvement such as extended submission timelines and permanent management structures.

Demand for diversified biodiesel feedstocks is high and increasing, but few are viable for large-scale production, and many of those selected compete with other sectors of the chemical industry. To improve energy and environmental sustainability, fatty acids from waste oils that are improperly disposed of and pollute the environment can be used for transesterification reactions. However, they need treatment to achieve high conversion rates. In this context, the aim of this work was to perform and analyze the treatment of residual frying oil with the evaporation and entrainment process, aiming at its use as raw material to obtain biodiesel (methyl esters) by a transesterification reaction. The physicochemical properties of the residual oil after treatment were characterized by moisture content, pH and the acidity, saponification, iodine, and peroxide index. The conversion rate of the residual oil to methyl esters was determined by 1H NMR analysis. After the treatment, the method of analysis of variance showed that the oil obtained a significant reduction of the saponification, iodine, peroxide and acidity indexes, being the acidity reduced from 9.36 to 7.85 mg KOH g-1. The moisture content of 0.733% and elevation of pH to 8.0. The conversion rate of fatty acid biodiesel of residual oil was 79.3 %, lower value of standards norms (ASTM, 2005; EN, 2008; ANP, 2014), showing that the assigned methodology for frying residual oil is inefficient in biodiesel production.

Background: Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) appears in individuals asymptomatically and in various symptomatic forms. Symptomatic diversity can result in diagnosis failures, hospitalization, admission to intensive care, multi-organ failure, and death. The causes and risk factors of the severity of disease symptoms are uncertain. This uncertainty can only be resolved by elucidating the effects of host genes and genetic variations on different phenotypes. Aim: This review aimed to emphasize the importance of large-scale genotype-phenotype correlation studies in elucidating the phenotypic diversity in COVID-19 disease. Methods: All publications related to Phenome-Wide Association Study (PheWAS) in the PubMed database were searched. PheWAS studies applied to COVID-19 patients have been identified. In addition, studies applied to the genome-wide association study (GWAS)- Electronic health records (EHRs) data and additionally matched to the gene expression data were systematically reviewed. The latest PheWAS methodology and its importance in Large-scale genotype-phenotype correlations are discussed within the context of published COVID-19 studies. Results: According to our PubMed search data, there are few PheWAS studies on COVID-19 disease. This review explains the use of PheWAS studies applied to health records and GWAS data, and colocalization studies applied to expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis to understand the phenotypic variability of COVID-19. Discussion; Although there is a very limited number of PheWAS studies on COVID-19 diseases, these studies have obtained important data. At the current stage, there is a need for such studies in COVID-19 research. Conclusions: PheWAS is an ideal method for large-scale genotype-phenotype correlation studies that can reveal genetic diversity and phenotypic diversity in the pathophysiology of the disease.