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Anthocyanins, naturally found in citrus, play key roles in improving the qualities of citrus fruits and products. Dietary consumption of fruit-derived anthocyanins is concerned increasingly owing to health-promoting properties. However, anthocyanins are vulnerable to many physical and chemical factors during processing and storage, affecting fruit qualities and consumer acceptance. Thus, the aim of this review is to focus on main advances in chemical structures, differential biosynthesis mechanisms, enrichment methods, and bioactivities of anthocyanins in pigmented and unpigmented citrus fruits. In this review, anthocyanin species and concentrations display tissue specificity in citrus, and the chemical structures and contents of main anthocyanins are summarized. For differential biosynthesis mechanisms, the reasons why most citrus fruits lose the ability of anthocyanin biosynthesis compared with pigmented fruits, and the molecular differences of biosynthesis mechanisms in pigmented citrus fruits are both discussed in detail. Furthermore, anthocyanins' enrichment methods (low-temperature stimulus, light irradiation, xenobiotics inductions, and ripeness influence) during processing and storage have been summarized, which achieve quality improvement by promoting structural gene expression, reducing anthocyanin-degrading enzyme activities, or altering DNA methylation status. Meantime, the health benefits of extract from pigmented citrus and their waste are mentioned, which provides a new approach for citrus waste recycling. HIGHLIGHTS• Chemical structures of individual anthocyanins in citrus are reviewed.• Differential anthocyanin biosynthesis in citrus depends on mutations of

Due to the increased popularity of augmented and virtual reality experiences, the interest in capturing high-resolution real-world point clouds has never been higher. Loss of details and irregularities in point cloud geometry can occur during the capturing, processing, and compression pipeline. It is essential to address these challenges by being able to upsample a low Level-of-Detail (LoD) point cloud into a high LoD point cloud. Current upsampling methods suffer from several weaknesses in handling point cloud upsampling, especially in dense real-world photo-realistic point clouds. In this paper, we present a novel geometry upsampling technique, PU-Dense, which can process a diverse set of point clouds including synthetic mesh-based point clouds, real-world high-resolution point clouds, real-world indoor LiDAR scanned objects, as well as outdoor dynamically acquired LiDAR-based point clouds. PU-Dense employs a 3D multiscale architecture using sparse convolutional networks that hierarchically reconstruct an upsampled point cloud geometry via progressive rescaling and multiscale feature extraction. The framework employs a UNet type architecture that downscales the point cloud to a bottleneck and then upscales it to a higher level-of-detail (LoD) point cloud. PU-Dense introduces a novel Feature Extraction Unit that incorporates multiscale spatial learning by employing filters at multiple sampling rates and receptive fields. The architecture is memory efficient and is driven by a binary voxel occupancy classification loss that allows it to process high-resolution dense point clouds with millions of points during inference time. Qualitative and quantitative experimental results show that our method significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art approaches by a large margin while having much lower inference time complexity. We further test our dataset on high-resolution photo-realistic datasets. In addition, our method can handle noisy data well. We further show that our approach is memory efficient compared to the state-of-the-art methods.

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are the most important stromal cells in the tumor microenvironment (TEM) and have been reported to regulate various cancer development. Exosomes are considered important elements involved in intercellular communication and TME regulation, while the potential function of CAFs in lung cancer immunosuppressive microenvironments remains unknown. CAFs-derived exosomes (CAFs-exo) and normal fibroblasts (NFs)-derived exosomes (NFs-exo) were isolated by ultra-centrifugation and characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) and western blot analysis. A549 cells were co-cultured with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Flow cytometry assay was performed to detect the killing role of PBMCs on A549 cells. Bioinformatics and luciferase reporter assays were used to analyze the relationship among microRNA (miRNA), long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) and target gene. BALB/c mice were used to construct the lung cancer model by subcutaneous injection. Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) was up-regulated in lung cancer tissues and cells. PD-L1 also up-regulated in CAFs cell medium-mediated A549 cells. CAFs decreased PBMCs induced-cell apoptosis through increasing PD-L1 in A549 cells. Moreover, CAFs transferred exosomes to lung cancer cells to suppress the killing effect of PBMCs through up-regulating PD-L1. Using microarray assays, opa-interacting protein 5 antisense RNA 1 (OIP5-AS1) level was highly expressed in CAFs-exos. After treatment by CAFs-exos, miR-142-5p level was significantly down-regulated in A549 cells. OIP5-AS1 served as a sponge to target miR-142-5p and negatively regulated miR-142-5p expression in lung cancer cells. In addition, PD-L1 was a direct target of miR-142-5p. CAFs derived exosomal OIP5-AS1 reduced PBMCs induced-cell apoptosis and promoted tumor growth through decreasing miR-142-5p and up-regulating PD-L1. CAFs-derived exosomes suppressed the role of PBMCs induced-killing of lung cancer cells and promoted lung cancer progression by OIP5-AS1/ miR-142-5p/ PD-L1 axis, which provided a potential opportunity for diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.

In this Special Section of the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, it is our honor to introduce the Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard, the latest of the historic partnership collaborations between the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in the field of video coding standardization.

This paper presents the intra prediction and mode coding of the Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard. This standard was collaboratively developed by the Joint Video Experts Team (JVET). It follows the traditional architecture of a hybrid block-based codec that was also the basis of previous standards. Almost all intra prediction features of VVC either contain substantial modifications in comparison with its predecessor H.265/HEVC or were newly added. The key aspects of these tools are the following: 65 angular intra prediction modes with block shape-adaptive directions and 4-tap interpolation filters are supported as well as the DC and Planar mode, Position Dependent Prediction Combination is applied for most of these modes, Multiple Reference Line Prediction can be used, an intra block can be further subdivided by the Intra Subpartition mode, Matrix-based Intra Prediction is supported, and the chroma prediction signal can be generated by the Cross Component Linear Model method. Finally, the intra prediction mode in VVC is coded separately for luma and chroma. Here, a Most Probable Mode list containing six modes is applied for luma. The individual compression performance of tools is reported in this paper. For the full VVC intra codec, a bitrate saving of 25% on average is reported over H.265/HEVC using an objective metric. Significant subjective benefits are illustrated with specific examples.

Efficient representation and coding of fine-granular motion information is one of the key research areas for exploiting inter-frame correlation in video coding. Representative techniques towards this direction are affine motion compensation (AMC), decoder-side motion vector refinement (DMVR), and subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP). Fine-granular motion information is derived at subblock level for all the three coding tools. In addition, the obtained inter prediction can be further refined by two optical flow-based coding tools, the bi-directional optical flow (BDOF) for bi-directional inter prediction and the prediction refinement with optical flow (PROF) exclusively used in combination with AMC. The aforementioned five coding tools have been extensively studied and finally adopted in the Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard. This paper presents technical details of each tool and highlights the design elements with the consideration of typical hardware implementations. Following the common test conditions defined by Joint Video Experts Team (JVET) for the development of VVC, 5.7% bitrate reduction on average is achieved by the five tools. For test sequences characterized by large and complex motion, up to 13.4% bitrate reduction is observed. Additionally, visual quality improvement is demonstrated and analyzed.

Proceedings of the IEEE 109(9), 1463-1493 (2021). doi:10.1109/JPROC.2020.3043399, Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York, NY [u.a.]

This paper presents an overview of the decoder-side motion vector refinement (DMVR) algorithm in the Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard. The proposed DMVR algorithm aims to increase the prediction accuracy of the blocks coded in merge mode using the bilateral matching-based refinement method. Compared with previous decoder-side motion vector derivation approaches, the proposed method significantly increases the coding efficiency without signaling additional side information. Furthermore, the hardware implementation considerations of the DMVR design are particularly focused in this study. This paper details and analyzes the novel features of DMVR contributing to the increase in coding efficiency and the reduction in computational complexity and implementation difficulty. Experimental results based on the VVC test model version 8.0 demonstrate that average Bjontegaard Delta rate savings of 0.80 % and 2.81 % are achieved for the “tool-off” and “tool-on” test configurations, respectively. Moreover, 4 % additional decoding time and negligible additional external memory bandwidth requirements of DMVR based on the common test conditions for VVC are reported.

Natural polysaccharides are new popular healthy food material, and the materials are widely used in various functional foods. The influences of polysaccharides from

Acidified milk is normally divided into drinking (e.g. acidified milk drinks) and gelling (e.g. stirred/set yoghurt) types, and its texture is mainly determined by the state of casein micelles. Pol...

Nanotechniques for curcumin (Cur) encapsulation provided a potential capability to avoid limitations and improve biological activities in food and pharmaceutics. Different from multi-step encapsulation systems, in this study, zein–curcumin (Z–Cur) core-shell nanoparticles could be self-assembled within Eudragit S100 (ES100) fibers through one-pot coaxial electrospinning with Cur at an encapsulation efficiency (EE) of 96% for ES100–zein–Cur (ES100–Z–Cur) and EE of 67% for self-assembled Z–Cur. The resulting structure realized the double protection of Cur by ES100 and zein, which provided both pH responsiveness and sustained release performances. The self-assembled Z–Cur nanoparticles released from fibermats were spherical (diameter 328 nm) and had a relatively uniform distribution (polydispersity index 0.62). The spherical structures of Z–Cur nanoparticles and Z–Cur nanoparticles loaded in ES100 fibermats could be observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) revealed that hydrophobic interactions occurred between the encapsulated Cur and zein, while Cur was amorphous (rather than in crystalline form). Loading in the fibermat could significantly enhance the photothermal stability of Cur. This novel one-pot system much more easily and efficiently combined nanoparticles and fibers together, offering inherent advantages such as step economy, operational simplicity, and synthetic efficiency. These core-shell biopolymer fibermats which incorporate Cur can be applied in pharmaceutical products toward the goals of sustainable and controllable intestine-targeted drug delivery.

Herein, the chelating agent-soluble fraction (CA), sodium carbonate-soluble fraction (SC), and sodium hydroxide-soluble fraction (SH) were sequentially extracted from the cell wall of goji berry (

A novel protocol was established to synthesize novel α-glucosidase inhibitors (prodelphinidin B gallates) from proanthocyanidins from Chinese bayberry leaves (BLPs) and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)

The Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) standardization group has produced a large number of standards for video compression over the last three decades. Traditionally, the MPEG standards have either focused on highest available compression efficiency [e.g., MPEG-2, advanced video coding (AVC), and high-efficiency video coding (HEVC)] or a desire to produce a royalty-free standard [e.g., Internet video coding (IVC) and web video coding (WebVC)]. In January 2019, MPEG embarked on a new standardization project that can be seen as a hybrid of the two: MPEG-5 part 1 and essential video coding (EVC) [International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 23094-1]. The EVC standard was developed with a royalty-free baseline profile at its base and a royalty bearing main profile that provides excellent compression performance. The main profile adds, on top of the baseline profile, 21 different coding tools that each can be individually turned off and, when necessary, replaced by a corresponding baseline profile tool. This structure makes it easy to fall back to a smaller set of tools in the future, if, for example, licensing complications occur around a specific tool, without breaking compatibility with already deployed decoders .

Video coding in the YCbCr color space has been widely used, since it is efficient for compression, but it can result in color distortion due to conversion error. Meanwhile, coding in the RGB color space maintains high color fidelity, having the drawback of a substantial bitrate increase with respect to YCbCr coding. Cross-component prediction (CCP) efficiently compresses video content by decorrelating color components while keeping high color fidelity. In this scheme, the chroma residual signal is predicted from the luma residual signal inside the coding loop. This paper gives a description of the CCP scheme from several points of view, from theoretical background to practical implementation. The proposed CCP scheme has been evaluated in standardization communities and adopted into H.265/High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Range Extensions. The experimental results show significant coding performance improvements for both natural and screen content video, while the quality of all color components is maintained. The average coding gains for natural video are 17% and 5% bitrate reduction in the case of intra coding and 11% and 4% in the case of inter coding for RGB and YCbCr coding, respectively, while the average increment of encoding and decoding times in the HEVC reference software implementation are 10% and 4%, respectively.

This paper provides an overview of the coding algorithms of the Joint Exploration Model (JEM) for video compression with capability beyond HEVC, which was developed by the Joint Video Exploration Team (JVET) of the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) and the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). The goal of the JEM development and experimentation was to provide evidence that sufficient coding efficiency improvement over the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard can be achieved, which would justify the need for a new video coding standard with a compression capability significantly exceeding that of HEVC. The development of the JEM provided an ability to conduct studies toward that goal in a verifiable and collaborative manner and led to the launching of the project to develop the new Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard. Objective metric gains exceeding 30% were measured for most of the tested high-resolution video content that represents current demanding new applications, and subjective testing using human observers showed even more benefit.

Since the 1970s, various image and video coding techniques have been explored, and some of them have been included in the video coding standards issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Motion Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) and International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG). MPEG is the most successful standards development organization (SDO) for multimedia compression standardization. In particular, most of the widely deployed video coding standards of the past 30 years have been developed within this working group. One of the first, standardized in 1996, was the MPEG-2 standard [1], which is still in use as a digital TV standard in many countries.

Standardization for digital video compression has shown significant evolution over the last three decades. Starting in 1988 with ITU-T H.261 as the first such standard that was practical for consumer use, ISO/IEC MPEG-1 and H.262/MPEG-2 video (the latter jointly standardized by ITU-T and ISO/IEC) were developed very soon thereafter, creating the first wave of broad usage of digital technology in consumer video, such as broadcast and disc player applications. Later, the H.264/MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding (AVC) standard was again developed jointly by ITU-T and ISO/IEC experts, with its High Profile becoming dominant from 2004 in HD broadcast and storage, as well as network-based streaming services and private capture of video. With ever-increasing demands for higher quality and the advent of flat-panel displays, the H.265/MPEG-H High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard became the next generation of video compression standard; with its first version defined in 2013, HEVC has been especially instrumental for the recent deployment of Ultra High Definition (UHD, a.k.a. 4K video). As time has moved forward, video content has continued to become an increasing presence in our lives, with an ever-growing diversification of usage models and continuing demands for higher quality. For example, flat panels evolved towards support of high dynamic range (HDR) video with a wider color gamut, and new modalities for consuming video have appeared, such as head-mounted displays (HMDs).

This paper describes a joint response to the Call for Proposals by Samsung, Huawei, GoPro, and HiSilicon on Video Compression with Capability beyond HEVC/H.265, jointly issued by ITU-T SG16 Q.6 (VCEG) and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11 (MPEG). In the proposed codec, the coding framework supports hierarchical splitting with binary and ternary trees and flexible coding order representations. Additionally, novel compression tools on inter/intra prediction, in-loop filtering, and entropy coding have been proposed. The proposed compression scheme provides significantly higher compression capability than the state-of-the-art HEVC/H.265 standard for SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) category while maintaining complexity acceptable for emerging applications. When all the proposed algorithmic tools are used, the proposed video codec achieves approximately 40% bit-saving for the SDR cetegory on average compared to HEVC/H.265 anchor.

Probiotic fermented fruit juice could improve intestinal health with better sensory attributes. The effects of fermentation conditions on flavor quality of fermented bayberry juice were compared through microbial viability and sensory evaluation. Fermentation by combined Streptococcus thermophilus (ST) and Lactobacillus acidophilus (LA) resulted in higher microbial viability and sensory evaluation scores. The fermentation conditions were optimized by orthogonal experimental design and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution analysis (ST and LA in a mass ratio of 3:1; 0.6% (mass concentration) inoculation; fermentation time, 48 h, at 37 °C; 10% (mass concentration) added sucrose). Fermentation under these conditions decreased the anthocyanin content of the juice, maintained the total phenolic content, and slightly decreased the antioxidant capacity. Fermentation reduced aroma volatiles from 42 in fresh juice to 33, as determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-olfactometry (GC-MS-O), the aldehyde content decreased and the alcohol content increased. Lactic acid fermented bayberry juice by ST and LA produced a beverage with desirable consumer attributes, combining the health benefits of fresh juice and probiotics.

Canned citrus is a major citrus product that is popular around the world. However, the canning process discharges large amounts of high-chemical oxygen demand wastewater, which contains many functional polysaccharides. Herein, we recovered three different pectic polysaccharides from citrus canning processing water and evaluated their prebiotic potential as well as the relationship between the RG-I domain and fermentation characteristics using an in vitro human fecal batch fermentation model. Structural analysis showed a large difference among the three pectic polysaccharides in the proportion of the rhamnogalacturonan-I (RG-I) domain. Additionally, the fermentation results showed that the RG-I domain was significantly related to pectic polysaccharides’ fermentation characteristics, especially in terms of short-chain fatty acid generation and modulation of gut microbiota. The pectins with a high proportion of the RG-I domain performed better in acetate, propionate, and butyrate production. It was also found that Bacteroides, Phascolarctobacterium, and Bifidobacterium are the main bacteria participating in their degradation. Furthermore, the relative abundance of Eubacterium_eligens_group and Monoglobus was positively correlated with the proportion of the RG-I domain. This study emphasizes the beneficial effects of pectic polysaccharides recovered from citrus processing and the roles of the RG-I domain in their fermentation characteristics. This study also provides a strategy for food factories to realize green production and value addition.

Background. Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a major component of lung cancer and is significantly correlated with poor prognosis. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation is closely related to the occurrence, progression, and prognosis of cancer. The potential biological functions and mechanisms of m6A RNA methylation in the immune microenvironment are still unclear. Methods. We assessed m6A RNA methylation modification patterns in 1326 NSCLC patient samples based on 20 m6A regulators, linking these clusters to the tumor microenvironment and immune cell infiltration. The m6Ascore was created to quantify the m6A modification patterns of individual tumors. We then assessed the value of NSCLC patients in terms of clinical prognosis and immunotherapy response. Results. According to different mRNA expression levels, two different m6A clusters were identified. m6A aggregation was significantly associated with clinical prognostic characteristics, the tumor microenvironment, and immune-related biological processes. Fifteen differential genes were screened based on these two m6A clusters, and to further investigate the mechanisms of action of these differential genes, they were subjected to unsupervised clustering analysis, which classified them into four different genomic isoforms. Prognostic analysis indicated that the survival advantage of the m6A gene cluster A modification mode was significantly prominent. We continued to construct the m6Ascore, which was used as a scoring tool to evaluate tumor typing, immunity, and prognosis. Patients with a low m6Ascore showed a significant survival advantage, and the group with a low m6Ascore had a better prognosis predicted by immunotherapy. The anti-PD-1/L1 immunotherapy cohort showed that a lower m6Ascore was associated with higher efficacy of immunotherapy. Conclusions. The results suggest that m6A RNA methylation regulators make an important difference in the tumor immune microenvironment of patients with NSCLC. m6A gene characterization and the construction of the m6Ascore provide us with a richer understanding of m6A RNA methylation modification patterns in NSCLC patients and help to predict clinical prognosis and immunotherapeutic response.

Graphical abstract, Highlights • Citrus segment membrane removal during canning was improved for clean process. • The improved process using mixed acid (alkali) showed good membrane removal result. • The processing water was fully used for preparing a new healthy electrolyte drink. • The bioactive compounds in the canning processing water were completely recoverd. • This green process with economic viability has great society benefits., In the production of canned citrus, large amounts of processing water were discharged during the segment membrane removal process, causing severe pollution. In order to reduce pollution and recover the bioactive compounds in the processing water, the production of canned satsuma mandarin, sweet orange and grapefruit were studied, and improved acid (0.1% HCl, 0.4% citric acid) and alkali (0.1% KOH, 0.2% NaOH) were used to conduct the new chemical hydrolysis process to remove the segment membrane. The obtained acid and alkali processing water were firstly explored the potential to make novel beverages, which contain electrolytes (Na: 472–945 ppm; K: 208–279 ppm; Cl: 364–411 ppm; citrate: 1105–1653 ppm) and potential prebiotics such as pectin and flavonoids. The improved segment membrane removal process realized the conversion of wastewater into drinkable beverages at low costs. The bioactive compounds were fully recovered without wastewater discharging, which produced great environmental, economic and health value.

The recovery of pectic polysaccharides with high rhamnogalacturonan I (RG-I) branches from citrus canning processing water was achieved in a previous study aimed at reducing chemical oxygen demand and benefiting both process economics and the environment. However, the large molecular size and poor in vivo bioavailability of these polysaccharides limit the application of these pectic polysaccharides in functional foods. We report the development of an ultrafast and green approach to depolymerize pectic polysaccharides using an ultrasound-accelerated metal-free Fenton chemistry, relying on H2O2/ascorbic acid. The results show that ultrasound enhances the efficiency of H2O2/ascorbic acid system to degrade pectin into 7.9 kDa pectic fragments within 30 min through both chemical effects (increasing the amount of hydroxyl radicals and lowering activation energy of H2O2 decomposition) and mechanical effects (disaggregating polysaccharide clusters). The backbones of the resulting fragments mainly correspond to RG-I patterns (molar ratio galacturonic acid (GalA): rhamnose (Rha) ∼ 1.06:1) with a high degree of rhamnose branching. Free radicals preferentially act on the GalA backbone in the HG region and maintain the RG-I region. Antitumor activities, assessed using human breast cancer cells (MCF-7), suggest that the resulting fragments significantly inhibit cancer cell growth and that activity increases with decreasing molecular weight. The resulting ultralow molecular weight pectic fragments have potential application for the development of functional foods and antitumor drugs.

Heparin is a polypharmacological agent with anticoagulant activity. Periodate oxidation of the nonsulfated glucuronic acid residue results in non-anticoagulant heparin derivative (NACH) of reduced molecular weight. Similar treatment of a low molecular weight heparin, dalteparin, also removes its anticoagulant activity, affording a second heparin derivative (D-NACH). A full structural characterization of these two derivatives reveals their structural differences. SPR studies display their ability to bind to several important heparin-binding proteins, suggesting potential new therapeutic applications.

Glycyrrhiza is a well-known plant resource used for the production of extractum-glycyrrhizae; however, large amounts of Glycyrrhiza residues containing polysaccharides are produced, and these have not been well utilized until now. The aim of this study was to evaluate the Glycyrrhiza polysaccharides obtained from Glycyrrhiza residues as a potential gelatin replacer in yogurt. The incorporation of Glycyrrhiza polysaccharide (GP) at different concentrations accelerated the growth of lactic acid bacteria. Similar to the effect of adding gelatin (GE), GP could suitably improve the water-holding capacity (WHC) and texture of the yogurt. Moreover, the yogurt prepared with GP showed a higher viscosity and shorter transverse relaxation time of mobile water (T23) value than the control group (CG). Moreover, the microstructure analysis indicated that the casein network of yogurt with GP was more compact and cohesive than those of others. Yogurt prepared with 0.1% GPs exhibited the best sensory acceptance. The results indicated that small amounts of GPs can effectively replace gelatin as a thickener in yogurt with good quality.

Natural polysaccharides are new popular healthy food material, and the materials are widely used in various functional foods. The influences of polysaccharides from Glycyrrhiza uralensis on the quality and sensory properties of Chinese steamed bread (CSB), as well as the performance (starch digestion in vitro and starch staling) of CSB, were investigated in this study. The addition of Glycyrrhiza polysaccharide (GP) increased the specific volume of CSB in a dose-dependent manner, and the specific volume of CSB-2 was 2.55 mL/g. GP also contributed to the increase in hardness (from 1240.17 to 2539.34 g) and chewiness (893.85 to 1959.27 g) of fresh CSB. In addition, GP could maintain the integrity of the protein network within the CSB. The scores for sensory evaluation indicators of CSB-1 were relatively balanced. More importantly, the addition of GP altered starch digestive properties, and the content of the resistant starch (RS) was increased from 8.62 (CSB-0) to 43.46% (CSB-2). GP led to a significant reduction of the expected glycemic index (eGI) of CSB, and the eGI of CSB was decreased from 97.50 (CSB-0) to 73.8 (CSB-2), which was classified as a medium-GI (MGI) food. In addition, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) revealed the addition of GP delayed the staling of CSB during storage. In general, adding the proper amount of GP could improve the quality of CSB and show the potential as a functional component of CSB to reduce the postprandial blood glucose level resulted by the CSB.

To characterize the structure of purified raspberry pectin and discuss the impact of different extraction methods on the pectin structure, raspberry pectin was extracted by hot-acid and enzyme method and purified by stepwise ethanol precipitation and ion-exchange chromatography isolation. Enzyme-extracted raspberry pectin (RPE50%-3) presented relatively intact structure with molecular weight of 5 × 10

Objective We retrospectively analyzed risk factors on in-hospital mortality in CRRT-therapy patients with open cardiac surgery (CS)-induced acute kidney injury (AKI), to provide the clinical basis for predicting and lowering the in-hospital mortality after CS. Methods 84 CS-AKI patients with CRRT were divided into survival and death groups according to discharge status, and the perioperative data were analyzed with R version 4.0.2. Results There were significant differences between the two groups, including: urea nitrogen, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score and vasoactive-inotropic score (VIS) on the first day after operation; VIS just before CRRT; SOFA score and negative balance of blood volume 24 h after CRRT; the incidence rate of bleeding, severe infection and MODS after operation; and the interval between AKI and CRRT. Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that SOFA score and VIS on the first day after operation; VIS just before CRRT; VIS and negative balance of blood volume 24 h after CRRT; the incidence rate of bleeding, infection and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) after operation; bootstrap resampling analysis showed that SOFA score and VIS 24 h after CRRT, as well as the incidence of bleeding after operation were the independent risk factors. Conclusion Maintaining stable hemodynamics and active prevention of bleeding are expected to decrease the in-hospital mortality.

Chinese bayberry deteriorates rapidly after harvest. To gain a better understanding of flavor deterioration, we investigated the volatile changes in processed bayberry juice and intact fruits using HS–SPME/GC–MS during storage. The concentration of hexanal, which has a “grass” aroma, and other associated aldehydes significantly decreased (p

The focus of this work is on intra-prediction tools that distinguish Versatile Video Coding (VVC) [1] from its predecessors and do not add RD-checks on the encoder side, i.e. their coding efficiency is achieved due to their inherent properties but not by additional encoder-side complexity increase.

Polysaccharides are considered to be the most important active substances in Goji. However, the structure of polysaccharides varies according to the extraction methods applied, and the solution used to prepare Goji polysaccharides (LBPs) were limited. Thus, it is important to clarify the connection between extraction methods and structure of Goji polysaccharide. In view of the complex composition of cell wall polysaccharides and the various forms of interaction, different extraction methods will release different parts of the cell wall. The present study compared the effects of different extraction methods, which have been used to prepare different types of plant cell wall polysaccharides based on various sources, on the structure of cell-wall polysaccharides from Goji, by the single separate use of hot water, hydrochloric acid (0.4%) and sodium hydroxide (0.6%), at both high and low temperatures. Meanwhile, in order to explore the limitations of single extraction, sequential extraction methods were applied. Structural analysis including monosaccharide analysis, GPC-MALLS, AFM and 1H-NMR suggested the persistence of more extensively branched rhamnogalacturonan I (RG-I) domains in the procedures involving low-temperature-alkali, while procedures prepared by high-temperature-acid contains more homogalacturonan (HG) regions and results in the removal of a substantial part of the side chain, specifically the arabinan. A kind of acidic heteropolysaccharide was obtained by hot water extraction. SEC-MALLS and AFM confirmed large-size polymers with branched morphologies in alkali-extracted polysaccharides. Our results provide new insight into the extraction of Goji polysaccharides, which differ from the hot water extraction used by traditional Chinese medicine.

The study evaluated the flavor related properties of the Chinese bayberry (Myrica rubra) during different growth stages. The weight, total soluble solids, sugar composition and total anthocyanin content were the highest in full-ripe bayberry fruit. Total phenolic content decreased during growth and full-ripe fruit juice showed the lowest antioxidant activities (DPPH, FRAP, and ABTS). Forty-seven volatiles were detected in the different ripening stages of bayberry, and 20 of them were identified as important aroma contributors using GC-MS-O. PCA based on the data of GC-MS and electronic nose allowed to clearly differentiate all the ripening stages. The results also indicated that D-limonene (D3) with "lemon, citrus" note was most closely associated with the unripe bayberry, nonanal (A5, "citrus, flower" note), decanal (A7, "orange" note), β-ocimene (D5, "mushroom" note), and isocaryophyllene (D8, "wood" note) were associated with the mid-ripe bayberry, and the full-ripe bayberry fruit were characterized by hexanal (A1, "green" note), (E)-2-octenal (A4, "green" note), (E)-2-nonenal (A6, "cucumber" note), 1-hexanol (B1, "green" note), (Z)-3-nonen-1-ol (B3, "cucumber" note), and methyl benzoate (C6, "herb" note).

Previous structural studies of osteoprotegerin (OPG), a crucial negative regulator of bone remodeling and osteoclastogenesis, were mostly limited to the N-terminal ligand-binding domains. It is now known that the three C-terminal domains of OPG also play essential roles in its function by mediating OPG dimerization, OPG–heparan sulfate (HS) interactions, and formation of the OPG–HS–receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (RANKL) ternary complex. Employing hydrogen–deuterium exchange MS methods, here we investigated the structure of full-length OPG in complex with HS or RANKL in solution. Our data revealed two noteworthy aspects of the OPG structure. First, we found that the interconnection between the N- and C-terminal domains is much more rigid than previously thought, possibly because of hydrophobic interactions between the fourth cysteine-rich domain and the first death domain. Second, we observed that two hydrophobic clusters located in two separate C-terminal domains directly contribute to OPG dimerization, likely by forming a hydrophobic dimerization interface. Aided by site-directed mutagenesis, we further demonstrated that an intact dimerization interface is essential for the biological activity of OPG. Our study represents an important step toward deciphering the structure–function relationship of the full-length OPG protein.

Cross-Component Linear Model (CCLM) for chroma intra-prediction is a promising coding tool in Joint Exploration Model (JEM) developed by the Joint Video Exploration Team (JVET). CCLM assumes a linear correlation between the luma and chroma components in a coding block. With this assumption, the chroma components can be predicted by the Linear Model (LM) mode, which utilizes the reconstructed neighbouring samples to derive parameters of a linear model by linear regression. This paper presents three new methods to further improve the coding efficiency of CCLM. First, we introduce a multi-model CCLM (MM-CCLM) approach, which applies more than one linear models to a coding block. With MM-CCLM, reconstructed neighbouring luma and chroma samples of the current block are classified into several groups, and a particular set of linear model parameters is derived for each group. The reconstructed luma samples of the current block are also classified to predict the associated chroma samples with the corresponding linear model. Second, we propose a multi-filter CCLM (MF-CCLM) technique, which allows the encoder to select the optimal down-sampling filter for the luma component with the 4:2:0 colour format. Third, we present a LM-angular prediction (LAP) method, which synthesizes the angular intra-prediction and the MM-CCLM intra-prediction into a new chroma intra coding mode. Simulation results show that 0.55%, 4.66% and 5.08% BD rate savings in average on Y, Cb and Cr components respectively, are achieved for All Intra (AI) configurations with the proposed three methods. MM-CCLM and MF-CCLM have been adopted into the JEM by JVET.

Pectin is extensively used as thickener and gelling agent in the food industry. Commercial pectin is usually comprised of homogalacturonans (HG) with small amount of rhamnogalacturonan-I (RG-I). However, recent studies have shown that RG-I region enriched pectic polysaccharides possess improved bioactivities, including cancer prevention, cardiovascular disease treatment and fibrosis. Thus, in this study, the isolation of mandarin peel pectic polysaccharides enriched in RG-I was evaluated through a sequential extraction method, consisting of acid followed by alkaline hydrolysis at room temperature. The yields of polysaccharides extracted by acid (PA) and then by base (PB) were 4.2 wt% and 18.9 wt%, respectively. Moreover, the structural and rheological properties of PA and PB were also explored. Monosaccharide composition analysis showed that PA and PB consisted mainly of branched RG-I with GalA/Rha values of 8.4 and 1.7, respectively, and high content of arabinose and galactose. The results of GPC-MALLS confirmed that both PA and PB were branched and had molecular weights of 282 kDa and 743 kDa, respectively. AFM imaging directly verified the branched-chain morphology of these polysaccharides. NMR and FT-IR analyses demonstrated that they were typical pectic polysaccharides, and the esterification degree of PA was 56%, but PB was not esterified. Rheological analysis showed that the two polysaccharides had similar thickening properties when compared to commercial pectin and could be potentially used as functional food ingredients.

Throughout the past few decades, the separable discrete cosine transform (DCT), particularly the DCT type II, has been widely used in image and video compression. It is well-known that, under first-order stationary Markov conditions, DCT is an efficient approximation of the optimal Karhunen–Loeve transform. However, for natural image and video sources, the adaptivity of a single separable transform with fixed core is rather limited for the highly dynamic image statistics, e.g., textures and arbitrarily directed edges. It is also known that non-separable transforms can achieve better compression efficiency for images with directional texture patterns, yet they are computationally complex, especially when the transform size is large. In order to achieve higher transform coding gains with relatively low-complexity implementations, we propose a joint separable and non-separable transform. The proposed separable primary transform, named enhanced multiple transform (EMT), applies multiple transform cores from a pre-defined subset of sinusoidal transforms, and the transform selection is signaled in a joint block level manner. Moreover, a non-separable secondary transform (NSST) method is proposed to operate in conjunction with EMT. Unlike the existing non-separable transform schemes which require excessive amounts of memory and computation, the proposed NSST efficiently improves coding gain with much lower complexity. Extensive experimental results show that the proposed methods, in a state-of-the-art video codec, such as high efficiency video coding, can provide significant coding gains (average 6.9% and 4.5% bitrate reductions for intra and random-access coding, respectively).

The citrus canning industry generates large quantities of processing water rich in phytochemical compounds during the sequential acidic and alkaline removal of the citrus segments membrane. However, this processing water was discharged as an effluent causing high chemical oxygen demand (COD). In the present research, a pilot scale process was designed to simultaneously recover pectin and a low molecular weight (Mw) fraction. The pectin was stable in yield and showed a relatively high content of galacturonic acid (∼60%) throughout the production season. The low Mw fraction was rich in oligosaccharides (∼11 mg/mL) and flavonoids (∼3 mg/mL). Oral intake of the low Mw fraction could remarkably inhibit the growing of human non-small cell lung cancer PC-9 cells in nude mice. After treatment, the COD of the water was reduced by more than 95%, allowing more economical disposal of the wastewater. It is estimated that a citrus canning factory could retrieve about 110 tons of pectin in a production season, in addition to large amounts of low Mw fraction. Such an approach to recover valuable compounds from processing water is both beneficial for the environment and economy.

With the wide application of RNA-Seq technology, thousands of circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been identified in different type of tissues and cells in many organisms, but little is known on the human aortic valve expressed circRNAs. In this study, we identified all circRNAs in two calcified human aortic valves, and characterized the features of all circRNAs. A total of 5476 circRNAs were identified in human aortic valves, including 1412 (25.79%) aortic valve specific circRNAs. Next, we showed that most aortic valve specific circRNAs were derived from the exonic regions of their host genes, and majority of the host genes contained less than three circRNAs. To predict the potential function of aortic valve specific circRNAs, we performed the GO (Gene Ontology) and KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) enrichment analysis for the host genes, and identified both microRNA (miRNA) and RNA binding protein (RBP) binding sites inside aortic valve specific circRNAs. Results showed that these host genes were involved in some aortic valve related function pathways, such as ECM-receptor interaction pathway, ErbB signaling pathway, and vascular smooth muscle contraction pathway. We also found that most aortic valve specific circRNAs harbored abundant miRNA response elements (MREs), and some aortic valve specific circRNAs could bind to RBP of interest. Functional analysis suggested that these aortic valve specific circRNAs could act as post-transcriptional regulators.

Canned citrus segments are popularly consumed worldwide with a large global market. However, the production needs chemical treatment to remove segments membranes, producing a large amount of acidic and basic effluents with very high chemical oxygen demand (COD), causing serious environmental problems. This research is focused on the plant scale recovery of pectic polysaccharides from the above acidic and basic processing water to decrease COD and develop a new product, through steps including water reuse (alternative), two-step filtration, concentration, ethanol precipitation and ethanol recovery. The yields of polysaccharides were 0.30% and 0.45% (w/v) from reused acidic and basic water, respectively, dramatically decreasing the COD by ∼75% from ∼10,000 mg/L, and having a great estimated output value of ∼$1.8 million annually for each factory. Polysaccharides from acidic water mainly contains homogalacturonan regions with ∼50% degree of esterification, whereas that from basic water was dominated with rhamnogalacturonan I regions with almost no esterification. The high viscosity of these branching polysaccharides, combined with gelling experiment results, suggested that both polysaccharides might be potential food thickening and gelling agents with large benefits to both the environment and the economy.