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To investigate the effect of salt stress on the germination of sesame, a mixed salt solution of sodium chloride and calcium chloride was used as the culture medium to analyze the changes and correlations in growth characteristics, total phenolic content, total flavone content, antioxidant capacity, and antioxidant enzyme activity during the germination process of sesame. The results showed that salt stress could promote sesame germination and the accumulation of phenol and flavone, and improve the ABTS+ free radicals scavenging rate and the iron ion reduction ability of sesame. The effect of salt stress on antioxidant enzyme activity varied by enzyme species, and the treatment had a more obvious promoting effect on SOD and CAT activities compared with APX and POD activities. The correlation analysis results demonstrated that the total phenol of sesame cultured under salt stress was positively correlated with its total flavonoids, ABTS+ free radical scavenging rate, iron ion reducing ability, and POD enzyme activity. The correlation between total phenol and iron ion reducing ability, SOD activity and DPPH and hydroxyl radical scavenging ability, POD activity and iron ion reducing ability of sesame was enhanced by salt stress treatment. This study could lay a foundation for further deciphering the physiological mechanism of salt stress on sesame germination, and provide theoretical basis for the development of sesame functional foods.

Jujube has a history of being used as both food and herbal medicine in China for thousands of years. Its nutritional value has long been recognized, as it contains various health-promoting bioactive components. Jujube polysaccharides are one of the major bioactive constituents. Extensive studies have shown that jujube polysaccharides exert multiple biological activities, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, immune regulatory, anti-fatigue, liver-protective, blood sugar-lowering, and blood lipid-lowering effects, through different or synergistic mechanisms. This article provides an overview of the physicochemical properties and structure-activity relationship of jujube polysaccharides, and summarizes the research progress on the bioactivity and mechanisms of jujube polysaccharides, both domestically and internationally in recent years. Based on these findings, the therapeutic potential of jujube polysaccharides for various diseases is discussed, aiming to provide references for further research and the development of related medicinal treatments involving jujube polysaccharides.

In order to explore the effect of edible dock powder on the quality of dough and noodles, edible dock powder (0~40%) was added to wheat flour, and the effects of different proportions of mixed powder on gelatinization properties, thermodynamic properties, rheological properties of dough and noodle quality characteristics were investigated. The results showed that when the addition amount of edible dock powder was 20%, the expansion potential of the mixed powder changed the most, from 7.44 g/g to 11.52 g/g, when the addition amount of edible dock powder was 40%, the retrogradation value of the mixed powder decreased from 1303 cP to 399 cP. The addition amount of edible dock powder was positively correlated with the viscoelastic modulus of dough and negatively correlated with cooking quality. When the addition amount of edible dock powder was 10%, the cooking loss rate of noodles was 3.28%, the elasticity and chewiness were 14.68 and 2519.94 g, respectively, which were not significantly different from those of pure wheat noodles (P>0.05). When the addition ratio exceeded 20%, the cooking loss rate of noodles increased sharply. Therefore, the quality of noodles was the best when the addition amount of edible dock powder was 10%. This study provides a new idea for the development and application of edible dock powder in the food industry.

In order to improve the yield and quality of tiger nut oil, the strategy of ultrasonic-assisted n-hexane was studied by response surface methodology. In this study, the total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, free radical scavenging rate, fatty acid composition, and 1,1-diphenyl-2-trinitrophenylhydrazine (DPPH) clearance rate in oil samples were investigated at three temperatures including 25 ℃ (room temperature), 47 ℃ (optimal temperature for ultrasound assisted extraction), and 60 ℃ (high temperature). The results showed that a high tiger nut oil extraction yield of 25.01%±0.03% was obtained at a solid-liquid ratio of 1:15 (g/mL), ultrasonic time of 20 min, ultrasonic temperature of 47 ℃, and particle size of 70 mesh. The obtained oil sample was yellow-orange and slightly turbid with a unique aroma of beans. Besides, tiger nut oil had a certain scavenging effect on DPPH free radicals. Ultrasound could better dissolve the nutrients in tiger nut, but it had a large destruction effect on tiger nut flavonoids, while the content of phenolic acids significantly (P

Modern food is evolving in the direction of green, healthy, and convenient products, and developing natural products with health benefits is an important direction for the food industry. Chlorella is rich in nutrients, such as carotene and fatty acids, which provide it with a variety of health benefits, and therefore widely used in the food industry as a health or functional food. This study reviews the research progress and specific applications of Chlorella in health, functional, and other foods, and expounds on the bottlenecks faced in the use of Chlorella in food industry. This review provides a theoretical basis for the research, utilisation, and production of new food materials involving Chlorella.

In recent years, the production of prepared and frozen foods has increased with economic development. However, during freezing, moisture migration forms ice crystals that damage food structure and reduce quality. This study investigates moisture migration changes in pre-fermented dough during frozen storage and effectiveness of Citrus fibre (CF) and Soya dietary fibre (SDF) on quality improvement. Pre-fermented frozen dough properties were evaluated at different freezing storage days with CF and SDF. Results showed frozen storage reduced water retention, converting deeply bound water to weakly bound and free water. Freezable water content increased significantly from 53% (fresh) to 56.95% (60d-control), forming disruptive ice crystals in gluten protein structure. SDF had superior water flow restriction compared to CF, preventing large ice crystal accumulation, enhancing water-holding capacity, and maintaining gluten protein structure. These findings lay a theoretical foundation for improving quality and industrial applications of pre-fermented frozen dough.

Continuum manipulators can conform to curvilinear paths and manipulate objects in complex environments, which makes it emerging to be applied in minimally invasive surgery (MIS). However, different and controllable operating stiffness of the continuum manipulator is required during different stages of surgery to achieve safe access or stable and precise operation. This work proposes an operating stiffness controller (OSC) for the typical tendon-driven continuum manipulator based on the variable impedance control method with Lagrangian dynamic modeling. This controller can adjust the operating stiffness by modifying the driving forces along the driving tendons of the continuum manipulator without changing its material or structure. The proposed OSC converts the damping and stiffness matrices of the impedance control into variable parameters. This merit allows it to dynamically adjust the operating stiffness of the continuum manipulator according to the desired constant or time-varying stiffness. Furthermore, the OSC stability can be proven based on a Lyapunov function, and its stiffness control performances have been analyzed and evaluated in both simulations and experiments. The OSC controller generated average relevant error values of 7.82% and 3.09% for the operating stiffness control experiments with constant and time-varying desired stiffness, respectively. These experimental results indicate that the OSC has high accuracy, stability, and strong robustness in the operating stiffness control tasks.