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BACKGROUND: Vacuum packaging has the ability to reduce oxidative deterioration and microbial‐induced spoilage of meat. However, in an oxygen‐free environment, it can lead to the development of an unappealing purplish‐red color and a decrease in the water‐holding capacity of meat, thereby impacting the overall meat quality. Portulaca oleracea L. (POL) is a homology of medicine and food known for its exceptional antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. RESULTS: The aim of our present study was to investigate the antioxidant and antimicrobial ability of n‐butanol phase extract of POL and the effect of POL extract incorporation on the quality (water‐holding capacity, shear force, color, and texture) and physicochemical (pH, total volatile base nitrogen, and total viable counts) attributes of vacuum‐packed seasoned steaks at 4 °C over a 15‐day period. Results showed that the POL extract had excellent antioxidant and antimicrobial capacity. Furthermore, the addition of POL extract significantly inhibited protein oxidation and microbial growth of steaks (P < 0.05), and improved the water‐holding capacity, color properties, and tenderness (P < 0.05). Moreover, there were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in the color, water‐holding capacity, or tenderness between the 0.5 and 1 g kg−1 POL extract treatment groups compared to the sodium nitrite control group. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that POL extract had the potential to replace sodium nitrite due to its ability to hinder protein oxidation and microbial growth of vacuum‐packed seasoned steaks, while enhancing the color, water‐holding capacity, and tenderness of seasoned steaks. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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BACKGROUND: Myosin is the most important component of myofibrillar protein, with excellent gelling properties. To date, heating treatment remains the mainstream method for forming gel in meat products, and it has the most extensive application in the field of meat industry. However, at present, there are few reports on the effects of heating rates on myosin self‐assembly and aggregation behavior during heating treatment. RESULTS: The present study aimed to investigate the effects of different heating rates (1, 2, 3 and 5 °C min−1) on the self‐assembly behavior, physicochemical, structural and gelling properties of myosin. At the lowest heating rate of 1 °C min−1, the myosin gel had a dense microstructure, the highest elastic modulus (G′) and water holding capacity compared to higher heating rates (2, 3 and 5 °C min−1). At higher temperatures (40, 45 °C), the surface hydrophobicity, turbidity, particle size distribution and self‐assembly behavior of myosin in pre‐gelling solutions showed that myosin had sufficient time to denature, underwent full structure unfolding before aggregation at the heating rate of 1°C min−1, and formed regular and homogeneous spherical aggregates. Therefore, the myosin gel also had a better three‐dimensional network. CONCLUSION: The heating rates had an important effect on the quality of myosin gels, and had theoretical implications for improving the quality of meat gel products. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to assess the level and determinants of the general public's willingness to organ donation. We conducted a population‐based cross‐sectional study of 4261 participants in China. The primary outcome was the willingness to donate organs. Logistic regression modelling was used to determine the factors that affect willingness to donate organs. Overall, the proportion of participants who showed a willingness to donate organs was 47.45% (95%CI: 0.46, 0.49) in this study. Logistic regression modelling showed participants from Western (OR = 1.33, 95%CI = 1.11‐1.59) and Eastern China (OR = 1.40, 95%CI = 1.19‐1.65) were more willing to donate organs compared with those from Central China. The odds of being willing to donate organs was higher in females than males (OR = 1.35, 95%CI = 1.17‐1.55); and was higher in those participants with experience of organ donation (OR = 1.58, 95%CI = 1.13‐2.21), experience of caring for organ transplant patients (OR = 1.45, 95%CI = 1.01‐2.07), and those undertaking related voluntary activities (OR = 1.67, 95%CI = 1.45‐1.94), than those without. The general public's level of willingness to organ donation was not high in this study. Geographical region, gender, experience of organ donation related activities, taking care of organ transplant patients and volunteering in related activities were independently associated with participants' willingness to donate organs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium‐sulfur batteries possess great prospects in next‐generation energy‐storage devices though there are still some tough challenges currently. In this paper, MnO‐inlaid hierarchically porous carbon hybrid is prepared by a one‐pot solid‐state method and followed with annealing treatment. The MnO nanoparticles are synthesized via glucose‐derived carbon reduction with salt as the template. The resultant carbon‐coated MnO, which owns a hierarchical porous structure, benefits to alleviate the shuttle effect of lithium‐sulfur battery and immobilize the soluble polysulfide to improve the electrochemical performance by both physical limitation and chemisorption. As a result, the cathode MnO‐PC/S reveals a high initial discharge capacity of 1384 mAh g−1 at 0.2 C and a high retention capacity of 593 mAh g−1 over 200 cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ralstonia solanacearum releases a set of effectors into plant cells that modify the host defence reaction. The role of the effector protein RipI during infection has not been elucidated. In this study, we demonstrated that transient overexpression of RipI induces the hypersensitive response (HR), up‐regulating the HR marker gene hin1, in Nicotiana benthamiana. Deletion of R. solanacearum ripI led to increased virulence in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants. Through yeast two‐hybrid and pull‐down assays, we identified an interaction between the N. benthamiana transcription factor bHLH93 and RipI, both of which could be localized in the nucleus of Arabidopsis protoplasts. Silencing of bHLH93 markedly attenuated the RipI‐induced HR and induced expression of the PDF1.2 defence gene. These data demonstrate that the R. solanacearum effector RipI induces a host defence reaction by interacting with the bHLH93 transcription factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objectives: Yellowed rice results in serious economic losses to grain industry. This study attempted to profile the volatile metabolites in before‐ and after‐yellowing rice of five Chinese common rice cultivars. Application untargeted metabolomics approach to discover the biomarkers in yellowed rice. Findings: The volatile metabolites were detected by headspace‐gas chromatography–ion mobility spectrometry (HS‐GC‐IMS) and headspace solid‐phase microextraction–gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry (HS‐SPME‐GC‐MS). Yellowed rice emitted more aldehydes, alcohols, furan, and less ester than white rice. Partial least squares‐discriminant analysis (PLS‐DA) based on GC‐MS and GC‐IMS data was revealed a good classifying tool for white and yellowed rice. Hexanal, nonanal, octanal, 1‐pentanol, and 2‐pentyl‐furan were selected as the potential markers by the variable importance in projection (VIP) variable selection method. All of these markers were associated with fatty acid oxygenation. Conclusions: Comparative analysis and biomarker identification of the volatile metabolites of different cultivars of Chinese yellowed rice lay a foundation for research on yellowing mechanism. Significance and novelty: The results of the current study provide a useful basis in the rice yellowing mechanism study. Additionally, a rapid rice aroma analysis method using GC‐IMS was developed. So in the future, yellowed rapid reorganization GC‐IMS technology could be a preferred choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new route for obtaining N‐doped carbon nanosheets through an in situ solid‐state thermal organic–inorganic polymerization and carbonization method, with glucose and melamine as precursors, due to different temperature intervals for glucose or melamine polymerization, is reported. At a current rate of 0.2 C, as a cathode for a lithium–sulfur cell, the N‐doped carbon nanosheet/sulfur hybrid delivers a high capacity of 1313 and 722 mA h g−1 in the 1st and 200th cycles, respectively; these values are over 40 % higher than that of cells with glucose‐derived carbon nanosheets. So solid route: Organic–inorganic bipolymeric engineering is used to obtain hierarchical porous N‐doped carbon nanosheets as a result of different polymerization temperatures of precursors (see figure). As a cathode for a lithium–sulfur cell, the N‐doped carbon nanosheet/sulfur hybrid delivers a high capacity with good stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Xanthomonas citri ssp. citri, a polar flagellated bacterium, causes citrus canker disease worldwide. In this study, we found that the X. citri ssp. citri response regulator VemR plays a regulatory role in flagellum‐derived cell motility. Deletion of the vemR gene resulted in a reduction in cell motility, as well as reductions in virulence and exopolysaccharide production. Reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) demonstrated that vemR is transcribed in an operon together with rpoN2 and fleQ. In the vemR mutant, the flagellar distal rod gene flgG was significantly down‐regulated. Because flgG is also rpoN2 dependent, we speculated that VemR and RpoN2 physically interact, which was confirmed by yeast two‐hybrid and maltose‐binding protein (MBP) pull‐down assays. This suggested that the transcription of flgG is synergistically controlled by VemR and RpoN2. To confirm this, we constructed a vemR and rpoN2 double mutant. In this mutant, the reductions in cell motility and flgG transcription were unable to be restored by the expression of either vemR or rpoN2 alone. In contrast, the expression of both vemR and rpoN2 together in the double mutant restored the wild‐type phenotype. Together, our data demonstrate that the response regulator VemR functions as an RpoN2 cognate activator to positively regulate the transcription of the rod gene flgG in X. citri ssp. citri. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multiresidue method for the determination of 12 glucocorticoids (clobetasol propionate, budesonide, triamcinolone, triamcinolone acetonide, fludrocortisone acetate, flumethasone, beclomethasone, prednisone acetate, 6-α-methylprednisolone, hydrocortisone, cortisone, and prednisone) in bovine milk was developed using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. Isoflupredone was used as an internal standard. Milk samples were treated with ethyl acetate to extract glucocorticoids and were frozen at −20°C for 6 h to precipitate fat. The extract was dried under nitrogen, and residues were dissolved in an acetonitrile/water solution. A further clean-up step was used by dispersive solid-phase extraction, with octadecyl silica and primary secondary amine as the absorbents. The recoveries of glucocorticoids spiked at 0.5, 1.0, 10.0 μg/kg ranged from 75.7 to 117.3%, except for clobetasol propionate and budesonide (16.1-49.5%). The limits of quantification were 0.01-0.5 μg/kg in milk. This method has been successfully applied in real samples. The results demonstrated that this method is simple, robust, and suitable for identification of glucocorticoid residues in milk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]