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Duck circovirus (DuCV) is one of the most prevalent infectious viruses in the duck industry in China. Although the clinical symptoms vary, it often causes immunosuppression in the host and leads to secondary infection with other pathogens. Fowl adenovirus serotype 4 (FAdV-4) mainly infects chickens and causes hydropericardium hepatitis syndrome. However, the incidence of infection in ducks has increased in recent years, and the phenomenon of mixed infection with DuCV is very common, resulting in more severe clinical morbidity. However, there is no systematic study evaluating the presence of mixed infection. To explore the synergistic pathogenicity of DuCV and FAdV-4 co-infection in Cherry Valley ducks, a comparative experiment was established between DuCV and FAdV-4 co-infection and single infection animal models. It was found that DuCV and FAdV-4 co-infected ducks showed more pronounced clinical signs of pericardial effusion, hepatitis and immunosuppression; more severe tissue damage in target organs; and more significant levels of viral load, biochemical indicators and immune indicators in various organs compared with Cherry Valley ducks infected with just one virus. The results showed that co-infection with DuCV and FAdV-4 may promote greater viral replication, causing more severe tissue damage and immunosuppression than infection with just one virus. Therefore, the monitoring and prevention of the two viruses should be strengthened clinically, with a particular focus on the potential harm of DuCV as it carries the highest infection rate. • A model building method was used to simulate the pathogenicity of DuCV and FAdV-4 coinfection. • DuCV and FAdV-4 co-infection caused more severe pathogenicity than the presence of just one infection. • DuCV and FAdV-4 co-infection synergistically promotes the replication of both viruses. • DuCV and FAdV-4 co-infection causes more severe lymphocyte damage in the duck population than in the groups infected by either virus alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yam (Dioscorea spp.), known as an edible and medicinal tuber crop in China, has been used historically for the treatment of diabetes, diarrhea, asthma, and other ailments in traditional Chinese medicine. Moreover, it has been consumed as starchy food for thousands of years in China. Modern phytochemistry and pharmacological experiments have been proved that non-starch polysaccharide is one of the main bioactive substances of yam. Many studies have been focused on the isolation and identification of polysaccharides and their bioactivities of Chinese yam. However, due to the difference in the variety of raw materials and the method of polysaccharides extracting, the structure and biological activity of the obtained polysaccharides also differ. It has been demonstrated that Chinese yam polysaccharide has various important biological activities, such as hypoglycemia, immunomodulatory, antioxidant, and antitumor activities. This paper is aimed at summarizing previous and current references of the isolation processes, structural features and bioactivities of yam polysaccharides. The review will serve as a useful reference material for further investigation and application of yam polysaccharides in functional foods and medicine fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, volatile components of 40 Chinese fermented vinegar samples, made from different raw materials, starters, and processing technologies, were collected from different geographic origins in China (Shanxi, Jiangsu, Sichuan, and Fujian Province) and their volatile components were analyzed by headspace-solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Sixty-two aroma compounds have been identified by NIST library combined with retention index, mainly including esters, heterocyclics, acids, aldehydes, and ketones. In addition, multivariate analysis including principal component analysis and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were carried out to discriminate vinegars based on their composition of volatile components. For PLS-DA models, analysis of variance (ANOVA) or variable importance in the projection (VIP) value were used to select variables with the highest discriminatory power, and the Kennard-Stone algorithm was used to select the training and testing samples. The PLS-DA models (ANOVA or VIP) all provided a classification accuracy of 100% for the training set, and subsequent application of these models allowed the grouping of unknown samples (testing set) according to their characteristics (raw materials and processing technology). PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Traditional Chinese vinegars have a long history but nowadays adulterations of them are becoming a problem in the market. In this study, Chinese fermented vinegars from different varieties were identified based on volatile composition. We found that starter cultures and fermentation process have the greatest influence on the volatile components of vinegars, while the influence of raw material and steaming of raw material are weaker volatile components. Then, partial least squares-discriminant analysis models, we carried out could successfully be applied to predict unknown vinegar samples based on a database of volatile components. This study provided a strategy to detect the identity of different vinegars, which can also be used to monitor the quality and safety of traditional Chinese vinegars., (© 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

According to the Chinese traditional black jelly production process, a critical step to ensure the quality of jelly is to add alkali to it. In this study, the effects of sodium carbonate (Na 2 CO 3 ) and sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO 3 ) on the pasting, rheological, textural, and structural properties of sweet potato starch (SPS)-Mesona chinensis Benth polysaccharide (MCP) gels were evaluated. Adding Na 2 CO 3 at low concentration reduced the final viscosity (FV) of SPS-MCP gels, whereas adding it at a high concentration increased the FV. Adding NaHCO 3 can increase the FV of SPS-MCP gels in a concentration-dependent manner. Rheological results indicated that adding NaHCO 3 at a low concentration decreased the storage modulus of SPS-MCP gels, whereas adding it at a high concentration increased the storage modulus. The storage modulus of SPS-MCP gels increased with increasing concentration of NaHCO 3 . The addition of Na 2 CO 3 and NaHCO 3 improved the textural properties of SPS-MCP gels and decreased the water mobility. Infrared results indicated that adding alkali can enhance the hydrogen bonding between SPS and MCP. Scanning electron microscopy results suggested that alkali can reduce the size of gels, and make the structure more compact., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A new assay of identifying wines was developed based on fingerprints of three-dimensional fluorescence spectra, and 30 samples from different manufacturers were analyzed. The techniques of principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were used to differentiate and evaluate the character parameters of wines' three-dimensional fluorescence spectra. At the same time, the back-propagation network (BPN) was applied to predict the attribution of unknown samples. The results of PCA and HCA showed that there was definite different information among the wine samples from different manufacturers. It was promising that the method could be applied to distinguish wine samples produced by different manufacturers. The proposed method could provide the criterion for the quality control of wines., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)