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The effects of bran types and solid-state fermentation conditions on the enzyme activity of bran-koji inoculated with Penicillium oxalicum M1816 were investigated, and the bran-koji with the highest enzyme activity was applied to Huangjiu production to evaluate its effects on the phenolic content, physicochemical indexes, and sense of Huangjiu. The results showed that when the diameter of bran was 20-mesh, the enzyme activity of bran-koji was corn bran>wheat bran>oat bran>rye bran. The highest enzyme activity in corn bran-koji was achieved under the following conditions: Glacial acetic acid was used to adjust the pH of the solid medium to 6.5, the initial moisture content of the bran-koji was 85% (V/W), the incubation temperature was 30 ℃, and the incubation time was 120 h. Compared with factory Huangjiu, the total amount of phenolic acids in the Huangjiu produced by adding corn bran-koji was 116.48 mg/L, which increased to 1.1-folds in comparison with that of the Huangjiu produced by adding no-corn bran-koji (55.53 mg/L). The volatile phenolic compounds of 4-ethylphenol, 4-ethylguaiacol, 4-vinylguaiacol, guaiacol, and vanillin were increased significantly (P

In the realm of metal mine tailings management, enhancing the performance of Cemented Lithium Feldspar Tailings Backfill Composites (CTBC) is highly crucial. This study delved into the influence of fiber on the flexural strength of CTBC. Employing orthogonal three-point bending tests and numerical simulations, it examined how fiber type, content, solid content, and the cement-to-tailings ratio (c/t) affected CTBC flexural strength and post-peak toughness. Findings demonstrated that fiber content and c/t notably influenced flexural strength, with c/t being more significant (weights of 1.78 and 7.04 respectively via range). The flexural strength of CTBC changed with fiber content and c/t, and 70 % was the optimal solid content. PVA fibers exhibited the best enhancement. The yield deflection of fiber-reinforced CTBC exceeded that at the peak, and post-peak toughness was mainly affected by fiber content and type (relative values 2.25 and 3.625). CTBC beams cracked prior to peak load, and fiber addition postponed crack extension. The fitting model boasted high prediction reliability (correlation coefficients for flexural strength, deflection, and peak load regression models were 1, 0.988, and 0.999 respectively; correction coefficients were 1, 0.987, and 0.999 respectively)

In this work, the blueberry candied syrup was separated and purified by microfiltration combined with macroporous resin technology to recover anthocyanins. Firstly, the macroporous resin was screened through static test. On the basis of single factor and Box-Behnken response surface tests, the flow rate, ethanol concentration and elution flow rate were optimized with anthocyanin recovery rate and total sugar removal rate as indexes in the dynamic test. The result showed that the anthocyanin content and the total sugar content were 6.84 mg/100 mL and 31.76 mg/mL respectively. Among AB-8, D101 and HPD 600 resins, AB-8 was optimized for the purification of anthocyanins from blueberry candied syrup, and the best technological conditions for the purification of anthocyanins by macroporous resin were as follows: The flow rate was 2.0 mL/min, the ethanol concentration was 83%, and the elution flow rate was 2.0 mL/min. Under these conditions, the anthocyanin recovery rate was 86.68%, and the total sugar removal rate was 84.13%. After the anthocyanin desorbing solution was concentrated by rotation evaporation, the concentration of anthocyanin was 5.56 mg/100 mL, and the total sugar concentration was 5.24 mg/mL. The color value of anthocyanins was 31.43, which was about 5 times of the color value of anthocyanins in raw materials. Microfiltration combined with macroporous resin purification of blueberry candied syrup anthocyanin was effective, and this study provides some technical reference for the isolation and purification of blueberry anthocyanin.

In addition to containing rich nutrients and biologically active substances, the pulses contain phytic acid, saponins, trypsin inhibitors, lectins and other anti-nutritional factors, which have multiple types and entail complex detection processes, with different detection capabilities required. In certain treatment methods, their structures can be destroyed, and their content can be lowered, furthermore, the nutrients in pulses can be preserved to the maximum extent during processing. This paper evaluates the detection methods of anti-nutritional factors in detail, analyzes and compares the advantages, disadvantages, applicability and sensitivity of different detection methods, and introduces the principles, processes, inhibition effects, advantages and disadvantages of several common anti-nutritional factor elimination methods, focuses mainly on heat treatment. This study aims to provide some references for the analytical method selection, improvement and control of anti-nutritional factors in pulses.

Green insurance (GI), as an innovative product integrating environmental protection and the financial sector, not only contributes to improving regional environmental quality (EQ) but also enhances corporate environmental risk management and awareness, driving the flourishing development of green finance and the environmental protection industry. Therefore, understanding the relationship between GI and EQ is crucial. This article delves into the mechanisms through which GI influences EQ, proposing a hypothesis that suggests an inverted “U” shape impact. Subsequently, based on panel data from 30 provinces in China spanning from 2000 to 2021, nonlinear regression models and threshold regression models were constructed to test the hypothesis. The research findings indicate: (1) Results from the fixed-effects regression model demonstrate that the impact of GI on China’s EQ follows an inverted “U” shape. (2) Results from the threshold regression model also reveal an inverted “U” shape impact of GI on China’s EQ, with a threshold value of 2.196. (3) Economic level and industrial structure exhibit significant inhibitory effects on EQ improvement. Technological level and environmental regulations demonstrate notable promotional effects. Population size shows no significant impact on EQ improvement. The study identifies a nonlinear effect of GI on EQ improvement, surpassing existing linear effect research, deepening the understanding of its impact on EQ, and contributing to the enhancement of regional EQ.

In order to obtain the higher expression of cannabinoid acid synthase (CBDAS) through the microbial chassis, the recombinant enzyme for the in vitro synthesis of cannabinoid (CBD) was studied. The CBDAS gene was firstly cloned from cannabis leaves with higher content of CBD, its basic physicochemical properties of proteins were then analyzed by bioinformatics methods. After construction of the recombinant plasmid pPIC9K-CBDAS and transformation into Pichia pastoris, conditions of the recombinant protein CBDAS were optimized and its catalytic activities were finally analyzed. The results indicated that the constructed pPIC9K-CBDAS fusion protein expression system could be successfully expressed in P. pastoris. Under conditions of 1% of methanol addition, pH6.0 of medium, 48 h of induction, the maximum expression was obtained. At 4 h reaction, the product of cannabigerol acid (CBGA) was significantly increased, in which attributed to catalysis of substrate CBGA by the recombinant CBDAS. In the following, contents of CBD were significantly increased at 8 h (P

Salty peptides play vital roles in salt reduction of food as novel salt substitutes, especially for special people who need low-sodium food, and have a wide application prospect. Therefore, the preparation and development of salty peptides have become the focus of current research. In present review, plant-derived salty peptides are taken as the target, research necessity and structural characteristics, the mechanism of action of salty taste receptors such as ENaC, the structure-activity relationship between the structure and taste characteristics of salty peptides, the preparation technology, the separation, purification and identification technology, the application of plant-derived salty peptides are summarized, such as savory flavors, saltiness-enhanced cooking salt and savory enhancers. The review would lay a theoretical basis for promoting the mechanism research in depth and product development of plant-derived salty peptides.

Improving the performance and reducing the training cost of road extraction models in the absence of samples is important for updating road maps. Despite the success of recent road extraction models on standard datasets, they often fail to perform when applied to new datasets or real-world scenarios where labeled samples are not available. In this paper, our focus diverges from the typical quest to pinpoint the optimal road extraction model or evaluate generalization prowess across models. Instead, we propose a method called Asymmetric Consistent Co-Training (ACCT) to train existing road extraction models faster and make them perform better in new scenarios lacking samples. ACCT uses two models with different structures and a supervision module to enhance accuracy through mutual learning. Labeled and unlabeled images are processed by both models to generate road maps from different perspectives. The supervision module ensures consistency between predictions by computing losses based on labeling status. ACCT iteratively adjusts parameters using unlabeled data, improving generalization. Empirical evaluations show that ACCT improves IoU by 2.79% to 10.26% using only 1/8 of the labeled data compared to fully supervised methods. It also reduces parameters by over 49% compared to state-of-the-art semi-supervised methods while maintaining similar accuracy. These results highlight the potential of leveraging large amounts of unlabeled data to enhance road extraction models as data acquisition technology advances.

To address the public health challenges posed by high-salt diets, this study utilized pepsin and flavourzyme for the continuous enzymatic hydrolysis of a soy protein isolate (SPI). The separation, purification, and identification of salt-containing peptides in SPI hydrolysate were conducted using ultrafiltration (UF), gel filtration chromatography (GFC), and Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry/Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Subsequently, a molecular docking model was constructed between salt receptor protein transmembrane channel 4 (TMC4) and the identified peptides. Basic bioinformatics screening was performed to obtain non-toxic, non-allergenic, and stable salt peptides. After the enzymatic hydrolysis, separation, and purification of SPI, a component with a sensory evaluation score of 7 and an electronic tongue score of 10.36 was obtained. LC-MS/MS sequencing identified a total of 1697 peptides in the above component, including 84 potential salt-containing peptides. A molecular docking analysis identified seven peptides (FPPP, GGPW, IPHF, IPKF, IPRR, LPRR, and LPHF) with a strong theoretical salty taste. Furthermore, residues Glu531, Asp491, Val495, Ala401, and Phe405 of the peptides bound to the TMC4 receptor through hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic interactions, and electrostatic interactions, thereby imparting a significant salty taste. A basic bioinformatics analysis further revealed that IPHF, LPHF, GGPW, and IPKF were non-toxic, non-allergenic, and stable salt-containing peptides. This study not only provides a new sodium reduction strategy for the food industry, but also opens up new avenues for improving the public’s healthy eating habits.

In order to improve the content of resistant starch of light speckled kidney bean and reserve the other nutrients, an autoclaved method for preparing light speckled kidney bean with high resistant starch was studied. The essential nutrients, in vitro digestibility and structural characteristics of autoclaving light speckled kidney bean were evaluated. Results showed that, the process conditions of autoclaved method for preparing light speckled kidney bean with high resistant starch were optimized as follows: Autoclaving temperature 124 ℃, solid-liquid ratio 1:1.9 (g:g), retrograded time 73 h, and autoclaving time 24 min. Under the optimized conditions, the content of resistant starch was 35.63%, which was close to the corresponding theoretical value. An analysis on the structural characteristics showed that the original starch grains was changed significantly in morphology and in molecular crystal form, but no new group was generated. After autoclaving, the crude fat, crude protein in the light speckled kidney bean did not obviously changing, but the content of starch and resistant starch increased obviously (P

4-Hydroxy-2,5-dimethyl-3 (2H)-furanone (HDMF) is widely used in the food industry as a spice and flavoring agent with high market demand. In this study, fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase (FBA) and triose phosphate isomerase (TPI) were overexpressed in Zygosaccharomyces rouxii in the form of single and double genes, respectively, via electroporation. High-yield HDMF-engineered yeast strains were constructed by combining the analysis of gene expression levels obtained by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR technology and HDMF production measured by HPLC. The results showed that there was a significant positive correlation between the production of HDMF and the expression levels of the FBA and TPI genes in yeast; the expression levels of the FBA and TPI genes were also positively correlated (p

In order to investigate the in vitro digestion products of fat in the sorghum and rice mixture and its oxidative stability, sorghum and rice were compounded and cured in 1:4 and 1:1 mass ratios to simulate in vitro digestion. The fat digestion products of the sorghum and rice mixtures were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and their oxidative stability was investigated using lipid peroxide values and malondialdehyde concentrations as indicators. The results showed that, the 1:1 and 1:4 compounded rice contained 25 kinds of fatty acids after digestion by gastrointestinal fluid, of which the major fatty acids were palmitic, stearic, and linoleic acids. Unsaturated fatty acids accounted for 34.34% and 28.50% of the total. The contents of the essential fatty acids linoleic acid and α-linolenic acid were 91.41, 3.05 and 59.36, 1.83 μg/g, respectively. All were significantly higher than the rice group (P

To clarify the conditions and furanone production by Zygsoaccharomyces rouxii, the fermentation conditions by Z. rouxii QOR6 were optimized through single factor and orthogonal experiments. Then the types and relative contents of volatile aroma substances were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results showed that the fermentation temperature of 28 ℃, the initial pH of 4.2, the incubation speed of 180 r/min and the inoculation amount of 20×107 CFU/mL were the optimal conditions, in which the yield of HDMF reached 2.90 mg/L, 1.09 times higher than that of before optimization. There were 41 volatiles components in the fermentation broth, mainly including alcohols, aldehydes, esters, aromatics and hydrocarbons. Among them, alcohols indicated the highest content, accounting for 81.13% of the total volatiles. Other metabolites with higher relative contents were phenethylacetate (3.48%), formaldehyde (0.34%), 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol (8.77%), chloromethoxymethane (0.20%) and 3-ethyl-2,5-methylpyrazine (0.70%). This study might provide technical support for the application of the Z. rouxii in food.

The concentrated blueberry candied syrup and the whole milk sterilized pure milk were used as raw material to prepare set yoghurt. The influence of addition amount for blueberry candied syrup, sugar content, starter inoculation quantity and fermentation time on the yogurt sensory quality, whey exhalation rate and acidity were investigated. Furthermore, the response surface experiment was carried out on the basis of single factor experiment to optimize the set yoghurt preparation technological parameters. Then the texture parameters of yoghurt were compared with those of commercial yoghurt. The results showed that the optimal preparation technology of blueberry set yoghurt was as follows: The addition amount of concentrate blueberry candied syrup (concentration ratio 2 with the total sugar content 0.679 mg/mL) in the yoghurt 7%, custer sugar 4%, starter inoculation amount 0.6%, whey protein powder 2%, and fermentation control time 11 h. Under these conditions, the whey release rate was 12.43%, the acidity was 83.66°T and the sensory score reached the highest score 88.13. The blueberry set yoghurt was purple with strong frankincense and blueberry flavor. The hardness, cohesiveness and adhesiveness of this product were lower than those of commercially available fermented milk, but the water holding capacity was stronger. It was more delicate and refreshing, which tasted better than the commercially available products with thickening agent addition. In this study, the basic preparation conditions of set yoghurt of blueberry preserved fruit syrup were determined, which provided useful reference for improving the comprehensive utilization value of blueberry preserved fruit syrup and developing new fruity set yoghurt.

In order to give full play to the economic application value of Xinjiang Apocynum venetum and reduce the environmental pollution caused by the traditional chemical degumming process, a combination of biological and chemical method is used to degum Apocynum venetum. The orthogonal test method is used to explore the optimal parameters for the degumming process. The surface morphology, crystallinity, fineness, strength, moisture regain, and spinnability index of the fibers are tested after degumming. The results showed that after degumming, the fiber fineness was 4.97 dtex, the strength was 22.84 cN/dtex, the crystallinity was 74.5%, the moisture regain reached 7.7380%, and the spinnability was good.

Resistant starch is also called anti-enzymatic starch. Although it can not be digested and absorbed in the human small intestine, it can be fermented in the large intestine to produce short-chain fatty acids and their degradation products that are beneficial to the human body. Resistant starch not only has excellent physiological functions such as preventing intestinal disease, stabilizing blood glucose levels after meals, reducing cholesterol, and inhibiting fat accumulation, but also has unique food processing characteristics such as white color, high thermal stability, and low water holding capacity. So it is widely used in the food industry. In this paper, the physiological functions of resistant starch and its applications in food are reviewed in order to make further efforts to explore the potential application value of resistant starch in medicine, feed and other industries.

In this paper, the physical and chemical properties of Xinjiang Flax fiber were studied systematically, including mechanical properties by single fiber strength meter, average fineness of single fiber, qualitative and quantitative analysis of chemical composition by infrared spectrophotometer, crystallinity and orientation by X-ray diffractometer, and physical morphology by SEM. The results showed that the main chemical composition and content of Xinjiang Flax fiber were: 1.5969% of fatty wax, 6.6814% of water-soluble matter, 3.5058% of pectin, 17.5510% of hemicellulose and 2.1853% of lignin, the average breaking strength was 228.25cN, the average breaking elongation was 1.04 mm and the average breaking time was 2.09 s, and the average fineness of Xinjiang Flax single fiber was 49.43 μm. The fiber surface is rough and adheres to colloid. The internal molecular structure is relatively close, and the fiber macromolecules are arranged orderly in the crystallization zone, with the crystallinity of 77.5% and the orientation of 91.8%. The above data and analysis provide valuable theoretical basis for the degumming and high-quality yarn spinning of Xinjiang Flax, which is conducive to the further development of Xinjiang Flax.

In order to study the attenuation regularity of membrane flux in the process of forward osmosis (FO) concentration, the fouling rule of FO membrane affected by different parameters including ionic strength, BSA concentration in the feed and membrane orientation was studied with Bovine serum albumin (BSA) as the primary typical pollutants. In order to improve the membrane flux and rejection rate, the type and concentration of draw solution and the flow rate of feed solution were optimized and the appropriate membrane cleaning scheme was optimized. The results showed that the initial flux of FO membrane decreased with the increasing of ionic strength in feed solution, but the flux of FO membrane with BSA solution containing salt ions was higher than that of pure BSA solution as the running time went on. The lower the concentration of BSA, the lighter the membrane fouling was, and the water flux in FO mode (13.82±3.2 L/m2·h) was higher than that in PRO mode (5.08±2.1 L/m2·h), which indicated that FO mode should be adopted for concentration. Under the optimal operating conditions, the 1.5 mol/L NaCl as the draw solution and the flow rate of both feed and draw solution controlled at 2.89 m/s, FO flux was 11.23±2.13 L/m2·h, BSA retention rate was 97.83%, and reverse solute flux Js was 0.14 mol/m2·h. After the fouled membrane was immersed in 0.05% NaOH for 4 min, the flux recovery rate reached 98.39% and the flux recovery rate was still exceed 98% after reusing and cleaning many times, which indicated that the membrane had good cleaning resistance. This study would provide a certain technical reference for protein recovery from food materials.

Abstract As a major epigenetic modification, DNA methylation plays an important role in coordinating plant responses to environmental changes. Methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphism (MSAP) technology was used in this study to investigate the epigenetic diversity of fifty japonica rice samples from five regions in Heilongjiang Province, China. In addition, the phenotypic indicators of japonica rice samples and the environmental conditions of the sampling sites were investigated and analysed. Based on the MSAP analysis technique, using eight pairs of selective primers, we identified a total of 551 amplified loci, of which 267 (48.5%) were classified as methylation loci. The methylation status and levels of the japonica rice genome in different regions differed significantly (p

As a filling component of packaging materials, nano-cellulose can improve the mechanical properties and barrier properties of the materials, and can improve the thermal properties and degradation properties of composite materials. This article briefly introduces cellulose and nano-cellulose, focusing on the preparation methods of nano-cellulose (chemical method, biological method and physical mechanical method, etc.) and its application in food packaging materials (preservative and antibacterial packaging materials, active packaging materials and high barrier packaging materials, etc.). Finally, the research and development direction of nano-cellulose in the field of food packaging materials is prospected, with a view to provide theoretical support for the development of food packaging materials.

In order to study the nutritional changes of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) enrichment in adzuki bean germination, vacuum combined with monosodium glutamate (MSG) was used as the germination stress of adzuki bean. The nutrient transfer before and after GABA enrichment in adzuki bean germination under vacuum combined with MSG stress were studied by means of chromatography and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The antioxidant activity and hypoglycemic effect of different solvent extracts before and after germination of adzuki bean were evaluated by experiments in vitro. The results showed that the nutritional characteristics of adzuki bean rich in GABA changed significantly (P < 0.05), the total fatty acids decreased significantly (P < 0.05), and the 21 amino acids detected increased significantly. After germination, the starch granules of adzuki bean became smaller and the surface was rough Germination stress significantly increased the antioxidant and hypoglycemic activities of the extracts from different solvents (P < 0.05), and the water extracts had the best effect on DPPH and ⋅OH radical scavenging rates of 88.52 and 83.56%, respectively. The results indicated that the germinated adzuki bean rich in GABA was more nutritious than the raw adzuki bean and had good antioxidant activity. It hoped to provide technical reference for rich food containing GABA.

Buckwheat has beneficial effects on human intestinal health, which is often compounded with wheat to make food. Therefore, the effect of cereals mixture via in vitro fermentation on gut microbes and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were investigated in this study. The mixture of wheat and tartary buckwheat (WT) produced more lactate and acetate, and the mixture of wheat and sweet buckwheat (WE) produced more propionate and butyrate. Compared with wheat (WA), the relative abundance of some beneficial bacteria significantly increased, such as Sutterella in WT and Faecalibacterium in WE. Cereals mixture also affected the expression of functional genes, involved in metabolic pathways and carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) that modulated SCFAs generation. This study provides new insights into the effects of sweet and tartary buckwheat on intestinal function, which is beneficial to applying both types of buckwheat in practical.

As a new and clean extraction technology, ultrasonic extraction has been demonstrated with great potential in the preparation of modified starch. In order to increase its added value, it is necessary to modify pea starch to enlarge its application. In this study, the efficiency of combining ultrasonic with alkali in the extraction of pea starch was evaluated and compared to conventional alkali extraction. Ultrasonic-assisted alkali extraction conditions were optimized using single-factor experiments and response surface methodology. The results revealed that maximum yield of pea starch (54.43 %) was achieved using ultrasound-assisted alkali extraction under the following conditions: sodium hydroxide solution with a concentration of 0.33 %, solid/alkali solution ratio of 1:6 (w/v), ultrasonic power of 240 W, temperature of 42 °C, and extraction time of 22 min. The ultrasound-assisted alkali extraction yielded 13.72 % greater pea starch than conventional alkali extraction. On the other hand, morphological, structural, and physicochemical properties of the obtained starch isolates were evaluated. The ultrasound-assisted alkali extraction resulted in pea starch with greater amylose content, water-solubility, swelling power, and viscosity compared with conventional alkali extraction. Furthermore, ultrasonication influenced the morphological properties of pea starch granules, while the molecular structure and crystal type were not affected. Moreover, the ultrasonic-assisted extraction produced starch with a slightly greater resistant starch content. Therefore, ultrasonic-assisted extraction can be suggested as a potential method for extracting pea starch with improved functional properties.

Abstract Fabric with efficient sweat release and heat dissipation is highly desirable in a broad range of applications. However, creating such materials still remains a tough challenge. Here, inspired by the root pressure water of Populus euphratica and jade heat dissipation, a three‐layer composite fabric (T‐CF) for highly efficient personal drying and cooling is presented. The obtained T‐CF is formed by three individual layers with designed functions. The inner layer, middle layer, and surface layer are composed of cool polyester yarns, cool polyester/bamboo composite yarns, and bamboo yarns, respectively, to form a wetting gradient property. The biomimetic design offers the fabric with promising advantages, such as the unidirectional water conductivity of 800.34%, the water evaporation rate of 0.2611 g h−1, the instantaneous contact cool feeling of 0.186 ± 0.009 w cm−2, and the maximum cool temperature in wet state of 4.74 °C. Consequently, the T‐CF not only has good moisture absorption and moisture conduction, but also has heat dissipation and a certain sense of contact cooling. It is believed that the strategy reported in this work can provide a facile route for new‐generation functional fabric development regarding human health management.

Abstract Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) refers to the enlargement of the lower artery of the abdominal aorta, and identification of an early detection tool is urgently needed for diagnosis. In the current study, an interdigitated electrode (IDE) sensing surface was used to identify miRNA-335-5p, which reflects the formation of AAAs. The uniformity of the silica material was observed by 3D profilometry, and the chemically modified highly conductive surface improved the detection via the I-V mode. The targeted miRNA-335-5p was detected in a dose-dependent manner and based on linear regression and 3σ analyses, the sensitivity was determined to be 1 fM with a biotinylated probe. The high specificity was shown by discriminating the target sequence from noncomplementary and single- and triple-mismatched sequences. These outputs demonstrated the high-performance detection of miRNA-335-5p with good reproducibility for determination of the severity of AAA.

ObjectivesIn this study, the effects of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-rich sprouted adzuki beans on the glycolipid metabolism and gastrointestinal health were investigated in mice with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).MethodsMice with T2DM were subjected to dietary intervention with different doses of GABA-rich sprouted adzuki beans for 6 consecutive weeks, during which growth indicators, glycolipid metabolism, and the composition and diversity of the gut microbiota changes were observed.ResultsA high dietary intake of GABA-rich sprouted adzuki beans had a preventive effect against weight gain, significantly reduced serum levels of FBG, TG, and TC. Additionally, high dietary intake of GABA-rich sprouted adzuki beans increased the abundances of Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Verrucomicrobia, and Akkermansia, leading to a shift in the structure of the gut microbiota toward the dominance of probiotics with regulatory effects on glycolipid metabolism.ConclusionsGABA-rich sprouted adzuki beans can effectively control the bodyweight of mice with T2DM, maintain a balanced blood glucose level, improve glycolipid metabolism and the changes in the microbiota may mediate the anti-diabetic effect of sprouted adzuki beans.

Fresh rice (Oryza sativa ssp. japonica) at the medium-milk stage is rich in soluble dietary fiber (SDF), leading to potential effects on type 2 diabetes (T2D). In this study, we analyzed each monosaccharide, the relative molecular weight, and the molecular linkages of fresh rice (grain, stem, husk, and leaf) SDF. The examined fresh rice leaf SDF consisted of 31.9% glucose, 35.7% galactose, 15.3% arabinose, 11.7% mannose, and a small amount of rhamnose and xylose. The molecular weight (Mw) was 232.5±19.1×104 u, and the radius of gyration (Rg) was 298.8±25.4 nm. The glycosidic bonds consisted mainly of Araf and Glc/Gal and included 1,3-Araf, 1,5-Araf, and 3,5-Araf glycosidic bonds. The effect of fresh rice leaf SDF on insulin resistance (IR) in HepG2 cells showed that it could significantly enhance glucose consumption (P

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is one of the most common metabolic diseases, and exploring strategies to prevent and treat diabetes has become extremely important. In recent decades the search for new therapeutic strategies for T2DM involving dietary interventions has attracted public attention. We established a diabetic mouse model by feeding mice a high-fat diet combined with injection of low-dose streptozotocin, intending to elucidate the effects and possible mechanisms of different dosages of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-rich germinated adzuki beans on the treatment of diabetes in mice. The mice were treated for 6 weeks either with increasing doses of GABA-enriched germinated adzuki beans, with non-germinated adzuki beans, with GABA, or with the positive control drug metformin. Then, the blood glucose levels and blood lipid biochemical indicators of all the mice were measured. At the same time, serum differential metabolite interactions were explored by UPLC-Q/TOF-MS-based serum metabolomic analysis. The results showed that body weight and fasting blood glucose levels were significantly reduced (P < 0.05). We also report improved levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, urea, and serum creatinine. We observed a significant improvement in the homeostasis model assessment of the beta cell function and insulin resistance (HOMA-β and HOMA-IR) scores (P < 0.05) in the group of mice treated with the highest dose of GABA-enriched germinated adzuki beans. In addition, the metabolic profiles of the serum were analyzed, and 31 differential metabolites including amino acids and lipids were obtained. According to the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis, this was found to be correlated with nine significantly enriched metabolic pathways involving the up-regulation of levels of L-serine, SM (d18:1/22:1(13Z)), L-histidine, creatine, and 3-indoleacetic acid. Our data suggest that the hypoglycemic effect of GABA-enriched germinated adzuki beans on diabetic mice may be related to improving tryptophan metabolism, glycerol phospholipid metabolism, sphingosline metabolism, and the glycine, serine, and threonine metabolic pathways. This study provides a reference for the application of GABA-enriched germinated foods in type 2 diabetes and could provide a cue for searching biomarkers to be adopted for T2DM diagnosis.

This study aimed to investigate the optimal hypoxic and monosodium glutamate (MSG) stress conditions for the enrichment of γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) in germinating adzuki beans and to reveal the potential underlying molecular mechanisms of GABA accumulation. Using single-factor experiments and response surface model, we investigated the effects of germination time, germination temperature, vacuum time, and MSG concentration on GABA contents, and further explored the activity and gene expression of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) and polyamine oxidase (PAO) critical rate restriction enzymes during GABA synthesis. The optimal soaking temperature, soaking time, and pH conditions were 35°C, 16 h, and 5, respectively. Furthermore, the optimal germination conditions for optimal GABA enrichment were 48 h, 1.99 mg/ml MSG concentration, germination temperature of 31.49°C, and vacuum time of 15.83 h. Under such conditions, the predicted GABA concentration was 443.57 ± 7.18 mg/100 g, with no significant difference between the predicted and experimental data. The vacuum + MSG (FZM) treatment has a maximum contribution rate of GABA to 38.29%, which significantly increase GABA content, and the increase was associated with increased GAD and PAO activity. In addition, MSG in combination with vacuum treatment could significantly induce VaGAD4 and VaGAD6 genes in 2 days germination of adzuki beans. According to the results of the present study, vacuum + MSG treatment is an effective approach to enhancing GABA accumulation in germinating adzuki beans, which could be employed in enhancing the functional quality of germinating adzuki beans.

Face inpainting aims to repaired damaged images caused by occlusion or cover. In recent years, deep learning based approaches have shown promising results for the challenging task of image inpainting. However, there are still limitation in reconstructing reasonable structures because of over-smoothed and/or blurred results. The distorted structures or blurred textures are inconsistent with surrounding areas and require further post-processing to blend the results. In this paper, we present a novel generative model-based approach, which consisted by nested two Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN), the sub-confrontation GAN in generator and parent-confrontation GAN. The sub-confrontation GAN, which is in the image generator of parent-confrontation GAN, can find the location of missing area and reduce mode collapse as a prior constraint. To avoid generating vague details, a novel residual structure is designed in the sub-confrontation GAN to deliver richer original image information to the deeper layers. The parent-confrontation GAN includes an image generation part and a discrimination part. The discrimination part of parent-confrontation GAN includes global and local discriminator, which benefits the reconstruction of overall coherency of the repaired image while obtaining local details. The experiments are executed over the publicly available dataset CelebA, and the results show that our method outperforms current state-of-the-art techniques quantitatively and qualitatively.

BS Sufu is a fermented food that is made by mixed black soybeans and soybeans. Microbial communities and metabolites play an important role for the final product. We characterized microbial diversity of BS Sufu during fermentation by high-throughput DNA sequencing. Meanwhile, volatile compounds were investigated by solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results showed that bacterial diversity was higher than that of fungi in BS Sufu. We found the existence of bacterial and fungal core communities, including Enterococcus, Enterobacter, Rhizopus, and Monascus. Network analysis indicated that bacterial and fungal communities maintain positive and negative interactions, which are important to shape the resident microbial communities in Sufu. In addition, 17 free amino acids (FAAs) were detected at the post-fermentation stage, and umami amino acid mainly contributed to taste of BS Sufu. Furtherly, a total of 79 volatile constituents in BS Sufu, including nine alcohols, 31 esters, and four aldehydes, form synergistically the unique odor of Sufu. Additionally, the correlations between microbiota and metabolites were analyzed. Our results suggested that these microbial taxa and metabolites contribute to the taste and flavor of BS Sufu. This study provided information for analysis of BS Sufu at different fermentation periods in terms of the microbial diversity and metabolites, and this information was important to understand the properties of mixed soybeans Sufu.

China is one of the world’s largest energy consumers and carbon emitters, and the situation of carbon emission reduction is serious. This paper forecasts the future trend of China’s carbon emissions by constructing a system dynamics model of China’s carbon emissions. The results show that China cannot fulfill its commitment to peak its carbon emissions in 2030 as scheduled. Secondly, the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index model (LMDI) was used to analyze the influencing factors of China’s carbon emissions. The contribution rates of the five factors to China’s carbon emissions are as follows: economic development (226.30%), technological innovation (−105.92%), industrial structure (−26.55%), population scale (11.44%) and energy structure (−5.28%). Finally, this paper formulates five carbon emission reduction paths according to the size and direction of various factors that affect China’s carbon emissions. The paths of carbon emission reduction were simulated by using the system dynamics model of China’s carbon emissions. It is found that technological innovation is the key pathway for China to realize its commitment to carbon emission reduction. Slowing economic growth will delay the arrival time of peak carbon emissions and increase the intensity of carbon emissions. Optimizing the industrial structure, reducing the population scale and adjusting the energy structure can reduce the peak and carbon emissions in China, but the effect is small.

In this field study, a series of psychophysical tests were conducted to investigate the impact of indoor lighting on students’ visual perception and cognitive performance. A typical classroom of Wuhan University (China) was fitted with tubular light-emitting diode (LED) sources and LED panel sources in two experiments, respectively. Under the two lighting environments, seventy-nine college students were invited to complete a group of visual tests, which included colour preference evaluations of fruit and vegetables and skin tone, perceptual judgement on the atmosphere of the lighting environment, a reading comfort assessment concerning different paper colours, a Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) test quantifying alertness, and the Anfimov test of attention (also concerning paper colours). These tests were conducted twice, before and after a two-hour self-study under each lighting environment, with the aim of investigating the impact of visual fatigue on visual perception and cognitive performance. It was found that the influence of indoor lighting was significant on skin preference and atmosphere perception, while no measured effects of lighting were observed on participant’s alertness and attention. Meanwhile, the impact of visual fatigue was also found to be insignificant in this case. Interestingly, paper colour, rather than indoor lighting, was found to have a significant impact on the visual comfort of text reading. In addition, degree of proficiency significantly influenced the proofreading speed and accuracy of the subjects the in Anfimov test, which we believe should be taken into consideration when implementing similar tests in follow-up studies. The preliminary findings of this field study should provide a deeper understanding of how changes in classroom lighting contribute to visual perception and cognitive performance of occupants.

The HY-1C satellite, as part of China’s optical satellite constellation for global ocean monitoring, monitors the ocean and coastal environment by the three broad visible bands of the Coastal Zone Imager (CZI) instrument. However, as a result of the sensor instrument noise, the atmospheric environment during imaging, and the shooting angle, the satellite images often show uneven illumination and inconsistent color between neighboring images. In this paper, according to the characteristics of the HY-1C CZI instrument, we propose a color consistency processing framework for coastal zone images of Antarctica. First of all, the high-frequency and low-frequency information of the image is separated by a statistical filter with simple clustering. The uneven lighting is then replaced by artificial lighting, which is globally uniform. Finally, the color difference between images is corrected by a color transfer method. In order to evaluate the color consistency results quantitatively, a new quantitative evaluation method is proposed. The experimental results for the coastal zone images of Antarctica show that the new processing framework can effectively eliminate the unevenness in the lighting and color. The mosaic results show a good performance in consistent lighting and tones, and the lack of visible mosaic lines proves the effectiveness of the proposed method. The quantitative evaluation analysis confirms the superiority of the proposed method over the Wallis method.