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To investigate the inhibitory effects and mechanism of ε-poly-L-lysine (ε-PL) against the Lasiodiplodia theobromae causing fruit rot on postharvest passions, the changes of L. theobromae mycelial growth, conductivity, malonaldehyde content, intracellular materials leakage, contents of cell membrane and cell wall components, adenosine triphosphatase activity, propidium iodide staining, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were determined after being treated with ε-PL, and the inhibition effects of ε-PL on L. theobromae-induced fruit rot of harvested passion fruits were studied. In vitro assay showed that ε-PL inhibited the mycelial growth of L. theobromae, and the inhibitory effects increased with increasing ε-PL concentration. The optimal inhibitory concentration of ε-PL was 100 mg/L. Additionally, ε-PL might increase the conductivity and malondialdehyde content, promote the leakage of intercellular nucleic acid and protein, decrease the contents of ergosterol, total lipids and chitin, reduce the activity of adenosine triphosphate. Moreover, ε-PL also changed the mycelial morphology of L. theobromae, resulting in the mycelial distortion, and lowered the number of methylene, methyl, hydroxyl and carbon-oxygen bonds in mycelium of L. theobromae. Furthermore, ε-PL could suppress the L. theobromae-induced fruit rot development of harvested passion fruits. Therefore, ε-PL could display the antifungal activity on L. theobromae through destroying the structure of cell membrane and cell wall, promoting the leakage of intracellular materials, disordering the energy metabolism, and destroying the structure of biological macromolecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exploration of efficient, low-leaching, and recyclable transition-metal-based catalysts is of great importance for the removal of pollutants from peroxymonosulfate (PMS) in water purification processes. In this study, a bimetallic CoFe@CSC-700 composite was prepared by an alkaline gel pyrolysis reduction method using chitosan as a forming agent and applied to activate PMS to degrade levofloxacin (LEV). The leaching concentration of both cobalt and iron ions in the CoFe@CSC-700 catalyst was reduced by about 8-fold compared to the monometallic composite pellet catalyst. In addition, the removal efficiency of the CoFe@CSC-700 catalyst can still reach 90% after five cycles, showing good recyclability, recoverability and stability. Both free radical pathways (SO4·−, ·OH, and ·O2−) and non-free radical pathways (1O2) were detected in the oxidation reaction, with free radical pathways as the main contributor. The possible degradation pathways of LEV were proposed by LC-MS tests. Overall, this study provides new insights into the construction of efficient and stable PMS catalysts for wastewater treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some of the new breast cancer susceptibility loci discovered in recent Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have not been confirmed in Chinese populations. To determine whether eight novel Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) have associations with breast cancer risk in women from southeast China, we conducted a case-control study of 1,156 breast cancer patients and 1,256 healthy controls. We first validated that the SNPs rs12922061, rs2290203, and rs2981578 were associated with overall breast cancer risk in southeast Chinese women, with the per-allele OR of 1.209 (95%CI: 1.064-1.372), 1.176 (95%CI: 1.048-1.320), and 0.852 (95%CI: 0.759-0.956), respectively. Rs12922061 and rs2290203 even passed the threshold for Bonferroni correction (P value: 0.00625). In stratified analysis, we found another three SNPs were significantly associated within different subgroups. However, after Bonferroni correction (P value: 0.000446), there were no statistically significant was observed. In gene-environment interaction analysis, we observed gene-environment interactions played a potential role of in the risk of breast cancer. These findings provide new insight into the associations between the genetic susceptibility and fine classifications of breast cancer. Based on these results, we encourage further large series studies and functional research to confirm these finding.

Harvested wampee fruit is susceptible to disease, resulting in postharvest losses. Acidic electrolyzed water (AEW), a safe and innovative sterilization technology, plays a role in enhancing disease resistance in harvested produce. In this study, the efficacy of AEW in delaying wampee disease development was assessed, along with its association with disease resistance metabolism. Wampee fruit was treated with AEW (pH 2.5) at different available chlorine concentrations (ACCs) (20, 40, 60, and 80 mg/L) and subsequently stored at 25 °C for 8 days. Results revealed that 40 mg/L ACC in AEW (pH 2.5) was most effective in improving the postharvest quality of wampee fruit. Compared with control wampee fruit, those treated with 40 mg/L ACC in AEW exhibited lower incidence of fruit disease, higher pericarp lignin content, and higher activities of pericarp disease resistance enzymes (DREs), such as cinnamate-4-hydroxylase, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, chitinase, β-1,3-glucanase, polyphenol oxidase, 4-coumarate CoA ligase, and cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase. These results suggested that AEW elevated DRE activities, promoted lignin accumulation, and ultimately enhanced disease resistance, suppressed disease development, and improved storage quality in harvested wampee fruit. Consequently, AEW emerged as a safe technology to mitigate the disease development and enhance the storage quality of harvested wampee fruit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]