Search

Native starch Pickering stabilizer without chemical modification has attracted research interest in food field. However, the behaviors of starch particles at interface are seldom studied. In this paper, ultrafine starch particles (USPs) are grounded with a planetary ball mall from various starch species down to 1–2 µm in size. USP and starches are used to prepare Pickering emulsions. With size decrease, USP has more negative zeta potentials, stronger hydrogen bonds, better hydrophilicity, and better emulsifying abilities than their counterparts of starches. Millet starch has better emulsion stability than OSA modified starch. Glutinous USP outperforms in stabilization due to higher emulsion height and no oil phase separation. USP behaves differently at interface or in water phase, which is attributed to starch species, amylose and amylopectin contents, and gelatinization. This work can inspire the behavior investigation of starch particles in nano/micrometers at interface during storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the most common subtype of non-small cell lung cancer associated with an unstable prognosis. Thus, there is an urgent demand for the identification of novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers as well as targeted drugs for LUAD. The present study aimed to identify potential new biomarkers associated with the pathogenesis and prognosis of LUAD. Three microarray datasets (GSE10072, GSE31210, and GSE40791) from the Gene Expression Omnibus database were integrated to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in normal and LUAD samples using the limma package. Bioinformatics tools were used to perform functional and signaling pathway enrichment analyses for the DEGs. The expression and prognostic values of the hub genes were further evaluated by Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Furthermore, we mined the “Connectivity Map” (CMap) to explore candidate small molecules that can reverse the tumoral of LUAD based on the DEGs. A total of 505 DEGs were identified, which included 337 downregulated and 168 upregulated genes. The PPI network was established with 1,860 interactions and 373 nodes. The most significant pathway and functional enrichment associated with the genes were cell adhesion and extracellular matrix-receptor interaction, respectively. Seven DEGs with high connectivity degrees (ZWINT, RRM2, NDC80, KIF4A, CEP55, CENPU, and CENPF) that were significantly associated with worse survival were chosen as hub genes. Lastly, top 20 most important small molecules which reverses the LUAD gene expressions were identified. The findings contribute to revealing the molecular mechanisms of the initiation and progression of LUAD and provide new insights for integrating multiple biomarkers in clinical practice.

The magnetic reconnection process relevant to that at the magnetotail is one of the research contents of the Space Plasma Environment Research Facility, which is under construction at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China. Two magnetic mirror sub-coils placed symmetrically in the vertical direction and connected in series cooperate with a dipole coil to generate a magnetic field environment similar to the Earth's magnetotail. A capacitor-based pulsed power supply (PPS) system with a modular design is developed to excite two magnetic mirror sub-coils to generate a magnetic field with a magnetic flux density of not less than 200 G at the center of the two sub-coils. The PPS should deliver a pulsed current with a peak of more than 8 kA, and the duration of the current not be less than 95% of the peak over 5 ms to two magnetic mirror sub-coils when the charging voltage is not less than 20 kV. In addition, the duration from the peak to 10% of the peak is not more than 130 ms. The detailed design of the PPS is discussed in this paper, and a test method is designed to reduce the risk of damage to the wires and the connection between the wires and the coaxial cables of the PPS when the PPS discharges at a higher charging voltage. Finally, the discharge test of the PPS is carried out to verify the design of the PPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant essential oils have a wide range of applications including cosmetics, food, leather, and textiles. Traditional methods employed for essential oils extraction suffer from several drawbacks, which have escalated into a major bottleneck for industrial applications. To circumvent the limitations, various innovative and eco-friendly technologies have emerged for the extraction of essential oils, such as ultrasound-assisted extraction, pulsed electrical-assisted extraction, ohmic-assisted technology, supercritical fluid extraction, and solvent-free microwave extraction. These cutting-edge technologies provide notable advantages over traditional methods in terms of extraction efficiency, environmental safety, and product quality enhancement. This review highlights the advantage of these innovative techniques, with a particular focus on their ability to enhance the yield and antioxidant activity of essential oils while simultaneously reducing energy consumption. Additionally, the mechanisms of these new and eco-friendly extraction methods are thoroughly discussed. This review provides valuable insights into the advancements in essential oils extraction. [Display omitted] • Extraction technology affects the yield and quality of EOs. • Current research status of EOs extraction methods was summarized. • Many new technologies including ohmic, enzyme and so forth are used to extract EOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fragrance and flavor capsules are generally dried into powders due to the convenience of preservation and transportation, while drying has great effect on encapsulation. In this study, osmanthus flavor (OF) and hydroxypropyl‐β‐cyclodextrin (HP‐β‐CD) were used to prepare OF and HP‐β‐CD inclusion complex (OF‐CD). OF‐CD powders were obtained with oven‐drying and freeze‐drying, separately. The effect of drying methods was investigated with the morphology and odor evaluation first. The chemical structure and flavor loading ratio of OF‐CDs were determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry (GC‐MS). The flavor was successfully be encapsulated by HP‐β‐CD forming OF‐CD inclusion complex. Oven‐drying led to compact blocky solid, while freeze‐drying resulted in porous morphology. The amount of flavor in OF‐CD with oven‐drying (48.61 μg⁄g) was found lower than that in OF‐CD with freeze‐drying (58.1 μg⁄g). In particular, the content of alcoholics in OF‐CD with oven‐drying (11.8 μg⁄g) was much lower than that in OF‐CD with freeze‐drying (19.04 μg⁄g). Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that the average activation energy of OF‐CD with oven‐drying (66.3‐135.4 kJ mol−1) was higher than OF‐CD with freeze‐drying (53.0‐100.7 kJ mol−1) by 13.3‐34.7 kJ mol−1. More intermolecular hydrogen bonds in OF‐CD with freeze‐drying led to high encapsulation of partial components; however, they are not thermostable, resulting in fast release at high temperature. The better thermal stability of OF‐CD with oven‐drying makes itself a better candidate for flavor encapsulation for cooking at high temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of the aroma compounds in cosmetics, food, medicine, textile, tobacco and so forth brings the charming senses of the smell and taste. However, their main ingredients tend to deterioration due to the fast release and oxidation during the storage and usage. The silica porous materials provide the effective protection for these volatile aroma compounds. In this paper, vinyl silica hollow spheres were successfully prepared via one‐step method with tunable size. Vinyl silica hollow spheres with two sizes of 390 and 650 nm were loaded with aroma compounds. Both of the silica hollow spheres showed the selective loading capacities for aroma compounds. Interestingly, silica hollow spheres with bigger size exhibited the higher encapsulation efficiency of 94.20% and the slower sustained release of 118.3 mg/g after 16 hours of phenylethanol. This is ascribed to bigger interior cavity volume per mass unit analysed by mathematic model. The kinetics of phenylethanol release was also studied. Our work is expected to trigger a new consideration of capsule design for sustained release with high loading efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]