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Abstract Wheat is a crucial crop worldwide, and accurate detection and counting of wheat spikes are vital for yield estimation and breeding. However, these tasks are daunting in complex field environments. To tackle this, we introduce RIA-SpikeNet, a model designed to detect and count wheat spikes in such conditions. First, we introduce an Implicit Decoupling Detection Head to incorporate more implicit knowledge, enabling the model to better distinguish visually similar wheat spikes. Second, Asymmetric Loss is employed as the confidence loss function, enhancing the learning weights of positive and hard samples, thus improving performance in complex scenes. Lastly, the backbone network is modified through reparameterization and the use of larger convolutional kernels, expanding the effective receptive field and improving shape information extraction. These enhancements significantly improve the model’s ability to detect and count wheat spikes accurately. RIA-SpikeNet outperforms the state-of-the-art YOLOv8 detection model, achieving a competitive 81.54% mAP and 90.29% R2. The model demonstrates superior performance in challenging scenarios, providing an effective tool for wheat spike yield estimation in field environments and valuable support for wheat production and breeding efforts.

Land cover data are essential for modelling land surface processes in mountainous regions. Fine-resolution land cover products have provided unprecedented spatial detail of the land surface. The performance of land cover classification can be affected by various causes, propagating uncertainty through modelling. In this study, six openly accessible fine-resolution land cover data products for 2020, namely GlobeLand30, CLCD, GLC_FCS30, Esri land cover, WorldCover, and DynamicWorld, were cross-compared for consistency and accuracy in the Changbai Mountain Range. The study particularly highlighted the consistency and accuracy across various geomorphic types. The findings reveal that all the six data products exhibit an overall similarity in spatial patterns dominated by cropland and forest. Validation using a ground reference dataset revealed that WorldCover and GlobeLand30 provide the highest and lowest accuracy, respectively. Cropland and forest present considerable spatial consistencies among the data products and advanced accuracies. The middle-mountain regions with low landscape diversity and fragmentation showed the highest consistency and accuracy. Data products, however, are difficult to represent the distribution of grassland, wetland, and bare ground categories reliably due to limited consistency and accuracy. This study provides quantitative analysis for selecting appropriate land cover data products towards application implementations.

Solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) is strongly correlated with gross primary productivity (GPP). Satellite-observed canopy SIF (SIFobs) captures only a part of the total leaf-emitted SIF (SIFtotal); therefore, SIFobs may hinder the interpretation of the physiological mechanism for GPP estimation. Furthermore, there are still significant discrepancies in the estimated SIFobs escape ratio (fesc) from the canopy to the leaf level with current methods. Here, we selected several vegetation canopy variables and downscaled SIFobs based on the Soil Canopy Observation, Photochemistry and Energy fluxes (SCOPE) model from the canopy to the leaf level using machine learning (ML) algorithms and then applied our method to the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) near-infrared (NIR) SIFobs. The results showed that simulating the fesc with SIFobs, TROPOMI NIR reflectance, and the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR) avoided the effects of different sun-sensor geometry conditions introduced by different sensors and was more suitable for satellite-observed SIFobs downscaling. Our downscaled SIFtotal also correlated well with the flux site GPP in areas with sparse vegetation types. SIFtotal better reflected the photosynthetic differences among vegetation types and showed an enhanced relationship with absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (APAR) compared with SIFobs. We provide an efficient canopy-to-leaf SIFobs downscaling method improved SIFtotal and GPP estimation, and our results also demonstrated the potential for using SIFobs as vegetation information in sparse coverage areas.

Peanuts are one of the most common allergenic foods in the world and can cause severe allergic reactions. Ara h 2 is the most allergenic components of peanut allergens. Although critical amino acids at the epitopes were identified, the effect of their physicochemical properties remained unclear. The critical amino acids in epitopes of Ara h 2 (epitope 1: 26ELQGDRRCQSQLER39 and epitope 2: 62RDPYSPSQDPYSPS75). The critical amino acids were substituted by amino acid with different physicochemical properties. Then, the potential allergenicity of those peptides was assessed by IgE binding and cell model. Changing the properties of amino acids by mutation affects potential sensitisation. The charge distribution and molecular weight of critical amino acids in the epitope affected the IgE binding capacity significantly. The conclusion based on peptide might be different from that on whole protein, and our study provided direction of amino acids mutation in desensitisation therapy.

Information on the spatiotemporal distribution of human-caused wildfires on a national scale is crucial for developing susceptibility map and facilitating decision-making in fire risk management. In China, it is difficult to access a national dataset of wildfires based on ground records at a fine spatiotemporal scale for understanding fire regimes. This study explores the use of judgment documents as a potential alternative long-term key data source, considering human-caused wildfire events as criminal offense in certain cases. Judgment documents are readily accessible, regularly updated, and provide a diverse range of reliable information. To extract information on human-caused wildfires, we develop a rule-based approach for judgment documents. The results indicate the feasibility of the method, allowing for the effective extraction of specific information of event such as the start date and time, location, burn area, and ignition cause. A comparison reveals limited consistency in the spatiotemporal distributions between the novel data and conventional datasets. Notably, judgment documents provide richer attribute information and identify additional human-caused wildfires challenging to capture using conventional datasets. Despite inherent limitations, information sourced from judgment documents proves valuable data for characterizing national patterns of wildfire occurrence at a fine scale.

Background:The mechanical properties of the aorta are particularly important in clinical medicine and forensic science, serving as basic data for further exploration of aortic disease or injury mechanisms.Objective:To study the influence of various factors (age, gender, test direction, anatomical location, and pathological characteristics) on the mechanical properties and thickness of the aorta.Methods:In this study, a total of 24 aortas (age range: 54–88 years old) were collected, one hundred and seventy-four dog-bone-shaped samples were made, and then the uniaxial tensile test was run, finally, pathological grouping was performed through histological staining.Results:Atherosclerotic plaques were mainly distributed near the openings of blood vessel branches. The distribution was most severe in the abdominal aorta, followed by the aortic arch. Aortic atherosclerosis was a more severe trend in the male group. In the comparison of thickness, there were no significant differences in age (over 50 years) and test direction, the average thickness of the aorta was greater in the male group than the female group and decreased progressively from the ascending aorta to the abdominal aorta. Comparing the mechanical parameters, various parameters are mainly negatively correlated with age, especially in the circumferential ascending aorta (εp “Y = −0.01402*X + 1.762, R2 = 0.6882”, εt “Y = −0.01062*X + 1.250, R2 = 0.6772”); the parameters of males in the healthy group were larger, while the parameters of females were larger in atherosclerosis group; the aorta has anisotropy, the parameters in the circumferential direction were greater than those in the axial direction; the parameters of the ascending aorta were the largest in the circumferential direction, the ultimate stress [σp “1.69 (1.08,2.32)”] and ultimate elastic modulus [E2“8.28 (6.67,10.25)”] of the abdominal aorta were significantly larger in the axial direction; In the circumferential direction, the stress [σp “2.2 (1.31,3.98)”, σt “0.13 (0.09,0.31)”] and ultimate elastic modulus (E2 “14.10 ± 7.21”) of adaptive intimal thickening were greater than those of other groups, the strain (εp “0.82 ± 0.17”, εt “0.53 ± 0.14”) of pathological intimal thickening was the largest in the pathological group.Conclusion:The present study systematically analyzed the influence of age, sex, test direction, anatomical site, and pathological characteristics on the biomechanical properties of the aorta, described the distribution of aortic atherosclerosis, and illustrated the characteristics of aortic thickness changes. At the same time, new insights into the grouping of pathological features were presented.

To study the effect of storage (for 0, 3, 6, and 12 months) on the flavor of green tea (GT), we monitored the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in GT through gas chromatography (GC) combined with ion mobility spectrometry and headspace solid-phase micro extraction, GC–MS (mass spectrometry). Then, relative odor activity value (ROAV) was applied to analyze the aroma contribution of the VOCs. During storage, the polyphenol and caffeine contents gradually decreased from 22.38 % to 18.51 % and from 4.37 % to 3.74 %, respectively, and the total soluble sugar first increased and then decreased (from 4.89 % to 7.16 % and then 5.02 %). Although the total free amino acid contents showed a fluctuating trend, the content of cysteamine increased gradually. The contents of VOCs with positive contribution to GT aroma, including linalool, geraniol, nonanal, and 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, decreased. They also contributed less in the ROAV after storage. The ROAVs of nonanal, linalool, and geraniol decreased from 3.37 to 0.79, from 100 to 38.21, and from 2.98 to 1.8, respectively, after 12 months of storage. Principal component analysis can be used to identify the samples with different storage durations based on these data. Given the increase in amount of cysteamine and decrease in that of linalool oxide, oxidation may be not the only factor responsible for tea quality in storage.

ABSTRACT: Cow milk is an important source of food protein for children; however, it could lead to allergy, especially for infants. α-Lactalbumin (α-LA) and β-lactoglobulin (β-LG) from whey protein make up a relatively high proportion of milk proteins and have received widespread attention as major allergens in milk. However, few studies have identified the epitopes of both proteins simultaneously. In this study, ImmunoCAP and indirect ELISA were first used for detection of sIgE to screen sera from allergic patients with high binding capacity for α-LA and β-LG. Subsequently, the mimotopes was biopanned by phage display technology and bioinformatics and 17 mimic peptide sequences were obtained. Aligned with the sequences of α-LA or β-LG, we identified one linear epitope on α-LA at AA 11–26 and 5 linear epitopes on β-LG at AA 9–29, AA 45–57, AA 77–80, AA 98–101, and AA 121–135, respectively. Meanwhile, the 8 conformational epitopes and their distributions of α-LA and β-LG were located using the Pepitope Server. Finally, glutamine and lysine were determined as common AA residues for the conformational epitopes both on α-LA and β-LG. Moreover, we found the addition of mouse anti-human IgE during the biopanning process did not significantly affect the identification of the epitopes.

Abstract In recent years, the prevalence of allergic diseases has increased significantly, causing great concern, and wheat, as one of the top 8 food allergens, is a common allergy trigger. Nevertheless, reliable estimates of the positivity rate of wheat allergens in the allergic population in China are still lacking. The systematic review and meta-analysis aims to evaluate the positive detection rate of wheat allergens in the Chinese allergic population and further provide a reference for the prevention of allergy. CNKI, CQVIP, WAN-FANG DATA, Sino Med, PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Embase databases were retrieved. Related research and case reports about the positive rate of wheat allergen in the Chinese allergic population published from inception to June 30, 2022, were searched, and meta-analysis was performed using Stata software. The pooled positive rate of wheat allergens and 95% confidence interval were calculated by random effect models, and the publication bias was evaluated using Egger’s test. A total of 13 articles were included for the final meta-analysis, in which wheat allergen detection methods involved only serum sIgE testing and SPT assessment. The results showed that the wheat allergen positivity detection rate in Chinese allergic patients was 7.30% (95% CI 5.68–8.92%). Subgroup analysis showed that the positivity rate of wheat allergens was influenced by region, but hardly by age and assessment method. The positive rates of wheat allergy in the population with allergic diseases were 2.74% (95% CI 0.90–4.58%) and 11.47% (95% CI 7.08–15.87%) in southern and northern China, respectively. In particular, the positive rates of wheat allergens were greater than 10% in Shaanxi, Henan and Nei Mongol, all of which belong to the northern region. These results suggest that wheat allergens are an important cause of sensitization in allergic populations from northern China, and therefore attention should be paid to early prevention in high-risk populations.

BackgroundPeanut is an important source of dietary protein for human beings, but it is also recognized as one of the eight major food allergens. Binding of IgE antibodies to specific epitopes in peanut allergens plays important roles in initiating peanut-allergic reactions, and Ara h 2 is widely considered as the most potent peanut allergen and the best predictor of peanut allergy. Therefore, Ara h 2 IgE epitopes can serve as useful biomarkers for prediction of IgE-binding variations of Ara h 2 and peanut in foods. This study aimed to develop and validate an IgE epitope-specific antibodies (IgE-EsAbs)-based sandwich ELISA (sELISA) for detection of Ara h 2 and measurement of Ara h 2 IgE-immunoreactivity changes in foods.MethodsDEAE-Sepharose Fast Flow anion-exchange chromatography combining with SDS-PAGE gel extraction were applied to purify Ara h 2 from raw peanut. Hybridoma and epitope vaccine techniques were employed to generate a monoclonal antibody against a major IgE epitope of Ara h 2 and a polyclonal antibody against 12 IgE epitopes of Ara h 2, respectively. ELISA was carried out to evaluate the target binding and specificity of the generated IgE-EsAbs. Subsequently, IgE-EsAbs-based sELISA was developed to detect Ara h 2 and its allergenic residues in food samples. The IgE-binding capacity of Ara h 2 and peanut in foods was determined by competitive ELISA. The dose-effect relationship between the Ara h 2 IgE epitope content and Ara h 2 (or peanut) IgE-binding ability was further established to validate the reliability of the developed sELISA in measuring IgE-binding variations of Ara h 2 and peanut in foods.ResultsThe obtained Ara h 2 had a purity of 94.44%. Antibody characterization revealed that the IgE-EsAbs recognized the target IgE epitope(s) of Ara h 2 and exhibited high specificity. Accordingly, an IgE-EsAbs-based sELISA using these antibodies was able to detect Ara h 2 and its allergenic residues in food samples, with high sensitivity (a limit of detection of 0.98 ng/mL), accuracy (a mean bias of 0.88%), precision (relative standard deviation < 16.50%), specificity, and recovery (an average recovery of 98.28%). Moreover, the developed sELISA could predict IgE-binding variations of Ara h 2 and peanut in foods, as verified by using sera IgE derived from peanut-allergic individuals.ConclusionThis novel immunoassay could be a user-friendly method to monitor low level of Ara h 2 and to preliminary predict in vitro potential allergenicity of Ara h 2 and peanut in processed foods.

Background The management of nonacute symptomatic internal carotid artery occlusion remains unsatisfactory. Endovascular recanalization has been reported to be feasible but associated with a noteworthy risk of postprocedural complications in patients with symptomatic internal carotid artery occlusion. The present study aimed to investigate whether successful recanalization exerts clinical benefits over procedural risks. Methods We analyzed consecutive patients who underwent endovascular treatment of nonacute symptomatic internal carotid artery occlusion in a nationwide prospective registry. The primary outcome was the ipsilateral ischemic stroke recurrence. Other outcomes of interest included all strokes and death during follow‐up, and 30‐day symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage, and all strokes after intervention. Results The final analysis included 511 patients. Endovascular revascularization was successful in 300 patients (58.7%) but failed in 211 patients (41.3%). Patients with successful recanalization had less time from the last ischemic event to the endovascular treatment as compared with patients with failed recanalization (median [interquartile range] days, 18 [12–33] versus 22 [14–50]; P=0.003). Successful recanalization was associated with a higher rate of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage within 30 days after intervention (odds ratio [OR], 7.99 [95% CI, 1.02–62.39]; P=0.047). Thirty‐day all strokes (OR, 1.91 [95% CI, 0.83–4.40]; P=0.128) and ischemic stroke (OR, 0.90 [95% CI, 0.33–2.46]; P=0.839) did not differ significantly. During a median follow‐up of 37 months, patients with successful recanalization demonstrated a reduced risk of ipsilateral ischemic stroke (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.28 [95% CI, 0.13–0.59]; P

ABSTRACTBovine αS1-casein (αS1-CN) is the main allergen in cow's milk, and immunoglobulin E (IgE) epitopes are the material basis to trigger allergic reactions. Thus, IgE epitopes could be as key targets for precise αS1-CN detection and allergenicity assessment. Here, we designed a tandem containing nine IgE linear epitopes of αS1-CN (tαS1-CN), expressed the recombinant tαS1-CN in Escherichia coli, and prepared the rabbit polyclonal antibody against recombinant tαS1-CN (pAb-tαS1-CN). The obtained recombinant tαS1-CN had a purity of 94.43% and retained the antigenicity and potential allergenicity of IgE epitopes. The pAb-tαS1-CN could recognize the nine IgE epitopes of αS1-CN, and also showed high specificity. The ability of pAb-tαS1-CN to evaluate the potential allergenicity of milk in foods was validated by sera from cow's milk allergy patients. These findings indicate that our prepared pAb-tαS1-CN may represents a valuable tool for the evaluation of milk allergenicity in processed foods.

Silkworm pupa is a nourishing food with high nutritional value, but its consumption has been greatly limited given its allergenicity. Enzyme hydrolytic technique is recognized as an effective method to reduce the allergenicity of protein. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of enzymolysis on the allergenicity of silkworm pupa. Crude silkworm pupa protein was extracted through alkali extraction and acid precipitation, which included 5 proteins with the molecular weights ranging from 34 kDa to 76 kDa, and silkworm pupa were then hydrolyzed by alkaline protease. The allergenicity of silkworm pupa protein and its enzymatic hydrolysates was evaluated by establishing BALB/c mice model, and the mice were immunized via intragastric gavage and intraperitoneal injection, respectively. The results indicated that the intraperitoneal injection immunization route induced more by detecting with antibodies, histamine and Th2-related cytokines. Moreover, mice treated with silkworm pupa protein peptide displayed no obvious allergic symptoms, indicating that enzyme hydrolytic technique could significantly reduce the allergenicity of silkworm pupa.

Milk allergy is a common allergic reaction found in infants and young children, most of them appear tolerance after growing up. In this study, infant formula was digested by simulated in vitro digestion method. The potential non-allergenic peptides were further screened from undigested products by exclusion of the known epitopes from β-lactoglobulin (BLG) and α-lactalbumin (ALA). These potential non-allergenic peptides were synthesized and their transferability were determined by Caco-2 cell monolayer model. Finally, the potential allergenicity were evaluated by KU812 cell degranulation model. The results showed that 7 peptides were screened as non-allergenic sequences, among which were 3 from ALA and 4 from BLG. The Caco-2 cell model showed that all the synthetic peptides were absorbed and transported well. However, only peptide BLG107-118 showed potential allegencity by KU812 model. In conclusion, six peptides, including ALA29–51, ALA80–90, ALA94–103, BLG1–20, BLG24–50, and BLG123–139 were evaluated as hypoallergenic peptides, which could be used for candidates of peptides inducing immune tolerance for persons with milk allergy.

The reported cases of food allergies are steadily increasing. With the invention of more novel foods, new and unfamiliar allergens are being introduced into our diets, which raises concerns about the potential risk of novel food allergies. The purpose of this review is to assess the allergenic risks associated with novel food components, strategies for assessing risk in relation to novel food allergens, and current regulations for managing food allergens in novel food products.

Currently, food allergies are closely related to intestinal health, and ensuring the integrity and health of intestinal mucosa could reduce the incidence of food allergies. In this study, a soybean-allergic mouse model was used to explore the mechanism of intestinal mucosa immune response induced by enzyme-cross-linked tofu. The effects of enzyme-cross-linked tofu on intestinal mucosal immunity in mice were determined by hematoxylin–eosin (HE) staining and flow cytometry. Our results reveled that the MTG-cross-linked tofu reduced the reactivity of the intestinal mucosal immune system, which mainly manifested as a decrease in the dendritic cell (DC) levels of mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs), increasing the Th1 cells and Tregs in Peyer’s patch (PP) nodes and MLNs, and inhibiting the Th2 cells. Compared with soy protein, enzyme-cross-linked tofu had less damage to the small intestinal tract of mice. Therefore, the above-mentioned results fully revealed that the enzyme-cross-linked tofu promoted the transformation of intestinal mucosal immune cells, shifted the Th1/Th2 balance toward Th1, and reduced its sensitization effect.

A critical function of polymeric matrices in biological systems is to exert selective control over the transport of thousands of nanoparticulate species. Utilizing “third-party” molecular anchors to crosslink nanoparticulates to the matrix is an effective strategy, and a trapped nanoparticulate formed a desired complex MAP that is necessary to keep the nanoparticulate immobilized at any given time. In this paper, the global solution and stability of a parabolic–ordinary-parabolic haptotaxis system to complex MAP are studied. First, the existence of a local classical solution to system (4) has been observed using fixed point argument and parabolic Schauder estimates. Furthermore, some a priori estimates that can raise the regularity estimate of the solution for the relatively complicated first equation of system (3) from Lρ to L2ρ (ρ≥1) are given; then, the local classic solution can thus extend to the global classic solution when the space dimension N≤3. Lastly, by using various analytical methods, a threshold value ξ00(ξ00<0) is found, such that positive constant steady state (u∗,v∗,w∗) becomes unstable when ξ<ξ00. Our results show that the haptotaxis plays a crucial role in determining the stability to the model (3), that is, it can have a destabilizing effect.

IntroductionRecent work highlighted the importance of environmental contaminants in the development of allergic diseases.MethodsThe intestinal mucosal barrier, Th (helper T) cells, DCs (dendritic cells), and intestinal flora were analyzed with flow cytometry, RNA-seq, and 16s sequencing in the present study to demonstrate whether the exposure of enterotoxins like Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin B (SEB) in allergens could promote the development of food allergy.Results and discussionWe found that co-exposure to SEB and Ovalbumin (OVA) could impair the intestinal barrier, imbalance the intestinal Th immune, and cause the decline of intestinal flora diversity in OVA-sensitized mice. Moreover, with the co-stimulation of SEB, the transport of OVA was enhanced in the Caco-2 cell monolayer, the uptake and presentation of OVA were promoted in the bone marrow dendritic cells (BMDCs), and Th cell differentiation was also enhanced. In summary, co-exposure to SEB in allergens should be considered a food allergy risk factor.

Mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) is a key innate immune adaptor on the outer mitochondrial membrane that acts as a switch in the immune signal transduction response to viral infections. Some studies have reported that MAVS mediates NF-κB and type I interferon signaling during viral infection and is also required for optimal NLRP3 inflammasome activity. Recent studies have reported that MAVS is involved in various cancers, systemic lupus erythematosus, kidney diseases, and cardiovascular diseases. Herein, we summarize the structure, activation, pathophysiological roles, and MAVS-based therapies for renal diseases. This review provides novel insights into MAVS’s role and therapeutic potential in the pathogenesis of renal diseases.

ABSTRACT: Dairy processing can alter the digestion stability and bioavailability of cow milk proteins in the gastrointestinal tract. However, analysis of stable linear epitopes on cow milk allergens that could enter into intestinal mucosal is limited. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the digestion and transportation properties and residual allergen epitopes entering into gastrointestinal mucosa of 3 commercial dairy products, including pasteurized milk (PM), ultra-heat-treated milk (UHTM), and dried skim milk (DSM). In this work, the digestive stability of the 3 kinds of dairy products has been performed in a standard multistep static digestion model in vitro and characterized by Tricine-SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and reversed-phase HPLC. With respect to gastrointestinal digestion in vitro, the main allergens including β-lactoglobulin (β-LG), α-lactalbumin (α-LA), and caseins were degraded gradually, and the resistance peptides remained in the PM with a molecular weight of range from 3.4 to 5.0 kDa. Simultaneously, the potential allergenicity of the cow milk proteins was diminished gradually and is basically consistent after 60 min of gastrointestinal digestion. After gastrointestinal digestion, the remaining peptides were transported via an Ussing chamber and identified by liquid chromatography-MS/MS. By alignment, 10 epitopes peptides were identified from 16 stable peptides, including 5 peptides (AA 92–100, 125–135, 125–138, and 149–162) in β-LG, 2 peptides in α-LA (AA 80–93 and 63–79), 2 peptides in αS1-casein (AA 84–90 and 125–132), and 1 peptide (AA 25–32) in αS2-casein were identified by dot-blotting mainly exist in UHTM and PM. This study demonstrates dairy processing can affect the digestion and transport characteristics of milk proteins and in turn alter epitope peptides release.

Ovotransferrin (OVT) is a natural protein with various nutritional and biological benefits. However, further research is required to explore its effects and underlying mechanisms. To bridge this gap, conventional physiological methods with modern multi-omics approaches were employed to investigate the functional effects, metabolic targets and potential mechanisms of OVT, using Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) as the model. Results revealed that OVT could improve oxidative stress and prolong lifespan in C. elegans by enhancing the activities of antioxidant enzymes and lowering levels of malondialdehyde, lipofuscin, and reactive oxygen species. Integrative analysis indicated that the upregulation of genes encoding Cytochrome P450 and sod-2, and the increase in polyunsaturated fatty acids and salidroside should be closely associated with its effects in C. elegans. Moreover, enhanced intestinal mitochondria activity was observed in SJ4143 mutants. These results suggested that the action mechanisms of OVT in health promotion involved regulating lipid metabolism and boosting energy metabolism.

Transparent ceramics (Gd0.975−xLuxDy0.025)3Al5O12 (x = 0.2, 0.5, 0.975) are fabricated by vacuum sintering with the transmittance of ~60% at 583 nm. The doping of Lu3+ was beneficial to stabilize the garnet phase, and the best doping concentration was 20 at.%. All three (Gd, Lu)3Al5O12:Dy ceramics display typical Dy3+ emission, originating from 4F9/2 → 6HJ (J = 15/2, 13/2, 11/2) transition. Temperature-dependent luminescence spectra from 303.15 K to 603.15 K prove that the (Gd, Lu)3Al5O12:Dy ceramics had good thermal stability and could be an ideal yellow-emitting candidate in light-emitting diodes. The luminous efficiency of the encapsulated white LED lamp was found to be ~87.9 lm/W when the injection current was 600 mA. The transparent (Gd, Lu)3Al5O12:Dy ceramics show great application potential in various optical systems especially in the fields of luminescence and display.

Objective: To purify and comprehensive identify αS1-casein from bovine caseins and prepare rabbit polyclonal antibody against αS1-casein. Method: DEAE Sepharose Fast Flow anion exchange chromatography was used to separate and purify αS1-casein. The physicochemical property (isoelectric point and protein content), immunological technique and mass spectrometry were used to comprehensively identify αS1-casein. Then the αS1-casein was obtained by dialysis and lyophilization, polyclonal antibody was prepared by immunizing New Zealand white rabbit with the purified αS1-casein, and the specificity of polyclonal antibody was analyzed. Result: Among the four kinds of caseins, αS1-casein had the latest peak time, the largest peak area in anion exchange chromatography and the highest position in the electrophoretic diagram. Finally, the purity of αS1-casein was 94.26%, and the yield was 27.19%. The titers of sera from two rabbits inoculated with purified αS1-casein for five times reached 1280000 and 320000, respectively. In addition to the slight cross reaction with soybean protein (

With the continuous improvement of people's living standards and health awareness, more and more attention has been paid to food safety. It follows that the research and management of the types and labels of food allergens also need to be more and more strict. Therefore, the regulation of food allergens needs to be more and more stringent. This summary reviews the current status of food allergen testing methods and standards in China. Also, the labelling of food allergen types in China, the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the United States, the European Union, Canada and Japan is systematically summarized. By systematically reviewing the labeling management of food allergens in various countries and regions, it is hoped to provide reference for Chinese food allergen labeling management, and to continuously improve our country's food allergen detection methods and labeling standards.

Environmental pollution by organic pollutants poses a great threat to the ecosystem and human development. Solar-powered catalytic oxidation technology can solve the existing energy and pollution crisis. Hence, in this work, cubic nano-In2O3 modified g-C3N4 composite was synthesized by in situ calcination, then it was coupled with hydrogen peroxide for the degradation of antibiotic under visible light. The results of SEM and XPS showed that In2O3 and g-C3N4 were closely combined. The catalytic oxidation efficiency of the antibiotic doxycycline was greatly improved when the as-prepared compound was coupled with hydrogen peroxide, and 88.2% of doxycycline was degraded within 80 min. By designing the active species inhibition test, it was found that a large number of hydroxyl radicals were generated in the system after adding hydrogen peroxide, which accelerated the degradation of the target. Hydrogen peroxide not only acts as a source of hydroxyl radical, but also as an active electron acceptor, which promotes the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs in the composite photocatalyst. Therefore, the double oxidation system formed by In2O3/g-C3N4 coupled with hydrogen peroxide can degrade the target at a higher rate. This work provided a research basis for the synthesis of In2O3 with regular morphology and simplified synthesis of In2O3/g-C3N4, and explored the practicability of the coupling method of double advanced oxidation for pollutant degradation.

Many patients with genetic syndromes have special facial features, which boast significant potential value for clinical diagnosis. Deep learning and computer vision technology can be employed to diagnose genetic diseases by analyzing facial features of patients. As a matter of fact, the application of deep learning technology in the area of genetic diseases is confined owing to the difficulties of patient data acquisition. This study develops BioFace, a deep learning framework that can recognize multiple genetic diseases facial attributes based on limited datasets. BioFace is a deep neural network architecture designed premised on Resnet. To increase the weight of effective features and weaken the weight of invalid or unobvious features during extraction of facial features, we add Squeeze-and-Excitation (SE) blocks in the network. In combination with this network architecture, we designed a cross-loss training method based on transfer learning. This method can transfer the ability learned from the task of face identification to the task of recognition of genetic diseases facial attribute, and improve the inter-class distance of different genetic diseases and the intra-class distance of similar genetic diseases simultaneously. These render it possible for deep learning to be applied to recognition of multiple genetic diseases facial attribute with very small amount of data. In this research, we tested 10 syndromes with our framework and the Top-1 accuracy was 93.5%, which is the state-of-the-art in multiple genetic syndromes recognition research. In practical clinical applications, our framework and methods can be extended to the disease identification of more small datasets, potentially offering valuable assistance for the auxiliary clinical application of genetic diagnosis and other related genetic research.

With the continual enhancement of the onboard avionics, the minimum flight crew has been downsized from five to two-person crew mode, and reduced crew operation has drawn extensive attention from aviation experts. Single-pilot operation (SPO) mode warrants careful account and research. This study investigated the intention modeling of commercial aviation single pilot based on the bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM), mining the intention tendency of pilots’ behavior through artificial intelligence technology. This was done to avoid safety hazards caused by different intents and inconsistent operations of the single pilot and the cockpit automation system. The classification task of a single pilot’s behavior is the core of intention recognition. Various operation items contribute differently to the classification. To construct the interaction dataset and encode it into time series features, a single-pilot experiment is specifically performed, wherein the experience of an expert is summarized into single-pilot intent labels. The deep information in the feature vector of a single-pilot operation item is captured by the BiLSTM network, and the neural weight is adaptively assigned by the training mechanism. The operation sequence with the feature data is finally loaded into the softmax layer for intention classification. The proposed method is evaluated against long short-term memory (LSTM), term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF), convolutional neural network (CNN), Naive Bayesian (NB), and distributed representation’s intention modeling techniques. Because the proposed methods have higher F1 scores, the model can effectively share real-time information about the single-pilot intention with the cockpit automation system.

Yogurts provide a good source of nutrition and may induce tolerance in people with cow’s milk allergy (CMA). This study aimed to investigate the IgE-binding capacity of main allergens in the different yogurts which provide a reference for people with a high risk of CMA, and analyze the epitopes of major allergen peptides in yogurt. We assessed the degradation and the allergenic properties of major allergens in six commercial yogurts and fresh milk. The degradation of major allergens was analyzed by SDS-PAGE and RP-HPLC. Western blot and ELISA experiments detected allergenic characteristics by using specific sera. The results showed that β-lactoglobulin (Bos d 5) and α-lactalbumin (Bos d 4) were obviously degraded in yogurts but caseins were still present in abundance, which indicated that the proteases in yogurts were specific to whey proteins. IgE and IgG binding ability of major allergens were obviously reduced in yogurts, especially GuMi yogurt. In addition, 17 peptides of major allergens in GuMi yogurt were identified by LC-MS/MS and most of them were located in the interior of the spatial structure of proteins. Among them, 8 peptides had specific biological functions for health benefits, such as antibacterial, antioxidant, and ACE-inhibitory. We also found that 6 and 14 IgE epitopes of Bos d 5 and caseins were destroyed in GuMi yogurt, which could lead to the reduction of IgE-binding capacity. Meanwhile, peptides [Bos d 5 (AA15–40), Bos d 9 (AA120–151, AA125–151)] also preserved T cell epitopes, which might also induce the development of oral tolerance. Therefore, this study suggested that the sequence and conformation of peptides in yogurts contributed to hypoallergenicity.

ObjectiveIntracranial vertebral artery terminated in the posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA-VA) is the most popular variant of the posterior inferior cerebellar artery, while its prevalence and clinical significance remained unclear. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the prevalence and clinical significance of PICA-VA.MethodsThis was a multicenter hospital-based cross-sectional study. Patients were enrolled for cerebral MRI and MRA within 1 week of stroke onset. Clinical characteristics were recorded. PICA-VA is termed as a vertebral artery that does not communicate with the basilar artery but terminates in an ipsilateral PICA. We observed the prevalence of PICA-VA and identified a relationship between PICA-VA and vertebrobasilar stroke.ResultsFrom 1 August 2015 to 31 May 2017, a total of 2,528 patients were enrolled in the present study. Among them, 95 patients (3.76%, 95/2,528) had the variation of PICA-VA, 51 of which (53.7%) were located on the right side. The prevalence of vertebrobasilar stroke was considerably higher in patients with PICA-VA than those without (40.2%, 37/92 vs. 17.1%, 417/2,436, p < 0.01). PICA-VA was an independent risk for vertebrobasilar stroke after being adjusted for a history of intracranial hemorrhage, diabetes, body mass index, and triglyceride.ConclusionThe present study showed that 3.76% of patients with acute stroke had PICA-VA, which independently increased the risk of acute vertebrobasilar stroke.

Frequent outbreaks of agricultural pests can reduce crop production severely and restrict agricultural production. Therefore, automatic monitoring and precise recognition of crop pests have a high practical value in the process of agricultural planting. In recent years, pest recognition and detection have been rapidly improved with the development of deep learning-based methods. Although certain progress has been made in the research on pest detection and identification technology based on deep learning, there are still many problems in the production application in a field environment. This work presents a pest detector for multi-category dense and tiny pests named the Pest-YOLO. First, the idea of focal loss is introduced into the loss function using weight distribution to improve the attention of hard samples. In this way, the problems of hard samples arose from the uneven distribution of pest populations in a dataset and low discrimination features of small pests are relieved. Next, a non-Intersection over Union bounding box selection and suppression algorithm, the confluence strategy, is used. The confluence strategy can eliminate the errors and omissions of pest detection caused by occlusion, adhesion and unlabeling among tiny dense pest individuals to the greatest extent. The proposed Pest-YOLO model is verified on a large-scale pest image dataset, the Pest24, which includes more than 20k images with over 190k pests labeled by agricultural experts and categorized into 24 classes. Experimental results show that the Pest-YOLO can obtain 69.59% for mAP and 77.71% for mRecall on the 24-class pest dataset, which is 5.32% and 28.12% higher than the benchmark model YOLOv4. Meanwhile, our proposed model is superior to other several state-of-the-art methods, including the SSD, RetinaNet, Faster RCNN, YOLOv3, YOLOv4, YOLOv5s, YOLOv5m, YOLOX, DETR, TOOD, YOLOv3-W, and AF-RCNN detectors. The code of the proposed algorithm is available at: https://github.com/chr-secrect/Pest-YOLO.

IntroductionHigh-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HR-MRI) is used to characterize atherosclerotic plaque. The present study aimed to determine the high-risk features of the basilar artery (BA) atherosclerotic plaque.MethodsPatients with advanced BA stenosis were screened. The features including the ruptured fibrous cap (RFC), lipid core, intraplaque hemorrhage (IPH), plaque enhancement, and calcification were assessed by using high-resolution MRI. The relationship between the features and acute infarction was analyzed.ResultsFrom 1 June 2014 to 31 December 2018, a total of 143 patients with 76 new strokes were included. RFC was identified in 25% of symptomatic and 10.4% of asymptomatic patients. IPH was identified in 48.7% of symptomatic and 25.4% of asymptomatic patients. RFC (3.157, 95% CI 1.062 to 9.382, p = 0.039) and IPH (2.78, 95% CI 1.127 to 6.505, p = 0.026) were independent risk factors for acute infarction.ConclusionOur study showed that RFC and IPH of BA plaque were independent risk factors for acute infarction.

In this study, the influence of pre-tension on free-end torsion behavior and compression mechanical properties and micro-hardness of an extruded AZ31 Mg alloy was investigated using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), compression testing and micro-hardness testing. The result indicates that pre-tension can cause significant dislocation strengthening, which can increase the torsion yield strength and make the shear stress–shear strain curve of the pre-tension sample almost parallel to that of the as-extruded sample during plastic deformation stage. Texture in edge position on the cross-section of both the pre-tension and as-extruded samples can be rotated towards the extrusion direction by about ~30° by free-end torsion. The Swift effect is mainly responsible for the occurrence of massive extension twins in the central region. In contrast, normal stress is the main cause of extension twins occurring in the edge region. However, the effect of extension twins on micro-hardness is less than that of dislocations. The micro-hardness of both free-end torsion specimens increases almost linearly with increasing distance from center to edge on the cross-section. Nevertheless, the increase in micro-hardness of the pre-tension and then torsion sample is inconspicuous because pre-tension leads to dislocation proliferation and dislocation accumulation saturation. The result also indicates that both pre-tension and free-end torsion can lead to dislocation strengthening, which can obviously increase the micro-hardness and compressive yield stress. The underlying mechanisms were explored and discussed in detail.

Bioactive peptides (BPs) not only have nutritional value, but also have a wide range of biological activities, such as opioid activity, antibacterial activity, antioxidant properties and immunomodulatory which were associated with potential health benefits. Milk-derived BPs are the most researched, deepest and most widely used food-derived BPs. Milk-derived BPs perform an increasingly important role in regulating inflammatory balance in food allergy (FA) due to the immunomodulatory effect. This review outlines its immunomodulatory role in FA around cytokine level and gut regulation, and also emphasizes the production methods and current market applications of milk-derived BPs.

Abstract In the gut, cathelicidin‐related antimicrobial peptide (CRAMP) has been largely described for its anti‐infective activities. With an increasing recognition of its immune regulatory effects in extra‐intestinal diseases, the role of CRAMP in gluten‐induced small intestinal enteropathy celiac disease remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the unexplored role of CRAMP in celiac disease. By applying a mouse model of gluten‐induced enteropathy (GIE) recapitulating small intestinal enteropathy of celiac disease, we observed defective CRAMP production in duodenal epithelium during GIE. CRAMP‐deficient mice were susceptible to the development of GIE. Exogenous CRAMP corrected gliadin‐triggered epithelial dysfunction and promoted regulatory immune responses at the intestinal mucosa. Additionally, GIE‐associated gut dysbiosis with enriched Pseudomonas aeruginosa and production of the protease LasB contributed to defective intestinal CRAMP production. These results highlight microbiota‐CRAMP axis in the modulation of barrier function and immune responses in GIE. Hence, modulating CRAMP may represent a therapeutic strategy for celiac disease.

The current research on interaction between catechin and protein has focused on non-covalent crosslinking, however, the mechanism of free radical-induced crosslinking between catechin and β-lactoglobulin (BLG) is not known. In this study, BLG bound to four catechins [epicatechin (EC), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin gallate (ECG), and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)]. The structure change of complex was investigated by circular dichroism spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy and Acid and 8-Anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonic acid (ANS) fluorescence spectroscopy. M cell model was constructed to evaluate the transintestinal epithelial transport capacity of complex digestive products. The results showed that catechins were covalently bound to BLG by C-S and C-N bonds and their binding content was EGCG>EGC>ECG>EC. Moreover, catechins could change the secondary structure of BLG, with the decrease of α-helix and reduction of the irregular coilings, which leads to the loose spatial structure of the protein. Moreover, the catechin could enhance further the digestibility of BLG. Transport capacity of digestive products of M cell model was about twice of that of the Caco-2 cell model, indicating that M cell model had better antigen transport capacity. The difference between groups indicated that the transport efficiency of digestive products was decreased with the presence of catechin, in which BLG-EGCG and BLG-EGC groups were transported more strong than those of BLG-EC and BLG-ECG groups. The transport efficiency of BLG-catechin complexes were lower than that of BLG, indicating that catechin had the protective and repair roles on intestinal barrier permeability.

The aim of the study was to investigate the application of algal-bacterial granules in treatment of high ammonia wastewater. Two identical cylindrical reactors, i.e., Rc and Rs was used to develop granular sludge system with synthetic biogas slurry. Rs was run under an artificial solar lamp controlled at 12 h power on and 12 h power off (∼10,000 lux); Rc was operated as control (no light). Results showed that algal-bacterial granules (ABGS) developed in Rs exhibited better structural stability in the face of high ammonia influent. Compared with aerobic granules (AGS), ABGS possessed high proteins (PN) content (145.3 mg/g-VSS) in extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and better O2 mass transfer inner granules. Higher phosphorus (P) removal capacity was obtained in Rs even under 400 mg/L NH3–N which resulted in higher P content in ABGS biomass (56.4 mg/g-TSS). Bioavailable P in ABGS was 44 mg P/g-SS on day 160, approximately 1.53-times higher than that in AGS.

Exposure to Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin B (SEB) is one of the causes of food poisoning and is associated with several immune diseases due to its superantigen capability. This study aimed to characterize the differentiations of naïve Th cells stimulated with different doses of SEB. The expression of T-bet, GATA-3, and Foxp3 or secretion of IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-5, IL-13, and IL-10 were evaluated in wild-type (WT) or DO11.10 CD4 T cells co-cultured with bone marrow dendritic cells (BMDCs). We found that the balance of Th1/Th2 could be dominated by the doses of SEB stimulation. A higher SEB dose could induce more Th1 and a lower Th2/Th1 ratio in Th cells co-cultured with BMDCs. This different tendency of Th cell differentiation induced by the SEB complements the existing knowledge about SEB acting as a superantigen to activate Th cells. Additionally, it is also helpful in managing the colonization of S. aureus and food contamination of SEB.

Wheat allergy is a primary disease of food allergy, and its global prevalence is unclear. This study aimed to characterize the latest worldwide prevalence of wheat allergy based on five different diagnostic methods. Study searches were conducted in Web of Science, PubMed, Ovid LWW, and Cochrane database, with a time limit of 1 January 2007 to 1 September 2022. The review and screening of the articles was undertaken by two independent reviewers. The statistical analysis was conducted by R. A total of 56 articles were finally included. The prevalence of wheat allergy was 0.63% (95% CI: 0.43–0.87%) for self-reported, 0.70% (95% CI: 0.18–1.22%) for self-reported physician-diagnosed, 0.22% (95%CI: 0.07–0.65%) for skin prick test positive, 0.97% (95% CI: 0.43–2.20%) for specific immunoglobulin E positive, and 0.04% (95% CI: 0–0.16%) for food challenge. However, food challenge can be largely subjective, and the results were only based two countries, so the prevalence of wheat allergy confirmed by food challenge may be not entirely trustworthy. In conclusion, investigating the prevalence of wheat allergy in the real world as accurately as possible will contribute to the prevention, management, and risk assessment of wheat allergy.

Retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) is a cytosolic pattern recognition receptor that contains two CARD domains, an RNA helicase domain, and a C-terminal domain. RIG-I initiates antiviral innate immunity by recognizing exogenous viral RNAs/DNAs. However, some studies have reported that RIG-I activation leads to damage in various organs and tissues in diverse circumstances. Recent studies have shown that RIG-I is involved in cancer, lupus nephritis, immunoglobulin A nephropathy, Crohn’s disease, and atherosclerosis. These reports indicate that RIG-I not only participates in antiviral signaling pathways but also exerts an influence on non-viral infectious diseases. RIG-I is widely expressed in immune and non-immune cells including smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, and cardiomyocytes. A succinct overview of RIG-I and its signaling pathways, with respect to the cardiovascular system, will aid in the development of novel therapeutics for cardiovascular diseases. In this review, we summarize the structure, activation, signaling pathways, and role of RIG-I in cardiovascular diseases.

Background and AimsWheat gluten is a critical trigger for celiac disease, often causing inflammatory lesions and oxidative stress damage in the intestines of patients. In daily life, it is difficult for celiac disease patients to strictly avoid the dietary intake of gluten, which makes complementary preventive therapy particularly urgent. As such, we investigated the alleviating effects of resveratrol in vivo and in vitro models of celiac disease.MethodsWe established in vivo and in vitro models of gluten protein-induced celiac disease. The intervention effect of resveratrol was defined well based on relevant indicators of inflammation, immunity and oxidative stress, and its possible involvement in signaling pathways and genes were also identified.ResultsResveratrol was effective in reducing intestinal oxidative stress and inflammatory damage induced by wheat gluten in both cell and mouse models for celiac disease. We identified correlations between the genes (Fgf15, Nr0b2, Aire and Ubd) and signaling pathways (PPAR, AMPK and FoxO) in which resveratrol performed critical roles.ConclusionsResveratrol contributed to regulate development of autoimmunity through up-regulation of Aire and Ubd genes and promote nutrient absorption in intestine through down-regulation of Fgf15 and Nr0b2 genes, as well as played a role in regulating complex response system of oxidative stress, inflammatory response and immune response in intestine by activating PPAR, AMPK and FoxO signaling pathways, thus effectively alleviating the intestinal symptoms of celiac disease.

Background and ObjectivesCraniocervical artery dissection (CAD) is the most common cause of ischemic stroke in young adults. The etiologies of CAD can be classified into three types, such as spontaneous (sCAD), minor traumatic (mtCAD), and genetic origin. Recent studies indicated that clinical presentations and imaging features could guide management and inform prognosis. This retrospective analysis sought to compare the clinical and imaging features of sCAD vs. mtCAD in providing evidence-based advice on medical treatment, functional rehabilitation, secondary stroke prevention, and prognosis, ultimately formulating clinical guidelines in managing CAD.MethodsIn total, 148 patients with CAD were identified from the medical records database and subdivided into sCAD and mtCAD based on the clinical presentations and imaging features. A retrospective comparative analysis was performed according to their clinical presentations and imaging features.ResultsPatients with mtCAD are significantly younger than sCAD with 120 cases of sCAD average aged 43.61 ± 12.75, while 28 cases of mtCAD average aged 35.68 ± 14.54. Patients with mtCAD had more cases of neck pain compared to sCAD. Patients with mtCAD had more cases of CAD at extracranial locations compared to sCAD. Patients with mtCAD had more cases of multiple site dissection compared to sCAD. Double lumen and intramural haematoma are the most common imaging findings with mtCAD patients having statistical significantly more cases of intramural haematoma and long tapering stenosis.ConclusionPatients with mtCAD were presented at a much younger age with symptoms of neck pain compared to sCAD. Patients with mtCAD predominantly presented at extracranial sites with more prominent features of multiple site dissection, intramural haematoma, and long tapering stenosis. These clinical and imaging features can translate into clinical practice guidelines for patients with CAD to improve the optimal functional outcome and reduce both morbidity and mortality.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a clinical syndrome characterized by morbidity, mortality, and cost. Cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (cisplatin) is a chemotherapeutic agent used to treat solid tumors and hematological malignancies, but its side effects, especially nephrotoxicity, limit its clinical application. Isoliquiritin (ISL), one of the major flavonoid glycoside compounds in licorice, has been reported to have anti-apoptotic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities. However, the effect and mechanism of ISL on cisplatin-induced renal proximal tubular cell injury remain unknown. In this study, mouse proximal tubular cells (mPTCs) and human proximal tubule epithelial cells (HK2) were administered increasing concentrations of ISL from 7.8125 to 250 μM. Moreover, mPTC and HK2 cells were pretreated with ISL for 6–8 h, followed by stimulation with cisplatin for 24 h. CCK-8 assay was performed to evaluate the cell viability. Apoptosis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) of cells were measured by using flow cytometer and western blotting. Our results showed that ISL had no obvious effect on cell viability. ISL decreased cisplatin-induced cell injury in a dose-dependent manner. ISL also protected against cisplatin-induced cell apoptosis. Meanwhile, the enhanced protein levels of Bax, cleaved caspase-3/caspase-3 ratio, levels of Pp-65/p-65, levels of IL-6, and the production of ROS induced by cisplatin were significantly attenuated by ISL treatment. Moreover, ISL markedly increased the protein levels of Bcl-2 and SOD2, which were reduced by cisplatin stimulation. These results showed that ISL ameliorated cisplatin-induced renal proximal tubular cell injury by antagonizing apoptosis, oxidative stress and inflammation.

Abstract Background The SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected positive again after discharged from hospital in some COVID-19 patients, with or without clinical symptoms such as fever or dry cough. Methods 1008 severe COVID-19 patients, with SARS-CoV-2 RNA positive detected with the mixed specimen of nasopharyngeal swab and oropharyngeal swab by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), were selected to monitor SARS-CoV-2 RNA with the 12 types of specimens by RT-qPCR during hospitalization. All of 20 discharged cases with COVID-19 were selected to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA in isolation period with 7 types of specimens by RT-qPCR before releasing the isolation period. Results Of the enrolled 1008 severe patients, the nasopharyngeal swab specimens showed the highest positive rate of SARS-CoV-2 RNA (71.06%), followed by alveolar lavage fluid (66.67%), oropharyngeal swab (30.77%), sputum (28.53%), urine (16.30%), blood (12.5%), stool (12.21%), anal swab (11.22%) and corneal secretion (2.99%), and SARS-CoV-2 RNA couldn’t be detected in other types of specimen in this study. Of the 20 discharged cases during the isolation period, the positive rate of SARS-CoV-2 RNA was 30% (6/20): 2 cases were positive in sputum at the eighth and ninth day after discharge, respectively, 1 case was positive in nasopharynx swab at the sixth day after discharge, 1 case was positive in anal swab at the eighth day after discharge, and 1 case was positive in 3 specimens (nasopharynx swab, oropharynx swab and sputum) simultaneously at the fourth day after discharge, and no positive SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in other specimens including stool, urine and blood at the discharged patients. Conclusions SARS-CoV-2 RNA should be detected in multiple specimens, such as nasopharynx swab, oropharynx swab, sputum, and if necessary, stool and anal swab specimens should be performed simultaneously at discharge when the patients were considered for clinical cure and before releasing the isolation period.

Food allergy (FA) has become a global food safety issue. Evidence suggests that inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can increase the incidence of FA, but it is mostly based on epidemiological studies. An animal model is pivotal for unraveling the mechanisms involved. However, dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced IBD models may cause substantial animal losses. To better investigate the effect of IBD on FA, this study aimed to establish a murine model to fit both IBD and FA symptoms. Firstly, we compared three DSS-induced colitis models by monitoring survival rate, disease activity index, colon length, and spleen index, and then eliminated the colitis model with a 7-day administration of 4% due to high mortality. Moreover, we evaluated the modeling effects on FA and intestinal histopathology of the two models selected and found the modeling effects were similar in both the colitis model with a 7-day administration of 3% DSS and the colitis model with long-term administration of DSS. However, for animal survival reasons, we recommend the colitis model with long-term administration of DSS.

In the early stage of this study, three strains of Lactobacillus with anti-soybean allergy potential were screened: Lactobacillus acidophilus CICC 6081, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. Bulgaricus CICC 6103 and Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. Plantarum CICC 20988. The aim of this study was to analyze the desensitization effect of three strains of Lactobacillus administered by gavage to soybean-allergic mice through the differentiation of immune cells in intestinal lymph nodes and the changes to gut microbiota. The results showed that the three strains of Lactobacillus could stimulate the proliferation of dendritic cells (DCs) and regulate the balance of Th1/Th2 differentiation in the MLNs and PPs of soybean-allergic mice. Furthermore, the Th17/Tregs cell-differentiation ratio in the MLNs of the Lactobacillus-treated mice was significantly lower than that of the allergic mice (p < 0.05). Compared to the control group, the Shannon, Sobs and Ace indexes of intestinal microbiota in the allergic mice were significantly increased (p < 0.05), and the proportion of Clostridiales was significantly higher (p < 0.05), which was reversed by Lactobacillus gavage. In conclusion, the three strains of Lactobacillus can inhibit the intestinal mucosal immune response and regulate gut microbiota balance in soybean-allergic mice.

Lactobacillus has been widely used in food due to its various beneficial functions and its effects on food allergies have also been reported. This study aimed to investigate the role of Lactobacillus in alleviating soybean allergy. Three strains with potential intervention in soybean allergy were screened by co-culture with mouse splenocytes in vitro. The BALB/c mice model of soybean sensitization was established to evaluate their anti-allergy effect. The results showed that the three selected strains alleviated the allergic symptoms of sensitized mice, reduced the levels of IgE, IgG, and IgG1 in serum, up-regulated the levels of interleukin (IL)-2, interferon-γ, and IL-10, and down-regulated the levels of IL-4, IL-6, and IL-17A. In addition, the three strains suppressed the expression of mast cells and promoted the proportion of regulatory T cells (Tregs). Thus, the three strains of Lactobacillus have potential as dietary supplements for the treatment of soybean allergy.

Compared with spring tea, summer tea has the advantages of economy and quantity. However, research on the aroma characteristics of summer tea is currently limited. In this study, summer fresh tea leaves (castanopsis. sinensis, cv. Fuliangzhong) (FTLs) were processed intoblack tea (BT) and green tea (GT). The changes in the volatile compounds during the tea processing were quantified using gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) and head space-solid phase micro-extraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS), and then analyzed on the basis of relative odor activity value (ROAV). Results showed low amounts of flavor compounds, such as linalool oxides, geraniol, and sulcatone, were found in FTLs, but after processing, high amounts of the same in BT and GT. Summer BT and GT contained characteristic compounds similar to spring tea, including linalool, geraniol, (E,E)-2,4-decdienal, β-ionone, methyl salicylate, geranyl acetone, and decanal. All these compounds have high content and ROAV values, which give the same flavor to summer teas as spring tea. This study confirmed that summer fresh tea leaves were suitable to produce black and green tea with good flavor. Monitoring changes in aroma compounds by GC-IMS coupled with GC-MS, the quality of summer tea is expected to be promoted towards the quality of spring tea by improving processing methods for valuable-tea production.

Reliable estimates of the prevalence of food allergy (FA) among the general Chinese population have remained unclear. This meta-analysis aims to provide an accurate estimate of FA prevalence in China with comprehensive data. A systematic literature search was conducted in eight electronic databases, i.e., China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, Weipu, China Biology Medicine, Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase. A random-effects model was used to analyze the pooled prevalence of FA for four different assessment methods. A total of 46 eligible articles were included in the narrative synthesis, and 41 articles were ultimately included in the meta-analysis. Overall, the pooled prevalence of self-reported FA, self-reported physician-diagnosed FA, SPT (specific skin prick test)-positive FA, and OFC (open food challenge)-positive FA were 11.5% (95% CI: 9.8–13.5%), 5.3% (95% CI: 4.2–6.5%), 11.6% (95% CI: 9.6–14.1%), and 6.2% (95% CI: 4.4–8.7%), respectively. Subgroup analyses suggested that the prevalence of FA was affected by age, year of data collection, region, and sample size, but not by gender. This meta-analysis indicated that FA is common among Chinese people, with an increasing trend in prevalence during the past two decades. Given the high heterogenicity between these studies, a national survey with a large sample size based on standardized diagnosis is urgently needed to gain a more scientific understanding of the actual situation of food allergy in China.

Flavonoids have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties, and may alleviate food allergic reactions and intestinal inflammation induced by ω-5 gliadin, a main allergen of wheat food allergy in children. In this study, a human basophil KU812 cell degranulation model and a Caco-2 monolayer cell model were constructed in vitro to evaluate the effects of four flavonoids on the allergenicity of ω-5 gliadin peptides and ω-5 gliadin peptide-induced barrier damage in Caco-2 intestinal epithelial monolayers. The results show that baicalein, luteolin, isorhamnetin and naringenin can significantly inhibit the degranulation of KU812 cells stimulated by ω-5 gliadin-derived peptide P4 and the release of IL-6 and TNF-α. In addition, the four flavonoids significantly inhibited the ω-5 gliadin-derived peptide P4 to induce the release of IL-6, IL-8 in Caco-2 cells, inhibited the release of zonulin, and significantly increase the expression of tight junction proteins Occludin and ZO-1 in the Caco-2 cell monolayer. In conclusion, baicalein, luteolin, isorhamnetin and naringenin inhibit degranulation stimulated by wheat allergen and enhance intestinal barrier functions, which supports the potential pharmaceutical application of the four flavonoids treatment for wheat food allergy.