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Qifan Zhang,1,* Zhen Xiao,2,* Shibo Sun,1 Kai Wang,1 Jianping Qian,1 Zhonglin Cui,1 Tao Tao,3 Jie Zhou1 1Division of Hepatobiliopancreatic Surgery, Department of General Surgery, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, 510515, People’s Republic of China; 2College of Life Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, 200234, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Anesthesiology, Central People’s Hospital of Zhanjiang, Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, 524045, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Tao Tao; Jie Zhou Email taotaomzk@smu.edu.cn; jacky_smu@163.comBackground: Liver hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third most common cause of death by cancer and has a high mortality world-widely. Approximately 75– 85% of primary liver cancers are caused by HCC. Uncovering novel genes with prognostic significance would shed light on improving the HCC patient’s outcome.Objective: In this research, we aim to identify novel prognostic biomarkers in hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods: Integrated proteomics and bioinformatics analysis were performed to investigate the expression landscape of prognostic biomarkers in 24 paired HCC patients.Results: As a result, eight key genes related to prognosis, including ACADS, HSD17B13, PON3, AMDHD1, CYP2C8, CYP4A11, SLC27A5, CYP2E1, were identified by comparing the weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), proteomic differentially expressed genes (DEGs), proteomic turquoise module, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort DEGs of HCC. Furthermore, we trained and validated eight pivotal genes integrating these independent clinical variables into a nomogram with superior accuracy in predicting progression events, and their lower expression was associated with a higher stage/risk score. The Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) further revealed that these key genes showed enrichment in the HCC regulatory pathway.Conclusion: All in all, we found that these eight genes might be the novel potential prognostic biomarkers for HCC and also provide promising insights into the pathogenesis of HCC at the molecular level.Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, HCC, proteomics, bioinformatics analysis, prognosis, biomarkers

Processed food has become an indispensable part of the human food chain. It provides rich nutrition for human health and satisfies various other requirements for food consumption. However, establishing traceability systems for processed food faces a different set of challenges compared to primary agro-food, because of the variety of raw materials, batch mixing, and resource transformation. In this paper, progress in the traceability of processed food is reviewed. Based on an analysis of the food supply chain and processing stage, the problem of traceability in food processing results from the transformations that the resources go through. Methods to implement traceability in food processing, including physical separation in different lots, defining and associating batches, isotope analysis and DNA tracking, statistical data models, internal traceability system development, artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain-based approaches are summarized. Traceability is evaluated based on recall effects, TRUs (traceable resource units), and comprehensive granularity. Different methods have different advantages and disadvantages. The combined application of different methods should consider the specific application scenarios in food processing to improve granularity. On the other hand, novel technologies, including batch mixing optimization with AI, quality forecasting with big data, and credible traceability with blockchain, are presented in the context of improving traceability performance in food processing.

Emerging evidences have raised concerns about electrolyte disorders caused by restrictive fluid management in the enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol. This study aims to investigate the morbidity and treatment of electrolyte disorders associated with ERAS in patients undergoing hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) surgery. Clinical data from 157 patients under the ERAS program and 166 patients under the traditional (Non-ERAS) program after HPB surgery were retrospectively analyzed. Risk factors and predictive factors of postoperative electrolyte disorders were analyzed by logistic regression analysis and receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, respectively. The average of intravenous fluid, sodium, chloride, and potassium supplementation after surgery were significantly lower in the ERAS group. Hypokalemia was the most common type of electrolyte disorders in the ERAS group, whose incidence was substantially increased compared to that in the Non-ERAS group [28.77% vs. 8.97%, p

All-inorganic quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) show promise for advanced lighting and display due to their superior advantage in stability. However, all-inorganic QLEDs suffer from low efficiency because of the exciton quenching and inefficient hole transport from the inorganic hole transport layer (HTL) to QDs. Herein, we demonstrate an efficient all-inorganic QLED with NiO nanoparticles (NPs) HTL modified by 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA). The MUA can passivate the defects of NiO and suppress the exciton quenching. Moreover, the declined valence band level of modified NiO could facilitate the hole transport, promoting the charge balance. In addition, the surface engineering improves the quality of the NiO film, leading to the decrease of current leakage. As a result, the maximum current efficiency and external quantum efficiency (EQE) of our QLEDs achieve 5.50 cd/A and 1.28%, respectively, exhibiting an enhancement of 4.5- and 1.72-fold, respectively. Meanwhile, the stability of the device is...

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death. MicroRNA-942 (miR-942) plays a critical role in promoting proliferation and metastasis of cancer cells and is associated with poor prognosis in some types of cancers. However, the prognostic value of miR-942 and its functional role in HCC remain unclear. Materials and methods Real-time PCR (RT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of miR-942 in HCC tissues and adjacent normal liver tissues. Next, the correlations between miR-942 expression and clinicopathological parameters including the survival rate were analyzed. Interaction between miR-942 and ribonucleotide reductase regulatory TP53 inducible subunit M2B (RRM2B) was determined by RT-PCR, Western blot and luciferase assay. The biological influence of miR-942 on HCC cell lines was studied using CCK-8 assay, colony formation assay and transwell assay in vitro. Western blot and RT-PCR were used to analyze the change of downstream genes after miR-942 mimics transfection. Results miR-942 was significantly up-regulated in HCC. Its high expression was associated with serum alanine transaminase level (P=0.0350), tumor size (P=0.0195), T stage (P=0.0045) and lymphatic metastasis (P=0.0013). High expression of miR-942 was associated with shorter overall survival and disease-free survival time of HCC patients. RRM2B was validated as a target gene of miR-942. miR-942 mimics markedly promoted the malignant phenotypes of Huh7 and MHCC97H cell lines, while its inhibitor had the opposite effect. miR-942 can regulate the downstream genes of RRM2B including Egr-1 and PTEN, markers of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and matrix metalloproteinases. Conclusion miR-942 may serve as a potential biomarker for HCC and its inhibitor may be a therapeutic agent for the treatment of this deadly disease.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) and quick response (QR) codes are an effective way to identify traceable resource units (TRUs) and are widely applied in traceability systems. TRU transformation is common for things such as beef segmentation and wheat-flour packaging. The present study describes the development and testing of equipment for barcode-RFID bidirectional transformation to improve traceability by conserving identification association and information correspondence while transforming barcodes to RFID and vice versa. The framework of traceable bidirectional identification labels is based on comparing the features of RFID and barcodes and on analyzing TRU transformation. The proposed equipment includes a tactile industrial controller, a RFID-reader module, an embedded printing module, and a barcode scanning module. Furthermore, we develop the main functions of RFID-barcode conversion, bar-code-RFID conversion, and condition monitoring. The system is tested in field experiments based on two typical scenarios: beef segmentation and wheat-flour packaging. The average conversion success rate in RFID-barcode processing is 97%, and in barcode-RFID processing is 93.48%. The proposed equipment is more rapid than the reference method: 3.2 versus 8.7 s for RFID-barcode transformation and 10.5 versus 13.3 s for barcode-RFID transformation. In addition, the proposed equipment is less expensive than the conventional equipment. Test results indicate that continuous traceability is improved because identification association and information correspondence are conserved after TRU transformation.

Cold chains are effective in maintaining food quality and reducing food losses, especially for long-distance international food commerce. Several recent reports have demonstrated that frozen foods are serving as carriers of SARS-CoV-2 and transmitting the virus from one place to another without any human-to-human contact. This finding highlights significant difficulties facing efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 and reveal a transmission mechanism that may have substantially worsened the global pandemic. Traditional food cold chain management practices do not include specific procedures related to SARS-CoV-2-related environmental control and information warnings; therefore, such procedures are urgently needed to allow food to be safely transported without transmitting SARS-CoV-2. In this study, a conjoint analysis of COVID-19 and food cold chain systems was performed, and the results of this analysis were used to develop an improved food cold chain management system utilizing internet of things (IoT) and blockchain technology. First, 45 COVID-19-related food cold chain incidents in China, primarily involving frozen meat and frozen aquatic products, were summarized. Critical food cold chain control points related to COVID-19 were analyzed, including temperature and cold chain requirements. A conceptual system structure to improve food cold chain management, including information sensing, chain linking and credible tracing, was proposed. Finally, a prototype system, which consisted of cold chain environment monitoring equipment, a cold chain blockchain platform, and a food chain management system, was developed. The system includes: 1) a defining characteristic of the newly developed food cold chain system presented here is the use of IoT technology to enhance real-time environmental information sensing capacity; 2) a hybrid data storage mechanism consisting of off-chain and on-chain systems was applied to enhance data security, and smart contracts were used to establish warning levels for food cold chain incidents; and 3) a hypothetical food cold chain failure scenario demonstration in which information collection, intelligent decision making, and cold chain tracing were integrated and automatically generated for decision-making. By integrating existing technologies and approaches, our study provides a novel solution to improve traditional food cold chain management and thus meet the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Although our system has been shown to be effective, subsequent studies are still required to develop precise risk evaluation models for SARs-CoV-2 in food cold chains and more precisely control the entire process. By ensuring food safety and reliable traceability, our system could also contribute to the formulation of appropriate mechanisms for international cooperation and minimize the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on international food commerce.

Post-hepatectomy liver dysfunction is a life-threatening morbidity that lacks efficient therapy. Bioactive lipids involved in macrophage polarization crucially regulate tissue injury and regeneration. Herein, we investigate the key bioactive lipids that mediate the cytotherapeutic potential of polarized-macrophage for post-hepatectomy liver dysfunction. Untargeted lipidomics identified elevation of ceramide (CER) metabolites as signature lipid species relevant to M1/M2 polarization in mouse bone-marrow-derived-macrophages (BMDMs). M1 BMDMs expressed a CER-generation-metabolic pattern, leading to elevation of CER; M2 BMDMs expressed a CER-breakdown-metabolic pattern, resulting in upregulation of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P). After infusing M1- or M2-polarized BMDMs into the mouse liver after hepatectomy, we found that M1-BMDM infusion increased M1 polarization and CER accumulation, resulting in exaggeration of hepatocyte apoptosis and liver dysfunction. Conversely, M2-BMDM infusion enhanced M2 polarization and S1P generation, leading to alleviation of liver dysfunction with improved hepatocyte proliferation. Treatment of exogenous CER and S1P or inhibition CER and S1P synthesis by siRNA targeting relevant enzymes further revealed that CER induced apoptosis while S1P promoted proliferation in post-hepatectomy primary hepatocytes. In conclusion, CER and S1P are uncovered as critical lipid mediators for M1- and M2-polarized BMDMs to promote injury and regeneration in the liver after hepatectomy, respectively. Notably, the upregulation of hepatic S1P induced by M2-BMDM infusion may have therapeutic potential for post-hepatectomy liver dysfunction.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been extensively studied as one of the most aggressive tumors worldwide. However, its mortality rate remains high due to ideal diagnosis and treatment strategies. Uncovering novel genes with prognostic significance would shed light on improving the HCC patient’s outcome. In our study, we applied data-independent acquisition (DIA) quantitative proteomics to investigate the expression landscape of 24 paired HCC patients. A total of 1029 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were screened. Then, we compared DEPs in our cohort with the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in The Cancer Genome Atlas, and investigated their prognostic significance, and found 183 prognosis-related genes (PRGs). By conducting protein–protein interaction topological analysis, we identified four subnetworks with prognostic significance. Acyl-CoA oxidase 2 (ACOX2) is a novel gene in subnetwork1, encodes a peroxisomal enzyme, and its function in HCC was investigated in vivo and in vitro. The lower expression of ACOX2 was validated by real-time quantitative PCR, immunohistochemistry, and Western blot. Cell Counting Kit-8 assay, wound healing, and transwell migration assay were applied to evaluate the impact of ACOX2 overexpression on the proliferation and migration abilities in two liver cancer cell lines. ACOX2 overexpression, using a subcutaneous xenograft tumor model, indicated a tumor suppressor role in HCC. To uncover the underlying mechanism, gene set enrichment analysis was conducted, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α (PPARα) was proposed to be a potential target. In conclusion, we demonstrated a PRG ACOX2, and its overexpression reduced the proliferation and metastasis of liver cancer in vitro and in vivo through PPARα pathway.

Background Nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) is emerging as a leading risk factor of hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury lacking of effective therapy. Lipid dyshomeostasis has been implicated in the hepatopathy of NAFL. Herein, we investigate the bioactive lipids that critically regulate I/R injury in NAFL. Methods Lipidomics were performed to identify dysregulated lipids in mouse and human NAFL with I/R injury. The alteration of corresponding lipid-metabolizing genes was examined. The effects of the dysregulated lipid metabolism on I/R injury in NAFL were evaluated in mice and primary hepatocytes. Results Sphingolipid metabolic pathways responsible for the generation of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) were uncovered to be substantially activated by I/R in mouse NAFL. Sphingosine kinase 1 (Sphk1) was found to be essential for hepatic S1P generation in response to I/R in hepatocytes of NAFL mice. Sphk1 knockdown inhibited the hepatic S1P rise while accumulating ceramides in hepatocytes of NAFL mice, leading to aggressive hepatic I/R injury with upregulation of oxidative stress and increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In contrast, administration of exogenous S1P protected hepatocytes of NAFL mice from hepatic I/R injury. Clinical study revealed a significant activation of S1P generation by I/R in liver specimens of NAFL patients. In vitro studies on the L02 human hepatocytes consolidated that inhibiting the generation of S1P by knocking down SPHK1 exaggerated I/R-induced damage and oxidative stress in human hepatocytes of NAFL. Conclusions Generation of S1P by SPHK1 is important for protecting NAFL from I/R injury, which may serve as therapeutic targets for hepatic I/R injury in NAFL.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Overload of palmitic acids is linked to the dysregulation of ceramide metabolism in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and ceramides are important bioactive lipids mediating the lipotoxicity of palmitic acid in NASH. However, much remains unclear about the role of ceramidases that catalyze the hydrolysis of ceramides in NASH. By analyzing the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, we found that alkaline ceramidase 3 (ACER3) is upregulated in livers of patients with NASH. Consistently, we found that Acer3 mRNA levels and its enzymatic activity were also upregulated in mouse livers with NASH induced by a palmitate-enriched Western diet (PEWD). Moreover, we demonstrated that palmitate treatment also elevated Acer3 mRNA levels and its enzymatic activity in mouse primary hepatocytes. In order to investigate the function of Acer3 in NASH, Acer3 null mice and their wild-type littermates were fed a PEWD to induce NASH. Knocking out Acer3 was found to augment PEWD-induced elevation of C18:1-ceramide and alleviate early inflammation and fibrosis but not steatosis in mouse livers with NASH. In addition, Acer3 deficiency attenuated hepatocyte apoptosis in livers with NASH. These protective effects of Acer3 deficiency were found to be associated with suppression of hepatocellular oxidative stress in NASH liver. In vitro studies further revealed that loss of ACER3/Acer3 increased C18:1-ceramide and inhibited apoptosis and oxidative stress in mouse primary hepatocytes and immortalized human hepatocytes induced by palmitic-acid treatment. These results suggest that ACER3 plays an important pathological role in NASH by mediating palmitic-acid-induced oxidative stress.

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) is emerging as a leading risk factor of hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury lacking of effective therapy. Lipid dyshomeostasis has been implicated in the hepatopathy of NAFL. Herein, we investigate the bioactive lipids that critically regulate I/R injury in NAFL. Methods: Lipidomics were performed to identify dysregulated lipids in mouse and human NAFL with I/R injury. The alteration of corresponding lipid-metabolizing genes was examined. The effects of the dysregulated lipid metabolism on I/R injury in NAFL were evaluated in mice and human cultured hepatocytes. Findings: Sphingolipid metabolic pathways responsible for the generation of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) were uncovered to be substantially activated by I/R in mouse NAFL. Sphingosine kinase 1 (Sphk1) was found to be essential for hepatic S1P generation in response to I/R in mouse NAFL. Sphk1 knockdown inhibited the hepatic S1P rise while accumulating ceramides, leading to aggressive hepatic I/R injury with increased oxidative stress in NAFL mice. In contrast, administration of exogenous S1P protected NAFL mice from hepatic I/R injury. Clinical study revealed a significant activation of SPHK1/S1P pathway by I/R in liver specimens of NAFL patients. In vitro studies on cultured human hepatocytes consolidated that inhibiting the SPHK1/S1P pathway exaggerated I/R-induced damage and oxidative stress in human hepatocytes of NAFL. Interpretations: Activation of SPHK1/S1P pathway is important for protecting NAFL from I/R injury, which may serve as therapeutic targets for hepatic I/R injury in NAFL. Funding Statement: This work was supported by Dean Foundation of Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University (2018C029) to JPQ, Guangdong Province Science and Technology Program (2014A020212174) to CJL, Guangdong Province Science and Technology Program (2017A030313684) to JZ, National Natural Science Foundation of China (81803063) to YYL, National Natural Science Foundation of China (81600462) and the Outstanding Youth Development Scheme of Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University (2016006) to KW. Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no competing of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: All experiments using human samples were carried out following the protocols approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Nanfang Hospital Southern Medical University (NFEC-2019-029).

Background: Food safety has garnered much worldwide attention recently for reasons that are, unfortunately, not always positive. Traceability system (TS) is designed to assure safe and good quality food, while reducing the costs of food recalls. It should encompass all stakeholders, including governments, companies, and consumers, each of whom has an important role in the implementation and guardianship of such systems. The EU and China are amongst the main players implementing TS and are constantly exploring new opportunities and monitoring challenges for TS in a time of shifting consumer demands and rapid new technology innovation. Scope and approach: This article states development stages from TS 1.0 to 3.0. and reviews TS development in a number of key countries and regions. Comparisons between the EU and China are drawn in terms of government, corporate, and consumer involvement in traceability. Key findings and conclusions: A functional TS, while providing bi-directional communication between trading partners, must meet the laws and regulations where it operates. A functional system must also consider consumer value and perception, which varies with geography. There are a variety of promising technologies available on the market today to modernize TS, including artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain. A key finding of this research is that both the EU and China have developed significant trade links in recent years which will certainly positively impact both economies. Key to underpinning the sustainability of these trade links will be the adoption of common TS to prevent negative associations., This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31671593) and the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program Elite Youth Mission (CAAS 2060302-05-962-3). Also, this publication has emanated from research supported in part by a research grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under Grant Number 16/IFB/4439.

In order to investigate compressive and tensile mechanical properties of HTPB CBBG, split Hopkinson bar experiments were conducted. The strain rate varied from 1100 to 8000 s-1 at temperatures of 323 to 233 K. Non-linear true stress-true strain curves show that yielding is more significant at high strain rates or low temperatures. All true stress-true strain curves under compression have characteristics of strain hardening after yield point. The obvious stress drop after yield point of true stress-true strain curves under tension at high strain rates and low temperatures indicates that serious damage occurs and evolves. Based on the sensitivity analysis of yield stress to temperature and strain rate, it is found that the former has a more significant influence on compressive mechanical behaviors while temperature and strain rate have an evenly effect on tensile mechanical behaviors. According to the time-temperature superposition principle, the master curve of compressive initial modulus was built at reference temperature of 301 K and it matches well with experimental data.

This study developed principal component analysis and radial basis function neural networks (PCA-RBFNNs) for predicting freshness in tilapia fillets stored at different temperatures by integrating an electronic nose and electronic tongue. Total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), total aerobic counts (TAC), and K value increased at 0, 4, 7, and 10 °C, while sensory scores decreased significantly. The electronic nose and tongue acquired the volatiles and dissolved chemical compounds in the stored samples. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) verified the changes in gas species and contents in fillets stored for different periods of time at different temperatures. PCA-RBFNNs based on data fusion were developed and presented good performance for prediction of TVB-N, TAC, K value, and sensory score in tilapia fillets. The established PCA-RBFNNs based on feature variables of the electronic nose and tongue is a promising method to predict changes in the freshness of fillets stored from 0 to 10 °C in the cold chain.

Innovations in food packaging systems will help meet the evolving needs of the market, such as consumer preference for "healthy" and high-quality food products and reduction of the negative environmental impacts of food packaging. Emerging concepts of active and intelligent packaging technologies provide numerous innovative solutions for prolonging shelf-life and improving the quality and safety of food products. There are also new approaches to improving the passive characteristics of food packaging, such as mechanical strength, barrier performance, and thermal stability. The development of sustainable or green packaging has the potential to reduce the environmental impacts of food packaging through the use of edible or biodegradable materials, plant extracts, and nanomaterials. Active, intelligent, and green packaging technologies can work synergistically to yield a multipurpose food-packaging system with no negative interactions between components, and this aim can be seen as the ultimate future goal for food packaging technology. This article reviews the principles of food packaging and recent developments in different types of food packaging technologies. Global patents and future research trends are also discussed.

Recent legal requirements and market demands have motivated more food companies to implement traceability systems. Ensuring safe farming practices is the first step in food supply chain traceability, and reasonable pesticide use is a main feature of food safety and sustainable production. This study describes the design and development of a cloud-based platform for rational pesticide use to guarantee the source safety of traceable vegetables. The system includes a pesticide use control cloud platform (PUCC) and a pesticide user application (PUA), which interactively guide users through the steps of pesticide purchasing, pesticide application, harvest time, and pesticide evaluation. Models for evaluating and recommending potential pesticides were developed based on an open library of pesticide use rules. The PUCC, which includes the main functions of farmer registration, authentication of platform administrator, and information management for plant protection service agencies, was developed using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and deployed on the Internet. The PUA provides interfaces for pesticide purchasing guideline, pesticide application, optimal harvest time, and feedback. As a case study, the system was used for about a year in 24 vegetable bases in Tianjin. The effectiveness of the system was evaluated by investigating 8 management center staff members and 41 farmers. Management agencies noted the positive effects of promoting reasonable pesticide use, facilitating information accessibility, and enhancing management. Advantages to farmers included reducing the risk of unreasonable pesticide usage, decreasing the risk of counterfeit pesticides, and improving vegetable quality and safety; disadvantages included increased costs and reduced efficiency. In addition, the system improved external and internal traceability to ensure crop quality and safety.

This study proposed an integrated approach to evaluate the efficiency of forced-air cooling of apples stacked on pallets. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling was used to evaluate the cooling rate, uniformity, moisture loss, and energy consumption during precooling of apples. Experiments were conducted to quantify the incidence of chilling injury. A reasonable increase in cooling rate and uniformity was obtained with an increase in air-inflow rate to 2.31 L s−1 kg−1; any further increase in air-inflow rate will lead to a relatively low increase in cooling rate and uniformity, but a significant increase in energy consumption and cooling injury. An exponential relationship exists between fan power (Pw) and pressure differential (ΔP) as well as between total fan energy consumption (Ec) and air-inflow rate (Ec = hxk). Finally, the mass loss of fruit is primarily influenced by cooling time rather than air-inflow rate.

Herein, a highly-efficient quantum dot light-emitting diode (QLED) with stacked blue and yellow quantum dot (QD) layers can be demonstrated to output white light. A buffer layer of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) inserted between two QD layers can prevent them from mixing and penetrating. In order to promote charge balance, Zn0.95Mg0.05O was employed as the electron transport layer (ETL), which can block excessive electrons due to the 0.07 eV higher conduction band minimum (CBM) level compared to that of pristine ZnO, leading to the suppression of exciton quenching. In addition, the lower defect concentration and lowered conductivity of Zn0.95Mg0.05O due to the reduction of oxygen vacancies by doping the Mg element into ZnO can also benefit the inhibition of exciton quenching. The device can be demonstrated with a maximum luminance current efficiency of 24.6 cd A−1 and power efficiency of 25.8 lm W−1, exhibiting a 19% and 38% enhancement, respectively. The strategy demonstrated here demonstrates a promising way to realize highly efficient white QLEDs and also other optoelectronic devices.

Quick response (QR) codes are two-dimensional (2D) barcodes that are widely used in food packaging. Moreover, scanning QR codes with mobile phones has become a convenient method to ensure product traceability. However, attaching QR codes to curved agro-food products to improve traceability effects and increase customer satisfaction presents a significant challenge. This paper reports an optimization method developed for curved surfaces that uses response surface methodology (RSM) analysis. The value ranges of the following four factors affecting QR readability were selected and analyzed: reading distance, ball diameter, code size, and coded characters. A central composite inscribed experiment using four factors with five levels was designed using RSM to obtain the optimal reading parameters, and experimental equipment was designed in-house. The results indicate the primary factors that significantly affect QR code readability are reading distance, ball diameter, the interactions between reading distance and code size, and the interactions between ball diameter and code size. Optimal parameters were obtained with the established model by using apples and melons. For actual experimental testing, two solutions for apples and one solution for melon were selected to determine the requisite average values for the parameters. Tests were performed using different mobile phones, including both iOS and Android platforms. An analysis of the results reveals only slight differences between simulated readability and actual readability for different fruits and mobile phone platforms.

The current packaging designs and the efficiency of forced-air cooling (FAC) of fresh produce can be considerably improved by comprehensively comparing and evaluating the existing packaging designs. This study presents a market survey that studies samples of typical apple cartons used in China. Furthermore, by combining experiment and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling, a novel integral approach is proposed to evaluate cooling rate and uniformity, energy efficiency, and fruit quality (including safety) as a result of FAC for different ventilated-packaging designs. The process uses CFD to simulate the three-dimensional spatio-temporal distributions of airflow and product temperatures during precooling. In addition, experiments on chilling injury and mass loss are also reported. The results show that the optimum fresh-fruit packaging design depends on the product size and the location of the product and tray inside the packaging. For all existing package designs, the optimal air-inflow velocity is found to lie in the range 0.4–1 m/s (or 3–5 L s−1 kg−1), any further increase in airflow rate simply wastes energy because it leads to a relatively low increase in cooling rate and uniformity. The level of chilling injury and mass loss per box show a different trend with increasing air-inflow velocity. The accuracy of the CFD simulations was confirmed by a good agreement with experiments. The maximum root-mean-square error and mean absolute percentage error for produce temperature are 0.727 °C and 18.69%, respectively. This research unveils the advantages and disadvantages of the various existing packaging designs and provides a reliable theoretical and experimental basis for achieving an integral evaluation of the performance of FAC.

Logistics and storage is the main processing for agro-food supply chain. Because of disconnection information between the two processing, it is difficult to trace continuously. An intelligent conveyer belt provides an effective method to associate storage and logistics by QR code scanning and information recording. Improving the QR code readability in movement state is the core of implementing continuous chain traceability with this belt. In this paper, a intelligent conveyer belt including automatic conveyer unit, barcode scanning unit, fault remove unit and control display unit was designed. Four factors affected QR readability were selected and the value range was confirmed, which was reading distance, code size, coded characters and belt moving speed. Based on the belt, an Central Composite Inscribed (CCI) experiment of four factors with five levels was designed using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) to obtain the optimal reading parameters. The result shows that the main factors of reading distance, belt moving speed and the interaction between reading distance and code size have the significant effect on QR code readability. Under the optimization condition of 141.45 mm reading distance, 34.58 mm code size, 100 bytes coded characters and 2.98 m/min belt moving speed, the average value of QR code readability was 95%. With the optimization parameters, the intelligent conveyer belt was used in an apple marketing enterprise. The result shows that the continuous traceability between storage and logistic can be implemented with the extended breadth, deepened depth and improved precision.

Recent developments in the legal establishment and the market have motivated more agro-food companies to implement traceability systems (TS). TS play an important role not only for planning system implementation before development, but also for analyzing system performance after using the system. A novel agro-food TS model is presented here, based on comprehensive and quantifiable granularity concepts. A 2-layer index system was established; the first layer was mainly factors such as precision, breadth, and depth, and the second layer included seven indicator sub-factors: external trace units, internal flow units, IU conversion, information collection content, information update frequency, forward tracking distance, and backward tracing distance. An indicator’s overall score was scaled with five contributing scores that graded the assignment method. Indicator weight was confirmed with the AHP method. The weight values of the seven indicators were 0.1985, 0.1141, 0.0872, 0.1870, 0.1248, 0.1442, and 0.1442, respectively. A weighted sum model was adopted to calculate the evaluation value. A high evaluation value indicated high granularity. The granularity model was applied in two enterprises, here identified as WPF and WFPE, which were located at different stages in wheat-flour supply chain. The survey results showed that WFPE should invest more in tracing equivalent granularity than WPF should because it involves multi-stage processing, a complicated supply chain structure, it is a large enterprise, and operates in a strict regulatory environment. Furthermore, WFPE was motivated to implement a high granularity level because of benefits in supply chain management, market and customer response, and recall and risk management. In the future, an updated granularity evaluation model that could combine enterprise characteristics and uncover hidden costs and benefits will be studied further.

The accumulation pattern of the marine shale gas in South China is different from that in North America. The former has generally thin reservoirs and complex preservation conditions, so it is difficult to make a fine description of the structural features of shale formations and to reflect accurately the distribution pattern of high-quality shale by using the conventional seismic exploration technology. Based on data processing such as data correction, reduction-to-pole of magnetic data, space transforming, derivative conversion, smoothing filter and regularization filter, the magnetic anomalies were observed and analyzed, and the regional geological structure is divided in detail. The magnetic substrate obtained is the magnetic interface of metamorphic rocks equivalent to the Middle Proterozoic top boundary, with a depth of 2–4 km, reflecting the structural morphology and undulating characteristics of the metamorphic crystalline basement. The low parts on the magnetic basement provide the formation and accumulation of the Late Permian-Early Jurassic shale gas in the basin, in which favourable exploration blocks could be found. The fault structure in the study area has two layers of structure in space. The matching relationship between the sedimentary cap fracture and the basement fault controls the spatial distribution of the dominant reservoir together. Our research can guide shale gas exploration and development in this area and balance the high upstream exploration cost, and continue to push the efficient shale gas exploration and development process in China.

This report sought to establish the mechanistic role of sirtuin-1 (Sirt1), a NAD+-dependent deacetylase in the modulation of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) pathogenesis. 64 PBC patients (diagnosed based on practice guidelines for American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases) and 60 healthy controls were included in this study. Clinically, the mRNA expression level of Sirt1 in macrophages differentiated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of PBC subjects substantially decreased when compared with the healthy controls but not in other Sirt family genes (Sirt2-7). Consistent with clinical results, a PBC murine model showed that levels of Sirt1 significantly decreased in the liver and Kupffer cells of mice treated with polyinosinic/polycytidylic acid (poly I:C) for 16 weeks. A TAK1 inhibitor (NG25) prevented the poly I:C-induced Sirt1 protein level decreasing in Kupffer cells but not MAPK inhibitor. Sirt1 activators resveratrol (RSV) and SRT1720 (SRT) ameliorated poly I:C-induced hepatic injury observed via histopathologic analysis and decreased aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in the PBC murine model. Furthermore, Sirt1 activators significantly reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines levels such as interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), IL-6, interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in serum in poly I:C-induced mice. In addition, Sirt1 activators significantly inhibited the phosphorylated and acetylated levels of the RelA/p65 subunit of the nuclear transcription factor (NF-κB) but not the interferon regulatory factor (IRF) 3 in poly I:C-injured mice livers. Significantly, RSV improved the interaction between Sirt1 and p65, which may contribute to the decreased activity of NF-κB. In summary, the Sirt1 signaling pathway plays an essential role in the development of PBC and this may represent a novel approach and target for the treatment of PBC.

Counterfeiting products and abusing labels lead to less credibility for traceability system in China recently. Authentication and supervision agencies driven by government departments play an important role for ensuring the quality safety in the case of lacking the willingness and credit of enterprises. A complete authentication and supervision flow framework was constructed based on an identification code (IdC) for authenticated origin base, which linked two actors of the agencies and the enterprises, and three subsystems of On-line Authentication Subsystem (OAS), Safety Production Management Client (SMC) and Mobile Supervision Application (MSA). IdC consisted of longitude and latitude of origin base as position code, production code and authentication type code. With a relative position partition method on 6 zones every 27° for China map and a coordination transformation algorithm, an absolute longitude and latitude value was converted into a relative position value and a zone mark value. IdC and packaging date code formed initial traceability code (TC). 8 digits packaging date code was reconstructed into 3 digits relative time value and 1 digit period mark according to a relative time period partition method with a period of 999d as time intervals and four periods form a cycle. Validation code was generated integrating the zone mark value, period mark value and authentication type code. Therefore, transformed 20 digits TC with the characters of shorter code length and stronger encryption was formed with IdC, relative time value and validation code. Three subsystems for different actors which provide the main function such as origin base registration, agency authentication, QR code generation, data uploading and product verification, were developed. The system has been used in Tianjin city from 2012. 213 enterprises were audited through OAS and used SMC. Through investigating 8 supervision agency staffs, 30 origin base owners, and 50 customers, it is shown that the positive effects are approved by most of the investigators and two negative effects for enhancing the costs and doubting the authentication reliability are laid by 17 enterprises and 12 customers. Furthermore, 4 typical cases for counterfeiting and abusing the labels were exampled and can be solved to a certain extent with the system. However, except for the technology itself, a management measures fitting the supervision flow and system need to draft in order to improve the system application well in the future.

Optimizing the design of fresh produce packaging is vital for ensuring that future food cold chains are more energy efficient and for improving produce quality by avoiding chilling injuries due to nonuniform cooling. Computational fluid dynamics models are thus increasingly used to study the airflow patterns and heat transfer inside ventilated packaging during precooling. This review discusses detailed and comprehensive mathematical modeling procedures for simulating the airflow, heat transfer, and mass transfer that occurs during forced-air precooling of fresh produce. These models serve to optimize packaging design and cooling efficiency. We summarize the most commonly used parameters for performance, which allows us to directly compare the cooling performance of various packaging designs.