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The chemical properties and quality of milk powder and reconstituted milk can be changed by preheating treatment during milk powder processing. The effect of preheating conditions (low-temperature pasteurization [LT], high-temperature pasteurization [HT], extended shelf-life [ESL], ultra-high-temperature [UHT], and in-container sterilization [CS]), on furosine, furfural compounds, and advanced glycation end products were investigated in milk powders and reconstituted milk. The results revealed that Maillard reaction indicators were affected by preheating intensity; contents of furosine, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), 2-furfural, Nε-(carboxymethyl)lysine (CML), and Nε-(carboxyethyl)lysine (CEL) increased, whereas lysine and 5-methyl-furfural (MF) decreased in both milk powder and reconstituted milk with an increase in the intensity of preheating. CML and CEL contents in reconstituted milk increased by 1.7- to 2.4-fold and 1.3- to 1.6-fold, respectibely. The content of CML and CEL in high-preheating powders was 11%-34% and 18%-123% higher than that in LT samples, respectively. Compared with milk powder, furosine was reduced by 22%-55% and MF by 57%-69% in reconstituted milk; HMF increased by 12%-52%, CML and CEL increased 1.7-2.4 times and 1.3-1.6 times, respectively. A superposition effect was observed between preheating intensity and heat process times, which increased the content of Maillard reaction products. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Our findings revealed the promotion effect of higher preheating conditions on Maillard reaction indicators in milk powder and reconstituted low-temperature pasteurized milk. The results will help reduce some of the harmful Maillard reaction indicators (e.g., advanced glycation end products) formed during heat processing and assist customers in selecting dairy products with low amounts of Maillard reaction products.

Chiral hybrid organic-inorganic metal halides (HOMHs) with intrinsic noncentrosymmetry have shown great promise for broad applications in chiroptoelectronics, spintronics, and ferroelectronics. However, the construction strategies for chiral HOMHs often involve chiral building blocks in their frameworks, which greatly limit their chemical diversity. Here, we take advantage of a chiral induction approach and have successfully constructed a series of chiral HOMHs

Two new chiral hybrid organic–inorganic metal halides, (S-/R-2-C5H14N2)2PbI6, have been constructed, which exhibit a strong second harmonic generation response with a large laser damage threshold (∼2.97 mJ cm−2).

A highly electron-deficient dicyanomethylene-bridged triarylborane, FMesB-TCN, was reported with a low-lying LUMO and crystallization-induced emission enhancement in its block-shape crystal. DFT calculations revealed lower re-organization energy of the block crystal than that of the weakly emissive acicular crystal. This work explored a novel boron-containing skeleton with interesting optical properties.

This study evaluated the chemical changes in five types of whole-milk powders (WMP) with different heating loads during storage. The WMP was preheated using low-heat [low-temperature long-time (LTLT), high-temperature short-time pasteurization (HTST)] and high-heat process [ultra-pasteurization (ESL), ultra-high-temperature (UHT) treatments, and in-bottle sterilization (BS)]. Furosine increased by 2.5–3.0 times in high-heat WMP and 5.7–8.4 times in low-heat WMP during storage. 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF) content in high-heat WMP was on average 1.4- to 2.4-fold higher than in low-heat WMP during storage. The increases in the amount of Ne-(carboxymethyl)lysine (CML) and Ne-(carboxyethyl)lysine (CEL) in high-heat WMP were more than that in low-heat WMP (CML, 3.4–4.9 vs 3.1–3.4 times; CEL, 3.4–4.2 vs 2.7–3.0 times). Pyrraline in high-heat WMP increased by 1.8- to 2.1-fold. 2-Furaldehyde, CML, and CEL increased slowly with 12 months of storage and then accelerated. Storage time significantly contributed to more furosine, HMF, CML, and CEL contents in high-heat WMP.

Pasteurization and sterilization, normally carried out in milk, can induce the Maillard reaction, which can produce substances that are harmful to health. Quantitation of initial, intermediate, and advanced Maillard reaction products in milk was conducted for pasteurization (low-temperature long-time [LTLT], high-temperature short-time [HTST]) and sterilization (ultra-high temperature [UHT], in-bottle sterilization [BS]) methods. Total lysine and lactose decreased by 32.8% and 6.7% in BS milk, respectively. The generation of furosine in sterilized milk and pasteurized milk ranged from 2.5- to 5.0-fold and 1.4- to 2.8-fold higher, respectively, than those in raw milk. 5-(Hydroxymethyl)furfural increased by 4.7- and 8.4-fold in UHT and BS milk, and 2-furaldehyde (F) was not quantified in raw and LTLT milk. The concentrations of Ne-(carboxymethyl)lysine (CML) was nearly 4.4- to 6.7-fold higher than that of Ne-(carboxyethyl)lysine in the heated milk samples. CML in UHT and BS milk were around 1.4-fold and 1.6-fold higher than that in raw milk, respectively. The concentration of these Maillard reaction products in sterilized milk was significantly higher than those in raw, LTLT, and HTST milk. The results of this study could improve safety control in the dairy industry with respect to pasteurization and sterilization procedures.

Fe–N co-decorated hierarchically porous graphene (FeN/G) was prepared by a facile one-step pyrolysis method. In the pyrolysis synthesis process, dicyandiamide was introduced as a nitrogen precursor and sacrificial templating agent, together with ferric nitrate utilized as an iron precursor, to aid in the formation of graphene nanosheets and their self-assembly into an interconnected porous framework. Consequently, the resultant FeN/G framework shows a relatively large specific surface area (401.1 m2 g−1), hierarchically porous structure and abundant meso-/macropores. Such highly desired FeNC structures not only possess sufficient catalytically active sites for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) but also guarantee fast transfer of reactants and ions, which provides excellent catalytic activity with positive onset and half-wave potentials, large kinetic-limiting current density, and remarkable durability that is obviously better than the commercial Pt/C in alkaline medium.

Liver fibrosis is a health concern that leads to organ failure mediated via production of inflammatory cytokines and fibrotic biomarkers. To date, there was no direct approved antifibrotic therapy, and current treatment was mainly the removal of the causative factor. Recent studies demonstrated that aberrant expression of miR-124 was involved in the progression of various liver diseases including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, whether miR-124 could function as a transcriptional regulator in the inflammatory cytokines secretion of liver fibrosis remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that the expression of miR-124 was downregulated in liver fibrosis tissues and TNF-α-induced LX-2 cells, concomitant with the upregulated expression of IQGAP1, suggesting that miR-124 and IQGAP1 might be associated with the development of inflammation in liver fibrosis. Therefore, we demonstrated that the overexpression of miR-124 and knockdown of IQGAP1 could lead to the downregulation of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6. While knockdown of miR-124 or overexpression of IQGAP1 showed reversed results. Moreover, dual luciferase reporter assays demonstrated that miR-124 specifically targeted the 3'-UTR of IQGAP1, and thus inhibited the expression of IQGAP1. Mechanistically, we found that the expression changes of miR-124 and IQGAP1 could be involved in inhibition or activation of NF-κB signaling pathway in response to TNF-α. In conclusion, these results indicated that miR-124 plays a crucial role in TNF-α-induced LX-2 cells via regulating NF-κB signaling pathway.

The solubilities of myofibrillar proteins (MPs) increased monotonically with increasing NaCl concentration at pH = pI (isoelectric point), but decreased monotonically with increasing NaCl concentration at pH pI, the solubilities decreased initially, but increased with increasing NaCl concentrations from 0.2 to 0.8 M. For chloride salts, the “salt in” effect of cations decreased in the order: Li+ > Na+ > K+ > Rb+. For sodium salts, the “salt in” effect of anions decreased in the sequence: Cl¯ > Br¯ > I¯ > SCN¯. The “salt in” effect of cations were stronger than that of anions. No evidence of increased electrostatic interaction was found during “salt in”. Presence of CH3COO¯ decreased the solubilization effect of Na+. These results indicate the “salt in” of MPs is more affected by the cations with higher degree of hydration, which may be interfered by the presence of highly hydrated anions.

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a complex neuropsychiatric disorder with high heritability. Abnormal gene methylation was found to play a key role in the development of SCZ, suggesting that histone deacetylases (HDACs) may increase the expression of several key genes in the brain. However, recent studies evaluating the association between SCZ and genetic polymorphisms in histone deacetylase 3 (encoded by HDAC3) have shown conflicting results. In this study, we designed a two-stage case-control study to investigate the association of the HDAC3 with SCZ. Fourteen tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) entirely covering the region of HDAC3 were analyzed in the testing group of 1,421 patients and 2,823 healthy controls, and the SNP rs14251 was found to be significant (and rs2530223 to be nominally significant). The significant result of rs14251 was successfully replicated in the validation group consisting of 896 cases and 1,815 healthy controls (P = 0.009276, OR = 1.219), and also confirmed by haplotype based analyses (rs976552-rs14251, global P 0.001). To sum up, our results provide additional evidence that HDAC3 confers the increasing risk of SCZ susceptibility in Han Chinese individuals, suggesting this gene as a potential genetic modifier for SCZ development. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.