Structure of tecophilin,a tri-caffeoylanthocyanin from the blue petals of Tecophilaea cyanocrocus, and the mechanism of blue color development

The pigment, tecophilin, in blue flowers of Tecophilaea cyanocrocus was isolated and the structure was determined to be 3-O-(6-O-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-β-d-glucopyranosyl)-7-O-(6-O-(4-O-(2-O-(4-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl-(E)-caffeoyl)-6-O-(4-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl-(E)-caffeoyl)-β-d-glucopyranosyl)-(E)-caffeoyl)-β-d-glucopyranosyl)delphinidin. The reproduction experiment of the same color as petals according to the results of chemical analysis and measurement of vacuolar pH of blue cells clarified that the blue color solely develops by tecophilin without interaction of metal ions nor co-pigments. ¹H NMR analysis and CD spectrum indicate the co-existence of clockwise intermolecular self-association of the delphinidin nuclei and intramolecular π–π stacking between the chromophore and caffeoyl residues to derive bathochromic shift of the absorption spectrum and stabilize the color by preventing hydration reaction.     

The Influence of Different Pretreatment Methods on Color and Pigment Change in Beetroot Products

Vegetable processing pomace contains valuable substances such as natural colors that can be reused as functional ingredients. Due to a large amount of water, they are an unstable material. The aim of our research was to assess how the pretreatment method (thermal or nonthermal) affects the properties of powders obtained from beet juice and pomace after the freeze-drying process. The raw material was steamed or sonicated for 10 or 15 min, and then squeezed into juice and pomace. Both squeezed products were freeze-dried. The content of dry substance; L*, a*, and b* color parameters; and the content of betalain pigments were analyzed. Pretreatments increased the proportion of red and yellow in the juices. Steam and ultrasound caused a significant reduction in parameter b* in the dried pomace. A significant increase in betanin in lyophilizates was observed after pretreatment with ultrasound and steam for 15 min. As a result of all experiments, dried juices and pomaces can also be used as a colorant source. However, there is higher potential with pomaces due to their additional internal substances as well as better storage properties. After a few hours, juice was sticky and not ready to use.     

CDFI鉴别男性乳腺良恶性肿瘤价值及与CXCL1、Gab2、MVD的相关性探究

本研究选取18例男性乳腺恶性肿瘤患者作为研究组,纳入同期41例男性良性乳腺肿瘤及50例健康体检男性分别作为良性对照组和健康对照组,通过对比分析发现,研究组CDFI参数[搏动指数(PI)、阻力指数(RI)、血流速度(PSV)]高于良性对照组和健康对照组(P<0.05);PI、RI、PSV联合诊断男性乳腺恶性肿瘤的AUC高达0.854,具有较高应用价值;研究组患者PI、RI、PSV与CXC型趋化因子配体1(CXCL1)、GRB相关蛋白2(Gab2)、微血管密度(MVD)水平间存在正相关关系(P<0.05)。由此可见,CDFI在鉴别男性乳腺良恶性肿瘤方面具有较高应用价值,且与患者CXCL1、Gab2、MVD表达呈正相关。     

Heavy Metals in Acrylic Color Paints Intended for the School Children Use: A Potential Threat to the Children of Early Age

Heavy metals are the harmful elements, regarded as carcinogens. Nevertheless, owing to their physical and chemical properties, they are still used in the production of several commercial products. Utilization of such products increases the chance for the exposure of heavy metals, some of them are categorized as probable human carcinogens (Group 1) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Exposure of heavy metals to school children at early age can result severe life time health issues and high chance of emerging cancer. Thus, we have performed study relating to the presence of heavy metals in acrylic color paints commonly used by the school children. Acrylic paints of different colors were assayed for seven potential heavy metals manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) using microwave digestion and iCAPQ inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) system. The optimized method including paints digestion reagents nitric acid (HNO₃, 65%, 5 mL) and hydrofluoric acid (HF, 40%, 2 mL) have offered excellent method performance with recovery values ranged between 99.33% and 105.67%. The elements were identified in all of the analyzed samples with concentrations ranged from 0.05 to 372.59 µg/g. Cd constitutes the lower percentage (0.05%), whereas Zn constitutes high ratio contribution which was tremendously high (68.33%). Besides, the paints contamination was also color specific, with considerably total heavy metal concentrations found in brunt umber (526.57 µg/g) while scarlet color (12.62 µg/g) contained lower amounts. The outcomes of our investigation highlight the necessity for guidelines addressing the heavy metals in acrylic color paints intended for the school children usage.     

Characterization of Food Packaging Films with Blackcurrant Fruit Waste as a Source of Antioxidant and Color Sensing Intelligent Material

Chitosan and pectin films were enriched with blackcurrant pomace powder (10 and 20% (w/w)), as bio-based material, to minimize food production losses and to increase the functional properties of produced films aimed at food coatings and wrappers. Water vapor permeability of active films increased up to 25%, moisture content for 27% in pectin-based ones, but water solubility was not significantly modified. Mechanical properties (tensile strength, elongation at break and Young’s modulus) were mainly decreased due to the residual insoluble particles present in blackcurrant waste. FTIR analysis showed no significant changes between the film samples. The degradation temperatures, determined by DSC, were reduced by 18 °C for chitosan-based samples and of 32 °C lower for the pectin-based samples with blackcurrant powder, indicating a disturbance in polymer stability. The antioxidant activity of active films was increased up to 30-fold. Lightness and redness of dry films significantly changed depending on the polymer type. Significant color changes, especially in chitosan film formulations, were observed after exposure to different pH buffers. This effect is further explored in formulations that were used as color change indicators for intelligent biopackaging.     

Probiotic Yoghurts with Sea Buckthorn,Elderberry, and Sloe Fruit Purees

Elderberries, sea buckthorn, and sloe berries are fruits of wild-grown bushes, valued in folk medicine for their health-promoting properties but still rarely applied in food. The aim of the present study was to produce probiotic yoghurts with a 10% addition of sweetened purees prepared from elderberries (EPY), sea buckthorn (SBPY), and sloe berries (SPY) and to assess their chemical composition, acidity, content of polyphenols and anthocyanins, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and antiradical power (ARP), level of starter microbiota, concentration of acetaldehyde and diacetyl, syneresis, instrumentally measured color and texture parameters, and sensory acceptance. The results were compared to those obtained for plain probiotic yoghurt (PPY) and the changes tracked during 1 month of cold storage at 2 week intervals. The addition of elderberry and sloe berries significantly increased the antioxidant capacity of probiotic yoghurts, probably due to a high content of polyphenols, especially anthocyanins. However, anthocyanins were more stable in the EPY when compared to the SPY. All yoghurt treatments were characterized by good sensory quality and viability of starter microorganisms, including probiotic strains during cold storage. Elderberries promoted the evolution of diacetyl in yoghurts during storage and, together with sloe berries, produced increased syneresis and the greatest changes in color profile compared to PPY.     

Effect of Filtrated Osmotic Solution Based on Concentrated Chokeberry Juice and Mint Extract on the Drying Kinetics,Energy Consumption and Physicochemical Properties of Dried Apples

Background: Filtration of osmotic solution affects selective penetration during osmotic dehydration (OD), and after drying is finished, this can influence the chemical composition of the material, which is also modified by OD. Methods: Osmotic dehydration was carried out in filtrated and non-filtrated concentrated chokeberry juice with the addition of mint infusion. Then, this underwent convective drying, vacuum-microwave drying and combined convective pre-drying, followed by vacuum-microwave finishing drying. Drying kinetics were presented and mathematical models were selected. The specific energy consumption for each drying method was calculated and the energy efficiency was determined. Results and Discussion: The study revealed that filtration of osmotic solution did not have significant effect on drying kinetics; however, it affected selective penetration during OD. The highest specific energy consumption was obtained for the samples treated by convective drying (CD) (around 170 kJ·g⁻¹ fresh weight (fw)) and the lowest for the samples treated by vacuum-microwave drying (VMD) (around 30 kJ·g⁻¹ fw), which is due to the differences in the time of drying and when these methods are applied. Conclusions: Filtration of the osmotic solution can be used to obtain the desired material after drying and the VMD method is the most appropriate considering both phenolic acid content and the energy aspect of drying.     

单颗粒光散射显微成像技术在生化医药分析中的应用

等离子体纳米颗粒(PNPs)具有体积小、易表面修饰、生物相容性好、毒性低等优点,在生物传感、生物成像、疾病诊断、肿瘤治疗、材料科学等领域得到了广泛的应用。PNPs的光散射光学性质可以通过调节其大小、组成、形貌和微环境来控制,可用于生化和药物分析。此外,由于单粒子散射显微技术具有高空间分辨率和高灵敏度,借助PNPs具有的独特局域表面等离子体共振(LSPR)特性,可在单颗粒水平进行实时成像。根据PNPs的大小、组成、形态、微环境或耦合变化引起的信号变化,研究人员发展了多种显微成像分析方法,主要分为4种,包括散射光谱的波长位移、单粒子散射强度的变化、高通量RGB分析和计数方法。基于纳米颗粒LSPR散射光谱位移变化的方法准确、灵敏,但需要昂贵的单颗粒散射光谱仪和复杂的操作。基于纳米颗粒散射强度变化的方法简单可行,但易受纳米颗粒粒径和曝光时间等因素的影响。高通量RGB分析方法灵敏度高、成本低,但不适用于颜色变化不明显的单颗粒分析,且重复性差。单粒子计数法灵敏度高,但有时粒子分布不均匀,背景杂质的干扰限制了方法的准确度。因此,这4种定量方法各有优缺点。此外,近年来逐渐发展了一些新的定量方法。例如,研究人员开发了新的时间分辨分析定量方法,并将暗场显微镜与偏振器、滤光片等光学器件相结合以消除背景干扰,以及与电化学、拉曼等仪器相结合以扩大应用范围。此外,为提高分析方法的准确度和灵敏度,暗场显微镜与深度学习、云计算、人工智能等现代计算机科学技术的结合,越来越受到人们的欢迎。基于以上原因,该文重点介绍了单粒子光散射显微镜在生化和药物分析领域的应用,总结了近年来的最新研究进展,讨论了单粒子光散射显微镜在定量分析中的几种主要定量方法,提出了未来的发展趋势,以期为相关研究领域的新人提供一定的学术参考。     

First-principles study of fundamental properties and electronic structure of alloys

We have performed first-principles calculations using full-potential augmented-plane-wave method to investigate the fundamental properties of the Cd_1–xZn_xTe alloys. The composition dependence of the lattice constant and the bulk modulus have been estimated from total energy calculations. By means of the analytical fitting the band structures in the vicinity of the Brillouin center a complete set of effective electron- and hole-masses have also been derived. In order to further understand the effects of the chemical bonding on the above macroscopic properties we then studied the relaxation behaviors and the changes of the electronic states upon alloying for x=0.25 system. The results presented here yield a general understanding of the fundamental properties for the Cd_1–xZn_xTe crystals studies.     

水性颜料体系无树脂色浆的制备与应用

中性墨水属于热力学上不稳定的颜料悬浮体系,选择低黏度、高稳定性的色浆是保证墨水体系分散稳定性的重要手段之一。基于此,以颜料炭黑和酞菁蓝为着色剂,配合超分散剂(EK43)与协同增效剂(BM10),制备了两款适用于中性墨水体系的无树脂色浆。首次从色浆粒径与体系分散稳定性角度出发,确定了EK43、BM10用量以及最佳研磨时间,并对其理化性能、稳定性与书写性能进行分析测试。结果表明:在黑色浆中添加质量分数10.0%的EK43、2.5%的BM10,研磨时间为90 min;在蓝色浆中添加质量分数8.0%的EK43、2.0%的BM10,研磨时间为120 min时,两种色浆的粒径与分散稳定性均达到最佳。所制备的无树脂色浆颜料固含量高、黏度较低、储存稳定性好、着色力强,以其调配的中性墨水书写性能良好,且具有较好的离心稳定性和耐热稳定性。