•We review the fundamentals of applying CFD to precooling of fresh produce.•We summarize the parameters used to analyze packaging performance.•We review recent studies that focus on optimizing the ...design of fresh produce packaging.•We discuss various challenging issues.
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.
Optimization of fresh fruit packaging designs is required to reduce energy loss by minimizing the precooling time and to enhance fruit quality by providing more uniform cooling without inducing ...chilling injuries. In this work, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is developed to study the airflow patterns and heat transfer inside an existing container and a newly developed container. The CFD model employs an unsteady-state approach based on a two-equation eddy-viscosity turbulence model (SST-κ–ω model). The cooling performance of the existing container and the new container are evaluated experimentally and numerically with the CFD model. The CFD results reveal a complex and uneven distribution of the airflow inside the existing vented package. Such airflow leads to a non-uniform temperature distribution over the produce, with a maximum temperature difference of ∼8 °C between two layers of stacked produce. For the new boxes, the half-cooling time and coefficient of temperature variation are about twofold less than those for the existing boxes, and the maximum temperature difference is ∼2.5 °C between two layers of stacked produce. Thus, the new package design clearly shows significant improvements in cooling performance. The numerical model is verified by comparing the simulation results to those of experiments, and the predicted results are consistent with the measured results. The maximum temperature deviation is less than 1.5 °C, and the maximum root-mean-square error and average relative error for produce temperature are 1.452 °C and 13.6%, respectively. This research provides a reliable theoretical and experimental basis for improving airflow and produce-temperature uniformity and for minimizing energy consumption during the forced-convection cooling of produce.
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•A model based the geometry of produce stacked in boxes was developed.•The local and average airflow through stacks of horticultural products was studied.•Heat from respiration, transpiration, condensation, and convective heat flow, were considered.•A new vented box was developed with a greater number of vents.
Transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) ion channel is a classic analgesic target, but antagonists of TRPV1 failed in clinical trials due to their side effects like hyperthermia. Here we ...rationally engineer a peptide s-RhTx as a positive allosteric modulator (PAM) of TRPV1. Patch-clamp recordings demonstrate s-RhTx selectively potentiated TRPV1 activation. s-RhTx also slows down capsaicin-induced desensitization of TRPV1 in the presence of calcium to cause more calcium influx in TRPV1-expressing cells. In addition, our thermodynamic mutant cycle analysis shows that E652 in TRPV1 outer pore specifically interacts with R12 and K22 in s-RhTx. Furthermore, we demonstrate in vivo that s-RhTx exhibits long-lasting analgesic effects in noxious heat hyperalgesia and CFA-induced chronic inflammatory pain by promoting the reversible degeneration of intra-epidermal nerve fiber (IENF) expressing TRPV1 channels in mice, while their body temperature remains unaffected. Our results suggest s-RhTx is an analgesic agent as a PAM of TRPV1.
•A survey was made by collecting samples of all types of apple cartons used in China.•The local and average airflow through stacks of horticultural products are analyzed.•Cooling efficiency of ...different carton designs analyzed by a novel integral approach.•A based provided for further optimization of carton designs.•A based provided for minimizing energy consumption during FAC.
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 0.4–1m/s (or 3–5Ls−1kg−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.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are commonly used new-generation drugs for depression. Depressive symptoms are thought to be ...closely related to neuroinflammation. In this study, we used up-to-date protocols of culture and stimulation and aimed to understand how astrocytes respond to the antidepressants.
Primary astrocytes were isolated and cultured using neurobasal-based serum-free medium. The cells were treated with a cytokine mixture comprising complement component 1q, tumor necrosis factor α, and interleukin 1α with or without pretreatments of antidepressants. Cell viability, phenotypes, inflammatory responses, and the underlying mechanisms were analyzed.
All the SSRIs, including paroxetine, fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, and fluvoxamine, show a visible cytotoxicity within the range of applied doses, and a paradoxical effect on astrocytic inflammatory responses as manifested by the promotion of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and/or nitric oxide (NO) and the inhibition of interleukin 6 (IL-6) and/or interleukin 1β (IL-1β). The SNRI venlafaxine was the least toxic to astrocytes and inhibited the production of IL-6 and IL-1β but with no impact on iNOS and NO. All the drugs had no regulation on the polarization of astrocytic A1 and A2 types. Mechanisms associated with the antidepressants in astrocytic inflammation route via inhibition of JNK1 activation and STAT3 basal activity.
The study demonstrated that the antidepressants possess differential cytotoxicity to astrocytes and function differently, also paradoxically for the SSRIs, to astrocytic inflammation. Our results provide novel pieces into understanding the differential efficacy and tolerability of the antidepressants in treating patients in the context of astrocytes.
We aimed to investigate the differences in clinical features between pulmonary embolism (PE) patients concomitant with lung cancer and without lung cancer (LC) and gain further understanding of the ...impact of lung cancer on pulmonary embolism.
This retrospective study sampled 114 patients diagnosed with pulmonary embolism from January 2017 to April 2021 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University. The patients were categorized into the LC group (n = 22) or non-LC group (n = 92). Myocardial injury, coagulation and blood cell parameters, along with imaging findings, were analyzed for the two groups. The primary outcome measure was the 90-day mortality.
Of the 114 patients with pulmonary embolism in the present study, the 90 intermediate-risk patients were enrolled for further investigations. Compared to the non-LC group, patients in the LC group had milder myocardial injury, more severe coagulation function disorder, a higher incidence of central PE and a smaller change in diameter of the main pulmonary artery. We found that the occurrence of pericardial effusion created the risk of lung cancer in patients with pulmonary embolism, but there was no increase in the 90-day mortality for non-LC group versus LC group.
Intermediate risk PE patients concomitant with lung cancer seem to be more likely to present specific clinical features, accordingly, clinicians must pay great attention to PE patients concomitant with lung cancer and implement effective treatments to simultaneously manage the two conditions.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Aims
To survey the types of Electronic Nursing Records used and to explore nurses’ perceptions in the hospitals in Henan Province, China.
Background
There are few studies about status of electronic ...nursing documents from nurses’ view.
Method
A cross‐sectional study of 3,586 nurses using a web‐based questionnaire was conducted.
Results
Approximately 98% of the nurses were college graduates or had higher degrees, with 46% of the nurses managed more than nine beds per nurse each day. About 27% spent more than two hours daily writing records with a further 38% spending between 1 and 2 hr. However, only 52% realized professional nursing records should be archived and fewer than 80% knew the importance and significance of preserving fundamental nursing records.
Conclusion
Although nurses’ educational level in Henan is high, the younger age of them (i.e., less experience) and heavy workload may lead to inferior quality of ENR. Nurses’ awareness of the importance and legal significance of documents needs improvement.
Implication for nursing management
Our results may provide detailed evidence of the time consuming as well as nurses’ knowledge of, abilities in, and opinions about record‐keeping in developed countries and bring potential clinical implications for the nursing managers worldwide.
Hyperoside (quercetin-3-O-β-d-galactoside) is an active compound isolated from herbs. Neuroinflammation is a key mechanism involved in neurodegenerative disorders including Parkinson's disease. In ...this study, we aimed to investigate the potentiality of hyperoside in inhibiting microglia-mediated neuroinflammation. BV2 microglial cells were pretreated with hyperoside and stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The results showed that hyperoside significantly inhibited LPS-induced production of nitric oxide and pro-inflammatory cytokines including IL-1β and TNF-α, as well as the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase. Similar results were observed in primary microglial cells isolated from neonatal mice. Analyses in MAPK and NFκB signaling combined with specific inhibitors suggested that hyperoside attenuated the LPS-induced inflammatory responses via p38 and NFκB pathways. Furthermore, hyperoside suppressed reactive microglia-mediated neurotoxicity as evidenced by conditioned media culture, but had no direct impact on MPP+-induced toxicity in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Collectively, our data suggest that hyperoside may serve as a protective agent by alleviating microglia activation in disorders such as Parkinson's disease.
•Hyperoside efficiently inhibits LPS-induced microglial activation.•p38 and p65 pathways are involved in hyperoside-mediated anti-neuroinflammation.•Hyperoside protects dopaminergic neurons against neuroinflammation.•Hyperoside is responsible for the neuroprotective activity of several herbs.
► Focus on wheat flour mill for different batch association with QR Code and RFID. ► Trace back sources by relationship of raw material batch and processing batch. ► Track forward logistics by ...relationship of processing batch and traceability batch. ► A good embodiment of the principle of one-up and one-down in traceability system. ► System evaluation.
Wheat flour undergoes several processing steps in its transformation from raw wheat in the mill, which differentiates wheat flour from other farm products. At each step, various wheat sources are combined into one batch of wheat flour. This study primarily aimed to develop a Wheat Flour Milling Traceability System (WFMTS), incorporating 2D barcode and radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, and to validate the system in a wheat flour mill in China. We designed the encoding rules for the raw material, processing and traceability batches. Labels with a Quick Response Code (QR Code) were attached to small packages of wheat flour to link them to their processing information, and RFID tags were affixed to the storage bins to record logistics information. A traceability system was developed based on batch identification and record keeping. The system was applied and supported in a wheat flour mill for one year. The WFMTS management and traceability capacity was evaluated using a contrast experiment. The experiment was divided into five parts, including raw material data recording, processing data recording, package data recording, logistics data recording and traceability query. The results show that although time consumption using WFMTS in package data recording was more than that with paper recording, WFMTS was dominant in its total time consumption: five parts were reduced by 113%, and the mean accuracy of the five parts increased by 8%. The QR Code and RFID recognition accuracy was evaluated using experiments with different reading distances. The cost and income variations in application WFMTS were analyzed based on the survey. The results show that the total cost increased by 17.2% to apply the system. Compared to the cost, the sales income increase was obvious, and it reached 32.5%. Considering the good evaluation results, the system has good application potential in medium or large wheat mill enterprises.
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