Effects of four different drying methods on the colour, texture, sensory quality, microstructure, bacterial viability and storage stability of probiotic-enriched apple snacks were assessed. The ...drying methods were air drying （AD）, freeze drying （FD）, freeze drying followed by microwave vacuum drying （FD＋MVD） and air drying followed by explosion puffing drying （AD＋EPD）. Overall, FD＋MVD can be used as a suitable drying method for the development of probiotic enriched apple snacks in consideration of colour, texture, sensory quality, bacterial viability and storage stability. Probiotic bacteria in FD＋MVD-dried samples remained above 1×106 CFU g 1 for 120 days at 25℃C. Interestingly, bacterial viability in FD＋MVD-dried samples turned out to be significantly higher than FD-dried samples during storage for 120 days.
Summary
Purple corn anthocyanins have rich nutritional value, but anthocyanins have low stability. The main objective of this study was to screen compounds from the common co‐pigments ...(polysaccharides, organic acids and colloids) that could improve the stability of anthocyanins and to investigate the effect of different co‐pigments on the stability of anthocyanins in purple corn during heat treatment. There were significant differences in copigmentation effects among different types of co‐pigments. The total anthocyanin retention rate of purple corn without co‐pigments was 15.02%. After copigmentation treatment with different compounds, among the polysaccharides, the total anthocyanin retention rates of 15% fructose and 15% glucose were 37.29% and 52.18% respectively. The copigmentation effects of monosaccharides were better than those of disaccharides, sugar alcohols and cyclodextrins. Among the organic acids, the six co‐pigments were all organic acids containing phenolic rings. The retention rates of anthocyanins were 71.47% and 68.21% for 0.06% tannic acid and 0.1% tartaric acid, respectively, indicating high copigmentation effects. The a* value of purple corn was significantly increased after these treatments, indicating that organic acids had stronger copigmentation effects than polysaccharides. In the colloids, the total anthocyanin retention rate of 2.0% pectin was 43.72%, while 0.5% guar gum had a retention rate of 9.82%. However, low concentrations of guar gum promoted the degradation of anthocyanins, indicating weak copigmentation effects for colloids.
This study investigates the visual angle threshold value for the recognition of Chinese characters displayed on the optical head-mounted display. As optical head-mounted displays are becoming ...increasingly popular in various fields, character legibility has become an important topic for research. In this study, a legibility test was conducted by randomly displaying characters on the optical head-mounted display. The characteristics that were tested included the number of strokes, components and usage frequency rankings. The visual angle threshold value of each character was recorded and analysed. The results indicate that Chinese characters with more strokes, more components and lower usage frequency have a larger visual angle threshold value than characters with fewer strokes, fewer components and higher frequency. The number of strokes and usage frequency rankings were inputted into a regression model to predict the visual angle threshold value for character recognition (R
2
= 0.72; Adj-R
2
= 0.71). The regression analyses revealed that the foregoing inputs increased the visual angle threshold value. These findings provide a practical reference for the display of Chinese characters on optical head-mounted displays.
Crisp yam chips were produced using hot air drying (AD), vacuum drying (VD), freeze drying (FD), and explosion puffing drying (EPD). As a result, the reducing sugar, total polyphenol and vitamin C ...contents, rehydration rate and volume ratio were well retained in freeze-dried chips with explosion puffing-dried chips following closely behind, which exhibited a higher total soluble solids content (TSS) and crispness. The microstructure of explosion puffing-dried chips showed distinct cell wall breakage and cell expansion, indicating the release of more TSSs and a relatively high hardness and crispness. Based on physicochemical chip properties, FD and EPD could be distinguished from the other drying methods, and the characteristic physicochemical properties of explosion puffing-dried yam chips were identified as the hardness and TSS level using multivariate analysis. Furthermore, 43 volatile compounds were isolated and identified in fresh yam and dried yam chips using headspace solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS). Based on the volatile compositions of the samples, oct-1-en-3-ol was identified as the major volatile compound in fresh yam, and the volatiles in the explosion puffing-dried chips were clearly distinguished from those in the other dried yam chips due to the unique puffing process.
A mixture of sucrose (Suc) and citric acid (Cit) was added as a pretreatment agent to regulate the crispy texture of explosion-puffing-dried (EPD) yellow peach slices and ensure color and sensory ...properties, with sodium dihydrogen phosphate (Sdp) added as a catalyst. The best soaking solution proportion was investigated using response surface methodology (RSM). Response values were texture evaluation (T
e
), total color difference (ΔE), and sensory evaluation (S
e
) of the products. The results showed that the chips dipped with 23.64% Suc, 2.29% Cit, and 2.42% Sdp had the highest comprehensive quality. Analysis of cell wall components showed treated samples had higher water-soluble pectin content and less chelate pectin and cellulose contents. Porosity tests demonstrated that treated samples had larger values of total pore volume, total pore area, mean hole diameter, and porosity. The microstructure observation images showed similar results, demonstrating the impregnation impacted a uniformly porous structure to the products.
The standard treatment for endometrial cancer is surgery with hysterectomy. However, this procedure will cause infertility in young women who desire to preserve pregnant ability. Conservative ...management with hormone therapy has been shown to be satisfactory in both tumor control and fertility preservation. Recently, hysteroscopic tumor resection followed by progestin therapy has been reported to be an alternative strategy. In this study we present our experience with this approach.
Six young patients (30–36 years old) diagnosed with grade 1 stage IA endometrial cancer who wished to preserve fertility were enrolled for this treatment procedure. The patients underwent hysteroscopic tumor resection followed by oral progestin therapy with either megestrol acetate or medroxyprogesterone acetate for at least 6 months. Interval hysteroscopy with biopsy was performed during the treatment course to evaluate disease response.
All of the six patients had complete tumor remission after hysteroscopic resection and progestin therapy (five in 6 months, one in 9 months). In a median follow-up of 32 months (range 4–49months), one patient became pregnant spontaneously and delivered a full-term healthy baby via cesarean section. She received a definite surgery 3 months later, and the pathology confirmed no tumor existence. The other five patients were also free of disease at the last follow-up.
Hysteroscopic tumor resection followed by progestin therapy for early-stage and well-differentiated endometrial cancer is a safe conservative treatment strategy. It could be an option for young patients who wish to preserve fertility.
Turnip is a vegetable that has many health promoting effects. To diversify the usage and increase the consumption of turnip, the effects of hot air drying, infrared drying, explosion puff drying and ...freeze drying (FD) on the volatiles of turnip chips were studied. The volatiles of fresh turnip and dried turnip chips were isolated by HS-SPME–GC–MS and a total of 67 volatiles were identified. However, the volatiles in turnip chips dried by different methods are quite different. Based on principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis, the volatiles of fresh turnip were distinguished from those of the dried chips and FD was separated from the other drying methods. As the result of orthogonal projection on latent structure-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), isothiocyanato-cyclopropane and (2-isothiocyanatoethyl)-benzene were identified as the characteristic volatiles of fresh turnip. While, 2-azido-2,3,3-trimethyl-butane and hexanal were identified as the characteristic volatiles for FD dried chips.
The quality evaluation of processed products is complex. To simplify the quality evaluation process and improve the efficiency, fourteen evaluation factors of freeze-dried powders of seventeen ...cultivars of peach at different ripening times were analyzed. The most important evaluation indicators and criteria were obtained by analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation analysis (CA), principal component analysis (PCA), system cluster analysis (SCA), and analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Results showed that the peach powders had the significant differences in quality (P<0.05), and some processing factors were related with some physicochemical and nutritional factors. Five principle components were extracted by PCA and the cumulative contribution achieved was 84.46%. Through the score plot of the first two principal components, a clear differentiation among ripening times was found and three distinct groups were separated according to ripening time. Five characteristic factors were obtained as titratable acid, browning index, hemicellulose, hygroscopicity, and vitamin C by SCA. Their weights of 0.1249, 0.3007, 0.0514, 0.4916, and 0.0315 were obtained by AHP, respectively. The peach cultivars were divided into four evaluation grades by the comprehensive quality score.
•A non-aphid-transmissible attenuated PVY triple-mutant PVY-HCELR was developed.•PVY-HCELR mutant was stable in tobacco plants.•PVY-HCELR mutant protected tobacco plants from the severe PVY ...infection.•Provided the material basis for the management of PVY through cross-protection.
Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) is one of the major cash crops in China. Potato virus Y (PVY), a representative member of the genus Potyvirus, greatly reduces the quality and yield of tobacco leaves by inducing veinal necrosis. Mild strain-mediated cross-protection is an attractive method of controlling diseases caused by PVY. Currently, there is a lack of effective and stable attenuated PVY mutants. Potyviral helper component-protease (HC-Pro) is a likely target for the development of mild strains. Our previous studies showed that the residues lysine at positions 124 and 182 (K124 and K182) in HC-Pro were involved in PVY virulence, and the conserved KITC motif in HC-Pro was involved in aphid transmission. In this study, to improve the stability of PVY mild strains, K at position 50 (K50) in KITC motif, K124, and K182 were separately substituted with glutamic acid (E), leucine (L), and arginine (R), resulting in a triple-mutant PVY-HCELR. The mutant PVY-HCELR had attenuated virulence and did not induce leaf veinal necrosis symptoms in tobacco plants and could not be transmitted by Myzus persicae. Furthermore, PVY-HCELR mutant was genetically stable after six serial passages, and only caused mild mosaic symptoms in tobacco plants even at 90 days post inoculation. The tobacco plants cross-protected by PVY-HCELR mutant showed high resistance to the wild-type PVY. This study showed that PVY-HCELR mutant was a promising mild mutant for cross-protection to control PVY.
Crispness is an important textural attribute of puffed snacks. Impregnation pretreatment is used to regulate the texture of puffed products by changing the cell structure and mechanical properties. ...In this study, the influence of citric acid and sucrose pretreatment on the cell structure, cell wall components, and mechanical properties of peach slices before puffing drying (heat-pressed slices) was evaluated to understand how citric acid and sucrose pretreatment affects the pore structures and texture characteristics of peach chips with improved crispness. Cell wall degradation, cell structure morphology and mechanical properties before puffing drying interacts to govern the pore morphology and texture characteristics of peach chips. Micrographs of heat-pressed slices showed swollen structures for Cit (citric acid) treated samples and compacted structures for Cit + Suc (citric acid and sucrose) and Cit + Suc + Sdp (citric acid, sucrose and sodium dihydrogen phosphate) treated samples. An increased elastic modulus and decreased viscosity index were observed in all Cit-, Cit + Suc- and Cit + Suc + Sdp-treated samples. After puffing drying, Cit prompted the generation of large pores with low hardness, and Suc and Sdp enhanced the emergence of uniform and small pores with increased hardness. Therefore, crispness was attained by regulating crumbly texture through Cit and regulating hard texture through Suc and Sdp.
•Cit, Cit + Suc and Cit + Suc + Sdp were applied to impregnate peach slices for EPD.•Cell morphology and mechanical properties of heat-pressed slices were investigated.•Pore morphology and texture characteristics of dried peach chips were analyzed.•Cit could regulate the brittleness, Suc and Sdp could improve the firmness.•Puffed chips showed good crispness after Cit + Suc + Sdp treatment.
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