Sweet cherry:composition, postharvest preservation, processing and trends for its future use

Background Sweet cherries (Prunus avium L.) are a nutritious fruit which are rich in polyphenols and have high antioxidant potential. Most sweet cherries are consumed fresh and a small proportion of the total sweet cherries production is value added to make processed food products. Sweet cherries are highly perishable fruit with a short harvest season, therefore extensive preservation and processing methods have been developed for the extension of their shelf-life and distribution of their products. Scope and Approach In this review, the main physicochemical properties of sweet cherries, as well as bioactive components and their determination methods are described. The study emphasises the recent progress of postharvest technology, such as controlled/modified atmosphere storage, edible coatings, irradiation, and biological control agents, to maintain sweet cherries for the fresh market. Valorisations of second-grade sweet cherries, as well as trends for the diversification of cherry products for future studies are also discussed. Key Findings and Conclusions Sweet cherry fruit have a short harvest period and marketing window. The major loss in quality after harvest include moisture loss, softening, decay and stem browning. Without compromising their eating quality, the extension in fruit quality and shelf-life for sweet cherries is feasible by means of combination of good handling practice and applications of appropriate postharvest technology. With the drive of health-food sector, the potential of using second class cherries including cherry stems as a source of bioactive compound extraction is high, as cherry fruit is well-known for being rich in health-promoting components

QUALITY EVALUATION OF 'SUNBURST' CHERRIES HARVESTED AT DIFFERENT RIPENESS STAGES .

The sweet cherry ‘Sunburst’ is highly appreciated by consumers due to its organoleptic traits. Regional producers tend to harvest cherries sooner in order to increase their profits. With the aim of understanding the consequences of this we have tested the effect of different ripeness stages at the moment of harvesting on fruit quality. Quality parameters tested included external colour (L*, a*, b*), fruit texture, total soluble solids (TSS), and titratable acidity (TA). To evaluate nutritional quality total antioxidant activity was measured too. Once again, and in agreement with results obtained in previous studies, we conclude that there is no advantage in picking less ripe cherries

Similar but different: Integrated phylogenetic analysis of Austrian and Swiss HIV-1 sequences reveal differences in transmission patterns of the local HIV-1 epidemics.

OBJECTIVES Phylogenetic analyses of two or more countries allow to detect differences in transmission dynamics of local HIV-1 epidemics beyond differences in demographic characteristics. METHODS A maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree was built using pol-sequences of the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS) and the Austrian HIV Cohort Study (AHIVCOS), with international background sequences. Three types of phylogenetic cherries (clusters of size 2) were analyzed further: 1) Domestic cherries, 2) International cherries and 3) SHCS/AHIVCOS-cherries. Transmission group and ethnicities observed within the cherries were compared to the respective distribution expected from a random distribution of patients on the phylogeny. RESULTS The demographic characteristics of the AHIVCOS (included patients: 3'141) and the SHCS (included patients: 12'902) are very similar. In the AHIVCOS, 36.5% of the patients were in domestic cherries, 8.3% in international cherries, and 7.0% in SHCS/AHIVCOS cherries. Similarly, in the SHCS, 43.0% of the patients were in domestic cherries, 8.2% in international cherries, and 1.7% in SHCS/AHIVCOS cherries. While international cherries in the SHCS were dominated by heterosexuals (HET) with MSM being underrepresented, the opposite was the case for the AHIVCOS. In both cohorts, cherries with one patient belonging to the transmission group intravenous drug user (IDU) and the other one non-IDU were underrepresented. CONCLUSION In both cohorts, international HIV transmission plays a major role in the local epidemics, mostly driven by MSM in the AHIVOS, and by HET in the SHCS, highlighting the importance of international collaborations to understand global HIV transmission links on the way to eliminate HIV

The shape of random tanglegrams

A tanglegram consists of two binary rooted trees with the same number of leaves and a perfect matching between the leaves of the trees. We show that the two halves of a random tanglegram essentially look like two independently chosen random plane binary trees. This fact is used to derive a number of results on the shape of random tanglegrams, including theorems on the number of cherries and generally occurrences of subtrees, the root branches, the number of automorphisms, and the height. For each of these, we obtain limiting probabilities or distributions. Finally, we investigate the number of matched cherries, for which the limiting distribution is identified as well

Chemical evaluation of winged beans (Psophocarpus Tetragonolobus), Pitanga cherries (Eugenia uniflora) and orchid fruit (Orchid fruit myristica)

The proximate, mineral and sugar compositions of winged beans (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus), Pitanga Cherries (Eugenia uniflora) and Orchid Fruit (Orchid fruit myristica) and physico-chemical properties of their oils were determined using standard methods. All the samples were found to be rich in proteins (winged beans 33.83 %, pitanga cherries 14.71 % and orchid fruit 17.96 %). Each of the samples also had a considerably high amount of carbohydrate (22.30 %, 38.55% and 26.45 % in winged beans, pitanga cherries and orchid fruit, respectively). Orchid fruit had a significantly higher (P < 0.05) fat content of 34.36 % as compared to 17.51 % found in winged beans, and 15.62 % in pitanga cherries. Winged beans had the highest crude fiber (12.23 %) while orchid fruit had 6.03%and pitanga cherries had 9.77%. Winged bean and orchid fruit had similar (P > 0.05) water content, which is significantly different from pitanga cherries. Iron, cadmium, lead and manganese were absent in all the samples. Copper and calcium were absent in pitanga cherries. Pitanga cherries had the highest composition (g/100g) of sugar, winged beans ranked next, while orchid fruit had low sugar content. The peroxide values of the oil of the various samples ranged between 11.41 and 12.91 meq/kg, while the saponification values ranged between 182.58 and 191.05 mgKOH/g. The unsaponifiable matter was very low in pitanga cherries compared with winged beans and orchid fruit. The acid value rangedbetween 0.71 and 2.82 mg/KOH/g while iodine value ranged between 91.15 and 144.57. The refractive index ranged between 1.465 and 1.474 in all the samples. Based on the results of this study, winged beans could be useful in the formulation of infant formula, pitanga cherries in the production of fruit jam and as a flavour in food drinks, because of its sugar contents, while orchid fruit—which has very high oil content—could be used as a spice