Characterization of garlic oil/β-cyclodextrin inclusion complexes and application

Garlic oil is a liquid extracted from garlic that has various natural antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties and is believed to be used to prevent and treat many diseases. However, the main functional components of garlic oil are unstable. Therefore, in this study, encapsulating garlic oil with cyclodextrin using the saturated co-precipitation method can effectively improve its chemical stability and water solubility and reduce its characteristic odor and taste. After preparation, the microcapsules of garlic oil cyclodextrin were characterized, which proved that the encapsulation was successful. Finally, the results showed that the encapsulated garlic oil still had antioxidant ability and slow-release properties. The final addition to plant-based meat gives them a delicious flavor and adds texture and mouthfeel. Provided a new reference for the flavor application of garlic cyclodextrin micro-capsules in plant-based meat patties

Quality Analysis of Different Varieties of Watermelon Fruits in Beijing

Five common watermelon varieties in the Beijing region, namely ‘L600’ ‘Guanghui L1000’ ‘Jingmei 2K’ ‘Chaoyue Mengxiang’ and ‘Xiaotianwang’ were investigated to compare quality indicators such as soluble solids, hardness, organic acids, soluble sugars, sweetness, and vitamin C. The aim was to provide a basis for the selection of high-quality watermelon varieties in Beijing. The results indicated that different watermelon varieties exhibited certain variations in quality characteristics. Specifically, ‘Xiaotianwang’ displayed significantly higher hardness and vitamin C content than other varieties (P<0.05), whereas the soluble solids content was not differ significantly. ‘Jingmei 2K’ and ‘Chaoyue Mengxiang’ exhibited similar and highest levels of sucrose, fructose, glucose, and total sugars content, whereas ‘Xiaotianwang’ had the lowest total sugars content. Furthermore, ‘Xiaotianwang’ had significantly higher malic acid and total acid content compared to other varieties (P<0.05). ‘Chaoyue Mengxiang’ exhibited the lowest malic acid content, and its total acid content displayed significant differences only when compared to ‘Xiaotianwang’ (P<0.05). In contrast, no significant differences were observed when compared to other varieties. ‘Chaoyue Mengxiang’ had the highest sugar-acid ratio, which was not significantly different from L600 but significantly higher than other varieties (P<0.05). In conclusion, ‘Jingmei 2K’ and ‘Chaoyue Mengxiang’ exhibited higher sugar content, whereas ‘Xiaotianwang’ had higher vitamin C content. These findings provide a theoretical basis for the selection of watermelon varieties in the Beijing region

The Evaluation and Optimization of Satisfaction with the Rural Living Environment in the Southern Terraced Area: A Case Study of the Ziquejie Terrace in Hunan Province

Rural living environment is an important part of the habitat environment science, but there is the serious phenomenon of "favoring city" in current researches on the habitat environment. There is not enough attention paid to the deteriorating rural environment. Taking the case of Ziquejie, coupled with the heritage-based community characteristics of the rural living environment, we establish the evaluation indicator system of satisfaction with the quality of rural living environment, and use fuzzy analysis method to analyze and process the data obtained from the questionnaire survey, to initially derive the development status and general law of evolution of the rural living environment in Ziquejie. Based on these, we put forth the relevant recommendations for promoting the sustainable development of the rural living environment in Ziquejie

Unraveling community adaption and survival strategy of soil microbiome under vanadium stress in nationwide mining environments

&lt;p class="Abstract"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;The vanadium (V) smelters soil harbor wide ranges of microorganisms, whose survival relies on their metabolic activities under stress.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt; Nonetheless, the characteristics and functions of soil microbiome in V mining environments have not been recognized at a continental scale. This study investigates microbial diversity, community assembly and metabolic traits of soil microbiome across 90 V smelters in China. A decrease in alpha diversity is observed, along with community variation, which is also jointly explained by other environmental, climatic and geographic factors. Null model shows that V promotes homogeneous selection. V also mediates co-occurrence patterns, with increased positive interspecific associations under higher V concentrations (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;559.6 mg/kg)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;, e.g., &lt;em&gt;f_Gemmatimonadaceae&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Nocardioides&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Micromonospora&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Rubrobacter&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt; In addition, 67 metagenome assembled genomes are retrieved via metagenomic analysis. The metabolic pathways of keystone taxa are disentangled to reveal their putative involvement in the V(V) reduction process. Nitrate and nitrite reductase (&lt;em&gt;nirK&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;narG&lt;/em&gt;), and &lt;em&gt;mtrABC&lt;/em&gt; are found to be taxonomically affiliated with &lt;em&gt;Micromonospora&lt;/em&gt;. sp, &lt;em&gt;FEN-1250&lt;/em&gt;. sp, &lt;em&gt;Nocardioides&lt;/em&gt;. sp, etc. Additionally, reverse citric acid cycle (rTCA) serves the main carbon fixation pathway, synthetizing alternative energy for putative V reducers, highlighting a synergistic relationship between autotrophic and heterotrophic processes to support the microbial survival. Our findings comprehensively reveal the driving forces for soil community variation under V stress, suggesting the robust strategies adopted by indigenous microorganisms to alleviate V impact, which can be exploited for bioremediation application.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Funding provided by: National Natural Science Foundation of China&lt;br&gt;Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001809&lt;br&gt;Award Number: &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The datasets herein serve as the basis to perform data analysis for this article. Physicochemical data was obtained from actual measurements, which was used to perform analysis to uncover the key driving factors for shaping the community structure, and implemented in models such as Variation partitioning analysis (VPA), Mantel's test, and Random forest (RF). Community assembling process was characterized using Neutral community modeling (NCM) and Null model (NM) using 16S rRNA data. All mentioned models were performed by executing the R script, which were also provided here. Functional genes were obtained from metagenomic investigations. 67 qualified Metagenome assembled genome (MAG) were also retrieved from metagenomic binning, among which keystone taxa were focused and their functional potential were annotated.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt

Metabonomics of d-glucaro-1,4-lactone in preventing diethylnitrosamine-induced liver cancer in rats

Context: d-Glucaro-1,4-lactone (1,4-GL) exists in many vegetables and fruits. Metabonomics has not been used to investigate the role of 1,4-GL in preventing liver cancer. Objective: The pharmacological effects and metabolite alterations of 1,4-GL on the prevention of diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced liver cancer were investigated. Materials and methods: Ten healthy Sprague–Dawley rats served as control and 46 were used to establish rat liver cancer model. 1HNMR-based metabonomics was used to compare the effects of oral 1,4-GL (50 mg/kg) in liver cancer rats (n = 26) after 10 consecutive weeks of intervention. The amino acids in rat serum were quantified by HPLC-UV, and the changes in Fischer’s ratio were calculated. Results: The 20-week survival rate of DEN-induced liver cancer rats administered with oral 1,4-GL was increased from 45.0 to 70.0% with reduced carcinogenesis of the liver and significantly lowered serum α-fetoprotein level (14.28 ± 2.89 ng/mL vs. 18.56 ± 4.65 ng/mL, p = 0.012). The serum levels of leucine, valine, 3-hydroxybutyrate, lactate, acetate and glutamine in the DEN + 1,4-GL group returned to normal levels compared with those of the DEN group on week 20. Fischer’s ratio in the rat serum of DEN group was 1.62 ± 0.21, which was significantly lower than that in healthy rats (2.3 ± 0.12). However, Fischer’s ratio increased to 1.89 ± 0.22 in the DEN + 1,4-GL group. Discussion and conclusions: 1,4-GL exerted positive effects on liver carcinogenesis in rats by pathological examination and metabonomic analysis. Its mechanism may be related to the restoration of amino acid and energy metabolism