Atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation mass spectrometry analysis linked with chemometrics for food classification – a case study: geographical provenance and cultivar classification of monovarietal clarified apple juices

In the present work, we have evaluated for first time the feasibility of APCI-MS volatile compound fingerprinting in conjunction with chemometrics (PLS-DA) as a new strategy for rapid and non-destructive food classification. For this purpose 202 clarified monovarietal juices extracted from apples differing in their botanical and geographical origin were used for evaluation of the performance of APCI-MS as a classification tool. For an independent test set PLS-DA analyses of pre-treated spectral data gave 100% and 94.2% correct classification rate for the classification by cultivar and geographical origin, respectively. Moreover, PLS-DA analysis of APCI-MS in conjunction with GC-MS data revealed that masses within the spectral ACPI-MS data set were related with parent ions or fragments of alkyesters, carbonyl compounds (hexanal, trans-2-hexenal) and alcohols (1-hexanol, 1-butanol, cis-3-hexenol) and had significant discriminating power both in terms of cultivar and geographical origin

Shedding light on the pion production in heavy-ion collisions for constraining the high-density symmetry energy

Within the framework of the quantum molecular dynamics transport model, the pion production and constraint of the high-density symmetry energy in heavy-ion collisions near threshold energy have been thoroughly investigated. The energy conservation in the decay of resonances and reabsorption of pions in nuclear medium are taken into account. The density profile of pion production, energy conservation and pion potential are analyzed by the model. The isospin diffusion in the low-density region (0.2$\rho_{0}$ - 0.8$\rho_{0}$) and high-density region (1.2$\rho_{0}$ - 1.8$\rho_{0}$) is investigated by analyzing the neutron/proton and $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratios in the isotopic reactions of $^{132}$Sn + $^{124}$Sn and $^{108}$Sn + $^{112}$Sn at the incident energy of 270 MeV/nucleon, in which the symmetry energy manifests the opposite contribution. The controversial conclusion of the $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio for constraining the high-density symmetry energy by different transport models is clarified. A soft symmetry energy with the slope parameter of $L(\rho_{0}) = 42\pm 25$ MeV by using the standard error analysis within the range of $1\sigma$ is obtained by analyzing the experimental data from the S$\pi$RIT collaboration.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Collective flows of clusters and pions in heavy-ion collisions at GeV energies

Within the framework of the quantum molecular dynamics transport model, the collective flows of clusters and pions in heavy-ion collisions have been systematically investigated. The clusters are recognized by the Wigner phase-space density approach at the stage of freeze out in nuclear collisions, i.e., deuteron, triton, $^{3}$He and $\alpha$. The directed and elliptic flows of protons and deuterons in the reaction of $^{197}$Au+$^{197}$Au at incident energy 1.23\emph{A} GeV are nicely consistent with the recent HADES data. The higher order collective flows, i.e., triangular and quadrangle flows, manifest the opposite trends with the less amplitude in comparison with the rapidity distributions of directed and elliptic flows. The flow structure of $^{3}$He and $\alpha$ is very similar to the proton spectra. The influence of the pion potential on the pion production is systematically investigated and compared with the FOPI data via the transverse momentum, longitudinal rapidity and collective flows in collisions of $^{197}$Au + $^{197}$Au. It is manifested that the pion yields are slightly suppressed in the domain of mid-rapidity and high momentum. The antiflow phenomena is reduced by implementing the pion potential and more consistent with the FOPI data in collisions of $^{197}$Au+$^{197}$Au at the incident energy 1.5\emph{A} GeV.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2302.0213

Development and validation of an APCI-MS / GC-MS approach for the classification and prediction of cheddar cheese maturity

Headspace techniques have been extensively employed in food analysis to measure volatile compounds, which play a central role in the perceived quality of food. In this study atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation-mass spectrometry (APCI-MS), coupled with GC-MS (gas chromatography–mass spectrometry), was used to investigate the complex mix of volatile compounds present in Cheddar cheese of different maturity, processing and recipes to enable characterization of the cheeses based on their ripening stages. Partial Least Square-Linear Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) provided a 70% success rate in correct prediction of the age of the cheeses based on their key headspace volatile profiles. In addition to predicting maturity, the analytical results coupled with chemometrics offered a rapid and detailed profiling of the volatile component of Cheddar cheeses, which could offer a new tool for quality assessment and accelerate product development timelines

Is carrot consumption associated with a decreased risk of lung cancer? A meta-analysis of observational studies

Findings of epidemiological studies regarding the association between carrot consumption and lung cancer risk remain inconsistent. The present study aimed to summarise the current epidemiological evidence concerning carrot intake and lung cancer risk with a meta-analysis. We conducted a meta-analysis of case–control and prospective cohort studies, and searched PubMed and Embase databases from their inception to April 2018 without restriction by language. We also reviewed reference lists from included articles. Prospective cohort or case–control studies reporting OR or relative risk with the corresponding 95 % CI of the risk lung cancer for the highest compared with the lowest category of carrot intake. A total of eighteen eligible studies (seventeen case–control studies and one prospective cohort study) were included, involving 202 969 individuals and 5517 patients with lung cancer. The pooled OR of eighteen studies for lung cancer was 0·58 (95%CI 0·45, 0·74) by comparing the highest category with the lowest category of carrot consumption. Based on subgroup analyses for the types of lung cancer, we pooled that squamous cell carcinoma (OR 0·52, 95 % CI 0·19, 1·45), small-cell carcinoma (OR 0·43, 95 % CI 0·12, 1·59), adenocarcinoma (OR 0·34, 95 % CI 0·15, 0·79), large-cell carcinoma (OR 0·40, 95 % CI 0·10, 1·57), squamous and small-cell carcinoma (OR 0·85, 95 % CI 0·45, 1·62), adenocarcinoma and large-cell carcinoma (OR 0·20, 95 % CI 0·02, 1·70) and mixed types (OR 0·61, 95 % CI 0·46, 0·81). Exclusion of any single study did not materially alter the pooled OR. Integrated epidemiological evidence from observational studies supported the hypothesis that carrot consumption may decrease the risk of lung cancer, especially for adenocarcinoma

Clearance of Free Silica in Rat Lungs by Spraying with Chinese Herbal Kombucha

The effects of spraying with kombucha and Chinese herbal kombucha were compared with treatments with tetrandrine in a rat silicosis model. Silica dust (50 mg) was injected into the lungs of rats, which were then treated with one of the experimental treatments for a month. The rats were then killed and the effects of the treatments were evaluated by examining the extent and severity of the histopathological lesions in the animals’ lungs, measuring their organ coefficients and lung collagen contents, determining the dry and wet weights of their lungs, and measuring the free silica content of the dried lungs. In addition, lavage was performed on whole lungs taken from selected rats, and the numbers and types of cells in the lavage fluid were counted. The most effective treatment in terms of the ability to reduce lung collagen content and minimize the formation of pulmonary histopathological lesions was tetrandrine treatment, followed by Chinese herbal kombucha and non-Chinese herbal kombucha. However, the lavage fluid cell counts indicated that tetrandrine treatment had severe adverse effects on macrophage viability. This effect was much less pronounced for the kombucha and Chinese herbal kombucha treatments. Moreover, the free silica levels in the lungs of animals treated with Chinese herbal kombucha were significantly lower than those for any other silica-exposed group. These preliminary results indicate that spraying with Chinese herbal kombucha preparations can effectively promote the discharge of silica dust from lung tissues. Chinese herbal kombucha inhalation may thus be a useful new treatment for silicosis and other pneumoconiosis diseases

Risk assessment of failure during transitioning from in-centre to home haemodialysis

Background: Introducing a de-novo home haemodialysis (HHD) program often raises safety concerns as errors could potentially lead to serious adverse events. Despite the complexity of performing haemodialysis at home without the supervision of healthcare staff, HHD has a good safety record. We aim to pre-emptively identify and reduce the risks to our new HHD program by risk assessment and using failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) to identify potential defects in the design and planning of HHD. Methods: We performed a general risk assessment of failure during transitioning from in-centre to HHD with a failure mode and effects analysis focused on the highest areas of failure. We collaborated with key team members from a well-established HHD program and one HHD patient. Risk assessment was conducted separately and then through video conference meetings for joint deliberation. We listed all key processes, sub-processes, step and then identified failure mode by scoring based on risk priority numbers. Solutions were then designed to eliminate and mitigate risk. Results: Transitioning to HHD was found to have the highest risk of failure with 3 main processes and 34 steps. We identified a total of 59 areas with potential failures. The median and mean risk priority number (RPN) scores from failure mode effect analysis were 5 and 38, with the highest RPN related to vascular access at 256. As many failure modes with high RPN scores were related to vascular access, we focussed on FMEA by identifying the risk mitigation strategies and possible solutions in all 9 areas in access-related medical emergencies in a bundled- approach. We discussed, the risk reduction areas of setting up HHD and how to address incidents that occurred and those not preventable. Conclusions: We developed a safety framework for a de-novo HHD program by performing FMEA in high-risk areas. The involvement of two teams with different clinical experience for HHD allowed us to successfully pre-emptively identify risks and develop solutions

Clearance of Free Silica in Rat Lungs by Spraying with Chinese Herbal Kombucha

The effects of spraying with kombucha and Chinese herbal kombucha were compared with treatments with tetrandrine in a rat silicosis model. Silica dust (50 mg) was injected into the lungs of rats, which were then treated with one of the experimental treatments for a month. The rats were then killed, and the effects of the treatments were evaluated by examining the extent and severity of the histopathological lesions in the animals’ lungs, measuring their organ coefficients and lung collagen contents, determining the dry and wet weights of their lungs, and measuring the free silica content of the dried lungs. In addition, lavage was performed on whole lungs taken from selected rats, and the numbers and types of cells in the lavage fluid were counted. The most effective treatment in terms of the ability to reduce lung collagen content and minimize the formation of pulmonary histopathological lesions was tetrandrine treatment, followed by Chinese herbal kombucha and non‐Chinese herbal kombucha. However, the lavage fluid cell counts indicated that tetrandrine treatment had severe adverse effects on macrophage viability. This effect was much less pronounced for the kombucha and Chinese herbal kombucha treatments. Moreover, the free silica levels in the lungs of animals treated with Chinese herbal kombucha were significantly lower than those for any other silica‐exposed group. These preliminary results indicate that spraying with Chinese herbal kombucha preparations can effectively promote the discharge of silica dust from lung tissues. Chinese herbal kombucha inhalation may thus be a useful new treatment for silicosis and other pneumoconiosis diseases

Intragastric structuring of anionic polysaccharide kappa-carrageenan filled gels under physiological in vitro digestion conditions

In the present work, sodium alginate (SA), low methoxyl pectin (PEC) and κ-carrageenan (κ-CAR) were evaluated for their intragastric structuring ability by means of light microscopy and dynamic oscillatory rheology. SA and PEC solutions, their Ca2+ complexed gel analogues as well as their binary blends with ionically or thermally set sheared κ-CAR gels, were subjected to in vitro orogastric conditions. SA and PEC – Ca2+ complexed sheared gels exerted the highest vulnerability to digestive fluid exposure due to the dialysis of egg-box dimer structures via proton-calcium exchange. Incorporation of SA and PEC systems to κ-CAR gels prevented the loss of mechanical strength of the gastric gels due to the ability of κ-CAR to undergo spontaneous gelation in the presence of Na+ and K+ ions. Binary blends of SA and PEC – Ca2+ complexed sheared gels with κ-CAR-Ca2+ gels exerted a significantly lower mechanical strength loss sensitivity against pH and counterion composition of the gastric fluids

Mutation signatures implicate aristolochic acid in bladder cancer development

10.1186/s13073-015-0161-3Genome Medicine71Article number 3