Effect of Amorphization Methods on the Properties and Structures of Potato Starch-Monoglyceride Complex

Recently, starch-based fat replacers (FRs) have emerged as unique ingredients, possessing few calories and high vascular scavenger function without adverse organoleptic changes. Here, a two-step modification method for the development of a starch-based FRs is reported. First, native potato starch is amorphized by grinding, alkali and ethanol treatment. Then, the amorphized starch is complexed with monoglyceride. The results show that alkaline amorphous potato starch (AAPS) has the best emulsifying activity; ethanol amorphous potato starch complex (EAPSC) has the highest content of resistant starch (RS) (21.49%), while grinding amorphous potato starch (GAPS) retains the granular structure of the original starch best. The amorphization reduces the amylose content of starch, leading to reduced swelling power and increased digestibility. Complexation, on the other hand, is more like attaching a layer of the hydrophobic membrane. Combined with DSC and XRD, amorphization reduces the value of enthalpy and crystallinity, while the complexation process does the opposite. Overall, EAPSC is the best candidate for novel FRs, due to its greater emulsion stability and enzyme resistance. The experimental results provide a theoretical basis for the application of a novel potato starch-monoglyceride complex in foods such as cakes and snack fillings

Cigarette Smoke (CS) and Nicotine Delay Neutrophil Spontaneous Death via Suppressing Production of Diphosphoinositol Pentakisphosphate

Diphosphoinositol pentakisphosphate (InsP7), a higher inositol phosphate containing energetic pyrophosphate bonds, is beginning to emerge as a key cellular signaling molecule. However, the various physiological and pathological processes that involve InsP7 are not completely understood. Here we report that cigarette smoke (CS) extract and nicotine reduce InsP7 levels in aging neutrophils. This subsequently leads to suppression of Akt deactivation, a causal mediator of neutrophil spontaneous death, and delayed neutrophil death. The effect of CS extract and nicotine on neutrophil death can be suppressed by either directly inhibiting the PtdIns(3,4,5)P3/Akt pathway, or increasing InsP7 levels via overexpression of InsP6K1, an inositol hexakisphosphate (InsP6) kinase responsible for InsP7 production in neutrophils. Delayed neutrophil death contributes to the pathogenesis of CS-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Therefore, disruption of InsP6K1 augments CS-induced neutrophil accumulation and lung damage. Taken together, these results suggest that CS and nicotine delay neutrophil spontaneous death by suppressing InsP7 production and consequently blocking Akt deactivation in aging neutrophils. Modifying neutrophil death via this pathway provides a strategy and therapeutic target for the treatment of tobacco-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

A Comprehensive Patient-Derived Xenograft Collection Representing the Heterogeneity of Melanoma

Therapy of advanced melanoma is changing dramatically. Following mutational and biological subclassification of this heterogeneous cancer, several targeted and immune therapies were approved and increased survival significantly. To facilitate further advancements through pre-clinical in vivo modeling, we have established 459 patient-derived xenografts (PDX) and live tissue samples from 384 patients representing the full spectrum of clinical, therapeutic, mutational, and biological heterogeneity of melanoma. PDX have been characterized using targeted sequencing and protein arrays and are clinically annotated. This exhaustive live tissue resource includes PDX from 57 samples resistant to targeted therapy, 61 samples from responders and non-responders to immune checkpoint blockade, and 31 samples from brain metastasis. Uveal, mucosal, and acral subtypes are represented as well. We show examples of pre-clinical trials that highlight how the PDX collection can be used to develop and optimize precision therapies, biomarkers of response, and the targeting of rare genetic subgroups

An improved PBFT consensus algorithm based on grouping and credit grading

Abstract To improve the blockchain consensus algorithm practical Byzantine fault tolerance (PBFT) with random master node selection, which has high communication overhead and a small supported network size, this paper proposes a Byzantine fault tolerant consensus algorithm based on credit (CBFT) enhanced with a grouping and credit model. The CBFT algorithm divides the network nodes according to the speed of their response to the management nodes, resulting in different consensus sets, and achieves consensus within and outside the group separately to reduce communication overhead and increase system security. Second, the nodes are divided into different types according to the credit model, each with different responsibilities to reduce the probability that the master node is a malicious node. Experimental results show that the throughput of the CBFT algorithm is 3.1 times that of PBFT and 1.5 times that of GPBFT when the number of nodes is 52. Our scheme has latency that is 7.4% that of PBFT and 38.8% that of GPBFT; CBFT has communication overhead that is 6.4% that of PBFT and 87.3% that of GPBFT. The number of nodes is 300, and the Byzantine fault tolerance is improved by 59.3%. These improvements are clearer with the increase in the number of nodes

Age and Growth of <i>Diaphus brachycephalus</i> in the South China Sea Using Sagittal Otolith Microstructure

To obtain the growth and age characteristics of Diaphus brachycephalus in the South China Sea (SCS), specimens of D. brachycephalus were collected by a mid-water trawl in January and June 2015. The relationship between standard length (L) and body weight (W) was W = 0.00002699L2.8789, with no significant differences between the two survey stations and the sexes. Microscopic observation of the sagittal otoliths revealed that the daily growth increments in each period were divided into the central zone, middle zone, and external zone. The age was determined by summing the daily growth increments of the three areas. The von Bertalanffy growth curve fitted to the relationship between age and L was shown as: L = 65.6[1 − exp{−0.0132(t − 6.94)}], r2 = 0.935. The growth rate decreased from juvenile to adult, with a maximum rate of 0.436 mm day−1. The back-calculated hatching dates of specimens were speculated to be from March to November, but predominantly occurred from April to May and from September to October

Age and Growth of Diaphus brachycephalus in the South China Sea Using Sagittal Otolith Microstructure

To obtain the growth and age characteristics of Diaphus brachycephalus in the South China Sea (SCS), specimens of D. brachycephalus were collected by a mid-water trawl in January and June 2015. The relationship between standard length (L) and body weight (W) was W = 0.00002699L2.8789, with no significant differences between the two survey stations and the sexes. Microscopic observation of the sagittal otoliths revealed that the daily growth increments in each period were divided into the central zone, middle zone, and external zone. The age was determined by summing the daily growth increments of the three areas. The von Bertalanffy growth curve fitted to the relationship between age and L was shown as: L = 65.6[1 &minus; exp{&minus;0.0132(t &minus; 6.94)}], r2 = 0.935. The growth rate decreased from juvenile to adult, with a maximum rate of 0.436 mm day&minus;1. The back-calculated hatching dates of specimens were speculated to be from March to November, but predominantly occurred from April to May and from September to October

Comparison of environmental DNA metabarcoding and bottom trawling for detecting seasonal fish communities and habitat preference in a highly disturbed estuary

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding has been used to study fish diversity in various aquatic ecosystems. However, studies on fish community structure in estuarine ecosystems have not been well corroborated by eDNA metabarcoding, and comparisons with bottom trawling are lacking. We used eDNA sequencing of mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene to investigate the fish species composition and relative abundance, community temporal and spatial variations, and community-environment relationship of the Pearl River Estuary during spring and autumn. Then, we compared these results with those obtained by bottom trawling. Results showed that eDNA metabarcoding detected more species (214 vs 90), genera (148 vs 69), families (67 vs 38), and a significantly greater number of species at each station. Results of nonmetric multidimensional scaling and permutational multivariate analysis of variance based on the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity index indicated that eDNA metabarcoding detected significant differences in fish communities between spring and autumn, which was similar to the bottom trawling results. eDNA metabarcoding revealed that the fish community differences increased with spatial distance among stations. However, when we compared results of the two methods using principal coordinates analysis, we observed discordance in the fish community differences among sites. eDNA metabarcoding may provide new insights into and a more detailed and comprehensive understanding of estuarine ecosystems. Additionally, eDNA metabarcoding revealed that salinity and temperature were closely linked to fish community composition in spring, and salinity and dissolved oxygen were closely associated with fish community composition in autumn. In conclusion, eDNA metabarcoding may represent an important supplementary method, or even replace current methods, to monitor and assess temporal and spatial variation of fish communities and infer the community-environment relationship, especially in estuarine ecosystems, which are difficult to sample using traditional methods

Effects of Climate Events on Abundance and Distribution of Major Commercial Fishes in the Beibu Gulf, South China Sea

Improving prediction of ecological responses to climate variability requires understanding how local fish population dynamics are impacted by climate events. The present study was conducted in the Beibu Gulf of the northwestern South China Sea where the fisheries are characterized by high ecological and commercial value. We evaluated the relationship between major commercial fish population dynamics (abundance and distribution) and climate periods, using survey data from 2006–2020. The analysis using random forest and GAM models show that climate events are not the best predictors for the variations of fish abundance, because abundance of most fish stocks decreases significantly with the year, and the increasing fishing pressure over time can better explain the overall downward trend in fishery stocks. However, environmental variables that correlate significantly with interannual variation in ONI may impact fish abundance in short terms. Our research suggests that climate events leading to higher surface seawater salinity in winter favors pelagic fishes by improving habitat availability, and higher near-surface chlorophyll-α concentration during La Niña events provides better food condition for overwintering fish. In addition, there is no clear evidence that climatic events have a significant impact on gravity center of fish distribution, whereas climate change has caused most fishes to move to cooler coastal waters in the north