Effect of Irradiation on Quality of Vacuum-Packed Spicy Beef Chops

To develop an alternative pasteurization process for the spicy beef jerky (SBJ), it was treated with irradiation doses of 0, 0.5, 1.5, 3, 4, 6, and 8 kGy and the sensory attributes, texture properties, drip loss, and the protein biological efficiency were studied. The results showed that lightness, drip loss, and off-odor of SBJ increased, while the hardness, chewiness, gumminess, color preference, and taste of SBJ decreased with the increase in irradiation dose. This tendency was obvious as the irradiation dose increased to 6 kGy and 8 kGy. The possible reason for these quality changes might be due to the free radicals produced by irradiation. This speculation is supported by the decrease of the content of capsanthin and the increase of the content of TBARS of SBJ with the increase in irradiation dose. The plate counts of treated SBJ indicated that 4 kGy was suitable for pasteurization of SBJ

Accessibility and Rationality of In-home Self-medication among Acute Disease Patients in Gansu Province：a Household Survey

BackgroundSelf-medication behavior often occurs in acutely ill patients, which may lead to a greatly increased risk of adverse drug events. There are few surveys on the accessibility and rationality of in-home self-medication among acute disease patients against a background of implementing multiple policies associated with China's healthcare reform initiated in 2009, and the available surveys mainly focus on central and eastern China.ObjectiveTo investigate the accessibility and rationality of in-home self-medication among acute disease patients in Gansu, offering evidence for standardizing in-home medication, and improving accessibility and rationality of in-home self-medication in this group.MethodsBy use of multistage stratified random sampling, 1 080 households were selected from five cities in Gansu Province from June to December 2018. They were invited to attend a survey guided by the WHO Household Survey to Measure Access to and Use of Medicines for understanding the morbidity in household members in the past two weeks, use and accessibility of medicines for treating acute diseases using a questionnaire developed by our research team. The survey results were statistically analyzed. Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between acute diseases, accessibility and availability of medicines for treating acute diseases and the number of drugs and antibiotics.ResultsOut of the 1 080 households, 1 071 (99.17%) effectively responded to the survey. The prevalence of acute diseases in family members living in these households in the past two weeks was 36.32% (389/1 071) . In this study, we only included the youngest family member with acutely disease in each household, that is, 389 cases in all. Of them, 350 (89.97%) had an acute upper respiratory infection; 355 (91.26%) had the behavior of seeing a doctor or buying drugs; 355 (91.26%) were on medication for treating acute diseases. Among all cases on medication, 279 (78.59%) used combination therapy, 93 (26.20%) had four or more medications simultaneously, and 151 (42.54%) were on antibiotics. Among all antibiotics users, 133 (79.17%) took antibiotics recommended by doctors, and 136 (80.95%) used β- Lactam antibiotics. In terms of medicine accessibility, 334 (85.86%) of acute disease patients were able to reach the nearest medical facility within 15 minutes; 354 (91.00%) and 329 (84.58%) reported that the required drugs were available at the public medical facilities and pharmacy, respectively. Among all cases on medication, 349 (98.31%) had medical insurance, but only 64 (18.34%) were reimbursed; 42 (11.83%) reported that the spending on medicines accounted for over 20% of the total household spending. There were statistically significant differences between patients in urban and rural areas at the avenues of seeing a doctor or buying drugs, types of antibiotics used, 15 minutes proximity to the nearest medical facility, accessibility to drugs at pharmacies, drug reimbursement rates, and spending over 20% of total household expenditure on drugs for acute illnesses (P<0.05) . Spearman correlation analysis showed that accessibility to drugs at the pharmacy was positively correlated with the number of drugs taken (rs=0.145, P<0.05) .ConclusionThe accessibility to drugs among acute diseases patients in Gansu Province is high. However, there are also issues among patients, including high prevalence of combination therapy and antibiotics intake, low proportion of patients who are reimbursed by medical insurance, as well as urban and rural differences in medicine accessibility. Therefore, to regulate residents' self-medication behaviors, it is suggested that relevant government departments give priority to actions to raise residents' awareness levels of rational medication and health insurance, medical professionals' capabilities and supervision of antibiotics use

Organometallic complexes for nonlinear optics.66. Synthesis and quadratic nonlinear optical studies of trans-[Ru{C=C{2,5-C4H2S-( E )-CH=CH}n-2,5-C4H2S(NO2 )}Cl(dppe)2](n1/40-2)

Oligo(2,5-thienylenevinylene)s (OTVs) end-functionalized with a ligated ruthenium alkynyl unit as adonor and a nitro as acceptor, namelytrans-[Ru{C^C-2,5-C4H2S(NO2)}Cl(dppe)2](Ru1T),trans-[Ru{C^C-2,5-C4H2S-(E)-CH]CH-2,5-C4H2S(NO2)}Cl(dppe)2](Ru2T), andtrans-[Ru{C^C-2,5-C4H2S-(E)-CH]CH-2,5-C4H2S-(E)-CH]CH-2,5-C4H2S(NO2)}Cl(dppe)2](Ru3T), have been synthesized, their elec-trochemical properties have been assessed by cyclic voltammetry (CV), their linear optical and quadratic nonlinear optical (NLO) properties have been assayed by UVeviseNIR spectroscopy and hyper-Rayleighscattering studies at 1300 nm, respectively, and their linear optical properties in the formally RuIII state have been examined by UVeviseNIR spectroelectrochemistry. The data for Ru1T-Ru3Thave beencompared to those of the oligo(p-phenylenevinylene) (OPV) analoguestrans-[Ru(C^C-1,4-C6H4NO2)Cl(dppe)2](Ru1P),trans-[Ru{C^C-1,4-C6H4-(E)-CH]CH-1,4-C6H4NO2}Cl(dppe)2](Ru2P), andtrans-[Ru{C^C-1,4-C6H4-(E)-CH]CH-1,4-C6H4-(E)-CH]CH-1,4-C6H4NO2}Cl(dppe)2](Ru3P). The RuII/IIIoxidationpotentials decrease on proceeding fromRu1TtoRu3T, while the wavelength of the UVevislmaxbandincreases on proceeding fromRu1TtoRu2T, but thereafter decreases on further progression toRu3T, similar trends to those seen proceeding fromRu1PtoRu3P. The quadratic nonlinearityb1300 increases on OTV lengthening from Ru1TthroughRu2TtoRu3T; the data are significantly larger than those of the Ru1PeRu3Panalogues which peak atRu2P. The formally RuIIIcomplexes exhibit low-energy bands thatred-shift significantly on proceeding fromRu1TtoRu3T. Computational studies employing time-dependent density functional theory were undertaken on model complexes to rationalize the optical observations and explore the impact of further OTV bridge lengthening. Computational studies on modelcomplexesRu1T′-Ru6T′are consistent with decreasing contributions of the electron donor (ligated Ru) and acceptor (NO2) groups to the HOMO and LUMO, respectively, up n-bridge lengthening.btotvalues increase on progression fromRu1T′toRu3T′, but thereafter further bridge lengthening affords little further increase in b-tot, consistent with a saturation in quadratic NLO response.We thank the Australian Research Council (ARC: DP170100408),the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51432006), theChinese Government Ministry of Education, and the Chinese Gov-ernment State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (111 Proj-ect: B13025). J. D. thanks the China Scholarship Council and theAustralian National University for a CSC-ANU PhD Scholarship

γδ T Cells Provide Protective Function in Highly Pathogenic Avian H5N1 Influenza A Virus Infection

Given the high mortality rate (>50%) and potential danger of intrapersonal transmission, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 epidemics still pose a significant threat to humans. γδ T cells, which participate on the front line of the host immune defense, demonstrate both innate, and adaptive characteristics in their immune response and have potent antiviral activity against various viruses. However, the roles of γδ T cells in HPAI H5N1 viral infection remain unclear. In this study, we found that γδ T cells provided a crucial protective function in the defense against HPAI H5N1 viral infection. HPAI H5N1 viruses could directly activate γδ T cells, leading to enhanced CD69 expression and IFN-γ secretion. Importantly, we found that the trimer but not the monomer of HPAI H5N1 virus hemagglutinin (HA) proteins could directly activate γδ T cells. HA-induced γδ T cell activation was dependent on both sialic acid receptors and HA glycosylation, and this activation could be inhibited by the phosphatase calcineurin inhibitor cyclosporin A but not by the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K) inhibitors wortmannin and LY294002. Our findings provide a further understanding the mechanism underlying γδ T cell-mediated innate and adoptive immune responses against HPAI H5N1 viral infection, which helps to develop novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of H5N1 infection in the future

Analysis of COVID-19 Guideline Quality and Change of Recommendations: A Systematic Review.

Background Hundreds of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) and expert consensus statements have been developed and published since the outbreak of the epidemic. However, these CPGs are of widely variable quality. So, this review is aimed at systematically evaluating the methodological and reporting qualities of COVID-19 CPGs, exploring factors that may influence their quality, and analyzing the change of recommendations in CPGs with evidence published. Methods We searched five electronic databases and five websites from 1 January to 31 December 2020 to retrieve all COVID-19 CPGs. The assessment of the methodological and reporting qualities of CPGs was performed using the AGREE II instrument and RIGHT checklist. Recommendations and evidence used to make recommendations in the CPGs regarding some treatments for COVID-19 (remdesivir, glucocorticoids, hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine, interferon, and lopinavir-ritonavir) were also systematically assessed. And the statistical inference was performed to identify factors associated with the quality of CPGs. Results We included a total of 92 COVID-19 CPGs developed by 19 countries. Overall, the RIGHT checklist reporting rate of COVID-19 CPGs was 33.0%, and the AGREE II domain score was 30.4%. The overall methodological and reporting qualities of COVID-19 CPGs gradually improved during the year 2020. Factors associated with high methodological and reporting qualities included the evidence-based development process, management of conflicts of interest, and use of established rating systems to assess the quality of evidence and strength of recommendations. The recommendations of only seven (7.6%) CPGs were informed by a systematic review of evidence, and these seven CPGs have relatively high methodological and reporting qualities, in which six of them fully meet the Institute of Medicine (IOM) criteria of guidelines. Besides, a rapid advice CPG developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) of the seven CPGs got the highest overall scores in methodological (72.8%) and reporting qualities (83.8%). Many CPGs covered the same clinical questions (it refers to the clinical questions on the effectiveness of treatments of remdesivir, glucocorticoids, hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine, interferon, and lopinavir-ritonavir in COVID-19 patients) and were published by different countries or organizations. Although randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews on the effectiveness of treatments of remdesivir, glucocorticoids, hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine, interferon, and lopinavir-ritonavir for patients with COVID-19 have been published, the recommendations on those treatments still varied greatly across COVID-19 CPGs published in different countries or regions, which may suggest that the CPGs do not make sufficient use of the latest evidence. Conclusions Both the methodological and reporting qualities of COVID-19 CPGs increased over time, but there is still room for further improvement. The lack of effective use of available evidence and management of conflicts of interest were the main reasons for the low quality of the CPGs. The use of formal rating systems for the quality of evidence and strength of recommendations may help to improve the quality of CPGs in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, we suggest developing a living guideline of which recommendations are supported by a systematic review for it can facilitate the timely translation of the latest research findings to clinical practice. We also suggest that CPG developers should register the guidelines in a registration platform at the beginning for it can reduce duplication development of guidelines on the same clinical question, increase the transparency of the development process, and promote cooperation among guideline developers all over the world. Since the International Practice Guideline Registry Platform has been created, developers could register guidelines prospectively and internationally on this platform

Transcriptome and UPLC-MS/MS reveal mechanisms of amino acid biosynthesis in sweet orange ‘Newhall’ after different rootstocks grafting

Sweet orange ‘Newhall’ (C. sinensis) is a popular fruit in high demand all over the world. Its peel and pulp are rich in a variety of nutrients and are widely used in catering, medicine, food and other industries. Grafting is commonly practiced in citrus production. Different rootstock types directly affect the fruit quality and nutritional flavor of citrus. However, the studies on citrus metabolites by grafting with different rootstocks are very limited, especially for amino acids (AAs). The preliminary test showed that there were significant differences in total amino acid content of two rootstocks (Poncirus trifoliata (CT) and C. junos Siebold ex Tanaka (CJ)) after grafting, and total amino acid content in the peel was higher than flesh. However, the molecular mechanism affecting amino acid differential accumulation remains unclear. Therefore, this study selected peel as the experimental material to reveal the amino acid components and differential accumulation mechanism of sweet orange ‘Newhall’ grafted with different rootstocks through combined transcriptome and metabolome analysis. Metabolome analysis identified 110 amino acids (AAs) and their derivatives in sweet orange ‘Newhall’ peels, with L-valine being the most abundant. L-asparagine was observed to be affected by both developmental periods and rootstock grafting. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) combined with Redundancy Analysis (RDA) revealed eight hub structural genes and 41 transcription factors (TFs) that significantly influenced amino acid biosynthesis in sweet orange ‘Newhall’ peels. Our findings further highlight the significance of rootstock selection in enhancing the nutritional value of citrus fruits and might contribute to the development of functional citrus foods and nutritional amino acid supplements

Comprehensive analyses of the citrus WRKY gene family involved in the metabolism of fruit sugars and organic acids

Sugars and organic acids are the main factors determining the flavor of citrus fruit. The WRKY transcription factor family plays a vital role in plant growth and development. However, there are still few studies about the regulation of citrus WRKY transcription factors (CsWRKYs) on sugars and organic acids in citrus fruit. In this work, a genome-wide analysis of CsWRKYs was carried out in the citrus genome, and a total of 81 CsWRKYs were identified, which contained conserved WRKY motifs. Cis-regulatory element analysis revealed that most of the CsWRKY promoters contained several kinds of hormone-responsive and abiotic-responsive cis-elements. Furthermore, gene expression analysis and fruit quality determination showed that multiple CsWRKYs were closely linked to fruit sugars and organic acids with the development of citrus fruit. Notably, transcriptome co-expression network analysis further indicated that three CsWRKYs, namely, CsWRKY3, CsWRKY47, and CsWRKY46, co-expressed with multiple genes involved in various pathways, such as Pyruvate metabolism and Citrate cycle. These CsWRKYs may participate in the metabolism of fruit sugars and organic acids by regulating carbohydrate metabolism genes in citrus fruit. These findings provide comprehensive knowledge of the CsWRKY family on the regulation of fruit quality

Methodology and experiences of rapid advice guideline development for children with COVID-19: responding to the COVID-19 outbreak quickly and efficiently

BACKGROUND: Rapid Advice Guidelines (RAG) provide decision makers with guidance to respond to public health emergencies by developing evidence-based recommendations in a short period of time with a scientific and standardized approach. However, the experience from the development process of a RAG has so far not been systematically summarized. Therefore, our working group will take the experience of the development of the RAG for children with COVID-19 as an example to systematically explore the methodology, advantages, and challenges in the development of the RAG. We shall propose suggestions and reflections for future research, in order to provide a more detailed reference for future development of RAGs. RESULT: The development of the RAG by a group of 67 researchers from 11 countries took 50 days from the official commencement of the work (January 28, 2020) to submission (March 17, 2020). A total of 21 meetings were held with a total duration of 48 h (average 2.3 h per meeting) and an average of 16.5 participants attending. Only two of the ten recommendations were fully supported by direct evidence for COVID-19, three recommendations were supported by indirect evidence only, and the proportion of COVID-19 studies among the body of evidence in the remaining five recommendations ranged between 10 and 83%. Six of the ten recommendations used COVID-19 preprints as evidence support, and up to 50% of the studies with direct evidence on COVID-19 were preprints. CONCLUSIONS: In order to respond to public health emergencies, the development of RAG also requires a clear and transparent formulation process, usually using a large amount of indirect and non-peer-reviewed evidence to support the formation of recommendations. Strict following of the WHO RAG handbook does not only enhance the transparency and clarity of the guideline, but also can speed up the guideline development process, thereby saving time and labor costs

Volatile metabolomics and transcriptomics analyses provide insights into the mechanism of volatile changes during fruit development of ‘Ehime 38’ (Citrus reticulata) and its bud mutant

Volatile compounds are important determinants affecting fruit flavor. Previous study has identified a bud mutant of ‘Ehime 38’ (Citrus reticulata) with different volatile profile. However, the volatile changes between WT and MT during fruit development and underlying mechanism remain elusive. In this study, a total of 35 volatile compounds were identified in the pulps of WT and MT at five developmental stages. Both varieties accumulated similar and the highest levels of volatiles at stage S1, and showed a downward trend as the fruit develops. However, the total volatile contents in the pulps of MT were 1.4–2.5 folds higher than those in WT at stages S2-S5, which was mainly due to the increase in the content of d-limonene. Transcriptomic and RT-qPCR analysis revealed that most genes in MEP pathway were positively correlated with the volatile contents, of which DXS1 might mainly contribute to the elevated volatiles accumulation in MT by increasing the flux into the MEP pathway. Moreover, temporal expression analysis indicated that these MEP pathway genes functioned at different developmental stages. This study provided comprehensive volatile metabolomics and transcriptomics characterizations of a citrus mutant during fruit development, which is valuable for fruit flavor improvement in citrus