Effects of Sterilization Technology and Storage Temperature on the Quality of Fermented Puffer Fish Sauce during the Preservation

The aim of this work was to explore the effects of sterilization technology and temperature on the quality of fermented puffer fish sauce during storage period. The changes of pH, water activity (Aw), total acid, amino acid nitrogen (AAN), volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), thio-barbituric acid (TBA) and total bacterial count were observed during storage of fermented puffer fish sauce, which processed by different sterilization techniques and stored at different temperatures. The results showed that the preservation effect of the high-pressure sterilization group and the compound sterilization group were both better than that of the vacuum packing group, the preservative group and the irradiation treatment group at two preservation temperatures. In particular, the compound sterilization group showed better preservation effect. The amino acid nitrogen, total acid, and TVB-N of the composite sterilization group were 0.132 g/100 g, 0.115 g/100 g, and 17.03 mg/100 g respectively when stored at 4 ℃, which were all lower than that at 25 ℃, which were 0.148 g/100 g, 0.17 g/100 g, and 26.20 mg/100 g respectively. The preservation effect was better when stored at 4 ℃. The research provides a theoretical basis for the commercial preservation of fermented puffer fish sauce

Research Progress in Food Allergen Labeling Management and Its Enlightenment to China

In recent years, the incidence of food allergy has continued to rise globally. Food allergy has become a global food safety and public health problem. Currently, avoiding allergens is the best way to deal with food allergy, and food allergen labeling plays an important role in protecting allergic consumers. This paper reviews recent progress in food allergen risk assessment from the perspectives of the establishment of the food allergens list, the soring-out and utilization of national nutrition and diet survey results, and the population threshold for food allergens. Furthermore, the problems existing in China’s food allergen management are discussed. It is expected that this review will provide information for scientific research and a theoretical reference to strengthen the management of food allergens

Clinical characteristics and management of immune checkpoint inhibitor-related cardiotoxicity: A single-center experience

BackgroundImmune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionized cancer therapy in the past decade and amplify T-cell-mediated immune responses by disrupting immunoinhibitory signals. The augmented T-cell immune response has led to a range of immune-related adverse effects (irAEs). Immune-related cardiotoxicity has been reported in case series but has been underappreciated due to difficulties in diagnosis. This article describes epidemiological, clinical presentation, subtype, and treatment data and a new systematic framework for the clinical management of cardiotoxicity.MethodsData were extracted for cancer patients who received ICIs in a single center between January 1, 2020, and February 28, 2022. ICI-associated cardiotoxicity was clinically diagnosed based on clinical presentations, biochemical biomarkers, and imaging features.ResultsWe identified a total of 12 (2.46%) cases of ICI-related cardiotoxicity from 487 patients who received PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors. All patients were diagnosed with advanced or metastatic solid tumors. The severity of ICI-related cardiotoxicity ranged from subclinical cardiac abnormalities (subclinical type) with only asymptomatic troponin-I (TnI) elevations (25.0%) to symptomatic cardiac abnormalities (clinical type) (75.0%). Patients with symptomatic cardiac abnormalities had several manifestations, including tachyarrhythmia (16.7%), bradyarrhythmia (41.7%), or cardiac failure (8.3%). The median immunotherapy exposure time was 1.5 doses (range: 1 to 5), and the median time from the initial immunotherapy to the onset of ICI-related cardiotoxicity was 33.5 days (IQR: 20.3 to 46.8). Most patients, including those with subclinical cardiac abnormalities, were administered systemic corticosteroids (58.3%). One (8.3%) patient was put on mechanical ventilation, one (8.3%) received plasma exchange therapy, one (8.3%) was implanted with a pacemaker, and one (8.3%) was admitted to the ICU. Three patients with symptomatic cardiac abnormalities (25.0%) died, and other patients presented with significant clinical improvement with good outcomes.ConclusionICI-related cardiotoxicity is uncommon but critical with a high mortality rate and poor prognosis, especially for a small group of patients with symptomatic cardiac abnormalities. More attention should be given to cardiotoxicity associated with ICIs, and these patients should be given baseline examinations and biochemical analyses before and after the initiation of immunotherapy, intensive cardiac assessments, an accurate and rapid diagnosis, and timely multidisciplinary management with immunosuppressive agents and other necessary clinical interventions

Raffinose degradation-related gene GhAGAL3 was screened out responding to salinity stress through expression patterns of GhAGALs family genes

A-galactosidases (AGALs), the oligosaccharide (RFO) catabolic genes of the raffinose family, play crucial roles in plant growth and development and in adversity stress. They can break down the non-reducing terminal galactose residues of glycolipids and sugar chains. In this study, the whole genome of AGALs was analyzed. Bioinformatics analysis was conducted to analyze members of the AGAL family in Gossypium hirsutum, Gossypium arboreum, Gossypium barbadense, and Gossypium raimondii. Meanwhile, RT-qPCR was carried out to analyze the expression patterns of AGAL family members in different tissues of terrestrial cotton. It was found that a series of environmental factors stimulated the expression of the GhAGAL3 gene. The function of GhAGAL3 was verified through virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS). As a result, GhAGAL3 gene silencing resulted in milder wilting of seedlings than the controls, and a significant increase in the raffinose content in cotton, indicating that GhAGAL3 responded to NaCl stress. The increase in raffinose content improved the tolerance of cotton. Findings in this study lay an important foundation for further research on the role of the GhAGAL3 gene family in the molecular mechanism of abiotic stress resistance in cotton

Characterization and gene expression patterns analysis implies BSK family genes respond to salinity stress in cotton

Identification, evolution, and expression patterns of BSK (BR signaling kinase) family genes revealed that BSKs participated in the response of cotton to abiotic stress and maintained the growth of cotton in extreme environment. The steroidal hormone brassinosteroids (BR) play important roles in different plant biological processes. This study focused on BSK which were downstream regulatory element of BR, in order to help to decipher the functions of BSKs genes from cotton on growth development and responses to abiotic stresses and lean the evolutionary relationship of cotton BSKs. BSKs are a class of plant-specific receptor-like cytoplasmic kinases involved in BR signal transduction. In this study, bioinformatics methods were used to identify the cotton BSKs gene family at the cotton genome level, and the gene structure, promoter elements, protein structure and properties, gene expression patterns and candidate interacting proteins were analyzed. In the present study, a total of 152 BSKs were identified by a genome-wide search in four cotton species and other 11 plant species, and phylogenetic analysis revealed three evolutionary clades. It was identified that BSKs contain typical PKc and TPR domains, the N-terminus is composed of extended chains and helical structures. Cotton BSKs genes show different expression patterns in different tissues and organs. The gene promoter contains numerous cis-acting elements induced by hormones and abiotic stress, the hormone ABA and Cold-inducing related elements have the highest count, indicating that cotton BSK genes may be regulated by various hormones at different growth stages and involved in the response regulation of cotton to various stresses. The expression analysis of BSKs in cotton showed that the expression levels of GhBSK06, GhBSK10, GhBSK21 and GhBSK24 were significantly increased with salt-inducing. This study is helpful to analyze the function of cotton BSKs genes in growth and development and in response to stress

The MAPKKK Gene Family in Gossypium raimondii: Genome-Wide Identification, Classification and Expression Analysis

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades are conserved signal transduction pathways in all eukaryotic organisms. MAPKKKs (MAPK kinase kinases) operate at the top levels of these cascades. Recently, this family of genes has been systematically investigated in Arabidopsis, rice and maize, but has not yet been characterized in cotton. In this study, we identified 78 putative MAPKKK genes in the genome of the diploid cotton, Gossypium raimondii. They were classified into three subfamilies, of which 12 were ZIK, 22 were MEKK and 44 were Raf. The ZIK and MEKK genes displayed a scattered genomic distribution across 11 of the 13 chromosomes, whereas Raf genes were distributed across the entire genome. Their conserved patterns observed for introns and additional domains were consistent with the evolutionary relationships inferred from the phylogenetic analysis within subfamily. Transcriptome sequencing data were used to investigate their transcript profiles in mature leaves, 0 day and 3 days post-anthesis (DPA) ovules. Sixty MAPKKK genes were expressed, of which 41 were strongly expressed in mature leaves. Twelve MAPKKK genes were more highly expressed in 3-DPA ovules than in 0-DPA ovules. Our results provide a foundation for future evolutionary and functional characterizations of MAPKKK genes in cotton and probably other Gossypium plants