The influence of 1-MCP on the fruit quality and flesh browning of ‘Red Fuji’ apple after long-term cold storage

This study assessed the influence of 1-MCP treatment on the fruit quality and flesh browning of ‘Red Fuji’ apple at shelf life after long-term cold storage. The ‘Red Fuji’ fruit were stored at 0±0.5 °C for 270 days after treating with 1.0 μL L-1 1-methylcyclopropylene (1-MCP). Fruit quality, browning rate of stem-end flesh, chlorogenic acid content, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity were analyzed at shelf-life under 20±0.5 °C, the expression profile of ethylene receptors (MdERS1), phenylalnine ammonia lyase genes (MdPA L1, MdPA L2), quinate hydroxycinnamoyl/hydrxycinnamoyl CoA shi-kimate gene (MdHCT3), polyphenol oxidase genes (MdPPO1, MdPPO5)and lipoxygenase gene (MdLOX) were measured by real-time quantitative PCR. 1-MCP treatment improved the fruit storage quality, decreased stem-end flesh tissue browning, and fruit decay. In addition, the fruit respiration rate and ethylene production rate increased at shelf-life, but this increase could be inhibited by 1-MCP. The same rule was observed in the changes of chlorogenic acid content and PPO activity, the expression of MdERS1, MdPA L1, MdPPO1 and MdLOX were inhibited by 1-MCP as well in the stem-end flesh. Thus, 1-MCP treatment improves the fruit quality of ‘Red Fuji’ apple at shelf-life after long-term cold storage, and inhibits the browning of stem-end flesh by decreasing the chlorogenic acid content and PPO activity. MdPA L1, MdHCT3, MdPPO1 and MdLOX participate in the flesh browning progress

Awayvirus:A Playful and Tangible Approach to Improve Children's Hygiene Habits in Family Education

Despite various playful and educational tools have been developed to support children's learning abilities, limited work focuses on tangible toys designed to improve and maintain children's hygiene perception, habits and awareness, as well as fostering their collaboration and social abilities in home education contexts. We developed Awayvirus to address this research and design gap, aiming to help children gain hygiene habits knowledge through tangible blocks. Our findings indicate that a playful tangible interaction method can effectively increase children's interest in learning and encourage parents to become actively involved in their children's hygiene and health education. Additionally, Awayvirus seeks to build a collaborative bridge between children and parents, promoting communication strategies while mitigating the adverse effects of the challenging the post-pandemic period

One-Step Electrical Insulating Oil Regeneration on Electret PVDF/BaTiO3 Composite Nanofibers

Insulating oil is a pivotal component of power transformers, but it suffers from aging byproducts during service operation. The aging byproducts from the degradation of oil insulation tend to induce insulation failure, which poses a significant threat to the security of the power grid. Therefore, the regeneration of insulating oil is required to prolong the useful life of insulating oil and hence be of economic and ecological interests. Typical in-use oil regeneration routes employ multi-step procedures. In this work, a one-step regeneration method using a PVDF/BaTiO3 composite membrane is proposed. BaTiO3 endows the composite membrane with improved hydrophobicity and an electret state. The regeneration performance of the PVDF/BaTiO3 nanofiber membrane was assessed by considering the acid value, moisture content, dielectric loss factor tan δ, and the AC breakdown voltage of the refreshed oil. The test results showed that the filtration efficiencies toward formic acid and moisture were up to 77.5% and 60.6%, respectively. Moreover, the dielectric loss factor tan δ of the refreshed oil decreased evidently at a power frequency, and the AC breakdown voltage rose from 23.7 kV to 38.9 kV. This suggests that the PVDF/BaTiO3 composite membrane may be employed efficiently, and it minimizes aging byproducts via the one-step filtration

Unusual stability of thermally induced colored isomers of photochromic 3-aryl-3-(1-naphthyl)-3H-naphtho[2,1-b]pyrans in solid state

Pure solid colorless powder of photochromic 3-aryl-3-(1-naphthyl)-3H-naphtho[2,1-b]pyrans were converted to their colored isomers in molten state. The solid colored isomers exhibit unusual stability at ambient temperature. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Rat Lung Response to PM2.5 Exposure under Different Cold Stresses

Ambient particulate matters and temperature were reported to have additive effects over the respiratory disease hospital admissions and deaths. The purpose of this study is to discuss the interactive pulmonary toxicities of cold stress and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure by estimating inflammation and oxidative stress responses. 48 Wistar male rats, matched by weight and age, were randomly assigned to six groups, which were treated with cold stress alone (0 °C, 10 °C, and 20 °C (Normal control)) and cold stresses plus PM2.5 exposures respectively. Cold stress alone groups were intratracheal instillation of 0.25 mL normal saline, while cold stress plus PM2.5 exposure groups were intratracheal instillation of 8 mg/0.25 mL PM2.5. These procedures were carried out for three times with an interval of 48 hours for each treatment. All rats were sacrificed after 48 hours of the third treatment. The bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was collected for analyzing inflammatory cells and cytokines, and lung homogenate MDA was determined for oxidative stress estimation. Results showed higher level of total cell and neutrophil in the BALF of PM2.5 exposed groups (p < 0.05). Negative relationships between cold stress intensity and the level of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a), C-reactive protein (CRP) interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) in BALF were indicated in PM2.5 exposure groups. Exposure to cold stress alone caused significant increase of inflammatory cytokines and methane dicarboxylic aldehyde (MDA) and decline of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity only in 0 °C exposure group (p < 0.05). The two-way ANOVA found significant interactive effects between PM2.5 exposure and cold stress in the level of neutrophil, IL-6 and IL-8 and SOD activity (p < 0.05). These data demonstrated that inflammation and oxidative stress involved in the additive effect of PM2.5 exposure and cold stress on pulmonary toxicity, providing explanation for epidemiological studies on the health effect of ambient PM2.5 and cold stress

Radical–Polar Crossover Reactions: Oxidative Coupling of 1,3-Dioxolanes with Electron-Deficient Alkenes and Vinylarenes Based on a Radical Addition and Kornblum–DeLaMare Rearrangement

A new radical-polar crossover reaction has been developed involving the combination of a tandem radical reaction and Kornblum–DeLaMare rearrangement in a one-pot process. This simple methodology allows for the construction of polyfunctionalized carbonyl compounds via the oxidative coupling of 1,3-dioxolanes with electron-deficient alkenes and vinylarenes in the presence of Co­(salen) and TBHP under mild conditions. This reaction also exhibited high functional group tolerance, wide substrate scope, and operational simplicity

Surface Modification and Damage of MeV-Energy Heavy Ion Irradiation on Gold Nanowires

Gold nanowires with diameters ranging from 20 to 90 nm were fabricated by the electrochemical deposition technique in etched ion track polycarbonate templates and were then irradiated by Xe and Kr ions with the energy in MeV range. The surface modification of nanowires was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterizations. Different craters with and without protrusion on the gold nanowires were analyzed, and the two corresponding formation mechanisms, i.e., plastic flow and micro-explosion, were investigated. In addition, the sputtered gold nanoparticles caused by ion irradiation were studied and it was confirmed that the surface damage produced in gold nanowires was increased as the diameter of the nanowires decreased. It was also found that heavy ion irradiation can also create stacking fault tetrahedrons (SFTs) in gold nanowires and three different SFTs were confirmed in irradiated nanowires. A statistical analysis of the size distribution of SFTs in gold nanowires proved that the average size distribution of SFT was positively related to the nuclear stopping power of incident ions, i.e., the higher nuclear stopping power of incident ions could generate SFT with a larger average size in gold nanowires

Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of fatty acid-binding proteins (FABPs) in Chinese perch Siniperca chuatsi and their circadian rhythm responses to cadmium exposure

Fatty acid-binding proteins (FABPs) function as fatty acid chaperones, and they play a key role in lipid metabolism. The diversity of fabp gene family members is important for different fatty acid absorption and transport. In the present study, we identified 13 fabp genes from Chinese perch (Siniperca chuatsi). The spatiotemporal expression profiles of these 13 Sc-fabp genes, their circadian rhythm expression characteristics in intestine, and transcriptional regulation under cadmium exposure were investigated. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the teleost-specific genome duplication event made a contribution to the expansion of Sc-fabp genes. The protein coding regions of all the 13 Sc-fabp genes were composed of 4 exons. These 13 genes exhibited similar protein length, but a low identity in protein sequences. The tissue expression profiles of most fabp genes in Chinese perch (Sc-fabp2a, Sc-fabp2b, Sc-fabp3, Sc-fabp6a, Sc-fabp7a, and Sc-fabp7b) were consistent with those of their orthologous genes in mammalian, but the Sc-fabp1, Sc-fabp6ba, and Sc-fabp6bb showed distinct tissue expression patterns from their orthologous genes in mammalian. The total expression level of Sc-fabps was increased with embryonic development, but it was decreased significantly after hatching. Sc-fabp1, Sc-fabp3, Sc-fabp11a, and Sc-fabp11b were the mainly expressed subtypes in embryonic development stages. Under natural conditions, the expression of these 4 subtypes Sc-fabp1, Sc-fabp2a, Sc-fabp2b, and Sc-fabp6a exhibited significant circadian rhythm in intestine, and their peak expression levels were observed from ZT 8.83 h to ZT 13.54 h. Cadmium exposure resulted in the up-regulation of fabp gene expression and the loss of circadian rhythm in Chinese perch intestine. Our results provide reference for further investigation of the biological functions of fabp gene subtypes in fish