Effects of different cooling methods on the carbon footprint of cooked rice

peer-reviewedGlobal warming has become a serious problem facing the international community. All countries strive to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The food system produces a large amount of GHGs, and thus study of the carbon footprint (CF) in the food industry has attracted the attention of researchers. Based on the lifecycle assessment (LCA) method, the present study calculated CFs of cooling of cooked rice, as a unit operation under different operational conditions. The results showed that the carbon footprints for cooling 200 g cooked rice were 54.36 ± 1.07 gCO2eq for refrigerator cooling at 0 °C, 66.05 ± 2.00 g CO2eq for refrigerator cooling at 8 °C, 741.55 ± 27.26 g CO2eq for vacuum cooling, 1914.10 ± 141.24 g CO2eq for air blast cooling at 0 °C, 2463.61 ± 221.21 g CO2eq for air blast cooling at 3 °C, and 3916.54 ± 202.28 g CO2eq for air blast cooling at 8 °C. In addition, the CF for the cooling process was positively correlated with the output power of equipment and the cooling time. The carbon emissions arising from electricity consumption contributed to most of the CF for the cooling process. Sensitivity analysis of the parameters for the CF for the cooling process revealed that the CF of cooling process was stable for the applied equipment emission factor, but sensitive to the efficiency of electricity use and the extent of load. Improving the efficiency of electricity use and increasing cooling load could reduce the final CF of a product

LncRNAs: the bridge linking RNA and colorectal cancer.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are transcribed by genomic regions (exceeding 200 nucleotides in length) that do not encode proteins. While the exquisite regulation of lncRNA transcription can provide signals of malignant transformation, lncRNAs control pleiotropic cancer phenotypes through interactions with other cellular molecules including DNA, protein, and RNA. Recent studies have demonstrated that dysregulation of lncRNAs is influential in proliferation, angiogenesis, metastasis, invasion, apoptosis, stemness, and genome instability in colorectal cancer (CRC), with consequent clinical implications. In this review, we explicate the roles of different lncRNAs in CRC, and the potential implications for their clinical application

MiR-409-3p Inhibits Cell Proliferation and Invasion of Osteosarcoma by Targeting Zinc-Finger E-Box-Binding Homeobox-1

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common bone cancer worldwide. There is evidence that microRNA-409 (miR-409-3p) is involved in tumorigenesis and cancer progression, however, its possible role in OS requires clarification. In the present study, we evaluated the expression level, clinical significance, and mode of action of miR-409-3p in OS. The miR-409-3p levels were diminished in the OS cells and tissues compared with associated adjacent non-tumor tissues and a non-cancer osteoplastic cell line. Low miR-409-3p expression levels were associated with clinical stage and distant metastasis in patients with OS. Resumption of miR-409-3p expression attenuated OS cell proliferation and invasion. Additionally, based on informatics analyses, we predicted that zinc-finger E-box-binding homeobox-1 (ZEB1) is a possible target of miR-409-3p. This hypothesis was confirmed using luciferase reporter assays, reverse transcription-quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and Western blot analyses. The findings of the current study indicated that ZEB1 was up-regulated in the OS tissues and cell lines, and that this up-regulation was inversely proportional to miR-409-3p expression levels. Furthermore, down-regulation of ZEB1 decreased OS cell invasion and proliferation, illustrating that the tumor suppressive role of miR-409-3p in OS cells may be exerted via negative regulation of ZEB1. Taken together, our observations highlight the potential role of miR-409-3p as a tumor suppressor in OS partially through down-regulation of ZEB1 and suggest that miR-409-3p has potential applications in OS treatment

Epigenetic repression of PDZ-LIM domain-containing protein 2 promotes ovarian cancer via NOS2-derived nitric oxide signaling.

Ovarian cancer constitutes one of the most lethal gynaecological malignancies worldwide and currently no satisfactory therapeutic approaches have been established. Therefore, elucidation of molecular mechanisms to develop targeted therapy of ovarian cancer is crucial. PDLIM2 is critical to promote ubiquitination of nuclear p65 and thus its role in inflammation has been highlighted recently. We demonstrate that PDLIM2 is decreased in both ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma and in various human ovarian cancer cell lines compared with normal ovary tissues and human ovarian surface epithelial cells (HOSE). Further functional analysis revealed that PDLIM2 is epigenetically repressed in ovarian cancer development and inhibition of PDLIM2 promoted ovarian cancer growth both in vivo and in vitro via NOS2-derived nitric oxide signaling, leading to recruitment of M2 type macrophages. These results suggest that PDLIM2 might be involved in ovarian cancer pathogenesis, which could serve as a promising therapeutic target for ovarian cancer patients

Exosome miR-4738-3p-mediated regulation of COL1A2 through the NF-κB and inflammation signaling pathway alleviates osteoarthritis low-grade inflammation symptoms

This study aimed to elucidate the roles of microRNA (miR)-4738-3p and the collagen type I alpha 2 chain (COL1A2) gene in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA) through bioinformatics analysis and cellular assays. The GSE55235 dataset was analyzed using the weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) method to identify gene modules associated with OA. Key overlapping genes were identified from these modules and the GSE55235-differential expressed genes (DEGs). The expression levels of selected genes were determined in C28/I2 cells using the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The interaction between miR-4738-3p and COL1A2 was examined in the context of interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β) induction. Exosome characterization was achieved through transmission electron microscopy (TEM), western blotting (WB), and other analyses. The study also investigated the functional relevance of miR-4738-3p in OA pathology through various molecular and cellular assays. Our findings revealed that the green module exhibited a strong correlation with the OA phenotype in the GSE55235 dataset, with COL1A2 emerging as a hub gene and miR-4738-3p as its key downstream target. IL-1β induction suggested that COL1A2 is involved in inflammation and apoptosis, while miR-4738-3p appeared to play an antagonistic role. The analysis of exosomes underscored the significance of miR-4738-3p in cellular communication, with an enhanced level of exo-miR-4738-3p antagonizing IL-1β-induced inflammation and promoting cell survival. Conversely, a reduction in exo-miR-4738-3p led to increased cell damage. This study established a clear regulatory relationship between miR-4738-3p and COL1A2, with the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway playing a central role in this regulation. The miR-4738-3p significantly influences the OA-associated inflammation, primarily through modulation of COL1A2 and the NF-κB pathway. Therefore, targeting miR-4738-3p offers a potential therapeutic approach for OA, with exosome miR-4738-3p presenting a promising strategy

Mice Deficient in Cyp4a14 Have An Increased Number of Goblet Cells and Attenuated Dextran Sulfate Sodium-Induced Colitis

Background/Aims: Cyp4a14 is a member of cytochrome P450 (Cyp450) enzyme superfamily that possesses NADPH monooxygenase activity, which catalyzes omega-hydroxylation of medium-chain fatty acids and arachidonic acid. Study suggests that down-regulation of Cyp4a14 has an anti-inflammatory response in intestine. The present study was to test the function of Cyp4a14 in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis. Methods: Female Cyp4a14-knockout (KO) and wild-type (WT) mice were treated with DSS for 6 days to induce colitis. The colon of mice was histologically observed by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and periodic acid Schiff (PAS) staining. The serum malondialdehyde (MDA), an endogenous indicator of oxidative stress, was chemically measured. Proinflammatory and NADPH oxidase genes were examined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Results: Cyp4a14-KO mice had a significantly higher number of goblet cells in the colon and were more resistant to DSS-induced colitis compared with the WT mice. The DSS-treated KO mice had lower levels of MDA. Consistent with the milder inflammatory pathological changes, DSS-treated KO mice had lower levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α mRNA in the liver and the colon. Moreover, the colon of DSS-treated Cyp4a14-KO and WT mice had higher mRNA levels of two members of NADPH oxidases, Nox2 and Nox4, suggesting that both Nox2 and Nox4 are inflammatory markers. By contrast, DSS-treated WT and KO mice had drastically decreased epithelium-localized Nox1 and dual oxidase (Duox) 2 mRNA levels, coinciding with the erosion of the mucosa induced by DSS. Conclusion: These results suggests a hypothesis that the increased goblet cell in the colon of Cyp4a14-KO mice provides protection from mucosal injury and Cyp4a14-increased oxidative stress exacerbates DSS-induced colitis. Therefore, Cyp4a14 may represent a potential target for treating colitis

A Self-Adaptive Image Encryption Scheme Based on Chaos and Gravitation Model

In order to improve the security of image transmission, this paper proposes a self-adaptive image encryption scheme based on chaos and gravitation model. The proposed scheme consists of three stages: key generation stage, double scrambling stage, and double diffusion stage. In the key generation stage, the plaintext-associated key generation mechanism (BPPAKG) based on the bit plane is used to obtain the key associated with the plaintext. Since the key ultimately depends on the plaintext image itself, this scheme has self-adaptability. The first stage of scrambling uses mixed chaotic transform and shift row transform to disturb pixel position, then changes the pixel value of the image based on the concept of gravitation to achieve the first stage of diffusion. To enhance the security performance of the scheme, the traditional encryption structure is extended, and the second stage of scrambling and diffusion is quickly realized by using diagonal scanning transform and XOR operation. Simulation and experimental results show that the scheme has good encryption and decryption performance and strong resistance to attack. In addition, compared with some latest proposed algorithms, it has better security

A Review of Vision-Laser-Based Civil Infrastructure Inspection and Monitoring

Structural health and construction security are important problems in civil engineering. Regular infrastructure inspection and monitoring methods are mostly performed manually. Early automatic structural health monitoring techniques were mostly based on contact sensors, which usually are difficult to maintain in complex infrastructure environments. Therefore, non-contact infrastructure inspection and monitoring techniques received increasing interest in recent years, and they are widely used in all aspects of infrastructure life, owing to their convenience and non-destructive properties. This paper provides an overview of vision-based inspection and vision–laser-based monitoring techniques and applications. The inspection part includes image-processing algorithms, object detection, and semantic segmentation. In particular, infrastructure monitoring involves not only visual technologies but also different fusion methods of vision and lasers. Furthermore, the most important challenges for future automatic non-contact inspections and monitoring are discussed and the paper correspondingly concludes with state-of-the-art algorithms and applications to resolve these challenges

Error Compensation on Probe Parameters of Articulated Arm CMM

The error compensations on probe parameters were proposed to improve the measurement accuracy of an articulated arm coordinate measuring machines (AACMM). An AACMM’s probe parameters were analyzed and a measurement model including probe parameters solely was built. A simple cone socket components were used as a calibration tool and the LM algorithm was edited to solve the probe parameters. The results show that the average measurement error dealt with the probe parameters recalibration is 0.044mm, and its standard deviation is 0.050mm. They have increased by about 31% and 33% than those without recalibration