The improvement of Hovenia acerba-sorghum co-fermentation in terms of microbial diversity, functional ingredients, and volatile flavor components during Baijiu fermentation.

The quality of Baijiu was largely affected by raw materials, which determine the flavor and taste. In the present study, organic acids, polyphenols, volatile flavor components and microbial community in Hovenia acerba-sorghum co-fermented Baijiu (JP1) and pure sorghum-fermented Baijiu (JP2) were comprehensively analyzed. Organic acids, polyphenols and volatile flavor components in JP1 were more abundant than JP2. The abundance and diversity of bacteria and fungi in JP1 was higher than that in JP2 in the early stage of fermentation, but presented opposite trend in the middle and late stages. Leuconostoc, Lentilactobacillus and Issatchenkia were dominant genera in JP1. Whereas, Cronobacter, Pediococcus and Saccharomyces occupied the main position in JP2. Lentilactobacillus and Issatchenkia were positively related to most of organic acids and polyphenols. Pseudomonas, Rhodococcus, Cronobacter, Pediococcus, Brucella, Lentilactobacillus, Lactobacillus, Saccharomycopsis, Wickerhamomyces, Aspergillus, Thermomyces and unclassified_f-Dipodascaccae were associated with the main volatile flavor components. The main metabolic pathways in two JPs exhibited the variation trend of first decreasing and then increasing, and the metabolism activity in JP1 were higher than that in JP2. The results demonstrated the introduction of Hovenia acerba improved the functional ingredients and volatile flavor components, which is helpful for the quality promotion of Baijiu. This study identified the key microorganisms and discussed their effect on organic acids, polyphenols and volatile flavor components during the fermentation of Baijiu with different raw materials, providing a scientific basis for the development and production of high-quality Baijiu.

Current status of health systems financing and oversight for end-stage kidney disease care: a cross-sectional global survey.

OBJECTIVES: The Global Kidney Health Atlas (GKHA) is a multinational, cross-sectional survey designed to assess the current capacity for kidney care across all world regions. The 2017 GKHA involved 125 countries and identified significant gaps in oversight, funding and infrastructure to support care for patients with kidney disease, especially in lower-middle-income countries. Here, we report results from the survey for the second iteration of the GKHA conducted in 2018, which included specific questions about health financing and oversight of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) care worldwide. SETTING: A cross-sectional global survey. PARTICIPANTS: Key stakeholders from 182 countries were invited to participate. Of those, stakeholders from 160 countries participated and were included. PRIMARY OUTCOMES: Primary outcomes included cost of kidney replacement therapy (KRT), funding for dialysis and transplantation, funding for conservative kidney management, extent of universal health coverage, out-of-pocket costs for KRT, within-country variability in ESKD care delivery and oversight systems for ESKD care. Outcomes were determined from a combination of desk research and input from key stakeholders in participating countries. RESULTS: 160 countries (covering 98% of the world's population) responded to the survey. Economic factors were identified as the top barrier to optimal ESKD care in 99 countries (64%). Full public funding for KRT was more common than for conservative kidney management (43% vs 28%). Among countries that provided at least some public coverage for KRT, 75% covered all citizens. Within-country variation in ESKD care delivery was reported in 40% of countries. Oversight of ESKD care was present in all high-income countries but was absent in 13% of low-income, 3% of lower-middle-income, and 10% of upper-middle-income countries. CONCLUSION: Significant gaps and variability exist in the public funding and oversight of ESKD care in many countries, particularly for those in low-income and lower-middle-income countries.

Simultaneous remediation and fertility improvement of heavy metals contaminated soil by a novel composite hydrogel synthesized from food waste.

Soil contamination by heavy metals constitutes a serious global environmental problem, and numerous remediation technologies have been developed. In this study, a novel soil remediation agent, namely composite hydrogel (leftover rice-g-poly(acrylic acid)/montmorillonite/Urea, LR-g-PAA/MMT/urea), was prepared based on free radical polymerization cross-linking technology. Experimental results indicated that the LR-g-PAA/MMT/urea dosage increased from 0% to 10%, the oxidizable state proportions of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in contaminated soil increased from 8.3%, 23.7%, 54.0% and 11.4%-71.3%, 61.0%, 76.5%, and 27.9%, respectively. Compared with control experiment, the residue state growth rate were 56.6%, 23.4% and 39.8% for Cu, Pb and Zn respectively with 10% dosage of composite hydrogel. Simultaneously, the LR-g-PAA/MMT/urea was also seen to enhance soil fertility, including organic matter content, cation exchange capacity, and N and P contents. Pot experiments for biological toxicity suggested that the addition of hydrogel weakened the toxic effect of heavy metals on cotton seeds, and the action effect was increasingly visible with the increase of hydrogel dosage. The analysis of the mechanism involved suggested that the organic matter and its possessed characteristic functional groups could weaken the biological toxicity via complexation, adsorption, and ion exchange. Overall, the synthesized composite hydrogel exhibits great potential for the simultaneous remediation and fertility improvement of heavy metal contaminated soil.

A Host-Guest Interaction-Based and Metal-Organic Gel-Based Biosensor with Aggregation-Induced Electrochemiluminescence Enhancement for Methyltransferase Assay.

Metal-organic gels (MOGs) are new soft materials with the characteristics of high colloidal stability, superb luminescence properties, and facile synthesis. Herein, we develop for the first time a host-guest interaction-based and MOG-based biosensor with aggregation-induced electrochemiluminescence (ECL) enhancement for M.SssI methyltransferase (M.SssI MTase) assay. This biosensor employs a MOG as the luminophor and potassium persulfate as the coreactant, and the formation of the Ag-MOG from the aggregation of silver nanoclusters can induce significant ECL enhancement. Two complementary single-stranded DNAs (ssDNAs, i.e., biotinylated DNA-1 and Fc-labeled DNA-2) that contain specific recognition sequence 5'-CCGG-3' can form a double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) probe. In the absence of M.SssI MTase, the dsDNA probe will be digested by restriction endonuclease HpaII, leading to the release of Fc from magnetic beads (MBs). The ß-CD can specifically recognize the released Fc through guest-host interaction, resulting in the quenching of an ECL signal. In contrast, the presence of M.SssI MTase enables the formation of fully methylated dsDNA, which cannot be cleaved by HpaII, making Fc remain on the MB surface and consequently generating an improved ECL signal. This biosensor can specifically detect M.SssI MTase with a linear range of 0.05-100 U mL-1 and a limit of detection of 3.5 × 10-3 U mL-1, and it enables accurate detection of M.SssI MTase in human serum. In addition, it can be used for inhibitor screening, with wide applications in drug discovery and disease diagnosis.

Inhibitory effect of edible natural compounds with di- and tri-carboxyl moiety on endogenous protease inducing disassembly and degradation of myofibrils from grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella).

Inhibition of endogenous protease is a rapid and feasible approach to control the proteolysis proceeding of post mortem fish flesh. In the present study, the in vitro inhibitory effects of common edible di- and tri-carboxylic acids and salts on endogenous proteolytic activities as well as myofibrillar disassembly and degradation mediated by crude enzyme of grass carp muscle were investigated. The results showed that among the compounds tested, maleic acid, fumaric acid, tartaric acid and malic acid were the most effective inhibitor for cathepsin B, L and calpain, with IC50 ranging from 7.76 to 30.13 mM, from 32.38 to 65.12 mM, from 1.06 to 6.76 mM, respectively. Also, relatively lower Ki (ranging from 1.04 to 43.21 mM) of these compounds were found towards cathepsin B, L and calpain. Incubation of myofibrillar protein with crude enzyme in the presence of di- and tri-carboxylic compounds could remarkably suppress the dissociation and degradation of myosin heavy chain (MHC), and ameliorate the loss of heat shock protein (HSP) in myofibrils, with tartaric acid and fumaric acid proved more effective than other compounds, possibly implicating their application as potential and efficient inhibitors for quality control of fish muscle products.

Host-guest recognition coupled with triple signal amplification endows an electrochemiluminescent biosensor with enhanced sensitivity.

We demonstrate for the first time that host-guest recognition coupled with triple signal amplification endows an electrochemiluminescent (ECL) biosensor with enhanced sensitivity for uracil DNA glycosylase (UDG) assay. This biosensor exhibits good selectivity and extremely high sensitivity, and it can be used to screen UDG inhibitors and measure the cellular UDG activity as well.

Low-background electrochemical biosensor for one-step detection of base excision repair enzyme.

We develop a low-background electrochemical biosensor for one-step detection of uracil DNA glycosylase (UDG) based on the host-guest interaction and iron-embedded nitrogen-rich carbon nanotube (Fe-N-C) that mimics enzyme-mediated electrocatalysis to achieve signal amplification. In this work, Fe-N-C is initially immobilized on a glassy carbon electrode, followed by the immobilization of ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD). We construct the signal probes by assembling the methylene blue (MB)-labeled hairpin DNAs onto the surface of Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) to form the MB-hairpin/AuNP probes. Due to the steric effect of AuNPs and the stem-loop structure of hairpin DNA, MB is prevented from entering the cavity of ß-CD on the electrode. In contrast, UDG enables the removal of uracil from the U•A pairs in the stem of hairpin DNA probe to generate apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) sites, leading to the assembly of MB-hairpin/AuNP probes on the electrode based on host-guest reaction between ß-CD and MB. Meanwhile, L-cysteine (RSH) is oxidized by O2 to disulfide L-cystine (RSSR) and H2O2. In the presence of H2O2, Fe-N-C catalyzes the oxidation of MB to generate an amplified electrochemical signal. Notably, the Fe-N-C-catalyzed oxidation of MB is mediated by the oxidation of RSH by O2 instead of external H2O2, greatly simplifying the experimental procedures and improving the electrochemical signal. Due to the introduction of host-guest recognition, this electrochemical biosensor displays a low-background signal and high signal-to-noise ratio, enabling the one-step sensitive measurement of UDG with a detection limit of 7.4 × 10-5 U mL-1. Moreover, this biosensor can measure UDG in crude cell extracts and screen the inhibitors, providing a new platform for biomedical research.