Development and Characterization of an Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Film Composited by Hydroxyethyl Cellulose and Sulfated Rice Bran Polysaccharides for Food Packaging.

The nonantimicrobial properties and relatively poor mechanical properties of hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) limit its use in packaging. Sulfated rice bran polysaccharides (SRBP) possess significant antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of different concentrations of SRBP on the physical and mechanical properties and the functional characteristics of HEC/SRBP films. The physical properties of the HEC/20% SRBP films, such as water resistance, water vapor barrier, light barrier, and tensile strength, improved significantly (p < 0.05) compared with those of the HEC films. Scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry showed that HEC formed hydrogen bonds with SRBP and exhibited better compatibility. Thermogravimetric analysis revealed that the addition of SRBP was beneficial to the thermal stability of the films. In addition, the antioxidant and bacteriostatic properties of the films were enhanced by the addition of SRBP to HEC, with the 20% SRBP films showing the most significant enhancement in activity. Therefore, the HEC/20% SRBP films show potential for development for use as active food packaging.

Identification, in silico selection, and mechanistic investigation of antioxidant peptides from corn gluten meal hydrolysate.

Seven novel antioxidant peptides (AWF, LWQ, WIY, YLW, LAYW, LPWG, and LYFY) exhibiting a superior activity compared to trolox were identified through in silico screening. Among these, the four peptides (WIY, YLW, LAYW, and LYFY) displayed notably enhanced performance, with ABTS activity 2.58-3.26 times and ORAC activity 5.19-8.63 times higher than trolox. Quantum chemical calculations revealed that the phenolic hydroxyl group in tyrosine and the nitrogen-hydrogen bond in the indole ring of tryptophan serve as the critical sites for antioxidant activity. These findings likely account for the potent chemical antioxidant activity. The corn peptides also exerted a protective effect against AAPH-induced cytomorphologic changes in human erythrocytes by modulating the antioxidant system. Notably, LAYW exhibited the most pronounced cytoprotective effects, potentially due to its high content of hydrophobic amino acids.

Effects of Hydroxyethyl Cellulose and Sulfated Rice Bran Polysaccharide Coating on Quality Maintenance of Cherry Tomatoes during Cold Storage.

Cherry tomatoes are easily damaged due to their high moisture content. A composite coating was developed to delay deterioration and prolong storage by mixing antibacterial sulfated rice bran polysaccharides (SRBP) and edible hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) with film-forming properties. The effects of HEC, HEC-5% SRBP, and HEC-20% SRBP preservative coatings on the maintenance of the quality of cherry tomatoes (LycopersivonesculentumMill., Xiaohuang F2) during cold storage were investigated. The HEC-20% SRBP coating significantly reduced tomato deterioration and weight loss, delayed firmness loss, decreased polyphenol oxidase activity, and increased peroxidase activity. Furthermore, cherry tomatoes treated with HEC-20% SRBP maintained high levels of titratable acid, ascorbic acid, total phenols, and carotenoids. Cherry tomatoes coated with HEC-SRBP also had higher levels of volatile substances and a greater variety of these substances compared to uncoated tomatoes. In conclusion, the HEC-20% SRBP coating effectively delayed deterioration and preserved cherry tomatoes' nutrient and flavor qualities during postharvest cold storage, suggesting it could be a novel food preservation method.

Multi-nodes dissemination of stable radio frequency with 10-17 instability over 2000 km optical fiber.

To meet the demand of flexible access for high-precision synchronization frequency, we demonstrate multi-node stable radio frequency (RF) dissemination over a long-distance optical fiber. Stable radio frequency signals can be extracted at any node along the optical fiber, not just at the endpoint. The differential mixing structure (DMS) is employed to avoid the frequency harmonic leakage and enhance the precision. The phase-locked loop (PLL) provides frequency reference for the DMS while improving the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of dissemination signal. We measure the frequency instability of multi-node stable frequency dissemination system (MFDS) at different locations along the 2,000 km optical fiber. The measured short-term instability with average time of 1 s are 1.90 × 10-14 @ 500 km, 2.81 × 10-14 @ 1,000 km, 3.46 × 10-14 @ 1,500 km, and 3.84 × 10-14 @ 2,000 km respectively. The long-term instability with average time of 10,000 s are basically the same at any position of the optical fiber, which is about (6.24 ± 0.05) × 10-17. The resulting instability is sufficient for the propagation of precision active hydrogen masers.

T2-FLAIR, DWI and DKI radiomics satisfactorily predicts histological grade and Ki-67 proliferation index in gliomas.

OBJECTIVE: To build highly predictive performance models for glioma stratification with radiomics features from non-invasive MRI. METHODS: T2-weighted fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (T2-FLAIR) imaging, diffusion-weighted MRI and diffusion kurtosis imaging were retrospectively collected for 139 glioma cases (2 with grade I, 67 with grade II, 36 with grade III and 34 with grade IV disease). Multi-parameter maps, including the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), mean diffusion coefficient (Dmean), fractional anisotropy (FA), and mean kurtosis (MK), were co-registered to T2-FLAIR, and 431 radiomics features for each were extracted within manually segmented tumour regions. Partial correlation analysis revealed correlations between radiomics features and glioma stratification factors (tumour grades and Ki-67 LI). Predictive models were built with adjusted-imbalanced logistic regression. RESULTS: MK radiomics features were more closely correlated with glioma stratification than other modalities analysed. The maximum R in MK was 0.52 for tumour grade and 0.56 for Ki-67 index (compared with 0.36 and 0.34 in FA, and 0.43 and 0.37 in ADC, and 0.48 and 0.42 in T2-FLAIR). The best predictive models for grade II vs. III, grade II vs. IV, low-grade vs. high-grade gliomas and positive vs. highly positive Ki-67 LI were obtained by combining multi-parameter MR radiomics features with AUCs of 0.858, 0.966, 0.853 and 0.870, respectively. However, for grade III vs. IV gliomas, the model obtained from MK radiomics features achieved the highest AUC (0.947), with excellent sensitivity and specificity. CONCLUSION: Compared with the other modalities, MK showed closer correlations with tumour grade and Ki-67 LI. Combined radiomics models integrating multi-parameter MRI allow for the generation of highly predictive models for glioma stratification.

Recent developments in stigma maydis polysaccharides: Isolation, structural characteristics, biological activities and industrial application.

Stigma maydis, an ingredient of pharmaceuticals and healthy foods, has a long history of usage in China and some occidental countries. Polysaccharide (SMP) is supposed to be one of the major bioactive compounds in stigma maydis, which possesses immune-enhancement, antitumor, antioxidant, anti-fatigue, diuretic, liver protection, antihyperglycaemic and hypolipidemic activities. In this review, the current advancements on extraction, purification, structural characteristics and biological activities of polysaccharides were summarized. Their biological activities were introduced on the basis of vivo experiments, and some possible mechanisms were listed. Furthermore, industrial application of SMPs were reviewed and discussed. New perspectives for the future work of stigma maydis polysaccharide were also proposed.

Incidence, Risk Factors, and Outcomes of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia in Traumatic Brain Injury: A Meta-analysis.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is one of the most severe complications in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and is considered a risk factor for poor outcomes. However, the incidence of VAP among patients with TBI reported in studies varies widely. What is more, the risk factors and outcomes of VAP are controversial. This study estimates the incidence, risk factors, and outcomes of VAP in patients with TBI and provides evidence for prevention and treatment. PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases were searched from the earliest records to May 2018. Data involving the incidence, risk factors, and outcomes were extracted for meta-analysis. The results showed that the incidence of VAP was 36% (95% confidence interval (CI) 31-41%); risk factors analyses showed that smoking [odds ratio (OR) 2.13; 95% CI 1.16-3.92], tracheostomy (OR 9.55; 95% CI 3.24-28.17), blood transfusion on admission (OR 2.54; 95% CI 1.24-5.18), barbiturate infusion (OR 3.52; 95% CI 1.68-7.40), injury severity score (OR 4.65; 95% CI 1.96-7.34), and head abbreviated injury scale (OR 2.99; 95% CI 1.66-5.37) were related to the occurrence of VAP. When patients developed VAP, mechanical ventilation time (OR 5.45; 95% CI 3.78-7.12), ICU length of stay (OR 6.85; 95% CI 4.90-8.79), and hospital length of stay (OR 10.92; 95% CI 9.12-12.72) were significantly increased. However, VAP was not associated with an increased risk of mortality (OR 1.28; 95% CI 0.74-2.21). VAP is common in patients with TBI. It is affected by a series of factors and has a poor prognosis.

Stable radio frequency transfer over fiber based on microwave photonic phase shifter.

We demonstrate a radio frequency (RF) phase-stable transmission over fiber based on microwave photonic phase shifter. In the proposed system, both assistant RF signals are applied to drive two arms of a dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (DMZM), respectively. An optical bandpass filter is followed to filter out the first-order sideband of optical modulated signal. Due to the phase independence between two optical sidebands, the phase perturbation caused by fiber-length variations can be compensated automatically via controlling the direct-current bias voltage of the DMZM. We have performed RF transfer in a 155 km single-mode fiber with a frequency instability of 3.05 × 10-17 at 10,000 s averaging time.

Stable radio frequency dissemination via a 1007 km fiber link based on a high-performance phase lock loop.

In this paper, we propose an active-compensation stable radio frequency (RF) transmission scheme based on a high-performance phase lock loop (PLL). In our PLL, a new structure for phase-detection is designed with only one standard RF signal to obtain a simple structure with no interference from other signals. In addition, different optical wavelengths carrying the same RF signal are utilized in the two directions to suppress Rayleigh scattering. The low phase noise homemade bi-directional erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) module is used to reduce signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) deterioration. Hence, the transmission distance is greatly improved. The effects of polarization mode dispersion and phase noise produced by the EDFA on the transmission distance are discussed. Ultimately, a stable RF signal with 2.4 GHz transmitted over a 1007 km fiber link is obtained. The experimental results demonstrate that frequency instabilities of 1.2×10- 13 at 1s and 5.1×10- 16 at 20000s. Therefore, the system can be used for atomic clocks comparisons and provides frequency standard for time transfer systems over a long-haul fiber.

GVD-insensitive stable radio frequency phase dissemination for arbitrary-access loop link.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a stable radio frequency (RF) phase dissemination scheme for a long-haul optical fiber loop link based on frequency mixing. Using a single optical source in both directions of the loop link, additional timing jitter caused by group velocity dispersion (GVD) can be eliminated. Impressive scalability provided by the optical link ensures that arbitrary-access node can obtain an RF signal with a stabilized phase to meet the requirements of multiple users. In our experiment, a 2.4 GHz RF signal is distributed to arbitrary points along a 100 km fiber-optic loop link steadily. Stabilities of the recovered signals from two accessing nodes are recorded. The root-mean-square (RMS) phase jitter of the received signal at either accessing node is reduced from 1.87 rad to no more than 0.027 rad during 1800-second measuring time.