Anti-Oxidative and Antibacterial Self-Healing Edible Polyelectrolyte Multilayer Film in Fresh-Cut Fruits.

The consumption of fresh-cut fruits is limited because of the oxidation browning and pathogenic bacteria's growth on the fruit surface. Besides, crack of the fresh-keeping film may shorten the preservation time of fruit. In this work, polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) film was fabricated by layer-by-layer (LBL) electrostatic deposition method. The film was made by carboxy methylcellulose sodium (CMC) and chitosan (CS). The as-prepared PEM film had good anti-oxidative and antibacterial capability. It inhibited the growth of Gram-negative bacteria and the antibacterial rate was more than 95%. The stratified structure and linear increase of the absorbance in the film verified a linear increase of film thickness. The slight scratched film could self-heal rapidly after the stimulation of water whatever the layer number was. Moreover, the film could heal cracks whose width was far bigger than the thickness. The application of PEM film on fresh-cut apples showed that PEM film had good browning, weight loss and metabolic activity inhibition ability. These results showed that the PEM film is a good candidate as edible film in fresh-cut fruits applications.

Electrochemical Restructuring Driven Catalytic Cycle of Bi-Based Heterojunctions for High-Performance Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

Restructuring is an important phenomenon in catalytic reactions. Conversion-type materials with suitable redox potential may undergo in situ electrochemically driven restructurings and induce highly active catalytic sites in a working lithium-sulfur battery. Herein, driven by the electrochemical conversion reaction of BiVO4, a reversible catalytic cycle of Bi/amorphous Li3VO4 (a-Li3VO4) and Bi2S3/a-Li3VO4 heterojunctions is constructed, which targets the oxidation of Li2S and the conversion of polysulfide, respectively. The heterostructures and electrochemically driven size confinement provide abundant sites for shuttle restraining and sulfur conversion. Especially, the p-block Bi and Bi2S3 could dramatically reduce the conversion energy barriers of Li2S and polysulfide by virtue of the p-p orbital hybridization, promoting bidirectional reactions of the sulfur cathode. As a result, the corresponding sulfur cathode possesses a high reversible capacity of 7.5 mAh cm-2 after 120 cycles under a high sulfur loading of 10.3 mg cm-2 with a current density of 0.38 mA cm-2. This study furnishes a feasible scheme to obtain highly effective catalysts for bidirectional sulfur redox by utilizing the electrochemically induced restructuring.

[Effect of invigorating lung and kidney prescription and its components on secretion of cytokines induced by CSE and LPS].

OBJECTIVE: To observe effect of Invigorating Lung and Kidney Prescription (ILKP) on secretion of cytokines induced by Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and cigarette smoke extract (CSE) in vitro and discuss prescription regularity of ILKP and reveal molecular mechanism of ILKP treatment on COPD. METHODS: Alveolar epithelial cells A549, airway epithelial cells H292 and monocyte macrophage THP-1 were stimulated with LPS and CSE, in which samples were divided into normal group (20% normal rat serum), model group (20% normal rat serum and 5% CSE with 75 pg/mL LPS), ILKP group and its Components [20% Replenishing qi group (1), Replenishing Lung and Kidney group (2), Activating blood group (3), Reduce phlegm group (4), Replenishing qi with Replenishing Lung and Kidney group (5), Replenishing qi with Activating blood group (6), Replenishing qi with Reduce phlegm group (7), Replenishing qi with Replenishing Lung and Kidney and Activating blood group (8), Replenishing qi with Replenishing Lung and Kidney and Reduce phlegm group (9), Replenishing qi with Activating blood and Reduce phlegm group (10), ILKP serum group (11)]. The cytokines were detected by ELISA and the transcription factors of cytokines were analyzed with Network tool. RESULTS: Compared with the normal group,the secretion of MMP-9, GM-CSF and TGF-beta by THP-1 cells,TIMP by A549 cells,TNF-alpha, MMP-9, GM-CSF, CD36 and TIMP-1 by H292 cells all were increased, while secretion of TNF-alpha, PPAP2B, IL-3 and SOD decreased by THP-1 cells, MMP-9, TNF-alpha, TGF-beta and IL-3 by A549 cells, IL-8 by H292 cells all were decreased. Compared with model group, for THP-1 cells, the secretion of GM-CSF in 3, 6, 10 and 11 prescription groups,TGF-beta in 10 and 11 prescription groups all were decreased. MMP-9 decreased in 9 and 5 prescription groups while it increased in 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10 and 11 prescription groups. TNF-alpha was increased in 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 9 prescription groups, as it decreased in 11 prescription group. Except 2 prescription group, IL-3 was increased in all other drugs groups. SOD in 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11 prescription groups, and PPAP2B in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 prescription groups were increased while PPAP2B was decreased in 11 prescription group. For A549 cells, the secretion of TIMP-1 was increased in 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 prescription groups, while it was decreased in 11 prescription groups; Except 1 and 4 prescription group, MMP-9 was increased in other groups; Except TGF-beta was increased in 11 prescription groups, it was increased in other groups; IL-3 was increased in 1, 2, 4, 5, 11 and 3 prescription groups. For H292 cells, the secretion of GM-CSF in 5,6,7 and 2 prescription groups,TNF-alpha in 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 prescription groups, MMP-9 in 4, 8, 7 and 9 prescription groups all were decreased. CONCLUSION: The effect of ILKP and its components on secretion of cytokines induced by LPS and CSE and its target cells are different, in which Activating blood prescription focuses on inflammation cytokines, Replenishing Lung and Kidney prescription on Lipid metabolism and redox regulation. The effect of ILKPA is the most widely, followed by Activating blood Replenishing Lung and Kidney, and Reduce phlegm prescription on Protease regulation.

Food Fraud Vulnerability Assessment in the Chinese Baijiu Supply Chain.

As a representative of Chinese alcoholic drinks, baijiu has developed into a mass-consumption commodity. Its simple industrial chain makes it a suitable target for fraudsters. In order to understand the differences and potential factors of fraud vulnerability among groups at various levels, this study constructed a food fraud vulnerability assessment system for the Chinese baijiu supply chain based on routine activities theory. We examined the fraud vulnerability in the baijiu supply chain with data from 243 producers and 45 retailers by using the safe supply of affordable food everywhere (SSAFE) food fraud vulnerability assessment (FFVA) tool. The results indicate that fraud factors related to opportunities have an overall medium vulnerability, while those related to motivations and control measures have an overall medium-low vulnerability. In addition, there are significant differences in the perceived vulnerability of fraud factors across the supply chain. Moreover, retailers have overall higher fraud vulnerability in terms of opportunities and control measures than producers. The main reasons for the frequent occurrence of fraud in the baijiu industry are numerous technical opportunities, strong economic drivers, and insufficient control measures.

Chinese Residents' Healthy Eating Intentions and Behaviors: Based on an Extended Health Belief Model.

Unhealthy eating is one cause of obesity and some chronic non-communicable diseases. This study introduces self-efficacy and health consciousness to construct an extended health belief model (HBM) to examine the factors influencing healthy eating intentions and behaviors of Chinese residents and explore the moderating effect of perceived barriers and the mediating effect of healthy eating intentions. Through the survey platform "Questionnaire Star", this study collected quantitative data from 1281 adults, and partial least squares structural equation modeling was used for confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis, importance-performance map analysis, and multi-group analysis. Results showed that perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, self-efficacy, and health consciousness had a significant positive effect on residents' healthy eating intentions. Perceived barriers had a significant negative effect on residents' healthy eating intentions. Healthy eating intentions had a significant positive effect on healthy eating behaviors. Perceived barriers played a significant negative moderating effect between healthy eating intentions and behaviors. Healthy eating intentions had a positive and significant mediating effect. The multi-group analysis showed that extended HBM has relative generalization ability. The extended HBM has good explanatory and predictive power for healthy diet and provides a new framework for understanding the influencing factors of individuals' healthy eating intentions and behaviors.

Rapid cultivation and enrichment of anammox bacteria solely using traditional activated sludge as inoculum and biocarrier in low-strength real sewage treatment.

In low-ammonia sewage anammox process, cultivation and enrichment of anammox bacteria (AnAOB) is a challenge especially from traditional activated sludge. To this end, a novel strategy solely using activated sludge as inoculum and biocarrier in a dynamic fixed-bed reactor was proposed in this study. During 115-day operation, excellent performance was achieved with influent total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) and effluent TIN of 55.3 mg·L-1 and 4.1 mg·L-1, respectively. Rapid enrichment of AnAOB (doubling time: 8.5 days) was demonstrated by augmented specific anammox activity (trace value to 1.85 mg N·g VSS-1·h-1) and increased hzsB gene number (106 to 109 copies·g-1 dry sludge), with predominance of Candidatus_Brocadia. Large-flocs aggregate was the primary habitat for AnAOB with highest abundance and capacity. The distinctive sludge properties, symbiotic microbial interactions and dynamic operation scheme facilitated AnAOB growth and retention. This study provides a simple, economic and workable approach for the start-up of mainstream anammox process.

Consumers' Food Safety Risk Communication on Social Media Following the Suan Tang Zi Accident: An Extended Protection Motivation Theory Perspective.

There are many hidden safety hazards in homemade food due to an absence of food preparation and storage knowledge, and this has led to many food safety incidents. The purpose of this study was to explore the influencing factors of consumers' food risk communication behavior on social media in northeast China, using the protection motivation theory. We integrate the Suan Tang Zi food poisoning accident and the protection motivation theory to develop a conceptual model to predict food safety risk communication on social media. We conducted a questionnaire which adapted measures from the existing Likert scales. A total of 789 respondents from northeast China participated in this study. We tested our hypotheses using a structural equation model. Results show that perceived severity, perceived vulnerability and self-efficacy have a significant influence on consumer protection motivation. Response efficacies have a positive impact on consumer protection motivation, but response barriers have a negative impact on consumer protection motivation. Additionally, information need and protection motivation of consumers have a significant impact on food safety risk communication on social media. Overall, the protection motivation theory accounted for 71% of the variance in food safety risk communication on social media. Practical implications and suggestions are proposed for the related stakeholders, as well as consumers, to encourage the public to participate in the food risk communication in this study. The research findings presented the social media as a kind of food risk communication channel contributes to consumers acquire accurate information on food quickly, in turn, reduce the probability of food poisoning in daily life. Protection motivation theory may provide some insights into how we can increase the rate of food safety risk communication on social media.

A novel strategy for enhancing the partial denitrification to treat domestic wastewater by feeding sludge fermentation liquid.

Partial-denitrification (PD; NO3-→NO2-) has recently been proposed to be a feasible choice of NO2--N supply for anammox bacteria. In this study, an aerobic/anoxic process for treating domestic wastewater was operated for 176 days to evaluate the feasibility of using sludge fermentation liquid for partial denitrification of the wastewater. Results show that, with the ratio of C/N (COD/ NO3--N) increased at anoxic stage, the average NO2--N concentration in the effluent and nitrate-to-nitrite transformation ratio (NTR) at anoxic stage showed relative growth. High-throughput sequencing analysis demonstrated that the enhancement of PD can be explained by the increases of Thauera, Paracoccus and Enterobacteriaceae. Moreover, Candidatus_Brocadia (0.13%) was detected as the predominant anammox bacteria. Ex-situ isotopic tracing technique analysis assessed that the ratio of anammox role (ra%) was 7.29%. This study has a great potential for being coupled with the anammox bacteria for advanced nitrogen removal.

Performance of the anammox process treating low-strength municipal wastewater under low temperatures: Effect of undulating seasonal temperature variation.

In the anammox process treating low-strength municipal wastewater, the effect of common seasonal temperature variation (15.1 °C-22.2 °C) on performance was studied. In autumn and winter, the nitrogen removal rate (NRR) decrement of 0.038kgN/(m3·d) (17.9 °C â†’ 15.1 °C) was nearly threefold higher than 0.014kgN/(m3·d) (22.2 °C â†’ 17.9 °C), which showed that lower temperature laid more negative impact on nitrogen removal. 15N isotope tracing tests confirmed that the contribution of denitrification to nitrogen removal was far less than anammox, and anammox contributed more at 15.1 °C (91.7%) than 21.9 °C (78.9%). Anammox bacteria could adapt to lower temperature after short-term acclimatization, especially the dominant genus Ca. Brocadia increased from 1.8% to 2.5% and its abundance was significantly correlated with nitrogen consumption (p < 0.05). Above findings suggest that the adaptability of Ca. Brocadia could provide the possibility to maintain nitrogen removal performance at lower temperature. In spring, the improved maximum anammox activity from 2.85 to 3.23mgNH4+-N/(gVSS·h) indicated the recovered removal capacity.

Recovering partial nitritation in a PN/A system during mainstream wastewater treatment by reviving AOB activity after thoroughly inhibiting AOB and NOB with free nitrous acid.

Starting up or recovering partial nitritation is a major challenge for achieving or maintaining stable partial nitritation/anammox (PN/A) during mainstream wastewater treatment. This study presents a novel strategy for recovering the nitrite pathway by selectively reviving ammonium oxidizing bacteria (AOB) after thoroughly inhibiting AOB and nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) using free nitrous acid (FNA). A sequencing batch reactor was operated for PN/A to treat real domestic wastewater for 423 days, during which twice FNA treatment was temporarily implemented. Results showed that with a single 0.45 mg/L FNA treatment on flocculent sludge, the NO3--N concentration during the aerobic period showed an uptrend again and the partial nitritation performance was deteriorated. In contrast, 1.35 mg/L FNA treatment induced the inhibition of both AOB and NOB leading to regressive ammonium oxidation, but a subsequently higher DO (1.5 mg/L) and longer aeration duration recovered partial nitritation. For the relative abundances of the acquired biomass related to nitrogen conversion, Nitrosomonas, Nitrospira and Nitrolancea increased to 9.65%, 10.27% and 4.35%, respectively, at the beginning of the 1.35 mg/L FNA treatment, and Nitrospira and Nitrolancea decreased to 2.80% and 0.03% whereas Nitrosomonas declined to 8.71% after 76 days. Ca. Brocadia showed less resilience after the 1.35 mg/L FNA treatment, with the relative abundance decreasing from 13.38% to 0.62% due to insufficient nitrite. Molecular ecological network analysis indicates that among anammox taxa, Ca. Kuenenia and Ca. Brocadia formed important links with other N cycle processes. Moreover, the proposed strategy shows operational flexibility because it can be easily used to control NOB in mainstream PN/A applications offered by flocculent sludge systems.