Effects of thermal and nonthermal processing technology on the quality of red sour soup after storage.

In the present study, we investigated the effects of thermal preservation, such as pasteurization, and nonthermal preservation, including irradiation, sodium dehydroacetate (SDHA), and nisin, on the quality of red sour soup after storage. Single-factor experiments were used to optimize the parameters of different processing technologies, and the best irradiation dose and heating temperature were 4 kGy and 85℃, respectively. The optimal additive amounts of SDHA and nisin were 150 mg/500 g. During the shelf storage experiment, prepared red sour soup was stored at room temperature in the glass bottles, and further analyses were carried out up to 5 weeks of storage. The quality of red sour soup was evaluated by microflora and sensory analysis. The results showed that Lactobacillus, Streptomyces, Pediococcus, Pichia, Kazachstania, and Candida were the main microorganisms in all samples, and there were no harmful microorganisms. The sensorial attributes were observed, including different parameters, such as odor, organic acid content, color, taste, texture, apparent viscosity, and thixotropy. All of the data showed that the irradiated groups were more dramatically changed compared with the other groups, while these changes did not directly affect the sensory quality of the products. Consequently, irradiation could be used as an ideal quality preservation method for the red sour soup to reduce the impact of heat treatment and chemical additives on the quality of characteristic food.

Genetic background of human lactoferrin transgenic goats / 生物工程学报

The genetic background such as copy number, integration site and chromosome karyotype of exogenous genes of transgenic animals obtained by random integration is still unclear. There may be some problems such as silent integration, invalid integration, toxic integration and unpredictable expression level of exogenous genes. In this study, six primary (F0) and their corresponding offspring (F1) of human lactoferrin (hLF) transgenic goats were selected as the research objects, and blood samples were collected from jugular vein and DNA were extracted. The genetic background and expression level of exogenous genes were studied by chromosome karyotype analysis, real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR), ELISA and Western blotting. The chromosomes of six F0 transgenic goats had no obvious morphological variation, number change and other abnormalities. The relative copy number was different (2-16) and could be steadily inherited to the next generation. The copy number of F0 and F1 hLF gene was the same. The highest expression level of hLF was 1.12 g/L in F1 transgenic goats (L3-1, 8 copies). The results proved that the integrated exogenous genes could steadily inherit the next generation, and did not cause obstacles to the growth and development of transgenic goat individuals. Moreover, there was no obvious correlation between the number of copies and the expression level of hLF. This laid a foundation for the new varieties cultivation of transgenic goats and other transgenic animals, and analysis of genetic background.

Effect of Astragalus mongholicus polysaccharides on gene expression profiles of dendritic cells isolated from healthy donors / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the anti-atherosclerosis mechanism of Astragalus mongholicus polysaccharides (APS) by examining its effect on gene expression profiles of the dendritic cells (DCs) from healthy donors.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Peripheral blood DCs from healthy donors were incubated with 200 mg/L APS overnight, and changes in the gene expression profiles were investigated using microarray technique and RT-PCR.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the control cells, APS-treated DCs showed significantly up-regulated expressions of CD36 (0.97 ± 0.23 vs 5.45 ± 1.14) and IL-27 (1.08 ± 0.22 vs 2.97 ± 0.61) and down-regulated expression of expression of IFI16 (0.98 ± 0.18 vs 0.46 ± 0.11).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>APS can promote the maturation and differentiation of DCs by up-regulating CD36 and IL-27 and down-regulating IFI16, and thus positively affects the occurrence and progression of the atherosclerosis.</p>

Effects of nitrogen application levels on yield and active composition content of Desmodium styracifolium / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To find out the optimal nitrogen application level of Desmodium styracifolium.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>A field experiment using randomized block design was carried out to study the effects of 5 nitrogen application levels (150, 187.5, 225.0, 262.5 and 300.0 kg x hm(-2)) on yield and active component content of D. styracifolium.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Nitrogen application could increase the yield and contents of polysaccharide, total flavonoides and total saponins of D. styracifolium. However, the enhancing extent of the active component content and the yield were not always significant with the increase of nitrogen level. In which, the yield were not significantly different among the nitrogen application levels of 225.0, 262.5, 300.0 kg x hm(-2) the polysaccharide content was no significantly difference among the nitrogen application levels of 225.0, 262. 5 and 300.0 kg x hm(-2), the total flavonoides content under the nitrogen level of 300.0 kg x hm(-2) was significantly lower than that of 150.0 kg hm(-2) (P < 0.01), and the total saponins content under the nitrogen level of 300.0 kg x hm(-2) was no significant difference compared with that of 262.5 kg x hm(-2).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The optimal nitrogen application level of D. styracifolium was 225.0-262.5 kg x hm(-2).</p>