Detection of diluted contaminants on chicken carcasses using a two-dimensional scatter plot based on a two-dimensional hyperspectral correlation spectrum.

A two-dimensional (2D) scatter plot method based on the 2D hyperspectral correlation spectrum is proposed to detect diluted blood, bile, and feces from the cecum and duodenum on chicken carcasses. First, from the collected hyperspectral data, a set of uncontaminated regions of interest (ROIs) and four sets of contaminated ROIs were selected, whose average spectra were treated as the original spectrum and influenced spectra, respectively. Then, the difference spectra were obtained and used to conduct correlation analysis, from which the 2D hyperspectral correlation spectrum was constructed using the analogy method of 2D IR correlation spectroscopy. Two maximum auto-peaks and a pair of cross peaks appeared at 656 and 474 nm. Therefore, 656 and 474 nm were selected as the characteristic bands because they were most sensitive to the spectral change induced by the contaminants. The 2D scatter plots of the contaminants, clean skin, and background in the 474- and 656-nm space were used to distinguish the contaminants from the clean skin and background. The threshold values of the 474- and 656-nm bands were determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. According to the ROC results, a pixel whose relative reflectance at 656 nm was greater than 0.5 and relative reflectance at 474 nm was lower than 0.3 was judged as a contaminated pixel. A region with more than 50 pixels identified was marked in the detection graph. This detection method achieved a recognition rate of up to 95.03% at the region level and 31.84% at the pixel level. The false-positive rate was only 0.82% at the pixel level. The results of this study confirm that the 2D scatter plot method based on the 2D hyperspectral correlation spectrum is an effective method for detecting diluted contaminants on chicken carcasses.

[A dual-band algorithm to detect contaminants with low visibility on chicken carcass surface].

A novel dual-band algorithm for detecting contaminants with low visibility on chicken carcass surface based on hyperspectral image was proposed. Firstly, The 675 nm band image, in which the identity of the intensity within ROI (Region of Interest) is the best and the spectrum difference between ROI and the edge of the ROI is the biggest, was chosen from the hyperspectral data for binarization and the mask was extracted by using region growing on the biggest connected area. Then the "and" operation between the mask and the 400 nm band image with the largest discriminability of contaminants was carried out. The max ROI which can self adapt according to the position and shape of the chicken carcass was obtained. Finally, the labeling method was used to recognize if there are contaminations within the segmented ROI. The results showed that through the proposed method, the max ROIs which could self adapt to the position and shape of the chicken carcass were extracted and the average size of the ROI was bigger than 176% compared to that by existing methods. The average correct identification rate of contaminations such as blood, bile and feces was 81.6%.

Identification of Pepper Leaf Diseases Based on TPSAO-AMWNet.

Pepper is a high-economic-value agricultural crop that faces diverse disease challenges such as blight and anthracnose. These diseases not only reduce the yield of pepper but, in severe cases, can also cause significant economic losses and threaten food security. The timely and accurate identification of pepper diseases is crucial. Image recognition technology plays a key role in this aspect by automating and efficiently identifying pepper diseases, helping agricultural workers to adopt and implement effective control strategies, alleviating the impact of diseases, and being of great importance for improving agricultural production efficiency and promoting sustainable agricultural development. In response to issues such as edge-blurring and the extraction of minute features in pepper disease image recognition, as well as the difficulty in determining the optimal learning rate during the training process of traditional pepper disease identification networks, a new pepper disease recognition model based on the TPSAO-AMWNet is proposed. First, an Adaptive Residual Pyramid Convolution (ARPC) structure combined with a Squeeze-and-Excitation (SE) module is proposed to solve the problem of edge-blurring by utilizing adaptivity and channel attention; secondly, to address the issue of micro-feature extraction, Minor Triplet Disease Focus Attention (MTDFA) is proposed to enhance the capture of local details of pepper leaf disease features while maintaining attention to global features, reducing interference from irrelevant regions; then, a mixed loss function combining Weighted Focal Loss and L2 regularization (WfrLoss) is introduced to refine the learning strategy during dataset processing, enhancing the model's performance and generalization capabilities while preventing overfitting. Subsequently, to tackle the challenge of determining the optimal learning rate, the tent particle snow ablation optimizer (TPSAO) is developed to accurately identify the most effective learning rate. The TPSAO-AMWNet model, trained on our custom datasets, is evaluated against other existing methods. The model attains an average accuracy of 93.52% and an F1 score of 93.15%, demonstrating robust effectiveness and practicality in classifying pepper diseases. These results also offer valuable insights for disease detection in various other crops.

Mild steam treatment: Enhancing the rehydration performance of instant rice noodles by changing the physicochemical properties and gel structure of rice starch.

The "instant" quality of instant rice noodles is significantly affected by slow rehydration during cooking. This happens as a result of the native rice starch's low ability to gelatinize as well as the high shear and pressure utilized in industries during the widely used extrusion molding process. In order to address this issue, the rice flour was pretreated with mild steam (MS) technology. The results revealed that the rehydration qualities of the rice noodles that were extruded from the steam-treated flour significantly improved. There was a reduction of 25.5% in the rehydration time, from 443 to 330 s. The MS-treated rice starch's peak viscosity increased to 4503 from 4044 mPa/s. Decreases in gelatinization enthalpy (ΔH) and short-range ordering also suggest a reduction in difficulty in accomplishing starch gelatinization. Scanning electron microscopy studies showed particle aggregation increased as the treatment duration lasted longer. In conclusion, our findings indicate that we successfully addressed the issue of slow rehydration in instant rice noodles while presenting a novel approach for their manufacturing in the manufacturing sector.

Facile production of low-viscosity mung bean starch through cold plasma treatment: Improvement of film formability.

Mung bean starch (MBS) has a strong potential to be used as food packages. However, preparing tough and uniform MBS films via industrial casting remains challenging due to the high viscosity of MBS slurry. Herein, MBS was modified by using dielectric barrier discharge cold plasma (CP) in an attempt to decrease its viscosity and improve the film-forming properties. Results indicated that CP with an applied power of 120 W for 5 min decreased the peaking viscosity of MBS slurry from 2936.5 to 466.3 cP. Moreover, CP treatment simultaneously modified the crystallinity (20.2%-16.7%), amylose content (30.5%-44.3%), and short-range orders (1.04-0.85). CP also broke the protective envelope of MBS granules. Further, the film-forming properties of MBS were investigated. It was observed that CP-modified MBS film casts exhibited uniform morphology, higher tensile strength (6.6-9.6 MPa), and improved thermal stability (89.0-100.8°C) compared with the untreated MBS film. The study indicates that the CP can be used as a green and facile technology to improve the properties of MBS films resulting in an efficient food packing material.

Simultaneous qualitative and quantitative determination of 104 fat-soluble synthetic dyes in foods using disperse solid-phase extraction and UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS analysis.

Public exposure to synthetic dyes through foods has attracted ongoing and serious attention. Here we developed and validated a simultaneous screening and quantitation method for the analysis of fat-soluble synthetic dyes that most frequently found in foods, using C18 d-SPE clean-up and UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS on Full-MS/dd-MS2 mode. During a single run, 104 dyes including 6 pairs of isomers were distinguished based on chromatographic separation and unique product ions. The method showed satisfactory linearity (R > 0.99), recoveries (61.3 %-118.8 %), precision (<20 %) and limit of quantification (0.05-0.5 mg/kg). For 98 % of test dyes, screening detection limits ranged from 2.5 to 25 µg/kg. The validated method was successfully applied to real commercial foodstuffs revealing the presence of two selected illegal dyes in three samples.

Multiple attribute decision making based on Pythagorean fuzzy Aczel-Alsina average aggregation operators.

A useful expansion of the intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS) for dealing with ambiguities in information is the Pythagorean fuzzy set (PFS), which is one of the most frequently used fuzzy sets in data science. Due to these circumstances, the Aczel-Alsina operations are used in this study to formulate several Pythagorean fuzzy (PF) Aczel-Alsina aggregation operators, which include the PF Aczel-Alsina weighted average (PFAAWA) operator, PF Aczel-Alsina order weighted average (PFAAOWA) operator, and PF Aczel-Alsina hybrid average (PFAAHA) operator. The distinguishing characteristics of these potential operators are studied in detail. The primary advantage of using an advanced operator is that it provides decision-makers with a more comprehensive understanding of the situation. If we compare the results of this study to those of prior strategies, we can see that the approach proposed in this study is more thorough, more precise, and more concrete. As a result, this technique makes a significant contribution to the solution of real-world problems. Eventually, the suggested operator is put into practise in order to overcome the issues related to multi-attribute decision-making under the PF data environment. A numerical example has been used to show that the suggested method is valid, useful, and effective.

Variation of Anxiety and Depression During a 3-Year Period as Well as Their Risk Factors and Prognostic Value in Postoperative Bladder Cancer Patients.

Background: Anxiety and depression are commonly recognized and prognostically relevant in cancer patients. The aim of this study was to explore the 3-year longitudinal changes in anxiety and depression, their risk factors, and prognostic value in patients with bladder cancer. Methods: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale for anxiety (HADS-A) and depression (HADS-D) scores of 120 postoperative bladder cancer patients and 100 healthy controls (HCs) were assessed. Additionally, the HADS-A and HADS-D scores of bladder cancer patients were determined at 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years post surgery. Results: HADS-A score (7.7 ± 3.0 vs. 4.8 ± 2.6), anxiety rate (38.3% vs. 9.0%), HADS-D score (7.7 ± 3.3 vs. 4.3 ± 2.6), depression rate (40.0% vs. 11.0%), as well as anxiety degree and depression degree, were all increased in bladder cancer patients compared with HCs (all P < 0.001). Besides, the HADS-A score gradually increased from baseline to 3 years (P = 0.004), while the anxiety rate, HADS-D score, and depression rate did not change significantly (all P > 0.050). Gender, tumor size, marriage status, hypertension, diversity, and lymph node (LN) metastasis were associated with anxiety or depression in patients with bladder cancer (all P < 0.050). Anxiety was associated with shortened overall survival (OS) (P = 0.024) but did not link with disease-free survival (DFS) (P = 0.201); depression was not correlated with either DFS or OS (both P > 0.050). Conclusion: The prevalence and severity of anxiety and depression are high in patients with bladder cancer, which are influenced by gender, tumor features, marriage status, and hypertension; in addition, their correlation with survival is relatively weak.

Carboxylated fluorescent microsphere based immunochromatographic test strip enabled sensitive and quantitative on-site detection for florfenicol in eggs.

Florfenicol (FF), used popularly in prevention and treatment of virus infections in livestock and poultry, has widely been found in eggs and harmful to human health. In this work, a sensitive and quantitative on-site detecting solution, monoclonal antibody-based carboxylated fluorescent microsphere immunochromatographic test strip assay (FM-ICTS), is design and applied for FF detection. The proposed method can sensitively detect FF in low detection limit of 0.030 ng/g and quantitatively measure its concentration from 0.1 ng/mL to 8.1 ng/mL (R2 = 0.9991) with high repeatability (CV<8.0 %). In addition, the established FM-ICTS method exhibited high measurement accuracy in FF samples as compared with HPLC-MS analysis and demonstrated satisfied recoveries (99.1-101.3 %). More importantly, the quantitative FF test strip demonstrate ultra-high stability, which presents approximately equivalent detection ability to the fresh one after stored at 4 °C for more than one year or stored at 37 °C for 60 days. Therefore, the proposed method is a promising solution for rapidly and sensitively quantitative determination of FF in eggs.

A Review of Detection of Antibiotic Residues in Food by Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy.

Antibiotics, as veterinary drugs, have made extremely important contributions to disease prevention and treatment in the animal breeding industry. However, the accumulation of antibiotics in animal food due to their overuse during animal feeding is a frequent occurrence, which in turn would cause serious harm to public health when they are consumed by humans. Antibiotic residues in food have become one of the central issues in global food safety. As a safety measure, rapid and effective analytical approaches for detecting these residues must be implemented to prevent contaminated products from reaching the consumers. Traditional analytical methods, such as liquid chromatography, liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, and capillary electrophoresis, involve time-consuming sample preparation and complicated operation and require expensive instrumentation. By comparison, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has excellent sensitivity and remarkably enhanced target recognition. Thus, SERS has become a promising alternative analytical method for detecting antibiotic residues, as it can provide an ultrasensitive fingerprint spectrum for the rapid and noninvasive detection of trace analytes. In this study, we comprehensively review the recent progress and advances that have been achieved in the use of SERS in antibiotic residue detection. We introduce and discuss the basic principles of SERS. We then present the prospects and challenges in the use of SERS in the detection of antibiotics in food. Finally, we summarize and discuss the current problems and future trends in the detection of antibiotics in food.

Study on the atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) treatment of zein film: Surface properties and cytocompatibility.

The cell adhesion and proliferation of zein-based biomaterials in cell culture application are limited by the strong hydrophobic surface with low surface energy. In this study, atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) was developed as a modification approach in enhancing the surface hydrophilic and cytocompatibility of zein films. The results indicated that water contact angles decreased from 72.85° (untreated) to 47.43° under the voltage of 100 V. The improvement of the surface free energy (SFE) was mainly attributed to the polar component rather than dispersive component. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results indicated the change of surface physicochemical properties was mainly due to the partially transformation of long-chain aliphatic hydrocarbons (CH and/or CC) to oxygen- and nitrogen-containing bonds (CO, CO and CN). Furthermore, the content of secondary structure demonstrated ß-turn and α-helix were transformed into ß-sheet and random coil after ACP treatment. Combining with the cell experiment results, plasma treatment could significantly improve the adhesion rate and proliferation activity of C2C12 cells on zein films. With better cytocompatibility, the potentials of zein in tissue engineering scaffold could be readily exploited.

Polylactic Acid (PLA) Modified by Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) for the Immobilization of Lipase.

This work presents a novel lipase immobilization method via polylactic acid (PLA) modified by polyethylene glycol (PEG). The immobilization performance of lipase was characterized by SEM and FTIR. The results indicated that lipase from Candida rugosa type VII was successfully immobilized on the biocompatible PLA/PEG film in the presence of 1, 6-hexamethylene diamine and glutaraldehyde. In addition, the presence of 1, 6-hexylenediamime (8%, w/w) could maintain the maximum enzymatic activity. Moreover, the optimum temperature of lipase shifted from 45 to 50 °C after immobilization. The thermal inactivation experiment illustrated that the immobilized lipase retained up to 63% of the original activity after treated at 50 °C in buffer for 120 min, significantly higher than that of the control (33%) (p < 0.05). The optimum pH value of the immobilized lipase shifted from 6.5 to 7.5. Additionally, compared with the free lipase maintaining 23% of its original activity, the immobilized lipase successfully retained up to 70% after 30 days of storage. Furthermore, the immobilized lipase displayed the excellent reusability of 82% after six cycles. In conclusion, the proposed immobilization approach developed can be potentially used as a sustainable alternative for the immobilization of lipases and the utilization of biocompatible polymer. Graphical Abstract.

Synthesis and evaluation of highly dispersible and efficient photocatalytic TiO2/poly lactic acid nanocomposite films via sol-gel and casting processes.

Using titanium teraisopropoxide (TTIP) as the hydrolysis material, titanium dioxide (TiO2) (6.3-11.1 nm) nanoparticles were synthesized via the sol-gel method and reinforced into poly lactic acid (PLA)/TiO2 nanocomposite films by casting. The effect of increasing amounts of TiO2 on the structure and properties of PLA/TiO2 nanocomposite films were evaluated. These results indicated that self-aggregation of TiO2 nanoparticles in PLA films could be avoided via sol-gel and casting processes. The presence of TiO2 significantly improved the tensile strength and thermal stability of films. The PLA/TiO2 (0.6 wt%) film exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity efficiency under UV irradiation and displayed high antibacterial activities with optimal inhibition zones of Staphylococcus aureus, followed by Escherichia dispersibility of TiO2 in films were responsible for those improvements. This study suggests that PLA/TiO2 nanocomposite films could be a promising antimicrobial alternative material to conventional plastic packages.

Moisture molecule migration and quality changes of fresh wet noodles dehydrated by cold plasma treatment.

Compared with dried noodles, fresh wet noodles (FWNs) have unique flavor and texture characteristics. However, they have a short shelf life due to their high moisture content (approximately 33%). We developed an innovative technique applying cold plasma, which allows the quick removal of some of the moisture to improve their shelf-life. We investigated the effect of cold plasma treatment on the extent of moisture molecule migration and on quality changes in FWNs. A rapid moisture molecule migration occurred due to the synergism between the structure driving force and drying driving force caused by cold plasma. The color of FWNs became whiter and the texture became harder upon plasma treatment. Scanning electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry showed that the structural stability of FWNs increased. Moreover, cold plasma treatment had no effect on the secondary structure types of FWNs, while the α-helix and ß-sheet converted to ß-turn and random coil.

Bilberry anthocyanin extract promotes intestinal barrier function and inhibits digestive enzyme activity by regulating the gut microbiota in aging rats.

This study was aimed at understanding potential mechanisms regarding bilberry anthocyanin extract consumption and healthy aging and the effects on intestinal barrier function and digestive enzyme activity, through regulating the gut microbiota in aging rats. Medium-dose bilberry anthocyanin extract consumption (20 mg per kg bw per day) was the optimum amount to regulate the intestinal function of aging rats. After consumption, bacteria beneficial to the intestine (Aspergillus oryzae, Lactobacillus, Bacteroides, Clostridiaceae-1, the Bacteroidales-S24-7-group and the Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group) were induced to grow, and harmful bacteria (Verrucomicrobia and Euryarchaeota) were inhibited. However, high-dose bilberry anthocyanin extract consumption altered some intestinally beneficial bacteria in an adverse way. There was a correlation between changes in bacterial composition and changes in short-chain fatty acids and the intestinal mucosal barrier. Bilberry anthocyanin extract consumption also decreased the activity of digestive enzymes. Our results suggest that bilberry anthocyanin extract consumption is a potential approach for assisting healthy aging.

Reduction of Aging-Induced Oxidative Stress and Activation of Autophagy by Bilberry Anthocyanin Supplementation via the AMPK-mTOR Signaling Pathway in Aged Female Rats.

Oxidative-stress-induced senescence constitutes a great risk factor for chronic diseases. Therefore, ameliorating oxidative-stress-induced senescence is expected to prevent chronic diseases. The beneficial effects of bilberry anthocyanin (BA) on healthy aging were evaluated using 12 month old, aging female SD rats in this study. The experimental results suggested that consumption of a middle-dose of BA (MBA) appreciably increased the relative liver mass by 7.34% when compared with that of the AC group. Furthermore, BA significantly increased the total antioxidant capacity, total superoxide dismutase activity, and catalase activities; decreased malondialdehyde, serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), serum total cholesterol (TC), serum triglyceride (TG), and glycated serum protein (GSP) levels; and reduced TC/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and LDL-C/HDL-C ratios. In addition, MBA decreased the activity of fecal bacterial enzymes and increased the content of fecal short-chain fatty acids. The Western blot results showed that MBA significantly upregulated the expression of OCLN, ZO-1, and autophagy-related proteins (ATP6 V0C, ATG4D, and CTSB) in aging rats. Moreover, it also showed that MBA induced the phosphorylation of AMPK and FOXO3a and inhibited the phosphorylation of mTOR, which indicated that bilberry anthocyanin induced autophagy via the AMPK-mTOR signaling pathways. This induction of autophagy further promoted oxidative stress resistance effects and intestinal epithelial barrier function of bilberry anthocyanin in aging female rats.

Quality characteristics of fresh wet noodles treated with nonthermal plasma sterilization.

Nonthermal plasma treatment has been a widely acknowledged effective method for food sterilization. This study presents the potential of nonthermal dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma treatment for sterilization of the surface of the fresh wet noodles (FWNs). The plasma treatment achieved a more than one logarithmic reduction of the total bacterial count and total mold count as measured by counting the total microorganisms and filamentous fungi, respectively. In addition, the qualities of FWNs exposed to nonthermal DBD plasma treatment had no undesirable changes to color, texture, acidity and water distribution as measured by a texture analyzer, color meter and low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR), respectively. Thus, nonthermal DBD plasma treatment is a promising alternative to the traditional sterilization method applied in FWN industry and provides a new idea for the preservation and processing of fresh food.

Preparation, characterization and functional evaluation of chitosan-based films with zein coatings produced by cold plasma.

Chitosan-based films with zein coatings were prepared in order to modify the drug release properties. The adhesion of zein layers to the films was ensured via a cold plasma treatment. Using ciprofloxacin hydrochloride as model, the effect of cold plasma on the functional properties and structures was evaluated. The results suggest that the encapsulation efficiency, chemical composition and crystal type of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride in chitosan/drug films were not altered by cold plasma treatment, while the wettability and surface free energy displayed a notable increase. After being coated with zein, the chitosan interacted with the zein through hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions. The burst release phenomenon of the chitosan/drug films was prevented by the zein coating. Furthermore, the plasma treatment provided the coated film with a slower release rate within 24 h, from 72.8% to 49.3%. The enhanced coating thickness and the more compact interface structure were responsible for this improvement.

[Effects of kaixinsan on behavior and expression of p-CREB in hippocampus of chronic stress rats].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of kaixinsan on behavior and expression of p-CREB in hippocampus of the chronic stress rats. METHOD: The male Wistar rats which gained the similar scores by Open-field test were selected, then the depression model rat was produced by separation and chronic unpredictable mild stress. Open-field test was performed to detect the behavior of rats and immunohistochemistry was used to observe the changes of p-CREB expression in hippocampus. RESULT: On the 22nd day, the body weight and sacchar-intake of the depression model rats were all lower than those of the normal rats and the body weight and sacchar-intake of the rats treated by drugs were higher compared with model rats (P < 0.01). The depressive behavior in kaixinsan 4 g x kg(-1) group was significantly improved compared with the model group, the crossing scores and rearing scores were all increased (P < 0.01) and the expression of p-CREB in CA1, CA3 and DG in hippocampus was higher than that in the model group (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Kaixinsan might improve depressive behavior by increasing expression of p-CREB in CA1, CA3 and DG in hippocampus of the chronic stress rats.

Fast and simultaneous determination of eleven synthetic color additives in flour and meat products by liquid chromatography coupled with diode-array detector and tandem mass spectrometry.

In this study, an efficient, fast and sensitive method for the simultaneous determination of eleven synthetic color additives (Allura red, Amaranth, Azo rubine, Brilliant blue, Erythrosine, Indigotine, Ponceau 4R, New red, Sunset yellow, Quinoline yellow and Tartrazine) in flour and meat foodstuffs is developed and validated using HPLC coupled with DAD and MS/MS. The color additives were extracted with ammonia-methanol and was further purified with SPE procedure using Strata-AW column in order to reduce matrix interference. This HPLC-DAD method is intended for a comprehensive survey of color additives in foods. HPLC-MS/MS method was used as the further confirmation and identification. Validation data showed the good recoveries in the range of 75.2-113.8%, with relative standard deviations less than 15%. These methods are suitable for the routine monitoring analysis of eleven synthetic color additives due to its sensitivity, reasonable time and cost.