An updated review of functional properties, debittering methods, and applications of soybean functional peptides.

Soybean functional peptides (SFPs) are obtained via the hydrolysis of soybean protein into polypeptides, oligopeptides, and a small amount of amino acids. They have nutritional value and a variety of functional properties, including regulating blood lipids, lowering blood pressure, anti-diabetes, anti-oxidant, preventing COVID-19, etc. SFPs have potential application prospects in food processing, functional food development, clinical medicine, infant milk powder, special medical formulations, among others. However, bitter peptides containing relatively more hydrophobic amino acids can be formed during the production of SFPs, seriously restricting the application of SFPs. High-quality confirmatory human trials are needed to determine effective doses, potential risks, and mechanisms of action, especially as dietary supplements and special medical formulations. Therefore, the physiological activities and potential risks of soybean polypeptides are summarized, and the existing debitterness technologies and their applicability are reviewed. The technical challenges and research areas to be addressed in optimizing debittering process parameters and improving the applicability of SFPs are discussed, including integrating various technologies to obtain higher quality functional peptides, which will facilitate further exploration of physiological mechanism, metabolic pathway, tolerance, bioavailability, and potential hazards of SFPs. This review can help promote the value of SFPs and the development of the soybean industry.

Recent advances in the fabrication of pH-sensitive indicators films and their application for food quality evaluation.

Over a few decades, anthocyanin (ACN)-based colorimetric indicators in intelligent packaging systems have been widely used to monitor the freshness or spoilage of perishable food products. Most of the perishable food products are highly susceptible to enzymatic/microbial spoilage and produce several volatile or nonvolatile organic acid and nitrogenous compounds. As a result, the natural pH of fresh foods significantly changes. Fabrication of CAN-based colorimetric indicators in intelligent packaging systems is an advanced technique that monitors the freshness or spoilage of perishable foods based on the display of color variations at varying pH values. This study focuses on the advancement of pH-sensitive indicators and extraction of colorimetric indicators from commercially available natural sources. Moreover, the fabrication techniques and widespread industrial applications of such indicators have also been discussed. In addition, readers will get information about the color-changing and antioxidant mechanisms of ACN-based indicator films in food packaging.

Gold-Catalyzed Regio- and Stereoselective α-Acyloxy-ß-Alkynylation of Ynol Ethers.

Enol esters and conjugated enynes are valuable structural motifs for synthetic chemistry and material sciences. Herein, the synthesis of tetra-substituted enol ester 2-iodobenzoate derivatives was achieved in good yields at room temperature through a gold-catalyzed acyloxyalkynylation of sensitive ynol ethers with ethynylbenziodoxolones (EBXs), the latter acting as bifunctional reactants. The conversion is highly regioselective with a broad substrate scope. Mechanistically, an Au(III) species is the key intermediate of an Au(I)/Au(III) redox cycle. The reaction is synthetically useful and can easily be scaled up to gram scale.

Field-Free Spin-Orbit Torque Switching Enabled by the Interlayer Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction.

Perpendicularly magnetized structures that are switchable using a spin current under field-free conditions can potentially be applied in spin-orbit torque magnetic random-access memory (SOT-MRAM). Several structures have been developed; however, new structures with a simple stack structure and MRAM compatibility are urgently needed. Herein, a typical structure in a perpendicular spin-transfer torque MRAM, the Pt/Co multilayer and its synthetic antiferromagnetic counterpart with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, was observed to possess an intrinsic interlayer chiral interaction between neighboring magnetic layers, namely, the interlayer Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) effect. Furthermore, using a current parallel to the eigenvector of the interlayer DMI, we switched the perpendicular magnetization of both structures without a magnetic field, owing to the additional symmetry breaking introduced by the interlayer DMI. This SOT switching scheme realized in the Pt/Co multilayer and its synthetic antiferromagnet structure may open a new avenue toward practical perpendicular SOT-MRAM and other SOT devices.

Electroreductive Cross-Electrophile Coupling (eXEC) Reactions.

Electrochemistry utilizes electrons as a potent, controllable, and traceless alternative to chemical oxidants or reductants, and typically offers a more sustainable option for achieving selective organic synthesis. Recently, the merger of electrochemistry with readily available electrophiles has been recognized as a viable and increasingly popular methodology for efficiently constructing challenging C-C and C-heteroatom bonds in a sustainable manner for complex organic molecules. In this mini-review, we have systematically summarized the most recent advances in electroreductive cross-electrophile coupling (eXEC) reactions during the last decade. Our focus has been on readily available electrophiles, including aryl and alkyl organic (pseudo)halides, as well as small molecules such as CO2 , SO2 , and D2 O.

Gold-Catalyzed Formal [4+2] Cycloaddition as Access to Antitumor-Active Spirocyclic Oxindoles from Alkynes and Isatin-Derived Ketimines.

Due to its excellent bioactivity profile, which is increasingly utilized in pharmaceutical and synthetic chemistry, spirooxindole is an important core scaffold. We herein describe an efficient method for the construction of highly functionalized new spirooxindolocarbamates via a gold-catalyzed cycloaddition reaction of terminal alkynes or ynamides with isatin-derived ketimines. This protocol has a good functional group compatibility, uses readily available starting materials, mild reaction conditions, low catalyst loadings and no additives. It enables the transformation of various functionalized alkyne groups into cyclic carbamates. Gram-scale synthesis was achieved and DFT calculations verify the feasibility of the mechanistic proposal. Some of the target products exhibit good to excellent antiproliferative activity on human tumor cell lines. In addition, one of the most active compounds displayed a remarkable selectivity towards tumor cells over normal ones.

Co-Electrospun Silk Fibroin and Gelatin Methacryloyl Sheet Seeded with Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Tendon Regeneration.

Silk fibroin (SF) is a promising biomaterial for tendon repair, but its relatively rigid mechanical properties and low cell affinity have limited its application in regenerative medicine. Meanwhile, gelatin-based polymers have advantages in cell attachment and tissue remodeling but have insufficient mechanical strength to regenerate tough tissue such as tendons. Taking these aspects into account, in this study, gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) is combined with SF to create a mechanically strong and bioactive nanofibrous scaffold (SG). The mechanical properties of SG nanofibers can be flexibly modulated by varying the ratio of SF and GelMA. Compared to SF nanofibers, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) seeded on SG fibers with optimal composition (SG7) exhibit enhanced growth, proliferation, vascular endothelial growth factor production, and tenogenic gene expression behavior. Conditioned media from MSCs cultured on SG7 scaffolds can greatly promote the migration and proliferation of tenocytes. Histological analysis and tenogenesis-related immunofluorescence staining indicate SG7 scaffolds demonstrate enhanced in vivo tendon tissue regeneration compared to other groups. Therefore, rational combinations of SF and GelMA hybrid nanofibers may help to improve therapeutic outcomes and address the challenges of tissue-engineered scaffolds for tendon regeneration.

Research progress on antimicrobial materials for food packaging.

Microbial contamination is an utmost cause of food spoilage. Antimicrobial agents are used to treat microbial diseases in food. They also serve food packaging industry, as they are used for the formation of antimicrobial packaging films which maintain the structure, texture, color, and nutrition value of food. Due to ever growing population, the demands of food are also rising. There is need to stop food wastage and to prevent spoilage. Most of the food is spoiled during harvesting, transportation, and distribution. This is a serious problem to overcome. Adding antibacterial agents is the most convenient way to reduce food spoilage and contamination. To support the characteristics and properties of antibacterial materials, different modifications are performed in the field of food packaging, which is one of the most demanding techniques for food preservation. This review will summarize the research about antimicrobial agents, with an emphasis on recent findings, to highlight the importance of new developments in this field. Concepts of antimicrobial packaging with a focus on antibiotics and antibacterial agents are discussed briefly in this review, along with the different types of food packaging and applications of antimicrobial packaging. Synthetic and natural antimicrobial materials are described. In summary, this article will explain the importance of antibacterial agents and their use in food packaging industry. Furthermore, readers will get good information about natural antibacterial polymers which were extensively used in past few decades. Subsequently, different innovations should be done to control food spoilage and wastage to ensure food safety. Food packaging is a sole element that helps to provide safe and secure food for all.

Electrospun nanofibers food packaging: trends and applications in food systems.

Food safety is a bottleneck problem. In order to provide information about advanced and unique food packaging technique, this study summarized the advancements of electrospinning technique. Food packaging is a multidisciplinary area involving food science, food engineering, food chemistry, and food microbiology, and the interest in maintaining the freshness and quality of foods has grown considerably. For this purpose, electrospinning technology has gained much attention due to its unique functions and superior processing. Sudden advancements of electrospinning have been rapidly incorporated into research. This review summarized some latest information about food packaging and different materials used for the packaging of various foods such as fruits, vegetables, meat, and processed items. Also, the use of electrospinning and materials used for the formation of nanofibers are discussed in detail. However, in food industry, the application of electrospun nanofibers is still in its infancy. In this study, different parameters, structures of nanofibers, features and fundamental properties are described briefly, while polymers fabricated through electrospinning with advances in food packaging films are described in detail. Moreover, this comprehensive review focuses on the polymers used for the electrospinning of nanofibers as packaging films and their applications for variety of foods. This will be a valuable source of information for researchers studying various polymers for electrospinning for application in the food packaging industry.

Authentication of Shenqi Fuzheng Injection via UPLC-Coupled Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry and Chemometrics with Kendrick Mass Defect Filter Data Mining.

Nearly 5% of the Shenqi Fuzheng Injection's dry weight comes from the secondary metabolites of Radix codonopsis and Radix astragali. However, the chemical composition of these metabolites is still vague, which hinders the authentication of Shenqi Fuzheng Injection (SFI). Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with a charged aerosol detector was used to achieve the profiling of these secondary metabolites in SFI in a single chromatogram. The chemical information in the chromatographic profile was characterized by ion mobility and high-resolution mass spectrometry. Polygonal mass defect filtering (PMDF) combined with Kendrick mass defect filtering (KMDF) was performed to screen potential secondary metabolites. A total of 223 secondary metabolites were characterized from the SFI fingerprints, including 58 flavonoids, 71 saponins, 50 alkaloids, 30 polyene and polycynes, and 14 other compounds. Among them, 106 components, mainly flavonoids and saponins, are contributed by Radix astragali, while 54 components, mainly alkaloids and polyene and polycynes, are contributed by Radix codonopsis, with 33 components coming from both herbs. There were 64 components characterized using the KMDF method, which increased the number of characterized components in SFI by 28.70%. This study provides a solid foundation for the authentification of SFIs and the analysis of its chemical composition.

Transcriptome evidence reveals enhanced autophagy-lysosomal function in centenarians.

Centenarians (CENs) are excellent subjects to study the mechanisms of human longevity and healthy aging. Here, we analyzed the transcriptomes of 76 centenarians, 54 centenarian-children, and 41 spouses of centenarian-children by RNA sequencing and found that, among the significantly differentially expressed genes (SDEGs) exhibited by CENs, the autophagy-lysosomal pathway is significantly up-regulated. Overexpression of several genes from this pathway, CTSB, ATP6V0C, ATG4D, and WIPI1, could promote autophagy and delay senescence in cultured IMR-90 cells, while overexpression of the Drosophila homolog of WIPI1, Atg18a, extended the life span in transgenic flies. Interestingly, the enhanced autophagy-lysosomal activity could be partially passed on to their offspring, as manifested by their higher levels of both autophagy-encoding genes and serum beclin 1 (BECN1). In light of the normal age-related decline of autophagy-lysosomal functions, these findings provide a compelling explanation for achieving longevity in, at least, female CENs, given the gender bias in our collected samples, and suggest that the enhanced waste-cleaning activity via autophagy may serve as a conserved mechanism to prolong the life span from Drosophila to humans.

Characterization and preliminary safety evaluation of nano-SiO2 isolated from instant coffee.

The physiological and toxicological evaluation of nano-silicon dioxide (nano-SiO2) particles in food is important for ensuring food safety. In this study, nano-SiO2 particles isolated from five brands of instant coffee, were structurally characterized using transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, and zeta potential analyses. Their toxicity was assessed by measuring cell viability, membrane integrity, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in model gastrointestinal cells (GES-1 and Caco-2). Additionally, mortality, deformity rate, heart rate and death of whole zebra fish embryos were measured. The five types of nano-SiO2 samples comprised amorphous particles with a purity of approximately 99%, which met the food additive standard. Considering that the original particle size ranged from 10 to 50 nm, the samples were classified as nano-SiO2 food additives. Nano-SiO2 did not significantly impact the activity of GES-1 or Caco-2 cells, and no significant cell membrane damage was observed (Caco-2 cells exhibited mild micro damage); however, a slight increase in intracellular RPS levels was detected. Moreover, nano-SiO2 was found to cause head deformity, pericardial edema, yolk sac edema and tail bending. Collectively, the results show that nano-SiO2 time- and dose-dependently affects GES-1 and Caco-2 cell viability, as well as the mortality, heart rate, and abnormality rate of zebra fish embryos. Specifically, a high concentration (≥ 200 µg/mL) and long exposure time (≥ 48 h) of food additive nano-SiO2 affected GES-1, Caco-2 cells, and the gastrointestinal tract in zebra fish embryos.

A Patch of Detachable Hybrid Microneedle Depot for Localized Delivery of Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Regeneration Therapy.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been widely used for regenerative therapy. In most current clinical applications, MSCs are delivered by injection but face significant issues with cell viability and penetration into the target tissue due to a limited migration capacity. Some therapies have attempted to improve MSC stability by their encapsulation within biomaterials; however, these treatments still require an enormous number of cells to achieve therapeutic efficacy due to low efficiency. Additionally, while local injection allows for targeted delivery, injections with conventional syringes are highly invasive. Due to the challenges associated with stem cell delivery, a local and minimally invasive approach with high efficiency and improved cell viability is highly desired. In this study, we present a detachable hybrid microneedle depot (d-HMND) for cell delivery. Our system consists of an array of microneedles with an outer poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) shell and an internal gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA)-MSC mixture (GMM). The GMM was characterized and optimized for cell viability and mechanical strength of the d-HMND required to penetrate mouse skin tissue was also determined. MSC viability and function within the d-HMND was characterized in vitro and the regenerative efficacy of the d-HMND was demonstrated in vivo using a mouse skin wound model.

Electrospun antibacterial poly(vinyl alcohol)/Ag nanoparticles membrane grafted with 3,3',4,4'-benzophenone tetracarboxylic acid for efficient air filtration.

In this study, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) membranes containing Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) were prepared by electrospinning and grafted copolymerization with 3,3',4,4'-benzophenone tetracarboxylic acid (BPTA) to provide better mechanical properties, lower water vapor transmittance, and higher antibacterial activity (against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli) than the PVA/AgNPs membrane. The PVA/AgNPs/BPTA membrane showed higher antibacterial activity than the other membranes, and it produced inhibition zones with diameters of 18.12 ± 0.08 and 16.41 ± 0.05 mm against S. aureus and E. coli, respectively. The PVA/AgNPs/BPTA membrane was found to be capable of promoting reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation under both light and dark conditions. Cycling experiments performed following ROS quenching showed that the best-performing composite membrane retained >70% of its original OH⋅ radical and H2O2 charging capacity after seven cycles. In the filtration test, the electrospun nanofibrous membranes showed high filtration efficiencies of 99.98% for sodium chloride (NaCl). In addition, these membranes maintained a relatively low pressure drop of 168 Pa with a basis weight of 2.1 g m-2. Thus, the PVA/AgNPs/BPTA membrane was concluded to be a promising medical protective material offering the benefits of structural stability and reusability.

Protein glycosylation: a promising way to modify the functional properties and extend the application in food system.

Modification of functional properties by glycosylating with polysaccharides is an effective solution to improve the internal disadvantages of native proteins. Generally, protein glycosylation belongs to the first stage of the Maillard reaction in essence. Dry-heating, wet-heating, and their combination are the major methods for the preparation of protein-polysaccharide conjugates (PPC). Spectrophotometry, spectroscopy, electrophoresis, calorimetry, chromatography, and mass spectrometry are confirmed to be the most effective methods for the identification of PPC. After glycosylation, functionalities of the native protein, including solubility, rheological properties, emulsifying properties, foaming properties, gel property, film-forming properties, thermal stability, antioxidant activity, allergenicity, and antibacterial properties, are improved. The PPC is extensively used as an encapsulation or a delivering material in order to improve the bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds in food system. Some new applications in food processing could be explored using PPC as an ingredient based on the improved functional properties, such as 3-dimensional printing food, gelled food, and colloid food. Furthermore, the model of protein glycosylation and the application of PPC in food processing could be extended to other protein modification to broaden the exploitation of native protein resource for the processing of novel foods.

The research progress in mechanism and influence of biosorption between lactic acid bacteria and Pb(II): A review.

Currently, due to high surface to volume ratio; large availability, rapid kinetics of adsorption and desorption and low cost, the exploitation of microbial biosorption of heavy metals is regarded as a reliable alternative compared to the conventional bioremediation approaches. In parallel with the increasing attractiveness of biosorption research, its pace of advance is also boosted. The barrier that prevent biosorption as an effective method from being applied into wastewater purification is listed, (1) There is not enough data on multi-component biosorption, (2) It remains to be seen that physical-chemical characteristics of different biomasses. (3) Studies on surface modification of strains for enhancement of heavy metals removal efficiency is lack. And extensive literatures involving the mechanism and model of biosorption for particular metal and microbial strains are not available. The present literatures lack systematization, the theory on interaction between lactic acid bacteria and Pb is far from complete. Therefore, the review tries to give a comprehensive explanation about the mechanism of Pb removal from Lactic acid bacteria and provide a brief overview of distinction between biosorption and bioaccumulation, biosorption technology, highlight the underlying features of biosorption and the various affecting factors such as pH, dose required, initial concentration, temperature, and treatment performance as a reference. Biosorption mechanisms can be briefly generalized into several pathways, which are ion exchange, complexation, precipitation, reduction and chelation. Many views holds that complexation is the major absorption mechanisms of Pb. Biosorption mechanisms can be roughly classified as biosorption and bioaccumulation, which have great differences between each other. Biosorption is metabolism-independent but fast, while bioaccumulation is metabolism-dependent but slow. The slight advantages of the bioaccumulation are the metabolite (lactic acid), lactobacillus surface-layers, enzymes and so on. Many factors can greatly affect adsorption process, different factors have different influence and the effects of pretreatment, pH and temperature are relatively greater. Desorption is not a fully reversible process of biosorption, but could not only achieve the goal of the recycle of microorganism, but also contribute to release of trace metal elements. Also the technologies for observation of biosorbents characterics and effect on the metal binding process are reviewed.

Magnetic precession modes with enhanced frequency and intensity in hard/NM/soft perpendicular magnetic films.

High frequency magnetic precessions with strong intensity are strongly desired in material systems for high performance magnetic memory or nano-oscillator applications with ultrafast manipulation speed. Here, we demonstrate an exchange-coupled asymmetric composite film structure of Ta/Pd/[Pd/Co]5/Cu(tCu)/[Co/Ni]5/Ta with adjustable strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and interlayer coupling strength, in which the dynamic magnetic properties are systematically studied by using time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect spectroscopy. It is demonstrated that the in-phase precession frequency is between those of the single hard magnetic [Pd/Co]5 and soft [Co/Ni]5 multilayers, which can be significantly enhanced for the strongly coupled case at tCu < 1 nm. Moreover, in the weakly coupled samples with tCu = 1.0-3.0 nm, besides the common in-phase acoustic mode, an out-of-phase optical mode occurs simultaneously with a frequency even higher than that of the hard magnetic [Pd/Co]5 layer. The optical mode precession frequency and amplitude show an unusual non-monotonic variation trend with the increase of tCu, which has been theoretically analyzed and attributed to the co-effect of decreased coupling strength and increased magnetic anisotropy field difference between the two multilayer stacks. Moreover, by adjusting tCu and the [Co/Ni] repetition number N, an optical mode of strong intensity can be actively achieved, even reaching 80% as compared to the acoustic mode. These results provide effective control and better understanding of magnetic dynamics in perpendicular composite films, which are of key importance for developing ultrafast spintronics-based devices.

Effect of Sonication Duration in the Performance of Polyvinyl Alcohol/Chitosan Bilayer Films and Their Effect on Strawberry Preservation.

In this study, we fabricated polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/chitosan (CS) bilayer films by casting and investigated the effects of preparation conditions and CS content (2, 2.5, or 3 wt.%) on the ability of these films to preserve packaged strawberries. The best performance was achieved at a CS loading of 2.5 wt.% (ultrasound time, 25 min); the strain and stress values were 143.15 ± 6.43% and 70.67 ± 0.85 MPa, respectively, oxygen permeability was 0.16 ± 0.08 cm²·m²·day-1·MPa-1, water vapor permeability was 14.93 ± 4.09 g·cm-1·s-1·Pa-1, and the shelf life of fresh strawberries packaged in the PVA/CS 2.5 wt.% bilayer film was determined to be 21 days at 5 ± 2 °C and a relative humidity of 60 ± 5%. Treatment with PVA/CS bilayer films prevented the decrease in the firmness of strawberries during storage (21 days). The evaluated physicochemical parameters (weight loss, decay, firmness, titratable acidity, soluble solid content, ascorbic acid content, and color) indicated that treatment with PVA/CS bilayer films led to better maintenance of the fruit quality. We believe that our study makes a significant contribution to literature because it paves the way to the fabrication of smart packaging materials and facilitates the commercialization of fresh strawberries as an important health food.

Effect of Potassium Sorbate and Ultrasonic Treatment on the Properties of Fish Scale Collagen/Polyvinyl Alcohol Composite Film.

Composite films containing different amounts of potassium sorbate (KS) were prepared by using fish scale collagen (Col) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), light transmittance, mechanical, water vapor transmission rate (WVTR), and the antibacterial properties of the composite films were analyzed. The results showed that the addition of Col significantly reduced the light transmittance of the composite film, but KS had no significant effect on the light transmission. The tensile strength decreased first and then increased with the addition of KS, while the WVTR increased first and then decreased. The composite film exhibited a certain degree of antibacterial properties against E. coli and S. aureus. In addition, we found that ultrasonic treatment reduced the WVTR, and also improved tensile strength and elongation at break of the composite films, but had no significant effect on other properties. The KS/Col/PVA films have the potential to be used as antimicrobial food packaging.

Effect of PLA/PBAT Antibacterial Film on Storage Quality of Passion Fruit during the Shelf-Life.

In this experiment, we studied the effect of poly(lactic acid)/poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PLA/PBAT) blend films on the efficiency of passion fruit preservation at 20 °C. The weight loss, shrinkage index, firmness, and total sugar of passion fruit packaged with PLA/PBAT films had no significant differences compared with PE films during 21 days (p > 0.05). PLA/PBAT films can more effectively reduce the rising of ethanol content and delay the total acid, ascorbic acid, and sensory evaluation. Compared with unpackaged (CK) and polyethylene (PE) films, PLA/PBAT films are more conducive to preserve the overall flavor of passion fruit during storage time, in agreement with sensory evaluation, tested by E-nose, E-tongue, and GC-MS, which also proved that it can effectively maintain the edible quality of passion fruit during storage time. We believe that our study makes a significant contribution to literature because it paves the way to the generalization and application of packaging films based on composite antibacterial polymers and facilitates the commercialization of fresh passion fruit as an important health food.