Iron-based and BRD4-downregulated strategy for amplified ferroptosis based on pH-sensitive/NIR-II-boosted nano-matchbox

Ferroptosis (FPT), a novel form of programmed cell death, is characterized by overwhelming iron/reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent accumulation of lipid peroxidation (LPO). However, the insufficiency of endogenous iron and ROS level limited the FPT therapeutic efficacy to a large extent. To overcome this obstacle, the bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4)-inhibitor (+)-JQ1 (JQ1) and iron-supplement ferric ammonium citrate (FAC)-loaded gold nanorods (GNRs) are encapsulated into the zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) to form matchbox-like GNRs@JF/ZIF-8 for the amplified FPT therapy. The existence of matchbox (ZIF-8) is stable in physiologically neutral conditions but degradable in acidic environment, which could prevent the loaded agents from prematurely reacting. Moreover, GNRs as the drug-carriers induce the photothermal therapy (PTT) effect under the irradiation of near-infrared II (NIR-II) light owing to the absorption by localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), while the hyperthermia also boosts the JQ1 and FAC releasing in the tumor microenvironment (TME). On one hand, the FAC-induced Fenton/Fenton-like reactions in TME can simultaneously generate iron (Fe3+/Fe2+) and ROS to initiate the FPT treatment by LPO elevation. On the other hand, JQ1 as a small molecule inhibitor of BRD4 protein can amplify FPT through downregulating the expression of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), thus inhibiting the ROS elimination and leading to the LPO accumulation. Both in vitro and in vivo studies reveal that this pH-sensitive nano-matchbox achieves obvious suppression of tumor growth with good biosafety and biocompatibility. As a result, our study points out a PTT combined iron-based/BRD4-downregulated strategy for amplified ferrotherapy which also opens the door of future exploitation of ferrotherapy systems.

Self-assembled multifunctional nanotheranostics against circulating tumor clusters in metastatic breast cancer

Circulating tumor clusters (CTC) disseminating from the primary tumor are responsible for secondary tumor formation where the conventional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy does not prevent the metastasis at locally advanced stage of breast cancer. In this study, a smart nanotheranostic system has been developed to track and eliminate the CTCs before it can colonize at a new site, which would reduce metastatic progression and increase the five-year survival rate of the breast cancer patients. Targeted multiresponsive (magnetic hyperthermia and pH) nanomicelles incorporated with NIR fluorescent superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles were developed based on self-assembly for dual modal imaging and dual toxicity for spontaneous killing of CTCs in blood stream. A heterogenous tumor clusters model was developed to mimic the CTCs isolated from breast cancer patients. The nanotheranostic system was further evaluated for the targeting property, drug release kinetics, hyperthermia and cytotoxicity against developed CTC model in vitro. In vivo model in BALB/c mice equivalent to stage III and IV human metastatic breast cancer was developed to evaluate the biodistribution and therapeutic efficacy of micellar nanotheranostic system. Reduced CTCs in blood stream and low distant organ metastasis after treatment with the nanotheranostic system demonstrates its potential to capture and kill the CTCs that minimize the secondary tumor formation at distant sites.

A rationally designed cancer vaccine based on NIR-II fluorescence image-guided light-triggered remote control of antigen cross-presentation and autophagy

Cancer vaccines represent a promising immunotherapeutic treatment modality. The promotion of cross-presentation of extracellular tumor-associated antigens on the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules and dendritic cell maturation at the appropriate time and place is crucial for cancer vaccines to prime cytolytic T cell response with reduced side effects. Current vaccination strategies, however, are not able to achieve the spatiotemporal control of antigen cross-presentation. Here, we report a liposomal vaccine loading the second near-infrared window (NIR-II, 1000-1700 nm) fluorophore BPBBT with an efficient photothermal conversion effect that offers an NIR-light-triggered endolysosomal escape under the imaging guidance. The NIR-II image-guided vaccination strategy specifically controls the cytosolic delivery of antigens for cross-presentation in the draining lymph nodes (DLNs). Moreover, the photothermally induced endolysosomal rupture initiates autophagy. We also find that the adjuvant simvastatin acts as an autophagy activator through inhibiting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. The light-induced autophagy in the DLNs together with simvastatin treatment cooperatively increase MHC class II expression by activating autophagy machinery for dendritic cell maturation. This study presents a paradigm of NIR-II image-guided light-triggered vaccination. The approach for remote control of antigen cross-presentation and autophagy represents a new strategy for vaccine development.

Research progress on near-infrared photoimmunotherapy for breast cancer treatment / 中国肿瘤临床

During the treatment of breast cancer,common problems are drug resistance caused by medical treatments and non-essential trauma caused by surgery.Clinically,it is crucial to find a method to treat breast cancer,which is precise and less harmful.Due to the re-fractory nature and diversity of breast cancer,it is of great importance to study how to apply targeted therapies to find highly effective tar-gets for different types of breast cancer.Near-infrared photoimmunotherapy(NIR-PIT)can specifically kill cancer cells and induce lasting im-mune responses in humans under NIR light irradiation,affecting physiological processes such as cancer progression,metastasis and invasion.This provides a further reference for the targeted therapy of breast cancer.This review provides an overview of the mechanisms and prop-erties of NIR-PIT and common targets for the treatment of breast cancer.

Rapid metabolic fingerprinting with the aid of chemometric models to identify authenticity of natural medicines:Turmeric,Ocimum,and Withania somnifera study / 药物分析学报

Herbal medicines are popular natural medicines that have been used for decades.The use of alternative medicines continues to expand rapidly across the world.The World Health Organization suggests that quality assessment of natural medicines is essential for any therapeutic or health care applications,as their therapeutic potential varies between different geographic origins,plant species,and varieties.Classification of herbal medicines based on a limited number of secondary metabolites is not an ideal approach.Their quality should be considered based on a complete metabolic profile,as their pharmacological activity is not due to a few specific secondary metabolites but rather a larger group of bioactive compounds.A holistic and integrative approach using rapid and nondestructive analytical strategies for the screening of herbal med-icines is required for robust characterization.In this study,a rapid and effective quality assessment system for geographical traceability,species,and variety-specific authenticity of the widely used natural medicines turmeric,Ocimum,and Withania somnifera was investigated using Fourier transform near-infrared(FT-NIR)spectroscopy-based metabolic fingerprinting.Four different geographical origins of turmeric,five different Ocimum species,and three different varieties of roots and leaves of Withania somnifera were studied with the aid of machine learning approaches.Extremely good discrimination(R2＞0.98,Q2＞0.97,and accuracy=1.0)with sensitivity and specificity of 100％was achieved using this metabolic fingerprinting strategy.Our study demonstrated that FT-NIR-based rapid metabolic fingerprinting can be used as a robust analytical method to authenticate several important medicinal herbs.

Utilidad del monitoreo hemodinámico con espectroscopia cercana infrarroja en pediatría / Use of near infrared spectroscopy for hemodynamic monitoring in pediatrics

La espectroscopia cercana infrarroja (NIRS, por su sigla en inglés), es una técnica óptica no invasiva y no ionizante utilizada para medir la oxigenación tisular regional a través de sensores transcutáneos. En los últimos años, han aumentado de manera exponencial las publicaciones sobre este tema; esto refleja el creciente interés de investigadores y clínicos por la utilización de esta nueva tecnología y los beneficios que podría ofrecerles a los pacientes pediátricos. El objetivo de esta revisión es dar a conocer el funcionamiento y las posibles aplicaciones de la saturación regional medida por NIRS, así como los desafíos en el futuro.

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a non-invasive optical technique for the evaluation of regional tissue oxygenation using transcutaneous detectors. In recent years, publications about this topic have increased exponentially; this reflects the growing interest among investigators and clinicians about this new technology and its potential benefits for pediatric patients. The objective of this review is to know the functioning and potential uses of regional saturation measured by NIRS and establish future challenges.

Recent advances in ultrasound-controlled fluorescence technology for deep tissue optical imaging / 药物分析学报

Fluorescence imaging is a noninvasive and dynamic real-time imaging technique;however,it exhibits poor spatial resolution in centimeter-deep tissues because biological tissues are highly scattering media for optical radiation.The recently developed ultrasound-controlled fluorescence(UCF)imaging is a novel imaging technique that can overcome this bottleneck.Previous studies suggest that the effective contrast agent and sensitive imaging system are the two pivotal factors for generating high-resolution UCF images ex vivo and/or in vivo.Here,this review highlights the recent advances(2015-2020)in the design and synthesis of contrast agents and the improvement of imaging systems to realize high-resolution UCF imaging of deep tissues.The imaging performances of various UCF systems,including the signal-to-noise ratio,imaging resolution,and imaging depth,are specifically discussed.In addition,the challenges and prospects are highlighted.With continuously increasing research interest in this field and emerging multidisciplinary applications,UCF imaging with higher spatial resolution and larger imaging depth may be developed shortly,which is expected to have a far-reaching impact on disease surveillance and/or therapy.

A NIR fluorescent probe for Vanin-1 and its applications in imaging, kidney injury diagnosis, and the development of inhibitor

Vanin-1 is an amidohydrolase that catalyses the conversion of pantetheine into the amino-thiol cysteamine and pantothenic acid (coenzyme A precursor), which plays a vital role in multiple physiological and pathological processes. In this study, an enzyme-activated near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe (DDAV) has been constructed for sensitively detecting Vanin-1 activity in complicated biosamples on the basis of its catalytic characteristics. DDAV exhibited a high selectivity and sensitivity toward Vanin-1 and was successfully applied to the early diagnosis of kidney injury in cisplatin-induced kidney injury model. In addition, DDAV could serve as a visual tool for in situ imaging endogenous Vanin-1 in vivo. More importantly, Enterococcus faecalis 20247 which possessed high expression of Vanin-1 was screened out from intestinal bacteria using DDAV, provided useful guidance for the rational use of NSAIDs in clinic. Finally, oleuropein as a potent natural inhibitor for Vanin-1 was discovered from herbal medicines library using a high-throughput screening method using DDAV, which held great promise for clinical therapy of inflammatory bowel disease.

Critical quality attribute assessment of big brand traditional Chinese medicine: study on NIR field detection method of chemical properties of moisture in Tongren Niuhuang Qingxin Pills / 中国中药杂志

For the field detection problems of critical quality attribute(CQA) of moisture content in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) manufacturing process, big brand TCM Tongren Niuhuang Qingxin Pills were used as the carrier, to establish a moisture content NIR field detection model with or without cellophane in real world production with use of near infrared(NIR) spectroscopy combined with stoichiometry. With the moisture content determined by drying method as reference value, the partial least square method(PLS) was used to analyze the correlation between the spectrum and the moisture reference value. Then the spectral pretreatment methods were screened and optimized to further improve the accuracy and stability of the model. The results showed that the best quantitative model was developed by the spectral data pretreatment of standard normal variate(SNV) with the latent variable factor number of 2 and 7 of Tongren Niuhuang Qingxin Pills with or without cellophane samples. The prediction coefficient of determination(R_(pre)~2) and standard deviation of prediction(RMSEP) of the model with cellophane samples were 0.765 7 and 0.157 2%; R_(pre)~2 and RMSEP of the model without cellophane samples were 0.772 2 and 0.207 8%. The NIR quantitative models of moisture content of Tongren Niuhuang Qingxin Pills with and without cellophane both showed good predictive performance to realize the rapid, accurate and non-destructive quantitative analysis of moisture content in such pills, and provide a method for the field quality control of the critical chemical attributes of moisture in the manufacturing of big brand TCM.

Applications of smartphone-based near-infrared (NIR) imaging, measurement, and spectroscopy technologies to point-of-care (POC) diagnostics / 浙江大学学报（英文版）（B辑：生物医学和生物技术）

The role of point-of-care (POC) diagnostics is important in public health. With the support of smartphones, POC diagnostic technologies can be greatly improved. This opportunity has arisen from not only the large number and fast spread of cell-phones across the world but also their improved imaging/diagnostic functions. As a tool, the smartphone is regarded as part of a compact, portable, and low-cost system for real-time POC, even in areas with few resources. By combining near-infrared (NIR) imaging, measurement, and spectroscopy techniques, pathogens can be detected with high sensitivity. The whole process is rapid, accurate, and low-cost, and will set the future trend for POC diagnostics. In this review, the development of smartphone-based NIR fluorescent imaging technology was described, and the quality and potential of POC applications were discussed.

Study on rapid quality analysis method of Shengxuebao Mixture / 中国中药杂志

A rapid analysis method based on ultraviolet-visual(UV-Vis) spectroscopy, near infrared(NIR) spectroscopy and multivariable data analysis was established for quality evaluation of Shengxuebao Mixture. The contents of eight active ingredients of Shengxuebao Mixture including albiflorin, paeoniflorin, 2, 3, 5, 4'-tetra-hydroxy-stilbene-2-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, specnuezhenide,ecliptasaponin D, emodin, calycosin-7-glucoside and astragaloside Ⅳ were simultaneously detected by using this method. HPLC-UV-MS was used as a reference method for determining the contents of these ingredients. Partial least squares(PLS) analysis was implemented as a linear method for multivariate models calibrated between UV spectrum/NIR spectrum and contents of 8 ingredients. Finally, the performance of the model was evaluated by 24 batches of test samples. The results showed that both UV-Vis and NIR models gave a good calibration ability with an R~2 value above 0.9, and the prediction ability was also satisfactory, with an R~2 value higher than 0.83 for UV-Vis model and higher than 0.79 for NIR model. The overall results demonstrate that the established method is accurate, robust and fast, therefore, it can be used for rapid quality evaluation of Shengxuebao Mixture.

Application of near- and mid-infrared spectroscopy combined with chemometrics for discrimination and authentication of herbal products: A review

Herbal medicines along with its preparations have been commonly used as preventive and promotive agents around theworld, especially in developing countries. Motivated by economic profits, the high-priced value of herbal medicinesmay be substituted or adulterated with less expensive ones; therefore, the authentication methods must be developedto overcome the adulteration practices. Due to their properties as fingerprint analytical techniques, near-infrared (NIR)and mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopies offered fast and reliable techniques for authentication of herbal medicine.The data generated during authentication of herbal medicines were complex and difficult to be interpreted; therefore,the statistical approach called chemometrics has been used to treat data. The objective of the present review was tohighlight the updates on the application of NIR and MIR spectroscopies and chemometrics techniques (discrimination,classification, and quantification) for discrimination and authentication of herbal medicine.

Application of near- and mid-infrared spectroscopy combined with chemometrics for discrimination and authentication of herbal products: A review

Herbal medicines along with its preparations have been commonly used as preventive and promotive agents around theworld, especially in developing countries. Motivated by economic profits, the high-priced value of herbal medicinesmay be substituted or adulterated with less expensive ones; therefore, the authentication methods must be developedto overcome the adulteration practices. Due to their properties as fingerprint analytical techniques, near-infrared (NIR)and mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopies offered fast and reliable techniques for authentication of herbal medicine.The data generated during authentication of herbal medicines were complex and difficult to be interpreted; therefore,the statistical approach called chemometrics has been used to treat data. The objective of the present review was tohighlight the updates on the application of NIR and MIR spectroscopies and chemometrics techniques (discrimination,classification, and quantification) for discrimination and authentication of herbal medicine

Diagnostic value of optical imaging combined with indocyanine green-guided sentinel lymph node biopsy in gastric cancer: a meta-analysis / 中华胃肠外科杂志

Objective@#To systematically evaluate the diagnostic value of optical imaging combined with indocyanine green (ICG)-guided sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy in gastric cancer, and to identify potential factors that would influence diagnostic accuracy.@*Methods@#Study was carried out by searching the electronic database of PubMed, Embase, Medline, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library with keywords as "gastric/stomach" and "cancer/carcinoma/tumor/tumour/adenocarcinoma/neoplasm" and "sentinel lymph node" and "near-infrared/NIR or fluorescent imaging" and "indocyanine green/ICG" . Literature inclusion criteria: (1) gastric cancer clinical stage was cT0-3; (2) clinical stage determined by at least 2 kinds of imaging modalities; (3) optical imaging (near-infrared or fluorescence imaging) combined with ICG-guided SLN biopsy; (4) prospective study to predict lymph node metastasis; (5) intraoperative or postoperative pathology for all lymph nodes removed; (6) patients number in the literature >10 cases. Exclusion criteria: (1) patients with a history of ICG allergy or chemoradiotherapy; (2) previous history of endoscopic mucosal resection or endoscopic submucosal dissection; (3) patients with a variety of gastrointestinal tumor; (4) case reports, conference abstracts, clinical guidelines, editorials, reviews, meta-analysis and correspondence letters; (5) in vitro or animal experiments; (6) insufficient diagnostic efficacy data. The meta-analysis was performed in the Stata12.0 software using the "bivariate mixed-effects model" combined with the "midas" command to pool the data. Information such as true positive value, false positive value, false negative value, and true negative value of each included articles were extracted. The literature quality assessment map was drawn to describe the overall quality of the articles; the heterogeneity analysis was performed with the forest map, with P<0.01 considered as statistical significance; the funnel plot was used to describe publication bias, with P<0.1 considered as statistically significant. Area under curve (AUC) of summary receiver operator characteristic (SROC) was used to describe the diagnostic accuracy and the AUC closer to 1 indicated higher diagnostic accuracy. If there was heterogeneity (I2>50%) among studies, regression analysis and subgroup analysis were performed. P<0.05 was considered as statistically significant.@*Results@#A total of 15 studies (1020 patients) were included. The optical imaging contained near-infrared (NIR) and fluorescent imaging (FI). The diagnostic value of optical imaging combined with ICG-guided SLN biopsy in gastric cancer was as follows: the pooled sensitivity (Sen) was 0.95 (95% CI: 0.82 to 0.99), specificity (Spe) was 1.00 (95% CI: 0.92 to 1.00), positive likelihood ratio (PLR) was 30.39 (95% CI: 9.14 to 101.06), negative likelihood ratio (NLR) was 0.05 (95% CI:0.01 to 0.20), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) was 225.54 (95% CI: 88.81 to 572.77), AUC was 1.00 (95% CI: 0.99 to 1.00), threshold value was sensitivity=0.95 (95% CI: 0.82 to 0.99) and specificity=1.00 (95% CI: 0.92 to 1.00). Deeks method revealed DOR funnel plot of SLN biopsy was not asymmetrical obviously with significant difference (P=0.01), which indicated remarkable publishing bias. Meta-subgroup analysis showed that compared to FI, NIR imaging had higher sensitivity (0.98 vs. 0.73); compared to 0 minutes, optical imaging performed 20 minutes after ICG injection had higher sensitivity (0.98 vs. 0.70); compared to mean detected number of SLN of 4, mean detected number≥4 had higher sensitivity (0.96 vs. 0.68); compared to HE stain, immunohistochemistry + HE had higher sensitivity (0.99 vs. 0.84); compared to subserous injection of ICG, submucosa injection of ICG had higher sensitivity (0.98 vs. 0.40); compared to injection of 5 g/L ICG, 0.5 g/L and 0.05 g/L had higher sensitivity (0.98 vs. 0.83); compared to cT2-3 tumor, early stage (cT1) tumor had higher sensitivity (0.96 vs. 0.72); compared to ≤ enrolled 26 cases in the study, > 26 cases had higher sensitivity (0.96 vs. 0.65); compared to papers before 2010, papers after 2010 had higher sensitivity (0.97 vs. 0.81); whose differences were all significant. Sensitivity differences between mean tumor diameter of ≤30 cm and >30 cm, open surgery and laparoscopic surgery, lymph node regional dissection and retrieved dissection were not significant (all P>0.05).@*Conclusions@#Optical imaging combined with ICG-guided SLN biopsy is clinically feasible, and especially suitable for early gastric cancer. However, the ICG being used in current studies may be overdosed. Higher sensitivity may be achieved from NIR imaging when compared with FI method.

Quality Evaluation and Identification of Phyllanthi Fructus at Different Storage Years Based on HPLC-UV and FT-NIR / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective: To explore the change rules of active ingredients in Phyllanthi Fructus of different storage years,in order to provide theory basis for storage. Method: Seven Phyllanthi Fruatus samples of different storage years were collected. HPLC-UV detection method was established to determine the contents of gallic acid,corilagin,chebulagic acid,ellagic acid and quercetin. Samples were fingerprinted by FT-NIR and identified by PLS-DA model. Result: Gallic acid,which was the bioactive marker in Chinese Pharmacopoeia,had the highest content. It was followed by ellagic acid and chebulagic acid,and corilagin and quercetin had the least content. The components had significant differences between samples of different storage years (P-1 respectively. The contents of chebulagic acid,corilagin and ellagic acid reached a maximum at 4 years of storage,which were 18.85,7.97,21.46 mg·g-1,respectively. FT-NIR data was optimized by MSC+SG (second derivative, the window parameter as 11,and the polynomial order as 3). The classification accuracy was 84.5%. Spectral data reduced to several important potential variables,and was fused with 5 active components based on minimum cross-validation root mean square error,and the classification accuracy increased to 98.8%. Conclusion: The analysis of PLS-DA by HPLC-UV and FT-NIR could effectively explain the accumulation characteristics of active components in Phyllanthi Fruatus. According to the data fusion strategy,PLS-DA model could distinguish samples of different qualities. The results provide a scientific basis for the quality evaluation and identification of Phyllanthi Fruatus.

Preparation, in vitro imaging and antitumor activity of the second near-infrared imaging drug-loaded liposomes / 中国药科大学学报

@#The combination of diagnosis and treatment through nanotechnology is conducive to the development of cancer treatment. Fluorescent imaging in the second near-infrared window(NIR-II)developed rapidly in recent years due to its imaging advantages. In this paper, we prepared a novel nano drug system, DOX-IR1061-cationic liposome, in which NIR-II fluorescent probe IR1061 was loaded as imaging agents and doxorubicin was loaded as therapeutic agents. It also explores enhanced cellular uptake and cancer cell inhibition rate through octadecylamine. Our NIR-II performance test on liposomes showed that DOX-IR1061-cationic liposome has NIR-II imaging ability. Analysis of liposome cell uptake behavior and cancer cell inhibition experiments demonstrated that octadecylamine can promote liposome uptake by cells and synergize with DOX to enhance anticancer effects. This suggests that the DOX-IR1061-cationic liposome can be used to achieve imaging and therapy effect with further research value.

Methodology Study on Rapid Quality Control of Liuwei Dihuang Capsule by AOTF-near Infrared Spectroscopy / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE： To establish the method for the rapidly non-destructive quality control of Liuwei dihuang capsule. METHODS： AOTF-NIR spectrometry was adopted. Taking 80 batches of Liuwei dihuang capsule produced by a manufacturer in recent three years as samples， HPLC chromatogram was adopted to determine the contents of loganin， morroniside， paeonol， paeoniflorin and ursolic acid； the content of water was determined according to general principles stated in 2015 edition of Chinese Pharmacopeia （part Ⅰ）. Taking 70 batches of samples as correction set， the partial least square method and the cross-validation algorithm were used to establish the NIR quantitative model of 6 indexes in Liuwei dihuang capsules with the Unscrambler quantitative analysis software. Taking residual 10 batches of samples as validation set， external validation was conducted for the model. RESULTS： The correlation coefficients （R2） of internal and external validation of loganin， morroniside， paeonol， paeoniflorin， the content of water quantitative model were all greater than 0.9； the correction of standand deviation （RMSEC） were 0.372 8， 0.025 4， 0.263 3， 0.288 5， 0.186 7 and 0.037 7； the prediction of standard deviation （RMSEP） were 0.462 2， 0.077 5， 0.472 1， 0.634 9， 0.293 4 and 0.206 9； the external verification showed that mean deviations of preclicted value to actual value were 6.04％， 6.05％， 5.87％， 6.97％， 5.62％ and 4.83％， with the mean deviation less than 10％.CONCLUSIONS：The established method can achieve rapidly non-destructive analysis Liuwei dihuang capsule.

On-line monitoring of multiple component parameters during ethanol fermentation by near-infrared spectroscopy / 生物工程学报

The quantity of biomass, glucose concentration and ethanol concentration are important parameters in ethanol fermentation. Traditional methods are usually based on samples for off-line measurement, which not only requires multiple instruments for test and analysis but also consumes notable time and effort, and therefore is inconvenient for real-time process control and optimization. In this study, an in-situ detection method based on the near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is proposed for measuring the above process parameters in real time. The in-situ measurement is carried out by using an immersion type NIR spectroscopy. A multi-output prediction model for simultaneously estimating the quantity of glucose, biomass and ethanol is established based on a multi-output least-squares support vector regression algorithm. The experimental results show that the proposed method can precisely measure the quantity of glucose, biomass and ethanol during the ethanol fermentation process. Compared to the existing partial-least-squares method for modeling and prediction of individual components, the proposed method could evidently improve the measurement accuracy and reliability.

Nondestructive Analysis of Litchi Fruit Quality Using FT-NIR Spectroscopy

A non-destructive optical method based on near-infrared spectroscopy has been used for the evaluation of litchi fruit quality. Diffuse reflectance measurements (12500–3600 cm-1), physical, and biochemical measurements were performed individually on 100 litchi fruits of cv.Shahi cultivar harvested at different ripening stages. Relationships between spectral wavelengths and quality attributes were evaluated by application of chemometric techniques based on partial least squares (PLS) regression. The fruit set was divided into two groups: 60 fruits for calibration and 39 for validation. Good prediction performance was obtained for pH, soluble solids, and titratable acidity with correlation coefficients of 0.96, 0.91 and 0.94 respectively and root mean square errors of prediction of 0.009, 0.291ºBrix and 0.011% malic acid respectively. For the other quality traits such as vitamin C and color the prediction models were not satisfactorily accurate due to the higherror of calibration and prediction.

Quantification of anti-nutritional factors and their correlations with protein and oil in soybeans

ABSTRACT Soybeans contain about 30% carbohydrate, mainly consisting of non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) and oligosaccharides. NSP are not hydrolyzed in the gastrointestinal tract of monogastric animals. These NSP negatively affect the development of these animals, especially the soluble fraction. This work aimed to establish a method to quantify NSP in soybeans, using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and to estimate correlations between NSP, oligosaccharides, protein and oil. Sucrose, raffinose + stachyose, soluble and insoluble NSP contents were determined by HPLC. Oil and protein contents were determined by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). The soluble PNAs content showed no significant correlation with protein, oil, sucrose and raffinose + stachyose contents, but oligosaccharides showed a negative correlation with protein content. These findings open up the possibility of developing cultivars with low soluble NSP content, aiming to develop feed for monogastric animals.