Insight into the promoted recrystallization and water distribution of bread by removing starch granule - surface and - associated proteins during storage.

The influence of starch granule surface proteins (SGSPs) and starch granule-associated proteins (SGAPs) on bread retrogradation was investigated in a reconstituted dough system. The removal of both SGSPs and SGAPs resulted in poor bread qualities, decreasing specific volume and crumb porosity, leading to more baking loss and compact crumb structure. Particularly, removing SGSPs was effective in promoting the bread retrogradation. After 7 days of storage, the hardness of bread without SGSPs showed an increase of 353.34 g than the bread without SGAPs. Proton population and relaxation times exhibited that the absence of SGSPs significantly decreased the content of bound water from 11.51 % to 7.03 %, indicating lower water-holding capacity due to the loosen gelling structure. Compared to the control group, bread without SGSPs accelerated the starch recrystallinity by a reduction in soluble starch content, thereby increasing the retrogradation enthalpy and relative crystallinity through promoting the molecular reassociation in starch.

Room-Temperature Stable Inorganic Halide Perovskite as Potential Solid Electrolyte for Chloride Ion Batteries.

Solid electrolytes have attracted considerable interest in rechargeable batteries because of their potential high safety, inhibition of electrode dissolution, and large electrochemical window. However, their development in some new battery concepts such as room-temperature halide ion batteries has been scarce. Herein, we develop the inorganic halide perovskite of CsSnCl3 prepared by mechanical milling and subsequent mild heat treatment as the potential solid electrolyte for chloride ion batteries (CIB). Benefiting from its high structural stability against a phase transformation to monoclinic structure at room temperature, the as-prepared cubic CsSnCl3 achieves an impressive electrochemical performance with the highest ionic conductivity of 3.6 × 10-4 S cm-1 and a large electrochemical window of about 6.1 V at 298 K. These values are much higher than 1.2 × 10-5 S cm-1 and 4.25 V of the previously reported solid polymer electrolyte for CIBs. Importantly, the chloride ion transfer of the as-prepared CsSnCl3 electrolyte is demonstrated by employing the electrode couples of SnCl2/Sn and BiCl3/Bi.

DNA-functionalized upconversion nanoparticles as biosensors for rapid, sensitive, and selective detection of Hg(2+) in complex matrices.

We have developed a facile one-step approach to make hydrophilic and DNA-functionalizable upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), which are used to act as a biosensor for determining Hg(2+) in complex matrices. The proposed approach is simple and exhibits low background interference, high sensitivity and rapid response.

Upconversion fluorescence resonance energy transfer biosensor for sensitive detection of human immunodeficiency virus antibodies in human serum.

A facile one-step approach was proposed to prepare hydrophilic and peptide-functionalized upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), which were used in the design of a biosensor for the sensitive and selective determination of human immunodeficiency virus antibodies in human serum based on FRET from the UCNPs to the graphene oxide.

Elucidation and biological activities of a new polysaccharide from cultured Cordyceps militaris.

A novel low-molecular-weight polysaccharide (CMP-1) with antioxidant, immunostimulatory and antitumor activities was isolated from the cultured Cordyceps militaris. The structure of CMP-1 was elucidated by a combination of physicochemical and instrumental analyses, and its average molecular weight was 4.3 kDa. The backbone of CMP-1 was composed of (1 → 4)-linked α-D-glucopyranosyl, (1 → 6)-linked ß-D-glucopyranosyl and (1 → 4)-linked ß-D-glucopyranosyl residues which branched at O-6. The branches consisted of (1 → 3)-linked α-L-rhamnopyranosyl terminated with (1 → )-linked α-D-glucopyranosyl residues. The ultrastructure of CMP-1 was further investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The antioxidant assays showed that CMP-1 exhibited free radical-scavenging effects, ferrous ions-chelating ability and reducing power. In vitro test revealed that CMP-1 could significantly stimulate the mouse splenocyte proliferation. The cytotoxicity assay showed that CMP-1 inhibited the proliferation of HT-29, HeLa, HepG2 and K562 cells, with the IC50 values of 137.66, 162.59, 176.29 and 364.01 µg/mL, respectively.

Structural characterization of a novel polysaccharide from pulp tissues of Litchi chinensis and its immunomodulatory activity.

A novel polysaccharide (LCP50W) with a molecular weight of 4.72 × 10(4) Da was isolated from the pulp tissues of Litchi chinensis . The chemical structure of LCP50W was characterized using physicochemical and instrumental analyses. The results indicated that the main chain of LCP50W consisted of (1→3)-linked ß-L-rhamnopyranosyl, (1→6)-linked α-D-glucopyranosyl, and (1→2,6)-linked α-D-glucopyranosyl residues, which branched at O-6. The three branches consisted of (1→2)-linked α-L-rhamnopyranosyl, (1→3)-linked α-D-galactopyranosyl, and (1→3)-linked α-L-mannopyranosyl residues, terminated with (1→)-linked α-L-arabinopyranosyl residues, respectively. The in vitro immunomodulatory assay revealed that LCP50W promoted the proliferation of mouse splenocytes and enhanced the cytotoxicity of NK cells. LCP50W boosted the secretion of Th1 cytokine IFN-γ while it inhibited the secretion of Th2 cytokine IL-4; it also enhanced the expression of T-bet while it inhibited the expression of GATA-3. Additionally, LCP50W promoted the development of cell cycle toward the S phase.

A cytosine-rich DNA decorated gold nanoparticles surface enhanced Raman-scattering platform for sensitive and selective detection of silver ions.

In this work, we developed a label-free, homogeneous surface-enhanced Raman-scattering (SERS) platform for the rapid, simple and sensitive detection of Ag(+) by using the unmodified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). It utilizes the different absorption properties of single-strand DNA (ssDNA) and double-strand DNA (dsDNA) on citrate-coated AuNPs and specific interactions between Ag(+) and cytosine-cytosine pairs. In the presence of Ag(+), the structure of ssDNA containing rich cytosine will form a duplex, resulting in the salt-induced aggregation of gold nanoparticles; the corresponding SERS signal transduction can be observed due to the plasmonic coupling of metallic nanoparticles. The assay possesses a superior signal-to-background ratio as high as ∼35.8 with a detection limit of 15 nM. This approach is not only rapid and convenient in operation, but also shows excellent selectivity, which makes it possible to detect Ag(+) in actual samples.

Antitumor effect of a polypeptide fraction from Arca subcrenata in vitro and in vivo.

Arca subcrenata Lischke is a marine traditional Chinese medicine. The study investigated the antitumor effects of P2, a polypeptide fraction from A. subcrenata, and its toxicity in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that P2 could inhibit the proliferation of seven tumor cell lines, especially in HeLa and HT-29 cell lines. The IC50 values were 11.43 µg/mL for HeLa and 13.00 µg/mL for HT-29 treated by P2 for 48 h. P2 had little cytotoxicity on normal liver cells (L-02). The maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of P2 on KM mice was 1000 mg/kg by i.p. or i.v. The tumor growth inhibitory ratios of P2 were 26.4%, 41.4% and 46.4% for H-22, and 34.0%, 45.8% and 60.1% for S-180 tumor-bearing mice. The results demonstrated that P2 might be a potential antitumor agent with high efficiency in dose-dependent and time-dependent manners and low toxicity.