Comparative digestion of thermally treated vertebrates and invertebrates allergen pairs in real food matrix.

The digestion stability of allergen pairs, tropomyosin, TM (fish and seafood allergen), and myosin light chain, MLC (chicken meat allergen) is compared among vertebrates and invertebrates in raw and cooked food matrix under standardized simulated in vitro gastrointestinal (GI) digestion. SDS-PAGE followed by multiple TM and MLC-specific antibodies in semidry WB revealed pepsin resistance of invertebrate TMs (abalone, oyster, shrimp) under diet-relevant conditions (raw, cooked). Vertebrate TMs (chicken, pork, beef) were less stable to digestion except that the raw chicken TM was observed pepsin resistant (not diet-relevant). Vertebrate (chicken) MLC was thermally stable. A new 28 kDa protein bound to anti-MLC antibody in cooked chicken and pork; could be the aggregates of MLC. Raw shrimp MLC showed pepsin resistance among invertebrates. A good correlation was observed between combined resistance of TM and MLC to GI digestion following the diet-relevant thermal treatment and reported protein allergenicity among vertebrates and invertebrates.

Molecular Mechanisms of Possible Action of Phenolic Compounds in COVID-19 Protection and Prevention.

The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 was caused by a pathogenic virus called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Therapies against SARS-CoV-2 target the virus or human cells or the immune system. However, therapies based on specific antibodies, such as vaccines and monoclonal antibodies, may become inefficient enough when the virus changes its antigenicity due to mutations. Polyphenols are the major class of bioactive compounds in nature, exerting diverse health effects based on their direct antioxidant activity and their effects in the modulation of intracellular signaling. There are currently numerous clinical trials investigating the effects of polyphenols in prophylaxis and the treatment of COVID-19, from symptomatic, via moderate and severe COVID-19 treatment, to anti-fibrotic treatment in discharged COVID-19 patients. Antiviral activities of polyphenols and their impact on immune system modulation could serve as a solid basis for developing polyphenol-based natural approaches for preventing and treating COVID-19.

Role of Resveratrol in Prevention and Control of Cardiovascular Disorders and Cardiovascular Complications Related to COVID-19 Disease: Mode of Action and Approaches Explored to Increase Its Bioavailability.

Resveratrol is a phytoalexin produced by many plants as a defense mechanism against stress-inducing conditions. The richest dietary sources of resveratrol are berries and grapes, their juices and wines. Good bioavailability of resveratrol is not reflected in its high biological activity in vivo because of resveratrol isomerization and its poor solubility in aqueous solutions. Proteins, cyclodextrins and nanomaterials have been explored as innovative delivery vehicles for resveratrol to overcome this limitation. Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated beneficial effects of resveratrol in cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Main beneficial effects of resveratrol intake are cardioprotective, anti-hypertensive, vasodilatory, anti-diabetic, and improvement of lipid status. As resveratrol can alleviate the numerous factors associated with CVD, it has potential as a functional supplement to reduce COVID-19 illness severity in patients displaying poor prognosis due to cardio-vascular complications. Resveratrol was shown to mitigate the major pathways involved in the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 including regulation of the renin-angiotensin system and expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, stimulation of immune system and downregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokine release. Therefore, several studies already have anticipated potential implementation of resveratrol in COVID-19 treatment. Regular intake of a resveratrol rich diet, or resveratrol-based complementary medicaments, may contribute to a healthier cardio-vascular system, prevention and control of CVD, including COVID-19 disease related complications of CVD.

Nondestructive quantifying total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) content in chicken using hyperspectral imaging (HSI) technique combined with different data dimension reduction algorithms.

Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) system has been used to assess the chicken quality in this work. Principle component analysis (PCA) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) were comparatively used for data dimension reduction. First, we selected 5 dominant wavelength images from chicken hypercube using PCA and ACO. Then, 6 textural variables based on statistical moments were extracted from each dominant wavelength image, thus totaling to 30 variables. Next, we selected the classic back propagation artificial neural network (BPANN) algorithm for modeling. Experimental results showed the performance of ACO-BPANN model is superior to that of PCA-BPANN model, and the optimum ACO-BPANN model was achieved with RMSEP=6.3834 mg/100g and R=0.7542 in the prediction set. Our work implies that HSI integrating spectral and spatial information has a high potential in quantifying TVB-N content of chicken in rapid and non-destructive manner, and ACO has superiority in dimension reduction of hypercube.