Effects of foliar and fruit addition of sodium selenate on selenium accumulation and fruit quality

BACKGROUND: We investigated the effects of the foliar and fruit application of sodium selenate on selenium (Se) accumulation, fruit growth and ripening in peach and pear. Trials were conducted in two growing seasons. In 2008 selenate was applied at a rate of 0.1 and 1.0 mg Se L^?1 to the leaves of peach. In 2009 selenate was applied at a rate of 1 mg Se L^?1 via foliar (LT) or fruit (FT) application to peach and pear. RESULTS: The foliar addition of selenate to peach resulted in an increase in Se concentration both in leaves and fruit. The higher Se content in fruit resulted in an increase in flesh firmness and a decrease in soluble solid content. LT significantly increased the Se content in the leaves and fruit of peach and pear, and leaves showed the highest Se concentrations. FT increased the fruit Se concentration in both crops, and it was more effective than LT in increasing Se content. After storage, flesh firmness decreased in all treatments, but it was significantly higher in FT compared to LT and control samples. CONCLUSION: Foliar and fruit selenium spraying appeared effective in increasing the Se content of fruit in peach and pear. The enhanced Se concentration affected the shelf life of fruit, delaying the reduction in flesh firmness and fruit ripening, thus positively affecting fruit storage. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

Effects of 1‐methylcyclopropene and post‐controlled atmosphere air storage treatments on fresh‐cut Ambrosia apple slices

BACKGROUND: The effect of 1‐methylcyclopropene (1‐MCP) treatment and two different post‐controlled atmosphere air storage (PCAAS) durations on the quality and chemistry of fresh‐cut Ambrosia apple slices was studied. RESULTS: PCAAS for 1 or 2 weeks prior to slicing had an overall positive effect on the resultant quality of fresh‐cut apple slices. The most significant responses to PCAAS were the suppression of both phenolic and o‐quinone accumulation in slices, and this was related to the significantly lower browning potential values obtained for slices from PCAAS‐treated apples. Polyphenol oxidase (PPO), peroxidase (POX) and ascorbate peroxidase (APOX) activities were not affected by 1‐MCP or PCAAS treatments. PPO and POX activities were almost completely inhibited by a 50 g L^?1 calcium ascorbate anti‐browning dip of apple slices from all treatments. CONCLUSION: The most dramatic effect of the PCAAS treatments was to reduce the accumulation of soluble phenolics, which is likely the reason that o‐quinone accumulation was also inhibited in treated fruits. The consequent reduction in browning potential may be the explanation as to why PCAAS treatment has been shown to reduce fresh apple slice browning in previous work. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

Analysis of pineapple [Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.] fruit proteinases by 2-D zymography and direct identification of the major zymographic spots by mass spectrometry

Cysteine proteinases present in pineapple plants are phytotherapeutical agents with anti-edematous, anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic and fibrinolytic activities. Active components involved have been only partially identified as bromelain, the major proteinase in pineapple fruits.     

Preliminary characterisation of peach cultivars for their antioxidant capacity

Eleven peach cultivars (white‐ and yellow‐flesh peaches, nectarines and canning clingstone peaches) were assayed for their antioxidant capacity and their content of some important organic compounds as well as vitamin C, carotenoids and phenols. Antioxidant capacity, determined by FRAP assay, varied between genotypes. Those with the highest value of Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) were Federica and Springcrest. Antioxidant capacity was correlated to the amount of organic components with significant differences among the cultivars. In some case, antioxidant capacity was related to phenol content, as in yellow–flesh peaches. These results suggest the importance of genotype for determining antioxidant capacity, which, in turn, is related to the organic constituents, such as phenols, vitamin C and carotenoids.     

Correction to: RECODE: revision control for digital images

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The author regrets that the acknowledgment of the original publication contains an error. The correct acknowledgement is written below:     

Hydrophobically Modified Alkali Soluble Emulsion Polymers: Literature Review

In recent years, interest in the class of water-soluble polymers—hydrophobically modified alkali soluble emulsion (HASE)—has increased on a surprising scale. With respect to other associative polymers, they have several advantages in terms of cost and ease of handling and utilization. In addition, unlike the solvent-based formulations, these water-soluble systems do not contain volatile solvents and hence do not contribute to environmental problems. In solutions, HASE polymers form a transient network through molecular associations between the hydrophobic groups. Due to these hydrophobic interactions, they have been increasingly used as rheology modifiers for various applications, such as paints, cosmetics, and personal care and paper coating products. These associative polymers have an architectural richness that allows the fine tuning of several physicochemical properties, and their optimal use requires controlling polymer concentration, molecular weight, size of the hydrophobic groups, and characteristics of the polymeric backbone. We give an overview of several studies on HASE polymers reported in the literature, focusing on the molecular structure, the synthetic methodologies, and—more specifically—on the factors that affect the rheology of their aqueous mixtures. As a general rule for the optimal HASE design and formulative exploitation, we highlight that the hydrophobic hanging groups are responsible for the rheological changes in the liquid phase, while the steric hindrance of the polymeric backbone and of the hydrophobic groups causes the stiffness.     

The hepatopancreas enzymes of the crustaceans Munida and their potential application in cheese biotechnology

Proteolytic and peptidase activities were extracted from the hepatopancreas of the crustaceans Munida and characterized by enzymatic assay, 2D zymography and mass spectrometry. Results showed the presence of several isotrypsin-like and isochymotrypsin-like enzymes, aminopeptidases and carboxypeptidases A and B. Six different acidic forms of trypsin were detected using specific inhibitors and 2D zymography. Trypsin-like activity was higher than chymotrypsin-like activity. On the basis of previous evidences in food biotechnology and cheese production, the digestive enzymes of the crustaceans Munida were tested for their ability to degrade casein, a process involved in cheese production. As a result, the Munida enzymes were found to degrade the chymosin-derived β-casein fragment f193-209, one of the peptides associated with bitterness in cheese, revealing their possible application in cheese technology to lower the unpleasant bitter flavour in some cheeses.     

Effects of sintering process on the structural,dielectric, and optical absorption properties of KNbO3-based ceramics

The influence of the sintering temperature and the dwell time on the structural, optical, and dielectric properties of [KNbO₃]_0.8[Ba(Ni_0.5Nb_0.5)O_3−δ]_0.2 ceramics (KBNNO) was systematically investigated. X-ray diffraction measurements of the ceramic bodies sintered at different temperatures indicated that all samples presented a cubic-like structure. However, the results remarkably revealed that both the sintering temperature and the dwell time are crucial factors that must be taken into account for “tuning” the optical response of the KBNNO ceramics. It was concluded that fine distortions in the (Nb,Ni)O₆ octahedral site, induced by sintering temperature and dwell time, promoted subtle changes in the local crystal field and, consequently, in the optical properties of the KBNNO. The mechanisms responsible for the observed spectral features of KBNNO were discussed by considering absorbance spectra of NiNb₂O₆ ceramics and allowed ligand-field transitions. The comparison between both optical spectra revealed a notable similarity between them. Since the octahedral site in KBNNO is equivalent to the nickel columbite structure, it was inferred that the spectral behavior is mainly driven by the same two contributions: one major associated to a distorted octahedral configuration and one minor related to spin-orbit coupling effects. In accordance with X-ray diffraction data, the temperature dependence of the dielectric properties corroborated that the KBNNO present a cubic-like phase in the whole temperature range investigated.     

Distribution-Aware Compressed Full-Text Indexes

In this paper we address the problem of building a compressed self-index that, given a distribution for the pattern queries and a bound on the space occupancy, minimizes the expected query time within that index space bound. We solve this problem by exploiting a reduction to the problem of finding a minimum weight K-link path in a properly designed Directed Acyclic Graph. Interestingly enough, our solution can be used with any compressed index based on the Burrows-Wheeler transform. Our experiments compare this optimal strategy with several other known approaches, showing its effectiveness in practice.