Ethanol shock enhances the recovery of anthocyanin from lowbush blueberry

Deactivation of polyphenol oxidase(PPO)in natural products is essential for downstream processing of functional molecules used as food or food additives,particularly those served as antioxidants.In the present work,we identified two proteins with PPO activity from lowbush blueberry using ammonium sulphate precipitation and chromatography procedures.Deactivation of these proteins was studied using aqueous solutions of ethanol of different concentrations.The PPO activity was recovered after ethanol removal for the protein samples previously soaked in a lowconcentration ethanol solution.A complete and unrecoverable deactivation of the proteins was achieved using ethanol with concentration over 70%(v/v),as manifested by the significant changes in circular dichroism(CD)and fluorescence spectroscopy measurements.Based on these findings,we propose a new extraction process for blueberry anthocyanin,in which an ethanol shock,i.e.soaking blueberry fruit in a 70%(v/v)ethanol solution for 1 h,is implemented before subsequent procedures.This new process increases the anthocyanin yield by 55%in comparison to that without the ethanol shock.

Effect of Different Pollination Varieties on Qingxiang Pear Fruit Quality

With Qingxiang pear as test material,we study the effect of different pollination varieties on Qingxiang pear fruit quality. The results show that Xinshiji,Xizilu,Cuiguan and Yuanhuang as the pollination varieties for Qingxiang pear can create the best comprehensive quality,and these varieties can be chosen in production as the pollination varieties for Qingxiang pear,followed by Cuilu and Xishui.

Poly(methyl methacrylate) bone cement composited with mineralized collagen for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures in extremely old patients

To examine the clinical effects of a new bone cement composed of poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA)and mineralized collagen(MC)compared with pure PMMA bone cement in treating osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures(OVCFs)in patients aged over 80.In all,32 cases using pure PMMA bone cement and 31 cases using MC-modified PMMA(MC-PMMA)bone cement for OVCFs between June 2014 and March 2016 were screened as PMMA group and MC-PMMA group,respectively,with an average age of over 80.The operation duration,intraoperative blood loss,hospital stay,oswestry disability index(ODI),visual analogue scale(VAS),anterior vertebral height(AVH),intermediate vertebral height(IVH)and posterior vertebral height(PVH)of injured vertebrae,vertebral computed tomography value,re-fracture rate of adjacent vertebrae,correction rate of spinal kyphotic angle and wedge-shaped vertebra angle and surgical complications were compared between the two groups.In the early post-operative period,the VAS,ODI,AVH and IVH in MC-PMMA group were comparable to those in the traditional PMMA group.Moreover,the MC-PMMA group showed better effects compared with the PMMA group 12months after surgery.Thus,this new bone cement has superior clinic effects in the long term.

Modified poly(methyl methacrylate) bone cement in the treatment of Kümmell disease

Kuümmell disease(KD)causes serious vertebral body collapse in patients.However,only a few case reports have been conducted and the number of patients with KD investigated was limited.Additionally,the frequently used poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA)bone cement for KD is limited by excessive modulus and poor biocompatibility.Herein,we aimed to modify PMMA bone cement with mineralized collagen(MC),and compare the clinical effects,image performance and finite ele-ment analysis between the modified bone cement and PMMA bone cement for the treatment of phase I and II KD.Thirty-nine KD patients treated with PMMA bone cement and 40 KD patients treated with MC-modified PMMA bone cement from June 2015 to March 2017 were retrospectively analyzed.The surgical procedure,intraoperative blood loss,hospital stay and complications were compared between different groups.Visual analog scale,Oswestry disability index,anterior verte-bral height,posterior vertebral height,computed tomography value,adjacent vertebral re-fracture,Cobb angle and wedge-shaped correction angle were evaluated.Additionally,the representative sample was selected for finite element analysis.We found that the MC-modified PMMA bone ce-ment could achieve the same effect as that of PMMA bone cement and was associated with better vertebral height restoration in the long term.