Effect of Purple Yam(Dioscorea alata L.) on Nutritional and Physiological Functions of Growing Rats

[Objective] This study was to explore the effect of purple yam on the nutritional and physiological functions of rats.[Method] Forty SD rats were randomly divided into four groups with ten rats in each group which were reared with artificial semisynthetic feed added with 10% steamed yam powder.The four groups,the casein（CK） group which was used as the control,the purple yam（PY） group,the Tiegun yam（TY） group and common Huai yam（HY） group,were supplied with feed of equal content of energy,protein and fat.The rats were pair-fed for 56 days to observe changes of relevant nutritional and physiological indices.[Result] There were no significant differences of body weight,food conversion rate and organ indices between rats in PY group and CK group.Mean corpuscular hemoglobin in PY group was significantly lower than that in CK group;hemoglobin showed no significant difference with that in CK group;eosnophils was lower than that in CK group.Low density lipoprotein-cholesterol,total cholesterol and atherogenic index in PY group were lower than that in the other three groups;anti-atherogenic index was the highest among the four groups,while showing no significant difference;triglyceride content was lower than that in CK group.Among the antioxidant indices,the activity of catalase and superoxide dismutase were higher than that in CK group,while malondialdehyde content was lower than that in CK group.[Conclusion] Purple yam showed the trend of reducing the content of blood glucose,total cholesterol,low density lipoprotein-cholesterol,triglyceride,malondialdehyde,and raising the activity of glutathione peroxidase,superoxide dismutase and catalase,thus having certain antioxidative function.

Classification of plant functional types based on the nutrition traits： a case study on alpine meadow community in the Zoigê Plateau

The ecological concept of Plant Functional Types（PFTs）, which refers to the assemblage of plants with certain functional traits, has been introduced for the study of plant responses to the environment change and human disturbance. Taking the alpine meadow community in the Zoigê Plateau as a study case, this paper classified PFTs in terms of plant nutrition traits. The sequential results are as follows.（1） The main herbages in the Zoigê Plateau included 16 species in 5 families. Among the five families, Cyperaceae vegetation accounted for 81.37%of herbage area in total, while the remaining 4families occupied less than 20%. As for the species,Kobresia setchwanensis Hand.-Maizz. was dominant,accounting for 48.74% of the total area; while the remaining 51.26% was comprised of Polygonum viviparum L., Anaphalis fiavescens Hand.-Mazz.,Stipa aliena Keng and other species.（2） By using the Principal Component Analysis（PCA）, the assessment of herbages nutrition was carried out based on the comprehensive multi-index evaluation model.Polygonum viviparum L. had the highest nutritional value score（1.43）, and Stipa aliena Keng had the lowest（-1.40）. Nutritional value of herbage species had a significantly positive correlation with altitude（P＆lt;0.01） in the Zoigê Plateau.（3） Based on the nutritional values, herbages in the Zoigê Plateau could be grouped into 3 nutrition PFTs（high, medium and low） by using the Natural Breaks（Jenks） method.

Investigating Factors Influencing the Stability of Enteral Nutritional Emulsions Designed for Cancer Patients

Objective A commercially available reference product was“re-engineered”and the target emulsion was formulated to contain the same energy density,as well as the same percentage of energy sources,as the reference product.The particle size and distribution,polydispersity index(PDI),and zeta-potential of emulsions were measured as indices to analyse the quality of the emulsions.Methods The centrifugal stability(Ke)was examined as the main measure of the stability of the target emulsion.Critical parameters affecting the stability of emulsions were also determined,while the temperature was fixed at 30℃,shear speed at 3500 r/min,and shear time was 15 min.The optimal quantity of emulsifier was also studied in the crude homogenate.Results A relatively stable emulsion could be obtained by using PC-50 at a dosage of 2%as the emulsifier.A 2∶1 proportion of whey protein to casein,a 1∶1 proportion of maltodextrin(DE 10-15)to maltodextrin(DE 15-20)and medium chain triglyceride(MCT)in powder form were used to obtain the most desirable emulsion.Conclusion This study explored the critical parameters that influence the stability of a total nutrition enteral emulsion designed for cancer patients,providing useful information for further industrialisation of this and other emulsion products.