Emerging Marine Biotoxins in European Waters: Potential Risks and Analytical Challenges

Harmful algal blooms pose a challenge regarding food safety due to their erratic nature and forming circumstances which are yet to be disclosed. The best strategy to protect human consumers is through legislation and monitoring strategies. Global warming and anthropological intervention aided the migration and establishment of emerging toxin producers into Europe’s temperate waters, creating a new threat to human public health. The lack of information, standards, and reference materials delay effective solutions, being a matter of urgent resolution. In this work, the recent findings of the presence of emerging azaspiracids, spirolildes, pinnatoxins, gymnodimines, palitoxins, ciguatoxins, brevetoxins, and tetrodotoxins on European Coasts are addressed. The information concerning emerging toxins such as new matrices, locations, and toxicity assays is paramount to set the risk assessment guidelines, regulatory levels, and analytical methodology that would protect the consumers.     

松辽平原盐碱土含盐量的遥感反演研究

通过对Aster遥感影像前9个波段的相关系数、标准差和诊断指数的分析,发现Aster遥感影像1,2,3波段的土壤反射率对土壤含盐量最为敏感.利用Aster遥感影像1,2,3波段作为自变量,盐碱土含盐量作为因变量进行逐步回归分析,建立土壤反射率数据与土壤含盐量数据之间的统计模型,利用决策树分类将地物分成5类,反演得到研究区盐碱土含盐量的空间分布图.研究发现,基于统计模型的遥感反演效果较好,具有一定的参考和应用价值.     

LED-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence Spectral Analysis for the Early Detection and Monitoring of Cadmium Toxicity in Maize Plants

Chlorophyll fluorescence spectral analysis permits detection, monitoring, and evaluation of abiotic stresses upon healthy plants using illumination of a light source in the UV?CVIS spectral range. This technique indirectly assesses the amount of physiological stress caused by photosynthetic damage, specifically damage to photosystem II, in plants. The objective of this study was to detect the toxicity of cadmium in maize plants via spectral analysis of chlorophyll fluorescence. The analysis is noninvasive and nondestructive and is used to follow the temporal evolution of changes in the chlorophyll content and physiological state of Zea mays L. seedlings under cadmium stress. Conventional techniques were also used to evaluate the dry matter production and Cd accumulation in plant leaves. Plants exhibited a notable reduction in dry matter production and chlorophyll levels with the administration of increasing doses of Cd in the nutrient solution. The fluorescence analysis was sensitive to changes caused by Cd in maize plants, detecting damage caused by different treatments before visual symptoms were observed. This technique has a practical application and produces rapid results that can be used in the evaluation of Cd-induced stress in plants and the detection of areas contaminated by this element.     

Study of some physicochemical and functional properties of quinoa (chenopodium quinoa willd) protein isolates

The amino acid composition and the physicochemical and functional properties of quinoa protein isolates were evaluated. Protein isolates were prepared from quinoa seed by alkaline solubilization (at pH 9, called Q9, and at pH 11, called Q11) followed by isoelectric precipitation and spray drying. Q9 and Q11 had high levels of essential amino acids, with high levels of lysine. Both isolates showed similar patterns in native/SDS-PAGE and SEM. The pH effect on fluorescence measurements showed decreasing fluorescence intensity and a shift in the maximum of emission of both isolates. Q9 showed an endotherm with a denaturation temperature of 98.1 degrees C and a denaturation enthalpy of 12.7 J/g, while Q11 showed no endotherm. The protein solubility of Q11 was lower than that of Q9 at pH above 5.0 but similar at the pH range 3.0-4.0. The water holding capacity (WHC) was similar in both isolates and was not affected by pH. The water imbibing capacity (WIC) was double for Q11 (3.5 mL of water/g isolate). Analysis of DSC, fluorescence, and solubility data suggests that there is apparently denaturation due to pH. Some differences were found that could be attributed to the extreme pH treatments in protein isolates and the nature of quinoa proteins. Q9 and Q11 can be used as a valuable source of nutrition for infants and children. Q9 may be used as an ingredient in nutritive beverages, and Q11 may be used as an ingredient in sauces, sausages, and soups.     

乳糖不耐受与功能性液体乳——低乳糖奶

阐述了乳糖不耐受发病机理和世界病情现状。分析了防治乳糖不耐受的低乳糖奶物理、化学和酶法等生产工艺的优缺点。重点展望了酶法低乳糖奶的市场前景和发展趋势,以及改进产品工艺过程和改善产品风味,扩大牛奶消费人群。     

水稻剑叶性状的遗传分析和基因定位

本研究以水稻籼粳杂交(窄叶青8号×京系17)F1经花药培养, 产生的双单倍体(DH)群体和应用该群体已构建的分子图谱为基础。 采用QTL区间作图法对5个剑叶性状进行定位分析, 结果表明, 在DH群体中, 剑叶长、 宽、 长宽比和叶面积呈连续分布, 受微效多基因控制, 并且各性状均存在一定数量的超亲遗传类型。 4个性状共检测出13     

播期对不同筋型小麦品种淀粉糊化特性的影响

选用强筋小麦9356、中筋小麦扬麦158和弱筋小麦宁麦9号为供试材料,研究了播期对不同筋型小麦品种淀粉糊化特性的影响.结果表明:播期和品种对小麦淀粉糊化特性均有极显著影响,最终黏度、回复值和糊化温度存在显著或极显著的播期和品种的互作效应.3个供试品种的峰值黏度、低谷黏度、稀懈值、最终黏度、回复值和峰值时间随播期推迟呈显著或极显著增加,但参数的变化幅度不同.强、中筋小麦的淀粉糊化特性与弱筋小麦的淀粉糊化特性有明显的区别,强筋和中筋小麦的淀粉糊化特性受播期的影响较弱筋小麦大.峰值黏度、低谷黏度、稀懈值、最终黏度与播种至成熟期降雨量均呈负相关,与开花至成熟期的降雨量均呈负相关,与开花至成熟期的日均温呈正相关,峰值黏度、低谷黏度、稀懈值与播种至成熟期的日照时数呈负相关,与开花至成熟期的日照时数呈负相关.     

Resistance of 57 greenhouse-grown accessions of Lycopersicon esculentum and three cultivars to Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)

The aim of this study was to evaluate resistance to Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) by antixenosis on 57 Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. accessions from the Horticultural Germplasm Bank (HGB) of Universidade Federal de Viçosa and by the three commercial cultivars (Santa Clara, Moneymaker and TOM-601) under greenhouse conditions. A randomized complete block design was used with three replications. Infestations with T. absoluta adults were performed weekly and the following characteristics were evaluated: number of small, large and total mines/leaf and % of leaves mined at days 60, 75 and 90 after planting. Low infestation occurred at days 60 and 75 but at day 90, infestation was sufficient to evaluate insect damage. Based on these data it was concluded that only accessions HGB-674 and HGB-1497 appeared to be the most promising. In addition, to determine possible chemical causes of resistance, hexane extracts were analyzed at day 90 by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and the major peaks identified by a mass spectral database using similarity index. Nine hydrocarbons, viz., hexadecane, heptadecane, eicosane, tricosane, 2-methyltricosane, tetracosane, hexacosane, octacosane and triacontane were identified in the hexane extracts in many samples. Tricosane, tetracosane and hexacosane presented significant correlations with the leaves mined. Only tricosane presented a negative correlation with the number of small mines (r = −0.28), total number of mines (r = −0.27) and % of leaves mined (r = −0.22). However, tetracosane and hexacosane presented significant positive correlations (r = 0.25 and 0.24, respectively) with the % of leaves mined.     

Genetic divergence among gerbera accessions evaluated by RAPD

Genetic diversity was evaluated by RAPD markers and morpho-agronomic characters for a total of 42 accessions of Barberton daisy (Gerbera jamesonii) consisting of 29 commercial and 13 wild accessions. A total of 74 polymorphic bands were obtained employing a set of 12 primer pairs. The average genetic similarity coefficient for the 42 accessions, evaluated by Jaccard index was 0.55 ranging from 0.28 to 1.00. The genetic structure found among Barberton daisy accessions was evaluated by hierarchic classification analyses and UPGMA modeling, revealing six clusters of genotypes where two of them include the wild accessions and the remaining four including commercial material, except for wild genotype number 9. Shannon (H′) index was calculated using the molecular markers to investigate the genetic variation among the Gerbera accessions and showed higher values for the commercial cluster in comparison to the values obtained for the individuals from the non-commercial cluster, namely 0.34 versus 0.27, respectively. Therefore, both calculated indices (Jaccard and Shannon) indicated the presence of higher genetic variation among commercial accessions in comparison to the cluster representing non-commercial accessions, suggesting that genetic breeding programs may focus on commercial accessions to recombine interesting genotypes with commercially important and marketing-desired characteristics.     

苹果可溶性固形物含量的检测方法——基于可见光近红外光谱技术

为了快速检测苹果的可溶性固形物(SSC)含量,采用可见光近红外光谱技术,结合主成分分析(PCA)和BP神经网络技术,来建立苹果SSC的预测模型.获取苹果样本在345～1039 nm波段的漫反射光谱,采用DPS数据处理系统对其进行主成分分析,并提取出累计可信度大于95 %的5个新主成分.建立一个3层的BP神经网络模型,并将这5个新的主成分作为BP神经网络模型的输入量,其结果是98 %以上预测样本的预测相对误差在5 %以下.该研究表明,采用近红外光谱技术来建立苹果可溶性固形物的预测模型是可行的.