The Total Intensity Measure (TIM) approach offers an innovative solution for quality control by combining ratings of individual sensory characteristics into a single measure using the Many-Facet Rasch Model (MFRM). While the traditional Difference-From-Control (DFC) test is simple and useful for comparing products against a standard, it requires significantly more samples when examining a larger number of products unlike in attribute difference tests. This study aims to determine if the TIM method can serve as an alternative to the DFC method when comparing samples against a control. An untrained panel (n = 67) evaluated three UK commercial brands of Jaffa cakes using attribute difference and DFC tests. Assessors evaluated samples in triplicates according to each test's procedure on two different days. Friedman tests on the DFC scores compared to Rasch-produced measures of the combined attributes both showed significant differences between samples (P < 0.01). Pair- wise comparisons with a control (alpha = 0.01) for the DFC showed only one brand was different from the control, while the TIM showed that both brands were different from the control. Additionally, the Many-Facet Wright map showed the degree to which each attribute contributed to the overall difference. Of the five attributes evaluated, Sweetness and Orange flavor contributed the most followed by Cocoa flavor. Milky flavor and Saltiness did not contribute significantly, highlighting that while all attributes were assessed, only certain ones had a notable impact on the overall product differences. The proposed method is potentially beneficial to sensory analysts in obtaining better diagnostic information to support decisions about product differences.

The poor biological, mechanical and water-resistance properties of sodium alginate/guar gum film (SG) limit its application in food preservation. To overcome this disadvantage, we added beta-Cyclodextrin/persimmon pectin-stabilized baobab seed oil Pickering emulsion (BOPE) to enhance the mechanical and water resistance proper-ties of SG film, and added green synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPS) and Lycium ruthenicum extract (LA) to improve the biological properties of the film. The properties of BOPE was optimized using Box-Behnken design (BBD). Scanning electron microscope and Fourier transform infrared results revealed the change of structure and molecular interaction in the SG film after the addition of AgNPS, LA, and optimized BOPE. The 2.0%BOPE-loaded film containing AgNPS/LA with the enhanced mechanical, barrier, BO retention, and biological properties not only improved the preservation effect on mushroom (A. bisporus), but also maintained structural stability. Thus, the 2.0%BOPE-loaded SG/LA/AgNPS film has considerable potential in active packaging applications.

A ratiometric fluorescence sensor based on dual-emission carbon quantum dots (CQD) was developed to real time monitor food spoilage. Two hydrophobic electrospun fluorescent films were developed using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as the film-forming polymer in combination with CQD as the fluorescent probe. The CQD/PVDF film and CQD@PVDF film enabled the analysis of TMA with limits of detection (LODs) of 1.04 mu M and 2.1 mu M, respectively, and they exhibited excellent stability at 4 degrees C. By these virtues, the CQD@PVDF film exhibited visible fluorescence color changes from yellow green to blue by real time and nondestructively sensing volatile amines generated from beef, pork and shrimp in a packaging system with high humidity. This strategy provided a simple but useful, non-destructive, robust, and platform to real time monitor food spoilage for intelligent food packaging.

A new method for rapid and facile fabrication of homoporous films with high volatile amine sensitivity was developed. First, red cabbage anthocyanin was encapsulated in ethyl cellulose to form water-in-organic (W/O) emulsion. Afterward, the W/O emulsion was rapidly dried using the supporting matrix Magnolia Grandiflora Linn leaf vein at 60% relative humidity and 50 degrees C to form a colorimetric film with regular hexagonal pores with an average side length of about 23 mu m. The films exhibited good sensitivity to ammonia (NH3), dimethylamine, and trimethylamine, with limit of detection of 0.26, 0.24, and 0.38 mu M, respectively, and high stability when stored in high humid environments. An obvious color change of the films from pink to green was clearly observed during the freshness monitoring of pork, chicken, salmon, and shrimp. Thus, this work offered a novel and reliable method for the development of porous films for food freshness monitoring.

Tree populations worldwide are facing an unprecedented threat from a variety of tree diseases and invasive pests. Their spread, exacerbated by increasing globalisation and climate change, has an enormous environmental, economic and social impact. Computational individual-based models are a popular tool for describing and forecasting the spread of tree diseases due to their flexibility and ability to reveal collective behaviours. In this paper we present a versatile individual-based model with a Gaussian infectivity kernel to describe the spread of a generic tree disease through a synthetic treescape. We then explore several methods of calculating the basic reproduction number R0, a characteristic measurement of disease infectivity, defining the expected number of new infections resulting from one newly infected individual throughout their infectious period. It is a useful comparative summary parameter of a disease and can be used to explore the threshold dynamics of epidemics through mathematical models. We demonstrate several methods of estimating R0 through the individual-based model, including contact tracing, inferring the Kermack–McKendrick SIR model parameters using the linear noise approximation, and an analytical approximation. As an illustrative example, we then use the model and each of the methods to calculate estimates of R0 for the ash dieback epidemic in the UK.

With the resource-intensive meat industry accounting for over 50% of food-linked emissions, plant protein consumption is an inevitable need of the hour. Despite its significance, the key barrier to adoption of plant proteins is their astringent off-sensation, typically associated with high friction and consequently poor lubrication performance. Herein, we demonstrate that by transforming plant proteins into physically cross-linked microgels, it is possible to improve their lubricity remarkably, dependent on their volume fractions, as evidenced by combining tribology using biomimetic tongue-like surface with atomic force microscopy, dynamic light scattering, rheology and adsorption measurements. Experimental findings which are fully supported by numerical modelling reveal that these non-lipidic microgels not only decrease boundary friction by an order of magnitude as compared to native protein but also replicate the lubrication performance of a 20:80 oil/water emulsion. These plant protein microgels offer a much-needed platform to design the next-generation of healthy, palatable and sustainable foods.

The Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) has been identified as a suitable candidate for a spicy taste (Zanthoxylum plant) sensor. In this study, we investigated the response of TRPV1 expressed on human HepG2 cell membranes following stimulation with Hydroxy-alpha-sanshool. A three-dimensional (3D) cell-based electro-chemical sensor was fabricated by layering cells expressing hTRPV1. L-cysteine/AuNFs electrodes were func-tionalized on indium tin oxide-coated glass (ITO) to enhance the sensor's selectivity and sensitivity. HepG2 cells were encapsulated in sodium alginate/gelatin hydrogel to create a 3D cell cultivation system, which was immobilized on the L-cysteine/AuNFs/ITO to serve as biorecognition elements. Using differential pulse vol-tammetry (DPV), the developed biosensor was utilized to detect Hydroxy-alpha-sanshool, a representative substance in Zanthoxylum bungeanum Maxim. The result obtained from DPV was linear with Hydroxy-alpha-sanshool con-centrations ranging from 0 to 70 mu mol/L, with a detection limit of 2.23 mu mol/L. This biosensor provides a sensitive and novel macroscopic approach for TRPV1 detection.

Excessive residual pesticides have raised overall environmental damage and health hazard issues, thus the development of facile and sensitive means for pesticide monitoring in different environmental field is desperately needed but challenging. In this work, a flexible paper-based colorimetry beating coffee-ring effect is achieved toward sensing environmental pesticide exposure in user-friendly mode. First, to circumvent poor performance of biomolecules, robust probe is designed by imprinting metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with specific pockets, enabling to provide "key-lock" identification and sensitive quantitative information under harsh environment. Innovatively, integrating the MOF-mediated probe with filter paper, a well-distributed sensing interface is harvested to reduce colorimetric signal fluctuation for reliable detection properties, which is ascribed to superior wetting behavior of filter paper for avoiding ring-like deposit formation. Additionally, the uniform profile is simulated by Fluent numerical software. Further exploiting smartphone-assisted image acquisition and selfadaptive signal model, the simple-to-perform system exhibits good accuracy toward ppb-level thiacloprid free of colored background interference. A low limit of detection of 0.04 mu M thiacloprid (corresponding to 0.01 mu g g-1 by weight) is achieved. Moreover, it allows for in-filed monitoring thiacloprid exposure in agricultural wastewater, soil, fresh vegetables with satisfactory recoveries ranging from 92.7 % to 109.0 %, verifying the broad potential applications for point-of-use tracking of environmental pesticide and eventually bringing benefits to ecosystem protection in resource-deficient settings.

The rich flavors and antioxidant properties within Maofeng tea are mainly attributable to numerous secondary metabolites and thus may be related to quality. Motivated by this finding, our study presents a sparse representation (SR) scheme to analyze the content of various secondary metabolites and thus identify discriminating compounds (DCs) for the modelling of Maofeng tea quality. We first identified the DCs in terms of an interpretable sparse recovery strategy with LASSO regression. The optimal regularization term was estimated by a specific Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) optimal condition. Then, qualitative analysis models were trained with screened DCs and utilized to predict the quality of unseen Maofeng samples. For this purpose, 96 Maofeng samples of 6 different quality grades were collected, and standardized stoichiometry techniques determined 21 quality-related bioactive compounds and empirical quality indicators. The experimental results show that epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin (EC), gallocatechin gallate (GCG) and total catechins (TC) were identified as significant discriminating features, and the KNN algorithm provided the best assessment accuracy of 95.79%. Overall, the result demonstrates the superior performance of benchmarks for enhancing the reliable prediction of Maofeng tea quality, not only prediction accuracy but also providing interpretable assessment.

In order to investigate the sensitivity of anthocyanins from different plant origin as indicators for salmon freshness, nine plant anthocyanins were extracted and fabricated into colorimetric sensor arrays to detect NH3, trimethylamine (TMA), dimethylamine (DMA) to indicate salmon freshness. Rosella anthocyanin had the highest sensitivity for amines, ammonia and salmon. HPLC-MSS analysis indicated that Delphinidin-3 glucoside accounted for 75.48 % of the Rosella anthocyanin. UV-visible spectral analysis showed that the maximum absorbance band of Roselle anthocyanins for acid and alkaline forms were located at 525 nm and 625 nm which showed a relatively broader spectrum than other anthocyanins. An indicator film was fabricated by combining Roselle anthocyanin with agar and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), which showed visible changes from red to green when employed to monitor the freshness of salmon stored at 4 degrees C. The Delta E value of Roselle anthocyanin indicator film was changed from 5.94 to >10. The Delta E value also can predict the chemical quality indicators of salmon effectively, especially with characteristic volatile components, and the predictive correlation coefficient was above 0.98. Therefore, the proposed indicating film showed great potential monitoring salmon freshness.

ObjectivesStudies that use continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) to monitor women with gestational diabetes (GDM), highlight the importance of managing dysglycemia over a 24-hour period. However, the effect of current treatment methods on dysglycemia over 24-hrs are currently unknown. This study aimed to characterise CGM metrics over 24-hrs in women with GDM and the moderating effect of treatment strategy.MethodsRetrospective analysis of CGM data from 128 women with GDM in antenatal diabetes clinics. CGM was measured for 7-days between 30-32 weeks gestation. Non-parametric tests were used to evaluate differences of CGM between periods of day (morning, afternoon, evening, and overnight) and between treatment methods (i.e., diet alone or diet+metformin). Exploratory analysis in a subgroup of 34 of participants was performed to investigate the association between self-reported macronutrient intake and glycaemic control.ResultsGlucose levels significantly differed during the day (i.e., morning to evening; P<0.001) and were significantly higher (i.e., mean blood glucose and area under the curve [AUC]) and more variable (i.e., SD and CV) than overnight glucose levels. Morning showed the highest amount of variability (CV; 8.4% vs 6.5%, P<0.001 and SD; 0.49 mmol/L vs 0.38 mmol/L, P<0.001). When comparing treatment methods, mean glucose (6.09 vs 5.65 mmol/L; P<0.001) and AUC (8760.8 vs 8115.1 mmol/L.hr; P<0.001) were significantly higher in diet+metformin compared to diet alone. Finally, the exploratory analysis revealed a favourable association between higher protein intake (+1SD or +92 kcal/day) and lower mean glucose (-0.91 mmol/L p, P=0.02) and total AUC (1209.6 mmol/L.h, P=0.021).ConclusionsGlycemia varies considerably across a day, with morning glycemia demonstrating greatest variability. Additionally, our work supports that individuals assigned to diet+metformin have greater difficulty managing glycemia and results suggest that increased dietary protein may assist with management of dysglycemia. Future work is needed to investigate the benefit of increased protein intake on management of dysglycemia.

A novel probiotic film based on gellan gum (GN), cranberry extract (CE), and Lactococcus lactis (LA) was developed in the present study. The fluorescence and SEM image results showed that GN/CE film containing LA was successfully fabricated. The incorporation of LA significantly enhanced the antibacterial activity of the film. The presence of CE strengthened the antioxidant activity and LA survivability in the film. The combination of LA (0-1.0 %) and CE (0.5-1.0 %) improved the mechanical property of the film through the formation of density structure. The best comprehensive properties were obtained with the film containing 2.0 %LA and 0.5 %CE. The GN/2.0 %LA/0.5 %CE film also showed the optimal preservation effect on fresh-cut potatoes and apples. Hence, GN/2.0 %LA/0.5 %CE probiotic film has proved to be suitable for fruit and vegetable preservation.

Introduction Diabetes in pregnancy presents a unique physiological challenge to manage glycaemia while maintaining adequate nourishment for the growing fetus. Women with diabetes who become pregnant are at greater risk of adverse maternal and newborn outcomes, compared with women without diabetes. Evidence suggests that control of (postprandial) glycaemia is key to manage maternal and offspring health but it is not yet clear (1) how diet and lifestyle moderate these shifts across the full duration of pregnancy or (2) what aspects of maternal and offspring health are associated with dysglycaemia.Methods and analysis To investigate these gaps, a cross-over randomised clinical trial has been embedded within routine clinical care. Seventy-six pregnant women in their first trimester with type 1 or type 2 diabetes (with or without medication) attending their routine antenatal appointments at National Health Service (NHS) Leeds Teaching Hospitals will be recruited. Following informed consent, data on women’s health, glycaemia, pregnancy and delivery will be shared by the NHS with researchers. At each visit in the first (10–12 weeks), second (18–20 weeks) and third (28–34 weeks) trimester, participants will be asked for consent to: (1) lifestyle and diet questionnaires, (2) blood for research purposes and (3) analysis of urine collected at clinical visits. Additionally, participants will be asked to consume two blinded meals in duplicate in second and third trimester. Glycaemia will be assessed by continuous glucose monitoring as part of routine care. The primary outcome is the effect of experimental meals (high vs low protein) on postprandial glycaemia. Secondary outcomes include (1) the association between dysglycaemia and maternal and newborn health, and (2) the association between maternal metabolic profiles in early pregnancy with dysglycaemia in later pregnancy.Ethics and dissemination The Leeds East Research Ethics Committee and NHS (REC: 21/NE/0196) approved the study. Results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and disseminated to participants and the wider public.Trial registration number ISRCTN57579163.

The gelatin/gellan gum based-bilayer emulsion film was developed in this work to improve the survivability of Bifidobacterium longum during the storage process. The baobab seed oil (BO) was added to the gelatin (GE) matrix to develop emulsion film as the barrier outer layer. The blueberry anthocyanin extract (BE) was incorporated into the gellan gum (GG)-based inner layer to enhance the viability of B. longum. The SEM and FTIR results revealed that the probiotics were successfully entrapped in BO/BE-loaded bilayer film. The greatest survivability and viable cell numbers of the B. longum during the storage period were observed in the BO/BE loaded bilayer film. Furthermore, the stability of the colorful patterns by electrochemical writing was also evaluated in this work. Finally, the GE/BO-GG/BE/BM maintain satisfactory probiotic viability in steamed bread coating application. Hence, the GE/BO-GG/BE/BM bilayer film could be considered a novel material to deliver and protect the probiotics in food applications.

Hypothesis: Polymer architecture is known to have significant impact on its adsorption behaviour. Most studies have been concerned with the more concentrated, "close to surface saturation" regime of the isotherm, where complications such as lateral interactions and crowding also additionally affect the adsorption. We compare a variety of amphiphilic polymer architectures by determining their Henry's adsorption constant (kH), which, as with other surface active molecules, is the proportionality constant between surface coverage and bulk polymer concentration in a sufficiently dilute regime. It is speculated that not only the number of arms or branches, but also the position of adsorbing hydrophobes influence the adsorption, and that by controlling the latter the two can counteract each other. Methodology: The Self-consistent field calculation of Scheutjens and Fleer was implemented to calculate the adsorbed amount of polymer for many different polymer architectures including linear, star and dendritic. Using the adsorption isotherms at very low bulk concentrations, we determined the value of kH for these. Findings: It is found that the branched structures (star polymers and dendrimers) can be viewed as analogues of linear block polymers based on the location of their adsorbing units. Polymers containing consecutive trains of adsorbing hydrophobes in all cases showed higher level of adsorption compared to their counterparts, where the hydrophobes were more uniformly distributed on the chains. While increasing the number of branches (or arms

Pickering emulsions stabilized by polysaccharide particles have received increasing attention because of their potential applications in three-dimensional (3D) printing. In this study, the citrus pectins (citrus tachibana, shaddock, lemon, orange) modified with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) were used to stabilize Pickering emulsions reaching the requirements of 3D printing. In terms of pectin chemical structure, the steric hindrance provided by the RG I regions was more conducive to the stability of the complex particles. The modification of pectin by β-CD provided the complexes a better double wettability (91.14 ± 0.14°-109.43 ± 0.22°) and a more negative ζ-potential, which was more beneficial for complexes to anchor at oil-water interface. In addition, the rheological properties, texture properties and stability of the emulsions were more responsive to the ratios of pectin/β-CD (Rβ/C). The results showed that the emulsions stabilized at a φ = 65 % and a Rβ/C = 2:2 achieved the requirements (shear thinning behavior, self-supporting ability, and stability) of 3D printing. Furthermore, the application in 3D printing demonstrated that the emulsions under the optimal condition (φ = 65 % and Rβ/C = 2:2) displayed excellent printing appearance, especially for the emulsions stabilized by β-CD/LP particles. This study provides a basis for the selection of polysaccharide-based particles to prepare 3D printing inks which may be utilized in food manufacturing.