The functional performances are encoded by protein structures, and modified structure-based strategies for customizing food proteins have major implications for the food industry. The glycation reaction that typically occurs between food components is a promising strategy for protein modification due to its mild reaction conditions and natural occurrence during processing. However, the complexity and dynamic nature of glycation reactions hinder precise control, and there is a large imbalance between abundant structural data and function information. Artificial intelligence (AI), with its capacity for large-scale data integration and predictive modeling, offers transformative potential for elucidating glycation-structure-function relationships. This review therefore aims to (1) summarize advances in analytical strategies for glycated proteins, highlighting techniques for site localization, conformational analysis, and multi-source data mining; (2) elucidate how glycation-induced structural modifications alter protein functional performance, providing mechanistic insights into physicochemical properties and biological activities; and (3) discuss emerging AI-driven approaches, including deep learning and inverse design, for predicting and optimizing glycation patterns. These insights provide a systematic framework to accelerate rational development of functional proteins and promote innovative applications in the food industry.

Due to health reasons of polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR), there has been a growing interest in reducing it. To address this, this study developed the PGPR/Protein (whey, pea, and chickpea protein isolates) emulsifier combinations. The effects of these combinations on the preparation, structure, physicochemical and in vitro digestive properties of W/O/W microcapsules were evaluated. The FTIR and XRD analyses revealed hydrogen bonding interactions between the protein and PGPR (or bioactive compounds), which may contribute to the enhanced encapsulation efficiency (EE) and stability of microcapsules. PGPR/pea protein isolate (PP) microcapsules exhibited more uniform size, better rehydration, and higher EE than other microcapsules. PP combinations prolonged shelf-life of microcapsules by 1.35 to 1.73-fold, as predicted by oxidation kinetic models. Furthermore, PP microcapsules improved the bioavailability of crocin (≥ 11.08 %) and quercetin (≥ 8.47 %). Overall, this study hoped to provide a promising strategy for preparing W/O/W microcapsules with low PGPR content.

This paper presents a study on an innovative solar-air dual heat source heat pump coupled with a water-cooled photovoltaic/thermal system. The research investigated the real-time operation of solar electrical and thermal efficiency, as well as the coefficient of performance Field experimental platform construction and experimental testing were conducted. The experimental results show that when running the system in composite mode, the average electrical efficiency in the two phases was 16.79% and 18.33%, while the average collector efficiency reached 42.72% and 98.94%, respectively. Under typical autumn working conditions, the heat pump’s coefficient of performance with the fans off and on was 4.37 and 4.73 respectively on sunny days, and under cloudy day conditions, it reached 3.76 and 4.20 respectively. With the fans on, the average collector efficiency on a cloudy day increased by 3.34% compared with that without the fans, and the total average collector efficiency reached 310.5%. Compared with conventional single water-cooled photovoltaic/thermal systems or solar-assisted heat pump systems, the combination of these two systems, with the addition of both fins and fans which increased the heat transfer performance of the system and improved the stability and economy of the system’s operation, providing data to support the feasibility of a water-cooled photovoltaic/thermal coupled dual-source heat pump system.

Tyrosinase activity directly determines the amount of melanin synthesis, therefore the search for safe, naturallyderived tyrosinase inhibitors is a challenge for the whitening industries. The grass carp scale-derived peptides FTGML with strong tyrosinase inhibitory activity was obtained in the former study. Within this research, exploring and modeling the interaction mechanism of FTGML with tyrosinase, FTGML exhibited a lower binding energy (-7.2 kcal/mol) than kojic acid, whereas the stable interactions of ligands with proteins within molecular dynamics simulations provided backing for these results. Network pharmacology revealed that the potential targets of FTGML to inhibit melanin deposition were MMP9/GSK3B/MAPK1, etc., and by regulating signaling pathways including PI3K-AKT. In addition, ADMET demonstrated that FTGML remained bioactive, non-toxic, non-harmful and non-sensitizing to the skin after oral administration, and could be used for oral administration and direct application to the skin. Moreover, FTGML increased skin water content, decreased tyrosinase activity in skin and serum, and reduced melanin deposition in mouse skin, which further verified that FTGML could promote skin whitening and repair after UV damage. Collectively, FTGML is expected to be used in the whitening industry as a novel, safe and naturally sourced tyrosinase inhibitor.

With the rapid development of bioinformatics and the establishment of various databases for bioactive peptides, they provided a time-efficient method for discovering novel bioactive peptides from diverse protein sources. Peptides with angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory ability were considered potential dietary interventions for hypertension. The aim of this study was to discovery novel potential ACE inhibitory peptides from four tuna ( Thunnus maccoyii) protein by the integration of computer tools with in vitro experiments. In this context, eight novel peptides were synthesized and the WHR (IC50 = 1383.2 mu M) and LGR (IC50 = 115.4 mu M) showed better ACE inhibitory ability. The interaction mechanism of LGR with ACE was investigated. The corresponding results showed that mixed-type was the kinetic pattern by Lineweaver-Burk plot, LGR formed ten hydrogen bonds with ACE by molecular docking and they had strong affinity by molecular dynamic simulation. Furthermore, LGR may regulate blood pressure through AKT1, MAPK1, HRAS, EGFR and SRC targets by network pharmacology predicting. Additionally, LGR exhibited excellent stability in temperature, pH and gastrointestinal digestion. Finally, the apparent permeability coefficient of LGR was measured to be 6.38 x 10-6 cm/s. These results suggested that the integration of computer tools with in vitro experiments was a promising approach to discovery novel potential bioactive peptides.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reported that over 20% of fish wasn’t utilized because of the low-value discards, storage problems and short shelf life. Additionally, the yield of by-products from fish processing industry is very huge, causing waste and environmental pollution. They possess significant potential for conversion into high-value bioactive peptide like antioxidant peptides (APs), angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitory peptides (ACEIPs), mitigating environmental pollution and promoting the development of fish processing. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the preparation, especially in physical equipment assisting enzymatic hydrolysis, purification and screening methods of APs and ACEIPs derived from fish. Subsequently, the characteristic of antioxidant and antihypertensive activities, the structure-activity relationships and bioavailability are also summarized. Whereas, the hydrolysates or peptides may face low biological activity, low bioavailability and unbearable bitterness, limiting the development of the peptides. Therefore, the strategies of plastein reaction, Maillard reaction and encapsulation are proposed in ameliorating these limitations. Finally, the review elucidates other challenges in food field, whilst proposing future perspectives aimed at fostering the advancement of the fish processing industry and the deployment of bioactive peptides as functional foods and nutraceuticals.

In this study, the purpose was to screen novel angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitory peptides (ACEIPs) from tuna muscle taking two-steps enzymatic hydrolysis (Neutrase and Alkaline). Following isolation and purification by ultrafiltration, the Sephadex G-15 gel chromatography and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography based on active-guide, the amino acid sequence was identified using Q-Orbitrap-MS/MS. Five peptides were chose synthesized based on the in silico screening methods. Among these, the two novel ACEIPs LTGCP and YPKP showed better inhibitory ability, and their corresponding IC50 values were 64.3 mu M and 139.6 mu M. Subsequently, the interaction mechanism of the best active peptide (LTGCP) against ACE was investigated by inhibitory pattern, molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation. The result displayed that LTGCP was a mix-type inhibitor against ACE from the Lineweaver-Burk plots. LTGCP formed seven hydrogen bonds based on the molecular docking and the binding energy was -7.29 kcal/mol. LTGCP formed a stability complex with ACE based on the molecular dynamic simulation. Besides, LTGCP exhibited good stability in various temperature, pH and gastrointestinal digestion. Finally, the 0.125 mM similar to 1.0 mM LTGCP exhibited no-toxic for Caco-2 cell. In summary, these findings showed that tuna was a good material to prepare ACEIPs and LTGCP may be the good potential antihypertensive drug or nutraceuticals.

Three different methods were used to identify and analyze the flavor of fish gelatin with different ultrafine grinding time (0, 2, 4 and 8 h). The results of electronic nose showed that overall flavor of the samples changed. HS-SPME-GC-MS identified 65 volatile compounds, including 18 aldehydes, 7 ketones, 7 alkanes, 11 alcohols, 8 esters, 7 phenols, and 7 acids. HS-GC-IMS identified 46 volatile compounds, including 21 aldehydes, 5 ketones, 5 alcohols, 6 esters, 7 acids, 1 ether, and 1 amine. The particle size analysis results indicate that the size distri-bution decreases from 918.97-1167.16 and 1388.81-1780.40 nm to 157.63-177.37 and 285.90-344.55 nm with the increased of grinding time. The SEM analysis results indicate that the change in flavor characteristics of FG is due to the different storage and release abilities of volatile compounds in FG with different particle sizes.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides (ACEIPs) have garnered enormous attention in maintaining blood pressure balance of humans. In this study, the amino acid sequence of Pacific saury ultrafiltration fraction was identified by Nano-LC-Q-Orbitrap-MS/MS. Through in silico screening, eight novel ACEIPs were elected to synthesize, among of which the VFPLK (IC50 value of 60.7 mu & Mcy;) exhibited the strongest ACE inhibitory ability. The interaction mechanism of VFPLK and ACE was explored. To be specific, the VFPLK was a mix pattern based on the Lineweaver-Burk plot, formed six hydrogen bonds with ACE according to the molecular docking and exhibited good affinity with ACE by molecular dynamic simulation. The core targets of VFPLK against hypertension were predicted to be ALB, AKT1, MMP9, IGF1 and NOS3 by network pharmacology. Besides, VFPLK showed good stability in temperature, pH and gastrointestinal digestion. Moreover, the apparent permeability coefficient of VFPLK was determined to be 1.09 x 10-6 cm/s, and paracellular transport via tight junctions was the primary pathway across the Caco-2 cell monolayer. Finally, the concentration 0.2-1.5 mg/mL of VFPLK disclosed no toxicity for EA.hy26. Collectively, VFPLK could be a beneficial constituent in nutraceuticals and functional foods for combating antihypertensive and related diseases.

Nature food-derived angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitory peptides (ACEIPs) can be potent and safe therapeutics for many medical illnesses, particularly hypertension. In this study, novel ACEIPs were screened and identified from Pacific saury by bio-activity guided approach through ultrafiltration membrane, Sephadex G-25 and RP-HPLC. The antihypertensive effect of ultrafiltration fraction was confirmed with spontaneous hypertensive rats' (SHRs) model. The peptides sequences of which gave the best activity was identified by Q-OrbitrapMS/MS and selectively synthesized based on the binding energy of molecular docking. Five peptides VVLASLK, LTLK, LEPWR, ELPPK and LPTEK were synthesized, and the peptide LEPWR (IC50 = 99.5 mu M) showed the best ACE inhibitory ability. Furthermore, LEPWR against ACE in a mixed competitive pattern and formed six hydrogen bonds with ACE. Additionally, the apparent permeability coefficient (Papp) of LEPWR was 3.56 +/- 0.14 x 10-6 cm/s and paracellular transport across tight junctions was the main pathway across the Caco-2 monolayer. Therefore, the Pacific saury is a good material to prepare ACEIPs, but antihypertensive mechanism of peptide LEPWR on SHRs needs further investigation.

With the development of economy, there's an unprecedented surge in food demand, necessitating the development of innovative technologies to minimize alterations in food quality. Magnetic field (MF), as a non-thermal technology, possesses a robust potential to mitigate undesirable thermal impacts on nutritional and qualitative attributes of food. This has sparked considerable interest among researchers in exploring the application of MF technology in food sector. The review summarizes the basic biological characteristics of MF, which include bidirectionality, window effect, hysteresis effect, amplification effect, and accumulation effect, as well as its biological mechanism on living organisms including cell membranes, biological macromolecules, and free radicals. A comprehensive summary of the theory and corresponding implications of MF in food processing is provided, including germicidal efficacy and fermentation, food preservation (freezing, chilling storage, supercooling and drying), thawing, extraction, protein modification, seed germination and combined others techniques or functional substance. Finally, key areas for future research are highlighted, and notable deficiencies are proposed. Overall, the purpose of this review is to propel the advancement and practical implementation of MF technology in food processing industry.

Traditional photovoltaic heat pump systems exhibit low photovoltaic conversion efficiency during periods of non-heat pump operation. Combining the evaporative end of photovoltaic heat pumps with phase-change materials offers a promising solution to this issue. However, conventional phase-change material setups frequently entail full coverage of the backsheet, adversely affecting heat collection efficiency under low irradiation conditions. To address this limitation, this study proposes a roll-bond photovoltaic thermal heat pump system that utilizes modular phase change materials to enhance power generation performance and heat collection efficiency, ensuring stable operation in adverse weather. System performance and operational characteristics are evaluated through the establishment of a test prototype and the collection of experimental data. Results demonstrate a 4.03% increase in power generation efficiency solely through the temperature control of the modular phase-change materials under sunny conditions. Furthermore, the activation of the heat pump leads to a 10.85% increase in power generation efficiency with an average coefficient of performance of 5.30. It maintains an average coefficient of performance of 4.25 even under rainy condition, with efficient heat exchange between the evaporator and air. The system achieves stable heat production and efficient power generation under experimental conditions, reducing dependence on heat/power grids. This system provides a promising solution for clean energy applications.

Pectin, a kind of natural polysaccharide, shows the attractive potential as a natural stabilizer for protein emulsion. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of pectin on the physical stability, rheology, interface, and interaction properties of the fish gelatin (FG) emulsion, as pectin was utilized to improve the stability of FG, fish oil emulsion. During the study, when pH < 6, the FG-pectin emulsion displayed better storage stability and salinity tolerance. Analyzing the result, pectin could avoid phase separation at the freeze-thaw process and prevent the liquid-gel transition of FG emulsions during storage. On the other hand, when pH ≥ 6, the emulsion displayed high viscosity due to the complex flocculation and stratified during long-term storage. Electrostatic interactions, hydrophobic interactions, and hydrogen bonding of the FG-pectin complexes in the emulsion were all reduced. Overall, pectin improved the stability of FG emulsions through electrostatic repulsion, hydrophobic interactions, and steric hindrance.

Previously unreported Ce0.9Pr0.1O2-delta-Pr0.6Ca0.4MnO3-delta (CPO-PCMO) dual-phase membrane is designed and successfully fabricated. The crystal structure, surface morphology, stability, and oxygen permeability is systematically investigated. The XRD results reveal that CPO-PCMO dual-phase membranes are made up of cubic fluorite phase and orthorhombic perovskite phase, which exhibit excellent stability at elevated temperature under air atmospheres as well as various low oxygen conditions such as Ar or CO2 atmospheres. In addition, no obvious holes, cracks, and impurities are observed. The obtained CPO-PCMO membrane with 0.8 mm thickness exhibits comparable oxygen permeability with a flux of 0.23 mL min(-1)cm(-2) under air/He gradient at 1000 degrees C and stably works over 300 min without obvious deterioration under air/CO2 gradient, suggesting it has good CO2 stability.

A new family of transition-metal monosilicides (MSi, M = Ti, Mn, Fe, Ru, Ni, Pd, Co, and Rh) electrocatalysts with superior electrocatalytic performance of hydrogen evolution is reported, based on the computational and experimental results. It is proposed that these MSi can be synthesized within several minutes by adopting the arc-melting method. The previously reported RuSi is not only fabricated more readily but eventually explored 8 MSi that can be good hydrogen evolution reaction catalysts. Silicides then can be another promising electrocatalysts family as carbides, wherein carbon has the same electronic configuration as silicon. All explored silicides electrodes exhibited low overpotentials (34-54 mV at 10 mA cm-2 ) with Tafel slopes from 23.6 to 32.3 mV dec-1 , which are comparable to that of the commercial 20 wt% Pt/C (37 mV, 26.1 mV dec-1 ). First-principles calculations demonstrated that the superior performance can be attributed to the high catalytic reactivity per site that can even function at high hydrogen coverages (≈100%) on multiple low surface energy facets. The work sheds light on a new class of electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution, with earth-abundant and inexpensive silicon-based compounds.

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) usually exhibit layered polytypic structures due to the weak interlayer coupling. 2H-NbSe2 is one of the most widely studied in the pristine TMDC family due to its high superconducting transition temperature (Tc = 7.3K) and the occurrence of a charge-density wave (CDW) order below 33 K. The coexistence of CDW with superconductivity poses an intriguing open question about the relationship between Fermi surface nesting and Cooper pairing. Past studies of this issue have mostly been focused on doping 2H-NbSe2 by 3d transition metals without significantly changing its crystal structure. Here we replaced the Se by Te in 2H-NbSe2 in order to design a new 1T polytype layered TMDC NbSeTe, which adopts a trigonal structure with space group P-3m1. We successfully grew large size and high-quality single crystals of 1T-NbSeTe via the vapor transport method using I2 as the transport agent. Temperature-dependent resistivity and specific heat data revealed a bulk Tc at 1.3 K, which is the first observation of superconductivity in pure 1T-NbSeTe phase. This compound enlarged the family of superconducting TMDCs and provides an opportunity to study the interplay between CDW and superconductivity in the trigonal structure.

Developing good performance and low-cost oxygen permeable membranes for CO2 capture based on the oxy-fuel concept is greatly desirable but challenging. Despite tremendous efforts in exploring new CO2-stable dual-phase membranes, its presence is however still far from meeting the industrial requirements. Here we report a series of new Ca-containing CO2-resistant oxygen transporting membranes with composition 60wt.%Ce(0.9)Ln(0.1)O(2-delta)-40wt. %Ln(0.6)Ca(0.4)FeO(3-delta) (CLnO-LnCFO; Ln = La, Pr, Nd, Sm) synthesized via a Pechini one-pot method. Our results indicate all investigated compounds are composed of perovskite and fluorite phases, while the perovskite phases in the CNO-NCFO and CSO-SCFO membranes after sintering generates Ca-rich and Ca-less two kinds of grains with different morphologies, where the Ca-less small perovskite grains block the transport of oxygen ions and eventually result in poor oxygen permeability. Among our investigated CLnO-LnCFO membranes, CPO-PCFO exhibits the highest oxygen permeability and excellent CO2 stability, which were mainly associated with the improvement in crystal symmetry, non-negligible electronic conductivity of fluorite phase and the enhancement in electronic conductivity of perovskite. Our results establish Ca-containing oxides as candidate material platforms for membrane engineering devices that combine CO2 capture and oxygen separation.

Artemisia selengensis Turcz root (ASTR) is a potential material for screening natural alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, which effectively reduce postprandial blood glucose level. In this study, natural alpha-glucosidase inhibitors were screened, and their inhibition mechanism was investigated. Six compounds, including 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid (1), 3-caffeyl-5-feruloylquinic acid (3,5-CFQA) (2), 1,3-dicaffeoylquinic acid (3), chlorogenic acid (4), 4-caffeoyl-5-ferulylquinic acid (5) and 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic methyl ester (6), were screened from ASTR through bioactivity-guided isolation. Compounds 2, 5 and 6 were identified from Artemisia selengensis Turcz (AST) for the First time, Given that 3,5-CFQA possessed better inhibitory effect and exhibited considerably lower IC50 value (289.96 mu M) than acarbose (600.37 mu M), its inhibitory mechanism was investigated. Results showed that 3,5-CFQA reversibly inhibited alpha-glucosidase activity in a one-way kinetic process through a mixed-type mechanism. The interaction was mostly driven by van der Waals force and hydrogen bonding. The formation of the 3,5-CFQA-alpha-glucosidase complex involved static quenching and exothermic reaction, which induced the conformational changes in alpha-glucosidase. Only one class of binding site was found. The results of this work suggested the potential of 3,5-CFQA in inhibiting alpha-glucosidase activity.

Ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) is an essential half reaction in direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs). Pd‐based materials are ideal candidates for electrocatalytic EOR. However, most reported materials generally show low ethanol oxidation completeness (Jf/Jb). Herein, an EOR electrocatalyst with high Jf/Jb is documented: topological type‐II Dirac semimetal and superconductor PdTe2. It is demonstrated that bulk PdTe2 can be successfully exfoliated into nanosheets with ≈4 nm thickness, by liquid‐phase exfoliation, which are loaded onto carbon fiber paper as EOR electrocatalysts. The resulting PdTe2 nanosheet electrocatalyst shows fivefold mass activity compared to that of commercial Pd black. In addition, the ratio of forward current (Jf) to backward current (Jb) of PdTe2 nanosheets is 5.28, which is much higher than previously reported (Jf/Jb ≈ 2), indicating excellent oxidation completeness of ethanol. Moreover, PdTe2 nanosheets exhibit a rather low Tafel slope of 41.2 mV dec−1 as well as good stability without reduction after 2 h of chronoamperometry measurement. These outstanding results indicate that the PdTe2 nanosheet is a promising electrocatalyst material for high‐performance energy conversion.

Topological metal and noncentrosymmetric superconductor α-BiPd is used for the first time as an efficient electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction.