Background: Recent studies have revealed that vitamin D deficiency may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease, and vitamin D supplementation may be effective strategy to ameliorate the neurodegenerative process in Alzheimer's disease patients. Paricalcitol (PAL), a low-calcemic vitamin D receptor agonist, is clinically used to treat secondary hyperparathyroidism. However, the potential application of PAL for treating neurodegenerative disorders remains unexplored. Methods: The APP/PS1 mice were intraperitoneally injected with PAL or vehicle every other day for 15 weeks. The beta-amyloid (A beta) production was confirmed using immunostaining and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The underlying mechanism was verified by western blot and immunostaining in vivo and in vitro. Findings: Long-term PAL treatment clearly reduced beta-amyloid (A beta) generation and neuronal loss in APP/PS1 transgenic mouse brains. PAL stimulated the expression of low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1) possibly through inhibiting sterol regulatory element binding protein-2 (SREBP2); PAL also promoted LRP1-mediated beta-site APP cleavage enzyme 1 (BACE1) transport to late endosomes, thus increasing the lysosomal degradation of BACE1. Furthermore, PAL diminished 8-hydroxyguanosine (8-OHdG) generation in neuronal mitochondria via enhancing base excision repair (BER), resulting in the attenuation of calpain-1-mediated neuronal loss. Interpretation: The present data demonstrate that PAL can reduce A beta generation through accelerating BACE1 lysosomal degradation and can inhibit neuronal loss through suppressing mitochondrial 8-OHdG generation. Hence, PAL might be a promising agent for treating Alzheimer's disease.

Two cultivars of loquat fruit were stored at 20°C for 10days to investigate the relationship between disease resistance, and fatty acid composition and activities of endogenous antioxidant enzymes. The results showed that decay incidence increased with storage time in both cultivars. A significantly lower disease incidence was observed in ‘Qingzhong’ fruit than in ‘Fuyang’, suggesting ‘Qingzhong’ had increased disease resistance. Meanwhile, ‘Qingzhong’ fruit also had lower levels of superoxide radical and hydrogen peroxide, and lower lipoxygenase activity, but higher levels of linolenic and linoleic acids and higher activities of catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) compared with ‘Fuyang’. These results suggest that the higher levels of linolenic and linoleic acids and the higher activity of CAT and APX have a role in disease resistance of postharvest loquat fruit.

The effect of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) on changes in polyamines content and energy status and their relation to disease resistance was investigated. Freshly harvested loquat fruit were treated with 10μmoll−1 MeJA and wound inoculated with Colletotrichum acutatum spore suspension (1.0×105sporesml−1) after 24h, and then stored at 20°C for 6days. MeJA treatment significantly reduced decay incidence. MeJA treated fruit manifested higher contents of polyamines (putrescine, spermidine and spermine) compared with the control fruit, during storage. MeJA treatment also maintained higher levels of adenosine triphosphate, and suppressed an increase in adenosine monophosphate content in loquat fruit. These results suggest that MeJA treatment may inhibit anthracnose rot by increasing polyamine content and maintaining the energy status.

Loquat fruit were pretreated with 10μmoll−1 methyl jasmonate (MeJA) for 24h at 20°C and then stored at 1°C for 35days to investigate the effect of MeJA treatment on chilling injury (CI) and changes in the contents of proline and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). The control fruit exhibited severe flesh leatheriness, a specific CI symptom, after 21days of storage at 1°C, but it was reduced in MeJA-treated fruit. During the development of CI in fruit, proline and GABA accumulated with the storage time, while MeJA treatment enhanced the increases in proline and GABA contents. The MeJA-treated fruit exhibited higher activities of Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase (P5CS), ornithine δ-aminotransferase (OAT) and glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), and lower proline dehydrogenase (PDH) activity than control during storage. These results suggest that the reduction in CI in loquat fruit by MeJA may be due to the increased proline and GABA contents.

为探索桃果实低温贮藏时冷害发生与能量水平的关系,该研究将桃果实分别置于0、5、10℃下贮藏,定期测定果实褐变指数、硬度和出汁率等冷害指标以及H+-ATPase、Ca2+-ATPase、琥珀酸脱氧酶(SDH)、细胞色素氧化酶(CCO)等线粒体呼吸代谢相关酶活性及能量相关物质三磷酸腺苷(ATP)、二磷酸腺苷(ADP)、磷酸腺昔(AMP)含量和能荷变化.结果表明,桃果实在不同贮藏温度下冷害发生程度不同,5℃贮藏的桃果实褐变指数最高,冷害最严重,0℃贮藏次之,10℃贮藏无冷害发生.同时发现5℃贮藏果实的ATP和ADP含量、能荷水平、H+-ATPase、SDH和CCO活性最低.这些结果表明,桃果实冷害发生可能与能量供应不足有关.

In this study, a universal predictive model for decay index based on ethanol content in strawberry was proposed. Based on this universal model, a separate predictive model for strawberry cultivars Fengxiang and Hongyan harvested at two different time points was developed and validated. The analysis of variance of the model parameters (slopes and intercepts) of different predictive models showed a significant difference between both cultivars but no significant difference between both harvest time points for the same cultivar, suggesting that the predictive models were affected by cultivar rather than harvest time. The relative errors of these four predictive models observed when validated using independent experimental data were 8.82%, 4.72%, 14.64% and 10.35%, respectively, indicating high prediction accuracy. Thus, different strawberry cultivars and different harvest times had high adaptability to the predictive models. In conclusion, predictive modeling can provide a theoretical basis for non-destructive real-time measurement of fruit quality using gas sensor array.

In this study, electrochemical investigation of corrosion protection and electrochromic properties of aniline-pentamer-based electroactive polyurea (EPU) coating prepared by oxidative coupling polymerization is presented. Monitoring of the in situ chemical oxidation process for the reduced form of soluble EPU in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) by the incorporation of an oxidant was performed by measuring UV-Visible absorption spectra. Moreover, the electroactivity of EPU was evaluated by performing electrochemical cyclic voltammetry (CV) studies. The EPU coating was found to exhibit enhanced corrosion protection effect on cold-rolled steel (CRS) electrodes as compared to a corresponding non-electroactive polyurea (NEPU) coating based on a series of electrochemical measurements in 3.5 wt% NaCl electrolyte. The electrochromic performance of EPU was investigated by measuring electrochromic photographs and UV absorption spectra.

Two cultivars of loquat fruit with contrasting chilling resistance were stored at 1 °C for 35 days to investigate the relationship between chilling injury and fatty acid composition and its antioxidant system. No symptoms of chilling injury occurred in the fruit of ‘Qingzhong’ cultivar during the whole storage, whereas in ‘Fuyang’ fruit, chilling injury increased sharply after 21 days of storage at 1 °C. ‘Qingzhong’ fruit had lower levels of superoxide radical and H2O2, in addition to lower lipoxygenase activity, but higher membrane lipid unsaturation and higher activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase than ‘Fuyang’. Furthermore, the chilling resistant ‘Qingzhong’ fruit also showed higher activities of antioxidant enzymes involved in ascorbate–glutathione cycle and higher levels of ascorbate acid and reduced glutathione. These results suggest that the higher membrane lipid unsaturation and the more efficient antioxidant system were both beneficial in enhancing resistance of loquat fruit to chilling injury.

This study investigated the regulation of ascorbate acid (AsA) and glutathione metabolism and chilling tolerance by methyl jamonate (MeJA) in loquat fruit. The results showed that application of MeJA to loquat fruit inhibited the incidence of chilling injury manifested as internal browning (IB) and increased AsA and reduced glutathione (GSH) contents due to the inhibition of ascorbate oxidase activity and enhancement of monodehydroascorbate reductase, dehydroascorbate reductase and glutathione reductase activities. Meanwhile, MeJA also enhanced activities of ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione-S-transferase. Our results suggested that MeJA can regulate the ascorbate and glutathione metabolism and has important roles in alleviating oxidative damage and enhancing chilling tolerance in loquat fruit. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effect of ultrasound (40 kHz, 10 min) and salicylic acid (SA, 0.05 mM) either separately, or combined on blue mold caused by Penicillium expansum in peach fruit was investigated. The results showed that the application of SA alone could reduce blue mold, while the use of ultrasound had no effect. Our results also revealed that SA combined with ultrasound treatment was more effective in inhibiting fungal decay during storage than the SA treatment alone. The combined treatment increased the activities of defense enzymes such as chitinase, beta-1,3-glucanase, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase. which were associated with higher disease resistance induced by the combined treatment. Furthermore, the combined treatment did not impair the quality parameters of peach fruit after 6 days of storage at 20 degrees C. These results suggested that the combination of ultrasound and SA treatment may be a useful technique to reduce blue mold in peach fruit.Industrial relevance: This paper investigates the effect of ultrasound combined with SA on decay incidence of peach fruit. The results presented demonstrate that the effect of the combined treatment on the disease resistance and fruit quality should be considered by processors prior to its adoption as a preservation technique. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effect of exogenous γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) on chilling injury of peach fruit was investigated. Freshly harvested peaches were treated with 1, 5, or 10 mM GABA at 20 °C for 10 min and then stored at 1 °C for up to 5 weeks. The results showed that all of the GABA treatments could reduce chilling injury of peach fruit with 5 mM being the most effective concentration. GABA treatment significantly enhanced the accumulation of endogenous GABA and proline, which resulted from the increased activities of glutamate decarboxylase, Δ(1)-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase, and ornithine δ-aminotransferase and decreased proline dehydrogenase activity. Our results revealed that GABA treatment may be a useful technique to alleviate chilling injury in cold-stored peach fruit, and the reduction in chilling by GABA may be due to the induction of endogenous GABA and proline accumulation. These data are the first evidence that exogenous GABA induced chilling tolerance in postharvest horticultural products.

Peach fruit were immersed in 5 mM γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) solution for 10 min at 20 °C and then stored at 1 °C for 5 weeks to investigate the effect of GABA treatment on chilling injury (CI), antioxidant enzymes and energy status in peach fruit. The results showed that GABA treatment significantly inhibited CI incidence of peaches and enhanced activities of antioxidant enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione S-transferase, monodehydroascorbate reductase and dehydroascorbate reductase. The treatment also increased contents of adenosine triphosphate and adenosine diphosphate, but lowered adenosine monophosphate content, which resulted in a higher level of energy charge in treated fruit. These results indicated that GABA increased chilling tolerance of peach fruit through enhancing its enzymatic antioxidant system and maintaining energy status in peach fruit.

A visual management platform is designed for wireless temperature and humidity sensor network. The platform offers a multifunctional visual interface, including data management, curve plotting of sensor node, display of topology and data sending and receiving situation, etc, so that the receiving data from sensors can be accessed more conveniently to be used for optimization of network performance. Since ZigBee is specially developed for wireless network of low-rate, low power and low cost, and the platform has been operated efficiently with good compatibility, which is promising for wireless sensor network.