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Abstract: Objective: The forkhead box M1 (FOXM1) transcription factor plays crucial roles in regulating the proliferation, differentiation, and transformation of cells. Overexpression of FOXM1 is associated with a variety of aggressive solid carcinomas, including cervical cancer. However, the precise role and molecular mechanism responsible for the aggressive action of FOXM1 in cervical cancer remain unclear. This study investigated the cellular and molecular aggressive function of FOXM1 in cervical cancer. Methods: The FOXM1 gene and protein expression profiles were determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction, Western blotting and immunohistochemical staining, and other cellular and molecular approaches including gene transfection, short hairpin RNA interference (RNAi), and wound‐healing, migration, and invasion assays. Results: FOXM1 expression was significantly up-regulated at both mRNA and protein levels in early-stage cervical cancer, compared to cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and normal cervical tissues. High levels of FOXM1 expression were significantly associated with aggression in cervical cancer, and were an independent prognostic factor for poor survival in early-stage cervical cancer patients. Moreover, enforced expression of FOXM1 increased migration and invasion of cancer cells, whereas RNAi-mediated knockdown of FOXM1 had the opposite effect. In addition, up-regulation of FOXM1 increased the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and MMP-9 in vitro and in vivo, and activated the Akt/glycogen synthase kinase-3β/Snail pathway, resulting in the promotion of migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells. Conclusions: These results suggest that FOXM1 up-regulation is associated with poor prognosis in early-stage cervical cancer, and therefore it may act as a prognostic marker and a new potential target for cervical cancer treatment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Raman spectroscopy was used to detect adulterants such as high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and maltose syrup (MS) in honey. HFCS and MS were each mixed with authentic honey samples in the following ratios: 1:10 (10%), 1:5 (20%) and 1:2.5 (40%, w/w). Adaptive iteratively reweighted penalized least squares (airPLS) was chosen to remove background of spectral data. Partial least squares-linear discriminant analysis (PLS-LDA) was used to develop a binary classification model. Classification of honey authenticity using PLS-LDA showed a total accuracy of 91.1% (authentic honey vs. adulterated honey with HFCS), 97.8% (authentic honey vs. adulterated honey with MS) and 75.6% (authentic honey vs. adulterated honey with HFCS and MS), respectively. Classification of honey adulterants (e.g. HFCS or MS) using PLS-LDA gave a total accuracy of 84.4%. The results showed that Raman spectroscopy combined with PLS-LDA was a potential technique for detecting adulterants in honey. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The invisible foodborne pathogens on strawberry surface endanger its food safety. Therefore, detecting and controlling the foodborne pathogens are crucial for food safety of strawberry. This study comprehensively detected and compared their surface bacterial communities under different packaging films (polyethylene film, gelatin film, and gelatin composite film) through high-throughput sequencing. Compared with fresh strawberries, the dominant bacterial genus of strawberries packaged with different films changed from Rosenbergiella to Acinetobacter after storage. However, few foodborne pathogens and spoilage-related bacteria were found in gelatin composite film-packaged strawberries (S-CG), while harmful bacterial genus of Pantoea and Erwinia were detected with high relative abundances in other films-packaged strawberries. Furthermore, the predication analysis of phenotype and metabolism indicated that Pantoea and Erwinia were the main biofilm-forming and stress-resistance bacteria, which increased potential pathogenic. Fortunately, gelatin composite film maintained the relative abundance of pathogenic bacteria on S-CG surface at a low level. Therefore, this work contributed to evaluating the pathogenic of bacteria community on strawberries during storage and providing a theoretical foundation for active packaging film to control surface pathogenic bacteria of strawberries. • Active packaging decreased the relative abundance of Pantoea and Erwinia. • Pantoea and Erwinia were the main biofilm-forming and pathogenic bacteria. • Most bacteria on strawberry surface exhibited positive correlation with each other. • Active packaging effectively decreased the pathogenic of bacterial community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lemon essential oil (LEO) is a common natural antibacterial substance, and encapsulating LEO into nanoemulsions (NEs) can improve their stability and broaden its application. Our study aimed to investigate the bacterial inhibitory effect of LEO-NEs against Escherichia coli (E. coli). Results showed that the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of LEO-NEs was 6.25 mg/mL, and the time-kill curve showed that E. coli were significantly killed by LEO-NEs after 5 h of treatment at 1MIC. Flow-cytometry analysis showed that LEO-NEs adversely affected the cell-membrane depolarisation, cell-membrane integrity, and efflux pump function of E. coli. Confocal laser scanning microscopy demonstrated that 8MIC of LEO-NEs induced changes in the cell-membrane permeability and cell-wall integrity of E. coli. Proteomic results suggested that the mode of action LEO-NEs against E. coli was to enhance bacterial chemotaxis and significantly inhibit ribosomal assembly. They may also affect butyric acid, ascorbic acid and aldehyde metabolism, and sulphur-relay system pathways. In conclusion, LEO-NEs had potential application as a natural antibacterial agent for the control of E. coli in the food industry. • LEO-NEs exhibited potent bacteriostatic effects against E. coli. • LEO-NEs perturbed the cell membrane by altering its permeability, potential, integrity and efflux pump function. • Dual action of LEO-NEs on E. coli ribosome and chemotaxis-related pathways revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this work, the chemical composition, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of fourteen species of citrus essential oils (EOs) from the main cultivated varieties in China were evaluated and compared. A total of more than 200 components were identified, which are mainly composed of terpenes, alcohols, aldehydes, esters, ketones and acids. Antimicrobial ability of fourteen EOs and seven major components were tested against six bacteria and two yeasts. The susceptibility of Gram-positive bacteria tested was observed to be greater than Gram-negative bacteria, and the yeasts tested were relatively more susceptive than bacteria. Three groups (Strong, Medium and Weak) were divided according to the antimicrobial ability. The EOs of Citrus Changshan huyou B. Chang and Citrus. medica var. sarcodactylis Swin exhibited the strongest antimicrobial activity against all tested strains. Linalool showed the strongest antimicrobial activity against all microorganisms except Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Three characters and tendencies were found out to correlate chemical composition with antimicrobial activity of different citrus essential oils. The EOs of Citrus aurantium L and Citurs medica var. sarcodactylis Swing showed strong ABTS radical scavenging, and the EOs of Citurs medica var. sarcodactylis Swing and Citrus Changshan huyou B. Chang exhibited strong free radical scavenging activity. Highlights • Chemical composition analysis of 14 citrus EOs of main citrus varieties in China. • Comparison of antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of 14 citrus EOs. • EO of Citrus Changshan huyou B. Chang showed the strongest antimicrobial activity. • EO of Citurs medica var. sarcodactylis Swing showed the best antioxidant activities. • Correlation between chemical composition, antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orange peel wastes were enzymatically depolymerized into pectic oligosaccharides (POS) by multi-enzyme complexes from Aspergillus japonicus PJ01. The hydrolyzate was fractionated via membrane separation into three fractions: POS1 <1 kDa; 1 kDa < POS2 < 3 kDa; POS3 > 3 kDa. Compositional analysis showed that these fractions were rich in glucose, arabinose, and galacturonic acid. The prebiotic potentials of these fractions were evaluated via single culture with Bifidobacterium infantis , Lactobacillus acidophilus , Clostridium perfringens , and Bacteroides fragilis . Results showed that POS2 had higher prebiotic property than POS1 and 3, and it was comparable to fructooligosaccharide. In mixed culture, POS2 showed positive effect on B. infantis , while negative effect on B. fragilis according to the results of real-time quantitative PCR analysis. The antimicrobial activities of the POS were examined by typical bacteria Staphylococcus aureus , Bacillus subtilis , and Escherichia coli. Results showed that POS1 and 2 had higher antimicrobial activities than POS3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To investigate the thermal behavior of cocrystal formed between anhydrous theophylline (TP) and anhydrous citric acid (CA) by neat manual cogrinding or thermal treatment, DSC and FTIR microspectroscopy with curve-fitting analysis were applied. The physical mixture and 60-min ground mixture were stored at 55±0.5°C/40±2% RH condition to determine their stability behavior. Typical TP–CA cocrystals were prepared by slow solvent evaporation method. Results indicate that the cogrinding process could gradually induce the cocrystal formation between TP and CA. The IR spectral peak shift from 3495 to 3512cm−1 and the stepwise appearance of several new IR peaks at 1731, 1712, 1676, 1651, 1557 and 1265cm−1 with cogrinding time suggest that the mechanism of TP–CA cocrystal formation was evidenced by interacting TP with CA through the intermolecular O–H···O hydrogen bonding. The stability of 60-min ground mixture of TP–CA was confirmed at 55±0.5°C/40±2% RH condition over a storage time of 60 days. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A sensitive and accurate normal-phase liquid chromatography and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry (LC–APCI–MS) method for determining the standard ceramide [NS] (Cer[NS]) was developed and validated so as to improve the traditional thin-layer chromatography (TLC) technique and LC–electrospray ionization (ESI)–MS method to profile and quantify ceramides in nude mouse skin. Normal-phase LC–APCI–MS was optimized to separate the nine classes of ceramides presented in the stratum corneum (SC) of nude mouse skin. A normal-phase silica column eluted with the gradient system from heptane:acetone/butanol (90:10, v/v) of 75:25 to 100% acetone/butanol (90:10, v/v) (with each solvent containing 0.1% [v/v] triethylamine and 0.1% [v/v] formic acid) at a flow rate of 0.8 ml/min was found to be optimal for analyzing standard Cer[NS]. The analysis of Cer[NS] was validated and employed as the standard for constructing a calibration curve to quantitate all classes of ceramides. This method was applied to profile the classes and contents of ceramides in the SC of nude mouse skin and proved to be workable. It was concluded that this improved method can be used to directly detect and quantify all classes of ceramides in the SC of nude mouse skin and that it is more convenient and labor-saving than the traditional TLC method. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]