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The quality of Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium (CRP) is closely correlated with the aging time. However, CRPs in different storage ages are similar in appearance, and the young CRP may be labeled as the aged one to obtain the excess profit by some unscrupulous traders. Most traditional analysis methods are laborious and time‐consuming, and they can hardly realize the nondestructive classification. In this paper, a novel method based on near‐infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (NIRDRS) and data combination technique for the nondestructive classification of different‐age CRPs was proposed. The CRPs in different storage ages (5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years) were measured. The near‐infrared spectra of outer skin and inner capsule were obtained. Principal component analysis (PCA), soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA), and Fisher's linear discriminant analysis (FLD), with different data pretreatment methods, were used for the classification analysis. Data combination of the outer skin and inner capsule spectra was discussed for further improving the classification results. The results show that multiple sensors provide more useful and complementary information than a single sensor does for improving the prediction accuracy. With the help of data combination strategy, 100% prediction accuracy can be obtained with both second‐order derivative–FLD and continuous wavelet transform–multiplicative scatter correction–FLD methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple and nondestructive method for the analysis of soluble solid content in citrus was established using portable visible to near‐infrared spectroscopy (Vis/NIRS) in reflectance mode in combination with appropriate chemometric methods. The spectra were obtained directly by the portable Vis/NIRS without destroying samples. Outlier detection was performed by using leave‐one‐out cross‐validation (LOOCV) with the 3σ criterion, and the calibration models were established by partial least squares (PLS) algorithm. Besides, different data pretreatment methods were used to eliminate noise and background interference before calibration, to determine the one that will lead to better model accuracy. However, the correlation coefficients are all <0.62 and the results of all pretreatments are still unsatisfactory. Variable selection methods were discussed for improving the accuracy, and variable adaptive boosting partial least squares (VABPLS) method was used to get higher robustness models. The results show that standard normal variate (SNV) transformation is the best pretreatment method, while VABPLS can significantly simplify the calculation and improve the result even without pretreatment. The correlation coefficient of the best prediction models is 0.82, while the value is 0.48 for the raw data. The high performance shows the feasibility of portable Vis/NIRS technology combination with appropriate chemometric methods for the determination of citrus soluble solid content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the interaction of Chrysanthemum indicum (CI) flavonoids (luteolin, acacetin, and buddleoside) with α‐amylase. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assay showed their equilibrium dissociation constants (KD) are 1.9695 ± 0.12, 2.9240 ± 0.20, and 3.2966 ± 0.08 mM at pH 6.0, respectively. Furthermore, their binding affinities were influenced by KCl, MgCl2, and CaCl2. Enzymatic kinetic studies revealed that three flavonoids exhibited noncompetitive α‐amylase inhibitory activity. The inhibitory sequence is luteolin > acacetin > buddleoside, which was in accordance with the results of binding affinity from SPR. 1,1‐diphenyl‐2‐picryl hydrazyl radical assay demonstrated that antioxidant activities of three flavonoids were inhibited significantly with α‐amylase. Meanwhile, the study reveals that hydroxyl on C′‐4, C′‐5, and C‐7 of flavonoids play an important role on the interaction of three flavonoids with α‐amylase. Also, SPR could be used as sensor for rapid screening inhibitors of α‐amylase and provide useful information for the application of C. indicum flavonoids in food and pharmaceutical area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensive study of the metabolome during the Douchi fermentation can provide new knowledge for optimizing the fermentation process. In this work, the metabolic characterization throughout the fermentation of Mucor racemosus Douchi was investigated using gas chromatography with time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry. A total of 511 peaks were found, and 114 metabolites were identified. The fermentation process was clearly distinguished into two main phases by principal components analysis and orthogonal partial least squares‐discriminant analysis. All the samples in the score plots were within the 95% Hotelling T2 ellipse. Two separated clusters can be seen clearly in the score plot, which represents the two stages of fermentation: koji‐making (within 48 hr) and postfermentation (after 48 hr). Besides, clear separation and discrimination by both methods were found among different fermentation time within 15 days, while the discrimination cannot be found with more than 15 days of fermentation, indicating that the fermentation of Douchi was finished in 15 days. Due to the synergistic effect of protease and hydrolase accumulated in the early stage, proteins and other big molecular substances are rapidly hydrolyzed into a large number of small molecule components. However, the activity of enzymes decreased with the further fermentation, and some free amino acids were consumed in Maillard reaction. Therefore, there was no significant change in the content of small molecular substances after 15 days of fermentation. Furthermore, the levels of some metabolites such as alanine and lysine involved in the fermentation varied significantly throughout the processes. This study provides new insights for the metabolomics characteristics of Douchi fermentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is difficult to produce southern stinky tofu, a famous traditional Chinese snack, at industry scale due to the complex composition of its brine. In this study, the fingerprints of organic volatile flavor compounds in the southern stinky tofu brine samples from five manufacturers were studied using headspace solid‐phase microextraction/gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HS‐SPME/GC‐MS) with the aid of chemometric methods. The fingerprints were obtained by HS‐SPME/GC‐MS and analyzed with the time shift alignment method, Shannon entropy, correlation coefficient, and principal component analysis. The results show that the time shifts in the samples can be accurately corrected by the time shift alignment method despite unexpected interferences. The fingerprint information was evaluated by Shannon entropy, while the similarities and differences in the fingerprints were investigated by correlation coefficient. Moreover, the identification of stinky tofu manufacturers can be achieved by principal component analysis. The predominant volatile compounds in southern stinky tofu brines were indole, 3‐methylindole, phenol, and 4‐methylphenol. Therefore, the established fingerprinting of volatile compounds for the brines by combining HS‐SPME/GC‐MS with chemometric methods was a simple and reliable method. The fingerprints of organic volatile flavor compounds in the southern stinky tofu brine samples from five manufacturers were obtained by HS‐SPME/GC‐MS and analyzed with the time shift alignment method, Shannon entropy, correlation coefficient, and principal component analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A second-order method, standard signal extraction was proposed for quantitative analysis of target analytes in the samples with complex matrices by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. In the method, standard addition was adopted. The data of the pure standard, sample, and spiked sample were used in the calculation. By performing principal component analysis on the data aligned with the measured signals of the sample and standard, the standardized signal that is orthogonal to the signals of interferences in the sample can be extracted. Then, the signal of spiked sample was projected to the standardized signal. The concentration ratio of the target analyte in the sample and spiked sample can be obtained. Finally, the concentration of the target analyte in the sample can be calculated with the added concentration in the spiked sample. Both simulated and experimental data were investigated with the proposed approach, compared with rank annihilation factor analysis. The recoveries of standard addition were found in a range of 99-105%, and the relative standard deviations obtained in three repeated measurements were less than 3%. Results show that the method can accurately estimate the quantitative information of analytes of interest in the presence of interferents and can be applied more widely compared with rank annihilation factor analysis. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ginseng is a well-known traditional Chinese medicinal herb, and ginsenosides are its major active components. A method for the fast determination of ginsenosides in ginseng samples by high-performance liquid chromatography was developed and used for the quantitative analysis of four ginsenosides in three different ginseng samples. In this method, instead of time-consuming gradient elution, isocratic elution was used to speed up the analysis. Under strong isocratic elution, all the ginsenosides are eluted in 2.3 min. Although the measured signal is composed of overlapped peaks with the interferences and background, the signal of ginsenosides can be extracted by chemometric resolution. A non-negative immune algorithm was employed to obtain the chromatographic information of the target components from the data. Compared with conventional chemometric approaches, the method can perform the extraction for one-dimensional overlapping signals. The method was validated by the determination of four ginsenosides in three different ginseng samples. The recoveries of the spiked samples were in the range of 94.08-107.3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chaperon protein sigma‐1 receptor (S1R) has been discovered over 40 years ago. Recent pharmacological studies using S1R exogenous ligands demonstrated a promising therapeutical potential of targeting the S1R in several neurological disorders. Although intensive in vitro studies have revealed S1Rs are mainly residing at the membrane of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the cell‐specific in vivo expression pattern of S1Rs is still unclear, mainly because of the lack of a reliable detection method which also prevented a comprehensive functional analysis. Here, first, we identified a highly specific antibody using S1R knockout (KO) mice and established an immunohistochemical protocol involving a 1% sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) antigen retrieval step. Second, we characterized the S1R expression in the mouse brain and can demonstrate that the S1R is widely expressed: in principal neurons, interneurons and all glial cell types. In addition, unlike reported in previous studies, we showed that the S1R expression in astrocytes is not colocalized with the astrocytic cytoskeleton protein GFAP. Thus, our results raise concerns over previously reported S1R properties. Finally, we generated a Cre‐dependent S1R conditional KO mouse (S1R flox) to study cell‐type‐specific functions of the S1R. As a proof of concept, we successfully ablated S1R expressions in neurons or microglia employing neuronal and microglial Cre‐expressing mice, respectively. In summary, we provide powerful tools to cell‐specifically detect, delete and functionally characterize S1R in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method for the fast determination of the components in a complex sample by using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry was developed and used for the quantitative analysis of phthalic acid esters in environmental water. In the method, the adaptively corrected mass spectra were used to compensate for the differences between the library spectra and the measured ones in the experiment. The correction was obtained by the iterative transformation of the library spectra using iterative target transformation factor analysis, and the resolution was performed by non-negative immune algorithm using the corrected spectra. Rapid analysis of 16 phthalic acid esters in water samples was achieved using fast elution gas chromatography with mass spectrometry measurements. The results show that the mass spectra and chromatographic profiles of the phthalic acid esters can be obtained from the overlapping signal of 13 min elution, and accurate quantitative analysis can be obtained. The recoveries of the phthalic acid esters obtained by standard addition are between 90.3 and 107.4%, and the relative standard deviations obtained in repeated measurements are less than 9%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The study aimed to explore the contribution of the microbial community on flavour formation by measuring physicochemical properties, volatile compounds composition and bacterial community of Yongfeng chilli paste. A similar amino acid nitrogen level and different pH, total acid and salt content were observed in five brands of Yongfeng chilli paste. A total of 106 volatile compounds were identified, wherein, ethyl palmitate, ethyl trans‐4‐decenoate, phenylethyl alcohol were the common volatile compounds with high content in all samples. Additionally, Oxyphotobacteria‐unclassified, Mitochondria‐unclassified, Pediococcus, Bacillus, Lactobacillus and Weissella were the dominant genera. Lactobacillus was related to the production of some alcohols and terpenes. Whereas, Bacillus, Pediococcus and Weissella, which showed higher salt tolerance, could affect the formation of esters, such as ethyl salicylate, ethyl lactate. Thus, this study provided a basis for further research on the mechanism of flavour formation and some guidance for the improvements of the quality of traditional fermented chilli paste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article a spectral-domain decoupling method of electromagnetic waves propagating and radiating of sources in bianisotropic gyroelectromagnetic chiral media is presented, and the general transmission-line-like equations for the description of field quantities (IE, VE, VM, IM) are obtained using the technique of matrix transformation, which has been developed by Tsalamengas. As a practical application, the propagation behavior of electromagnetic waves in multilayered bianisotropic gyroelectromagnetic parallel-plate chirowaveguides is investigated, and it is shown that in such a nonreciprocal chirowaveguide, propagating modes are always hybrid (EH and HE). Especially, the dyadic Green's function of sources in a grounded bianisotropic gyroelectromagnetic chiral superstrate-substrate structure is derived, and it can be directly used to analyze the radiation characteristics of gyroelectromagnetic chirostrip antennas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the coupled-mode propagation in planar gyrotropic chirowaveguides. At first, the transverse components of electric and magnetic fields in such waveguides are expressed in terms of the longitudinal components of E and H. Dispersion diagrams for the parallel metallic-plate gyrotropic chirowaveguides are shown, and their novel features are pointed Out. The effects of chirality admittances on the cutoff wavelengths of propagating modes in the grounded planar and parallel metallic-plate gyrotropic chirowaveguides are taken into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electromagnetic properties of radially stratified spherical chirolenses are examined using the dyadic Green's function, and a general formulation is presented for determining the focal points of inhomogeneous spherical chirolenses. Also, the focal points of Luneberg chirolenses are calculated. It is shown that chirality admittance has strong influence on the location of focal points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cover image is based on the ORIGINAL RESEARCH I An assessment of the interaction for three i Chrysanthemum indicum I flavonoids and -amylase by surface plasmon resonance i by Pao Li et al., https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.1349. Cover Credit: Cover image © Pao Li and Xia Liu Images. [Extracted from the article]

The cover image is based on the Original Research Fingerprints of volatile flavor compounds from southern stinky tofu brine with headspace solid‐phase microextraction/gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and chemometric methods by Pao Li et al., DOI: 10.1002/fsn3.943. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel strategy of "pick the best of the best" was proposed for the nondestructive identification of different‐origin and adulterated Poria cocos with near‐infrared spectroscopy. First, various preprocessing methods were divided into three classes: baseline correction, scattering and trend correction, and scaling. The single preprocessing methods with the best predictions in each class were selected. Then, the selected preprocessing methods were combined in pairs according to three classes. The pair combination preprocessing methods with the best predictions and also better predictions than single methods were selected. Finally, the selected pair combination preprocessing method was combined with the methods in the unselected class. The three combination preprocessing methods with the best predictions and also better predictions than pair combination methods were selected as the final prediction. With this strategy, the optimized preprocessing combination can be obtained quickly, and the identification accuracy with principal component analysis method can be greatly improved. 0% identification accuracy of adulterated samples and 12.5% identification accuracy of different‐origin samples were obtained with the raw data. However, 100% accuracy of adulterated samples, 93.8% accuracy of calibration dataset, and 75% accuracy of validation dataset can be obtained with the novel strategy. The developed technology can be regarded as a simple, rapid, and accurate nondestructive identification method for different‐origin and adulterated samples, and has a broad application prospect in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The aim of this study was to improve medication reconciliation and reduce the occurrence of duplicate prescriptions by pharmacists and physicians within 72 hours of hospital admission using an intelligent prescription system combined with the National Health Insurance PharmaCloud system to integrate the database with the medical institution computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system. Methods: This 2‐year intervention study was implemented in the geriatric ward of a hospital in Taiwan. We developed an integrated CPOE system linked with the PharmaCloud database and established an electronic platform for coordinated communication with all healthcare professionals. Patients provided written informed consent to access their PharmaCloud records. We compared the intervention effectiveness within 72 hours of admission for improvement in pharmacist medication reconciliation, increased at‐home medications documentation and decreased costs from duplicated at‐home prescriptions. Results: The medication reconciliation rate within 72 hours of admission increased from 44.0% preintervention to 86.8% postintervention (relative risk = 1.97, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.69–2.31; P < .001). The monthly average of patients who brought and took home medications documented in the CPOE system during hospitalization increased by 7.54 (95% CI 5.58–20.49, P = .22). The monthly average of home medications documented increased by 102.52 (95% CI 38.44–166.60; P = .01). Savings on the monthly average prescription expenditures of at‐home medication increased by US$ 2,795.52 (95% CI US$1310.41–4280.63; P < .01). Conclusion: Integrating medication data from PharmaCloud to the hospital's medical chart system improved pharmacist medication reconciliation, which decreased duplicated medications and reduced in‐hospital medication costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitochondrial dysfunction is an early feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Accumulated damaged mitochondria, which are associated with impaired mitophagy, contribute to neurodegeneration in AD. We show levels of Disrupted‐in‐schizophrenia‐1 (DISC1), which is genetically associated with psychiatric disorders and AD, decrease in the brains of AD patients and transgenic model mice and in Aβ‐treated cultured cells. Disrupted‐in‐schizophrenia‐1 contains a canonical LC3‐interacting region (LIR) motif (210FSFI213), through which DISC1 directly binds to LC3‐I/II. Overexpression of DISC1 enhances mitophagy through its binding to LC3, whereas knocking‐down of DISC1 blocks Aβ‐induced mitophagy. We further observe overexpression of DISC1, but not its mutant (muFSFI) which abolishes the interaction of DISC1 with LC3, rescues Aβ‐induced mitochondrial dysfunction, loss of spines, suppressed long‐term potentiation (LTP). Overexpression of DISC1 via adeno‐associated virus (serotype 8, AAV8) in the hippocampus of 8‐month‐old APP/PS1 transgenic mice for 4 months rescues cognitive deficits, synaptic loss, and Aβ plaque accumulation, in a way dependent on the interaction of DISC1 with LC3. These results indicate that DISC1 is a novel mitophagy receptor, which protects synaptic plasticity from Aβ accumulation‐induced toxicity through promoting mitophagy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]