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Osteoarthritis (OA) is a long-term chronic arthrosis disease which is usually characterized by pain, swelling, joint stiffness, reduced range of motion, and other clinical manifestations and even results in disability in severe cases. The main pathological manifestation of OA is the degeneration of cartilage. However, due to the special physiological structure of the cartilage, once damaged, it is unable to repair itself, which is one of the challenges of treating OA clinically. Abundant studies have reported the application of cartilage tissue engineering in OA cartilage repair. Among them, cell combined with biological carrier implantation has unique advantages. However, cell senescence, death and dedifferentiation are some problems when cultured in vitro. Botanical drug remedies for OA have a long history in many countries in Asia. In fact, botanical drug extracts (BDEs) have great potential in anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiaging, and other properties, and many studies have confirmed their effects. BDEs combined with cartilage tissue engineering has attracted increasing attention in recent years. In this review, we will explain in detail how cartilage tissue engineering materials and BDEs play a role in cartilage repair, as well as the current research status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Straw mushroom (Volvariella volvacea) is one of most extensively cultivated mushrooms in Asia with a delicious taste and high nutritional value. However, its special physiological features lead to the rapid loss of its overall quality and marketability during 2-day storage. The present study proposed an accessible and low-cost strategy with industrial-scale potency for long-time postharvest and long-distance distribution by designing a temperature and humidity-controlled walk-in equipment and optimizing the working conditions. The optimized conditions for postharvest with the designed equipment were obtained as pre-cooling treatment at 20 ℃, small size of plastic basket, one-layer stack mode, storage temperature of 15 °C and relative humidity of 90%. Under these conditions, the straw mushrooms maximally maintained the overall sensory/physical/chemical postharvest quality including highest firmness, soluble protein and soluble sugar contents. Further results proved that the optimized conditions maintained the quality by retaining free water, down-regulating the respiration rate and activities/transcriptional levels of key enzymes associated with respiratory metabolism, and maintaining the energy balance in fruiting bodies. [Display omitted] • A low-cost walk-in equipment was designed for postharvest of straw mushroom. • An economical and industrially applicable postharvest strategy was finally proposed. • The strategy extends straw mushroom's storage period to 4 days. • Moderately regulating respiration and energy balance are the potential mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents the results of a multinational joint proficiency testing (PT) programme on four pesticide residues (cypermethrin, α-endosulfan, β-endosulphan and bifenthrin) in two tea samples. The objectives were to evaluate the performance and to improve the testing capability of field laboratories in the Asia Pacific region for analysis of pesticide residues in tea. A total of 42 laboratories registered for the programme and 32 laboratories from 12 economies returned the results to the organizers. The assigned values of the pesticides were agreed to be the respective weighted mean determined by the three metrology institutes — the National Measurement Institute, Australia (NMIA), the National Institute of Metrology, China (NIM) and the Government Laboratory, Hong Kong (GLHK) in an Asia Pacific Metrology Programme (APMP) pilot study programme (APMP.QM-P15) using the same test materials. The performance of participating laboratories was expressed using the numerical indicators of z-scores and En-scores. Amongst the reported data, only 35.3% and 35.0% achieved satisfactory z-scores (|z|≤2) and En-scores (|En|≤1) respectively. Only two laboratories achieved satisfactory z-scores and En-scores for all the analytes. The results demonstrated that the performance of the majority of the laboratories participating in this study on the analysis of pesticide residues in tea was not satisfactory, and more capability building is required for further improvement. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]