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Objective: To solve the problem of difficult preservation of fresh Mulberry, fresh Mulberry is fermented by Lactobacillus plantarum to produce Mulberry Jiaosu. Methods: Using fresh Mulberry juice as the raw material, Lactobacillus plantarum as strain and total phenol as index, the fermentation process of Mulberry Jiaosu was optimized by single factor test and response surface test. Results: The optimized fermentation conditions were as follows: fermentation time was 40 h, fermentation temperature was 32 ℃, inoculation amount was 25%, and the total phenol content of Mulberry Jiaosu was （43.48±0.67） μg/mL, which was 1.62 times that of non-fermented Mulberry juice. Conclusion: The quality evaluation results showed that the Mulberry Jiaosu had purple red color, uniform color, strong mulberry fruit aroma and fermentation aroma, no peculiar smell, soft sour taste, good flavor, lustre, no impurities and precipitation. The indexes of the Mulberry Jiaosu meet the relevant national standards.

Superoxide dismutase (SOD, encoded by SOD1), which can scavenge active oxygen free radicals, is an ideal endogenous antioxidase in beer. In this study, the SOD1 expression cassette was constructed, and this cassette contained the PGK1 promoter, the PGK1 terminator and the SOD1 gene fused to the signal sequence of the yeast mating pheromone α-factor ( MFα1s). One of the prosequences of the PEP4 gene (encoding proteinase A, PrA) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain S-6 was replaced by the SOD1 expression cassette via homologous recombination and the self-cloning strain S54PS, which could improve the antioxidant capability and foam stability of beer, was successfully obtained. Fermentation results showed that the SOD activity of the final beer brewed with S54PS was increased by 21.06%. Accordingly, the DPPH-radical scavenging activity of S54PS increased by 30.6% compared with that yielded by the parental strain S-6. Furthermore, the PrA activity of S54PS was always lower than that of the parental strain at all stages of beer fermentation. The head retention of the beer (255 ± 4 s) was better than that of the parental strain (224 ± 1 s). Hence, this research implies that S54PS exhibits good brewing performance and can be applied to improve the industrial brewing process. Copyright © 2016 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the role of JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway in neural function recovery in rats with spinal cord injury (SCI) after treadmill training. Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups: (a) sham group; (b) SCI group; (c) SCI+treadmill training group (SCI/TT); and (d) SCI/TT+AG490 group (a JAK2 inhibitor) ( n  = 12). The 12 Sprague-Dawley rats in each group were randomly assigned into 1 st , 3 rd , 7 th , and 14 th  day subgroups. The Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor rating scale was used to assess the spinal cord function, and JAK2, STAT3, and IL-6 protein expressions in the rat spinal cord were evaluated by western blot. The level of cell apoptosis and expressions of apoptotic proteins were evaluated by TUNEL assay and immunohistochemistry, respectively. Rats in the SCI+TT group showed a significantly higher BBB score after SCI compared with the SCI group and the SCI/TT+AG490 group. Mechanistically, the JAK2/STAT3 signal pathway was immediately activated after SCI compared with sham group, and JAK2 and STAT3 were obviously upregulated when treadmill training was performed ( P  < 0.05). Results of TUNEL assay showed that the apoptotic rate in SCI/TT was significantly lower than that in the SCI group and SCI/TT+AG490 group ( P  < 0.05). Besides, the IL-6 expression in the SCI/TT group was significantly attenuated compared with the SCI group ( P  < 0.05). Our results showed that physical treadmill training can enhance activation of JAK2/STAT3 signal pathway and attenuate apoptosis in the injured spinal cord, resulting in better functional recovery. These results underline the importance of synergistic treatment strategies for SCI., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Exoelectrogens are promising for a wide variety of potential applications in the areas of environment and energy, which convert chemical energy from organic matter into electrical energy by extracellular electrons transfer (EET). Microorganisms with different mechanisms and EET efficiencies have been elucidated. However, the practical applications of exoelectrogens are limited by their fundamental features. At present, it is difficult to realize the extensive application of exoelectrogens in complex and diverse environments by means of traditional engineering strategies such as rational design and directed evolution. The exoelectrogens with excellent performance in environments can be screened with efficient strain identification technologies, which promote the widespread applications of exoelectrogens. The aims of this review are to summarize the methods of screening based on different types of exoelectrogens, and to outline future research directions of strain screening.