Abstract Cloudy apple juice (CAJ) is popular due to its potential health benefits and pleasant flavor. However, the common used sterilization methods of CAJ by High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) or high-temperature short time (HTST) still showed many inadequacies. The present work studied the impact of HHP (400MPa/10 °C/10 min) and HTST (98 °C/50s) on CAJs made from a new cultivar Changfu 2 planted in Loess plateau area. We comparatively evaluated the microbes inactivation, enzymatic activity, phytochemical parameters, and sensory quality after the HHP and HTST treatment and during the cold storage (4 °C). Results showed that during the cold storage, both HHP and HTST treated CAJ showed a declining trend in sensory attributes like aroma, taste and overall acceptability. HTST showed a higher killing rate of bacteria, and the CAJ was detected a higher diversity of microorganisms (expressed as OTU) during the cold storage. At the end of shelf-life, Rickettsia, oxyphotobacteria, and pseudomonas were detected as the dominant genera in both HHP and HTST treated CAJs. Spearman bivariate correlate analysis determined the relationship between the bacterial profiles and enzymatic activity, phytochemical parameters, and sensory quality after the HHP and HTST treatment.

Abstract Green bactericides are excellent strategies for reducing food spoilage. Phloretin was regarded as efficient, broad-spectrum and safe preservative, which showed enormous potential in food industry. Inhibitory mechanism of phloretin on Listeria monocytogenes was systematically elucidated through integrity of cell membrane, intracellular protein content, energy level, and nucleic acid morphological character. SEM and TEM results showed minimal injury of cell membrane, which was further proved by a leakage of potassium ions, ATP and little protein and nucleic acid. There were drastic reduction of intracellular or total protein and ATP compared to cell without phloretin treatment. However, the specific activity of hexokinase and isocitrate dehydrogenase were unaffected after phloretin treatment. From these results, we concluded that phloretin’s bacteriostatic mechanism is decreasing the intracellular protein content and energy level resulting from DNA aggregation. This finding was prospective to fully illustrate the phloretin’s mechanism and develop it into a natural preservative in food industry.

Abstract The authentication of fresh apple juice (FAJ) is a significant issue. However, the main characteristics of FAJ, diluted apple juice (DAJ) with added concentrated apple juice (DAJ+CAJ), and DAJ with added sucrose (DAJ+s) are not different when using classical chemical analyses in juice authentication. In this study, isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) was used to determine the δD, δ18O, and δ13C in adulterated apple juice for juice authentication. The δD and δ18O values were decreased in adulterated juice. A linear correlation was found between δD and δ18O in apple juices with different amount of adulteration. Therefore, this linear relationship can be used to determine the amount of adulteration that took place. The δ13C value and the content of each component in real apple juice are within specific ranges. The adulteration can be recognized once the δ13C value and the content of each component in the apple juice are out of these ranges. The implementation of this method would help maintain the juice market’s stability and protect consumers’ interests.

Abstract A direct steam injection pretreatment was added before the microwave-assisted extraction procedure for the extraction of flavonoids from seeds of Hovenia dulcis Thunb, and the antioxidant activity of flavonoid extracts was determined. Based on the experimental results, the addition of direct steam injection simultaneously increased the extraction yield of total flavonoids compared with direct microwave-assisted extraction, and antioxidant activity of flavonoid extracts obtained by adopting the steam injection pretreatment was higher than that by direct microwave extraction alone. Myricetin was isolated from the flavonoid extracts, and the structure was identified by infrared spectroscopy (IR), electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR). Recovery yield of total flavonoids was increased by 11.63% when the direct steam injection pretreatment was added to direct microwave extraction.

Pegylated interferon alpha (Peg IFN-α) in combination with ribavirin is the backbone of treatment in chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Cardiotoxicity due to interferon therapy is rare. The most frequent cardiovascular complications are arrhythmias and ischemic manifestations. Cardiomyopathy is extremely rare but can be life threatening. We present the case of a 41-year-old female patient with CHC in whom Peg IFN-α induced dilated cardiomyopathy and hypothyroidism. Chest radiography showed an enlarged and globular cardiac silhouette and pulmonary congestion. Echocardiography showed decreased left ventricular systolic function with an ejection fraction of 32% and fractional shortening of 15%. Cardiomyopathy had a complete remission after cessation of antiviral therapy with short-term heart failure medications and supportive care. Then we review the current literature about interferon induced cardiomyopathy in patients with HCV infection, as well as share our clinical experience in diagnosing and managing this rare complication.

Patients with hepatitis C virus-related decompensated cirrhosis can benefit frominterferonbased antiviral therapy, but the common complication of cytopenia is a contraindication for this treatment. Splenectomy prior to interferon therapy may alleviate this problem. To investigate whether splenectomy improves the efficacy of antiviral therapy, 13 interferonnaïve hepatitis C virus decompensated cirrhotic patients underwent splenectomy between January 2008 and January 2011, followed 1-3 months later by an interferon-based therapeutic regimen (pegylated/standard interferon-α combined with ribavirin for 48 weeks). Ten (76.9%) of the patients developed postoperative complications, which included minor portal vein thrombosis (2/13, 15.4%) and transient ascites (8/13, 61.5%). At one-month postsplenectomy, the patients showed significantly increased platelet (pre-surgery: 48.2 ± 15.9 vs. 186.0 ± 70.6×10 µL-1, p < 0.001) and leukocyte (2.1 ± 0.5 vs. 5.7 ± 1.4 × 10³ µL-1, I < 0.001) counts. Eight (61.5%) of the patients achieved sustained virological response, including all HCV genotype 2a-infected patients (4/4, 100%) and some of the genotype 1b-infected patients (4/9, 44.4%). Temporary interferon-α suspension was required for one patient to address severe intestinal infection. These results indicate that splenectomy prior to interferon-based therapy was safe and may facilitate adherence to subsequent antiviral therapy in selected HCV cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension and hypersplenism.