Publications by authors named "Hujun Xie"

In this study, a domestic cooking process based on two soaking stages was designed to reduce starch digestibility in japonica, indica, and waxy rice. Compared with the control rice prepared via a conventional method, each cooked rice prepared under optimal conditions (treated rice) exhibited lower protein and lipid content, similar starch levels but with a higher amylose ratio, and greater sensory acceptability. In vitro digestion assessments indicated that each treated rice had less rapidly digested starch (RDS) and more slowly digestible starch (SDS) and resistant starch (RS) than the control rice.

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Resveratrol (Res), a naturally occurring hydrophobic polyphenol, boasts numerous health-promoting bio-functionalities. However, its limited water solubility and stability impede further applications in the food industry. This study aims to address these challenges by fabricating stable Res-loaded lysozyme fibrils/zein (Ly-F/Z) complexes.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Research reveals that low concentrations of collagen hydrolysate (15 mg/mL) significantly enhance the stability of red cabbage anthocyanins, extending their half-life by 6.2 times.
  • * The study also shows that collagen hydrolysate forms complexes with anthocyanins, improving their antioxidant properties and revealing interaction details through advanced techniques like microscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance.
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Soluble dietary fibre (SDF) has gained growing interest because of its multiple functional and nutritional benefits. In the current study, the effect of SDF extracted from eucheuma seaweed on both the physicochemical properties and the released metabolites of yellow cakes was evaluated systematically. The results revealed that the addition of SDF induced increases in specific gravity, specific volume and water content of yellow cakes, and caused a decrease in weight loss and changes in texture and colour.

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Novel nanoparticles (Z-R/H) were successfully fabricated by a resveratrol-grafted zein covalent conjugate (Z-R) combined with quaternary ammonium chitosan (HTCC), which were used as stabilizers to prepare peppermint oil (PO) Pickering emulsions with antioxidant activity. HTCC effectively adjusted wettability of Z-R conjugate, and three-phase contact angle of Z-R/H was moderate (95.01°).

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Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are a group of heterogeneous compounds formed during the Maillard Reaction (MR) and have been proven to be detrimental to human health. In addition to thermally processed foods, the digestive tract may be an additional site for exogenous AGE formation since the MR would possibly occur between (oligo-)peptides, free amino acids, and reactive MR products (MRPs) such as α-dicarbonyl compounds (α-DCs) along the digestion. In this study, through establishing a simulated gastrointestinal (GI) model consisting of whey protein isolate (WPI) and two typical α-DCs, , methylglyoxal (MGO) or glyoxal (GO), we first validated that co-digestion of WPI with α-DCs generated extra amounts of AGEs in a precursor-dependent manner, especially seen in the intestinal stage.

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Article Synopsis
  • Comprehensive screening of aquatic products revealed the presence and benefits of EPA and DHA-structured phospholipids, which are important for cardiovascular health.
  • A new method, PreIS-HILIC/MS, identified 80 different phospholipid molecules, with Antarctic krill being the richest source of these beneficial compounds.
  • The study highlighted significant variations in phospholipid content among different aquatic species, suggesting dietary recommendations for improved health benefits.
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Aromatic metallacycles are of considerable current interest. Reported aromatic metallacycles are mainly those with carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur. In this work, we report the synthesis and characterization of aromatic chloroosmacyclopentatrienes, which represent the first structurally confirmed metallaaromatic with a chlorine atom in its framework.

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Accurate and efficient detection of food freshness is of great significance to guarantee food safety. Herein, pH sensitive colorimetric films with considerable biological activities have been prepared by combining red cabbage anthocyanin extracts (RCE) with collagen hydrolysate-chitosan (CH-CS) matrix film. The formation mechanism of CH-CS-RCE films was discussed by SEM, FT-IR and XRD, which showed that RCE was successfully fixed in CH-CS film through hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interaction.

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Article Synopsis
  • The lindenane dimeric sesquiterpenoids, known for their diverse biological activities, can be synthesized using a specific Diels-Alder reaction that shows -selectivity.
  • Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to investigate how pyridines influence this -selectivity by analyzing the reaction mechanisms with D-A monomers.
  • Findings indicate that hydrogen bonding plays a crucial role in promoting -selectivity, providing valuable insights for developing improved catalysts for Diels-Alder reactions in biomimetic synthesis.
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Allergy has become a public health problem worldwide, but effective diagnostic and therapeutic approaches are limited currently. Amino acids are essential macronutrients that potentially participated in the allergy process. This work aimed to investigate whether amino acids can be applied as a mediator for allergy diagnosis and therapy.

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Lipid oxidation is still a major problem complicating the development of food emulsions. In this study, an antioxidant Pickering emulsion stabilized by resveratrol-grafted zein (Z-R) conjugates and pectin (P) complex particles was prepared. The hydrophilic pectin successfully adjusted the wettability of Z-R; when the mass ratio of Z-R to P was 2:1 (Z-R/P), the three-phase contact angle was 90.

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To improve the viability of Lactobacillus plantarum (P) during digestion and storage, the probiotics were encapsulated by alginate (ALG) and alginate-gelatin (ALG-GE) hydrogels beads. ALG-P-GE showed much better physicochemical properties than ALG-P. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results validated the incorporation of bacterial cells into the beads.

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Probiotics are sensitive to external conditions, resulting in low survival rates after being ingested or during food production, transportation and storage. In order to improve the survival rate of Lactobacillus plantarum (LP) during gastrointestinal digestion, storage, and freeze-drying, alginate-whey protein isolate (ALG-WPI) and alginate-pectin-whey protein isolate (ALG-PEC-WPI) composites were employed to encapsulate LP. The encapsulation efficiency of ALG-WPI-LP and ALG-PEC-WPI-LP beads both reached more than 99 %.

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Lipase-catalyzed transesterification of structured phospholipids (sPLs) is a hot topic, but the structural variation of the fatty acyl chains in intact phospholipids at the molecular level remains unclear to date. The present study explored the detailed characteristics of synthesized phospholipids through high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) in precursor ion scan mode. The optimal conditions were in-depth inspected and determined for the reaction system, including phospholipase A1 as catalyst, 15% lipase loading, and 1% water content.

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Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) has many excellent qualities such as its antitumor, antiradiation and anti-oxidation properties, but its application is limited because its oral bioavailability is low and stability is poor. In this paper, zein and gum arabic (GA) were used as wall materials to prepare Zein-GA complex nanoparticles for encapsulating and protecting the EGCG. The particle size of Zein-GA-EGCG complex nanoparticles ranged from 128.

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Label-free quantitative proteomics and weighted protein co-expression network (WPCNA) strategy was used to determine the molecular mechanisms about how did the low temperature vacuum heating (LTVH) improve the texture quality of sturgeon fillets compared to traditional cooking (TC). Results showed that LTVH can reduce the accumulation of lactate and malondialdehyde (MDA) in sturgeon fillets, and decrease the degradation of myofibrillar protein. 594 proteins were identified, 26 and 10 key differentially abundant proteins (KDAPs) were observed in LTVH50-15 vs TC100-15 and LTVH60-15 vs TC100-15 groups, respectively.

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This was the first study to perform correlation analysis to determine the relationships between tertiary structural and rheological properties of the myofibrillar proteins (MPs) under ultrasound treatment (UT, frequency 20 kHz, power 500 W, intensity 30 %) for 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 min. The objectives of this study were to 1) characterize the changes of the small and large deformation rheological properties of MPs based on the tertiary structural changes; 2) determine relationships of rheological property, tertiary structural changes, and UT time. The results showed that UT could enhance the structural rigidity and the resistance of the system to permanent deformation observed in rheological tests.

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The price of mammalian milk from different animal species varies greatly due to differences in their yield and nutritional value. Therefore, the authenticity of dairy products has become a hotspot issue in the market due to the replacement or partial admixture of high-cost milk with its low-cost analog. Herein, four common commercial varieties of milk, including goat milk, buffalo milk, Holstein cow milk, and Jersey cow milk, were successfully profiled and differentiated from each other by rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry (REIMS) combined with chemometric analysis.

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Peppermint oil emulsions were prepared by using zein-lecithin-EGCG (Z-L/E) complex nanoparticles as emulsifiers. The preparation conditions of emulsions were optimized via measuring the particle size, surface tension and stability of emulsions, and peppermint oil of 3% (particle size = 375 nm, polydispersity index (PDI) = 0.45), the zein:lecithin ratio of 4:1 (w/w) (particle size = 396 nm), and the zein:EGCG ratio of 10:1 (w/w) (surface tension = 47.

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A hydrogen atom transfer (HAT)-initiated Dowd-Beckwith rearrangement reaction was developed, which enables the efficient assembly of diversely functionalized polyquinane frameworks. By incorporation of an iridium-catalyzed regio- and enantioselective hydrogenation and a diastereocontrolled ODI-[5+2] cycloaddition/pinacol rearrangement cascade reaction, the asymmetric total syntheses of eight tetraquinane natural products, including (-)-crinipellins A-F and (-)-dihydrocrinipellins A and B, have been achieved in a concise and divergent manner.

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Long-term pharmacotherapy, serving as the main therapeutic approach for epilepsy prophylaxis, has suffered from limited efficacy and potential side effects because of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and untimely medication. Here, we reported a nanoengineered drug delivery system for synergistic brain-targeting delivery and on-demand drug release of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). The dopamine-pyrrole hybrid system can improve delivery efficiency through a combination of receptor-mediated transcytosis and BBB disruption–enabled transport induced by photothermal conversion of near-infrared light.

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Novel zein and resveratrol conjugates were fabricated by alkaline and free radical grafting reactions. The grafting efficiency and total phenolic content of alkaline treated conjugates were slightly higher than those of free radical grafting. Compared to native and alkaline treated zein, the sulfhydryl contents of conjugates were obviously decreased, confirming that nucleophilic addition of resveratrol to sulfhydryl group of zein formed stable CS covalent bonds.

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Article Synopsis
  • * The PGFE-CN emulsion showed the smallest droplet size (231.77 nm) and maintained stability over 4 weeks without significant changes in size or zeta potential, even under various conditions like pH and freeze-thaw cycles.
  • * The PGFE-CN emulsifier is particularly effective for improving the stability and shelf life of oil or protein-based beverages (like coconut or walnut milk) by preventing separation and enhancing overall homogeneity.
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This study aimed to reveal the molecular mechanisms associated with off-flavor generation in sturgeon fillets treated by low temperature vacuum heating (LTVH). Label-free quantitative proteomics was used to identify 120 favor-related proteins, 27 proteins were screened as differentially expressed for bioinformatics analysis. 17 of KEGG pathways were identified.

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