An overview is presented with regard to applications of visible and near infrared (Vis/NIR) spectroscopy, multispectral imaging and hyperspectral imaging techniques for quality attributes measurement and variety discrimination of various fruit species, i.e., apple, orange, kiwifruit, peach, grape, strawberry, grape, jujube, banana, mango and others. Some commonly utilized chemometrics including pretreatment methods, variable selection methods, discriminant methods and calibration methods are briefly introduced. The comprehensive review of applications, which concentrates primarily on Vis/NIR spectroscopy, are arranged according to fruit species. Most of the applications are focused on variety discrimination or the measurement of soluble solids content (SSC), acidity and firmness, but also some measurements involving dry matter, vitamin C, polyphenols and pigments have been reported. The feasibility of different spectral modes, i.e., reflectance, interactance and transmittance, are discussed. Optimal variable selection methods and calibration methods for measuring different attributes of different fruit species are addressed. Special attention is paid to sample preparation and the influence of the environment. Areas where further investigation is needed and problems concerning model robustness and model transfer are identified.

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This study investigated the potential of using hyperspectral imaging for detecting different diseases on tomato leaves. One hundred and twenty healthy, one hundred and twenty early blight and seventy late blight diseased leaves were selected to obtain hyperspectral images covering spectral wavelengths from 380 to 1023 nm. An extreme learning machine (ELM) classifier model was established based on full wavelengths. Successive projections algorithm (SPA) was used to identify the most important wavelengths. Based on the five selected wavelengths (442, 508, 573, 696 and 715 nm), an ELM model was re-established. Then, eight texture features (mean, variance, homogeneity, contrast, dissimilarity, entropy, second moment and correlation) based on gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) at the five effective wavelengths were extracted to establish detection models. Among the models which were established based on spectral information, all performed excellently with the overall classification accuracy ranging from 97.1% to 100% in testing sets. Among the eight texture features, dissimilarity, second moment and entropy carried most of the effective information with the classification accuracy of 71.8%, 70.9% and 69.9% in the ELM models. The results demonstrated that hyperspectral imaging has the potential as a non-invasive method to identify early blight and late blight diseases on tomato leaves.

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Background and Objective: Tea drinking is associated with positive effects on bone health and may protect against osteoporosis, especially in elderly women. Pu-erh tea has many beneficial effects on human health; however, whether Pu-erh tea has anti-osteoporotic potential remains unclear. Thus, we investigated the effects of Pu-erh tea extract (PTE) on ovariectomy-induced osteoporosis in rats and on osteoclastogenesis in vitro.Methods: Female Wistar rats were divided into six groups: the sham, model, and Xian-Ling-Gu-Bao capsule (XLGB) groups, and the low-, medium-, and high-dose PTE groups. Ovariectomized (OVX) rats were used as an animal model of osteoporosis. The animals were intragastrically administered distilled water, XLGB, or different concentrations of PTE for 13 weeks. Body weight, blood biochemical indicators, relative organ coefficients, femoral bone mineral density (BMD), bone biomechanical properties, and bone microarchitecture were examined and analyzed. Additionally, the in vitro effects of PTE on osteoclastic activities were investigated using the RAW 264.7 cell line as an osteoclast differentiation model. The effects of PTE on osteoclast differentiation and the expression of osteoclast-specific genes and proteins were determined.Results: PTE reduced OVX-induced body weight gain after 6 weeks of treatment, and the high-dose exerted a significant effect. High-dose PTE significantly ameliorated OVX-induced estradiol (E2) deficiency. PTE treatment maintained calcium and phosphorus homeostasis and improved other blood biochemical parameters to various degrees. In addition, PTE treatment improved organ coefficients of the femur, uterus, and vagina and improved femoral BMD and bone biomechanical properties. PTE treatment strikingly ameliorated bone microarchitecture. Moreover, in the in vitro studies, osteoclast differentiation using the differentiation cell model was significantly inhibited by PTE without cytotoxic effects. Additionally, PTE efficaciously suppressed the expression of key osteoclast-specific genes and proteins.Conclusion: PTE can ameliorate ovariectomy-induced osteoporosis in rats and suppress osteoclastogenesis in vitro.