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The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of salicylic acid (SA), Aloe vera gel (AV), and SA + AV on quality parameters of strawberry over 15 days. Weight loss, decay, and firmness increased, while ascorbic acid (AAC), total anthocyanin (TAC), total phenolic (TPC) contents, total antioxidant activity (TAA), and sensory attributes decreased significantly during the storage time in all samples. All treatments suppressed water loss, decay, and firmness and maintained higher AAC, TAA, and TPC compared to the control. AAC loss followed a first‐order kinetic model, but TPC and TAC loss followed a zero‐order kinetic until day 5 or 10 and a first‐order reaction until the end of storage. Most of the recorded quality attributes were better preserved in the SA + AV samples, followed by the AV and then the SA treatments. The data of this study confirmed that the postharvest application of 1 mM SA + AV can improve the quality attributes of strawberry during storage. Practical applications As strawberry is mainly lost during the postharvest period, it is important to take proper strategies to overcome this problem. The results of the present study showed that the coating of the strawberry fruit with AV + SA (especially at 1 mM) retained fruit firmness, AAC, TPC, sensory attributes, and TAA and delayed strawberry decay as well. Besides, the function of AV in keeping the quality parameters of the strawberry fruit was better than that of SA. When SA is to be used as a postharvest treatment, 2 mM SA might give better results in the retention of AAC, TAC, and TPC, and 1 mM SA might give fruits with more firmness and less decay. The results of this study showed that strawberry is a good source of AAC (276.35 mg/100 g) and TPC (1,146.69 mg gallic acid equivalent/100 g) that declined to 186 and 480 mg/100 g, respectively, in the control sample after 15 days of storage, which were still high values. Meanwhile, in the samples treated with 1 mM SA + AV, AAC and TPC were 240 and 758.54 mg/100 g after 15 days of storage, respectively. In conclusion, the use of SA and AV, either alone or particularly in combination, may enhance the health aspects of strawberry through retaining AAC and TPC and therefore, increasing TAA of strawberry and also, maintaining a lower rate of weight and firmness loss.

This article (1) proposes the use of a varying sensing resistor for digital charge estimators of piezoelectric actuators, (2) shows the usefulness of this proposal and (3) derives formulae to estimate the proposed varying sensing resistor. Digital charge estimators are used for charge-based precise position control of piezoelectric actuators. In existing digital charge estimators, an uncalculated resistor is used for a wide range of operating areas. Improper choice of the sensing resistor causes excessive drop in accuracy of charge estimation and/or in the driver voltage across the actuator. These issues are shown to nearly vanish with the use of proposed varying resistors.

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IntroductionBrain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been associated with both emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD) and suicidal behavior. No study has yet investigated BDNF-associated epigenetic alterations in severely impaired EUPD and suicidal patients.ObjectivesThe main goal of the present study was to investigate whether epigenetic dysregulation in BDNF, CRP, IL-1, IL-2 and IL-6 were associated with EUPD and severity of suicidal behavior.MethodsThe discovery cohort consisted of 97 women with emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD) with at least two serious suicide attempts (SA) and 32 healthy women. The genome-wide methylation pattern was measured by the Illumina EPIC BeadChip and analyzed by robust linear regression models to investigate mean BDNF methylation levels in a targeted analysis conditioned upon severity of suicide attempt. The validation cohort consisted of 60 female suicide attempters, stratified into low- (n=45)and high-risk groups (n=15) based on degree of intent-to-die and lethality of suicide attempt method, and occurrence of death-by-suicide at follow-up.ResultsMean BDNF methylation levels exhibited hypermethylation in relation to EUPD(p=0.0343, percentage mean group difference ~3.8%). Similarly, this locus was confirmed as hypermethylated in an independent cohort of women with severe suicidal behavior (p=0.0469). Results were independent of age and BMI.ConclusionsThis study elicits emerging evidence of epigenetic dysregulation of BDNF in relation to phenotypes known to increase risk of suicide (lethality of suicide-attempt method and presence of EUPD diagnosis with history of recent SA). Further studies investigating epigenetic and genetic effects of BDNF on severe suicidal behavior and EUPD are needed to elucidate the role of epigenetic regulatory mechanisms and neurotrophic factors in relation to suicide risk.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

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