Our daily electromagnetic environment is becoming increasingly complex with the rapid development of consumer electronics and wireless communication technologies, which in turn necessitates the development of electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, especially for transparent components. We engineered a transparent EMI shielding film with crack-template based metallic mesh (CT-MM) that shows highly homogeneous light transmission and strong microwave shielding efficacy. The CT-MM film is fabricated using a cost-effective lift-off method based on a crackle template. It achieves a shielding effectiveness of ~26 dB, optical transmittance of ~91% and negligible impact on optical imaging performance. Moreover, high–quality CT-MM film is demonstrated on a large–calibre spherical surface. These excellent properties of CT-MM film, together with its advantages of facile large-area fabrication and scalability in processing on multi-shaped substrates, make CT-MM a powerful technology for transparent EMI shielding in practical applications.

Chitinases are listed as one class of pathogenesis-related proteins, and they have become a popular research topic because of their resistance to plant-pathogenic diseases. A chitinase with antifungal activity was isolated from the Canadian cranberry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). The procedure included extraction, ammonium sulfate precipitation, affinity chromatography on Affi-gel blue gel, CM-Sephadex C-50, and Sephadex G-75. There was an almost 108-fold increase in specific activity of the purified chitinase compared with that of the crude extract. The enzyme exhibited a molecular mass of 30.6 kDa in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis both under reducing and non-reducing conditions, indicating that it was a monomeric protein. The pI was determined to be 7.6 by isoelectric-focusing electrophoresis. The optimum pH and the optimum temperature for activity towards N-acetyl-glucosamine was 5.4 and 40-55 degrees C, respectively. It exerted a potent inhibitory action toward fungal species including Botrytis cinerea, Physalospora piricola, Fusarium oxysporum, and Pythium aphanidermatum. The chitinase was thermostable up to 58 degrees C in both enzymatic reaction and antifungal activity. The present findings demonstrated a thermostable chitinase from cranberry beans with potentially exploitable significance.

To date, the published information on trans fatty acids (TFAs) in food products in China remains scarce and of questionable accuracy. Systematic approaches to educate the consumers and to ensure proper labeling of TFAs are among the many urgent challenges the regulatory agencies in this rapidly growing country have to face. In the present study, 97 most popular, national brand food products on the Chinese market, including 6 cheeses, 10 chocolates, 10 crisps, chips, and fries, 10 ice creams, 15 margarines, 10 pies and cakes, 8 sauces and dressings, 19 wafers and biscuits, and 9 Chinese-style snacks, were assayed to profile their fat content and fatty acid composition, particularly the TFAs. The highest level of TFAs, up to 30.9% of total fatty acids, were found in pies. The average TFAs contents in different product categories, ranging from high to low, were: pie and cake (12.07%), cheese (6.95%), margarine (5.09%), wafer and biscuit (4.35%), ice cream (2.67%), sauce and dressing (2.65%), crisps, chips, and fries (2.15%), chocolate (1.44%), and Chinese-style snacks (0.83%). One hundred percent of cheese contained TFAs, so did pie and cake, followed by crisps, chips, and fries (90%), sauce and dressing (88%), ice cream and margarine (80%), chocolate (60%), wafer and biscuit (53%), then Chinese-style snacks (33%). Profiling of key TFAs constituents could yield information characteristic to the types of partially hydrogenated oils employed, which is a critical step towards product reformulation in order to reduce or eliminate TFAs in the products.

No abstract