Most of the previous in vitro digestion treatments were conducted directly to whole grains without extraction of free phenolics, thus the bioaccessible phenolics contained both free phenolics that survived the digestion and digested phenolics released by digestion. However, the profiles of digested phenolics released by digestion remain unknown. This study was designed to investigate the phytochemical contents, peroxyl radical scavenging capacities (PSCs), and cellular antioxidant activities (CAAs) of free, digested, and bound fractions of whole grains. Total phenolic contents of whole grains were highest in digested fraction, followed by free and bound fractions. The predominant phenolics were 12 phenolic acids and one flavonoid, which mostly existed in bound forms, then in digested and free forms. The digested phenolics bound to proteins were in conjugated form. The bound fractions had the highest PSCs, followed by free and digested fractions. CAAs were highest in bound fractions, followed by digested and free fractions.

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BACKGROUND: Free fractions of different blackberry varieties' extracts are high in phenolic compounds with antioxidant activities. However, the phenolic profiles and antioxidant activities against peroxyl radicals of bound fractions of different blackberry varieties' extracts have not been previously reported. In addition, what the key antioxidant phenolic compounds are in free and bound fractions of blackberry extracts remain unknown. This study aimed to investigate the phenolic profiles and antioxidant activities of free and bound fractions of eight blackberry varieties' extracts and reveal the key antioxidant phenolic compounds by boosted regression trees. RESULTS: Fifteen phenolics (three anthocyanins, four flavonols, three phenolic acids, two proanthocyanidins, and three ellagitannins) were identified in blackberry by ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Ferulic acid, ellagic acid, procyanidin C1, kaempferol-O-hexoside, ellagitannins hex, and gallic acid were major bound phenolics. Bound fractions of eight blackberry varieties' extracts were high in phenolics and showed great antioxidant activity. Boosted regression trees analysis showed that cyanidin-3-O-glucoside and chlorogenic acid were the most significant compounds, contributing 48.4% and 15.9% respectively to the antioxidant activity of free fraction. Ferulic acid was the most significant antioxidant compound in bound fraction, with a contribution of 61.5%. Principal component analysis showed that Kiowa was the best among the eight varieties due to its phenolic profile and antioxidant activity.CONCLUSION: It was concluded that blackberry varieties contained high amounts of bound phenolics, which confer health benefits through reducing oxidative stress. Ferulic acid was the key compound to explain the antioxidant activities of bound fractions.

In the knowledge era, intellectual capital (IC) has been recognized as the determinant of firm performance. The main goal of the current study is to analyze the relationship between IC and its elements and financial performance of Chinese manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We also examine whether industry type has an impact on this relationship. This study uses the data of 588 Chinese listed SMEs in the manufacturing industry between 2015 and 2020 and employs the modified value-added intellectual coefficient (MVAIC) model to assess IC. The results show that IC improves SMEs’ financial performance, and physical and human capitals are the main contributor. In addition, the impact of IC and its elements on the financial performance of Chinese manufacturing SMEs is different in different types of industries. Specifically, capital-intensive SMEs have a greater impact of IC on financial performance than labor- and technology-intensive SMEs; labor-intensive SMEs have a higher efficiency of physical capital, while technology-intensive SMEs have higher human capital efficiency. The findings could help SMEs’ managers improve corporate performance by the effective utilization of their IC.

Temperature‐dependent Raman scattering spectra of NiAs‐type MnTe epitaxial films were measured to explore the temperature evolution of phonon modes and especially the spin‐phonon coupling across Néel temperature (TN). A significant deviation from an anharmonic mode below TN strongly supports the existence of spin‐phonon interaction, and its coupling strength is calculated to be approximately −0.16 cm−1 from the E2g phonon. Two‐magnons (2M) scattering is found, which is proposed to closely relate to the nearest neighbor (NN) exchange interaction. These data elucidate the nature of the spin‐phonon coupling in antiferromagnetic (AFM) MnTe and can avail to develop MnTe‐based AFM spintronic devices.