The extracting technology including ultrasonic and microwave assisted extraction (UMAE) and ultrasonic assisted extraction (UAE) of lycopene from tomato paste were optimized and compared. The results showed that the optimal conditions for UMAE were 98 W microwave power together with 40 KHz ultrasonic processing, the ratio of solvents to tomato paste was 10.6:1 (V/W) and the extracting time should be 367 s; as for UAE, the extracting temperature was 86.4 degrees C, the ratio of the solvents to tomato paste was 8.0:1 (V/W) and the extracting time should be 29.1 min, while the percentage of lycopene yield was 97.4% and 89.4% for UMAE and UAE, respectively. These results implied that UMAE was far more efficient extracting method than UAE.

Pork longissimus muscle was oxidized at 4 °C by mixed 10 μM FeCl(3)/100 μM ascorbate with 1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 mM H(2)O(2) (pH 6.2). Oxidation with >1 mM H(2)O(2) for 40 min significantly (P < 0.05) enhanced hydration of muscle samples, whereas oxidation with 40 and 50 mM H(2)O(2) for 2 min or with 20 mM H(2)O(2) for 40 min caused pronounced declines in water-holding capacity and product yield. The changes coincided with marked increases in the protein carbonyl content, TBARS formation, and cross-linking of both myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic proteins. Dye-tracing tests showed that the enhanced hydration at >1 mM H(2)O(2) was due to facilitated water diffusion into muscle tissue. This result was strongly corroborated by microscopic images that illustrated enlargements of intercellular spacing, that is, gaps, in oxidized muscle tissue, which served as canals for water diffusion.

Background Systemic corticosteroids are now recommended in many treatment guidelines, though supporting evidence is limited to one randomised controlled clinical trial (RECOVERY). Objective To identify whether corticosteroids were beneficial to COVID-19 patients. Methods 1514 severe and 249 critical hospitalized COVID-19 patients from two medical centers in Wuhan, China. Multivariable Cox models, Cox model with time-varying exposure and propensity score analysis (inverse-probability-of-treatment-weighting (IPTW) and propensity score matching (PSM)) were used to estimate the association of corticosteroid use with risk of in-hospital mortality in severe and critical cases. Results Corticosteroids were administered in 531 (35.1%) severe and 159 (63.9%) critical patients. Compared to non-corticosteroid group, systemic corticosteroid use was not associated with beneficial effect in reducing in-hospital mortality in both severe cases (HR=1.77, 95% CI: 1.08-2.89, p=0.023), and critical cases (HR=2.07, 95% CI: 1.08-3.98, p=0.028). Findings were similar in time-varying Cox analysis. For severe COVID-19 patients at admission, corticosteroid use was not associated with improved or harmful outcome in either PSM or IPTW analysis. For critical COVID-19 patients at admission, results were consistent with multivariable Cox model analysis. Conclusion Corticosteroid use was not associated with beneficial effect in reducing in-hospital mortality for severe or critical cases in Wuhan. Absence of the beneficial effect in our study in contrast to that was observed in the RECOVERY clinical trial may be due to biases in observational data, in particular prescription by indication bias, differences in clinical characteristics of patients, choice of corticosteroid used, timing of initiation of treatment and duration of treatment.