modified fruits

Behavioural risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are rising among refugees, increasing chronic disease prevalence that causes morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to ascertain the prevalence, awareness and management of behavioural risk factors for NCDs among South African Durban-based refugees. A once-off quantitative, cross-sectional design was conducted on the behavioural risk factors for NCDs among 122 randomly selected Durban-based refugees using a modified version of the World Health Organisation (WHO) STEPwise approach to NCDs surveillance (STEPS) instrument...

BACKGROUND: Consuming contaminated raw vegetables and fruits is one of the primary means of parasite transmission to humans. Periodic monitoring of parasitic contamination in these food items is a crucial step in preventing the spread of parasitic disease in the community. This study was aimed at detecting intestinal parasitic contamination caused by consuming raw vegetables and fruits sold in three open-air markets and its associated factors in peri-urban areas of Jimma City, Oromia, Ethiopia...

Dietary patterns may be a crucial modifiable factor in colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. This study aimed to examine the associations of dietary patterns derived from two methods with CRC risk in Korea. In a study of 1420 CRC patients and 2840 control participants, we obtained dietary patterns by principal component analysis (PCA) and reduced rank regression (RRR) using 33 predefined food groups. The associations between dietary patterns and CRC risk were assessed using unconditional logistic regression models to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs)...

BACKGROUND: The suicide rate in bipolar disorder (BD) is among the highest across all psychiatric disorders. Identifying modifiable variables that relate to suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) in BD may inform prevention strategies. Social connectedness is a modifiable variable found to relate to STBs in the general population, but differences exist across subgroups of the general population and findings specifically in BD have been equivocal. We aimed to clarify how perceived social connectedness relates to STBs in BD...

Although saline-alkali stress can improve tomato quality, the detailed molecular processes that balance stress tolerance and quality are not well-understood. Our research links nitric oxide (NO) and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) with the control of root malate exudation and fruit malate storage, mediated by aluminium-activated malate transporter 9/14 (SlALMT9/14). By modifying a specific S-nitrosylated site on pyruvate-dependent GABA transaminase 1 (SlGABA-TP1), we have found a way to enhance both plant's saline-alkali tolerance and fruit quality...

BACKGROUND: Cholelithiasis, commonly referred to as gallstones, is a prevalent medical condition influenced by a combination of genetic factors, lifestyle choices, and dietary habits. Specific food items have been associated with an increased susceptibility to cholelithiasis, whereas others seem to offer a protective effect against its development. METHODS: In this study, we conducted a Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis using a large-scale genetic dataset comprising individuals with European ancestry to explore the potential causal relationship between diet and cholelithiasis...

BACKGROUND: The harvest of fruit can be significantly advanced with the thriving development of intelligent and automated robot technologies. Nevertheless, the picking success rate of tomato fruit still requires improvement as some fruits are unexpectedly damaged inside, which is imperceptible by machine vision. Herein, a modelling method based on modified Voronoi algorithm is proposed to reconstruct the cellular structure of tomato pericarp. RESULTS: Based on the reconstructed micro-model, the compression physical behavior of the pericarp cells is simulated to observe internal local stress and potential damage...

Artificially enhancing photosynthesis is critical for improving crop yields and fruit qualities. Nanomaterials have demonstrated great potential to enhance photosynthetic efficiency; however, the mechanisms underlying their effects are poorly understood. This study revealed that the electron transfer pathway participated in nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs)-induced photosynthetic efficiency enhancement (24.29%), resulting in the improvements of apple fruit qualities (soluble sugar content: 11.43%) in the orchard...

Chinese bayberry ( Myrica rubra or Morella rubra ; 2n = 16) produces fruit with a distinctive flavor, high nutritional, and economic value. However, previous versions of the bayberry genome lack sequence continuity. Moreover, to date, no large-scale germplasm resource association analysis has examined the allelic and genetic variations determining fruit quality traits. Therefore, in this study, we assembled a telomere-to-telomere (T2T) gap-free reference genome for the cultivar 'Zaojia' using PacBio HiFi long reads...

The Sudano-Sahelian and the high Guinea savannahs agroecological zones of Cameroon are suitable for the full development of tree crops, including mango. Unfortunately, fresh fruits exported to local and international markets are frequently rejected due to the presence of fruit fly larvae (Diptera: Tephritidae), resulting in drastic income losses and overuse of chemical control products. To promote sustainable management strategies, a 2-yr study (2020-2021) was conducted in 4 and 3 mixed orchards, respectively...

Traditional agriculture is gradually being combined with artificial intelligence technology. High-performance fruit detection technology is an important basic technology in the practical application of modern smart orchards and has great application value. At this stage, fruit detection models need to rely on a large number of labeled datasets to support the training and learning of detection models, resulting in higher manual labeling costs. Our previous work uses a generative adversarial network to translate the source domain to the target fruit images...

Addressing the pressing challenges in agriculture necessitates swift advancements in breeding programs, particularly for perennial crops like grapevines. Moving beyond the traditional biparental quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) encompassing 588 Vitis vinifera L. cultivars from a Chilean breeding program, spanning three seasons and testing 13 key yield-related traits. A strong candidate gene, Vitvi11g000454, located on chromosome 11 and related to plant response to biotic and abiotic stresses through jasmonic acid signaling, was associated with berry width and holds potential for enhancing berry size in grape breeding...

Peach is a model for Prunus genetics and genomics, however, identifying and validating genes associated to peach breeding traits is a complex task. A gene coexpression network (GCN) capable of capturing stable gene-gene relationships would help researchers overcome the intrinsic limitations of peach genetics and genomics approaches and outline future research opportunities. In this study, we created four GCNs from 604 Illumina RNA-Seq libraries. We evaluated the performance of every GCN in predicting functional annotations using an algorithm based on the 'guilty-by-association' principle...

Background: The Mediterranean diet has been linked to brain neuroprotection. Evidence from meta-analyses showed reduced risk of dementia with greater intake of vegetables and fruits, fish, and the Mediterranean diet. The current study raises important questions about the association between low risk dementia and Mediterranean diet. Objective: The objective was to evaluate the association between levels of adherence to the Mediterranean diet and dementia and cognitive status in subjects 50 years of age and older...

BACKGROUND: Extensive research has been conducted on fruit development in crops, but the metabolic regulatory networks underlying perennial fruit trees remain poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of the metabolome, proteome, transcriptome, DNA methylome, and small RNAome profiles of pear fruit flesh at 11 developing stages, spanning from fruitlet to ripening. Here, we systematically investigate the metabolic landscape and regulatory network involved...

Apple fruit skin color fading is not well understood although the molecular mechanism of skin color formation is well known. The red-fleshed apple cultivar 'Daihong' (DH) exhibited fading skin color during fruit development despite having a heterozygous R6 allele but lacking Red-TE for red fruit skin. In this study, transcriptomic analysis revealed the expression level of MdMYB10 increased with fruit development whereas reduced expression levels of MdMYBPA1 , MdCHS , MdANS , MdUFGT , MdLAR , and MdANR were observed, consistent with decreased levels of chalcone, anthocyanin, catechin, epicatechin, and procyanidin B2...

Lactones are cyclic esters of hydroxy carboxylic acids, present in several fruits and animals consumed by humans. There is evidence that some lactones modify insect behavior. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the repellent effect of four lactones (γ- and δ-nonalactone, and γ- and δ-dodecalactone) in first instar nymphs of the German cockroach, Blattella germanica (Linnaeus). To assess repellency, a nymph was placed on a circle of filter paper, half of which had been treated with lactone dissolved in acetone and the other half with acetone alone...

BACKGROUND: Healthy diets and physical exercise, two modifiable lifestyle factors, are protective against depression in older adults. This study aimed to investigate whether physical exercise may influence the associations of dietary habits with depression in Chinese community-dwelling older adults. METHODS: In the 2018 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, 12,708 community-dwelling older adults aged ≥65 years were included for analyses...

Dimethoate (DIM) as an organophosphorus pesticide is widely utilized especially in the cultivation of vegetables and fruits due to its killing effect on harmful insects. However, unconscious use of DIM in large amounts can also cause serious health problems. For these reasons, rapid and reliable detection of DIM from food samples is significant. In this study, a novel quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor based on erbium molybdate incorporating sulfur-doped graphitic carbon nitride (EM/S-g-C3 N4 ) and a molecularly imprinting polymer (MIP) was designed for DIM detection in apple juice samples...

The primary challenges in fruit and vegetable preservation include extending storage duration while preserving sensory quality and nutritional value. In this study, sesbania gum (SG) was oxidized to prepare oxidized sesbania gum (OSG). An OSG/ZnO composite film was subsequently prepared, combining OSG, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), and nano-zinc oxide (nano-ZnO). The preparation technology was determined via a response surface optimization experiment. When the addition amount of nano-ZnO exceeded 0...