Publications

Abstract Fresh fruits and vegetables (F&V), with their attractive sensory, flavors, and nutrients, occupy a highly valuable part of people's daily diet. Plenty of postharvest studies have focused on the effects of preservation techniques on the edible quality and nutrients of F&V. Therefore, it is crucial to summarize the research methods of those quality and nutritional indicators for F&V. This work reviews the measurement and analysis methods on these parameters of postharvest F&V which have been validated by numerous publications, including firmness, sugars/acids, pigments, phenols, etc. Importantly, some instruments are involved in these experimental methods, such as firmness tester, spectrophotometer, gas chromatograph, and so on. Furthermore, some promising analysis methods in the past decades combined with advanced technologies are also raised in our discussion. This work is expected to provide guidance and normative significance for future research on quality assessment, preservation, and processing characteristics of F&V.

This study aims to evaluate the potential in vitro antioxidant and anti-obesity activities of watermelon seed protein hydrolysates (WSPH) obtained using different combinations of enzymes alcalase–proteinase K (ALC-PK) and alcalase–actinidin (ALC-ACT). There was a direct relationship between the degree of hydrolysis (DH) and the biological activities of the WSPH, with the highest DPPH (approximately 85%) and lipase inhibitory activities (≈59%) appreciated at DH of 36–37% and 33–35% when using ALC-PK and ALC-ACT, respectively. Following molecular weight fractionation, the ALC-PK WSPH < 3 kDa (F1) assayed at 1 mg.mL−1 had the highest DPPH-radical scavenging (89.22%), ferrous chelating (FC) (79.83%), reducing power (RP) (A 0.51), lipase inhibitory (71.36%), and α-amylase inhibitory (62.08%) activities. The amino acid analysis of ALC-PK WSPH and its fractions revealed a relationship between the biological activity of the extracts and their composition. High contents of hydrophobic amino acids, arginine, and aromatic amino acids were related to high antioxidant, lipase inhibitory, and α-amylase inhibitory activities in the extracts, respectively. Overall, this study revealed that underutilized protein sources such as WSPH, using the appropriate combination of enzymes, could result in the generation of new ingredients and compounds with powerful antioxidant and anti-obesity activities with promising applications as nutraceuticals or functional foods.

Breast cancer (BC) is the most prevalent neoplasm among women. Genetic and environmental factors lead to BC development and on this basis, several preventive - screening and therapeutic interventions have been developed. Hormones, both in the form of endogenous hormonal signaling or hormonal contraceptives, play an important role in BC pathogenesis and progression. On top of these, breast microbiota includes both species with an immunomodulatory activity enhancing the host's response against cancer cells and species producing proinflammatory cytokines associated with BC development. Identification of novel multitargeted therapeutic agents with poly-pharmacological potential is a dire need to combat advanced and metastatic BC. A growing body of research has emphasized the potential of natural compounds derived from medicinal plants and microbial species as complementary BC treatment regimens, including dietary supplements and probiotics. In particular, extracts from plants such as <i>Artemisia monosperma</i> Delile<i>, Origanum dayi</i> Post<i>, Urtica membranacea</i> Poir. ex Savigny<i>, Krameria lappacea</i> (Dombey) Burdet & B.B. Simpson and metabolites extracted from microbes such as <i>Deinococcus radiodurans</i> and <i>Streptomycetes</i> strains as well as probiotics like <i>Bacillus coagulans</i> and <i>Lactobacillus brevis</i> MK05 have exhibited antitumor effects in the form of antiproliferative and cytotoxic activity, increase in tumors' chemosensitivity, antioxidant activity and modulation of BC - associated molecular pathways. Further, bioactive compounds like 3,3'-diindolylmethane, epigallocatechin gallate, genistein, rutin, resveratrol, lycopene, sulforaphane, silibinin, rosmarinic acid, and shikonin are of special interest for the researchers and clinicians because these natural agents have multimodal action and act via multiple ways in managing the BC and most of these agents are regularly available in our food and fruit diets. Evidence from clinical trials suggests that such products had major potential in enhancing the effectiveness of conventional antitumor agents and decreasing their side effects. We here provide a comprehensive review of the therapeutic effects and mechanistic underpinnings of medicinal plants and microbial metabolites in BC management. The future perspectives on the translation of these findings to the personalized treatment of BC are provided and discussed.