In the current research work, electrical resistance tomography (ERT) was employed for monitoring and visualization of crystallization processes. A first-of-its-kind MATLAB-based interactive GUI application \"ERT-Vis\" is presented. Two case studies involving varied crystallization methods were undertaken. The experiments were designed and performed involving calcium carbonate reactive (precipitative) crystallization for the high conductivity solution-solute media, and the cooling crystallization of sucrose representing the lower conductivity solution-solute combination. The software successfully provided key insights regarding the process in both crystallization systems. It could detect and separate the solid concentration distributions in the low as well as high conductivity solutions using the visual analytics tools provided. The performance and utility of the software were studied using a software evaluation case study involving domain experts. Participant feedback indicated that ERT-Vis software helps by reconstructing images instantaneously, interactively visualizing, and evaluating the output of the crystallization process monitoring data.

This study aimed to explore how food supply chains were impacted by COVID-19 and identify how the region could be better prepared for future crises. An online survey was completed by 107 consumers. In-depth interviews were conducted with 27 food supply stakeholders working in food production, distribution, retail, hospitality, institutions (i.e., childcare), logistics/freight and local government. Pre-COVID-19, farmer-direct distribution options and hospitality businesses comprised a substantial proportion of local food producer businesses. During the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers favoured local food supply options, farmers collaborated, and produce usually destined for export was redirected into local markets. Critical food supply actions included keeping borders open to food freight, enhancing social capital through real-time business communication, and business flexibility. Solutions included business adaptation, for example, farmers selling produce boxes and hospitality businesses selling excess stock, COVID-safe delivery, and collaboration through digital networks. To better prepare the region for future crises, actions to support communities could include a community approach to agriculture, increasing food supply diversity, facilitating transport to aid food distribution and purchasing, and more effective messaging to discourage panic buying. Actions to support retailers could include increasing access to wholesalers through online platforms. Actions to support producers could include improving infrastructure, such as more regional distribution facilities.

Inspired by the recently proposed cooperative mechanism of hydrotropy, where water molecules mediate the aggregation of hydrotrope around the solute, this work studies the impact of apolar volume and polar group position on the performance of hydrotropes. To do so, the ability of two different families of alkanediols (1,2-alkanediols and 1,n-alkanediols) to increase the aqueous solubility of syringic acid is initially investigated. Interestingly, it is observed that in the dilute region (low hydrotrope concentration), the relative position of the hydroxyl groups of the alkanediols does not impact their performance. Instead, their ability to increase the solubility of syringic acid correlates remarkably well with the size of their alkyl chains. However, this is not the case for larger hydrotrope concentrations, where 1,2-alkanediols are found to perform, in general, better than 1,n-alkanediols. These seemingly contradictory findings are reconciled using theoretical and experimental techniques, namely the cooperative model of hydrotropy and chemical environment probes (Kamlet-Taft and pyrene polarity scales). It is found that the number of hydrotropes aggregated around a solute molecule does not increase linearly with the apolar volume of the former, reaching a maximum instead. This maximum is discussed in terms of competing solute-hydrotrope and hydrotrope-hydrotrope interactions. The results suggest that hydrotrope self-aggregation is more prevalent in 1,n-alkanediols, which negatively impacts their performance as hydrotropes. The results reported in this work support the cooperative model of hydrotropy and, from an application perspective, show that hydrotropes should be designed taking into consideration not only their apolar volume but also their ability to stabilize their self-aggregation in water, which negatively impacts their performance as solubility enhancers.

S-containing amino acids can lead to two types of local NH···S interactions which bridge backbone NH sites to the side chain to form either intra- or inter-residue H-bonds. The present work reports on the conformational preferences of S-methyl-L-cysteine, Cys(Me), using a variety of investigating tools, ranging from quantum chemistry simulations, gas-phase UV and IR laser spectroscopy, and solution state IR and NMR spectroscopies, on model compounds comprising one or two Cys(Me) residues. We demonstrate that in gas phase and in low polarity solution, the C- and N-capped model compound for one Cys(Me) residue adopts a preferred C5-C6γ conformation which combines an intra-residue N-H···O=C backbone interaction (C5) and an inter-residue N-H···S interaction implicating the side-chain sulfur atom (C6γ). In contrast, the dominant conformation of the C- and N-capped model compound featuring two consecutive Cys(Me) residues is a regular type I β-turn. This structure is incompatible with concomitant C6γ interactions, which are no longer in evidence. Instead, C5γ interactions occur, that are fully consistent with the turn geometry and additionally stabilize the structure. Comparison with the thietane amino acid Attc, which exhibits a rigid cyclic side chain, pinpoints the significance of side chain flexibility for the specific conformational behavior of Cys(Me).

Inspired by the highly efficient water oxidation of Mn4CaO5 in natural photosynthesis, development of novel artificial water oxidation catalysts (WOCs) with structure and function mimicked has inspired extensive interests. A novel 3D cobalt-based MOF (GXY-L8-Co) was synthesized for promising artificial water oxidation by employing the Co4O4 quasi-cubane motifs with a similar structure as the Mn4CaO5 as the core. The GXY-L8-Co not only shows good chemical stability in common organic solvents or water for up to 10 days but also exhibits oxygen evolution performance. It has been demonstrated that the uniform distribution of Co4O4 catalytic active sites confined in the MOF framework should be responsible for the good robustness and catalytic performance.

The use of an aqueous-based surrogate solution in at-scale process development for biopharmaceutical drug products enables significant reduction in the usage of costly drug substance and improves confidence in initial drug product production runs performed using active biotherapeutic. Strategies for the formulation design of a surrogate solution that is representative of the unit operations in a typical drug product manufacturing process for a biopharmaceutical are presented herein, and a case study for the development of a surrogate solution for an example protein drug product is discussed. The surrogate was shown to have similar physical attributes to the drug product, including viscosity, surface tension, and density. The surrogate was used in at-scale process development of compounding, filling, and lyophilization operations in a single technical run, and the performance was shown to be similar to that of the drug product solution, providing a cost-effective and readily available option for process development while minimizing operator exposure to potentially hazardous drug solution and limiting drug wastage.

β-Lactoglobulin is the most abundant protein in the whey fraction of ruminant milks, yet is absent in human milk. It has been studied intensively due to its impact on the processing and allergenic properties of ruminant milk products. However, the physiological function of β-lactoglobulin remains unclear. Using the fluorescence-detection system within the analytical ultracentrifuge, we observed an interaction involving fluorescently labelled β-lactoglobulin in its native environment, i.e. cow and goat milk, for the first time. Co-elution experiments support that these β-lactoglobulin interactions occur naturally in milk and provide evidence that the interacting partners are immunoglobulins, while further sedimentation velocity experiments confirm that an interaction occurs between these molecules. The identification of these interactions, made possible through the use of fluorescence-detected analytical ultracentrifugation, provides possible clues to the long debated physiological function of this abundant milk protein.

Chronic or recalcitrant plantar fasciitis is a cause of persistent plantar pain. These cases are usually resistant to conventional treatments consisting of exercises, orthoses, shock waves and infiltrations and require a surgical approach. Proximal medial gastrocnemius release is a surgical option that provides satisfactory results, but is not free of complications, which include injuries and nerve entrapment. We report the first published case of symptomatic medial gastrocnemius branch entrapment in the post-surgical scar of a tenotomy for the treatment of recalcitrant plantar fasciitis. We propose ultrasound-guided hydrodissection with local anesthetic as a treatment with promising results.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), especially herbal medicine compound preparation, faces great challenges in its quality control due to a myriad of components involved. How to perform quality control of TCM more effectively has been a research topic. In this study, we used Tianmeng oral liquid (TOL) as a case study and developed a comprehensive strategy based on non-targeted, targeted and bioactive analyses for quality evaluation of TOL from different batches. Firstly, a non-targeted fingerprinting analysis was performed by HPLC-DAD and UHPLC-MS/MS. Twenty-five batches of TOL were clearly discriminated by similarity analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis and components were tentatively identified. Secondly, the targeted quantitative methods based on HPLC-DAD and HPLC-MS were applied to simultaneous quantitative determination of five and eight marker compounds, especially toxic component strychnine, respectively. The quantitative data were processed with principal component analysis for differentiating different batches of samples. Finally, we explored the feasibility of establishing a total antioxidant capacity (TAC) model. How to use the peak area instead of the corresponding concentration to determine the antioxidant activity-related compounds was theoretically explained for the first time, which was of great significance for the study of the fingerprint-efficacy relationship. The orthogonal signal correction-partial least squares model was employed to predict the TAC of TOL from their chromatographic fingerprints and identify three potential antioxidant markers. These results demonstrated that the comprehensive strategy from fingerprinting, chemical composition, multiple-component quantification, and antioxidant activity could be applied to quality evaluation of TOL and discrimination of the expired and unexpired samples.

Solution phase synthesis was the first developed and the only method for peptide synthesis until the solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) introduced by Merrifield revolutionized the way peptides and their analogues are prepared nowadays. However, some peptides because of their chemical structure cannot be synthetized by SPPS, and the \"old school\" technique is still favorable to make them. Biphalin is a good example. It was first synthesized by Lipkowski almost 40 years ago as a dimeric analogue of enkephalin in which two tetra-amino acid fragments (Tyr-D-Ala-Gly-Phe-) are joined tail to tail by a hydrazide bridge. The synthesis of this octapeptide (Tyr-D-Ala-Gly-Phe-NH-NH ← Phe ← Gly ← D-Ala ← Tyr) and its analogues requires synthesis in solution because routine synthesis on a polymeric support is not possible. Biphalin shows high affinity at both μ and δ opioid receptors and produces a more robust spinal analgesia than morphine after intrathecal administration. Although biphalin and its analogues have been already deeply investigated, a complete description for its analgesic activity is not yet available.Here, we present a detailed procedure for the solution phase synthesis of biphalin.