The time of greatest sensitivity to radiation is during the period of organogenesis in the first twelve weeks of human foetal development. Irradiation of the adult can cause life shortening or increased incidence of leukemia. The last chapter is concerned with the basis and origin of radiation protection standards, the hazards of nuclear power plants, high altitude supersonic aerospace travel, ...

Theories of browning reactions, including carbonyl-amino, caramelization, and oxidative types, are integrated in review. A unified mechanism for browning in sugaramine systems is presented, wherein sugaramine condensation, the Amadori rearrangement, sugar dehydration by β-elimination reactions, and reductone formation are shown to be important intermediary reactions leading to the production of...

The Maillard reaction occurring between amino group and carbonyl group produces neoformed compounds having certain levels of antioxidant activity depending on the reaction conditions and the type of reactants. In this study, maillard reaction products (MRPs) derived from four model systems including chitosan-glucose (CG), chitosan-fructose (CF), chitosanmaltose (CM) and chitosan-lactose (CL) so...

Browning disorder, which usually occurs post-harvest in pears subjected to long-term storage, can cause browning of the pear flesh and/or core. In 2011, investigators in China found a novel type of brown spot (designated as surface brown spot, SBS) in pre-harvest 'Dangshansuli' pears (Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd.). SBS has a large impact on the exterior quality of the pears. Interestingly, the br...

Phenolics were extracted from litchi fruit pericarp (LFP) tissues, purified and their antioxidant properties analyzed. LFP phenolics strongly inhibited linoleic acid oxidation and exhibited a dose-dependent free-radical scavenging activity against alpha,alpha-diphenyl-beta-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH*) and hydroxyl radicals and superoxide anions. The degradation of deoxyribose by hydroxyl radicals was...

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) activation and subcutaneous white fat browning are essential components of the thermogenic response to cold stimulus in mammals. microRNAs have been shown to regulate both processes in cis. Here, we identify miR-32 as a BAT-specific super-enhancer-associated miRNA in mice that is selectively expressed in BAT and further upregulated during cold exposure. Inhibiting miR...

Manchurian ash (Fraxinus mandshurica Rupr.) is a valuable hardwood species in Northeast China. In cultures of F. mandshurica, somatic embryos were produced mainly on browned explants. Therefore, we studied the mechanism of explant browning and its relationship with somatic embryogenesis (SE). We used explants derived from F. mandshurica immature zygotic embryo cotyledons as materials. Proteins ...

To better understand the role of irisin in humans, we examined the effects of irisin in human primary adipocytes and fresh human subcutaneous white adipose tissue (scWAT). Human primary adipocytes derived from 28 female donors' fresh scWAT were used to examine the effects of irisin on browning and mitochondrial respiration, and preadipocytes were used to examine the effects of irisin on adipoge...

Initially transparent organic particulate matter (PM) can become shades of light-absorbing brown via atmospheric particle-phase chemical reactions. The production of nitrogen-containing compounds is one important pathway for browning. Semisolid or solid physical states of organic PM might, however, have sufficiently slow diffusion of reactant molecules to inhibit browning reactions. Herein, org...