Browsing by Author "Qiu Y"

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    A Study of the Interaction, Morphology, and Structure in Trypsin-Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate Complexes
    (MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2021-07-28) Liu J; Ghanizadeh H; Li X; Han Z; Qiu Y; Zhang Y; Chen X; Wang A; Tresserra-Rimbau A; Bresciani L
    Understanding the interaction between proteins and polyphenols is of significance to food industries. The aim of this research was to investigate the mode of aggregation for trypsin-EGCG (Epigallocatechin-3-gallate) complexes. For this, the complex was characterized by fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) spectra, small-angel X-ray scattering (SAXS), and atomic force microscope (AFM) techniques. The results showed that the fluorescence intensity of trypsin-EGCG complexes decreased with increasing the concentration of EGCG, indicating that the interaction between trypsin and EGCG resulted in changes in the microenvironment around fluorescent amino acid residues. The results of CD analysis showed conformational changes in trypsin after binding with EGCG. The results from SAXS analysis showed that the addition of EGCG results in the formation of aggregates of trypsin-EGCG complexes, and increasing the concentration of EGCG resulted in larger aggregates. AFM images showed that the trypsin-EGCG complex formed aggregates of irregular ellipsoidal shapes with the size of about 200 × 400 × 200 nm, with EGCG interconnecting the trypsin particles. Overall, according to these results, it was concluded that the large aggregates of trypsin-EGCG complexes are formed from several small aggregates that are interconnected. The results of this study shed some light on the interaction between digestive enzymes and EGCG.
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    Combining data from consumers and traditional medicine practitioners to provide a more complete picture of Chinese bear bile markets
    (John Wiley and Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society, 2021-10-07) Hinsley A; Hu S; Chen H; Garshelis D; Hoffmann M; Lee TM; Moyle B; Qiu Y; Ruan X; Wan AKY; Zhou J; Milner-Gulland EJ; Friant S
    1. Understanding wildlife consumption is essential for the design and evaluation of effective conservation interventions to reduce illegal trade. This requires understanding both the consumers themselves and those who influence their behaviour. For example, in markets for wildlife-based medicines, both consumers and medical practitioners have a role in which products are consumed. 2. We used mixed methods to triangulate data on bear bile consumption from 3,646 members of the public, 80 pharmacy workers and 38 Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) doctors in four provincial capital cities across China. Bear bile can be sold legally in packaged TCM products made from farmed bile, or sold illegally, often as raw gallbladders from wild bears. We interviewed medical practitioners, and surveyed the public using both direct questions (DQ) and the Unmatched Count Technique (UCT), an indirect method used to improve reporting of sensitive behaviours. We applied a ‘combined’ UCT-DQ analysis to produce a more robust consumption estimate. 3. In all, 140 (3.8%) survey respondents directly reported recent (<3 years) bile consumption, but the combined UCT-DQ estimate was 11.2%. In total, 14 survey respondents (0.4% sample and 10% recent consumers) self-reported recent wild bile consumption. Almost a quarter of doctors and half of pharmacy workers had ever prescribed bile. 4. Around half of doctors and over a quarter of pharmacy workers said that bear bile was the best medicine in certain situations. More than half of doctors and over a third of pharmacy workers thought wild bile was more effective than farmed, although we found no evidence of wild bile being formally prescribed. Consumers could name specific treatment uses of bile but almost half of recent consumers did not know the source of bile they had consumed. 5. We show that gathering perspectives from different wildlife market actors can generate a more complete picture of trade. In China, bile consumption may be limited by its specific TCM treatment uses, but whether practitioner views on the greater effectiveness of wild bile are passed to consumers must be investigated further. With potential overlap between farmed and wild consumption, any interventions to change these markets must carefully consider how both consumers and practitioners may react.
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    Understanding why consumers in China switch between wild, farmed, and synthetic bear bile products
    (Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology, 2022-06) Hinsley A; Wan AKY; Garshelis D; Hoffmann M; Hu S; Lee TM; Meginnis K; Moyle B; Qiu Y; Ruan X; Milner-Gulland EJ
    An important rationale for legally farmed and synthetic wildlife products is that they reduce illegal, wild-sourced trade by supplying markets with sustainable alternatives. For this to work, more established illegal-product consumers must switch to legal alternatives than new legal-product consumers switch to illegal wild products. Despite the widespread debate on the magnitude and direction of switching, studies among actual consumers are lacking. We used an anonymous online survey of 1421 traditional Chinese medicine consumers in China to investigate switching among legal farmed, synthetic, and illegal wild bear bile. We examined the past consumption behavior, applied a discrete choice experiment framed within worsening hypothetical disease scenarios, and used latent class models to investigate groups with shared preferences. Bear bile consumers (86% respondents) were wealthier, more likely to have family who consumed bile, and less knowledgeable about bile treatments than nonconsumers. Consumer preferences were heterogenous, but most consumer preferences switched between bile types as disease worsened. We identified five distinct latent classes within our sample: law-abiding consumers (34% respondents), who prefer legal products and were unlikely to switch; two all-natural consumer groups (53%), who dislike synthetics but may switch between farmed and wild; and two nonconsumer groups (12%), who prefer not to buy bile. People with past experience of bile consumption had different preferences than those without. Willingness to switch to wild products was related to believing they were legal, although the likelihood of switching was mediated by preferences for cheaper products sold in legal, familiar places. We found that consumers of wild bile may switch to legal alternatives, given the availability of a range of products, whereas legal-product consumers may switch to illegal products if the barriers to doing so are small. Understanding preferences that promote or impede switching should be a key consideration when attempting to predict consumer behavior in complex wildlife markets.