Carbohydrate and lipid composition of vegetables, and bioavalability assessed in a rat model: Impact different cultivation systems

Environmental as well as cultivation factors may greatly influence the chemical composition of plants. The main factors affecting chemical composition of foodstuff is level and type of fertilizer (conventional and organic cultivation systems), location or soiltype and year of harvest. Organic foods are defined as products which are produced under controlled cultivation conditions characterized by the absence of synthetic fertilizers and very restricted use of pesticides. Dietary carbohydrates constitute a major fraction of most feedstuffs and can be divided according to glycosidic linkage into sugars (mono- and disaccharides), oligosaccharides, starch and non-starch polysaccharides (NSP). The bulk of disaccharides and starch will be broken down by the action of pancreatic and mucosal enzymes in the small intestine, while there are no enzymes capable of cleaving some types of oligosaccharides and NSP. A fraction of starch (resistant starch) may also pass the small intestine undegraded either because the starch is physically inaccessible, the starch has a structure that resist amylolysis or the starch is retrograded after heat treatment. Lignin is not a carbohydrate but is tightly associated to cell wall polysaccharides. The term dietary fibre (DF) is used for cell wall and storage NSP and lignin. Adequate intake of dietary fibre are generally accepted as linked to health benefit into a protective role in large bowel cancer, diabetes, coronary heart disease and the issue of faecal bulking. Linoleic (C18:2 n-6) and α-linolenic (C18:3 n-3) are essential fatty acids, which cannot be synthesized in the mammalian organism, and therefore must be supplied in the diet of animals and man. These fatty acids are precursors for the important longer chain higher polyunsaturated fatty acids of the n-6 and n-3 families. Although fats are essential part of the diet, but if consumed in excess, they may exert negative effects on human weight change. Potatoes, carrots, peas, green kale, apple, and rapeseed were grown by three different cultivation strategies, i.e. organic (ORG), conventional (CON), or semi-organic (ORG+) farming system. Each ingredient was treated as for application for human consumption: potatoes, mature, soaked peas and kale were boiled and raw carrots and apples were shredded, and the food was then freeze-dried and packed into airtight bags. Rapeseed oil was produced from the air-dried rapeseeds of the three cultivation treatments, and the residual was discarded. The carbohydrate fraction of the ingredients except rapeseed oil was analysed into: starch, sugars, oligosaccharides and all its constituents and lignin. Likewise the dietary lipids of all ingredients were extracted and the long-chain fatty acids determined by GLC. The ingredients were mixed with a standard synthetic mixture and were formulated to meet the NRC requirements for rats and used in a balance experiments for measuring the bioavalability of the ingredients. Carbohydrate and lignin were predominant dietary constituents with value from 584 g/kg DM in kale to 910 g/kg DM in potatoes. Triacylglycerol was the major lipid class in pea with 82 % of total fatty acids in contrast to apple with only 35 % of fatty acids of the ether extract

Barriers to obstetric fistula treatment in low-income countries: A systematic review

Obstetric fistula is a maternal morbidity condition that occurs in some low-income countries and is caused by prolonged obstructed labor that results in a hole between the vagina and the bladder or rectum through which urine or feces leak. Unrepaired fistula can lead to lifelong ostracism, stigma, and shame. Obstetric fistula is preventable and treatable, but women in these countries experience delays in seeking repair due to a number of factors including awareness of their condition as well as the potential for treatment, resources necessary for seeking care, lack of skilled fistula surgeons, and long hospital waiting times. UNFPA estimates that 2 to 3.5 million women are currently living with fistula worldwide. The true number may actually be higher. This review aims to identify and understand the barriers affecting women’s access to fistula repair, to inform the design of possible interventions that may be effective in addressing these barriers. This work may also identify research gaps surrounding fistula in low-income countries that require targeted formative research before interventions can be designed

Quantitative analysis of fundusimage sequences reveals phase of spontaneous venous pulsations. Trans Vis Sci

Purpose: Spontaneous venous pulsation correlates negatively with elevated intracranial pressure and papilledema, and it relates to glaucoma. Yet, its etiology remains unclear. A key element to elucidate its underlying mechanism is the time at which collapse occurs with respect to the heart cycle, but previous reports are contradictory. We assessed this question in healthy subjects using quantitative measurements of both vein diameters and artery lateral displacements; the latter being used as the marker of the ocular systole time. Methods: We recorded 5-second fundus sequences with a near-infrared scanning laser ophthalmoscope in 12 young healthy subjects. The image sequences were coregistered, cleaned from microsaccades, and filtered via a principal component analysis to remove nonpulsatile dynamic features. Time courses of arterial lateral displacement and of diameter at sites of spontaneous venous pulsation or proximal to the disk were retrieved from those image sequences and compared. Results: Four subjects displayed both arterial and venous pulsatile waveforms. On those, we observed venous diameter waveforms differing markedly among the subjects, ranging from a waveform matching the typical intraocular pressure waveform to a close replica of the arterial waveform. Conclusions: The heterogeneity in waveforms and arteriovenous phases suggests that the mechanism governing the venous outflow resistance differs among healthy subjects. Translational relevance: Further characterizations are necessary to understand the heterogeneous mechanisms governing the venous outflow resistance as this resistance is altered in glaucoma and is instrumental when monitoring intracranial hypertension based on fundus observations

One-Stop Dispensing:Hospital Costs and Patient Perspectives on Self-Management of Medication

(1) Objective: To assess hospital medication costs and staff time between One-Stop Dispensing (OSD) and the Traditional Medication System (TMS), and to evaluate patient perspectives on OSD. (2) Methods: The study was conducted at Hvidovre Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Denmark in an elective gastric surgery and acute orthopedic surgery department. This study consists of three sub-studies including adult patients able to self-manage medication. In Sub-study 1, staff time used to dispense and administer medication in TMS was assessed. Medication cost and OSD staff time were collected in Sub-study 2, while patient perspectives were assessed in Sub-study 3. Medication costs with two days of discharge medication were compared between measured OSD cost and simulated TMS cost for the same patients. Measured staff time in OSD was compared to simulated staff time in TMS for the same patients. Patient satisfaction related to OSD was evaluated by a questionnaire based on a five-point Likert scale (‘very poor’ (1) to ‘very good’ (5)). (3) Results: In total, 78 elective and 70 acute OSD patients were included. Overall, there was no significant difference between OSD and TMS in medication cost per patient ($2.03 [95% CI −0.57–4.63]) (p = 0.131). Compared with TMS, OSD significantly reduced staff time by an average of 12 min (p ≤ 0.001) per patient per hospitalization. The patients’ satisfaction for OSD was high with an average score of 4.5 ± 0.7. (4) Conclusion: There were no differences in medication costs, but staff time was significantly lower in OSD and patients were overall satisfied with OSD

Postsocialist, Postmigrant, and Postcolonial Dynamics

Germany’s memoryscape is transforming. Long structured by a focus on the Nazi past and the Holocaust, in which other memories tended to be marginalized out of concern that they might relativize this terrible history, it is increasingly incorporating – and being changed by – other strands of collective remembrance. In particular, Germany’s socialist and colonial pasts, and its multiple histories of migration are gaining significant public presence. How do these mnemonic impulses come together and interact? What are the implications for the dynamics of public remembering? Drawing on ethnographic and other original research, this issue provides new insights into the ongoing transformation.Peer Reviewe

Measures of Performance and Proficiency in Robotic-Assisted Surgery : A Systematic Review

The first author received a research grant from RCS England and Health Education England in November 2021 until present to complete the study.Peer reviewedPostprin

Parameters Governing the Community Structure and Element Turnover in Kermadec Volcanic Ash and Hydrothermal Fluids as Monitored by Inorganic Electron Donor Consumption, Autotrophic CO2 Fixation and 16S Tags of the Transcriptome in Incubation Experiments

The microbial community composition and its functionality was assessed for hydrothermal fluids and volcanic ash sediments from Haungaroa and hydrothermal fluids from the Brothers volcano in the Kermadec island arc (New Zealand). The Haungaroa volcanic ash sediments were dominated by epsilonproteobacterial Sulfurovum sp. Ratios of electron donor consumption to CO2 fixation from respective sediment incubations indicated that sulfide oxidation appeared to fuel autotrophic CO2 fixation, coinciding with thermodynamic estimates predicting sulfide oxidation as the major energy source in the environment. Transcript analyses with the sulfide-supplemented sediment slurries demonstrated that Sulfurovum prevailed in the experiments as well. Hence, our sediment incubations appeared to simulate environmental conditions well suggesting that sulfide oxidation catalyzed by Sulfurovum members drive biomass synthesis in the volcanic ash sediments. For the Haungaroa fluids no inorganic electron donor and responsible microorganisms could be identified that clearly stimulated autotrophic CO2 fixation. In the Brothers hydrothermal fluids Sulfurimonas (49%) and Hydrogenovibrio/Thiomicrospira (15%) species prevailed. Respective fluid incubations exhibited highest autotrophic CO2 fixation if supplemented with iron(II) or hydrogen. Likewise catabolic energy calculations predicted primarily iron(II) but also hydrogen oxidation as major energy sources in the natural fluids. According to transcript analyses with material from the incubation experiments Thiomicrospira/Hydrogenovibrio species dominated, outcompeting Sulfurimonas. Given that experimental conditions likely only simulated environmental conditions that cause Thiomicrospira/Hydrogenovibrio but not Sulfurimonas to thrive, it remains unclear which environmental parameters determine Sulfurimonas’ dominance in the Brothers natural hydrothermal fluids

App-delivered self-management intervention trial selfBACK for people with low back pain: protocol for implementation and process evaluation

Background: Implementation and process evaluation is vital for understanding how interventions function in different settings, including if and why interventions have different effects or do not work at all. Objective: This paper presents the protocol for an implementation and process evaluation embedded in a multicenter randomized controlled trial conducted in Denmark and Norway (the selfBACK project). selfBACK is a data-driven decision support system that provides participants with weekly self-management plans for low back pain. These plans are delivered through a smartphone app and tailored to individual participants by using case-based reasoning methodology. In the trial, we compare selfBACK in addition to usual care with usual care alone. Methods: The aim of this study is to conduct a convergent mixed-methods implementation and process evaluation of the selfBACK app by following the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance framework. We will evaluate the process of implementing selfBACK and investigate how participants use the intervention in daily life. The evaluation will also cover the reach of the intervention, health care provider willingness to adopt it, and participant satisfaction with the intervention. We will gather quantitative measures by questionnaires and measures of data analytics on app use and perform a qualitative exploration of the implementation using semistructured interviews theoretically informed by normalization process theory. Data collection will be conducted between March 2019 and October 2020. Results: The trial opened for recruitment in February 2019. This mixed-methods implementation and evaluation study is embedded in the randomized controlled trial and will be collecting data from March 2019 to October 2020; dissemination of trial results is planned thereafter. The results from the process evaluation are expected 2021-2022. Conclusions: This study will provide a detailed understanding of how self-management of low back pain can be improved and how a digital health intervention can be used as an add-on to usual care to support patients to self-manage their low back pain. We will provide knowledge that can be used to explore the possibilities of extending the generic components of the selfBACK system and key drivers that could be of use in other conditions and diseases where self-management is an essential prevention or treatment strategy. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03798288; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03798288 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/20308

Modification of macroporous titanium tracheal implants with biodegradable structures: tracking in vivo integration for determination of optimal in situ epithelialization conditions.

Previously, we showed that macroporous titanium implants, colonized in vivo together with an epithelial graft, are viable options for tracheal replacement in sheep. To decrease the number of operating steps, biomaterial-based replacements for epithelial graft and intramuscular implantation were developed in the present study. Hybrid microporous PLLA/titanium tracheal implants were designed to decrease initial stenosis and provide a surface for epithelialization. They have been implanted in New Zealand white rabbits as tracheal substitutes and compared to intramuscular implantation samples. Moreover, a basement membrane like coating of the implant surface was also designed by Layer-by-Layer (LbL) method with collagen and alginate. The results showed that the commencement of stenosis can be prevented by the microporous PLLA. For determination of the optimum time point of epithelialization after implantation, HPLC analysis of blood samples, C-reactive protein (CRP), and Chromogranin A (CGA) analyses and histology were carried out. Following 3 weeks the implant would be ready for epithelialization with respect to the amount of tissue integration. Calcein-AM labeled epithelial cell seeding showed that after 3 weeks implant surfaces were suitable for their attachment. CRP readings were steady after an initial rise in the first week. Cross-linked collagen/alginate structures show nanofibrillarity and they form uniform films over the implant surfaces without damaging the microporosity of the PLLA body. Human respiratory epithelial cells proliferated and migrated on these surfaces which provided a better alternative to PLLA film surface. In conclusion, collagen/alginate LbL coated hybrid PLLA/titanium implants are viable options for tracheal replacement, together with in situ epithelialization.journal articleresearch support, non-u.s. gov't2012 Aug2012 03 02importe