Avocado and Flaxseed Oleogels: the prospect of a healthy saturated fat substitute

Oleogelation is a novel technique that represents the forming of liquid oils into a gel-like structure by entrapping the liquid phase into a thermo-reversible and three-dimensional gel network. There has been a great interest in Oleogelation in many areas like pharmaceutics, food, and cosmetics. Oleogels are used to reduce the saturated and trans fatty acids in foods, making them healthier. The consumption of saturated and trans fatty acids increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases (Pehlivanoglu, Demirci, Toker, 2017). Avocado oil is high in oleic monounsaturated fatty acids and substantial amounts of health beneficial phytochemicals, such as vitamins and phytosterols. Avocado oil is rich in omega fatty acids that are good for human health, especially in preventing cardiovascular diseases (Wang et al., 2018). Safflower oil (SFO) from the seeds of Carthamus tinctorius L (Yenice variety) is colorless and flavorless and rich in linoleic acid (about 76% of total fat, a polyunsaturated FA) (He M, Armentano LE. 2011). Waxes are the most efficient oleogelators because of their ability to start crystallization at lower concentrations, easy to find, and they are natural. According to the FDA, waxes have been proven to be a good oleogelator, are natural, and have been recognized to have GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status (FDA,2018). Many types of oils and waxes can be used. For a successful oleogel, it is essential to find the right oil binding capacity (Patel et al., 2014). Three types of waxes were utilized; rice bran wax (4 and 8%), and carnauba, and candelilla wax (3 and 6%). The wax can affect the taste and texture of the food. It is essential to find the right ratio of wax to oil because a higher amount of wax will result in a strong and brittle gel. Otherwise, a small amount of wax will not create a stable gel. The objective of this study was to find the minimum amount of waxes to add in avocado oil and flaxseed oil to produce a stable oleogels useful for the food industry. The stability of the oleogel was analyzed with Oil Binding Capacity (OBC) Method and the visualization method at two different conditions (room temperature and 35 ºC) during two different times (Day 1 and Day 7). The fatty acid composition of the oils was evaluated by gas chromatography (Florence et al., 2012). Candelilla wax has the most significant oil binding capacity, and it is also the most stable, even at higher temperatures. Carnauba wax is slightly stable but only with 8% wax. Rice bran wax was not stable at all with 3% wax at room and oven temperature. It had the lowest oil binding capacity out of all three waxes. Higher amounts of wax improve the oil binding capacity

Narrative Theater to Examine and Mitigate Anti-Black Racism Within Occupational Therapy

Theater has long-standing roots in social justice and holds promise for reducing racist attitudes and behaviors. Objectives of this study were to (a) collect and theatrically portray narratives from Black occupational therapy students and practitioners to a national audience and (b) examine the impact of the theatrical performance on anti-Black racism among attendees. The Identity Development Evolution and Sharing (IDEAS) model guided translation of narratives into a filmed performance. Paired t-test of pre/post administration of the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire–Stigma (AAQ-S) measured changes in stigma beliefs. Qualitative thematic analysis of an open-ended post-survey question elucidated experiences of the performance. The performance engendered significant decreases in stigma; qualitative data elucidated potential mechanisms of change. This study provides insight into experiences of anti-Black racism within occupational therapy and offers a promising means for occupational therapists to engage in anti-Black racism

Randomized Controlled Trial of Healthy Divas: A Gender-Affirming, Peer-Delivered Intervention to Improve HIV Care Engagement Among Transgender Women Living With HIV.

BackgroundTransgender women are disproportionately affected by HIV and are less likely to be optimally engaged in care than other groups because of psychosocial challenges. With community collaboration, we developed Healthy Divas, an individual-level intervention to increase healthcare empowerment and gender affirmation to improve engagement in HIV care. Healthy Divas comprises 6 peer-led individual sessions and one group workshop facilitated by a healthcare provider with expertise in HIV care and transgender health.Setting/methodsTo test the intervention's efficacy, we conducted a randomized controlled clinical trial in San Francisco and Los Angeles among transgender women living with HIV; control was no intervention. Transgender field staff conducted recruitment. Assessments occurred at baseline and 3, 6, 9, and 12 months postrandomization. The primary outcome was engagement in HIV care, defined as the sum of (1) self-reported HIV care provider visit, past 6 months, (2) knowledge of most recent CD4 count, (3) self-reported antiretroviral therapy adherence ≥90%, and (4) self-reported antiretroviral therapy adherence ≥80%.ResultsWe enrolled 278 participants; almost half (46%) were African American/Black and one-third (33%) were Hispanic/Latina. At 6 months, participants in the intervention arm had over twice the odds of being in a higher HIV care engagement category than those in the control arm (aOR = 2.17; 95% CI: 1.06 to 4.45; P = 0.04); there were no significant study arm differences in the outcome at the other time points.ConclusionsThis trial demonstrates the short-term efficacy of an urgently needed behavioral intervention to improve engagement in HIV care among transgender women living with HIV; ongoing intervention may be needed to maintain positive impact over time.Trial registrationClinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT03081559

Coronal Heating as Determined by the Solar Flare Frequency Distribution Obtained by Aggregating Case Studies

Flare frequency distributions represent a key approach to addressing one of the largest problems in solar and stellar physics: determining the mechanism that counter-intuitively heats coronae to temperatures that are orders of magnitude hotter than the corresponding photospheres. It is widely accepted that the magnetic field is responsible for the heating, but there are two competing mechanisms that could explain it: nanoflares or Alfv\'en waves. To date, neither can be directly observed. Nanoflares are, by definition, extremely small, but their aggregate energy release could represent a substantial heating mechanism, presuming they are sufficiently abundant. One way to test this presumption is via the flare frequency distribution, which describes how often flares of various energies occur. If the slope of the power law fitting the flare frequency distribution is above a critical threshold, $\alpha=2$ as established in prior literature, then there should be a sufficient abundance of nanoflares to explain coronal heating. We performed $>$600 case studies of solar flares, made possible by an unprecedented number of data analysts via three semesters of an undergraduate physics laboratory course. This allowed us to include two crucial, but nontrivial, analysis methods: pre-flare baseline subtraction and computation of the flare energy, which requires determining flare start and stop times. We aggregated the results of these analyses into a statistical study to determine that $\alpha = 1.63 \pm 0.03$. This is below the critical threshold, suggesting that Alfv\'en waves are an important driver of coronal heating.Comment: 1,002 authors, 14 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, published by The Astrophysical Journal on 2023-05-09, volume 948, page 7