Use of telemedicine in the postoperative assessment of proctological patients: a case-control study

Background: Telemedicine is emerging as an easy way to communicate between patients and surgeons. Use of telemedicine increased during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. WhatsApp is one of the most common smartphone applications for user-friendly telemedicine. The aim of this study was to evaluate patient perception of health quality and positive outcomes using a diary sent by the patient to the surgeon via WhatsApp during the first post-discharge week after proctologic surgery. Methods: Ninety-eight patients discharged after proctologic surgery at the Israelite Hospital of Rome and the AOU Policlinico Umberto I of Rome in 1 January-31 December 2019 were divided into two groups: the WhatsApp group (group A), (n = 36) and the no WhatsApp group (group B) (n = 62). Group A patients received a protocol to follow for the day-by-day diary during the first post-discharge week and sending it by WhatsApp to the surgeon. Group B patients only received recommendations at discharge. The tool's usefulness was assessed by a questionnaire one month after the intervention. Results: The two groups were homogeneous for age, sex, schooling, employment, and proctologic pathology. Group A patients had less difficulty keeping a diary (p < 0.0001). Group A patients had the perception of better follow-up post-discharge (p = 0.002). The use of the diary sent by WhatsApp significantly improved the perception of positive post-intervention outcomes (p = 0.007). WhatsApp was the only independent predictor of perception of post-surgical positive outcomes (odds ratio = 4.06; 95% CI 1.35-12.24; p = 0.01). Conclusions: The use of WhatsApp in the post-discharge period improves the lifestyle quality of the patients and their perception of the safety and quality of care received

3-Ethyl-5-(4-meth­oxy­phen­oxy)-2-(pyridin-4-yl)-3H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine

In the title compound, C20H18N4O2, the imidazopyridine fused ring system is almost perpendicular to the benzene ring [dihedral angle = 87.6 (5)°]. The pyridine ring makes a dihedral angle of 35.5 (5)° with the mean plane of the imidazopyridine fragment. The crystal structure is stabilized by an aromatic π–π stacking inter­action between the phenyl rings of neighbouring mol­ecules [centroid–centroid distance = 3.772 (2) Å, inter­planar distance = 3.546 (2) Å and slippage = 1.286 (2) Å]

Lactic fermentation of cooked navy beans by Lactobacillus paracasei CBA L74 aimed at a potential production of functional legume-based foods

The feasibility of developing a dry legume-based functional product using a fermentation process carried out on a 10% w/v navy bean suspension, in a lab-scale stirred batch reactor was studied. After soaking and cooking dried navy beans, the fermentation tests performed on the resulting medium using Lactobacillus paracasei CBA L74 showed a maximum bacterial count of 109 CFU/mL after 20 hr and a maximum lactic acid concentration of 1.9 g/L after 16 hr of process time. A freeze-drying process was conducted on the fermented bean suspension, showing a two-log microbial reduction and a bacterial viability in the resulting probiotic powder of 3.7 × 108 CFU/g

Fermentation of rice flour supernatant using lactobacillus paracasei CBA L74

The concept of functional food has evolved throughout the years. These days we define a food to be functional when it confers a benefit to human health. Lactic acid fermentation is one of the most important and used food processing technologies to produce this type of food. Fermentation of Lactobacillus Paracasei CBA L74 - a homofermentative, gram positive probiotic - on rice flour suspension has been proved to be a successful route to produce functional foods. However, the process was characterized by high energy consumption, low air sparging and complex expensive metabolite separation. A research program has been developed to carry out L. Paracasei fermentation using a low viscosity medium based on rice flour suspension. Fractionation of rice flour suspension provided a medium characterized by low amounts of solids and nutrients at concentration high that support the microorganism growth. Fermentations were carried in a 1L batch reactor equipped with an agitation systems designed to provide uniform mixing. The composition of the medium; cells, glucose, protein, pH, metabolite production as well as L. Paracasei’ growth trend was analysed throughout the process. Fermentation on supernatant obtained from rice flour and water suspension through centrifugation were possible to produce a potential probiotic functional food with a good bacterial charge