Sacro-coxxygial hygiene, a key factor in the outcome of pilonidal sinus surgical treatment?

BACKGROUND: Surgical wound infection contributes to prolonged recovery time after pilonidal sinus excision. As a standard procedure after surgery, we recommend our patients to perform water irrigations in the intergluteal cleft 4 to 6 times a day during the post-operative period. Our hypothesis is that this should reduce healing time and complication rates. The aim of this study was to measure the importance of sacro coccygeal hygiene in the management of pilonidal sinus disease. METHODS: We retrospectively collected data after surgical management of pilonidal sinus (sinusectomy procedures) in our division over a 10-year period. Patients were divided into three groups according to their local hygiene during postoperative follow-up and scored one (G1: good hygiene) to three (G3: poor hygiene). Primary outcome was complication rates. Secondary endpoints were, healing time, follow-up, time off work, and recurrence rate. RESULTS: In G1 (N = 112), complication rate was 3.6%. In G2 (N = 109), it was 5.5%, whereas in G3 (N = 71), it reached 7.03%. However, there were no statistically significant differences between hygiene groups regarding complication rates in both univariate and multivariable analysis. Regarding secondary outcomes, there were significant differences between hygiene groups concerning median follow-up (p = 0.0001) and median time off work (p = 0.0127). CONCLUSION: Good hygiene of wound is essential for optimal, rapid healing without complications. The importance of this report is to show that thanks to our hygiene follow-up strategy with frequent perineal irrigations and regular follow-up checks, patients with at a first glance "unclean local conditions", reached similar complications, median healing time and recurrences rates to patients with medium and good wound hygiene level.

Legume flour as a natural colouring component in pasta production.

In recent years, natural food colouring components have been sought. The conducted study presents the possibility of using different legume flours as a colouring component in durum wheat semolina pasta. The impact of legume flours addition on chemical composition, cooking quality, and sensory properties of pasta was also investigated. The pasta was fortified with 0-20% of green pea, red lentil, and grass pea flours and was made using lamination technology. An increase in the amount of the legume flour caused a significant increase in the content of dietary fibre, ash, protein, and essential amino acids, including lysine. The addition of the legume flours changed the colour of the pasta samples. Most suitable colouring component of all the studied legume flours was the red lentil flour. The pasta with 20% addition of red lentil flour had the most intense colouring (ΔE = 11.31), highest level of consumer acceptance and were characterized by acceptable cooking losses (7.47% d.m.), appropriate weight increase index (2.44), and high firmness.

Use of High-Protein and High-Dietary-Fibre Vegetable Processing Waste from Bell Pepper and Tomato for Pasta Fortification.

There is worldwide wastage of 1.3 billion tons of food annually. It is recommended that food waste should be reduced at every phase of production. By-products from food processing have high nutritional value so their use in new products is advisable. The aim of the study was to enrich the nutritional value of pasta using waste from the food industry. By-products from tomato processing (tomato waste-TW) and pepper (defatted pepper seeds-DPS, pepper placenta-PP) were used at a level of 10-30% to produce pasta. The farinographic characteristics, chemical composition, cooking quality, and colour of the pasta were studied. The results show a significant (p < 0.05), up to 27%, increase in the protein content of the TW30 samples, compared with the control (16.16% d.m. vs. 20.61% d.m.). The TDF content increased over five times in DPS30 and TW30 (27.99% d.m. and 25.44% d.m.). The amino acid composition of the pasta improved with the fortification but failed to achieve complete protein by FAO. The DPS30, PP20, PP30 and all TW samples can be considered high-protein products according to the EU definition (a minimum of 20% energy from protein). Vegetable waste can be a valuable additive for the improvement of the nutritional value of food.

Hemp seed (Cannabis sativa L.) enriched pasta: Physicochemical properties and quality evaluation.

Hemp seed (Cannabis sativa L.) contain large amounts of nutrients, e.g. protein, dietary fiber, minerals, and unsaturated fatty acids, which make them a good fortifying component in food production. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of hemp addition on the physicochemical properties, cooking quality, texture parameters and sensory properties of durum wheat pasta. The samples were fortified with 5-40% of commercially available hemp flour or 2.5-10% of hemp cake obtained from hemp seed oil pressing. Our study showed that the addition of hemp seed raw materials led to an increase in the protein, total dietary fiber (TDF), ash and fat content in the pasta samples. Due to its lower granulation and higher nutritional value, hemp flour was found to be a better raw material for the fortification of pasta than hemp cake. Pasta enriched with hemp flour at the level of 30-40% contains 19.53-28.87% d.m. of protein and 17.02-21.49% d.m. of TDF and according to the EU, a definition can be described as a high-protein and high-fiber products. All enriched pasta samples were also characterized by safe Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) content, and their sensory properties were accepted by consumers.

Influence of onion skin powder on nutritional and quality attributes of wheat pasta.

Onion skin is a waste produced during onion bulb processing. Recent studies have reported that it contains large amounts of bioaccessible and bioavailable compounds thus it can be used to design of novel food products. The objective of the study was an attempt to substitute semolina with onion skin (OS) powder in pasta at 2.5, 5 and 7.5 g/100 g levels. The effects on the chemical composition, antioxidant potential, technological and sensory properties of the fortified pasta samples were evaluated compared with a control sample. Fortification with OS resulted in a significant (P < 0.05) improvement in nutritional properties, which was demonstrated by an increase in the content of dietary fibre, ash, total phenolic compounds, flavonoids content and antioxidant activity (FRAP and DPPH). Cooking loss increased with increasing levels of OS, however, all pasta samples were in the acceptable range (8 g/100 g). Onion skin incorporation decreased optimal cooking time, water solubility index and increase redness (a*), compared to the control sample. Results of sensory evaluation suggest that pasta, in which 2.5% of the flour was replaced by this plant component, showed the highest value of the "overall quality". Our study indicates that onion skin powder can be a potential alternative for the food industry to provide nutritional enriched pasta.

Flaxseed Enriched Pasta-Chemical Composition and Cooking Quality.

Pasta production is a good opportunity for product innovation in different forms. The aim of this work was to assess the use of flaxseed components for pasta production. We examined the chemical composition and cooking quality, at different contents of flaxseed flour (FF) and flaxseed cake (FC), added for pasta processing. The analysis showed that the addition of flaxseed components to the dough caused a substantial difference in the International Commission on Illumination color model (CIE) parameter, compared to control samples. The samples of pasta with FF and FC were darker, redder, and less yellow than the control. The minimum cooking time for the enriched pasta was longer than that for the control pasta, although cooking losses were lower. The increasing content of flaxseed components did not significantly change the weight and volume increase index. The enrichment of pasta with 23% FF and 17% FC yielded good quality pasta. The results of the chemical composition of the flaxseed-enriched pasta indicate considerably enhanced nutritional quality, particularly the levels of protein, fat, and dietary fiber of the pasta, without affecting its quality. Moreover, flaxseed cake can be an important source of nutritional ingredients for pasta production, although it is a by-product of the oil cold pressing technology.

Substitution of semolina durum with common wheat flour in egg and eggless pasta.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to determine the possibility of full or partial replacement of durum semolina with cheaper common wheat flour to obtain high-quality pasta. It also examined whether the addition of eggs could minimize qualitative changes in these products. METHODS: In eggless, one-egg and two-egg pasta, semolina durum was substituted with common wheat flour to a degree of between 0–100%. The study was carried out in semi-technical conditions with the use of a MAC 30S-Lab Pasta Extruder and an EAC 30-Lab Pasta Dryer. The physicochemical parameters and cooking quality of the pasta samples were tested. RESULTS: The results showed that the addition of the common wheat flour reduced the protein and dietary fibre content in the pasta, increased losses of dry matter during cooking, and decreased the yellowness index. However, it increased the weight increase index and shortened the cooking time. Adding eggs significantly improved the quality of the common wheat pasta. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of the tests carried out, it was found that the addition of common wheat flour to egg-less and one-egg pasta should not exceed 50% and 60%, respectively. It was shown that on adding two eggs, 100% of durum semolina could be replaced with common wheat flour without any significant deterioration in the quality of the product.

Outcome of orthopedic implant infections due to different staphylococci.

BACKGROUND: Comparisons of different staphylococci in orthopedic implant infections have rarely been reported. In this study we assessed total joint arthroplasty infections and other orthopedic implant infections due to methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS). METHODS: This was a retrospective study performed at the Geneva University Hospitals for the period January 1996 to June 2008. RESULTS: There were 44 infections due to MRSA, 58 due to MSSA, and 61 due to CoNS. Overall cure was achieved in 57% (25/44) of MRSA infections, 72% (42/58) of MSSA infections, and 82% (50/61) of CoNS infections, after a minimum follow-up of 1 year. In the subgroup of arthroplasty infections only, cure was achieved in 39% (7/18) of MRSA, 60% (15/25) of MSSA, and 77% (30/39) of CoNS episodes. In multivariate analysis, arthroplasty (odds ratio (OR) 0.2, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.1-0.6) and MRSA infections (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.1-0.9) were inversely associated with overall cure for all implants. CoNS infection (OR 3.0, 95% CI 1.2-8.0) and the insertion of a new implant (OR 4.5, 95% CI 1.6-13.1) were associated with higher cure results. Methicillin resistance, immunosuppression, sex, age, duration of antibiotic therapy, one-stage revision, rifampin use, and total number of surgical interventions did not influence cure. MRSA-infected patients had more post-infection sequelae than patients with MSSA or CoNS (Chi-square test 13/44 vs. 93/119, OR 3.4, 95% CI 1.3-8.9, p=0.004). CONCLUSIONS: In orthopedic implant infections, S. aureus is more virulent than CoNS. MRSA has the worst outcome and CoNS the best.