Impact of binary mixtures of natural waxes in mechanical properties and microstructure of oleogels.

BACKGROUND: Solid fats are critical to obtaining a wide range of food texture and quality characteristics, but their consumption is strongly associated with higher cardiovascular disease risks. Structuring unsaturated oils with natural waxes into oleogels (OG) is an innovative solution to develop fat mimics with a healthier profile. RESULTS: Soy wax (SW), beeswax (BW) and carnauba wax (CW), have been used in binary mixtures of waxes, aiming to understand their interactions and influence on OG quality properties and microstructural characteristics. In the present study, OGs were produced using binary wax mixtures and analyzed for texture, color, smoke point, microstructure, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Wax combinations led to antagonistic (mixtures with SW) and synergistic interactions (BW/CW) based on their mechanical properties. At the microstructural level BW/CW blends showed a reduction in crystal size and with a more compact structure. XRD and FTIR spectra revealed a packing of orthorhombic perpendicular subcell for most OGs, whereas SW produced samples with an arrangement with ß' crystals, characteristic of edible solid fats. Additionally, when compared to commercial beef fat, BW/CW mixtures showed similar quality attributes indicating that they could act as fat mimic. CONCLUSION: The combined analysis of microstructure, spectroscopic and mechanical properties enhanced the understanding of how the nature of the interactions between waxes and lipid phases impact in the final quality of the structured oils. The study's insights indicate that binary wax combinations can efficiently replace solid fats, offering healthier alternatives at the same time as preserving desired sensory characteristics. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Clinical and biological relevance of glial fibrillary acidic protein in Alzheimer's disease.

INTRODUCTION: There is a tremendous need for identifying reliable blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD) that are tied to the biological ATN (amyloid, tau and neurodegeneration) framework as well as clinical assessment and progression. METHODS: One hundred forty-four elderly participants underwent 18F-AV45 positron emission tomography (PET) scan, structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, and blood sample collection. The composite standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) was derived from 18F-AV45 PET to assess brain amyloid burden, and the hippocampal volume was determined from structural MRI scans. Plasma glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), phosphorylated tau-181 (ptau-181), and neurofilament light (NfL) measured by single molecular array (SIMOA) technology were assessed with respect to ATN framework, genetic risk factor, age, clinical assessment, and future functional decline among the participants. RESULTS: Among the three plasma markers, GFAP best discriminated participants stratified by clinical diagnosis and brain amyloid status. Age was strongly associated with NfL, followed by GFAP and ptau-181 at much weaker extent. Brain amyloid was strongly associated with plasma GFAP and ptau-181 and to a lesser extent with plasma NfL. Moderate association was observed between plasma markers. Hippocampal volume was weakly associated with all three markers. Elevated GFAP and ptau-181 were associated with worse cognition, and plasma GFAP was the most predictive of future functional decline. Combining GFAP and ptau-181 together was the best model to predict brain amyloid status across all participants (AUC = 0.86) or within cognitively impaired participants (AUC = 0.93); adding NfL as an additional predictor only had a marginal improvement. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that GFAP is of potential clinical utility in screening amyloid pathology and predicting future cognitive decline. GFAP, NfL, and ptau-181 were moderately associated with each other, with discrepant relevance to age, sex, and AD genetic risk, suggesting their relevant but differential roles for AD assessment. The combination of GFAP with ptau-181 provides an accurate model to predict brain amyloid status, with the superior performance of GFAP over ptau-181 when the prediction is limited to cognitively impaired participants.

Papaya dietary fiber concentrates for providing functionality to muffin formulations.

BACKGROUND: Papaya leftovers are a good source of dietary fiber (DF) and antioxidants. They can be transformed in dietary fiber concentrates (DFCs) to be used as ingredients in food formulation, improving consumers' health status. RESULTS: Using the peel or the pulp of papaya, DFCs were produced. These DFCs were used in muffin production. Muffins produced with 7.7% DFCs and 47.6 g water had the same specific volume (2.0 cm3  g-1 ) but softer crumb than those obtained with a reference formulation without DF addition, showing average hardness of 15 N. In general, the addition of DFCs of pulp or peel slightly affected other textural profile parameters. Also, non-significant differences were observed for muffins containing pulp or peel DFCs, which showed average values of 10.9 N for chewiness, 0.95 for springiness, 0.76 for cohesiveness and 0.42 for resilience. Regarding the crumb structure, muffins with pulp DFCs showed the lowest value for d3.2 (1.3 ± 0.3 mm). Meanwhile, the highest anti-radical and reducing capacity, 240 ± 2 and 1050 ± 6 mgeq Trolox g-1 muffin (dry basis), respectively, were observed in the muffins with peel DFC. Finally, the addition of DFCs allowed us to maintain lower hardness values than those of the reference formulation during the whole storage period studied (22 days). Muffins with peel DFCs tended to have a lower rate of crumb hardening (0.08 ± 0.02) d-1 . CONCLUSION: The addition of papaya DFCs to muffin formulations confers interesting properties for industry and consumers, providing functionality, extending the shelf life as well as transforming papaya leftovers in new functional ingredients, contributing to a circular economy. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Preserving Visual Functions During Gliomas Resection: Feasibility and Efficacy of a Novel Intraoperative Task for Awake Brain Surgery.

Objective: The intraoperative identification and preservation of optic radiations (OR) during tumor resection requires the patient to be awake. Different tasks are used. However, they do not grant the maintenance of foveal vision during all testing, limiting the ability to constantly monitor the peripheral vision and to inform about the portion of the peripheral field that is encountered. Although hemianopia can be prevented, quadrantanopia cannot be properly avoided. To overcome these limitations, we developed an intra-operative Visual field Task (iVT) to monitor the foveal vision, alerting about the likelihood of injuring the OR during task administration, and to inform about the portion of the peripheral field that is explored. Data on feasibility and efficacy in preventing visual field deficits are reported, comparing the outcome with the standard available task (Double-Picture-Naming-Task, DPNT). Methods: Patients with a temporal and/or parietal lobe tumor in close morphological relationship with the OR, or where the resection can involve the OR at any extent, without pre-operative visual-field deficits (Humphrey) were enrolled. Fifty-four patients were submitted to iVT, 38 to DPNT during awake surgery with brain mapping neurophysiological techniques. Feasibility was assessed as ease of administration, training and mapping time, and ability to alert about the loss of foveal vision. Type and location of evoked interferences were registered. Functional outcome was evaluated by manual and Humphrey test; extent of resection was recorded. Tractography was performed in a sample of patients to compare patient anatomy with intraoperative stimulation site(s). Results: The test was easy to administer and detected the loss of foveal vision in all cases. Stimulation induced visual-field interferences, detected in all patients, classified as detection or discrimination errors. Detection was mostly observed in temporal tumors, discrimination in temporo-parietal ones. Immediate visual disturbances in DPNT group were registered in 84 vs. 24% of iVT group. At 1-month Humphrey evaluation, 26% of iVT vs. 63% of DPNT had quadrantanopia (32% symptomatic); 10% of DPNT had hemianopia. EOR was similar. Detection errors were induced for stimulation of OR; discrimination also for other visual processing tract (ILF). Conclusion: iVT was feasible and sensitive to preserve the functional integrity of the OR.

Surgery Followed by Hypofractionated Radiosurgery on the Tumor Bed in Oligometastatic Patients With Large Brain Metastases. Results of a Phase 2 Study.

PURPOSE: This prospective phase II study assessed safety and feasibility of surgery followed by hypofractionated radiosurgery (HSRS) on the tumor bed in oligometastatic patients with single large brain metastases (BMs). METHODS AND MATERIALS: Between June 2015 and May 2018, 101 patients were enrolled. Oligometastatic disease was defined by a maximum of 5 extracranial metastatic lesions. HSRS was performed within 1 month of surgery and consisted of 30 Gy in 3 fractions. Local control, occurrence of new BMs, overall survival, and treatment-related toxicities were assessed. RESULTS: At a median follow-up time of 26 months, local recurrence occurred in 6 patients (5.9%). Six-month, 1-year, and 2-year local control rates were 100%, 98.9% ± 1.1%, and 85.9% ± 0.6%, respectively. New BMs occurred in 39 patients (38.6%); median brain distant progression time and 6-month, 1-year, and 2-year brain distant progression rates were 39 months (95% CI, 19-39 months), 17% ± 3.7%, 31.4% ± 4.8%, and 42.5% ± 5.9%, respectively. At the last observation time, 50 patients (49.5%) were alive and 51 (50.5%) were dead; 10 patients died owing to neurologic causes and 40 as a result of systemic progression. Median overall survival time and 6-month, 1-year, and 2-year overall survival rates were 22 months (95% CI, 20-30 months), 95% ± 2.1%, 81.9% ± 3.8%, and 46.6% ± 6%, respectively. Infratentorial site, residual tumor volume, longer interval time between primary diagnosis and occurrence of BMs, and oligometastatic disease status significantly influenced outcome. Grade 2 to 3 radionecrosis occurred in 26 patients. Neurocognitive functions remained stable or, in some cases, improved. CONCLUSIONS: Surgery followed by HSRS on the tumor bed is a safe and effective approach, affording good brain control with acceptable toxicities. As for extracranial metastatic sites, patients with BMs can benefit from local ablative treatment in the context of an oligometastatic disease.

Physical and chemical stability under environmental stress of microemulsions formulated with fish oil.

Enrichment of food and beverages with bioactive lipids is an important initiative to improve consumer's health. Eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acids present in fish oil have been reported as those with the greatest bioactivity. Emulsions are an interesting alternative to incorporate functional oil; however, there are few studies on food microemulsions as a way to include this kind of compounds. The present work is intended to deepen the analysis of the Kolliphor RH40 emulsifier with potential application in food microemulsions, characterizing its micellar size and thermo-rheological properties, as well as analyzing the effect of environmental stress on physical and oxidative stability of a microemulsion containing fish oil. No significant changes in droplets size (<15 nm) or in their distribution was observed in a wide range of pH (3-9), ionic strength (0.1-10% CaCl2), centrifuging and different thermal treatments. During freezing, a slight increase in size (<21 nm) was detected, maintaining its optically transparent appearance. The high surface area of the microemulsion droplets led to the decrease in oxidative stability compared to fish oil in bulk. However, when microemulsions were stored at 4 °C, the EPA and DHA contents did not change during storage for 60 days.

Food grade microemulsion systems: Sunflower oil/castor oil derivative-ethanol/water. Rheological and physicochemical analysis.

Microemulsions are thermodynamically stable systems that have attracted considerable attention in the food industry as delivery systems for many hydrophobic nutrients. These spontaneous systems are highly dependent on ingredients and composition. In this work phase diagrams were constructed using two surfactants (Kolliphor RH40 and ELP), water, sunflower oil, and ethanol as cosurfactant, evaluating their physicochemical properties. Stability of the systems was studied at 25 and 60 °C, monitoring turbidity at 550 nm for over a month to identify the microemulsion region. Conductivity was measured to classify between water-in-oil and oil-in-water microemulsions. The phase diagram constructed with Kolliphor RH40 exhibited a larger microemulsion area than that formulated with Kolliphor ELP. All formulations showed a monomodal droplet size distribution with low polydispersity index (<0.30) and a mean droplet size below 20 nm. Systems with higher water content presented a Newtonian behavior; increasing the dispersed phase content produced a weak gel-like structure with pseudoplastic behavior under flow conditions that was satisfactorily modeled to obtain structural parameters.

Mechanical and optical characterization of gelled matrices during storage.

The effect of composition and storage time on the rheological and optical attributes of multi-component gels containing locust bean gum (LBG), low acyl (LAG) and high acyl (HAG) gellan gums, was determined using three-component mixture design. The generalized Maxwell model was used to fit experimental rheological data. Mechanical and relaxation spectra of gelled systems were determined by the type of gellan gum used, except LBG alone which behaved as a diluted gum dispersion. Storage time dependence of the gels was analyzed using the rubber elasticity theory and to determine changes in network mesh size the equivalent network approach was applied. Destabilization kinetic was obtained from light scattering results; increasing LAG content improved the long-term stability of the matrices. Almost every formulation exhibited an increment in both moduli during the first 10 days remaining practically constant thereafter or until they broke (binary mixtures with LBG); gels with HAG/LBG mixtures were the least stable.

Importancia de la colangiopancreatografía endoscópica en la infancia / Importance of endoscopic pancreatocholangiography in childhood

Se presentan dos casos de pacientes con patología de pâncreas y vías biliares, en los que no se estableció el diagnóstico con los exámenes de laboratorio y gabinete utilizados habitualmente y en quienes la pancreatocolangiografia endoscópica fue de mucha utilidad, va que mediante este estudio se llegó al diagnóstico definitivo

Lipoblastoma en niños: presentación de dos casos / Lipoblastoma in children: report of two cases

Se informa de dos casos de lipoblastoma, tratados quirúrgicamente en el Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez, uno localizado en la pelvis y otro en el mediastino. En ambos casos se consideró la posibilidad de tumor maligno. El tratamiento efectuado fue la resección completa. La evolución fue satisfactoria. Hacemos notar la dificultad que existe para realizar el diagnóstico, tanto clínico como histopatológico, así como la conducta quirúrgica conservadora, antes que la resección radical del tumor, cuando se encuentran involucrados órganos importantes