Patient and Provider Perspectives of Telehealth and In-Person Interventional Radiology Clinic Visits.

PURPOSE: To assess patient and provider satisfaction with interventional radiology (IR) outpatient telehealth and in-person clinic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This institutional review board-approved study analyzed patient satisfaction with clinic via survey after an IR outpatient telehealth or in-person visit. A physician telehealth experience survey was completed by 8 IR physicians. RESULTS: During the initial survey period, 44 (83%) of 53 patients completed a survey via telephone compared with 37 (23%) of 158 patients who were offered an electronic survey during the second survey period. Of 81 respondents, 18 (22%) were in-person and 63 (78%) were via telehealth. Of the respondents, nearly all patients (97%) in the telehealth group reported satisfaction with their telehealth clinic visit, with similar rates of high patient satisfaction between in-person and telehealth visits (P = .51). Most patients (98%) in the telehealth group strongly agreed that their physician's recommendations were clear in the telehealth visit and that their visit was private, similar to in-person visits (P = .13). A telehealth visit saved time for all patients (100%), with 78% reporting >1 hour of time-saving. All IR physicians (n = 8) reported greater efficiency with telehealth clinic than with in-person clinic and that follow-up patterns would change if telehealth was available. However, all providers (100%) found telephone visits less satisfying than in-person visits, with video visits being either equally satisfying (71%) or less satisfying (29%). CONCLUSIONS: Patient satisfaction with the in-person and telehealth outpatient IR clinic was high, with patients and providers reporting time-saving and greater efficiency with telehealth, suggesting that telehealth should remain an important component of outpatient IR clinic care.

Vegetable oils as green solvents for carotenoid extraction from pumpkin (Cucurbita argyrosperma Huber) byproducts: Optimization of extraction parameters.

Pumpkin pulp is the main waste generated by pumpkin seed growers. This agro-industrial waste is a valuable source of bioactive compounds, especially carotenoids (ß-carotene, α-carotene, and lutein), which exhibit a broad spectrum of health-promoting effects. In this study, vegetable oils (canola, corn, and soybean oil) were used as green solvent alternatives to conventional organic solvents for carotenoid extraction from dried pumpkin pulp (DPP) waste. The highest carotenoid extraction yield (CEY) was obtained with canola oil, at a 1:10 DPP/oil ratio. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the extraction process parameters (temperature, time, and stirring rate) through a Box-Behnken design (BBD) maximizing CEY in canola oil. The extraction temperature and stirring rate were found to have a significant linear and quadratic effect, respectively, on CEY. Optimum conditions were achieved at 21.8 min, 250 rpm, and 60°C. Under these optimized conditions, the estimated value for CEY was 378.1 µg ß-carotene equivalents/g of DPP, corresponding to 61.6% of the total carotenoid content present in the DPP. In contrast, the observed experimental value was 373.2 µg ß-carotene equivalents/g of DPP (61.2%). The experimental value was very close to the estimated value, which verifies the model's adequacy and fit. This study shows an alternative method to extract carotenoids from DPP with canola oil, obtaining an oil naturally enriched with carotenoids that could be used as a potential functional ingredient in the development of food, cosmetics, and medicinal products. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Pumpkin by-products are a potential carotenoid source. Vegetable oil can be used as an alternative solvent for carotenoid extraction from pumpkin residues to obtain an enriched carotenoid oil that can be used to formulate food products.

Draft Genome Sequences of Four Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica Serovar Gallinarum Strains Isolated from Layer Breeder Flocks in an Outbreak of Fowl Typhoid in Colombia.

This report describes the genome sequences of four Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Gallinarum (Salmonella Gallinarum) strains isolated in Colombia in 2017 from layer breeders of different ages. The layer breeder flocks were presenting with an elevated mortality with lesions typical of fowl typhoid (FT). These draft genome sequences revealed a highly conserved genome of Salmonella Gallinarum strains circulating in Colombia.

Effect of pre-treatment on physicochemical and structural properties, and the bioaccessibility of ß-carotene in sweet potato flour.

The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of microwave or steam pre-treatment of raw sweet potato on physicochemical and microstructural properties, and the bioaccessibility of ß-carotene in sweet potato flour. This is the first report on using the in vitro digestion model suitable for food, as proposed in a consensus paper, to assess the bioaccessibility of ß-carotene in sweet potato flour. The pre-treatments produced a rearrangement of the flour matrix (starch, protein and non-starch polysaccharides), which was greater by using microwaves (M6) conducting to a greater increase in the phase transition temperatures up to 4.14 °C, while the enthalpy presented the higher reduction (4.49 J/g), both parameters in respect to the control. The resistant starch fraction was not modified, with about 3% in all samples. Microwave (M6) and all the steam pre-treatments showed the higher bioaccessibility of ß-carotene. This flour can be used in the development of new products with high ß-carotene content.

Effect of different treatments on the preference of apple cubes dehydrated by a combined process.

The aim of this work was to determine the effect on consumer preference of dehydrated apple cubes caused by different modifications of a combined drying method. The combined process of convective-osmotic drying with pretreatment in solutions of CaCl(2) and citric acid was taken as the basic process, and was then modified to obtain six different treatments. The factors varied were the osmotic agent, the order of drying processes, and the addition of CaCl(2) to the osmotic solution. The drying kinetics of convective-osmotic treatment and the osmotic-convective process were studied. A sensory evaluation was conducted to determine the effect of these alterations in the drying process on the consumer preference for the product. The convective-osmotic treatment significantly reduced the time of processing. Water loss and solids gain were higher when fructose was used as the osmotic agent in the convective-osmotic process. According to the results of the preference test, only one of the modified processes showed significant preference compared with the basic process.