Effect of pre-treatment and oil popping conditions on quinoa popping quality

Quinoa is a pseudocereal having outstanding nutritional profile and health-promoting biofunctional compounds. It is able to pop into an affordable, crispy, and flavourful ready-to-eat snack by conventional oil-popping method. Oil-popping is the process of frying grains in hot oil for a short time to induce vapour-driven expansion of grains. The effects of process variables on oil-popping quality of quinoa were evaluated. The conditions of processing were optimised using Response Surface Methodology. The grains (10 g) were hydrated by adding 0.1–0.3 mL of water containing a varying salt concentration of 0–1%, w/w and popped in coconut oil maintained at a popping temperature of 200–240 °C for a popping time of 10–30 s. The developed popped quinoa was analysed for popping quality indices. It was found that the increase in popping temperature, popping time, and salt concentration, and decrease in moisture level significantly decreased bulk density but increased popping yield (% popped grains), expansion ratio (degree of volume expansion), and flake size (average kernel size) of popped quinoa. Overall acceptability of popped quinoa in terms of sensory attributes was positively correlated with popping temperature and popping time. The optimised variables generated a popping yield of 75.56%, expansion ratio of 3.07, flake size of 11.58 mm3, bulk density of 0.29 g mL−1, and overall acceptability score of 8.40. A threefold expansion and a fair popping yield obtained from oil-popped quinoa offer a significant potential to generate profit for manufacturers.

Perioperative intravenous contrast administration and the incidence of acute kidney injury after major gastrointestinal surgery: prospective, multicentre cohort study

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to determine the impact of preoperative exposure to intravenous contrast for CT and the risk of developing postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery.

METHODS

This prospective, multicentre cohort study included adults undergoing gastrointestinal resection, stoma reversal or liver resection. Both elective and emergency procedures were included. Preoperative exposure to intravenous contrast was defined as exposure to contrast administered for the purposes of CT up to 7 days before surgery. The primary endpoint was the rate of AKI within 7 days. Propensity score-matched models were adjusted for patient, disease and operative variables. In a sensitivity analysis, a propensity score-matched model explored the association between preoperative exposure to contrast and AKI in the first 48 h after surgery.

RESULTS

A total of 5378 patients were included across 173 centres. Overall, 1249 patients (23·2 per cent) received intravenous contrast. The overall rate of AKI within 7 days of surgery was 13·4 per cent (718 of 5378). In the propensity score-matched model, preoperative exposure to contrast was not associated with AKI within 7 days (odds ratio (OR) 0·95, 95 per cent c.i. 0·73 to 1·21; P = 0·669). The sensitivity analysis showed no association between preoperative contrast administration and AKI within 48 h after operation (OR 1·09, 0·84 to 1·41; P = 0·498).

CONCLUSION

There was no association between preoperative intravenous contrast administered for CT up to 7 days before surgery and postoperative AKI. Risk of contrast-induced nephropathy should not be used as a reason to avoid contrast-enhanced CT.

Brain tumor classification using deep CNN features via transfer learning

Brain tumor classification is an important problem in computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) for medical applications. This paper focuses on a 3-class classification problem to differentiate among glioma, meningioma and pituitary tumors, which form three prominent types of brain tumor. The proposed classification system adopts the concept of deep transfer learning and uses a pre-trained GoogLeNet to extract features from brain MRI images. Proven classifier models are integrated to classify the extracted features. The experiment follows a patient-level five-fold cross-validation process, on MRI dataset from figshare. The proposed system records a mean classification accuracy of 98%, outperforming all state-of-the-art methods. Other performance measures used in the study are the area under the curve (AUC), precision, recall, F-score and specificity. In addition, the paper addresses a practical aspect by evaluating the system with fewer training samples. The observations of the study imply that transfer learning is a useful technique when the availability of medical images is limited. The paper provides an analytical discussion on misclassifications also.

Clinical commissioning of an in vivo range verification system for prostate cancer treatment with anterior and anterior oblique proton beams

The purpose of this work is the clinical commissioning of a recently developed in vivo range verification system (IRVS) for treatment of prostate cancer by anterior and anterior oblique proton beams. The IRVS is designed to perform a complete workflow for pre-treatment range verification and adjustment. It contains specifically designed dosimetry and electronic hardware and a specific software for workflow control with database connection to the treatment and imaging systems. An essential part of the IRVS system is an array of Si-diode detectors, designed to be mounted to the endorectal water balloon routinely used for prostate immobilization. The diodes can measure dose rate as function of time from which the water equivalent path length (WEPL) and the dose received are extracted. The former is used for pre-treatment beam range verification and correction, if necessary, while the latter is to monitor the dose delivered to patient rectum during the treatment and serves as an additional verification. The entire IRVS workflow was tested for anterior and 30 degree inclined proton beam in both solid water and anthropomorphic pelvic phantoms, with the measured WEPL and rectal doses compared to the treatment plan. Gafchromic films were also used for measurement of the rectal dose and compared to IRVS results. The WEPL measurement accuracy was in the order of 1 mm and after beam range correction, the dose received by the rectal wall were 1.6% and 0.4% from treatment planning, respectively, for the anterior and anterior oblique field. We believe the implementation of IRVS would make the treatment of prostate with anterior proton beams more accurate and reliable.

A participatory evaluation of community-based rehabilitation programme in North Central Vietnam

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to conduct a participatory evaluation of the community-based rehabilitation (CBR) programme in North Central Vietnam to ascertain the extent of success with the World Health Organization (WHO) model. In 1992, for the first time a non-governmental organization (NGO) was formed in this region to plan and implement the CBR approach based on the WHO model for meeting the needs of persons with disabilities (PWD). The programme is currently being implemented in ten districts and has been able to affect 24.6% of PWD in this region.

METHODS

A framework of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis was used. Participatory data collection was done at the village, commune, district, provincial, and central levels using semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. The data were examined against the five principles of the WHO model: available resource utilization, knowledge transfer, community participation, referral services strengthening and multisectoral coordination.

RESULTS

The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats across all levels were collated and presented.

CONCLUSION

Specific strengths have been found in three out of five principles of the WHO Model. The programme would benefit by consolidating on the positive aspects in years to come.

Kinetic studies on sorption of basic dye using Eichhornia crassipes

Sorption capacity of different parts of Eichhornia crassipes, such as rhizome, root, lamina and petiole on basic aurophine-o was studied in a batch system. The equilibrium uptake capacity was observed as 13.65 mg/g (using root), 13.5 mg/g (using lamina), 12.9 mg/g (using rhizome) and 12.75 mg/g (using petiole). It was observed that the equilibrium dye uptake capacity using root was found to be more when compared to all other E. crassipes parts used in the present investigation. The shortcut equations developed are accurate and can be used in the place of experimental data. The shortcut equations form the basis for further research. The intra particle diffusion coefficient (K(i)) and effective diffusion coefficient (D(i)) were evaluated for the removal of dye using root, which were found to be more when compared to all other parts of E. crassipes studied such as, lamina, rhizome and petiole.

Idiopathic colonic varices

Idiopathic varices of the colon are rare, with only a few reports in literature. We report 30-year-old man who presented with melena and had hepatic flexure varices detected at colonoscopy. Investigations for portal hypertension were negative. No treatment was given.

Hypothyroidism presenting as Hoffman's syndrome

Muscle weakness, stiffness and delayed tendon jerk relaxation are usual features of hypothyroidism while muscle hypertrophy, myoedema and wasting are occasionally seen. A 60-year-old male, who presented with proximal muscle weakness and muscle hypertrophy has been reported here. Thyroid function tests, electromyogram and muscle biopsy established the diagnosis of thyroid myopathy with Hoffman's syndrome.

Brucella isolated from bone marrow

A 40 year patient presented with pyrexia of one month duration. Routine work up for fever of unknown origin (FUO) was negative. Bone marrow aspiration and culture done yielded Brucella. Bone marrow cultures are recommended for patients for FUO for whom the routine workup turns out to be negative. Serological tests for brucellosis can be false-negative in some cases of brucellosis due to prozone phenomena.

Study of coagulase positive and negative Staphylococci in clinical samples

A total of 983 patients samples (pus, urine, sputum, throat swabs, blood culture, CSF, vaginal swabs, ear swabs) were studied for a period of one year. The incidence of coagulase positive Staphylococci was highest in pus and the incidence of coagulase negative Staphylococci was highest in conjunctival swabs. Antibiotic Sensitivity pattern of routinely used antibiotics was studied. Coagulase positive Staphylococci was found to be most sensitive to Ciprofloxacin followed by Norfloxacin and Gentamycin. Coagulase negative Staphylococci showed maximum sensitivity to Ciprofloxacin followed by Norfloxacin and Chloramphenicol.

Measurement of pressure walking in footwear used in leprosy

Pressure measurements were made on 10 leprosy patients while walking barefoot and while using 6 sample shoes. The sample shoes, which represented footwear currently used worldwide in leprosy programmes, included: 1, a USA extradepth shoe without insole; 2, a USA extradepth shoe with insole; 3, a Chinese tennis shoe; 4, a Mozambique sandal; 5, a Bombay sandal; 6, a Bombay sandal with rigid sole; and 7, the patients' prescribed footwear. Peak pressure was significantly lower while walking in all footwear, except with the extradepth shoe without an insole, when compared to barefoot walking. Peak pressure was significantly lower walking in the Bombay sandals, the Chinese tennis shoe, the extradepth shoe with an insert and the patients' prescribed shoe when compared to the extradepth shoe without an insert. Regression analysis showed a significant inverse relationship between pressure and insole thickness (P < 0.001, R2 = 0.17).