The aim of this study was to investigate novel approaches to determine spray dried dispersion (SDD) specific particle characteristics through the use of imaging based technologies. The work ...demonstrates approaches that can be applied in order to access quantitative approximations for powder characteristics for hollow particles, such as SDD.
Cryo-SEM has been used to measure the solid volume fraction and/or particle density of SDD particles. Application of this data to understand the impact of spray drying process conditions on SDD powder properties, and their impact on processability and final dosage form quality were investigated.
The use of data from a Morphologi G3 image based particle characterisation system was also examined in order to explain both the propensity and extent of attrition within a series of SDD samples, and also demonstrate the use of light transmission data to assess the relative wall thickness of SDD particles.
Such approaches demonstrate a means to access potentially useful information that can be linked to important particle characteristics for SDD materials which, in addition to the standard bulk powder measurements such as bulk density, may enable a better understanding of such materials and their impact on downstream processability and final dosage form acceptability.
To examine the estrogenic and androgenic activity of Lepidium meyenii (Maca) and its effect on the hormonal profile and symptoms in postmenopausal women.
Fourteen postmenopausal women completed a ...randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial. They received 3.5 g/day of powered Maca for 6 weeks and matching placebo for 6 weeks, in either order, over a total of 12 weeks. At baseline and weeks 6 and 12 blood samples were collected for the measurement of estradiol, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, and sex hormone-binding globulin, and the women completed the Greene Climacteric Scale to assess the severity of menopausal symptoms. In addition, aqueous and methanolic Maca extracts were tested for androgenic and estrogenic activity using a yeast-based hormone-dependent reporter assay.
No differences were seen in serum concentrations of estradiol, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, and sex hormone-binding globulin between baseline, Maca treatment, and placebo (P > 0.05). The Greene Climacteric Scale revealed a significant reduction in scores in the areas of psychological symptoms, including the subscales for anxiety and depression and sexual dysfunction after Maca consumption compared with both baseline and placebo (P < 0.05). These findings did not correlate with androgenic or alpha-estrogenic activity present in the Maca as no physiologically significant activity was observed in yeast-based assays employing up to 4 mg/mL Maca extract (equivalent to 200 mg/mL Maca).
Preliminary findings show that Lepidium meyenii (Maca) (3.5 g/d) reduces psychological symptoms, including anxiety and depression, and lowers measures of sexual dysfunction in postmenopausal women independent of estrogenic and androgenic activity.
Shayan R, Karnezis T, Murali R, Wilmott J S, Ashton M W, Taylor G I, Thompson J F, Hersey P, Achen M G, Scolyer R A & Stacker S A (2012) Histopathology 61, 702–710
Lymphatic vessel density in ...primary melanomas predicts sentinel lymph node status and risk of metastasis
Aims: Important prognostic factors in patients with cutaneous melanoma include primary tumour thickness/depth of invasion, ulceration and mitotic rate, and the presence of tumour cells in regional lymph nodes. More recently, features of stromal components, such as blood and lymphatic vessel density, have been suggested as additional indicators of metastatic potential. Our aim was to investigate the relationship between tumour lymphatic vessels and lymph node metastasis.
Methods and results: Metastasizing (n = 11) and non‐metastasizing (n = 11) primary melanoma samples matched for depth/thickness, mitotic rate and ulceration were examined for lymphatic vessel density (LVD) in the primary tumour, using an antibody to podoplanin. Significant differences were found between LVD (vessels/unit area) in the peripheral (5.73 ± 0.67) versus central (1.72 ± 0.42) regions of the metastasizing tumour group (P < 0.001), and between LVD in the peripheral areas of metastasizing (5.73 ± 0.67) versus non‐metastasizing (4.21 ± 0.37) tumours (P < 0.01). No overall difference was found between total average LVD in the two tumour groups or between their vessel morphology.
Conclusions: Our results show that LVD is associated with risk of lymph node metastasis. Furthermore, the ratio of peripheral LVD:central LVD is a useful marker of primary melanomas that are likely to metastasize to lymph nodes.
Background. Donor-derived malignancy is a rare complication in patients who undergo organ transplant. Approaches to treatment have largely been individualized based on clinical circumstances given ...the lack of evidence-based guidelines, with therapeutic options ranging from discontinuation of immunosuppression and transplantectomy to the addition of chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Case Presentation. Herein, we describe a 60-year-old woman with metastatic donor-derived upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) discovered nine years postrenal transplant. Molecular diagnostic studies using polymerase chain reaction amplification of short tandem repeat alleles and HLA tissue typing proved that the urothelial carcinoma originated from donor tissue. She achieved sustained complete remission with transplant nephroureterectomy, retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy, immunosuppression withdrawal, and immunotherapy with pembrolizumab. Routine radiologic surveillance has demonstrated 15-month progression-free survival to date off pembrolizumab, and she is now under consideration for retransplantation. Conclusions. Immunotherapy using checkpoint inhibitors can serve as a novel treatment option for patients in the clinical predicament of having a solid organ transplant and simultaneous metastatic malignancy. In this report, we also discuss the oncogenic potential of BK virus, the use of checkpoint inhibitors in urothelial carcinoma, and the feasibility of retransplant for this patient population.
Articles on biblical books--Job, Paul, Mark, John--are accompanied by essays upon Messianism and apocalyptic ethics, plus studies on five first-century Jewish apocalypses, an early champion of Islam, ...two medieval Christian seers, and finally the Book of Revelation itself.
•A hydrologic model was developed for a snow-dominated vernal pool.•The hydrologic model was coupled to a model of the vernal pool plant community.•Climate change scenarios were simulated with the ...coupled models.•Climate change scenarios had shorter inundation lengths than historical period.•Model results suggest vernal pool species declines with climate change.
Vernal pools are seasonal wetlands that have a high diversity of endemic and native plant species, yet they are threatened by agricultural conversion and urban development and face threats posed by climate change resulting from altered precipitation and temperature regimes. We developed an approach to investigate the potential impacts of climate change on hydrology and vegetation communities of vernal pools by creating a mass-balance hydrologic model that is coupled to a statistical model of plant community distribution. The hydrologic and vegetative models were calibrated using field measurements from a vernal pool in northeastern California that experiences snow-dominated hydrology and is larger than vernal pools in more studied areas like Central California, but representative of other northern California vernal pools. Using downscaled data from global climate models, the coupled model suggests that warmer conditions will lead to the pool being inundated for a shorter time, but with little change in maximum depth. Reduced hydroperiods suggest possible declines in vernal pool specialist species with future climate change. The coupled model is an integrated approach for understanding the impact of altered environmental conditions on unique hydrology and plant community composition of vernal pool ecosystems, but the model approach could be improved with longer term data and by applying it at more sites to broaden the applicability of the approach and to enable better process representation.
Ageing women may choose to drink soya milk to reduce menopausal symptoms. As fermentation enriches soya milk with isoflavone aglycones, its beneficial qualities may improve. To reduce osteoporotic ...risk, however, soya milk must be Ca enriched, and it is not known how fermentation affects Ca bioavailability. A randomised crossover pilot study was undertaken to compare the Ca absorption of fortified soya milk with that of fermented and fortified soya milk in twelve Australian osteopenic post-menopausal women. The fortified soya milk was inoculated with Lactobacillus acidophilus American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) 4962 and fermented for 24 h at 37°C. Ca absorption from soya milk samples was measured using a single isotope radiocalcium method. Participants had a mean age of 54·8 (sd 12·3) years, with mean BMI of 26·5 (sd 5·5) kg/m2 and subnormal to normal serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (mean 62·5 (sd 19·1) nmol/l). Participants consumed 185 kBq of 45Ca in 44 mg of Ca carrier. The mean fractional Ca absorption (α) from soya milk and fermented soya milk was 0·64 (sd 0·23) and 0·71 (sd 0·29), respectively, a difference not of statistical significance (P = 0·122). Although fermentation of soya milk may provide other health benefits, fermentation had little effect on acute Ca absorption.
The changes of starch microstructure in soft and hard wheat grains after cooking in a pressure cooker were investigated using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a light microscope (LM) in ...conjunction with image analysis. The conditions studied included variation of the cooking times (20–120
min) at the constant temperature (120
°C) and with variable temperatures (110–140
°C) for constant time (40
min). SEM images showed that steam induced changes in the intact starch granules of cooked wheat grains, with the microstructure becoming more in mud-like structure, with increased cooking time or temperature. The swelling and gelatinization of starch granules could contribute to this change. Suspensions of cooked wheat flour were selectively stained with iodine, for observation using the LM. The image analysis software was used for quantitative analysis of the images captured from the LM, providing both the number and area of the starch granules (determined from the dark-blue spots) per fixed image size. With increased cooking time or temperature, the number of starch granules decreased and the area increased as a result from the swelling and melting of starch granules. This study demonstrated the use of SEM and LM for the investigation of starch granules in cooked wheat grains without prior starch isolation.
Soymilks comprising soy protein isolate (SPI) and soy germ (SG) at ratios of 9:1 (SPI/SG9:1), 6:4 (SPI/SG6:4) and 3:7 (SPI/SG3:7) were fermented with
Bifidobacterium animalis Bb-12. Enumeration of ...microbial populations, pH measurements and quantification of isoflavones were performed at 12 and 24 h incubation and at 1, 7 and 14 day refrigerated storage. Isoflavone concentrations were 3, 7 and 12 times higher in SPI/SG9:1, SPI/SG6:4 and SPI/SG3:7 than soymilk made from SPI and microbial populations increased, respectively, by 1.2, 1.3 and 0.9 log
10 CFU/mL after 24 h. Hydrolysis of isoflavone glucosides increased the concentration of aglycones from 0.819 to 5.645 mg/100 mL (47% of total isoflavone) in SPI/SG9:1 after 24 h (
P<0.05), with isoflavone biotransformation less apparent in SPI/SG3:7. Fermented SPI/SG6:4 contained the highest concentration of isoflavone aglycone at 7.801 mg/100 mL (26% of total). Viability of
B. animalis and composition of isoflavones were unchanged after 14 day refrigerated storage (
P>0.05).
Calcium loss after menopause increases the risk of osteoporosis in aging women. Soymilk is often consumed to reduce menopausal symptoms, although in its native form, it contains significantly less ...calcium than cow's milk. Moreover, when calcium is added as a fortificant, it may not be absorbed efficiently. This study compares calcium absorption from soymilk fortified with a proprietary phosphate of calcium versus absorption from cow's milk. Preliminary studies compared methods for labelling the calcium fortificant either before or after its addition to soymilk. It was established that fortificant labelled after it was added to soymilk had a tracer distribution pattern very similar to that shown by fortificant labelled before adding to soymilk, provided a heat treatment (90?C for 30 min) was applied. This method was therefore used for further bioavailability studies. Calcium absorption from fortified soy milk compared to cow's milk was examined using a randomised single-blind acute cross-over design study in 12 osteopenic post-menopausal women aged (mean +/- SD) 56.7+/-5.3 years, with a body mass index of 26.5+/-5.6 kg/m2. Participants consumed 20 mL of test milk labelled after addition of fortificant with 185 kBq of 45Ca in 44 mg of calcium carrier, allowing the determination of the hourly fractional calcium absorption rate (alpha) using a single isotope radiocalcium test. The mean hourly fractional calcium absorption from fortified soymilk was found to be comparable to that of cows' milk: alpha = 0.65+/-0.19 and alpha =0.66+/-0.22, p>0.05, respectively.
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