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Summary: This study examined the effects of different degree of esterification (DE) on the stability of high internal phase Pickering emulsions (HIPPEs) fabricated using pectin‐whey protein isolate complexes. The modified pectin with different DE was prepared using the alkali de‐esterification method with high methoxyl pectin (HMP). The impact of DE on the conformational changes of pectin and whey protein isolate (WPI) during the complexes formation was examined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and fluorescence spectroscopy. Citrus pectin (CP)–WPI complexes and camellia oil were used to create an emulsion with a self‐supporting structure of 75% internal phase volume. The thermal, centrifugal, storage and freeze–thaw stabilities of CP–WPI stabilised HIPPEs with different DE were evaluated and the results revealed that the low methoxyl pectin (LMP) produced via alkali de‐esterification altered the charge density of pectin. Compared with the untreated pectin, the electrostatic interaction between CP–WPI complexes was enhanced and the stability of CP–WPI stabilised HIPPEs was improved. The study will help to better understand the interaction between CP and WPI, enhance the efficiency of the pectin–protein delivery system and improve the utilisation rate of citrus pectin, which has important guiding significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Camellia oil (CO) and medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), characterised by different carbon chain lengths, were gelled using beeswax (BW), candelilla wax (CLW) and carnauba wax (CRW). Critical concentrations, oil‐binding capacity (OBC), textural parameters, thermal properties, microscopic properties and infrared spectra were used to evaluate their differences. The carbon chain length of oil sources showed different results for the critical concentration of the three wax‐based gel oils at 25 °C, and the oleogel of MCT and CLW exhibited a minimum value (1%). The oleogels formed from CO and waxes with wax esters as the main components (BW and CRW) exhibit significantly lower OBC and textural value than the oleogels made from MCT with BW and CRW. Meanwhile, this is corroborated with the thermal behaviour and crystal morphology, and distribution of the oleogels. However, no differences in crystal types and generation of new functional groups were observed by X‐ray diffraction and Fourier‐transform infrared spectrometer, suggesting that the differences in the properties of wax‐based oleogels with different carbon chain lengths are attributed to the interactions between the waxes and the oil sources (physical interaction). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Oleogels of β‐sitosterol (Sit) and beeswax (BW) were combined at varying ratios (w/w) and added to sunflower oil (SFO) at concentrations of 10 g per 100 g and 20 g per 100 g oil to prepare oleogels (Sit/BW/SFO). Structural and thermal properties were characterised and results showed that the hardness and enthalpy of oleogels were affected by the amount of β‐sitosterol and beeswax in the oleogelator combination (Sit/BW, w/w). Oleogels with beeswax as the only oleogelator (Sit0/BW10) had the highest hardness and maximum enthalpy change. Gel network form was influenced by the crystalline behaviour of the oleogelator, and Sit0/BW10‐oleogel was densely packed, spherical and white while Sit10/BW0‐oleogel displayed a needle shape. X‐ray diffraction patterns showed that the oleogel width of the crystals and D‐spacing increased with increasing amounts of β‐sitosterol and the FTIR spectra revealed that oleogels formed via non‐covalent bonding and may be stabilised with physical entanglements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study compared the diagnostic accuracy of multi-slice spiral computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on small hepatocellular carcinoma (SHCC) caused by hepatitis B cirrhosis. A total of 160 patients with hepatitis B cirrhosis were selected between January 2012 and April 2016, and 183 SHCC lesions were included in the present retrospective study. Patients were divided into the SHCC group (T stage) and the micro hepatocellular carcinoma (MHCC) group (T1 stage). There were a total of 129 SHCC lesions and 54 MHCC lesions identified. All patients underwent multiphasic CT and MRI imaging. The liver acquisition with volume acquisition (LAVA) technique was utilized for MRI. Furthermore, SPSS 20.0 was used for statistical analyses. LAVA in the arterial phase and CT in the arterial phase revealed significantly higher diagnostic rates for the diagnoses of 183 lesions. In addition, standard CT scan exhibited significantly reduced diagnostic rates in SHCC lesions. Results indicated that LAVA in the equilibrium phase had the lowest diagnostic rate in MHCC lesions, which was statistically significant (P<0.05). Overall, the diagnostic rate of CT (79.63%) for MHCC was significantly lower than that of MRI (96.29%) (P<0.05). However, the diagnostic rate of CT for SHCC (96.12%) was significantly higher than that for MHCC (79.63%) (P<0.05). MRI-LAVA in the arterial phase has the highest diagnostic rate for SHCC and MHCC. However, the diagnostic capability of MRI for MHCC lesions is superior to that of CT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale and Objectives: The aim of this study was to develop and validate a novel computed tomography (CT)-based fracture risk assessment model (FRCT) specifically tailored for patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)., Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis encompassing a cohort of 284 COPD patients, extracting data on demographics, clinical profiles, pulmonary function tests, and CT-based bone quantification metrics. The Boruta feature selection algorithm was employed to identify key variables for model construction, resulting in a user-friendly nomogram., Results: Our analysis revealed that 37.32% of the patients suffered fragility fractures post-follow-up. The FRCT model, integrating age, cancellous bone volume, average cancellous bone density, high-density lipoprotein levels, and prior fracture incidence, demonstrated superior predictive accuracy over the conventional fracture risk assessment tool (FRAX), with a C-index of 0.773 in the training group and 0.797 in the validation group. Calibration assessments via the Hosmer-Lemeshow test confirmed the model's excellent fit, and decision curve analysis underscored the FRCT model's substantial positive net benefit., Conclusion: The FRCT model, leveraging opportunistic CT screening, offers a highly accurate and personalized approach to fracture risk prediction in COPD patients, surpassing the capabilities of existing tools. This model is poised to become an indispensable asset for clinicians in managing osteoporotic fracture risks within the COPD population., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: The study aimed to explore the value of texture analysis of radiomics based on the short tau inversion recovery (STIR) sequence to evaluate the activity of bone marrow oedema of sacroiliac joints in early AS., Methods: 43 patients with early AS whose data were randomly divided into the training cohort (n=116) and verification cohort (n=56) according to the ratio of 7:3. The optimal feature subsets were obtained by Mann-Whitney U-test, the minimum-Redundancy Maximum-Relevancy (mRMR), and then least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) using these texture feature parameters, which were used to construct the final prediction model and obtained the Radscore. The ROC curve was performed to evaluate the performance of the model. The Spearman correlation test was used to analyse the correlation of various indicators., Results: In the training cohort, to differentiate early AS sacroiliac joint bone marrow oedema between the active and stable groups, the AUCs of the Radscore, SPARCC and ADC were 0.81, 0.91, 0.78, respectively. In the validation cohort, the AUCs were 0.87, 0.89, 0.85. In the two cohorts, there were no significant differences in AUCs between values of the Radscore and SPARCC, ADC (p>0.05). There was a significant difference in AUC between SPARCC and ADC in the training cohort (p<0.05), with no statistical significance in the validation cohort (p>0.05). The correlations were all low between the Radscore values and the values of ESR, CRP, tI, ASDAS-ESR and ASDAS-CRP (p<0.05)., Conclusions: Radiomics analysis based on STIR texture analysis has a good prediction for the evaluation of bone marrow oedema activity of sacroiliac joints in AS. It can be a new non-invasive and objective evaluation method for AS activity.