The aim of this study was to assess a possible association between breast malignancy and ipsilateral higher vascularity on gadolinium-enhanced MR angiography. One hundred six patients were examined by dynamic gadolinium-enhanced 3D MR imaging. Magnetic resonance angiographic views were generated by image subtraction and maximum intensity projection. The study included 85 patients with unilateral malignant breast neoplasms and 21 with unilateral benign lesions. Three blinded readers independently reviewed the MR angiograms after masking the lesions and the corresponding contralateral sites. The readers were asked to determine whether vascularity was higher on the right side, higher on the left side, or equal on both sides. The results were analyzed by the Kappa statistic and Pearson's chi-square test. The blood vessels of the breasts were clearly seen in all cases. There was good agreement among the observers (kappa > 0.54) in assessing vascularity on both sides. Breasts harboring malignant neoplasms were found to have a higher vascularity than the contralateral breasts (p < 0.005). This sign of malignancy had a sensitivity of 76.5%, a specificity of 57%, and an accuracy of 72.6%. Blood vessels of the breast can be depicted by MR angiography. Unilateral malignant neoplasms are associated with a higher ipsilateral vascularity. In conjunction with other indications of malignancy on gadolinium-enhanced MR images, a higher ipsilateral vascularity may serve as an additional sign of malignancy.
Desorption and adsorption equilibrium moisture isotherms ofZiziphus spina-christileaves were determined using the gravimetric-static method at 30, 40, and 50°C for water activity(aw)ranging from 0.057 to 0.898. At a givenaw, the results show that the moisture content decreases with increasing temperature. A hysteresis effect was observed. The experimental data of sorption were fitted by eight models (GAB, BET, Henderson-Thompson, modified-Chung Pfost, Halsey, Oswin, Peleg, and Adam and Shove). After evaluating the models according to several criteria, the Peleg and Oswin models were found to be the most suitable for describing the sorption curves. The net isosteric heats of desorption and adsorption ofZiziphus spina-christileaves were calculated by applying the Clausius-Clapeyron equation to the sorption isotherms and an expression for predicting these thermodynamic properties was given.
Solid-state fermentation (SSF) is an alternative low cost useful process that has many important applications in the field of biotechnology. In this study, SSF has been employed as a process for the production of value-added agricultural by-product using coconut testa (CT), rice bran (RB) and the combination of both substrates (CT-RB). The effect of SSF by Monascus purpureus on total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant, anti-tyrosinase and anti-elastase of the substrates were studied and compared with its non-fermented counterparts. The results showed that the SSF has improved the TPC up to three-fold higher in the studied substrates. Antioxidant potential evaluated using FRAP analysis also exhibited an enhancement in fermented substrates with the values ranging from 23.70 to 63.15 mg AAE/g sample. On the other hand, the radical scavenging activity evaluated using DPPH assay showed a different trend in comparison to the TPC and FRAP analyses. In another two analyses, tyrosinase and elastase inhibition activities were also enhanced in most substrates upon the fermentation. The changes in free phenolic acids content (p-coumaric, caffeic, ferulic, sinapic, vanillic, protocatechuic, gallic and 4-hydroxybenzoic and syringic acid) of the substrates after fungal fermentation was also examined through high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. In summary, SSF offers a tool to further increase the bioactive potential of the studied substrate.
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