Hounsfield Unit Utilization in Cervical Spine for Bone Quality Assessment: A Scoping Review.

Bone mineral density (BMD) is an essential indicator of bone strength and plays a crucial role in the clinical management of various spinal pathologies. Hounsfield units (HUs) calculated from computed tomography (CT) scans are a well-established, effective, and non-invasive method to determine bone density in the lumbar spine when juxtaposed to dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans, the gold standard for assessing trabecular bone density. Only recently have studies begun to investigate and establish HUs as a reliable and valid alternative for bone quality assessment in the cervical spine as well.

Production and Characterization of Pomelo Albedo Powder Based Pasta: Physicochemical, Functional, Textural and Sensorial Attributes.

Background: Pomelo albedo peel byproducts are composed of many health-ben-eficial phytochemicals during processing. This study aimed to maximize the potential of incorporating pomelo albedo powder as a bioactive ingredient in pasta.

Methods: In the present study, pomelo albedo was fortified with pasta at five different con-centrations (0, 3, 6, 9, and 12%), and its effects on the antioxidant, functional, textural, and sensorial attributes of pasta were investigated.

Functionality of Semolina Pasta Supplemented with Grapefruit Flavedo Byproduct: Effect on Phytochemical, Functional, Textural, Cooking, and Sensorial Quality.

Background: Pasta is consumed worldwide and can be an excellent food matrix for supplementation. Grapefruit (Citrus paradisi) flavedo byproduct is reported to contain considerable amounts of bioactive compounds, which represent a valuable and sustainable source of phenolics. So far, there is limited information available about the utilization of grapefruit flavedo byproducts for supplementation of pasta.

Knotty is nice: Metabolite binding and RNA-mediated gene regulation by the preQ riboswitch family.

Riboswitches sense specific cellular metabolites, leading to messenger RNA conformational changes that regulate downstream genes. Here, we review the three known prequeosine (preQ) riboswitch classes, which encompass five gene-regulatory motifs derived from distinct consensus models of folded RNA pseudoknots. Structural and functional analyses reveal multiple gene-regulation strategies ranging from partial occlusion of the ribosome-binding Shine-Dalgarno sequence (SDS), SDS sequestration driven by kinetic or thermodynamic folding pathways, direct preQ recognition by the SDS, and complete SDS burial with in the riboswitch architecture.

Two riboswitch classes that share a common ligand-binding fold show major differences in the ability to accommodate mutations.

Riboswitches are structured RNAs that sense small molecules to control expression. Prequeuosine1 (preQ1)-sensing riboswitches comprise three classes (I, II and III) that adopt distinct folds. Despite this difference, class II and III riboswitches each use 10 identical nucleotides to bind the preQ1 metabolite.