Development of a pediatric differentiated thyroid carcinoma registry within the EuRRECa project: rationale and protocol

Registry; Thyroid carcinoma; ChildhoodRegistro; Carcinoma de tiroides; InfanciaRegistre; Carcinoma de tiroides; InfànciaBackground Although differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) is the most frequent endocrine pediatric cancer, it is rare in childhood and adolescence. While tumor persistence and recurrence are not uncommon, mortality remains extremely low. Complications of treatment are however reported in up to 48% of the survivors. Due to the rarity of the disease, current treatment guidelines are predominantly based on the results of small observational retrospective studies and extrapolations from results in adult patients. In order to develop more personalized treatment and follow-up strategies (aiming to reduce complication rates), there is an unmet need for uniform international prospective data collection and clinical trials. Methods and analysis The European pediatric thyroid carcinoma registry aims to collect clinical data for all patients ≤18 years of age with a confirmed diagnosis of DTC who have been diagnosed, assessed, or treated at a participating site. This registry will be a component of the wider European Registries for Rare Endocrine Conditions project which has close links to Endo-ERN, the European Reference Network for Rare Endocrine Conditions. A multidisciplinary expert working group was formed to develop a minimal dataset comprising information regarding demographic data, diagnosis, treatment, and outcome. We constructed an umbrella-type registry, with a detailed basic dataset. In the future, this may provide the opportunity for research teams to integrate clinical research questions. Ethics and dissemination Written informed consent will be obtained from all participants and/or their parents/guardians. Summaries and descriptive analyses of the registry will be disseminated via conference presentations and peer-reviewed publications.SFA and ALP are supported by the European Union’s Health Programme (2014–2020) on the EuRRECa project ‘777215/EuRRECa’ and the EuRR-Bone project ‘946831/EuRR-Bone’. The EuRRECa project is also grateful to the European Society of Endocrinology and the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology for funding support

BRAF V600E status may facilitate decision-making on active surveillance of low-risk papillary thyroid microcarcinoma.

Introduction: Conservative active surveillance has been proposed for low-risk papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC), defined as 641.0 cm and lacking clinical aggressive features, but controversy exists with accepting it as not all such PTMCs are uniformly destined for benign prognosis. This study investigated whether BRAF V600E status could further risk stratify PTMC, particularly low-risk PTMC, and can thus help with more accurate case selection for conservative management. Methods: This international multicenter study included 743 patients treated with total thyroidectomy for PTMC (584 women and 159 men), with a median age of 49 years (interquartile range [IQR], 39-59 years) and a median follow-up time of 53 months (IQR, 25-93 months). Results: On overall analyses of all PTMCs, tumour recurrences were 6.4% (32/502) versus 10.8% (26/241) in BRAF mutation-negative versus BRAF mutation-positive patients (P = 0.041), with a hazard ratio (HR) of 2.44 (95% CI (confidence interval), 1.15-5.20) after multivariate adjustment for confounding clinical factors. On the analyses of low-risk PTMC, recurrences were 1.3% (5/383) versus 4.3% (6/139) in BRAF mutation-negative versus BRAF mutation-positive patients, with an HR of 6.65 (95% CI, 1.80-24.65) after adjustment for confounding clinical factors. BRAF mutation was associated with a significant decline in the Kaplan-Meier recurrence-free survival curve in low-risk PTMC. Conclusions: BRAF V600E differentiates the recurrence risk of PTMC, particularly low-risk PTMC. Given the robust negative predictive value, conservative active surveillance of BRAF mutation-negative low-risk PTMC is reasonable whereas the increased recurrence risk and other well-known adverse effects of BRAF V600E make the feasibility of long-term conservative surveillance uncertain for BRAF mutation-positive PTMC

Patient Age-Associated Mortality Risk Is Differentiated by BRAF V600E Status in Papillary Thyroid Cancer

PurposeFor the past 65 years, patient age at diagnosis has been widely used as a major mortality risk factor in the risk stratification of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), but whether this is generally applicable, particularly in patients with different BRAF genetic backgrounds, is unclear. The current study was designed to test whether patient age at diagnosis is a major mortality risk factor.Patients and MethodsWe conducted a comparative study of the relationship between patient age at diagnosis and PTC-specific mortality with respect to BRAF status in 2,638 patients (623 men and 2,015 women) with a median age of 46 years (interquartile range, 35 to 58 years) at diagnosis and a median follow-up time of 58 months (interquartile range, 26 to 107 months). Eleven medical centers from six countries participated in this study.ResultsThere was a linear association between patient age and mortality in patients with BRAF V600E mutation, but not in patients with wild-type BRAF, in whom the mortality rate remained low and flat with increasing age. Kaplan-Meier survival curves rapidly declined with increasing age in patients with BRAF V600E mutation but did not decline in patients with wild-type BRAF, even beyond age 75 years. The association between mortality and age in patients with BRAF V600E was independent of clinicopathologic risk factors. Similar results were observed when only patients with the conventional variant of PTC were analyzed.ConclusionThe long-observed age-associated mortality risk in PTC is dependent on BRAF status; age is a strong, continuous, and independent mortality risk factor in patients with BRAF V600E mutation but not in patients with wild-type BRAF. These results question the conventional general use of patient age as a high-risk factor in PTC and call for differentiation between patients with BRAF V600E and wild-type BRAF when applying age to risk stratification and management of PTC

GrassPlot - a database of multi-scale plant diversity in Palaearctic grasslands

GrassPlot is a collaborative vegetation-plot database organised by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and listed in the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD ID EU-00-003). GrassPlot collects plot records (releves) from grasslands and other open habitats of the Palaearctic biogeographic realm. It focuses on precisely delimited plots of eight standard grain sizes (0.0001; 0.001;... 1,000 m(2)) and on nested-plot series with at least four different grain sizes. The usage of GrassPlot is regulated through Bylaws that intend to balance the interests of data contributors and data users. The current version (v. 1.00) contains data for approximately 170,000 plots of different sizes and 2,800 nested-plot series. The key components are richness data and metadata. However, most included datasets also encompass compositional data. About 14,000 plots have near-complete records of terricolous bryophytes and lichens in addition to vascular plants. At present, GrassPlot contains data from 36 countries throughout the Palaearctic, spread across elevational gradients and major grassland types. GrassPlot with its multi-scale and multi-taxon focus complements the larger international vegetationplot databases, such as the European Vegetation Archive (EVA) and the global database " sPlot". Its main aim is to facilitate studies on the scale-and taxon-dependency of biodiversity patterns and drivers along macroecological gradients. GrassPlot is a dynamic database and will expand through new data collection coordinated by the elected Governing Board. We invite researchers with suitable data to join GrassPlot. Researchers with project ideas addressable with GrassPlot data are welcome to submit proposals to the Governing Board

<scp>ReSurveyEurope</scp>: A database of resurveyed vegetation plots in Europe

AbstractAimsWe introduce ReSurveyEurope — a new data source of resurveyed vegetation plots in Europe, compiled by a collaborative network of vegetation scientists. We describe the scope of this initiative, provide an overview of currently available data, governance, data contribution rules, and accessibility. In addition, we outline further steps, including potential research questions.ResultsReSurveyEurope includes resurveyed vegetation plots from all habitats. Version 1.0 of ReSurveyEurope contains 283,135 observations (i.e., individual surveys of each plot) from 79,190 plots sampled in 449 independent resurvey projects. Of these, 62,139 (78%) are permanent plots, that is, marked in situ, or located with GPS, which allow for high spatial accuracy in resurvey. The remaining 17,051 (22%) plots are from studies in which plots from the initial survey could not be exactly relocated. Four data sets, which together account for 28,470 (36%) plots, provide only presence/absence information on plant species, while the remaining 50,720 (64%) plots contain abundance information (e.g., percentage cover or cover–abundance classes such as variants of the Braun‐Blanquet scale). The oldest plots were sampled in 1911 in the Swiss Alps, while most plots were sampled between 1950 and 2020.ConclusionsReSurveyEurope is a new resource to address a wide range of research questions on fine‐scale changes in European vegetation. The initiative is devoted to an inclusive and transparent governance and data usage approach, based on slightly adapted rules of the well‐established European Vegetation Archive (EVA). ReSurveyEurope data are ready for use, and proposals for analyses of the data set can be submitted at any time to the coordinators. Still, further data contributions are highly welcome.</jats:sec

System POTOK: Forest's ecosystem components projection with database and digital vector maps use

The composition presents a prototype solution (system POTOK) of a complex problem such as advanced assistance for researches in hydrological terms of forest areas. The idea of this system was based on a junction of two technologies: relational database and digital projection of space. The database is a ground of application that allowed creating ad hoc queries accomplished by advanced processing and also gives wide prospects of visualising the results (in 3D). The system could be used in related branches of science

Wplyw sposobu gotowania i przechowywania po ugotowaniu na temperature, wydajnosc i jakosc sensoryczna brokulow

Celem pracy była ocena wpływu sposobu gotowania (w garnku przy rozpoczęciu procesu od wody wrzącej, w garnku w parze, w piecu konwekcyjno-parowym w parze) oraz przechowywania po ugotowaniu w bemarze i w termoporcie na wydajność, jakość sensoryczną (ocenianą metodami niestrukturowanej skali graficznej i parzystą) i barwę brokułów ocenianą instrumentalnie. Podczas przechowywania w bemarze i termoporcie badano ponadto zmiany temperatury brokułów i wody. Najwyższą wydajność procesu, wynikającą z wchłonięcia wody, uzyskano gotując brokuły w wodzie, rozpoczynając proces od wrzącej wody. Stwierdzono, że sposób gotowania oraz sposób i czas przechowywania wpływają statystycznie istotnie na jakość sensoryczną brokułów. Jakość sensoryczna brokułów gotowanych w garnku przy rozpoczęciu procesu od wrzącej wody jest statystycznie istotnie lepsza od brokułów gotowanych w parze (w garnku i w piecu konwekcyjno-parowym). Przechowywanie gotowanych brokułów w bemarze powoduje znaczne obniżenie ich jakości sensorycznej (barwy, zapachu, smaku, konsystencji, jakości ogólnej) w porównaniu z przechowywaniem w termoporcie, co potwierdziła ocena barwy metodą instrumentalną. Brokuły nie powinny być przechowywane w bemarze. W celu utrzymania dobrej jakości sensorycznej i właściwej temperatury brokułów przechowywanych po ugotowaniu w termoporcie należy przekładać je do wygrzanych, pojemników GN, wypełnionych całkowicie, szczelnie zamykać termoport i nie przekraczać czasu przechowywania 1,5 h.The aim of this paper was evaluation of the influence of different cooking methods (cooking in pot starting with boiling water, steam cooking in pot, steam cooking in convection-steam oven), and storage after cooking (warmholding and storage in the thermoport) of broccoli, on yield, sensory quality (evaluated by unstructural graphical scale and dual method) and colour determined by instrumenthal method. Temperature changes of broccoli and water during storage in warmholding and in the thermoport were also tested. The highest yield of cooking process due to high water absorbtion, was observed in the case of cooking in pot starting with boiling water. Study shows that different methods of cooking and storage time statistically significantly affected sensory quality of broccoli. Sensory quality of cooked broccoli in pot starting with boiling water was statistically significantly better than steam cooked broccoli (in pot and in convection - steam oven). Warmholding of cooked broccoli in comparison to storage in the thermoport caused the significant decrease of sensory quality, what was confirmed by instrumenthal colour determination method. It looks that broccoli should not be hold in warm. To preserve good sensory quality and proper temperature during storage in the thermoport after cooking it is recommended to put broccoli into warm GN container, fully filled in, close it properly and storage max.1.5 hour