Benefit and risk assessment of breastmilk for infant health in Norway: Opinion of the Steering Committee of the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety

Source at https://vkm.no/english/riskassessments/allpublications/benefitandriskassessmentofbreastmilkforinfanthealthinnorway.4.27ef9ca915e07938c3b2a6df.html.Breastmilk covers all the nutritional needs of the infant the first months of life, with the exception of vitamin D. In addition, breastmilk has a number of protective properties. However, as humans are exposed to polluting chemicals through food, air, water and skin contact, breastmilk also contains contaminants. Taking the present-day levels of contaminants in Norwegian breastmilk and the long duration of breastfeeding (12 months) in Norway into account, the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety concludes that contaminants poses a low risk to Norwegian infants, and that the benefits of breastmilk to Norwegian infants clearly outweigh the risk presented by contaminants

Prediction of survival and progression in glioblastoma patients using temporal perfusion changes during radiochemotherapy

Background The aim of this study was to investigate changes in structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) according to the RANO criteria and perfusion- and permeability related metrics derived from dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE) and dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI (DSC) during radiochemotherapy for prediction of progression and survival in glioblastoma. Methods Twenty-three glioblastoma patients underwent biweekly structural and perfusion MRI before, during, and two weeks after a six weeks course of radiochemotherapy. Temporal trends of tumor volume and the perfusion-derived parameters cerebral blood volume (CBV) and blood flow (CBF) from DSC and DCE, in addition to contrast agent capillary transfer constant (Ktrans) from DCE, were assessed. The patients were separated in two groups by median survival and differences between the two groups explored. Clinical- and MRI metrics were investigated using univariate and multivariate survival analysis and a predictive survival index was generated. Results Median survival was 19.2 months. A significant decrease in contrast-enhancing tumor size and CBV and CBF in both DCE- and DSC-derived parameters was seen during and two weeks past radiochemotherapy (p < 0.05). A 10%/30% increase in Ktrans/CBF two weeks after finishing radiochemotherapy resulted in significant shorter survival (13.9/16.8 vs. 31.5/33.1 months; p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed an index using change in Ktrans and relative CBV from DSC significantly corresponding with survival time in months (r2 = 0.843; p < 0.001). Conclusions Significant temporal changes are evident during radiochemotherapy in tumor size (after two weeks) and perfusion-weighted MRI-derived parameters (after four weeks) in glioblastoma patients. While DCE-based metrics showed most promise for early survival prediction, a multiparametric combination of both DCE- and DSC-derived metrics gave additional information

Benefit and risk assessment of breastmilk for infant health in Norway: Opinion of the Steering Committee of the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety

Breastmilk covers all the nutritional needs of the infant the first months of life, with the exception of vitamin D. In addition, breastmilk has a number of protective properties. However, as humans are exposed to polluting chemicals through food, air, water and skin contact, breastmilk also contains contaminants. Taking the present-day levels of contaminants in Norwegian breastmilk and the long duration of breastfeeding (12 months) in Norway into account, the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety concludes that contaminants poses a low risk to Norwegian infants, and that the benefits of breastmilk to Norwegian infants clearly outweigh the risk presented by contaminants