Calibration of Gamma Ray Impacts in Monolithic-Based Detectors Using Voronoi Diagrams

[EN] Molecular imaging systems, such as positron emission tomography (PET), use detectors providing energy and a 3-D interaction position of a gamma ray within a scintillation block. Monolithic crystals are becoming an alternative to crystal arrays in PET. However, calibration processes are required to correct for nonuniformities, mainly produced by the truncation of the scintillation light distribution at the edges. We propose a calibration method based on the Voronoi diagrams. We have used $50 \times 50 \times 15$ mm(3) LYSO blocks coupled to a $12\times 12$ SiPMs array. We have first studied two different interpolation algorithms: 1) weighted average method (WAM) and 2) natural neighbor (NN). We have compared them with an existing calibration based on 1-D monomials. Here, the crystal was laterally black painted and a retroreflector (RR) layer added to the entrance face. The NN exhibited the best results in terms of XY impact position, depth of Interaction, and energy, allowing us to calibrate the whole scintillation volume. Later, the NN interpolation has been tested against different crystal surface treatments, allowing always to correct edge effects. Best energy resolutions were observed when using the reflective layers (12%-14%). However, better linearity was observed with the treatments using black paint. In particular, we obtained the best overall performance when lateral black paint is combined with the RR.This work was supported in part by the European Research Council through the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under Grant 695536, and in part by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad under Grant TEC2016-79884-C2-1-R.Freire, M.; Gonzalez-Montoro, A.; Sánchez Martínez, F.; Benlloch Baviera, JM.; González Martínez, AJ. (2020). Calibration of Gamma Ray Impacts in Monolithic-Based Detectors Using Voronoi Diagrams. IEEE Transactions on Radiation and Plasma Medical Sciences. 4(3):350-360. https://doi.org/10.1109/TRPMS.2019.2947716S3503604

Antidiabetic Drug Prescription Pattern in Hospitalized Older Patients with Diabetes

Objective: To describe the prescription pattern of antidiabetic and cardiovascular drugs in a cohort of hospitalized older patients with diabetes. Methods: Patients with diabetes aged 65 years or older hospitalized in internal medicine and/or geriatric wards throughout Italy and enrolled in the REPOSI (REgistro POliterapuie SIMI—Società Italiana di Medicina Interna) registry from 2010 to 2019 and discharged alive were included. Results: Among 1703 patients with diabetes, 1433 (84.2%) were on treatment with at least one antidiabetic drug at hospital admission, mainly prescribed as monotherapy with insulin (28.3%) or metformin (19.2%). The proportion of treated patients decreased at discharge (N = 1309, 76.9%), with a significant reduction over time. Among those prescribed, the proportion of those with insulin alone increased over time (p = 0.0066), while the proportion of those prescribed sulfonylureas decreased (p < 0.0001). Among patients receiving antidiabetic therapy at discharge, 1063 (81.2%) were also prescribed cardiovascular drugs, mainly with an antihypertensive drug alone or in combination (N = 777, 73.1%). Conclusion: The management of older patients with diabetes in a hospital setting is often sub-optimal, as shown by the increasing trend in insulin at discharge, even if an overall improvement has been highlighted by the prevalent decrease in sulfonylureas prescription

Workshop on Regulatory Preparedness for Innovation in Nanotechnology

This report summarises the presentations and discussions at the first NanoReg2 Workshop on Regulatory Preparedness for Innovation in Nanotechnology held in Ispra, Italy 5 to 6 October 2017 and attended by approximately 60 regulators, industry representatives and other stakeholders. NanoReg2 is a European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 project. At the workshop, Regulatory Preparedness was defined as the regulators' timely awareness of innovations and the regulator's actions to check whether present legislation covers all safety aspects of each innovation, including initiating revision of the legislation as appropriate. Regulatory Preparedness, and Safe-by-Design (SbD) jointly constitute the NanoReg2 Safe Innovation Approach (SIA) for developing innovative products based on nanotechnology. The workshop aimed to gather views and identify current practices in regulatory work on safety of innovative products, tools already in use or needed, and potential difficulties in implementing Regulatory Preparedness in the EU. Presentations addressed the current state of the safety of nanotechnology innovation. The viewpoints included the regulatory framework, the principles behind it and the agencies and authorities enforcing it; nanosafety research projects and their support system (e.g. the current EU Horizon 2020 Framework Programme); national nanosafety initiatives; and the development of tools, such as foresight tools and harmonised test guidelines by the OECD for data generation. The workshop served to generate ideas for achieving Regulatory Preparedness. The participants recognised that while regulators deal with the safety of innovations, only few systematic approaches to this work exist. Some innovative products may reach the market before their safety has been appropriately assessed, as illustrated by RAPEX, the Rapid Exchange of Information System. A continuous and proactive combination of interconnected activities was considered to be required for ensuring Regulatory Preparedness. Thus, anticipation, e.g. horizon scanning, was seen as important, as was communication between regulators, innovators (industry) and other stakeholders. Regulators need to become aware of innovative products under development to ensure that the legislation and methods for safety assessment are available and adequate. Innovators must be aware of regulatory requirements and their likely development. This mutual awareness helps to develop safe products and to avoid delays or other problems in obtaining market approval. Awareness can be achieved through communication, which requires trust, e.g. promoted via "trusted environments" for confidential inquiries and information sharing. Furthermore, regulators need early access to the existing information and data relevant to safety assessment of innovative products to provide timely guidance and advice to Industry as well as to develop strategies for dealing with uncertainty, e.g. by applying the precautionary principle. Regulatory Preparedness was discussed as part of the SIA, and a "road map" of actions was suggested and outlined. The workshop has thus contributed towards acceptance of implementing Regulatory Preparedness for innovation in nanotechnology through the participation of a variety of stakeholders. This paves the way for a better dialogue among stakeholders in a fast economic development cycle, where it is even more important to quickly identify emerging needs for new approaches to regulatory issues for innovationJRC.F.2-Consumer Products Safet

Modelling in vitro gastrointestinal digestion of egg white gel matrix by laser-backscattering imaging

[EN] The objective of this work was to test the capability of laser-backscattering imaging technique to model changes produced throughout in vitro gastrointestinal digestion of chicken egg white gel as protein matrix model. Evolution of the matrix sample was monitored by analysing protein digestibility, zeta potential, particle size, and imaging every 20 min during the digestion process. Laser-backscattering was based on capturing the diffraction patterns generated by laser-light after being transmitted through matrix samples. Differences in imaging data were observed for the different zones of the studied diffraction patterns. This complexity was solved by a dimensional reduction using multivariate statistics, obtaining R-2 >0.90 in calibration studies. Results indicated that imaging device captured the variance produced due to changes in concentrations of protein compounds in despite of changes produced by pH and reagents addition. Therefore, laser-backscattering imaging was capable of monitoring the digestion of egg white gel during gastric and intestinal phases.Postdoctoral grant (PAID-10-19) from the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia to M.G. is acknowledged. Authors also thank the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades, Agencia Estatal de Investigacion and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional for the financial support provided through the RTI2018-098842-B-I00 and RTI2018-101599-BC21-AR projects.Verdú Amat, S.; Gallego Ibáñez, M.; Barat Baviera, JM.; Talens Oliag, P.; Grau Meló, R. (2022). Modelling in vitro gastrointestinal digestion of egg white gel matrix by laser-backscattering imaging. Journal of Food Engineering. 316:1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2021.1108391931

Kinetics studies during NaCl and KCl pork meat brining

[EN] We describe and quantify salt transfer processes during food processing using mathematical models. Our approach incorporates as novel elements: (i) a more rigorous determination of the salt diffusion kinetics by using the salt concentration of the liquid phase instead of the salt concentration of the overall samples, (ii) the use of novel, more accurate equilibrium conditions, (iii) the consideration of mass transfer coefficients in the boundary and (iv) the consideration of diffusion and salt transfer coefficients as functions of time. The methodology is used to determine the NaCl and KCl diffusion and transport coefficients during pork meat salting. Our results, combining experimental studies with a numerical study of a mathematical optimization problem point out the limitations of purely diffusive models and the need for more sophisticated models accounting for more physical and chemical processes taking place in meat during salting. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.This work was partially supported by Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologia under grants AGL2004-05064-C02, MTM2009-13832, CSD2006-32, and the European Union (FEDER programme).Barat Baviera, JM.; Baigts Allende, DK.; Aliño Alfaro, M.; Fernández Fernández, FJ.; Perez García, V. (2011). Kinetics studies during NaCl and KCl pork meat brining. Journal of Food Engineering. 106(1):102-110. doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2011.04.022S102110106

Prescribing trends of glucose-lowering drugs in older adults from 2010 to 2021. a population-based study of Northern Italy

Aims: To describe glucose-lowering drugs prescribing pattern in a large population of older diabetics from 2010 to 2021. Methods: Using linkable administrative health databases, we included patients aged 65-90 years treated with glucose-lowering drugs. Prevalence rate of drugs was collected within each study year. A stratified analysis by gender, age and coexistence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) was conducted. Results: A total of 251 737 and 308 372 patients were identified in 2010 and 2021, respectively. Use of metformin (68.4% to 76.6%), DPP-4i (1.6% to 18.4%), GLP-1-RA (0.4% to 10.2%), SGLT2i (0.6% to 11.1%) increased, while sulfonylureas (53.6% to 20.7%) and glinides (10.5% to 3.5%) decreased over time. Metformin, glitazones, GLP1-RA, SGLT2i and DPP4i (except for 2021) usage decreased with aging, in contrast to sulfonylureas, glinides and insulin. The coexistence of CVD was associated with a higher prescription of glinides, insulin, DPP-4i, GLP1-RA and SGLT2i, particularly in 2021. Conclusions: We found a significant increase in the prescriptions of GLP-1 RA and SGLT2i in older diabetics, mainly in those with CVD. However, drugs without CV benefits including sulfonylureas and DPP-4i continued to be highly prescribed in older patients. There is still room to improve the management in this population according to recommendations