ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF A BREEDING PROGRAMME FOR SETTING UP TWO HIGH PERFORMANCES BEE LINES

This study aimed to evaluate costs, incomes and financial results related to the creation of two Apis Mellifica Carpatica lines, based on a specific Breeding Programme within a closed population. The two beelines have been carefully selected for the bee populations living in two areas of Romania: North Moldavia and South Muntenia. A new selection technology is set up in order to produce high performance queen bees, well adapted to the environmental conditions mainly to picking. Genetic gain will be get by selling the mated selected queens belonging to the two lines to various beekeepers interested to obtain more and high quality bee products

ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF A BREEDING PROGRAMME FOR SETTING UP TWO HIGH PERFORMANCES BEE LINES

This study aimed to evaluate costs, incomes and financial results related to the creation of two Apis Mellifica Carpatica lines, based on a specific Breeding Programme within a closed population. The two beelines have been carefully selected for the bee populations living in two areas of Romania: North Moldavia and South Muntenia. A new selection technology is set up in order to produce high performance queen bees, well adapted to the environmental conditions mainly to picking. Genetic gain will be get by selling the mated selected queens belonging to the two lines to various beekeepers interested to obtain more and high quality bee products

About the Dynamic Behaviour of Composite Bars Reinforced with Cotton or Hemp Fibers

In this paper, the authors designed several green composites with natural reinforcements (hemp and cotton fibers) and the matrix is a synthetic resin (epoxy resin). On having produced the samples, the authors determined the dynamic mechanical characteristics. The dynamic parameters were determined from the bar free vibrations. The next experimental rig was used: the bars were clamped at one end and left free at the other end. At the free end, a Bruel&Kjaer accelerometer with 0.04 pC/ms-2 sensitivity was placed, in order to record the beam dynamic response. A force was applied at the free end to bend the beams, and after bending, the force was cancelled and the beams were left to vibrate freely. The accelerometer was connected to a Nexus signal conditioner, and the signal conditioner was connected to a SPIDER 8 data acquisition system made by Hottinger Baldwin Messtec. The acquisition system was connected to a notebook and the experimental parameters were obtained through the CATMAN EASY software. From the free vibrations recording, the next mechanical parameters were determined: the eigenfrequency of the first eigenmode, the damping factors per mass unit and per unit length, the loss factor and the dynamic Young modulus and stiffness. From the results obtained, it can be concluded that the materials with epoxy resin reinforced with hemp have better vibration damping properties as compared to the composites made from epoxy reinforced with cotton fibers

Correlative study of structural and optical properties of ZnSe under severe plastic deformation

The effect of plastic deformation on the optical and structural properties of ZnSe crystals has been investigated. The optical properties have been monitored by cathodoluminescence measurements as a function of the deformation degree. Remarkable differences in the defect-related emissions from the most severely deformed areas have been encountered. Deformation of the crystal lattice of ZnSe, associated with slip phenomena, has been studied by means of Electron Backscattered Diffraction and micro-Raman spectroscopy. The relation between the deformation and the optical properties of the ZnSe crystals has been described

Radiofrequency ablation in primary colo-rectal cancer and liver metastasis

Institutul Oncologic Bucuresti, Clinica de Chirurgie Nr. 1, Al XI-lea Congres al Asociației Chirurgilor „Nicolae Anestiadi” din Republica Moldova și cea de-a XXXIII-a Reuniune a Chirurgilor din Moldova „Iacomi-Răzeșu” 27-30 septembrie 2011Ablaţia prin radiofrecvenţă constituie o soluţie terapeutică recentă în chirurgia determinărilor primare sau secundare din neoplasmele colorectale. Realizată prin abord deschis, laparo-endoscopic sau percutan, metoda asigură un control acceptabil asupra procesului tumoral, cu riscuri reduse comparativ cu chirurgia de exereză, cu condiţia respectării stricte a indicaţiilor. Obiective. Evaluăm această procedură terapeutică, aplicată pentru indicaţia clasică din metastazele hepatice, cât şi pentru tumorile rectale joase sau recidive pelvine după cancer rectal operat, prin prisma experienţei acumulate pe parcursul a 4 ani, focusând complicaţiile perioperatorii şi rata de recidivă locală şi evoluţia la distanţă. Metoda. În perioada decembrie 2006 – martie 2010 au fost trataţi prin radiofrecvenţă 64 pacienţi, 46 cu metastaze hepatice secundare CRC, iar 18 cu cancer rectal inferior sau recidive pelvine; procedura s-a realizat în majoritatea cazurilor sub control echografic intraoperator, prin abord chirurgical clasic în 59 cazuri, iar în 5 cazuri prin abord laparoscopic. Evoluţia pacienţilor a fost monitorizată imagistic prin CT postoperator la 30 zile, ulterior din 3 în 3 luni, urmărirea markerilor tumorali (CEA, CA19.9.) şi control endoscopic. Rezultate. Complicaţii perioperatorii s-au inregistrat la 6 pacienţi si au constat în sindroame febrile, citolize hepatice. Nu s-au înregistrat complicaţii de tipul hemoragiilor, fistulelor sau peritonitelor; şi nici mortalitate perioperatorie imputabilă metodei. Recidive locale înregistrate, la un interval de 6-25 luni, la 12 pacienți. Concluzii. Experienţa iniţială arată că radioablaţia în chirurgia determinărilor primare sau secundare din neoplasmele colo-rectale este o procedură relativ sigură, grefată de morbiditate redusă şi rata scazută de recidivă locală; urmează ca studii de urmărire pe perioade mai întinse să confirme valoarea metodei.Radiofrequency ablation represent a therapeutic option for primary colo-rectal cancer and liver metastasis, performed by open surgery, laparoscopic approach or percutaneous, provide a reasonable local tumor control, involved low risks comparative resection surgery. Objectives. We analyzed this procedure, for classic indication in hepatic metastatic tumors, as well as in low rectal tumors and pelvic recurrences after rectal surgery based on four years experience, focused on perioperative complications, recurrence rate and long distant evolution. Method. Between December 2006 and March 2010, 64 patients underwent RFA; 46 cases had metastatic lesions from colo-rectal cancer and 18 cases had low rectal cancer or pelvic recuurrence. RFA was performed in 59 patients via open surgery and laparoscopic approach in 5 patients. Postoperative course was followed with CT scan at 1 month, and then at 3 month interval, in correlation with tumor markers level (CEA, CA19.9.) and endoscopic control. Results. Perioperative complications occurred in 6 cases, consist of prolonged fever, severe hepatic cytolysis, without other complications such, biliary tract injury, hemorrhage, and peritonitis; no mortality caused by RFA procedure. 12 cases had local recurrence, at 6 and 25 month after post RFA procedure. Concluzii. Initial experience shows that RFA is a safe procedure for treatment of primary colo-rectal cancer and liver metastasis, with low rate of morbidity and local recurrence, indicated for patients with unresecable lesions or high risks for surgical resection

Refactoring GrPPI:Generic Refactoring for Generic Parallelism in C++

Funding: EU Horizon 2020 project, TeamPlay (https://www.teamplay-xh2020.eu), Grant Number 779882, UK EPSRC Discovery, grant number EP/P020631/1, and Madrid Regional Government, CABAHLA-CM (ConvergenciA Big dAta-Hpc: de Los sensores a las Aplicaciones) Grant Number S2018/TCS-4423.The Generic Reusable Parallel Pattern Interface (GrPPI) is a very useful abstraction over different parallel pattern libraries, allowing the programmer to write generic patterned parallel code that can easily be compiled to different backends such as FastFlow, OpenMP, Intel TBB and C++ threads. However, rewriting legacy code to use GrPPI still involves code transformations that can be highly non-trivial, especially for programmers who are not experts in parallelism. This paper describes software refactorings to semi-automatically introduce instances of GrPPI patterns into sequential C++ code, as well as safety checking static analysis mechanisms which verify that introducing patterns into the code does not introduce concurrency-related bugs such as race conditions. We demonstrate the refactorings and safety-checking mechanisms on four simple benchmark applications, showing that we are able to obtain, with little effort, GrPPI-based parallel versions that accomplish good speedups (comparable to those of manually-produced parallel versions) using different pattern backends.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Exploring cognitive and biological correlates of sleep quality and their potential links with Alzheimer's disease (ALFASleep project): protocol for an observational study

The growing worldwide prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and the lack of effective treatments pose a dire medical challenge. Sleep disruption is also prevalent in the ageing population and is increasingly recognised as a risk factor and an early sign of AD. The ALFASleep project aims to characterise sleep with subjective and objective measurements in cognitively unimpaired middle/late middle-aged adults at increased risk of AD who are phenotyped with fluid and neuroimaging AD biomarkers. This will contribute to a better understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms linking sleep with AD, thereby paving the way for the development of non-invasive biomarkers and preventive strategies targeting sleep.We will invite 200 participants enrolled in the ALFA+ (for ALzheimer and FAmilies) prospective observational study to join the ALFASleep study. ALFA+ participants are cognitively unimpaired middle-aged/late middle-aged adults who are followed up every 3 years with a comprehensive set of evaluations including neuropsychological tests, blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sampling, and MRI and positron emission tomography acquisition. ALFASleep participants will be additionally characterised with actigraphy and CSF-orexin-A measurements, and a subset (n=90) will undergo overnight polysomnography. We will test associations of sleep measurements and CSF-orexin-A with fluid biomarkers of AD and glial activation, neuroimaging outcomes and cognitive performance. In case we found any associations, we will test whether changes in AD and/or glial activation markers mediate the association between sleep and neuroimaging or cognitive outcomes and whether sleep mediates associations between CSF-orexin-A and AD biomarkers.The ALFASleep study protocol has been approved by the independent Ethics Committee Parc de Salut Mar, Barcelona (2018/8207/I). All participants have signed a written informed consent before their inclusion (approved by the same ethics committee). Study findings will be presented at national and international conferences and submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals.NCT04932473.© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ

Prevalence and Outcomes for Heavily Treatment-Experienced (HTE) Individuals Living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus in a European Cohort

BACKGROUND: Although antiretroviral treatments have improved survival of persons living with HIV, their long-term use may limit available drug options. We estimated the prevalence of heavily treatment-experienced (HTE) status and the potential clinical consequences of becoming HTE. SETTING: EuroSIDA, a European multicentre prospective cohort study. METHODS: A composite definition for HTE was developed, based on estimates of antiretroviral resistance and prior exposure to specific antiretroviral regimens. Risks of progressing to clinical outcomes were assessed by Poisson regression, comparing every HTE individual with three randomly-selected controls who never became HTE. RESULTS: Of 15,570 individuals under follow-up in 2010-2016, 1617 (10.4%, 95% CI 9.9-10.9%) were classified as HTE. 1093 individuals became HTE during prospective follow-up (HTE incidence rate 1.76, CI 1.66-1.87 per 100 person-years of follow-up). The number of HTE individuals was highest in West/Central Europe (636/4019 persons, 15.7%) and lowest in East Europe (26/2279 persons, 1.1%). Although most HTE individuals maintained controlled viral loads (<400 copies/ml), many had low CD4 counts (≤350 cells/µl). After controlling for age, immunological parameters and pre-existing comorbidities, HTE status was not associated with the risk of new AIDS (adjusted incidence rate ratio, aIRR 1.44, CI 0.86-2.40, p = 0.16) or non-AIDS clinical events (aIRR 0.96, CI 0.74-1.25, p = 0.77). CONCLUSIONS: HTE prevalence increased with time. After adjusting for key confounding factors, there was no evidence for an increased risk of new AIDS or non-AIDS clinical events in HTE. Additional therapeutic options and effective management of comorbidities remain important to reduce clinical complications in HTE individuals

Immunomagnetic microbeads for screening with flow cytometry and identification with nano-liquid chromatography mass spectrometry of ochratoxins in wheat and cereal

Multi-analyte binding assays for rapid screening of food contaminants require mass spectrometric identification of compound(s) in suspect samples. An optimal combination is obtained when the same bioreagents are used in both methods; moreover, miniaturisation is important because of the high costs of bioreagents. A concept is demonstrated using superparamagnetic microbeads coated with monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) in a novel direct inhibition flow cytometric immunoassay (FCIA) plus immunoaffinity isolation prior to identification by nano-liquid chromatography–quadrupole time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (nano-LC-Q-ToF-MS). As a model system, the mycotoxin ochratoxin A (OTA) and cross-reacting mycotoxin analogues were analysed in wheat and cereal samples, after a simple extraction, using the FCIA with anti-OTA Mabs. The limit of detection for OTA was 0.15 ng/g, which is far below the lowest maximum level of 3 ng/g established by the European Union. In the immunomagnetic isolation method, a 350-times-higher amount of beads was used to trap ochratoxins from sample extracts. Following a wash step, bound ochratoxins were dissociated from the Mabs using a small volume of acidified acetonitrile/water (2/8 v/v) prior to separation plus identification with nano-LC-Q-ToF-MS. In screened suspect naturally contaminated samples, OTA and its non-chlorinated analogue ochratoxin B were successfully identified by full scan accurate mass spectrometry as a proof of concept for identification of unknown but cross-reacting emerging mycotoxins. Due to the miniaturisation and bioaffinity isolation, this concept might be applicable for the use of other and more expensive bioreagents such as transport proteins and receptors for screening and identification of known and unknown (or masked) emerging food contaminants