Prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism in cancer patients

International audienceVenous thromboembolism (VTE) is an independent prognostic factor and the second leading cause of death in cancer patients. VTE is however a largely preventable disease when thromboprophylaxis is appropriately used. As recommended worldwide by international Clinical Practice Guidelines, cancer patients undergoing surgery or hospitalization for acute medical illness or with reduced mobility should benefit from thromboprophylaxis, in the absence of bleeding or other contraindications to anticoagulants. Thromboprophylaxis in cancer outpatients receiving systemic therapies is still under debate, except for pancreatic ambulatory cancer patients where prophylaxis confers a sustained reduction in VTE. Numerous strategies are currently developed to improve VTE prophylaxis practices in cancer patients, and to elucidate the best appropriate anticoagulant regimen for each individual cancer patient

Does Certification Guarantee that Ecological and Social Criteria are adequately considered in Everyday Forest Management?

A la suite du sommet de Rio en 1992, le WWF, les Amis de la Terre et Greenpeace ont prôné le développement de l'écocertification pour s'opposer à la dégradation des forêts dans le monde et pour promouvoir une gestion durable d'une façon plus constructive que le boycott des bois tropicaux. Ils ont ainsi participé à la fondation du FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) qu'ils soutiennent pour les objectifs environnementaux et sociaux qu'il poursuit, pour ses critères et indicateurs requérant un niveau minimal de gestion durable, pour l'équilibre qu'il organise dans son fonctionnement entre les intérêts écologiques, sociaux et économiques, pour la transparence qu'il recherche dans la chaîne de traçabilité des produits labellisés, pour le caractère volontaire de la demande de certification par le propriétaire ou gestionnaire de chaque entité de gestion, ... tous avantages que les systèmes concurrents de certification de la gestion forestière durable ne semblent pas réunir simultanément à l'heure actuelle.Following the 1992 Rio summit, WWF, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace advocated the development of ecocertification to combat the degradation of forests worldwide and promote sustainable management in a way that was thought to be more positive than boycotting tropical woods. They took part in the creation of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) which they support for its environmental and social goals, its criteria and indicators that require a minimal level of sustainable management, the balance it operates as between the ecological, social and economic interests involved, its transparency objective in seeking the chain of custody approach to certified products, the voluntary basis of application for certification by the entity that owns or manages the forest, all of which are benefits that other competing certification systems for sustainable forests management seem so far unable to offer simultaneously

Microplastics in seafood: Benchmark protocol for their extraction and characterization

Pollution of the oceans by microplastics (<5 mm) represents a major environmental problem. To date, a limited number of studies have investigated the level of contamination of marine organisms collected in situ. For extraction and characterization of microplastics in biological samples, the crucial step is the identification of solvent(s) or chemical(s) that efficiently dissolve organic matter without degrading plastic polymers for their identification in a time and cost effective way. Most published papers, as well as OSPAR recommendations for the development of a common monitoring protocol for plastic particles in fish and shellfish at the European level, use protocols containing nitric acid to digest the biological tissues, despite reports of polyamide degradation with this chemical. In the present study, six existing approaches were tested and their effects were compared on up to 15 different plastic polymers, as well as their efficiency in digesting biological matrices. Plastic integrity was evaluated through microscopic inspection, weighing, pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, and Raman spectrometry before and after digestion. Tissues from mussels, crabs and fish were digested before being filtered on glass fibre filters. Digestion efficiency was evaluated through microscopical inspection of the filters and determination of the relative removal of organic matter content after digestion. Five out of the six tested protocols led to significant degradation of plastic particles and/or insufficient tissue digestion. The protocol using a KOH 10% solution and incubation at 60 °C during a 24 h period led to an efficient digestion of biological tissues with no significant degradation on all tested polymers, except for cellulose acetate. This protocol appeared to be the best compromise for extraction and later identification of microplastics in biological samples and should be implemented in further monitoring studies to ensure relevance and comparison of environmental and seafood product quality studies