The role of down staging treatment in the management of locally advanced intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma : Review of literature and pooled analysis

Copyright © 2020 by The Korean Association of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

CO-FREE Alternative Test Products for Copper Reduction in Agriculture

The project CO-FREE (2012-2016) aimed to develop strategies to replace/reduce copper use in organic, integrated and conventional farming. CO-FREE alternative test products (CTPs) were tested and integrated together with decision support systems, disease-tolerant varieties, and innovative breeding goals (ideotypes) into improved management strategies. CO-FREE focused on apple/apple scab (Venturia inaequalis), grape/downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola), and tomato and potato/late blight (Phytophthora infestans). Starting point of the project were ten CTPs with direct or indirect modes of action including Trichoderma atroviride SC1 and protein extract SCNB, Lysobacter spp., yeast-based derivatives, Cladosporium cladosporioides H39, the oligosaccharidic complex COS-OGA, Aneurinibacillus migulanus and Xenorhabdus bovienii, sage (Salvia officinalis) extract, liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) extract, PLEX- and seaweed plant extracts. As the project progressed, further promising CTPs were included by the partners. Field trials were performed in different European countries in 2012-2015 following EPPO standards. In the first years, stand-alone applications of CTPs were tested. In the following years these were integrated into complete strategies. Effects on main and further diseases, on yield and on non-target organisms were assessed. Here, field trial results with CTPs are summarized

The ABC130 barrel module prototyping programme for the ATLAS strip tracker

For the Phase-II Upgrade of the ATLAS Detector, its Inner Detector, consisting of silicon pixel, silicon strip and transition radiation sub-detectors, will be replaced with an all new 100 % silicon tracker, composed of a pixel tracker at inner radii and a strip tracker at outer radii. The future ATLAS strip tracker will include 11,000 silicon sensor modules in the central region (barrel) and 7,000 modules in the forward region (end-caps), which are foreseen to be constructed over a period of 3.5 years. The construction of each module consists of a series of assembly and quality control steps, which were engineered to be identical for all production sites. In order to develop the tooling and procedures for assembly and testing of these modules, two series of major prototyping programs were conducted: an early program using readout chips designed using a 250 nm fabrication process (ABCN-25) and a subsequent program using a follow-up chip set made using 130 nm processing (ABC130 and HCC130 chips). This second generation of readout chips was used for an extensive prototyping program that produced around 100 barrel-type modules and contributed significantly to the development of the final module layout. This paper gives an overview of the components used in ABC130 barrel modules, their assembly procedure and findings resulting from their tests.Comment: 82 pages, 66 figure

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

Evolution of the nutritional value of tomato products from the field to the cans: impact of harvesting and processing methods on macro- and micro-element contents and lycopene bioaccessibility

International audienceNutritional value of food is mainly determined from the metabolites contained in the crops and food products and is among the quality parameters retained and emphasis for consumers. Fresh fruits benefit from a positive feeling of consumers while processed fruits are often considered as low-nutritional because processing is generally considered as deleterious for most health-benefit components. However fruit matrix provide protections explaining that a proportion of sensitive molecules remains even after heat treatments. Processing may also have positive impact by enhancing bioaccessibility of nutrients. In order to have a critical view of how the nutritional value of tomato products evolve during the classical industrial routes, we designed a pilot-scaled experimentation for tomato puree and paste preparations, including various harvesting and processing methods. Every product was evaluated for their vitamin C, main sugars, main acids and fibre content. Lycopene content and bioaccessibility was also evaluated. Vitamin C was the most impacted element by harvesting and processing methods (up to 80% loss), but surprisingly, only 10% of the initial vitamin C was lost during the cold break processing (100 degrees C for 15 min). As was sugars, acids and fibres, lycopene content was little affected by the process. However, its bioaccessibility was enhanced when tomato was prepared with hot break methods

Combined Effects of Irrigation Regime, Genotype, and Harvest Stage Determine Tomato Fruit Quality and Aptitude for Processing into Puree

Industry tomatoes are produced under a range of climatic conditions and practices which significantly impact on main quality traits of harvested fruits. However, the quality of tomato intended for processing is currently addressed on delivery through color and Brix only, whereas other traits are overlooked. Very few works provided an integrated view of the management of tomato puree quality throughout the chain. To gain insights into pre- and post-harvest interactions, four genotypes, two water regimes, three maturity stages, and two processes were investigated. Field and glasshouse experiments were conducted near Avignon, France, from May to August 2016. Two irrigation regimes were applied: control plants were irrigated in order to match 100% of evapotranspiration (ETP); water deficit (WD) plants were irrigated as control plants until anthesis of the first flowers, then irrigation was reduced to 60 and 50% ETP in field, and glasshouse respectively. Fruits were collected at three stages during ripening. Their color, fresh weight, dry matter content, and metabolite contents were determined before processing. Pericarp cell size was evaluated in glasshouse only. Two laboratory-scaled processing methods were applied before structural and biochemical analyses of the purees. Results outlined interactive effects between crop and process management. WD hardly reduced yield, but increased dry matter content in the field, in contrast to the glasshouse. The puree viscosity strongly depended on the genotype and the maturity stage, but it was disconnected from fruit dry matter content or Brix. The process impact on puree viscosity strongly depended on water supply during fruit production. Moreover, the lycopene content of fresh fruit may influence puree viscosity. This work opens new perspectives for managing puree quality in the field showing that it was possible to reduce water supply without affecting yield and to improve puree quality

Marilou Addison

In order to investigate how pre-harvest conditions impact fresh fruit quality, and 17 especially their quality attributes related to industry use, we identified and quantified 18 fresh fruit traits which are impacted by low water supply and their consequences on 19 puree quality, with a focus on viscosity, sugar/acid balance and carotenoid content. A first 20 trial in 2016, indicated that lowering water supply to 50% of the evapotranspiration 21 (ETP) all along the fruit development impacted plants without significantly affect yields, 22 but impacted the fruit reactivity to the process. To confirm these results, and seek for the 23 limits of reducing water supply, the same experimentation was design except that a more 24 severe water deficit was applied. Control plants were irrigated in order to match 100% of 25 the (ETP). Water deficit (WD) plants were irrigated as control plants was until anthesis of 26 the first flowers, and then, the irrigation was reduced to 50% of the ETP. The results 27 obtained in 2017 were compared to those obtained in 2016 on the basis of same 28 variables. Soil humidity, leaf conductance, leaf and fruit water potential and fruit growth 29 were monitored revealing interactive effects between crop and process management. It 30 pointed out links between fresh fruit characteristics and puree quality, depending on 31 genotype and watering regime. As in 2016, WD hardly reduced yield, but increased dry 32 matter content. The puree viscosity strongly depended on the genotype, and the viscosity 33 was disconnected from the soluble solid content (brix). The fruits enzymatic reactivity, 34 estimated through the difference of viscosity measured between hot-break and cold-35 break purees were reduced dramatically under WD for all the genotypes. This work 36 opens new perspectives for managing puree quality in the field and for reducing water 37 use in the pre-harvest period and energy cost during processing

Selecting tomato not only for their taste, viscosity and color potential but also for their ability to react and conserved their quality during the process

The quality of tomato based products greatly depends on their color and viscosity, which are influenced by the fruit capacity of modifying their properties according to the processing route. Loss of viscosity due to intrinsic pectin modifying enzymes (also called ‘fruit reactivity’) is known and used to produce either hot break (HB) purees, more viscous, or cold break (CB) ones, less viscous. Color reactivity, even if less documented, also exists as HB/CB purees differ. This fruit reactivity, although essential for quality purpose, remains almost neglected from breeders. In order to verify if reactivity could be considered as a heritable trait, we measured it through a “quick and dirty” laboratory scaled process and a systematic measurement of the loss of texture and color according to HB or CB process. The results indicated that fruits can be classified according to their capacity of being impacted by the process. For viscosity, some genotypes exhibited a strong capacity for producing highly viscous purees but also exhibited a strong fruit reactivity, indicating that their advantage may be quickly lost during the process if the first break step is not efficient enough, or in case or cold break processing. On other hand, some genotypes exhibited a very low reactivity to process. Reactivity was also greatly reduced by a low irrigation level. And finally, a parallel processing at laboratory or pilot scale indicated that the behavior of a 10‐fruits sample in microwaves was correlated to the quality observed in traditional scrapped surface tubular eating system. The color of purees was also influenced by the fruit reactivity, but the enzymatic basis for the color change seemed disconnected from the one controlling viscosity. Those results open the door for a more efficient screening of tomato varieties based not only on the fruit composition, but also on their ability to react to the process

Pulmonary capillary surface area in supine exercising humans: demonstration of vascular recruitment

In exercising humans, cardiac output (CO) increases, with minor increases in pulmonary artery pressure (PAP). It is unknown if the CO is accommodated via distention of already perfused capillaries or via recruitment of nonconcomitantly perfused pulmonary capillaries. Ten subjects (9 female) performed symptom-limited exercise. Six had resting mean PAP (PAPm) <20 mmHg, and four had PAPm between 21 and 24 mmHg. The first-pass pulmonary circulatory metabolism of [3H]benzoyl-Phe-Ala-Pro (BPAP) was measured at rest and at peak exercise, and functional capillary surface area (FCSA) was calculated. Data are means ± SD. Mean pulmonary arterial pressure rose from 18.8 ± 3.3 SD mmHg to 28.5 ± 4.6 SD mmHg, CO from 6.4 ± 1.6 to 13.4 ± 2.9 L/min, and pulmonary artery wedge pressure from 14 ± 3.3 to 19.5 ± 5 mmHg (all P ≤ 0.001). Percent BPAP metabolism fell from 74.7 ± 0.1% to 67.1 ± 0.1%, and FCSA/body surface area (BSA) rose from 2,939 ± 640 to 5,018 ± 1,032 mL·min-1·m-2 (all P < 0.001). In nine subjects, the FCSA/BSA-to-CO relationship suggested principally capillary recruitment and not distention. In subject 10, a marathon runner, resting CO and FCSA/BSA were high, and increases with exercise suggested distention. Exercising humans demonstrate pulmonary capillary recruitment and distention. At moderate resting CO, increasing blood flow causes principally recruitment while, based on one subject, when exercise begins at high CO, further increases appear to cause distention. Our findings clarify an important physiologic question. The technique may provide a means for further understanding exercise physiology, its limitation in pulmonary hypertension, and responses to therapy.SCOPUS: ar.jDecretOANoAutActifinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe