Plastic or glass: a new environmental assessment with a marine litter indicator for the comparison of pasteurized milk bottles

AbstractPurposeToday plastic is the most used material for food packaging, but its incorrect disposal is creating environmental issues to oceans, soil and air. Someone believes that the solution is to ban plastic and substitute it with glass packaging. Is it the right choice? This study aims at comparing the environmental impact of bottles made of PET, R-PET, non-returnable glass and returnable glass in order to understand which is the most environmental friendly packaging solution.MethodsA literature analysis on the environmental impact of glass and PET bottles is carried out, taking into account their production, transport and disposal phase. Then, an environmental assessment of PET, R-PET, glass and returnable glass bottles, used to package 1 l of pasteurized milk, has been carried out using the life cycle assessment methodology and a new indicator. Inventory data were provided by an important milk processing and packaging factory located in Italy. Results were estimated using some relevant impact categories of the ReCiPe 2016 MidPoint (H) method, then a marine litter indicator (MLI) has been proposed in order to evaluate the polluting potential of milk bottles dispersed into the Mediterranean Sea.Results and discussionLCA results show that R-PET bottle gives the lowest contribution to global warming, stratospheric ozone depletion, terrestrial acidification, fossil resource scarcity, water consumption and human carcinogenic toxicity, followed by PET bottle, returnable glass bottle, and finally non-returnable glass bottle. Glass is the worst packaging option because of high energy demand in the bottle production and its weight and in the transport phase. Some improvements can be obtained with returnable glass, but even if we consider that a bottle could be reused eight times, results are not comparable to the PET or R-PET bottles used only once. However, according to the MLI, returnable glass bottles become the first option, because a lot of plastic bottles could potentially be dispersed into the sea.ConclusionsThe substitution of plastic with glass does not help to reduce the GWP and others LCI categories, while could contribute to reduce the marine litter: overall it is important to dispose correctly packaging materials, investing in recycling and reusing. In particular, great improvements can be obtained using bottles made with recycled materials, as R-PET. In conclusion, it is necessary to disadvantage waste dispersion, giving incentives to returnable packaging and raising people awareness of environmental problems

Dose-escalated pelvic radiotherapy for prostate cancer in definitive or postoperative setting

Purpose Given the absence of standardized planning approach for clinically node-positive (cN1) prostate cancer (PCa), we collected data about the use of prophylactic pelvic irradiation and nodal boost. The aim of the present series is to retrospectively assess clinical outcomes after this approach to compare different multimodal treatment strategies in this scenario. Methods Data from clinical records of patients affected by cN1 PCa and treated in six different Italian institutes with prophylactic pelvic irradiation and boost on pathologic pelvic lymph nodes detected with CT, MRI or choline PET/CT were retrospectively reviewed and collected. Clinical outcomes in terms of overall survival (OS) and biochemical relapse-free survival (b-RFS) were explored. The correlation between outcomes and baseline features (International Society of Urological Pathology-ISUP pattern, total dose to positive pelvic nodes 60 Gy, sequential or simultaneous integrated boost (SIB) administration and definitive vs postoperative treatment) was explored. Results ISUP pattern < 2 was a significant predictor of improved b-RFS (HR = 0.3, 95% CI 0.1220-0.7647, P = 0.0113), while total dose < 60 Gy to positive pelvic nodes was associated with worse b-RFS (HR = 3.59, 95% CI 1.3245-9.741, P = 0.01). Conversely, treatment setting (postoperative vs definitive) and treatment delivery technique (SIB vs sequential boost) were not associated with significant differences in terms of b-RFS (HR = 0.85, 95% CI 0.338-2.169, P = 0.743, and HR = 2.39, 95% CI 0.93-6.111, P = 0.067, respectively). Conclusion Results from the current analysis are in keeping with data from literature showing that pelvic irradiation and boost on positive nodes are effective approaches. Upfront surgical approach was not associated with better clinical outcomes

Home-based pulmonary rehabilitation in patients undergoing (chemo)radiation therapy for unresectable lung cancer: a prospective explorative study

Aims The prevention of pulmonary toxicity is an important goal for patient candidate to radiation therapy for lung cancer. There is a lack of evidence on the role of exercise training for patients with unresectable stage III lung cancer candidated to radical treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a home-based pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) program and to identify reliable tools in terms of respiratory function, exercise capacity and quality of life. Methods Patients' recruitment lasted from April 2020 till February 2022. The PR program was proposed concomitantly to radiation therapy to the first 20 patients (interventional group, IG), and the other 20 patients were identified as an observational group (OG). All patients were assessed at baseline (T0) and after 8 weeks (T2) with 6 minute walking test (6MWT), modified Borg Scale (mBORG), SF-36 questionnaire (SF-36) and pulmonary function test (PFT); after 4 weeks (T1), only SF-36 was administered. Results A decrease of 13.8 m in the walked-distance was registered in the OG between T0 and T2 (p = 0.083). Instead, an increase of 56.6 m in the distance walked was recorded in the IG between T0 and T2 (p <= 0.001). In the OG, the mBORG scores showed a negative trend. On the contrary, in the IG, these scores showed a slight improvement. In the OG, all the items of SF-36 scores decreased between T0 and T1. In the IG, an increased trend from T0 to T2 was observed for all the items of SF-36. No clinically significant variations were detected from baseline to T2 in both groups regarding PFT. Conclusion The 6MWT, mBORG and SF-36 resulted as useful tools to assess the role of a PR program. A significant gain in functional exercise capacity and a prevention of the physiological impairment of QoL during radio(chemo)therapy was registered

Unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer: could durvalumab be safe and effective in real-life clinical scenarios? Results of a single-center experience

IntroductionThe standard of care for patients with unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is chemoradiotherapy (CRT) followed by consolidation durvalumab as shown in the PACIFIC trial. The purpose of this study is to evaluate clinical outcomes and toxicities regarding the use of durvalumab in a real clinical scenario. MethodsA single-center retrospective study was conducted on patients with a diagnosis of unresectable stage III NSCLC who underwent radical CRT followed or not by durvalumab. Tumor response after CRT, pattern of relapse, overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), and toxicity profile were investigated. ResultsEighty-five patients met the inclusion criteria. The median age was 67 years (range 45-82 years). Fifty-two patients (61.2%) started sequential therapy with durvalumab. The main reason for excluding patients from the durvalumab treatment was the expression of PD-L1 < 1%. Only two patients presented a grade 4 or 5 pneumonitis. A median follow-up (FU) of 20 months has been reached. Forty-five patients (52.9%) had disease progression, and 21 (24.7%) had a distant progression. The addition of maintenance immunotherapy confirmed a clinical benefit in terms of OS and PFS. Two-year OS and PFS were respectively 69.4% and 54.4% in the durvalumab group and 47.9% and 24.2% in the no-durvalumab group (p = 0.015, p = 0.007). ConclusionIn this real-world study, patients treated with CRT plus durvalumab showed clinical outcomes and toxicities similar to the PACIFIC results. Maintenance immunotherapy after CRT has been shown to be safe and has increased the survival of patients in clinical practice

Benefits and effectiveness of high pressure processing on cheese: a ricotta case study

Today High Pressure Processing (HPP) is receiving interest thanks to its ability to stabilize foods preserving nutritional and sensorial characteristics. This work applies HPP on nutrient ricottas created in the Parmigiano Reggiano area and demonstrates not only its benefits, but also disadvantages, testing different pressures and packaging. Moreover, the ability of HPP to prolong the lag phase and reduce the maximum growth rate of bacteria is illustrated with a mathematical model. Results show the influence of HPP parameters on microbial growth, volatile organic compounds, syneresis, softness and colour, and demonstrate that not all packaging are suitable for the treatment. Obtained data highlight the effectiveness of HPP, which results the best stabilization method to sell safe and nutritive ricottas on the market with a long shelf life. Of course, the work can be a starting point for food companies who want to test an innovative and promising non-thermal technology

Growth, yield and quality of hydroponically cultivated green leafy vegetables as affected by nutrient solution and growing season

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) var. ‘Lollo rossa’ was grown in a floating hydroponic system. Six saline treatments were used, adding different concentrations of calcium chloride (CaCl2) to the nutrient solution (mol m−3): 0, 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20, which, respectively, corresponds to an electrical conductivity of 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4.4, 5.4, 6.3 dS m−1. In plants subjected to moderate salinity stress the growth was not affected and yields were not statistically significant; however, the data shows a slight decline in 20 mol m−3 CaCl2 treatments. Nitrate contents in the leaf decreased when the concentration of CaCl2 in nutrient solutions increased. Other quality parameters were positively affected by treatment with CaCl2, especially at moderate concentrations such as 5 and 10 mol m−3. In fact, both the content of phenols and antioxidant power increased at moderate salt concentrations and reduced in the treatment with 20 mol m−3 CaCl2. The content of chlorophyll and carotenoids were not affected by treatment even at high salt concentrations. The use of CaCl2 did not result in nutrition imbalances in plants either. In fact, the ratio K/Na remained unchanged in the various treatments, as well as the contents of microelements

Effects of calcium and salinity stress on quality of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) in soilless culture

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) var. 'Lollo rossa' was grown in a floating hydroponic system. Six saline treatments were used, adding different concentrations of calcium chloride (CaCl2) to the nutrient solution (mol m-3): 0, 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20, which, respectively, corresponds to an electrical conductivity of 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4.4, 5.4, 6.3 dS m-1. In plants subjected to moderate salinity stress the growth was not affected and yields were not statistically significant; however, the data shows a slight decline in 20 mol m-3 CaCl2 treatments. Nitrate contents in the leaf decreased when the concentration of CaCl2 in nutrient solutions increased. Other quality parameters were positively affected by treatment with CaCl2, especially at moderate concentrations such as 5 and 10 mol m-3. In fact, both the content of phenols and antioxidant power increased at moderate salt concentrations and reduced in the treatment with 20 mol m-3 CaCl2. The content of chlorophyll and carotenoids were not affected by treatment even at high salt concentrations. The use of CaCl2 did not result in nutrition imbalances in plants either. In fact, the ratio K/Na remained unchanged in the various treatments, as well as the contents of microelements. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC