Ionizing Radiation Effects on Food Vitamins - A Review

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Ionizing radiation has been widely used in industrial processes, especially in the sterilization of medicals, pharmaceuticals, cosmetic products, and in food processing. Similar to other techniques of food processing, irradiation can induce certain alterations that can modify both the chemical composition and the nutritional value of foods. These changes depend on the food composition, the irradiation dose and factors such as temperature and presence or absence of oxygen in the irradiating environment. The sensitivity of vitamins to radiation is unpredictable and food vitamin losses during the irradiation are often substantial. The aim of this study was to discuss retention or loss of vitamins in several food products submitted to an irradiation process.52512671278Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES

Improving conflict support environments with information regarding social relationships

"Advances in artificial intelligence : IBERAMIA 2014 : 14th Ibero-American Conference on AI, Santiago de Chile, Chile, November 24-27, 2014, proceedings", ISBN 978-3-319-12026-3Having knowledge about social interactions as a basis for informed decision support in situations of conflict can be determinant. However, lower attention is given to the social network interpretation process in conflict management approaches. The main objective of the work presented here is to identify how the parties’ social networks correlate to their negotiation performance and how this can be formalized. Therefore, an experiment was set up in which was tried to streamline all the relevant aspects of the interaction between the individual and its environment that occur in a rich sensory environment (where the contextual modalities were monitored). This research explicitly focuses on the idea that an Ambient Intelligence system can create scenarios that augment the possibilities of reaching a positive outcome taking into account the role of contextualized social relationships in various conflict management strategies.This work is part-funded by ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT - Fundac¸ ˜ao para a Ciˆencia e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980 (PTDC/EEI-SII/1386/2012) and project PEst-OE/EEI/UI0752/2014

Testis-sparing surgery attempt: case report

Introduc¸ão: Até ao fim dos anos 80 defendia-se que qualquer nódulo testicular suspeito devia ser excisado com orquidectomia radical. No entanto, com o aumento do diagnóstico incidental de massas testiculares, a maior acuidade dos exames extemporâneos e a evidência das vantagens potenciais da orquidectomia parcial, questionou-se se seria necessário sacrificar, sempre, todo o testículo, mesmo na presenc¸a de um testículo contralateral normal. Caso clínico: Apresentamos o caso de um doente de 23 anos, com o diagnóstico de um nódulo testicular com 7,5 mm, não palpável, assintomático e marcadores tumorais negativos. Foi submetido a orquidectomia parcial guiada por ecografia e exame extemporâneo, no entanto, por suspeita anatomopatológica de provável tumor de células germinativas, optou-se pela totalizac¸ão da orquidectomia. O resultado histológico final foi de tumor de células de Leydig. Tendo em conta a elevada probabilidade de lesões testiculares não palpáveis e de pequenas dimensões serem benignas (até 80%), os efeitos da orquidectomia radical na espermatogénese, func¸ão endócrina e estética e que não devem ser ignorados, a orquidectomia parcial é um procedimento que, embora não seja um procedimento padrão, pode ser equacionado como primeira abordagem em casos selecionados e em centros de referência especializados.Introduction: Until the late 1980s, it was considered that any testicular mass, if suspicious, should be removed totally by radical orchiectomy; however, a marked increase in incidental testicular mass diagnosis, the high accuracy of diagnosis obtained from frozen section examinations, and evidence showing the potential advantages of testis-sparing surgery, threw into question the need to sacrifice the entire testis even when a normal contralateral testis was present. Clinical Case: We present a 23-year-old patient who was asymptomatic at diagnosis of a non- -palpable testicular mass with a size of approximately 7.5 mm and negative for tumor markers. He underwent a Testis-sparing surgery guided by ultrasound with frozen section examination, however, with the suspicious of Germ cell tumor, it was decided to complete the orchiectomy. The final histological results were Leydig cell tumor. Given the high likelihood of non-palpable and small testicular lesions being benign (80%), the negative impact of radical orchiectomy on spermatogenesis, cosmetic aspects, and endocrine function, impossible to ignore, Testis- -sparing surgery is a procedure that although it is not a standard procedure must be employed as the first approach in selected cases and specialized reference centers

Selection of colon cancer patients for neoadjuvant chemotherapy based on optimised preoperative MDCT A prospective multi-observer radiologic-pathologic agreement study

PURPOSE: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in potencially-resectable locally advanced colon cancer (LACC) is likely to prove superiority compared to standard treatment in the phase III FOXTROT Collaborative Group Trial. Thus, identification of LACC, defined as T3≥5 mm or T4, is fundamental and requires accurate noninvasive imaging. The value of optimized preoperative MDCT for that purpose is being assessed. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Observational, cross-sectional, prospective study including all patients with colon cancer refered to our Institution´s Radiology Department for preoperative staging between the 1st of October 2013 and the 6th of August 2014. Independent reading of optimized MDCT acquisitions using MPR was performed by 4 radiologists (3.6,15 and 20 years of experience in gastrointestinal imaging). Extramural tumour extension was graded as < 5 mm; ≥5 mm; invasion of peritoneum/fascia/adjacent organ. Surgical specimen analysis was performed by a single pathologist with 12 years of experience in gastrointestinal pathology. Radiologic-Pathologic agreement was assessed. RESULTS: 48 patients, 26 males and 22 females, with a median age of 74 years (min:45;max:89) were considered eligible. Median time to surgery was 30.5 days (min:1;max:117). Diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of MDCT for the identification of LACC ranged between 0.64 and 0.82; 0.84 and 0.92; 0.5 and 0.7; 0.88 and 0.97; 0.75 and 0.88; respectively. Mean agreement between observers was 0.88 (SD:0.17) per patient. CONCLUSION: Preliminary results suggest that optimized MDCT is a specific, accurate and reproducible method for the selection of colon cancer patients who may benefit from NACT, with minimal risk of overtreatment of low-risk patients

Duodeno-colic fistula as a rare presentation of lung cancer - surgical treatment of a stage IV oligometastatic lung disease

INTRODUCTION: Rare adenosquamous carcinomas have no defined standard approach given their low incidence. They present with nonspecific imaging characteristics and are described as having worse prognosis than other lung malignancies, with greater likelihood of local invasion and early metastasis. PRESENTATION OF CASE: Male caucasian patient, 43 years, 26 pack-year smoking history, presented with watery diarrhea, early emesis and loss of 25% body weight (20kg) in four weeks. Colonoscopy identified a left colonic mass. Abdominal CT/ultrasound showed a large fistulous lesion between the 4th portion of the duodenum and left colon. CT showed a solid mass in the right upper lung lobe. Endoscopy and transthoracic biopsy were inconclusive. En bloc D3 and D4 duodenectomy, proximal enterectomy and left hemicolectomy were performed, with inconclusive histology of the specimen. Three months later, a right upper lung lobectomy with lymphadenectomy was performed, revealing an adenosquamous carcinoma of lung origin, R0, staged as pT2pN0pM1b. Six months later, a single dural metastasis in the left cerebellopontine angle was detected and resected, with subsequent holocranial radiotherapy and systemic adjuvant chemotherapy. Patient is currently with 18 months follow-up, in good general health and with no evidence of recurrent disease. DISCUSSION: There are no specific guidelines to treat oligometastatic adenosquamous lung carcinoma. Our approach was abdominal surgery as a life-saving procedure and, months later, oncological resection of primary lung tumor and metachronous metastasis to the brain. CONCLUSION: A systematic, patient-oriented, patient-shared, multidisciplinary approach is particularly relevant when dealing with atypical presentations of rare diseases in young patients

On the estimation of the effect of weight change on a health outcome using observational data, by utlilising the target trial emulation framework

Background/Objectives: When studying the effect of weight change between two time points on a health outcome using observational data, two main problems arise initially (i) ‘when is time zero?’ and (ii) ‘which confounders should we account for?’ From the baseline date or the 1st follow-up (when the weight change can be measured)? Different methods have been previously used in the literature that carry different sources of bias and hence produce different results. Methods: We utilised the target trial emulation framework and considered weight change as a hypothetical intervention. First, we used a simplified example from a hypothetical randomised trial where no modelling is required. Then we simulated data from an observational study where modelling is needed. We demonstrate the problems of each of these methods and suggest a strategy. Interventions: weight loss/gain vs maintenance. Results: The recommended method defines time-zero at enrolment, but adjustment for confounders (or exclusion of individuals based on levels of confounders) should be performed both at enrolment and the 1st follow-up. Conclusions: The implementation of our suggested method [adjusting for (or excluding based on) confounders measured both at baseline and the 1st follow-up] can help researchers attenuate bias by avoiding some common pitfalls. Other methods that have been widely used in the past to estimate the effect of weight change on a health outcome are more biased. However, two issues remain (i) the exposure is not well-defined as there are different ways of changing weight (however we tried to reduce this problem by excluding individuals who develop a chronic disease); and (ii) immortal time bias, which may be small if the time to first follow up is short

Linfoma primário do testículo: a propósito de um caso raro e revisão da literatura

O linfoma primário do testículo é a neoplasia testicular mais frequente do idoso correspondendo no entanto a apenas1%de todos os Linfomas Não Hodgkin. A evolução natural é geralmente agressiva com metastização mesmo nos casos de doença aparentemente limitada ao testículo. Estudos retrospectivos evidenciam mau prognóstico, independentemente do estadio inicial. A taxa de recidiva é alta (50-80%) com cerca de um terço das recidivas ao nível do SNC e testículo contralateral. Discutimos o caso clínico de um doente jovem com linfoma primário de testículo. Efectuou-se uma revisão da literatura recente com ênfase no diagnóstico e novas atitudes terapêuticas

An 18-year-old woman with a 34-cm metaplastic breast carcinoma

Metaplastic breast carcinomas (MBCs) are rare malignancies usually with poor prognosis. We report a case of an 18-year-old African female patient who presented with a 34-cm tumor on the right breast. Biopsy showed an extensively necrotic MBC negative for estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (triple negative). A modified right radical mastectomy was performed, followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. Histology confirmed a widely necrotic undifferentiated malignant tumor, with strong and diffuse expression of vimentin and B-cell lymphoma 2, focal high-molecular-weight keratins and focal CD34 expression; Ki67 was >90%. There was no skin, deep margin or lymph node involvement. Six months after surgery, the patient showed a 9 × 7 cm nodule adjacent to the suture and adherent to the anterior chest wall. The tumor was considered unresectable and the patient evolved with rapid systemic deterioration. The patient had a progression-free survival of 6 months and overall survival of 9 months