Development and validation of a novel risk score for the detection of insignificant prostate cancer in unscreened patient cohorts

Background: Active surveillance is recommended for insignificant prostate cancer (PCa). Tools exist to identify suitable candidates using clinical variables. We aimed to develop and validate a novel risk score (NRS) predicting which patients are harbouring insignificant PCa. / Methods: We used prospectively collected data from 8040 consecutive unscreened patients who underwent radical prostatectomy between 2006 and 2016. Of these, data from 2799 patients with Gleason 3 + 3 on biopsy were used to develop a multivariate model predicting the presence of insignificant PC at radical prostatectomy (ERSPC updated definition3: Gleason 3 + 3 only, index tumour volume < 1.3 cm3 and total tumour volume < 2.5 cm3). This was used to develop a novel risk score (NRS) which was validated in an equivalent independent cohort (n = 441). We compared the accuracy of existing predictive tools and the NRS in these cohorts. / Results: The NRS (incorporating PSA, prostate volume, age, clinical T Stage, percent and number of positive biopsy cores) outperformed pre-existing predictive tools in derivation and validation cohorts (AUC 0.755 and 0.76, respectively). Selection bias due to analysis of a surgical cohort is acknowledged. / Conclusions: The advantage of the NRS is that it can be tailored to patient characteristics and may prove to be valuable tool in clinical decision-making

Biological hydrogen production from lignocellulosic biomass

Biologically derived hydrogen (biohydrogen) from lignocellulosic biomass has the potential to be an ideal renewable fuel as its combustion does not produce carbon-based emissions and it can be derived from sources which do not affect food production. Moreover, the by-products of biohydrogen production can be fed to an anaerobic digester producing biogas. Thus, a two-step process involving biohydrogen production followed by biogas production is emerging as a viable option for conversion of lignocellulosic biomass. Essential aspects of designing a viable hydrogen production system such as biomass selection, inhibitory compounds in the biomass, removal and salvage of hydrogen and the desirable qualities in any hydrogen producing organism are discussed in this chapter

Electroweak parameters of the z0 resonance and the standard model

Contains fulltext : 124399.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Control of staphylococcal adhesion to polystyrene surfaces by polymer surface modification with surfactants

The adherence of three clinical isolates of Staphylococcus epidermidis to model polystyrene surfaces was studied in vitro using epifluorescent image analysis. A series of 16 Pluronic surfactants (A-B-A block copolymers where A is poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and B is poly(propylene oxide) (PPO)) were used as surface modifiers for the model polystyrene surfaces. Substantial reductions (up to 97%) in bacterial adhesion levels were achieved with all copolymers tested, irrespective of the PPO or PEO block lengths. It appears likely that such treatments create a sterically stabilized surface with adsorbed PEO chains, conferring non-specific anti-adhesive properties which can limit bacterial attachment