Highly-parallelized simulation of a pixelated LArTPC on a GPU

The rapid development of general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is allowing the implementation of highly-parallelized Monte Carlo simulation chains for particle physics experiments. This technique is particularly suitable for the simulation of a pixelated charge readout for time projection chambers, given the large number of channels that this technology employs. Here we present the first implementation of a full microphysical simulator of a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) equipped with light readout and pixelated charge readout, developed for the DUNE Near Detector. The software is implemented with an end-to-end set of GPU-optimized algorithms. The algorithms have been written in Python and translated into CUDA kernels using Numba, a just-in-time compiler for a subset of Python and NumPy instructions. The GPU implementation achieves a speed up of four orders of magnitude compared with the equivalent CPU version. The simulation of the current induced on 10^3 pixels takes around 1 ms on the GPU, compared with approximately 10 s on the CPU. The results of the simulation are compared against data from a pixel-readout LArTPC prototype

Global Retinoblastoma Presentation and Analysis by National Income Level

Importance: Early diagnosis of retinoblastoma, the most common intraocular cancer, can save both a child's life and vision. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that many children across the world are diagnosed late. To our knowledge, the clinical presentation of retinoblastoma has never been assessed on a global scale. Objectives: To report the retinoblastoma stage at diagnosis in patients across the world during a single year, to investigate associations between clinical variables and national income level, and to investigate risk factors for advanced disease at diagnosis. Design, Setting, and Participants: A total of 278 retinoblastoma treatment centers were recruited from June 2017 through December 2018 to participate in a cross-sectional analysis of treatment-naive patients with retinoblastoma who were diagnosed in 2017. Main Outcomes and Measures: Age at presentation, proportion of familial history of retinoblastoma, and tumor stage and metastasis. Results: The cohort included 4351 new patients from 153 countries; the median age at diagnosis was 30.5 (interquartile range, 18.3-45.9) months, and 1976 patients (45.4) were female. Most patients (n = 3685 84.7%) were from low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Globally, the most common indication for referral was leukocoria (n = 2638 62.8%), followed by strabismus (n = 429 10.2%) and proptosis (n = 309 7.4%). Patients from high-income countries (HICs) were diagnosed at a median age of 14.1 months, with 656 of 666 (98.5%) patients having intraocular retinoblastoma and 2 (0.3%) having metastasis. Patients from low-income countries were diagnosed at a median age of 30.5 months, with 256 of 521 (49.1%) having extraocular retinoblastoma and 94 of 498 (18.9%) having metastasis. Lower national income level was associated with older presentation age, higher proportion of locally advanced disease and distant metastasis, and smaller proportion of familial history of retinoblastoma. Advanced disease at diagnosis was more common in LMICs even after adjusting for age (odds ratio for low-income countries vs upper-middle-income countries and HICs, 17.92 95% CI, 12.94-24.80, and for lower-middle-income countries vs upper-middle-income countries and HICs, 5.74 95% CI, 4.30-7.68). Conclusions and Relevance: This study is estimated to have included more than half of all new retinoblastoma cases worldwide in 2017. Children from LMICs, where the main global retinoblastoma burden lies, presented at an older age with more advanced disease and demonstrated a smaller proportion of familial history of retinoblastoma, likely because many do not reach a childbearing age. Given that retinoblastoma is curable, these data are concerning and mandate intervention at national and international levels. Further studies are needed to investigate factors, other than age at presentation, that may be associated with advanced disease in LMICs. © 2020 American Medical Association. All rights reserved

The utilisation of European processed animal proteins as safe, sustainable and circular ingredients for global aquafeeds

The global increase in seafood demand has resulted in significant growth in aquaculture production in a wide range of aquatic species. Consequently, this has led to an industry-wide need to find sustainable feed ingredients that would meet the nutritional requirements used in aquafeeds. The associated dependency on plant by-products as the major alternatives has brought concerns to aquaculture through associated carbon footprint, increase deforestation and arable land use to meet the demands of plant proteins and oils, and the constraining effects of plant by-products has on farmed aquatic animal growth and health. Animal by-products (ABPs) are produced as a direct consequence of terrestrial animal production and the associated meat processing industries. The link between feeding meat and bone meal (MBM) and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) outbreak in Europe during the 1980s resulted in a ban of its use animal feeds. This led to a radical overhaul of the rendering industry, including the use of only low-risk ABP and the development of rendering processes to reduce the risk of prions that causes BSE to enter the food chain. The resulting processed animal proteins (PAPs) are considered safe to be used in farmed animal feeds. This review examines how ABP production has changed due to the BSE outbreak, leading to the current commercially available PAP products for aquafeed use. We evaluated how these products can be effectively used as viable protein sources in aquaculture and examine their limitations and the potential advancements that could lead to a more circular food production system

Barriers in European spiny lobster ( Palinurus elephas ) aquaculture: What we know so far?

Palinurids, also known as spiny lobsters, are high-value seafood, which is economically important for many European and Asian seafood trades. However, the reduction of wild European spiny lobster populations produces a need for developing alternative renewable strategies to meet current and future demands. Aquaculture of spiny lobsters has the potential to become of major economic importance in the coming years with growing markets in Asia, Europe, and America, with Palinurus elephas being a promising candidate species for use in the commercial culture and stock enhancement of natural fisheries. This is due to its shorter larval periods and rapid growth to the critical puerulus stage compared with other spiny lobster species. While we have a basic understanding of the lifecycle and biology of P. elephas, much of this is based on work undertaken on similar species globally. There are many gaps in our knowledge that need to be addressed to make its aquaculture viable with appropriate feeds being an immediate issue as well as many other husbandry-related factors. Previous studies act as a platform providing a baseline for further research and highlighting constraints. Developments in the use of P. elephas are promising due to realistically bridgeable knowledge gaps, the likelihood of producing sustainable food and the high commercial value of spiny lobsters. This review identifies our present state of knowledge and outlines the scope for further research and necessary technological developments to make it a viable contribution towards crustacean aquaculture in Europe

Delivering a nutritionally enhanced tilapia fillet using a pre‐harvest phase omega‐3 thraustochytrids protist enriched diet

Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) offers an affordable food source to many low-income consumers. However, farmed tilapia has drawn much criticism over the low omega-3 (n-3) and high omega-6 (n-6) lipid levels. Subsequently, it has been questioned whether it is truly healthy food. This study fed tilapia with a specialized “finishing” diet with the inclusion of commercial Thraustochytrids protist biomass and oil before the harvestable fish size. The fish are fed with two different dietary regimes over 6 weeks. One is a commercially available tilapia feed used as a reference. The second diet is composed of an exclusive oil source from Thraustochytrids protist (HI-n3). The results show that HI- n3 has significantly increased the fillet n-3 content by 400% in comparison to commercial diet (COM) after Week 6 of feeding. Specifically, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, n-3) content is the attributing fatty acid for the n-3 increase. This is particularly evident when DHA is expressed as a percentage of total lipid content. The n-3:n-6 ratio increased in tilapia fed with the HI-n3 diet attributed to the DHA accumulation. The investigation shows that it is possible to favorably “lipid tailor” tilapia before harvest. Practical applications: The practical application of this technique is to enrich farmed tilapia with a high dietary omega-3 (n-3) Thraustochytrids protist oil source for a short-term period before harvesting. It is an objective that the fillet product would be more functional in its nutritional content by supplying more than just high-quality protein for consumers. This would have paramount implications for low-income consumers, where high n-3 oil foods are not readily available or affordable (e.g., landlocked nations). Furthermore, tilapia is widely consumed in China and Southeast Asian countries but is also promoted as a high nutritional value food source in the western hemisphere. This investigation advocates the ability to change the image of this fish species by a simple dietary manipulation. In an era of elevated intake of omega 6 (n-6) fatty acids food sources, n-3 rich fish is a vital balance to counter this negative trend in human health