Methods for determining the CO2 removal capacity of enhanced weathering in agronomic settings

Recent analysis by the IPCC suggests that, across an array of scenarios, both GHG emissions reductions and various degrees of carbon removal will be required to achieve climate stabilization at a level that avoids the most dangerous climate changes in the future. Among a large number of options in the realm of natural climate solutions, atmospheric carbon dioxide removal (CDR) via enhanced silicate weathering (EW) in global working lands could, in theory, achieve billions of tons of CO2 removal each year. Despite such potential, however, scientific verification and field testing of this technology are still in need of significant advancement. Increasing the number of EW field trials can be aided by formal presentation of effective study designs and methodological approaches to quantifying CO2 removal. In particular, EW studies in working lands require interdisciplinary “convergence” research that links low temperature geochemistry and agronomy. Here, drawing on geologic and agronomic literature, as well as demonstration-scale research on quantifying EW, we provide an overview of (1) existing literature on EW experimentation as a CO2 removal technique, (2) agronomic and geologic approaches to studying EW in field settings, (3) the scientific bases and tradeoffs behind various techniques for quantifying CO2 removal and other relevant methodologies, and (4) the attributes of effective stakeholder engagement for translating scientific research in action. In doing so, we provide a guide for establishing interdisciplinary EW field trials, thereby advancing the verification of atmospheric CO2 in working lands through the convergence of geochemistry and agronomy

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

Background Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide.Methods A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study-a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital.Findings Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.85 [95% CI 2.58-5.75]; p<0.0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63.0% vs 82.7%; OR 0.35 [0.23-0.53]; p<0.0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer.Interpretation Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Body Size and Risk of Prostate Cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition

Background: Body size has been hypothesized to influence the risk of prostate cancer; however, most epidemiologic studies have relied on body mass index (BMI) to assess adiposity, whereas only a few studies have examined whether body fat distribution predicts prostate cancer. Methods: We examined the association of height, BMI, waist and hip circumference, and waist-hip ratio with prostate cancer risk among 129,502 men without cancer at baseline from 8 countries of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), using Cox regression, with age as time metric, stratifying by study center and age at recruitment, and adjusting for education, smoking status, alcohol consumption, and physical activity. Results: During a mean follow-up of 8.5 years, 2,446 men developed prostate cancer. Waist circumference and waist-hip ratio were positively associated with risk of advanced disease. The relative risk of advanced prostate cancer was 1.06 (95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.1) per 5-cm-higher waist circumference and 1.21 (95% confidence interval, 1.04-1.39) per 0.1-unit-higher waist-hip ratio. When stratified by BMI, waist circumference and waist-hip ratio were positively related to risk of total, advanced, and high-grade prostate cancer among men with lower but not among those with higher BMI (P-interaction for waist with BMI, 0.25, 0.02, and 0.05, respectively; P-interaction for waist-hip ratio with BMI, 0.27, 0.22, and 0.14; respectively). Conclusions: These data suggest that abdominal adiposity may be associated with an increased risk of advanced prostate cancer. This association may be stronger among individuals with lower BMI; however, this finding needs confirmation in future studies. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008;17(11):3252-61

Red meat, dietary nitrosamines, and heme iron and risk of bladder cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)

Contains fulltext : 96267.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)BACKGROUND: Previous epidemiologic studies found inconsistent results for the association between red meat intake, nitrosamines [NDMA: N-nitrosodimethylamine, and ENOC (endogenous nitroso compounds)], and the risk of bladder cancer. We investigated the association between red meat consumption, dietary nitrosamines, and heme iron and the risk of bladder cancer among participants of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). METHODS: Data on food consumption and complete follow-up for cancer occurrence were available for a total of 481,419 participants, recruited in 10 European countries. Estimates of HRs were obtained by proportional hazard models, stratified by age at recruitment, gender, and study center and adjusted for total energy intake, smoking status, lifetime intensity of smoking, duration of smoking, educational level, and BMI. RESULTS: After a mean follow-up of 8.7 years, 1,001 participants were diagnosed with bladder cancer. We found no overall association between intake of red meat (log2 HR: 1.06; 95% CI: 0.99-1.13), nitrosamines (log2 HR: 1.09; 95% CI: 0.92-1.30 and HR: 0.98; 95% CI: 0.92-1.05 for ENOC and NDMA, respectively) or heme iron (log2 HR: 1.05; 95 CI: 0.99-1.12) and bladder cancer risk. The associations did not vary by sex, high- versus low-risk bladder cancers, smoking status, or occupation (high vs. low risk). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings do not support an effect of red meat intake, nitrosamines (endogenous or exogenous), or heme iron intake on bladder cancer risk

Body Size and Risk of Prostate Cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition

Background: Body size has been hypothesized to influence the risk of prostate cancer; however, most epidemiologic studies have relied on body mass index (BMI) to assess adiposity, whereas only a few studies have examined whether body fat distribution predicts prostate cancer. Methods: We examined the association of height, BMI, waist and hip circumference, and waist-hip ratio with prostate cancer risk among 129,502 men without cancer at baseline from 8 countries of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), using Cox regression, with age as time metric, stratifying by study center and age at recruitment, and adjusting for education, smoking status, alcohol consumption, and physical activity. Results: During a mean follow-up of 8.5 years, 2,446 men developed prostate cancer. Waist circumference and waist-hip ratio were positively associated with risk of advanced disease. The relative risk of advanced prostate cancer was 1.06 (95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.1) per 5-cm-higher waist circumference and 1.21 (95% confidence interval, 1.04-1.39) per 0.1-unit-higher waist-hip ratio. When stratified by BMI, waist circumference and waist-hip ratio were positively related to risk of total, advanced, and high-grade prostate cancer among men with lower but not among those with higher BMI (P-interaction for waist with BMI, 0.25, 0.02, and 0.05, respectively; P-interaction for waist-hip ratio with BMI, 0.27, 0.22, and 0.14; respectively). Conclusions: These data suggest that abdominal adiposity may be associated with an increased risk of advanced prostate cancer. This association may be stronger among individuals with lower BMI; however, this finding needs confirmation in future studies. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008;17(11):3252-61

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Background: Findings from early observational studies have suggested that the intake of dietary fat might be a contributing factor in the etiology of prostate cancer. However, the results from more recent prospective studies do not support this hypothesis, and the possible association between different food sources of fat and prostate cancer risk also remains unclear. Objective: The objectives were to assess whether intakes of dietary fat, subtypes of fat, and fat from animal products were associated with prostate cancer risk. Design: This was a multicenter prospective study of 142 520 men in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Dietary fat intake was estimated with the use of country-specific validated food questionnaires. The association between dietary fat and risk of prostate cancer was assessed by using Cox regression, stratified by recruitment center and adjusted for height, weight, smoking, education, marital status, and energy intake. Results: After a median follow-up time of 8.7 y, prostate cancer was diagnosed in 2727 men. There was no significant association between dietary fat (total, saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fat and the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fat) and risk of prostate cancer. The hazard ratio for prostate cancer for the highest versus the lowest quintile of total fat intake was 0.96 (95% CI: 0.84, 1.09; P for trend = 0.155). There were no significant associations between prostate cancer risk and fat from red meat, dairy products, and fish. Conclusion: The results from this large multicenter study suggest that there is no association between dietary fat and prostate cancer risk