Comparison of nanoparticular hydroxyapatite pastes of different particle content and size in a novel scapula defect model

Nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite (HA) has good biocompatibility and the potential to support bone formation. It represents a promising alternative to autologous bone grafting, which is considered the current gold standard for the treatment of low weight bearing bone defects. The purpose of this study was to compare three bone substitute pastes of different HA content and particle size with autologous bone and empty defects, at two time points (6 and 12 months) in an ovine scapula drillhole model using micro-CT, histology and histomorphometry evaluation. The nHA-LC (38% HA content) paste supported bone formation with a high defect bridging-rate. Compared to nHA-LC, Ostim(®) (35% HA content) showed less and smaller particle agglomerates but also a reduced defect bridging-rate due to its fast degradation The highly concentrated nHA-HC paste (48% HA content) formed oversized particle agglomerates which supported the defect bridging but left little space for bone formation in the defect site. Interestingly, the gold standard treatment of the defect site with autologous bone tissue did not improve bone formation or defect bridging compared to the empty control. We concluded that the material resorption and bone formation was highly impacted by the particle-specific agglomeration behaviour in this study

Variational tetrahedral meshing

In this paper, a novel Delaunay-based variational approach to isotropic tetrahedral meshing is presented. To achieve both robustness and efficiency, we minimize a simple mesh-dependent energy through global updates of both vertex positions and connectivity. As this energy is known to be the ∠1 distance between an isotropic quadratic function and its linear interpolation on the mesh, our minimization procedure generates well-shaped tetrahedra. Mesh design is controlled through a gradation smoothness parameter and selection of the desired number of vertices. We provide the foundations of our approach by explaining both the underlying variational principle and its geometric interpretation. We demonstrate the quality of the resulting meshes through a series of examples

Measles transmission following the tsunami in a population with a high one-dose vaccination coverage, Tamil Nadu, India 2004–2005

BACKGROUND: On 26 December 2004, a tsunami struck the coast of the state of Tamil Nadu, India, where one-dose measles coverage exceeded 95%. On 29 December, supplemental measles immunization activities targeted children 6 to 60 months of age in affected villages. On 30 December, Cuddalore, a tsunami-affected district in Tamil Nadu reported a cluster of measles cases. We investigated this cluster to estimate the magnitude of the problem and to propose recommendations for control. METHODS: We received notification of WHO-defined measles cases through stimulated passive surveillance. We collected information regarding date of onset, age, sex, vaccination status and residence. We collected samples for IgM antibodies and genotype studies. We modeled the accumulation of susceptible individuals over the time on the basis of vaccination coverage, vaccine efficacy and birth rate. RESULTS: We identified 101 measles cases and detected IgM antibodies against measles virus in eight of 11 sera. Cases were reported from tsunami-affected (n = 71) and unaffected villages (n = 30) with attack rates of 1.3 and 1.7 per 1000, respectively. 42% of cases in tsunami-affected villages had an onset date within 14 days of the tsunami. The median ages of case-patients in tsunami-affected and un-affected areas were 54 months and 60 months respectively (p = 0.471). 36% of cases from tsunami-affected areas were above 60 months of age. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that the sequences of virus belonged to genotype D8 that circulated in Tamil Nadu. CONCLUSION: Measles virus circulated in Cuddalore district following the tsunami, although there was no association between the two events. Transmission despite high one-dose vaccination coverage pointed to the limitations of this vaccination strategy. A second opportunity for measles immunization may help reducing measles mortality and morbidity in such areas. Children from 6 month to 14 years of age must be targeted for supplemental immunization during complex emergencies

Comparison of Greenhouse Gas databases using FoodEx2 codes

Introduction FoodEx2 consists of a vocabulary of foods with assigned codes, allowing the classification and description of foods reported in different types of data (food consumption, composition, or production method) [1]. At least 56 food consumption databases have been coded with FoodEx2 [2]. The linkage of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) databases to FoodEx2 codes would allow rapid matching of GHGE data to any food database previously harmonised with FoodEx2. We have linked 4558 FoodEx2 codes to GHGE data [3]. In this work, we aim to assess the reliability of the linkage, by comparing it to similar databases. Methods or approach The main database (“City”) was developed by matching 43 food categories from Poore and Nemecek (2018) [4] to the 4558 FoodEx2 codes, adjusting for edibility. The items were matched by hand, using the closest raw product; if it was a product with multiple ingredients, we took the largest ingredient by weight. The reliability of the matching was assessed by comparing “City” to three GHGE databases: 1) SHARP (Mertens et al 2019) [5] has linked GHGE to FoodEx1 (an initial version of FoodEx); 2) Rose et al (2019) [6] and Heller et al (2018) [7] have GHGE data linked to National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which is coded with FoodEx2; 3) Garzillo et al (2019) [8] have GHGE data linked to the Brazilian Food Consumption Survey. We have compared “City” with the three databases by calculating Spearman correlation coefficients. The food items with GHGE in both “City” and SHARP were ranked and split into quintiles. We checked quintile rankings of agreement between “City” and SHARP by calculating weighted kappa statistics. For food items not ranked in the same quintile, we checked whether values from SHARP were within the p5 and p95 from “City”. Findings and interpretations The “City” dataset was strongly correlated to all three comparator databases. However, the number of directly comparable food items between all datasets were low. The number of food items compared, the Spearman correlation coefficients, and p-values are as follows: 1) “City” versus SHARP: n=945, r = 0.699, p < 0.001; 2) “City” versus Rose/Heller: n=608, r = 0.572, p < 0.001; 2) “City” versus Garzillo: n=329, r = 0.610, p < 0.001. Of the 945 food items with GHGE in “City” and SHARP, 50% (n = 476) were ranked in the same quintile. The kappa statistics was 0.536 (p < 0.001). Of the 469 food items not ranked into the same quintiles, 44% (n=206) were within p5 and p95, while 31% (n=144) were lower than the p5, and 25% (n= 119) were higher than p95. The food items with the biggest differences between “City” and SHARP are into the following food categories: wheat and rye; fish and seafood; pig meat; fruits; nuts and pulses. These food items will be further investigated in the next update of the data, aiming to increase reliability to estimate GHGE from food consumption. Conclusions The FoodEx2 database linked to GHGE by City presented a strong correlation with other GHGE databases and therefore could be considered as a tool to estimate the environmental impacts from food. However, further work is still needed to refine the data, in particular checking values categorised in opposite quintiles and that do not fall within p5 and p95. This database allows for a quick link between GHGE and multiple dietary databases harmonised with FoodEx2. References EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), Nikolic, M and Ioannidou, S, 2021. FoodEx2 maintenance 2020. EFSA supporting publication 2021: 18( 3):EN-6507. 19 pp. doi: 10.2903/sp.efsa.2020.EN-6507 Karageorgou, Dimitra and Lara-Castor, Laura and de Quadros, Victoria Padula and de Sousa, Rita Ferreira and Holmes, Bridget Anna and Ioannidou, Sofia and Mozaffarian, Dariush and Micha, Renata, Harmonizing Dietary Datasets for Global Surveillance: Methods and Findings From the Global Dietary Database. Under review. Livestock, Environment And People (LEAP) Conference, Oxford, November 2019. C.J. Reynolds , X. Schmidt Rivera, , A. Frankowska, A Kluczkovski, J. T. da Silva S. L. Bridle,R. Levy, F. Rauber, V. P. Quadros, A. Balcerzak, R. F. Sousa, M. Ferrari, C. Leclercq, B. Koroušić Seljak, Tome Eftimov "A pilot method linking greenhouse gas emission databases to the FoodEx2 classification" Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science, 360(6392), 987–992. Mertens, E., Kaptijn, G., Kuijsten, A., van Zanten, H., Geleijnse, J.M. and van't Veer, P., 2019. SHARP-Indicators Database towards a public database for environmental sustainability. Data in brief, 27, p.104617.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2019.104617 Rose D, Heller MC, Willits-Smith AM, Meyer RJ. "Carbon footprint of self-selected US diets: nutritional, demographic, and behavioral correlates," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2019;109:526-534. DOI:10.1093/ajcn/nqy327. Heller MC, Willits-Smith A, Meyer R, Keoleian G, Rose D. "Greenhouse gas emissions and energy use associated with production of US self-selected diets," Environmental Research Letters 2018;13 044004. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aab0ac. Garzillo JMF, Machado PP, Costa Louzada ML, Levy RB, Monteiro CA. Footprints of foods and culinary preparations consumed in Brazil. https://doi.org/10.11606/9788588848405 (accessed Dec 7, 2020