Comparison of Methods for Analyzing Radiological Response of Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastasis After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapeutic Treatment

Background: We analyzed different methods used to assess the radiological responses of patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy and metastasectomy treatment for liver metastases associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) by comparing the response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST) 1.1, the modified RECIST, and the criteria of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) methods and the histological response obtained after metastasectomy. Objectives: We aimed to determine the optimal radiological method to assess the response of colorectal liver metastases to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of CRC patients treated for liver metastases who had received neoadjuvant chemotherapy in our hospital between January 2000 and December 2017. We analyzed the agreement between the methods for analyzing the radiological response using the quadratic weighted kappa coefficient ( ). We studied the overall survival and analyzed factors related to survival using the Kaplan-Meier method.We performed multivariate analysis to study the prognostic factors of survival.We analyzed the relationship between the radiological and histological responses usingGoodmanand Kruskal?sgamma ( ). Results: A significant agreement was observed between the modified RECIST and EASL methods ( = 0.841, P< 0.001). Cox regression multivariate analysis indicated the RECIST 1.1 criteria as an independent prognostic factor (P = 0.03). The value showed a significant relationship between the three radiological response methods and histological response. Conclusion: In our study, we showed that using RECIST 1.1 criteria is the ideal radiological analysis method for studying CRC liver metastases treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy when compared to other methods that are based on functional imaging markers

Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy for predicting the phospholipid fraction and the total fatty acid composition of freeze-dried beef

Peer reviewe

The burden of inappropriate birth weight on neonatal survival in term newborns: a population-based study in a middle-income setting

IntroductionPremature birth, perinatal asphyxia, and infections are the main causes of neonatal death. Growth deviations at birth also affect neonatal survival according to week of gestation at birth, particularly in developing countries. The purpose of this study was to verify the association between inappropriate birth weight and neonatal death in term live births.MethodsThis is an observational follow-up study with all term live births from 2004 to 2013 in Sao Paulo State, Brazil. Data were retrieved with the deterministic linkage of death and birth certificates. The definition of very small for gestational age (VSGA) and very large for gestational age (VLGA) used the 10th percentile of 37 weeks and the 90th percentile of 41 weeks + 6 days, respectively, based on the Intergrowth-21st. We measured the outcome in terms of time to death and the status of each subject (death or censorship) in the neonatal period (0–27 days). Survival functions were calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method stratified according to the adequacy of birth weight into three groups (normal, very small, or very large). We used multivariate Cox regression to adjust for proportional hazard ratios (HRs).ResultsThe neonatal death rate during the study period was 12.03/10,000 live births. We found 1.8% newborns with VSGA and 2.7% with VLGA. The adjusted analysis showed a significant increase in mortality risk for VSGA infants (HR = 4.25; 95% CI: 3.89–4.65), independent of sex, 1-min Apgar score, and five maternal factors.DiscussionThe risk of neonatal death in full-term live births was approximately four times greater in those with birth weight restriction. The development of strategies to control the factors that determine fetal growth restriction through planned and structured prenatal care can substantially reduce the risk of neonatal death in full-term live births, especially in developing countries such as Brazil

Discutindo a educação ambiental no cotidiano escolar: desenvolvimento de projetos na escola formação inicial e continuada de professores

A presente pesquisa buscou discutir como a Educação Ambiental (EA) vem sendo trabalhada, no Ensino Fundamental e como os docentes desta escola compreendem e vem inserindo a EA no cotidiano escolar., em uma escola estadual do município de Tangará da Serra/MT, Brasil. Para tanto, realizou-se entrevistas com os professores que fazem parte de um projeto interdisciplinar de EA na escola pesquisada. Verificou-se que o projeto da escola não vem conseguindo alcançar os objetivos propostos por: desconhecimento do mesmo, pelos professores; formação deficiente dos professores, não entendimento da EA como processo de ensino-aprendizagem, falta de recursos didáticos, planejamento inadequado das atividades. A partir dessa constatação, procurou-se debater a impossibilidade de tratar do tema fora do trabalho interdisciplinar, bem como, e principalmente, a importância de um estudo mais aprofundado de EA, vinculando teoria e prática, tanto na formação docente, como em projetos escolares, a fim de fugir do tradicional vínculo “EA e ecologia, lixo e horta”.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Trait Selection for Assessing Beef Meat Quality Using Non-Linear SVM

In this paper we show that it is possible to model sensory impressions of consumers about beef meat. This is not a straightforward task; the reason is that when we are aiming to induce a function that maps object descriptions into ratings, we must consider that consumers&apos; ratings are just a way to express their preferences about the products presented in the same testing session. Therefore, we had to use a special purpose SVM polynomial kernel. The training data set used collects the ratings of panels of experts and consumers; the meat was provided by 103 bovines of 7 Spanish breeds with different carcass weights and aging periods. Additionally

Connections between postparotid terminal branches of the facial nerve: An immunohistochemistry study

It has been assumed that connections between the postparotid terminal branches of the facial nerve are purely motor. However, the nature of their fibers remains unexplored. The aim of this study is to determine whether these connections comprise motor fibers exclusively. In total 17 connections between terminal facial nerve branches were obtained from 13 different facial nerves. Choline acetyltransferase antibody (ChAT) was used to stain the fibers in the connections and determine whether or not all of them were motor. All connections contained ChAT positive and negative fibers. The average number of fibers overall was 287 (84-587) and the average proportion of positive fibers was 63% (37.7%-91.5%). In 29% of the nerves, >75% of the fibers were ChAT+ (strongly positive); in 52.94%, 50%-75% were ChAT+ (intermediately positive); and in 17.65%, <50% were ChAT+ (weakly positive). Fibers traveling inside the postparotid terminal cranial nerve VII branch connections are not exclusively motor

Muscle lipid composition in bulls from 15 European breeds

International audienceCattle meat provides essential nutrients necessary for a balanced diet and health preservation. Besides nutritional quality, consumers' preferences are related to specific attributes such as tenderness, taste and flavour. The present study characterizes the fatty acid composition of beef, which is an important factor in both nutritional and quality values, in 15 European cattle breeds fed a similar diet and reared in five countries (United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Italy and Spain). The effect of possible slight differences on diet composition which might have occurred between countries were included in the breed effect which confounds country, diet, slaughter house and slaughter day as all individuals of a same breed were managed simultaneously. The wide range of breeds studied and the significant differences on lipid profile described here provide a broad characterization of beef meat, which allows giving a better response to the variety of consumers' preferences. Regarding meat health benefits, the groups that stand out are: the double-muscled animals, which displayed lower total fat, lower proportion of saturated (SFA) and monounsaturated (MUFA) fatty acids, and a higher proportion of polyunsaturated (PUFA) fatty acids; and Limousin and Charolais breeds with a significantly higher conversion of 18:3n-3 PUFA to the long chain 22:6n-3 PUFA

Polymorphisms in twelve candidate genes are associated with growth, muscle lipid profile and meat quality traits in eleven European cattle breeds

International audienceCurrent customers' demands focus on the nutritional and sensory quality of cattle meat. Candidate gene approach allows identification of genetic polymorphisms that have a measurable effect on traits of interest. The aim of this work is to identify new molecular markers for beef production through an association study using 27 candidate genes and 314 purebred bulls from 11 European cattle breeds. Twelve genes were found associated with different lipid and meat quality traits, and among these stand out the considerable effect of CAST on fatness score, CGGBP1 on growth traits, HSPB1 on the percentage of lauric acid (12:0) and phospholipid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA 22:6 n - 3), RORA on the ratio of light absorption (K) to light scattering (S) (K/S), and TNFA on lightness (L*). Most of these traits are related to post-mortem muscle biochemical changes, which are key factors controlling meat quality and consumers' acceptance. Also, the variations produced on muscle fatty acid profiles, such as those of AANAT, CRH, CSN3, HSPB1, and TNFA, give insights into the genetic networks controlling these complex traits and the possibility of future improvement of meat nutritional quality