Challenges and solutions for food waste-based biogas production for energy generation in Malaysia:a review

Food waste can be anaerobically digested for biogas generation resulting in more sustainable waste management than using landfill, as well as providing clean energy. This paper reviews the challenges faced globally in using food waste-based biogas production for energy generation. It identifies feasible solutions for each challenge based on real-world case study scenarios and pilot plant studies, exploring their implications for Malaysia. Identified challenges and solutions are analysed under five headings: environmental (challenges: 2, solutions: 3), institutional and legal (challenges: 3; solutions: 6), economic and resourcing (challenges: 5; solutions: 9), technical (challenges: 4; solutions: 7) and social and cultural (challenges: 2; solutions: 3) categories. Key findings include that: (1) waste collection distance to the facility should be <10 km to reduce environmental impacts (as implemented in Singapore); (2) it is vital to set a proper division of labour and nationwide standards, as well as increasing food waste treatment facilities (as implemented in China); (3) installation of low cost digesters and reduced operational costs can help to tackle economic challenges (as shown in examples from China and South Korea), while initiatives to obtain a constant supply of food waste can help address resourcing challenges; (4) co-digestion and pre-treatment of food waste are crucial to avoid technical errors (as seen in China and South Korea) and (5) regular engagement with the community can help create awareness on food waste segregation (as demonstrated in the United Kingdom). Tackling the challenges within and across categories could help policymakers to improve existing waste management and renewable energy policies in Malaysia. Solutions given for each challenge emerging from this study offer important inputs to food waste-based biogas production both in Malaysia and globally

Ellis-Van Creveld syndrome

Ellis-van Creveld syndrome (EVC) is a chondral and ectodermal dysplasia characterized by short ribs, polydactyly, growth retardation, and ectodermal and heart defects. It is a rare disease with approximately 150 cases reported worldwide. The exact prevalence is unknown, but the syndrome seems more common among the Amish community. Prenatal abnormalities (that may be detected by ultrasound examination) include narrow thorax, shortening of long bones, hexadactyly and cardiac defects. After birth, cardinal features are short stature, short ribs, polydactyly, and dysplastic fingernails and teeth. Heart defects, especially abnormalities of atrial septation, occur in about 60% of cases. Cognitive and motor development is normal. This rare condition is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait with variable expression. Mutations of the EVC1 and EVC2 genes, located in a head to head configuration on chromosome 4p16, have been identified as causative. EVC belongs to the short rib-polydactyly group (SRP) and these SRPs, especially type III (Verma-Naumoff syndrome), are discussed in the prenatal differential diagnosis. Postnatally, the essential differential diagnoses include Jeune dystrophy, McKusick-Kaufman syndrome and Weyers syndrome. The management of EVC is multidisciplinary. Management during the neonatal period is mostly symptomatic, involving treatment of the respiratory distress due to narrow chest and heart failure. Orthopedic follow-up is required to manage the bones deformities. Professional dental care should be considered for management of the oral manifestations. Prognosis is linked to the respiratory difficulties in the first months of life due to thoracic narrowness and possible heart defects. Prognosis of the final body height is difficult to predict

Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio

Clinicopathologic Comparison of High-Dose-Rate Endorectal Brachytherapy versus Conventional Chemoradiotherapy in the Neoadjuvant Setting for Resectable Stages II and III Low Rectal Cancer

Purpose. To assess for differences in clinical, radiologic, and pathologic outcomes between patients with stage II-III rectal adenocarcinoma treated neoadjuvantly with conventional external beam radiotherapy (3D conformal radiotherapy (3DRT) or intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT)) versus high-dose-rate endorectal brachytherapy (EBT). Methods. Patients undergoing neoadjuvant EBT received 4 consecutive daily 6.5 Gy fractions without chemotherapy, while those undergoing 3DRT or IMRT received 28 daily 1.8 Gy fractions with concurrent 5-fluorouracil. Data was collected prospectively for 7 EBT patients and retrospectively for 25 historical 3DRT/IMRT controls. Results. Time to surgery was less for EBT compared to 3DRT and IMRT (P<0.001). There was a trend towards higher rate of pathologic CR for EBT (P=0.06). Rates of margin and lymph node positivity at resection were similar for all groups. Acute toxicity was less for EBT compared to 3DRT and IMRT (P=0.025). Overall and progression-free survival were noninferior for EBT. On MRI, EBT achieved similar complete response rate and reduction in tumor volume as 3DRT and IMRT. Histopathologic comparison showed that EBT resulted in more localized treatment effects and fewer serosal adhesions. Conclusions. EBT offers several practical benefits over conventional radiotherapy techniques and appears to be at least as effective against low rectal cancer as measured by short-term outcomes

TROG 18.01 phase III randomised clinical trial of the Novel Integration of New prostate radiation schedules with adJuvant Androgen deprivation: NINJA study protocol

INTRODUCTION: Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is a non-invasive alternative to surgery for the treatment of non-metastatic prostate cancer (PC). The objectives of the Novel Integration of New prostate radiation schedules with adJuvant Androgen deprivation (NINJA) clinical trial are to compare two emerging SBRT regimens for efficacy with technical substudies focussing on MRI only planning and the use of knowledge-based planning (KBP) to assess radiotherapy plan quality. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Eligible patients must have biopsy-proven unfavourable intermediate or favourable high-risk PC, have an Eastern Collaborative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0-1 and provide written informed consent. All patients will receive 6 months in total of androgen deprivation therapy. Patients will be randomised to one of two SBRT regimens. The first will be 40 Gy in five fractions given on alternating days (SBRT monotherapy). The second will be 20 Gy in two fractions given 1 week apart followed 2 weeks later by 36 Gy in 12 fractions given five times per week (virtual high-dose rate boost (HDRB)). The primary efficacy outcome will be biochemical clinical control at 5 years. Secondary endpoints for the initial portion of NINJA look at the transition of centres towards MRI only planning and the impact of KBP on real-time (RT) plan assessment. The first 150 men will demonstrate accrual feasibility as well as addressing the KBP and MRI planning aims, prior to proceeding with total accrual to 472 patients as a phase III randomised controlled trial. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: NINJA is a multicentre cooperative clinical trial comparing two SBRT regimens for men with PC. It builds on promising results from several single-armed studies, and explores radiation dose escalation in the Virtual HDRB arm. The initial component includes novel technical elements, and will form an important platform set for a definitive phase III study. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ANZCTN 12615000223538