Effect of electrical stimulation and others genetic and environmental factors on colour of lamb meat

The research aimed to assess the effect of breed, sex, age at slaughter, rearing system and electrical stimulation on some colorimetric characteristics measured on the muscles Longissimus dorsi (LD), Gluteobiceps (Gb), Semimembranosus (Sm) and Rectus femoris (RF) of lambs belonging to the genetic types Gentile di Puglia (GP), Ile de France (IF) and the cross-breeds F1, F2 and F3. The IF lambs provided meat with the highest value of hue and lightness and the lowest chroma and redness. The F1 lambs showed the highest values of redness while the F2 crossbreed significantly differed from the other three genetic types only in pH, which was always the lowest. The F3 crossbreed revealed similar behaviour to the other genetic types, except for the pH which was always higher than in GP, F1 and F2. The differences between sexes were restricted to L* and pH values, being higher in the male. The lambs slaughtered at 56 days showed high a* values, while b* and hue were on average higher in younger lambs (35 days). The lambs reared with maternal milk in comparison with the artificially reared ones provided meat with the highest a* chroma and b* and the lowest hue values. Electrical stimulation of the carcass seems to have produced the same effects as the usual ageing time in cold store. The RF muscle provided the brightest meat; Sm showed the highest values of b* and chroma; LD provided the “darkest” meat and the lowest values of b* and hue; Gb produced a lower a* value than muscles LD, RF and Sm

Numerical Analysis for Reduced-scale Road Tunnel Model Equipped with Axial Jet Fan Ventilation System☆

Abstract In this paper a preliminary tridimensional CFD analysis is carried out for a future realization of a reduced-scale road tunnel experimental apparatus of 1/50 equipped with different impulsive fans, traditional and alternative. The alternative jet fan is provided of inlet/outlet sections inclined at a fixed pitch angle (α=6°) toward the tunnel floor. Typically, in the experimental scale tunnel model the air flow induced by ventilation system is provided by an external fan and fully developed flow field is considered. In this paper, the authors have simulated a realistic full and reduced-scale tunnel in order to evaluate the influence of ceiling and floor roughness height on the velocity field to identify an appropriate material for a future experimental apparatus. The jet fans are simulated as a simple momentum source. The fan is considered to be infinitely thin and the discontinuous pressure rise (pressure drop) across it is defined as a function of the air velocity through the fan. In order to create a reduced-scale model from a full scale, Froude method is applied to preserve geometrical, kinematical and dynamical similitude. The results, provided in terms of axial velocity profiles in different tunnel sections, show the overlapping between velocity profiles of full scale numerical model with those of the reduced-scale model, for the both ventilation systems

In-bag manual versus uncontained power morcellation for laparoscopic myomectomy

BACKGROUND: Uterine leiomyomas, also referred to as myomas or fibroids, are benign tumours arising from the smooth muscle cells of the myometrium. They are the most common pelvic tumour in women. The estimated rate of leiomyosarcoma, found during surgery for presumed benign leiomyomas, is about 0.51 per 1000 procedures, or approximately 1 in 2000. Treatment options for symptomatic uterine leiomyomas include medical, surgical, and radiologically-guided interventions. Laparoscopic myomectomy is the gold standard surgical approach for women who want offspring, or otherwise wish to retain their uterus. A limitation of laparoscopy is the inability to remove large specimens from the abdominal cavity through the laparoscope. To overcome this challenge, the morcellation approach was developed, during which larger specimens are broken into smaller pieces in order to remove them from the abdominal cavity via the port site. However, intracorporeal power morcellation may lead to scattering of benign tissues, with the risk of spreading leiomyoma or endometriosis. In cases of unsuspected malignancy, power morcellation can cause unintentional dissemination of malignant cells, and lead to a poorer prognosis by upstaging the occult cancer. A strategy to optimise women's safety is to morcellate the specimens inside a bag. In-bag morcellation may avoid the dissemination of tissue fragments. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of protected in-bag extracorporeal manual morcellation during laparoscopic myomectomy compared to intra-abdominal uncontained power morcellation. SEARCH METHODS: On 1 July 2019, we searched; the Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility Group Specialized Register of Controlled Trials, CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, LILACS, PubMed, Google Scholar, and two trials registers. We reviewed the reference lists of all retrieved full-text articles, and contacted experts in the field for additional and ongoing trials. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included all randomised controlled trials comparing in-bag extracorporeal manual morcellation versus intracorporeal uncontained power morcellation during laparoscopic myomectomy in premenopausal women. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We followed standard Cochrane methods. Two review authors independently reviewed the eligibility of trials, extracted data, and evaluated the risk of bias. Data were checked for accuracy. The summary measures were reported as risk ratios (RR) or mean differences (MD) with 95% confidence interval (CI). The outcomes of interest were a composite of intraoperative and postoperative complications, operative times, ease of morcellation, length of hospital stay, postoperative pain, conversion to laparotomy, and postoperative diagnosis of leiomyosarcoma. Results for the five main outcomes follow. MAIN RESULTS: We included two trials, enrolling 176 premenopausal women with fibroids, who underwent laparoscopic myomectomy. The experimental group received in-bag manual morcellation, during which each enucleated myoma was placed into a specimen retrieval bag, and manually morcellated with scalpel or scissors. In the control group, intracorporeal uncontained power morcellation was used to reduce the size of the myomas. No intraoperative complications, including accidental morcellation of the liver, conversion to laparotomy, endoscopic bag disruption, bowel injury, bleeding, accidental injury to any viscus or vessel, were reported in either group in either trial. We found very low-quality evidence of inconclusive results for total operative time (MD 9.93 minutes, 95% CI -1.35 to 21.20; 2 studies, 176 participants; I² = 35%), and ease of morcellation (MD -0.73 points, 95% CI -1.64 to 0.18; 1 study, 104 participants). The morcellation operative time was a little longer for the in-bag manual morcellation group, however the quality of the evidence was very low (MD 2.59 minutes, 95% CI 0.45 to 4.72; 2 studies, 176 participants; I² = 0%). There were no postoperative diagnoses of leiomyosarcoma made in either group in either trial. We are very uncertain of any of these results. We downgraded the quality of the evidence due to indirectness and imprecision, because of limited sites in high-income settings and countries, small sample sizes, wide confidence intervals, and few events. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There are limited data on the effectiveness and safety of in-bag morcellation at the time of laparoscopic myomectomy compared to uncontained power morcellation. We were unable to determine the effects of in-bag morcellation on intraoperative complications as no events were reported in either group. We are uncertain if in-bag morcellation improves total operative time or ease of morcellation compared to control. Regarding morcellation operative time, the quality of the evidence was also very low and we cannot be certain of the effect of in-bag morcellation compared to uncontained morcellation. No cases of postoperative diagnosis of leiomyosarcoma occurred in either group. We found only two trials comparing in-bag extracorporeal manual morcellation to intracorporeal uncontained power morcellation at the time of laparoscopic myomectomy. Both trials had morcellation operative time as primary outcome and were not powered for uncommon outcomes such as intraoperative complications, and postoperative diagnosis of leiomyosarcoma. Large, well-planned and executed trials are needed

Aplicação das tecnicas de componentes principais e agrupamentos em pluviometria : analises do nordeste paraense e Estado de São Paulo

Orientador: Luiz Koodi HottaDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Insittuto de Matematica, Estatistica e Ciencia da ComputaçãoResumo: As técnicas de componentes principais e agrupamentos são aplicadas a dados de pluviometria, visando o conhecimento dos padrões de chuva predominantes nas áreas investigadas e a determinação de regiões homogêneas. São analisados dois casos: nordeste paraense e Estado de São Paulo, Brasil. Na análise do nordeste paraense são utilizados os dados de precipitação pluviométrica mensal de 22 estações, correspondentes ao período de 1983 a 1988. A análise de componentes principais consegue destacar, através dos 3 primeiros componentes, as características das chuvas no período de transição chuvoso-seco, no período seco e no período chuvoso, respectivamente. 0 método de agrupamento de Ward consegue, com 5 grupos, agrupar de maneira satisfatória as estações levando-se em consideração essas características. Para o Estado de São Paulo são analisados os totais pluvio-métricos de cinco dias para o mês de setembro, de 1961 a 1988, sendo utilizadas as observações de 391 estações meteorológicas. Através dos mapas dos valores dos componentes principais consegue-se observar a influência de características espaciais na atuação das chuvas. A aplicação dos métodos de agrupamento de Ward e da ligação média mostra diferentes resultados quando comparados entre si. No entanto, levando-se em consideração as características de cada método, tem-se que eles procuram destacar diferentes informações do conjunto de dados. As análises mostram, de uma maneira geral, a importância de se conhecerem as características especificas de cada método.Abstract: Principal component analysis is used to derive spatial and temporal patterns of rainfall data, and the cluster analysis is latter applied to find homogeneous regions. Two cases are analised: northeast of Para State and São Paulo State, both in Brazil. The analysis of the northeast of Para State uses the monthly total profiles of the precipitation at 22 stations, covering the period from 1983 to 1988. The first three principal components emphasize the period of wet-dry transition, the amount of rainfall during the dry period and the amount of rainfall during the wet period, in this order. Ward's cluster method with five groups produces a regionali2ation closely related with Koppen classification and in agreement with the principal component analysis. The São Paulo State analysis is based on total pentad rainfall during September. The data are collected at 391 meteorological stations covering the period from 1961 to 1988. The first principal component score is associated with the total rainfall. The gradient of the isolines of the second and third principal components scores mapping is, respectivelly, in the northeast-southwest and the northwest-southeast direction. The second component is related with frontal systems, but the third principal component is not immediatly interpretable. The application of the Ward's and the average linkage clustering methods yields different regionalization. In both cases, however, the characteristics of the clusters are interprétable showing different aspects of the data. The results show that the objectives of the lustering plays an important role in the choice of the clustering method.MestradoMestre em Estatístic

PTEN as a predictive marker of response to conservative treatment in endometrial hyperplasia and early endometrial cancer. A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: Several markers have been studied to predict the responsiveness of endometrial hyperplasia (EH) and early endometrial cancer (EEC) to progestin therapy. PTEN has played a major role in this field, although its predictive significance is still undefined. We aimed to assess if loss of PTEN expression on pre-treatment endometrial specimen may be a predictive markers of response to progestins in EH and EEC. STUDY DESIGN: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Sciences, Scopus, ClinicalTrial.gov, OVID and Cochrane Library were searched for relevant articles from the inception to May 2018. All studies assessing PTEN expression as predictive marker in EH and EEC treated with progestin were included. Relative risk (RR) for therapy failure was calculated with 95% confidence interval (CI) and a significant p-value<0.05, with a subgroup analysis based on the histologic category (EEC or EH) and the administration route of progestin (oral or intrauterine). RESULTS: Seven cohort studies assessing 376 patients were included. PTEN loss was not significantly associated with the outcome of therapy in the overall analysis (RR = 1.24, 95% CI, 0.88-1.76, p = 0.21), in + the subgroups of EEC (RR = 0.89, 0.32-2.49, p = 0.83), EH (RR = 1.30, 0.90-1.87 p = 0.16), oral progestin (RR = 1.25 0.88-1.79, p = 0.22) and intrauterine device (RR = 1.02, 0.36-2.87, p = 0.97). CONCLUSION: PTEN seems not to be useful as predictive marker of response to the conservative treatment of EH and EC, regardless of the administration route (oral or intrauterine) of progestins. We advise future researcher not to further assess PTEN as a stand-alone predictive marker

Predictive accuracy of progesterone receptor B in young women with atypical endometrial hyperplasia and early endometrial cancer treated with hysteroscopic resection plus LNG-IUD insertion

Immunohistochemical expression of the isoform B of progesterone receptor (PRB) has shown promising results in predicting the response of atypical endometrial hyperplasia (AEH) and early endometrial cancer (EEC) to conservative treatment. We aimed to calculate the accuracy of PRB as a predictive marker of conservative treatment outcome in AEH or EEC

TCGA Molecular Subgroups in Endometrial Undifferentiated/Dedifferentiated Carcinoma

We aimed to classify undifferentiated/dedifferentiated carcinoma (UDC/DDC) according to the four TCGA molecular subgroups of endometrial cancer: microsatellite-instable/hypermutated (MSI), POLE-mutant/ultramutated (POLE), copy-number-low/p53-wild-type (p53wt), and copy-number-high/p53-abnormal (p53abn), through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Electronic databases were searched from January 2013 to July 2019 for studies assessing the TCGA classification in endometrial UDC/DDC series. Pooled prevalence of each TCGA subgroup on the total UDC/DDCs was calculated. Three studies with 73 patients were included. Pooled prevalence of the TCGA subgroups were: 12.4% for the POLE subgroup, 44% for the MSI subgroup, 18.6% for the p53abn subgroup, 25% for the p53wt group. All TCGA groups are represented in UDC/DDC, with a predominance of the MSI group, indicating a biological heterogeneity. Hypermutated/ultramutated cancers constitute the majority of UDC/DDC, suggesting a crucial difference with other high-risk histologies of endometrial carcinoma

Effect of brassinosteroids on coffee

The effect of 24-epibrassinolide and 24-epicastasterone was tested in two years old Coffea arabica L cultivar Catuaí Amarelo at its first yielding, in two experiments. Yield, percentage of beans with empty locus, percentage of peabeans and other parameters related to the size of the seeds were evaluated. Fruit setting was evaluated in one experiment only. It was concluded that the brassinosteroids did not affect the yield or the parameters related to the size of the seeds.Testou-se o efeito da aspersão de soluções aquosas de 24-epibrassinotfdio e 24-epicastasterona, variando de 10-2 a 10-4ppm, em cafeeiros do cultivar Catuaí Amarelo, de Coffea arabica L. com dois anos de idade e na sua primeira produção. Avaliaram-se a produção de frutos, porcentagem de frutos com lojas vazias, porcentagem de sementes do tipo moca, renda, peneira média, porcentagem de cada peneira (de 13 a 20) no peso total de sementes do tipo chato e, para apenas um experimento, o estabelecimento de frutos. Para os parâmetros em que ocorreram diferenças significativas, os tratamentos com brassinosteróídes nunca se mostraram estatisticamente superiores ao controle. Concluiu-se que os brassinosteróídes testados não afetaram a produção nem os outros parâmetros avaliados.374

Treatments and overall survival in patients with Krukenberg tumor

BACKGROUND: Krukenberg tumor (KT) is a rare secondary ovarian tumor, primarily localized at the gastrointestinal tract in most cases. KT is related to severe prognosis due to its aggressiveness, diagnostic difficulties and poor treatment efficacy. Several treatments have been used, such as cytoreductive surgery (CRS), adjuvant chemotherapy (CT) and/or hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). To date, it is still unclear which treatment or combination of treatments is related to better survival. OBJECTIVE: To assess the most effective therapeutic protocol in terms of overall survival (OS). METHODS: A systematic review of the literature was performed by searching MEDLINE, Scopus, EMBASE, ClinicalTrial.gov, OVID, Web of Sciences, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar for all studies assessing the association of treatments with OS in KTs. The effectiveness of each treatment protocol was evaluated by comparing the OS between patients treated with different treatment protocols. RESULTS: Twenty retrospective studies, with a total sample size of 1533 KTs, were included in the systematic review. Therapeutic protocols used were CRS in 18 studies, CT in 13 studies, HIPEC in 7 studies, neoadjuvant CT in 2 studies, and some combinations of these in 6 studies. Seven studies showed that CRS significantly improved OS compared to other treatments or association of treatments without it. 11 studies showed that CRS without residual (R0 CRS) had a significantly better OS than CRS with residual (R + CRS). Five studies showed that CT significantly improved OS, but other five showed it did not. Two studies showed that HIPEC in association with CRS improved OS, while another study showed that efficacy of HIPEC was comparable to CT. Two studies evaluated neoadjuvant CT, but results were conflicting. CONCLUSION: CRS and in particular R0 CRS are the treatments showing the clearest results in improving OS in KT patients. Results about CT are conflicting. HIPEC appears effective both alone and in combination with CRS, and also related to fewer adverse effect than CT. The usefulness of neoadjuvant CT is still unclear. The association of R0 CRS with HIPEC seems to be the most effective and safe therapeutic protocol for KT patients

Adhesion barriers in laparoscopic myomectomy: Evidence from randomized clinical trials

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of different adhesion barriers in the prevention of de-novo adhesion development after laparoscopic myomectomy. Method: A systematic review was performed by searching seven electronic databases for all randomized clinical trials (RCT) comparing the use of any absorbable adhesion barrier (i.e. intervention group) with either no treatment or placebo (i.e. control group) in the prevention of adhesion development after laparoscopic myomectomy. Results: Eight RCT with a total of 748 participants (392 in the intervention group and 356 in the control group) were included. The assessed adhesion barrier methods were: the oxidized regenerated cellulose (ORC) in 2 studies, the auto-crosslinked hyaluronic acid (HA) gel in 2 studies, the 4% icodextrin solution in one study, the modified HA and carboxy-methylcellulose in one study, the polyethylene glycol ester trilysine amine solution plus a borate buffer solution in one study, and the polyethylene glycol amine plus dextran aldehyde polymers in another study. Conclusions: Adhesion barriers methods showing the most promising results were: ORC, auto-crosslinked HA gel and polyethylene glycol amine plus dextran aldehyde polymers