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•Combining solar panels and crops on the same land increases the total productivity.•Use of solar trackers permits to balance or promote food/energy production.•Controlling mode of ...trackers strongly affect the total production per unit area.•Dynamic agrivoltaic systems increases productivity without competing with food.
Agrivoltaic systems, consisting of the combination of photovoltaic panels (PVPs) with crops on the same land, recently emerged as an opportunity to resolve the competition for land use between food and energy production. Such systems have proved efficient when using stationary PVPs at half their usual density. Dynamic agrivoltaic systems improved the concept by using orientable PVPs derived from solar trackers. They offer the possibility to intercept the variable part of solar radiation, as well as new means to increase land productivity.
The matter was analysed in this work by comparing fixed and dynamic systems with two different orientation policies. Performances of the resulting agrivoltaic systems were studied for two varieties of lettuce over three different seasons.
Solar tracking systems placed all plants in a new microclimate where light and shade bands alternated several times a day at any plant position, while stationary systems split the land surface into more stable shaded and sunlit areas. In spite of these differences, transient shading conditions increased plant leaf area in all agrivoltaic systems compared to full-sun conditions, resulting in a higher conversion of the transmitted radiation by the crop. This benefit was lower during seasons with high radiation and under controlled tracking with more light transmitted to the crop. As expected, regular tracking largely increased electric production compared to stationary PVPs but also slightly increased the transmitted radiation, hence crop biomass. A large increase in transmitted radiation was achieved by restricting solar tracking around midday, which resulted in higher biomass in the spring but was counterbalanced by a lower conversion efficiency of transmitted radiation in summer. As a result, high productivity per land area unit was reached using trackers instead of stationary photovoltaic panels in agrivoltaic systems, while maintaining biomass production of lettuce close or even similar to that obtained under full-sun conditions.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Loss-of-function mutations of CYP24A1, the enzyme that converts the major circulating and active forms of vitamin D to inactive metabolites, recently have been implicated in idiopathic infantile ...hypercalcemia. Patients with biallelic mutations in CYP24A1 present with severe hypercalcemia and nephrocalcinosis in infancy or hypercalciuria, kidney stones, and nephrocalcinosis in adulthood. We describe a cohort of 7 patients (2 adults, 5 children) presenting with severe hypercalcemia who had homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations in CYP24A1 . Acute episodes of hypercalcemia in infancy were the first symptom in 6 of 7 patients; in all patients, symptoms included nephrocalcinosis, hypercalciuria, low parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels, and higher than expected 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels. Longitudinal data suggested that in most patients, periods of increased sunlight exposure tended to correlate with decreases in PTH levels and increases in calcemia and calciuria. Follow-up of the 2 adult patients showed reduced glomerular filtration rate and extrarenal manifestations, including calcic corneal deposits and osteoporosis. Cases of severe PTH-independent hypercalcemia associated with hypercalciuria in infants should prompt genetic analysis of CYP24A1 . These patients should be monitored carefully throughout life because they may be at increased risk for developing chronic kidney disease.
Summary Background The benefit or harm of trabectedin discontinuation in patients with non-progressive soft-tissue sarcoma remains unclear. We report the final analysis of a phase 2 trial ...investigating the clinical benefit of continuation of trabectedin treatment until progression versus interruption of therapy after six treatment cycles in patients with advanced soft-tissue sarcoma. Methods For this open-label, non-comparative, multicentre, phase 2 study, eligible adult patients with advanced soft-tissue sarcomas, who had previously received doxorubicin-based chemotherapy and were able to receive trabectedin, were enrolled from 14 centres of the French Sarcoma Group. Trabectedin was administered at a dose of 1·5 mg/m2 through a central venous line as a 24-h continuous infusion every 3 weeks. After the initial six cycles of trabectedin, patients who were free from progressive disease were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio either to continuous treatment or therapy interruption. Randomisation was done centrally by a computer-generated system using permuted blocks of four patients, stratified by tumour grade and performance status. Patients allocated to the interruption group were allowed to restart trabectedin in case of progressive disease. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival at 6 months after randomisation, analysed by intention to treat. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT01303094. Results In 178 evaluable patients, 91 (51%) patients had not progressed after six cycles. Of these patients, 53 patients were randomly assigned to the two treatment groups: 27 to the continuation group and 26 to the interruption group. Overall, patients in the two groups received a similar median number of trabectedin cycles (continuation group: 11 cycles range 6–31+ vs interruption group: 11 range 6–23+). After randomisation, progression-free survival at 6 months was 51·9% (95% CI 31·9–68·6) in the continuation group versus 23·1% (9·4–40·3) in the interruption group (p=0·0200). The occurrence of treatment-related grade 3 adverse events (four 16% of 25 patients in the continuation group vs three 14% of 21 in the interruption group) and grade 4 adverse events (one 4% vs none) was similar in both groups. The most common grade 3 and 4 toxicities were alanine aminotransferase or aspartate aminotransferase increases (one 4% in the interruption group vs three 14% in the continuation group), neutropenia (two 8% vs two 10%), and intestinal occlusion (one 4% vs one 5%). Interpretation We do not recommend trabectedin discontinuation in patients with advanced, doxorubicin-refractory soft-tissue sarcoma who have not progressed after six cycles of treatment. Funding The French National Cancer Institute (INCa) and PharmaMar SA.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
High hyperopia with papillomacular fold Ryckewaert, M; Zanlonghi, X; Bertrand-Cuignet, H ...
Ophthalmologica (Basel),
1992, Volume:
204, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
We report a case of evolutive high hyperopia in a child aged 10 years. It is associated with organic amblyopia due to a large papillomacular retinal fold. Ultrasonography and CT scan helped to ...establish the diagnosis. This is probably a hereditary disease affecting the development of the posterior sclera.
