Recent screening trial results indicate that low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) reduces lung cancer mortality in high-risk patients. However, high false-positive rates, costs, and potential harms ...highlight the need for complementary biomarkers. The diagnostic performance of a noninvasive plasma microRNA signature classifier (MSC) was retrospectively evaluated in samples prospectively collected from smokers within the randomized Multicenter Italian Lung Detection (MILD) trial.
Plasma samples from 939 participants, including 69 patients with lung cancer and 870 disease-free individuals (n = 652, LDCT arm; n = 287, observation arm) were analyzed by using a quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction-based assay for MSC. Diagnostic performance of MSC was evaluated in a blinded validation study that used prespecified risk groups.
The diagnostic performance of MSC for lung cancer detection was 87% for sensitivity and 81% for specificity across both arms, and 88% and 80%, respectively, in the LDCT arm. For all patients, MSC had a negative predictive value of 99% and 99.86% for detection and death as a result of disease, respectively. LDCT had sensitivity of 79% and specificity of 81% with a false-positive rate of 19.4%. Diagnostic performance of MSC was confirmed by time dependency analysis. Combination of both MSC and LDCT resulted in a five-fold reduction of LDCT false-positive rate to 3.7%. MSC risk groups were significantly associated with survival (χ1(2) = 49.53; P < .001).
This large validation study indicates that MSC has predictive, diagnostic, and prognostic value and could reduce the false-positive rate of LDCT, thus improving the efficacy of lung cancer screening.
Nowadays porous materials from organic waste, i.e., Biochar (BC), are receiving increased attention for environmental applications. This study adds information on three BCs that have undergone a ...number of studies in recent years. A Biochar from pine wood, one from rice husk and one from
shrubs enriched with Iron, labelled as PWBC, RHBC and EuFeBC respectively, are evaluated for Trichloroethylene (TCE) removal from aqueous solution. Physical-chemical description is performed by SEM-EDS and BET analysis. The decrease of TCE over time follows a pseudo-second order kinetics with increased removal by the PWBC. Freundlich and Langmuir models well fit equilibrium test data. The optimized values of the maximum adsorbed amount, q
(mg g
), follows this order 109.41 PWBC > 30.35 EuFeBC > 21.00 RHBC. Fixed-bed columns are also carried out. Best performance is again achieved by PWBC, which operates for a higher number of pore volume, followed by EuFeBC and RHBC. Continuous testing confirms batch studies and makes it possible to evaluate the workability of materials in configurations closer to reality. Results are promising for potential environmental application. In particular, the characterization of several classes of contaminants opens the doors to possible uses in mixed contamination cases.
The cross-linker nature and water content may impact the microscopic dynamics of hydrogels components and thus their properties in applications such as drug delivery and water confinement. To ...investigate these aspects, we used quasi-elastic neutron scattering with contrast variation to distinctly study the polymer and water dynamics in polyhydroxyethyl methacrylate (pHEMA) chemical ( cg ) and physical ( pg ) hydrogels with various water contents. For the polymer network, a distribution of relaxation processes was observed, mainly related to the side chains. Water dynamics was found to occur as a H-bond governed process with a jump-diffusion mechanism. The interaction with the polymer matrix considerably slows the water dynamics with respect to bulk water and other confined systems and leads to a fraction of water molecules appearing as immobile. With a higher hydration level, the mobility of both the water and the polymer network increases. For the same water content, pg presents slower relaxation processes and a smaller explored space than their cg equivalents as a result of side chains involvement in the formation of the three-dimensional network typical of hydrogels. In the less hydrated gels, water mobility is sensibly reduced in the cg compared with pg , whereas at higher hydration the mobilities are similar but with shorter residence times in cg .
An adequate intake of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) is required for protein synthesis and metabolic functions, including insulin metabolism. Emerging studies found positive associations between ...BCAA and the risk of various diseases sharing aetiological aspects with colorectal cancer (CRC), including type 2 diabetes, obesity and pancreatic cancer. We investigated the relation between dietary BCAA and CRC using data from a multicentric Italian case–control study, including 1953 cases of CRC (of these, 442 of sigmoid colon) and 4154 hospital controls with acute, non-neoplastic diseases. A validated FFQ was used to estimate the participants’ usual diet and to assess dietary intakes of various nutrients, including energy, BCAA and Ca. OR and corresponding CI were computed by multiple logistic regression models adjusted for age, sex and other confounding factors, including total energy intake. BCAA intake was inversely related to CRC risk (OR for the highest v. the lowest quintile 0·73; 95 % CI 0·55, 0·97), but the association was attenuated after adjustment for Ca intake (OR 0·90; 95 % CI 0·65, 1·25). An inverse association with sigmoid colon cancer risk also remained after adjustment for other dietary factors, including Ca intake (OR 0·49; 95 % CI 0·27, 0·87). This study provides supporting evidence that higher levels of dietary BCAA intake are not associated with an increase of CRC risk, but confirms that they may be related to a reduced risk of sigmoid colon cancer.
Extrusion of xenobiotics is essential for allowing animals to remove toxic substances present in their diet or generated as a biproduct of their metabolism. By transporting a wide range of ...potentially noxious substrates, active transporters of the ABC transporter family play an important role in xenobiotic extrusion. One such class of transporters are the multidrug resistance P-glycoprotein transporters. Here, we investigated P-glycoprotein transport in the Malpighian tubules of the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), a species whose diet includes plants that contain toxic secondary metabolites. To this end, we studied transporter physiology using a modified Ramsay assay in which ex vivo Malpighian tubules are incubated in different solutions containing the P-glycoprotein substrate dye rhodamine B in combination with different concentrations of the P-glycoprotein inhibitor verapamil. To determine the quantity of the P-glycoprotein substrate extruded we developed a simple and cheap method as an alternative to liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, radiolabelled alkaloids or confocal microscopy. Our evidence shows that: (i) the Malpighian tubules contain a P-glycoprotein; (ii) tubule surface area is positively correlated with the tubule fluid secretion rate; and (iii) as the fluid secretion rate increases so too does the net extrusion of rhodamine B. We were able to quantify precisely the relationships between the fluid secretion, surface area, and net extrusion. We interpret these results in the context of the life history and foraging ecology of desert locusts. We argue that P-glycoproteins contribute to the removal of xenobiotic substances from the haemolymph, thereby enabling gregarious desert locusts to maintain toxicity through the ingestion of toxic plants without suffering the deleterious effects themselves.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Refrigeration applications is responsible for approximately 17% of the total electricity and around 8% of greenhouse gas emissions. This study presents a comparative life cycle assessment between two ...refrigeration systems, the first operating with a traditional fluid and the second with a natural refrigerant. The analysis was performed in accordance with international standards ISO 14040/14044 and adopted the attributional life cycle assessment approach. The functional unit was: 'the storage of meat products, at the temperature of 0°C for a lifetime of 10 years, in refrigerating cells of a medium city supermarket'. Three different scenarios were analysed to investigate the effect of the energy mix in relation to the use of the machines. Results highlight how the choice of the refrigerating fluid has a higher effect on the environmental performances of the machine with a reduction of approximately 10% in a whole life cycle. Scenario analysis shows how the use of such machines in different countries allows a significant reduction of environmental impacts mostly related to the use phase. Eco-design actions were listed and connected with environmental hot spots specifying the life cycle phases and the environmental indicators involved.
Abstract
Space exploration fosters great strides in research and provides innovative solutions that contribute to advancements in different fields. The discipline of space architecture represents the ...connecting point where space exploration and architecture meet. It pushes the boundaries of architecture and grants the possibility to develop new strategies and design methods in this field. Designing a resilient and sustainable infrastructure for human missions on Mars is a new challenge that requires new conceptual design approaches. Architecture in Space relies on some fundamental pillars that are intrinsically interconnected: space sciences, engineering, robotics, industrial design, ergonomics, medicine, psychology, and last but not least, art. The extreme environmental conditions are a major technological challenge but also an opportunity to explore new construction techniques using alternative materials, enabling architecture to update its traditional methods. In this paper, we designed a habitat on Mars, E.L.L.E., an Extreme Livable Lightweight Environment, for six astronauts and a mission of 600 days within a cross-disciplinary environment at different scales, from architecture to interior design. This challenges both space and terrestrial architectures to consider the relationships between human activities and the resources that support them. The E.L.L.E. habitat solution will be built with lightweight materials as they are particularly suitable for space exploration purposes. A computational design approach was applied to perform multiobjective optimization and form-finding analysis to support the decision-making process for E.L.L.E., identifying the optimal design configuration among several optimized solutions that maximize compactness, floor area, internal layout effectiveness, and structural integrity. This process could easily be applied to several future Mars habitats and settlements.
Earth observation techniques represent a reliable and faster alternative to in-situ measurements by providing spatio-temporal information on crop status. In this framework, a study was conducted to ...assess the performance of hybrid approaches, either standard (HYB) or exploiting an active learning optimisation strategy (HYB-AL), to estimate leaf area index (LAI) and canopy nitrogen content (CNC) from Sentinel-2 (S2) data, in rice crops. To achieve this, the PROSAIL-PRO Radiative Transfer Model (RTM) was tested. Results demonstrate that a wide range of rice spectra, simulated according to realistic crop parameters, are reliable when appropriate field background conditions are considered. Simulations were used to train a Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) algorithm. Both cross-validation and validation results showed that HYB-AL approach resulted the best performing retrieval schema. LAI estimation achieved good performance (R
2
=0.86; RMSE=0.54) and resulted very promising for model application in operational monitoring systems. CNC estimations showed moderate performance (R
2
=0.63; RMSE=0.89) due to a saturation behaviour limiting the retrieval accuracy for moderate/high CNC values, approximately above 4 g m
−2
. S2 maps of LAI and CNC provided spatio-temporal information in agreement with crop growth, nutritional status and agro-practices applied to the study area, resulting in an important contribution to precision farming applications.
Purpose: Diet and inflammation have been suggested to be important risk factors for esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC). In this study, we examined the association between the dietary inflammatory ...index (DII) and ESCC in a case–control study conducted between 1992 and 1997 in Italy. Methods: This study included 304 ESCC cases and 743 controls hospitalized for acute non-neoplastic diseases. The DII was computed based on dietary intake assessed by a reproducible and valid 78-item food frequency questionnaire. Logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) conditioned on age, sex, year of interview, and area of residence and adjusted for education, smoking, alcohol drinking, BMI, physical activity, and aspirin use. Energy adjustment was performed using the residual method. Results: Subjects with higher DII scores (i.e., with a more pro-inflammatory diet) had a higher risk of ESCC, with the DII being used as both a continuous variable (ORcontinuous 1.39, 95 % confidence interval, CI, 1.25–1.54; one-unit increase corresponding to ≈ 12 % of its range in the current study) and a categorical variable (ORquintile5vs1 2.46, 95 % CI 1.40–4.36; ptrend < 0.001). Conclusion: These results indicate that a pro-inflammatory diet is associated with a higher risk of ESCC, even after controlling for alcohol and tobacco exposure.
Towards chlorinated solvents, the effectiveness of the remediation strategy can be improved by combining a biological approach (e.g., anaerobic reductive dechlorination) with chemical/physical ...treatments (e.g., adsorption). A coupled adsorption and biodegradation (CAB) process for trichloroethylene (TCE) removal is proposed in a biofilm-biochar reactor (BBR) to assess whether biochar from pine wood (PWB) can support a dechlorinating biofilm by combining the TCE (100 µM) adsorption. The BBR operated for eight months in parallel with a biofilm reactor (BR)-no PWB (biological process alone), and with an abiotic biochar reactor (ABR)-no dechlorinating biofilm (only an adsorption mechanism). Two flow rates were investigated. Compared to the BR, which resulted in a TCE removal of 86.9 ± 11.9% and 78.73 ± 19.79%, the BBR demonstrated that PWB effectively adsorbs TCE and slows down the release of its intermediates. The elimination of TCE was quantitative, with 99.61 ± 0.79% and 99.87 ± 0.51% TCE removal. Interestingly, the biomarker of the reductive dechlorination process,
, was found in the BRR (9.2 × 10
16S rRNA gene copies/g), together with the specific genes
,
, and
(8.16 × 10
, 1.28 × 10
, and 8.01 × 10
gene copies/g, respectively). This study suggests the feasibility of biochar to support the reductive dechlorination of
, opening new frontiers for field-scale applications.
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