Access to bedding and outdoor runs for growing-finishing pigs: is it possible to improve welfare without increasing environmental impacts?

Providing bedding or access to an outdoor run are husbandry aspects intended to improve pig welfare, which is currently financially supported through animal welfare schemes in several European countries. However, they may significantly affect the environment through changes in feed efficiency and manure management. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to compare farms differing in animal welfare relevant husbandry aspects regarding (1) the welfare of growing-finishing pigs and (2) environmental impact categories such as global warming (GW), acidification (AC), and freshwater (FE) and marine eutrophication (ME), by employing an attributional Life Cycle Assessment. We collected data on 50 farms with growing-finishing pigs in seven European countries. Ten animal-based welfare indicators were aggregated into three pig welfare indices using principal component analysis. Cluster analysis of farms based on husbandry aspects resulted in three clusters: NOBED (31 farms without bedding or outdoor run), BED (11 farms with bedding only) and BEDOUT (eight farms with bedding and outdoor run). Pigs on farms with bedding (BED and BEDOUT) manipulated enrichment more often (P < 0.001), pen fixtures less frequently (P = 0.003) and showed fewer oral stereotypies (P < 0.001) than pigs on NOBED farms. There were fewer pigs with a short(er) tail on farms with than without bedding (P < 0.001). Acidification of BEDOUT and BED farms was significantly higher (compared to NOBED farms P = 0.002) due to higher ammonia emissions related to farmyard manure. Also, BEDOUT farms had higher ME than NOBED farms (P = 0.035). There were no significant differences regarding GW and FE between husbandry clusters, due to the large variability within clusters regarding feed composition and conversion. Therefore, both husbandry aspects associated with improved animal welfare have a significant influence on some environmental impacts, such as acidification and marine eutrophication. Nevertheless, the large variation within clusters suggests that trade-offs may be minimised through e.g. AC and ME.

Similarities and differences in the functional architecture of mother- infant communication in rhesus macaque and British mother-infant dyads.

Similarly to humans, rhesus macaques engage in mother-infant face-to-face interactions. However, no previous studies have described the naturally occurring structure and development of mother-infant interactions in this population and used a comparative-developmental perspective to directly compare them to the ones reported in humans. Here, we investigate the development of infant communication, and maternal responsiveness in the two groups. We video-recorded mother-infant interactions in both groups in naturalistic settings and analysed them with the same micro-analytic coding scheme. Results show that infant social expressiveness and maternal responsiveness are similarly structured in humans and macaques. Both human and macaque mothers use specific mirroring responses to specific infant social behaviours (modified mirroring to communicative signals, enriched mirroring to affiliative gestures). However, important differences were identified in the development of infant social expressiveness, and in forms of maternal responsiveness, with vocal responses and marking behaviours being predominantly human. Results indicate a common functional architecture of mother-infant communication in humans and monkeys, and contribute to theories concerning the evolution of specific traits of human behaviour.

ACR White Paper on Magnetoencephalography and Magnetic Source Imaging: A Report from the ACR Commission on Neuroradiology.

Magnetoencephalography, the extracranial detection of tiny magnetic fields emanating from intracranial electrical activity of neurons, and its source modeling relation, magnetic source imaging, represent a powerful functional neuroimaging technique, able to detect and localize both spontaneous and evoked activity of the brain in health and disease. Recent years have seen an increased utilization of this technique for both clinical practice and research, in the United States and worldwide. This report summarizes current thinking, presents recommendations for clinical implementation, and offers an outlook for emerging new clinical indications.

SORGENTINA-RF FUSION NEUTRON PLANT: PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF THE BIOSHIELDING IN COMPLIANCE WITH DOSE CONSTRAINTS FOR WORKERS EXPOSURE.

An accelerator-driven 14 MeV neutron source of new concept, denominated SORGENTINA-RF, will be installed in ENEA Brasimone Research Centre, to test the feasibility of producing radionuclides of medical relevance using fusion neutrons. The main goal of the facility is generating 99Mo as precursor of 99mTc, a radionuclide widely used in nuclear medicine diagnostic procedures, using the 14 MeV fusion neutrons produced by the plant. This work describes the study performed for the design of a proper shielding structure that aims at fulfilling the requirement of 0.01 mSv/h dose rate limit on the external surface of the shielding during beam-on operations. The proposed shielding consists of a layered structure composed of 2 m standard concrete and 1 m baritic concrete. The design is still in the preliminary phase to assess the feasibility and the economic issues as well as structural impact of the shielding structure.

ON THE PLACEMENT OF APRON DOSEMETERS AND DOSE ASSESSMENT IN INTERVENTIONAL CARDIOLOGY PROCEDURES: PRELIMINARY RESULTS.

Personnel involved in interventional practices are likely to be exposed to higher radiation doses than other workers in the medical field. Personnel monitoring and radiation protection measures play a crucial role in keeping these doses below the limits. EURADOS (European Radiation Dosimetry Group) Working Group 12 performed a series of investigations showing how the complexity of the scattered field reaching the operators can influence the doses to the operators. The present work was aimed at determining the possible effects on the registered doses of the scattered field and the actual position of a dosemeter on apron. This study has been performed through Monte Carlo simulations and it was validated through measurements. It does not claim to identify the 'best' position for the dosemeter, but to assess the variability of its response, showing how a variability of the order of +/- 30% to 40 should be taken into account.

Recommendations for the use of active personal dosemeters (APDs) in interventional workplaces in hospitals.

Occupational radiation doses from interventional procedures have the potential to be relatively high. The requirement to optimise these doses encourages the use of electronic or active personal dosimeters (APDs) which are now increasingly used in hospitals. They are typically used in tandem with a routine passive dosimetry monitoring programme, with APDs used for real-time readings, for training purposes and when new imaging technology is introduced. However, there are limitations when using APDs. A survey in hospitals to identify issues related to the use of APDs was recently completed, along with an extensive series of APD tests by the EURADOS Working Group 12 on Dosimetry for Medical Imaging. The aim of this review paper is to summarise the state of the art regarding the use of APDs. We also used the results of our survey and our tests to develop a set of recommendations for the use of APDs in the clinical interventional radiology/cardiology settings, and draw attention to some of the current challenges.

Antineoplastic dosing in overweight and obese cancer patients: an Associazione Italiana Oncologia Medica (AIOM)/Associazione Medici Diabetologi (AMD)/Società Italiana Endocrinologia (SIE)/Società Italiana Farmacologia (SIF) multidisciplinary consensus position paper.

Most anticancer molecules are administered in body-size-based dosing schedules, bringing up unsolved issues regarding pharmacokinetic data in heavy patients. The worldwide spread of obesity has not been matched by improved methods and strategies for tailored drug dosage in this population. The weight or body surface area (BSA)-based approaches may fail to fully reflect the complexity of the anthropometric features besides obesity in cancer patients suffering from sarcopenia. Likewise, there is a lack of pharmacokinetic data on obese patients for the majority of chemotherapeutic agents as well as for new target drugs and immunotherapy. Therefore, although the available findings point to the role of dose intensity in cancer treatment, and support full weight-based dosing, empirical dose capping often occurs in clinical practice in order to avoid toxicity. Thus a panel of experts of the Associazione Italiana Oncologia Medica (AIOM), Associazione Medici Diabetologi (AMD), Società Italiana Endocrinologia (SIE), and Società Italiana Farmacologia (SIF), provides here a consensus statement for appropriate cytotoxic chemotherapy and new biological cancer drug dosing in obese patients.

Early prediction of pancreatic cancer from new-onset diabetes: an Associazione Italiana Oncologia Medica (AIOM)/Associazione Medici Diabetologi (AMD)/Società Italiana Endocrinologia (SIE)/Società Italiana Farmacologia (SIF) multidisciplinary consensus position paper.

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a common cause of cancer-related death, due to difficulties in detecting early-stage disease, to its aggressive behaviour, and to poor response to systemic therapy. Therefore, developing strategies for early diagnosis of resectable PC is critical for improving survival. Diabetes mellitus is another major public health problem worldwide. Furthermore, diabetes can represent both a risk factor and a consequence of PC: nowadays, the relationship between these two diseases is considered a high priority for research. New-onset diabetes can be an early manifestation of PC, especially in a thin adult without a family history of diabetes. However, even if targeted screening for patients at higher risk of PC could be a promising approach, this is not recommended in asymptomatic adults with new-onset diabetes, due to the much higher incidence of hyperglycaemia than PC and to the lack of a safe and affordable PC screening test. Prompted by a well-established and productive multidisciplinary cooperation, the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM), the Italian Medical Diabetologists Association (AMD), the Italian Society of Endocrinology (SIE), and the Italian Society of Pharmacology (SIF) here review available evidence on the mechanisms linking diabetes and PC, addressing the feasibility of screening for early PC in patients with diabetes, and sharing a set of update statements with the aim of providing a state-of-the-art overview and a decision aid tool for daily clinical practice.

Ventricular arrhythmias among patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillator during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) has been associated with myocardial injury and higher risk of arrhythmic complications. However, no reports are available about the effect of the ongoing pandemic on arrhythmias in patients at risk. Objective: To describe the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on arrhythmic burden among high-risk patients. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study on the incidence of ventricular arrhythmia (VA) during the pandemic outbreak (study period), compared to the same timeframe in 2019 (reference period). Inclusion criteria were age (>18 years) and having an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD). Results: Among 455 patients enrolled (mean age 64.9 ± 15.7 years; 25.1% females and 39.6% with CRTD), in the study period, 45 (9.9%) patients experienced a total of 86 VA; 8 patients (1.7%) required antitachycardia-pacing (ATP) and 6 (1.3%) at least one shock. In the reference period, a total of 69 events occurred in 36 patients (7.9%). Six patients (1.3%) required ATP and three (0.7%) at least one shock. The number of patients that suffered from any arrhythmic events in the study period (9.9% vs 7.9%) did not significantly differ from the reference period (χ2 = 1.09, P = .29). The main predictor of VA during the COVID-19 pandemic was the previous history of any ICD therapy (OR = 3.84, P < .001). Conclusions: No evidence of an increase of arrhythmic burden was found during the COVID-19 pandemic among patients with an ICD.

Quality assurance for the use of computational methods in dosimetry: activities of EURADOS Working Group 6 'Computational Dosimetry'.

Working Group (WG) 6 'Computational Dosimetry' of the European Radiation Dosimetry Group promotes good practice in the application of computational methods for radiation dosimetry in radiation protection and the medical use of ionising radiation. Its cross-sectional activities within the association cover a large range of current topics in radiation dosimetry, including more fundamental studies of radiation effects in complex systems. In addition, WG 6 also performs scientific research and development as well as knowledge transfer activities, such as training courses. Monte Carlo techniques, including the use of anthropomorphic and other numerical phantoms based on voxelised geometrical models, play a strong part in the activities pursued in WG 6. However, other aspects and techniques, such as neutron spectra unfolding, have an important role as well. A number of intercomparison exercises have been carried out in the past to provide information on the accuracy with which computational methods are applied and whether best practice is being followed. Within the exercises that are still ongoing, the focus has changed towards assessing the uncertainty that can be achieved with these computational methods. Furthermore, the future strategy of WG 6 also includes an extension of the scope toward experimental benchmark activities and evaluation of cross-sections and algorithms, with the vision of establishing a gold standard for Monte Carlo methods used in medical and radiobiological applications.

Cardiac arrhythmias and In-hospital mortality amongst patients with takotsubo cardiomyopathy: A retrospective study in an Italian population.

BACKGROUND: Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) is an acute non-ischemic cardiomyopathy classically associated with an intense emotional or physiologic trigger. Data on the relationship between arrhythmias and mortality in TTC have been limited by small sample sizes. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of ventricular and atrial arrhythmias and advanced atrioventricular block on in-hospital mortality in a large inpatient population with TTC. METHODS: Data was obtained from the Italian National Healthcare System Databank from 2009 to 2016. Patients with TTC were identified using diagnosis codes and clinical characteristics were collected, with a primary outcome of mortality. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify significant predictors for mortality, and patients with TTC were further analyzed according to sex and age. RESULTS: There were 10,861 patients with TTC; 91.7% were women (9959) and the mean age was 70.7 +/- 11.9 years. The mortality rate was 2.2%; while 1.2% of patients had ventricular arrhythmias, 10.0% had atrial arrhythmias, and 1.3% had advanced atrioventricular block. Male sex, increased age and ventricular arrhythmias were predictors of mortality. In a sex-stratified analysis, ventricular arrhythmias and advanced age remained independent predictors for mortality in women. CONCLUSION: In this large retrospective analysis, male sex and the presence of ventricular arrhythmias are strong predictors of mortality in patients hospitalized with TTC.

THE USE OF ACTIVE PERSONAL DOSEMETERS IN INTERVENTIONAL WORKPLACES IN HOSPITALS: COMPARISON BETWEEN ACTIVE AND PASSIVE DOSEMETERS WORN SIMULTANEOUSLY BY MEDICAL STAFF.

Medical staff in interventional procedures are among the professionals with the highest occupational doses. Active personal dosemeters (APDs) can help in optimizing the exposure during interventional procedures. However, there can be problems when using APDs during interventional procedures, due to the specific energy and angular distribution of the radiation field and because of the pulsed nature of the radiation. Many parameters like the type of interventional procedure, personal habits and working techniques, protection tools used and X-ray field characteristics influence the occupational exposure and the scattered radiation around the patient. In this paper, we compare the results from three types of APDs with a passive personal dosimetry system while being used in real clinical environment by the interventional staff. The results show that there is a large spread in the ratios of the passive and active devices.

Simulation of H p (10) and effective dose received by the medical staff in interventional radiology procedures.

Interventional radiology and cardiology are widespread employed techniques for diagnosis and treatment of several pathologies because they avoid the majority of the side-effects associated with surgical treatments, but are known to increase the radiation exposure to patient and operators. In recent years many studies treated the exposure of the operators performing cardiological procedures. The aim of this work is to study the exposure condition of the medical staff in some selected interventional radiology procedures. The Monte Carlo simulations have been employed with anthropomorphic mathematical phantoms reproducing the irradiation scenario of the medical staff with two operators and the patient. A personal dosemeter, put on apron, was modelled for comparison with measurements performed in hospitals, done with electronic dosemeters, in a reduced number of interventional radiology practices. Within the limits associated to the use of numerical anthropomorphic models to mimic a complex interventional procedure, the personal dose equivalent, H p (10), was evaluated and normalised to the simulated Kerma-Area Product, KAP, value, indeed the effective dose has been calculated. The H p (10)/KAPvalue of the first operator is about 10 µSv/Gy.cm2, when ceiling shielding is not used. This value is calculated on the trunk and it varies of +/-30% moving the dosemeter to the waist or to the neck. The effective dose, normalised to the KAP value, varies between 0.03 and 0.4 µSv/Gy.cm2. Considering all the unavoidable approximation of this kind of investigations, the comparisons with hospital measurement and literature data showed a good agreement allowing to use of the present results for dosimetric characterisation of interventional radiology procedures.

The role of plasma microseminoprotein-beta in prostate cancer: an observational nested case-control and Mendelian randomization study in the European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition.

BACKGROUND: Microseminoprotein-beta (MSP), a protein secreted by the prostate epithelium, may have a protective role in the development of prostate cancer. The only previous prospective study found a 2% reduced prostate cancer risk per unit increase in MSP. This work investigates the association of MSP with prostate cancer risk using observational and Mendelian randomization (MR) methods. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A nested case-control study was conducted with the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) with 1871 cases and 1871 matched controls. Conditional logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the association of pre-diagnostic circulating MSP with risk of incident prostate cancer overall and by tumour subtype. EPIC-derived estimates were combined with published data to calculate an MR estimate using two-sample inverse-variance method. RESULTS: Plasma MSP concentrations were inversely associated with prostate cancer risk after adjusting for total prostate-specific antigen concentration [odds ratio (OR) highest versus lowest fourth of MSP = 0.65, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.51-0.84, Ptrend = 0.001]. No heterogeneity in this association was observed by tumour stage or histological grade. Plasma MSP concentrations were 66% lower in rs10993994 TT compared with CC homozygotes (per allele difference in MSP: 6.09 ng/ml, 95% CI 5.56-6.61, r2=0.42). MR analyses supported a potentially causal protective association of MSP with prostate cancer risk (OR per 1 ng/ml increase in MSP for MR: 0.96, 95% CI 0.95-0.97 versus EPIC observational: 0.98, 95% CI 0.97-0.99). Limitations include lack of complete tumour subtype information and more complete information on the biological function of MSP. CONCLUSIONS: In this large prospective European study and using MR analyses, men with high circulating MSP concentration have a lower risk of prostate cancer. MSP may play a causally protective role in prostate cancer.

Association of leukocyte DNA methylation changes with dietary folate and alcohol intake in the EPIC study.

BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence that folate, an important component of one-carbon metabolism, modulates the epigenome. Alcohol, which can disrupt folate absorption, is also known to affect the epigenome. We investigated the association of dietary folate and alcohol intake on leukocyte DNA methylation levels in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. Leukocyte genome-wide DNA methylation profiles on approximately 450,000 CpG sites were acquired with Illumina HumanMethylation 450K BeadChip measured among 450 women control participants of a case-control study on breast cancer nested within the EPIC cohort. After data preprocessing using surrogate variable analysis to reduce systematic variation, associations of DNA methylation with dietary folate and alcohol intake, assessed with dietary questionnaires, were investigated using CpG site-specific linear models. Specific regions of the methylome were explored using differentially methylated region (DMR) analysis and fused lasso (FL) regressions. The DMR analysis combined results from the feature-specific analysis for a specific chromosome and using distances between features as weights whereas FL regression combined two penalties to encourage sparsity of single features and the difference between two consecutive features. RESULTS: After correction for multiple testing, intake of dietary folate was not associated with methylation level at any DNA methylation site, while weak associations were observed between alcohol intake and methylation level at CpG sites cg03199996 and cg07382687, with qval = 0.029 and qval = 0.048, respectively. Interestingly, the DMR analysis revealed a total of 24 and 90 regions associated with dietary folate and alcohol, respectively. For alcohol intake, 6 of the 15 most significant DMRs were identified through FL. CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol intake was associated with methylation levels at two CpG sites. Evidence from DMR and FL analyses indicated that dietary folate and alcohol intake may be associated with genomic regions with tumor suppressor activity such as the GSDMD and HOXA5 genes. These results were in line with the hypothesis that epigenetic mechanisms play a role in the association between folate and alcohol, although further studies are warranted to clarify the importance of these mechanisms in cancer.

Possible risk factors for keel bone damage in organic laying hens.

Keel bone damage (KBD) in laying hens is an important welfare problem in both conventional and organic egg production systems. We aimed to identify possible risk factors for KBD in organic hens by analysing cross-sectional data of 107 flocks assessed in eight European countries. Due to partly missing data, the final multiple regression model was based on data from 50 flocks. Keel bone damage included fractures and/or deviations, and was recorded, alongside with other animal based measures, by palpation and visual inspection of at least 50 randomly collected hens per flock between 52 and 73 weeks of age. Management and housing data were obtained by interviews, inspection and by feed analysis. Keel bone damage flock prevalences ranged from 3% to 88%. Compiled on the basis of literature and practical experience, 26 potential associative factors of KBD went into an univariable selection by Spearman correlation analysis or Mann-Whitney U test (with P<0.1 level). The resulting nine factors were presented to stepwise forward linear regression modelling. Aviary v. floor systems, absence of natural daylight in the hen house, a higher proportion of underweight birds, as well as a higher laying performance were found to be significantly associated with a higher percentage of hens with KBD. The final model explained 32% of the variation in KBD between farms. The moderate explanatory value of the model underlines the multifactorial nature of KBD. Based on the results increased attention should be paid to an adequate housing design and lighting that allows the birds easy orientation and safe manoeuvring in the system. Furthermore, feeding management should aim at sufficient bird live weights that fulfil breeder weight standards. In order to achieve a better understanding of the relationships between laying performance, feed management and KBD further investigations are needed.

Radiative cooling of cationic carbon clusters, CN+, N = 8, 10, 13-16.

The radiative cooling of highly excited carbon cluster cations of sizes N = 8, 10, 13-16 has been studied in an electrostatic storage ring. The cooling rate constants vary with cluster size from a maximum at N = 8 of 2.6 × 104 s-1 and a minimum at N = 13 of 4.4 × 103 s-1. The high rates indicate that photon emission takes place from electronically excited ions, providing a strong stabilizing cooling of the molecules.

MCNPX CALCULATIONS OF SPECIFIC ABSORBED FRACTIONS IN SOME ORGANS OF THE HUMAN BODY DUE TO APPLICATION OF 133Xe, 99mTc and 81mKr RADIONUCLIDES.

Monte Carlo simulations were performed to evaluate treatment doses with wide spread used radionuclides 133Xe, 99mTc and 81mKr. These different radionuclides are used in perfusion or ventilation examinations in nuclear medicine and as indicators for cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. The objective of this work was to estimate the specific absorbed fractions in surrounding organs and tissues, when these radionuclides are incorporated in the lungs. For this purpose a voxel thorax model has been developed and compared with the ORNL phantom. All calculations and simulations were performed by means of the MCNP5/X code.