159370 research outputs found
Sort by
The Future of Food Processing—A Food Science and Technology Perspective. Proceedings of a Roundtable Event
Full text linkRising interest in the links between processed food consumption and poor health outcomes often overlooks the perspectives of those working in food technology and innovation. To address this, a virtual roundtable was held in October 2024 to provide a setting for a technical discussion among those working in food processing, technology and engineering and related fields. The aims were to explore whether (a) the concept of ultra-processed foods (UPF) as a whole (or any elements thereof) may be useful to consider in the development of healthier and more sustainable foods, including its strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and barriers; and (b) where there might be opportunities for food technologists to improve current approaches to food processing for human health in the future. Presentations focussed on reformulation and included a critique of the evidence and proposed mechanisms linking UPF consumption to food intake and health. Areas of discussion included use and replacement of ingredients deemed to be ‘UPF’; material properties of foods; advances in food production; consumer communication; practicalities of consuming a healthy, sustainable diet; food systems considerations; environmental sustainability in food processing and the role of meat alternatives. Looking ahead, participants identified opportunities for improvements centred around four themes: target areas and considerations for innovation and reformulation that can be suggested based on current or future capability; potential definitions/targets that industry can work towards to improve the healthiness of products and related evidence needs; greater transdisciplinary working (cross-sector, food systems approaches); consumer-related issues and potential policy/regulatory changes. Caution was expressed around both ‘overprocessing’ and misplaced reformulation efforts to the detriment of health. However, a potential role for consumer education around food processing techniques and ingredients was identified and the importance of continued advancements in food processing and technology in the production of healthier, sustainable food was highlighted
Long Range Outlook for Short-Range Correlations
Full text linkShort range correlated (SRC) N N pairs are pairs of nucleons with high relative momentum (prel > kF where kF ~ 250 MeV/c is the Fermi momentum in medium to heavy nuclei) and lower center of mass momentum. The motivation for studying SRC pairs ranges from a desire to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the many-body nuclear wave-function at high-resolution to searching for explicit QCD-dynamics effects within the nuclear medium, not to mention connections to many other open problems in nuclear physics. Exploring short-range correlations was one of the physics motivations for building CEBAF (now Jefferson Lab). Scientists used the high luminosity and high energy of this cutting-edge machine to find kinematics that cleanly showed the signals of short-range correlations. This paved the way in the last two decades for tremendous progress understanding these correlations. This paper reviews recent progress and highlights outstanding questions and areas that need further study
The impact of initial depression and anxiety levels on symptom severity change during psychological treatment for common mental disorders: a systematic review
Full text linkBackground
Depression and anxiety are highly comorbid conditions, which may impact treatment response.
Aims
We intended to examine how depression and anxiety symptoms change during psychological interventions for adults and how the initial severity is associated with distinct trajectory classes.
Methods
We identified papers examining longitudinal changes in depression and anxiety. Trajectory classes were grouped into responders, improvers and non-improvers. Narrative synthesis, alongside meta-analysis, was applied to explore the number and nature of classes, their associations with study characteristics and predictors of trajectory class membership. This study was pre-registered on International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) (CRD42023393155), and the authors followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidance.
Results
We identified 18 papers, including 22 models with two to six classes. Responding and non-improving classes prevailed. Meta-regression revealed no characteristics associated with the proportion of these classes. Initial depression and anxiety levels predicted trajectory class membership for each other, but not always non-response. Unemployment, suicidality, social functioning impairment, treatment type and medication use predicted following non-responding trajectory.
Conclusion
Our findings highlight the complex relationship between initial anxiety and depression severity and their changes during psychological interventions. They provide practitioners with insights into factors associated with non-response patterns of symptom change
Multimodal management of hormonal and oncological progression in PTHrP-secreting pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours
Full text linkParathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP)-secreting pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (Pan-NETs) are a rare cause of humoural hypercalcaemia of malignancy (HCM). We report two contrasting cases of metastatic well-differentiated PTHrP-secreting Pan-NETs (WHO grade 2; Ki-67: 7 and 8%, respectively), highlighting the variability in disease progression, response to multiple treatment modalities, and long-term outcomes. The first patient, a 55-year-old woman with mild hypercalcaemia who was largely asymptomatic except for a persistent dry cough at presentation, achieved stable disease control following eight years of treatment with somatostatin analogues (SSAs), peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT), and chemotherapy. During a prolonged period of uncontrolled hypercalcaemia prior to chemotherapy, she developed rapid bilateral hip osteoarthrosis and tumour calcification, a rare complication from long-standing calcium elevation. The second patient, a 34-year-old woman, had a more aggressive disease course, requiring multiple hospital admissions for refractory moderate-to-severe hypercalcaemia and variceal bleeding. Despite initial tumour stabilisation following PRRT, she developed refractory hypercalcaemia, demonstrating only partial response to zoledronate, high-dose denosumab, and maximal somatostatin analogue therapy, and ultimately succumbed to progressive disease and metabolic deterioration. These cases underscore the heterogeneity of PTHrP-secreting Pan-NETs and the challenges in optimising treatment strategies, given the lack of data on the optimal sequencing of therapies. Notably, calcium can serve as a reliable tumour marker for disease control, with persistent severe hypercalcaemia being a potential prognostic factor of poor outcome in patients with PTHrP-related hypercalcaemia. International collaboration and knowledge exchange are needed to ascertain the most effective management of this rare functional syndrome
A research agenda for business and human rights, Tricia D. Olsen, Judith Schrempf-Stirling, Harry J. Van BurenIII (eds) (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2025), pp. 254, ISBN: 978 1 80220 896 2
No full textApplying feedback control to additive manufacturing of graded refractive index lenses with continuous-distributions in permittivity
Full text linkGraded refractive index (GRIN) lenses focus and direct electromagnetic waves by making use of spatiallyvarying material properties to achieve compact, low profile devices in a range of technological applications. For microwave applications, GRIN lenses facilitate performance enhancement of key components such as transmitting and receiving horns used in communication devices. However, the fabrication of GRIN lenses with spatially varying permittivity and/or permeability in order to vary the local refractive index is highly challenging. Recently, additive manufacturing has been used to fabricate GRIN lenses with some success, but accurate control of the local refractive index to meet demanding lens designs is difficult. Here, a feedback control system is designed for improved additive manufacturing of GRIN microwave lenses fabricated from a mixture of both polylactic acid (PLA) and an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene/barium titanate (ABS/BaTiO3) composite. After each layer is printed, a controller measures the just-printed local permittivity distribution using a split ring resonator and automatically updates the composition of the next-to-print layer to ensure the resulting local material properties match the design, thus accounting for any printing inconsistencies or defects. The defect structure of lenses without and with the controller are examined using X-ray tomography, and lens performance assessed in the 12-18 GHz range. Overall, the controller is shown to deliver higher fidelity and performance GRIN lenses by ameliorating print defects in real-time during printing
Timing of communication and technology control support in ALS – a systematic review
Full text linkObjective: To review evidence on the optimal timing of interventions that support communication and technology control for people living with Amyotrophic Lateral sclerosis (ALS). Methods: A systematic review was conducted following a pre-registered protocol. Databases were searched for studies involving people living with ALS that addressed timing of assistive technology interventions for communication or technology control. Screening and data extraction were completed in duplicate, findings were synthesized using a thematic analysis, and relevant findings presented as a descriptive summary. Results: Twenty-eight studies met the inclusion criteria. Evidence focused overwhelmingly on communication support rather than wider assistive technology interventions. Need for a communication aid typically occurs between one and five years from diagnosis and the timing of this varies significantly according to the site of onset of ALS. There are significant variations in the timing of changes for individuals within these groupings and there are likely a larger number of groupings that would be clinically useful. A significant correlation between changes in speaking rate and intelligibility has been shown. Once changes to speech do start to occur then the time to the loss of functional speech appears relatively consistent across the types of ALS. Conclusion: Current best practice guidelines are not reflective of the findings of this review and do not support professionals in identifying how to provide timely support. Monitoring speech changes systematically may support timely intervention. There is potential for individual level predictive modeling to help support people living with ALS to be proactive and prepared for changes
‘Everything is being disturbed’: unsettling the spaces of global infrastructure along the Northern Corridor
Full text linkExamining the ways through which global infrastructure projects proceed remains a challenging task given the scale, intensity and speed of these initiatives. This article argues for understanding these transformations through a research approach built around the idea of unsettlement. This is mobilized in three ways: first, to act as a conceptual orientation that is relational and plural in outlook when addressing transforming urban-regional geographies; second, through a methodological approach to research otherwise, that ‘follows the global infrastructure project’, identifying how all kinds of disparate but connected geographies become unsettled; third, through an analytical approach that develops from thick description made in piecing together the (empirical) conditions of unsettlement. This aims to weave together insights across various analytical registers such as the political-economic, social and ecological. Our findings emerge from two projects underway in eastern Uganda as part of the Northern Corridor: the rehabilitation of the Northern Spur railway and the establishment of the Sino-Ugandan Industrial Park
A Systematic Review of Evidence on the Clinical Effectiveness of Surveillance Imaging in Children With Medulloblastoma and Ependymoma
Full text linkSurveillance imaging aims to detect tumour relapse before symptoms develop, but it's unclear whether earlier detection of relapse leads to better outcomes in children and young people (CYP) with medulloblastoma and ependymoma. This systematic review aims to identify relevant literature to determine the efficacy of surveillance magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for CYP with medulloblastoma and ependymoma compared to symptomatic detection. 11 databases and 2 trial registries were searched in March 2025. Studies evaluating MRI surveillance imaging in CYP with medulloblastoma and ependymoma were included. The primary outcome of interest was overall survival (OS) from diagnosis. Studies were screened independently. Data extraction/quality assessment (using QUIPs) were conducted by one reviewer and checked by a second. Narrative synthesis and post-hoc meta-analyses of the proportion of relapses detected by surveillance imaging were conducted. Of 9,575 records screened, seven studies including 196 CYP with medulloblastoma and 309 with ependymoma were eligible. All were deemed moderate/high risk of bias in at least one domain. Single-proportion meta-analysis showed most relapses were detected by surveillance imaging in medulloblastoma (66.7%; 95% CI:60.1-73.2%) and ependymoma (72.6%; 95% CI:67.6-77.7%). Data on OS from diagnosis by method of relapse detection was reported in two studies: neither provide conclusive evidence that earlier detection improves survival. We conclude that while surveillance imaging detects relapses more frequently than symptomatic detection, there is limited high-quality evidence that earlier detection improves survival. Future prospective research should be conducted and should provide more granular reporting of patient characteristics and survival outcomes from diagnosis/end of treatment
Data sources:
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage Open Research Online? Become a CORE Member to access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard! 👇